1. Survival (1975)
HOW LONG WILL GOD HAVE
PATIENCE WITH US BEFORE
HE DOES SOMETHING DRASTIC
TO GET OUR ATTENTION?
There's a lot to unpack here:
1. Are we assuming that God, that being present since the beginning of the world, has a limited supply of patience? And that, moreover, He can run out of patience?
2. What' does "drastic" mean in the context of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient diety? Drastic for whom?
3. Can't God command our attention any time He wants to? Or is that somehow against the rules that He Himself has set forth?
And what's the deal with that prologue anyway? That doesn't sound like any part of the Bible I ever read. There are bits of the Bible in there, yes, but also a lot of assumptions that are new to me.
The Premise: A family is stranded in the desert after a plane crash.
Where Are They Now?: Star Robert Sella most recently appeared on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit TV show. Yes, careers can survive even the likes of Survival.
Overall: A Christian movie! Praise be! I'm going to go ahead and assume that those who made this movie were high on THE LORD and nothing else. So weird, so badly acted and so terrible it's worth checking out.
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2. The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)
Barnaby Jones! Vague memories of that show...
The Premise: Passengers aboard a flight from England to the States find their travel plans thwarted by an ancient artifact.
Where Are They Now?: Most recently William Shatner appeared on The Masked Singer. According to Wikipedia he now spends a lot of time arguing with people online.
Paul Winfield passed away in 2004. His film and television work came to an end in 2003.
Chuck Connors, that quintessential "Western type," passed away in 1992. His last big movie was Airplane II: The Sequel.
Overall: The first half of this movie is solid, but the second half features, unfortunately, William Shatner doing a less than convincing impression of what Gene Hackman did in The Poseidon Adventure the year before.
3. Mayday at 40,000 Feet (1976)
Yeah, it was the 70s. Airplane movies were a thing. Which flavor do YOU prefer? "Hostage" or "disaster?" Maybe both?
The Premise: Things go very, very wrong for a group of passengers flying from Salt Lake City to New York.
Where Are They Now?: Ah, Marjoe Gortner, that pillar of Western cinema. His last movie was 1995's Wild Bill. He's still alive, but I couldn't find any details concerning his current whereabouts.
Overall: It starts off well, but pacing is an issue. I get that they were filming for television, but a lot of the middle section could have been cut out.
4. Too Late the Hero (1970)
I will always think Cliff Robertson deserved another Oscar for Obsession. Anyone who thinks otherwise can fight me!
The Premise: Robertson, Michael Caine and Denholm Elliot lead a squad of British soldiers in an attack on an Imperial Japanese outpost.
Where Are They Now?: Cliff Robertson died in 2011 at the ripe old age of 88. His last screen appearance was a cameo as Uncle Ben in Sam Raimi's Spider Man 3.
Michael Caine is now ten years younger than Cliff Robertson was in 2011. Retired as of this year, 2023's The Great Escaper will be his and (the great) Glenda Jackson's final appearances on film.
Denholm Elliot passed on in 1992. He was a casualty of the AIDS epidemic.
Director Robert Aldrich had some hits in the 60s, but from the 70s onward his career was definitely winding down. He directed The Dirty Dozen, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and The Longest Yard. He and Cliff Robertson despised one another. Robertson was only cast in this movie over Aldrich's objections.
Overall: There are some great scenes between the principal actors, but the score really hurts this movie. On top of this there's also the ending, which falls completely flat. Did that character carrying the essential intelligence really just walk right back into the shooting gallery? How could anyone know that all of the Japanese had left the scene?
5. Rituals (a.k.a. The Creeper) (1977)
The Premise: A party of doctors find themselves stalked through the wilderness by a mysterious assailant.
Where Are They Now?: Hal Holbrook passed away in 2021. He was in a lot of great 70s and 80s movies, including The Great White Hope, All the President's Men and Wall Street.
Overall: This movie still enjoys a following, but in my opinion it too closely resembles 1972's Deliverance, which is a far better film. Another problem is the ending. The dialogue seems to be building up to some kind of plot twist, but this plot twist never really arrives.
6. The Clown Murders (1976)
Like Rituals, another Canadian effort.
The Premise: Several friends engage in a "prank" which leads to serious consequences for everyone involved.
Where Are They Now?: John Candy! Yep, he's in this. This was his fourth movie, following Tunnel Vision, which came out the same year. Anyone else remember that one?
Overall: A well written, well acted movie that suffers from lower production values (especially the sound). The order in which certain scenes were edited is a mystery, but overall it was much better than I thought it would be.
7. Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
I'd heard about this one...
The Premise: Several in attendance at a young couple's wedding question the nature of love, marriage and other human relationships.
Where Are They Now?: Bonnie Bedelia! She'd go on to play Bruce Willis' wife in 1988's Die Hard. Most recently she was in 2023's The Hill.
Diane Keaton steals a few scenes toward the end of this film. She was around 24 at the time and this was her first movie. She'd appear in The Godfather two years later, and Annie Hall five years after that. She'll be appearing alongside Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard in Summer Camp in May 2024.
Overall: It's on the talky side, and I have to admit I spaced out for a few minutes while watching it, yet it remains a charming movie full of memorable exchanges.
Fun Fact: Both Jerry Stiller and Sylvester Stallone are in this movie for a second. Neither appear in the end credits.
8. I Walk The Line (1970)
Nope, not the Johnny Cash biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix, but rather a much older movie by John Frankenheimer with a Johnny Cash soundtrack.
The Premise: A small town sheriff finds his life upended after crossing paths with a family of local bootleggers.
Where Are They Now?: Gregory Peck lived the ripe old age of 87, and went to his great reward in 2003. His last big movie (which was a remake of a movie he'd originally starred in) was 1991's Cape Fear.
Sometime after I Walk the Line Tuesday Weld married actor Dudley Moore. She had her share of famous boyfriends and husbands. The 70s were a high point for her, and even though she's done both movies and TV since she's remained, for the most part, out of the spotlight.
Charles Durning, who plays Gregory Peck's deputy, passed away in 2012. He was one of the great character actors, with a filmography stretching all the way back to 1962.
Fun Fact: Several characters in Lovers and Other Strangers (above) watch scenes from Spellbound in which Gregory Peck appears.
Overall: Somewhat out of left field for Frankenheimer, but an excellent movie nonetheless. Gregory Peck was a master when it came to playing conflicted, morally compromised characters, and the rest of the cast is perfect.
9. The California Kid (1974)
The Premise: Martin Sheen uses his kickass car to bring a homicidal sheriff to justice.
Where Are They Now?: Martin Sheen's filmography stretches back to 1967. He wasn't quite famous when The California Kid appeared on TV (at that point his biggest movie was the arthouse hit Badlands), but he was well on his way to being a star. He has a movie, Lost and Found in Cleveland, in post-production now. It's worth mentioning that his younger brother Joe Estevez is also in The California Kid.
Nick Nolte was much newer to the screen in 1974. He also has a movie, Eugene the Marine, due out at some point.
Vic Morrow, who plays the evil sheriff here, famously died in a helicopter crash during the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Overall: It's not a bad movie. Derivative, yes, but not bad.
10. Firepower (1979)
The Premise: James Coburn, Sophia Loren and O.J. Simpson (!) try to bring down a crime boss.
Where Are They Now?: James Coburn died in 2002.
Sophia Loren is still around. There was a documentary about her, What Would Sophia Loren Do?, which came out in 2021. Her filmography might be the longest here, stretching as it does all the way back to 1950.
O.J. Simpson died this year. But of course if you've used the internet recently you probably already knew that.
Overall: This movie serves as a reminder that it doesn't matter how many plot twists you load into a motion picture if none of the characters are compelling. Coburn does stuff, O.J. assists and Loren is left o react to everything.
11. Disaster on the Coastliner (1979)
William Shatner's pimp game is in full effect here. Watching him put the moves on "the unhappily married woman" is a thing to behold.
The Premise: A computer expert takes control of an automated train system, hoping to trigger a disaster.
Where Are They Now?: Lloyd Bridges, father of Jeff and Beau, passed on in 1998.
William Shatner still keeps himself busy. He's had many personal issues with co-stars and others laboring within both the movie and television industry, but he just keeps on truckin'.
Anyone else remember Yvette Mimieux, the lady Shatner tries to pick up on the train? She died two years ago. Her biggest movie was probably 1960's The Time Machine.
Overall: By-the-numbers disaster movie. Those watching will know what's up the minute the railroad boss starts praising the new computer system so effusively. Want to jinx yourself in the 70s? Start praising the computer!
12. The Death of Richie (1977)
The Premise: Teenage dope fiend Robby Benson lives too fast and dies too young in this TV movie.
Where Are They Now?: Ben Gazzara grew up speaking Italian. His last movies and TV shows were all produced in Italy, where he ended his career prior to his death in 2012.
Eileen Brennan has long been one of my favorite actresses. She died a year after Gazzara in 2013. Her last big movie was 2005's Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.
Robby Benson was a well known teen heartthrob in the 70s. He'd later voice the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast and direct several episodes of the Friends TV show. He had a novel published in 2007, and has served as a professor in several liberal arts-type universities.
There are, by the way, many faces in this movie that might be familiar from 80s films. Clint Howard (brother of Ron), Lance Kerwin and the other members of Robby's crew all went on to higher profile roles in the following decade.
Overall: It's a well acted movie even if some of Richie's "trips" are a little over the top. In 2024 I think that fewer parents would be jumping to the conclusion that drugs are the problem. A diagnosis of manic depression or bipolar disorder seems more likely.
13. Between the Lines (1977)
I hate to say it, but I kind of agree with the guy who buys out the paper at the end of this movie, in much the same way that I agree with Ned Beatty's character near the end of Network. All of these "creatives" should know what business they're in. Knowing the market just evens the playing field.
The Premise: The staff at a small Boston paper contend with an imminent buyout.
Where Are They Now?: In 2024 Jeff Goldblum, who doesn't play the lead in this movie, is definitely the most famous cast member. In 1977 he had several high profile movies under his belt: Death Wish, California Split, Nashville and Annie Hall, but he was still far from a leading man. His last big movie was Jurassic World Dominion, in which he yet again played "the chaos theory guy."
Between the Lines was John Heard's first film. You might remember him as Kevin McCallister's dad in the first two Home Alone movies.
Lindsay Crouse has done a lot of film and television work, but she's more focused on the theater these days.
Between the Lines was also Joe Morton (T2) and Marilu Henner's (Taxi) first screen appearances. More recently Morton played Cyborg's father in Zack Snyder's Justice League. Bruno Kirby? He'd already appeared in The Godfather Part II three years before.
Overall: It's an excellent movie that makes some interesting choices. The screenplay must have been very good.
14. Baffled! (1974)
The Premise: Leonard Nimoy stars as a race car driver/psychic detective in this British TV pilot. And no, I'm not making that up.
Where Are They Now?: Leonard Nimoy went on to that Final Frontier in 2015, two years after Star Trek Into Darkness.
Overall: I get why this wasn't picked up as a regular series. The premise could have worked, but there's not enough happening in this pilot's 1+ hour runtime.
15. Eagle's Wing (1979)
The Premise: Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston chase one another around the Old West.
Where Are They Now?: Harvey Keitel doesn't seem to be doing that well. I recently watched a panel in which he discussed Pulp Fiction alongside John Travolta, Samuel Jackson and Uma Thurman, and he seemed to have a lot of trouble expressing himself. His last big movie was 2019's The Irishman.
Sam Waterston is leaving the Law & Order TV show this year. He's appeared on over 400 episodes.
Overall: A beautifully photographed British (!) Western that doesn't quite hold together. There was a better story to be found between all of those sweeping Mexican vistas, but as it is I found this one difficult to get through.
Sam Waterston, of all people, doing redface is also unintentionally hilarious. He's descended from people who arrived on the Mayflower for chrissakes.
16. Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
I'd seen parts of this movie over the years, but last weekend was the first time I sat down and watched it all the way through.
The Premise: Diana Ross stars in this Billie Holiday biopic.
Where Are They Now?: Diana Ross is still recording and touring. Aside from a few documentaries she hasn't done movies or TV since the 90s.
Billy Dee Williams does a lot of voice work now. He regularly appears at conventions.
Richard Pryor passed on in 2005. In 1972 he was still years away from Car Wash and Silver Streak, the two movies that would really cement his reputation as a star, but he'd already been in films for a while.
Overall: An excellent movie. At his best director Sidney J. Furie was right up there with the greats. Besides this movie, The Ipcress File, The Boys in Company C and The Entity are all worth checking out.
17. Willie Dynamite (1974)
The Premise: In the pimp game Willie's the best there is. Or is he?
Where Are They Now?: Believe it or not, Roscoe Orman went on to play "Gordon" on Sesame Street. He was doing so up until 2019, though his status in relation to that show is somewhat ambiguous now.
Overall: So bad, but so good. This movie is chock full of memorable lines. Films like Coffy and The Mack are good in a similar way, but this is one for the ages.
Of course almost all of the characters in this movie would be horrible people in real life, but that's kind of the point!
18. Last Embrace (1979)
The Premise: Jonathan Demme attempts film noir with mixed results.
Where Are They Now?: Roy Scheider, one of the most underrated actors of all time, starred in All That Jazz, one of my favorite movies, the same year. He's been in many classic films, and if you're unfamiliar with his filmography you should definitely give it a look. He passed away in 2008.
Christopher Walken is in this film for a minute. It's strange seeing him and Scheider in the same movie. Most recently Walken appeared in Dune 2.
Overall: The femme fatale's reasons for doing what she does are never believable. I suppose in a religious context the idea of "generational revenge" makes sense, but in real life it's hard to take seriously.
19. Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
Why would you build a missile silo with such an obvious blind spot? And who uses an M-16 as a sniper rifle? And why not get the people shot in the end of this movie immediate medical attention? And how naive is this President anyway, completely unaware as he is of Cold War geopolitics?
The Premise: Three men seize a nuclear missile silo in an attempt to get the U.S. government to confess its sins.
Where Are They Now?: Hollywood icon Burt Lancaster would go on to the award-winning Atlantic City in 1980. He passed on in 1994.
Burt Young was fresh off of Rocky when he filmed Twilight's Last Gleaming. Like many people, he probably had no idea that his role as "Paulie" would go on to define his career. He's still making movies today.
Oh, and William Marshall, who played "Blacula" in the two Blacula movies appears here as the U.S. Attorney General. By 1977 his career was on a distinctly downward trajectory.
In addition to the above this movie features a ton of names from Hollywood history. Richard Widmark, Charles Durning, Melvyn Douglas, Joseph Cotten and many others have extensive filmographies, some reaching all the way back to the 1930s.
Overall: The first half of this movie is solid, but in the second half it sacrifices the story it's trying to tell for the sake of an ill-defined message.
20. Asylum of Satan (1972)
The Premise: Patients in a mental asylum find themselves sacrificed to SATAN.
Where Are They Now?: Star Carla Borelli went on to appear in a few TV shows. Those responsible for Asylum of Satan must have been really pissed when she refused to do any nude scenes at the last minute.
Overall: Completely forgettable. This movie needed more sex and violence. How are you going to call a movie Asylum of Satan and leave out all the naughty bits?
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