The Top Movies of 1971
Fiddler on the Roof, Billy Jack (wonderfully terrible), The French Connection (still great), Summer of '42, Diamonds are Forever (Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd!), Dirty Harry (classic), A Clockwork Orange (also classic), Carnal Knowledge, The Last Picture Show (one of the best movies ever made), Willard, Sunday Bloody Sunday (really overlooked), Klute (very good), The Boy Friend, The Go-Between, The Hospital (marvelously overwrought) and Shaft (the beginning of blaxploitation).
Popular Albums of 1971
Aqualung by Jethro Tull, Master of Reality by Black Sabbath, The Yes Album by Yes, L.A. Woman by The Doors, Imagine by John Lennon, Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones, Who's Next by The Who, Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin, 11-17-70 by Elton John, Electric Warrior by T-Rex, What's Going On by Marvin Gaye, Hunky Dory by David Bowie, Nursery Cryme by Genesis, Shaft Soundtrack by Isaac Hayes, Fragile by Yes, There's a Riot Goin' On by Sly and the Family Stone, Weather Report by Weather Report, At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band, and Tapestry by Carol King.
...and I could go on. Pardon my French, but 1971 was a great f&%king year for music. Check out this list at Udiscovermusic for more excellent tunes. The albums listed there should keep anyone busy for quite a while.
1971 Books Later Adapted Into Movies
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, Mrs. Brisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien, The Winds of War by Herman Wouk, Maurice by E.M. Forster and Hell House by Richard Matheson.
Major Sporting Events of 1971
The Baltimore Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys to win the Superbowl, the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Finals, Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali in Madison Square Garden, Eddy Merckx won the Tour de France, the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup and Billie Jean King won the U.S. Open.
Comic Books in 1971
DC Comics published New Gods #1, the Squadron Supreme first appeared in Avengers #85, Mister Miracle first appeared in Mister Miracle #1, Ra's a Ghul first appeared in Batman #232, Swamp Thing first appeared in House of Secrets #92, Neal Adams began his run on The Avengers, and John Stewart made his first appearance in Green Lantern #87.
Excellent
1. Walkabout
A brother and sister learn to survive after being stranded in the Australian Outback. Nicholas Roeg directed this movie, which was one of the first movies in the "Australian New Wave" movement. It's a beautifully photographed film, led by the doubly beautiful Jenny Agutter.
2. The Decameron
Pier Paulo Pasolini's bawdy take on the Middle Ages. It's the first movie in Pasolini's "Life Trilogy," coming a year before The Canterbury Tales and three years before The Arabian Nights. I haven't read Boccaccio's stories, but even to someone with my superficial knowledge it's obvious that the original work was more a point of departure than something faithfully reproduced on film. I think this might be my favorite of the three films in the trilogy.
About as Early 70s as You Can Get
1. The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Vincent Price stars as a disfigured man out for revenge. As with the sequel the sets are the real highlight, and the inexplicable plot points only add to the movie's charm. I'm pretty sure those bats are fruit bats... and would grasshoppers really eat their way through someone's face? If you can suspend your disbelief (possibly with the aid of alcohol), this movie's a good time.
Someone should remake The Abominable Dr. Phibes. In the right hands it would be a winner.
Fun Fact: Caroline Munro IS in this one, but her name doesn't appear in the credits. This is because she was under contract with Hammer Films at the time, and thus unable to receive either a screen credit or payment from a competing studio. She talks about the experience in this interview at around the 16 minute mark.
Sadness: There were several sequels planned to follow the second film, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, but unfortunately these sequels never happened.
Weird Enough to be Worth Your Time
1. The Blood On Satan's Claw
Pairs well with 1973's The Wicker Man.
Were I in charge of remaking this movie, I'd probably set it in the modern day, and add a chemical spill. A chemical spill would add another dimension to the skin transformations seen in this movie, casting doubt on the characters' belief in the supernatural. Aside from that this story of a demonic presence in the English countryside still works very well, and the ending is very satisfying.
Fun Fact: The director of this movie is distantly related to author H. Rider Haggard, who wrote King Solomon's Mines.
2. The Hunting Party
So... they give her some peaches and the rape thing is OK? We're all friends now?
Parts of this movie haven't aged well, but it does have a lot going for it. Oliver Reed stars as an outlaw who kidnaps Candice Bergen in the hope that she'll teach him how to read, with Gene Hackman as her outraged husband, the local sheriff. I like the fact that everyone in this movie (minus Bergen's character) is a bastard, and I like that it was willing to cross a certain line, but yeah, it's not exactly a "female empowerment" type movie. Then again, being a woman in the Old West wasn't an easy thing to be regardless.
Critics at the time despised this movie. I think, however, that it's aged better than some other films from the same period. Just compare this to whatever John Wayne was doing at the time. It's a bit tactless, yes, but it's also a lot more convincing that whatever the Duke was dishing out that year.
Oh, and if you enjoyed Hackman's performance in Unforgiven he's all over this movie, doing pretty much the same thing.
3. The Hellstrom Chronicle
The "science" at play in this documentary is little more than biblical thinking infused with paranoia, but I sometimes miss documentaries like this one. The 70s was a great decade for disturbing documentaries, of which this movie is a prime example. Anyone else fondly remember In Search Of... with Leonard Nimoy? That show really freaked me out as a young boy.
Fun Fact 1: Despite its largely fictitious nature, this film would go on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary in 1972.
Fun Fact 2: This movie is the inspiration for Frank Herbert's novel Hellstrom's Hive. Some of the concepts in Hellstrom's Hive, which revolved around an insect-like society, were later incorporated into his Dune novels. If you can manage to track down a copy of Hellstrom's Hive it's a good book.
Some Good Ones
1. 10 Rillington Place
A landlord takes advantage of ignorant neighbors out of a lust for murder. Great performances from Richard Attenborough and John Hurt here, even if the events after the trial stretch on a bit too long. It's a wonderfully understated movie that deals with (for the time) taboo subject matter. The director, Richard Fleischer, would go on to do Soylent Green two years later.
2. And Now for Something Completely Different
Parts of it are still funny, but this Monty Python movie hasn't aged nearly as well as Holy Grail, Life of Brian or Meaning of Life. This was the troupe's first film after their run on television, and was also an attempt to break them into the American market. Terry Gilliam's animation overwhelms the movie, but if nothing else this led to Monty Python and the Holy Grail not long after.
3. Fiddler on the Roof
The biggest movie of 1971. As stated elsewhere I'm not big on musicals, but this story of a patriarch in a village populated by Russian Jews in undeniably good. Topol was at the height of his career, and Norman Jewison's direction does an excellent job of balancing the drama, the songs and a sense of location.
4. Twins of Evil
Ah, such twins. At the risk of sounding crude, I'd like to be the meat in that sandwich.
In this Hammer Films production Peter Cushing stars as the local vampire hunter, with various villagers joining him in battle against the forces of Satan. OF COURSE it's about vampires, and of course the (ambiguously) good prevail in the end.
Those twins though. According to Wikipedia they were real life Playboy Playmates. Click here and repent later.
Uh... Don't Hold Your Breath On the Remake
1. Pretty Maids All in a Row
Was this the first teen sex comedy? Teen sex... dramedy? I don't know, but it's going pretty far back into the vault.
Knowing what we now know about Rock Hudson, it's weird watching him in a movie where he "guides" a young high school student toward sexual maturity. And what is Telly Savalas's job in this movie, exactly? For a police detective he seems to have a lot of time to hang around in the local high school, interviewing young girls. And then, to top it all off, this movie takes a WEIRD left turn into a crime/suspense-type subplot, only to revert back - at the last minute - to some kind of carefree sex romp wherein we all get to forget about all the murders that have taken place and how none of them have been explained to anyone's satisfaction.
A bad script aside, for me it was hard to make moral judgements about these characters. It was 1970 when they filmed this thing, the Summer of Love wasn't far into the rearview mirror, and I really wasn't sure what parts of this movie to take seriously and what parts to dismiss as humor. Whatever this movie is, you might give it a look if you have the time. If you manage to unlock the secret that makes this movie tick let me know in the comments.
Fun Fact 1: This movie was written and produced by Gene Roddenberry, and James "Scotty" Doohan appears in it as a policeman.
Fun Fact 2: They originally wanted Joe Namath for the lead, and Angie Dickinson's role was first offered to Brigitte Bardot.
Fun Fact 3: Around a decade later Rock Hudson would turn down the role of Trautman in First Blood.
Some Bad Ones
1. Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin'
As far as stand up comedy goes it's definitely historic, but is it funny? I didn't find it to be so. By watching the movie you can tell that Pryor had a future as a performer. You can also tell that a lot of his humor came from a dark place. But yeah, the whole "black vs. white" thing has been done to death since, and after the first few minutes the homophobia and misogyny started to wear on me.
2. Trinity is Still My Name
Terence Hill bumbles his way through another spaghetti Western, this time without Peter Fonda to pick up the slack. It's probably the most European Western I've ever seen, with weird, semi-humorous detours through saloons, restaurants and wide open spaces that don't necessarily add up to a coherent plot. It was the highest-grossing Italian movie up to that point.
Fun Fact: Terence Hill (a.k.a. Mario Girotti) was in McCabe & Mrs. Miller the same year. His appearance in that other, better American movie was extremely brief however. He was only in it for a few seconds as a townsperson.
3. The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins
...and then he eats the duck in the shower! And he gets a stomachache! And his doctor enjoys the "pudding!"
HA HA HA HA HA!!!
Hasn't aged well. Monty Python's Graham Chapman wrote parts of the skits, but the sexual innuendo and people at cross purposes aren't exactly comedy gold.
4. Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets
The general pattern seems to be quotes, followed by weird montage, followed by something sexual. This Japanese film sure is arty, but I can't say it's entertaining. Wikipedia says it's about "Japan's descent into materialism," but I wasn't feeling that. It was a real struggle to get through.
5. Countess Dracula
"Elizabeth Bathory" does what comes unnatural. Like a lot of Hammer horror films you can predict a lot of the movie from the opening credits: carriages passing down wooded lanes, wardrobe recycled from countless other movies, hot women, boobs, castles and occasional splashes of blood. The first 3/4 of this movie is well written, but the last fourth really drags.
Oh, and NOT from 1971, but a Decent Overview of the Time Period
1. 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything
Documentary on the music and musicians of 1971. It's too political for its own good, it completely overlooks some of my favorite bands, and the connections they imply between social trends and certain musicians seem more like a case of wishful thinking than a reflection of the time period. Just the same there's a lot of good footage in this documentary, some of it restored and some of it available for the first time. Yes, in some ways it's like listening to Steve Jobs' iPod, but that doesn't make any of the music in this documentary less awesome.
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