1970's Movies

[Doctor Strange]

The 70s were undoubtedly a really good period for movies, but since I experienced most of them theatrically when they were new (I was 15 in 1970), they just don't have the attraction for me that older films do. I am much more dedicated to the "classical" studio films of the 20s-50s than the new age/TV-trained directors/movie brats/whatever trends of the 60s/70s.

It's a weird aspect of my nostalgia affliction that I am far more interested in stuff before my times than of my times. (Though unlike many here, I don't have any of the angry "hate" for the 60s/70s that boiled over on now-closed threads. Sure, there was dumb stuff in those decades, but there was good stuff too, and it was hardly the end-of-the-good-old-days tragedy that some folks here seem to consider it.)

Perhaps that's just part of the nature of nostalgia, which selectively romanticizes the past - maybe if you didn't experience it first-hand at all, it's actually easier...

[Nathan Dodge]

The 70s were undoubtedly a really good period for movies, but since I experienced most of them theatrically when they were new (I was 15 in 1970), they just don't have the attraction for me that older films do. I am much more dedicated to the "classical" studio films of the 20s-50s than the new age/TV-trained directors/movie brats/whatever trends of the 60s/70s.

It's a weird aspect of my nostalgia affliction that I am far more interested in stuff before my times than of my times. (Though unlike many here, I don't have any of the angry "hate" for the 60s/70s that boiled over on now-closed threads. Sure, there was dumb stuff in those decades, but there was good stuff too, and it was hardly the end-of-the-good-old-days tragedy that some folks here seem to consider it.)

Perhaps that's just part of the nature of nostaligia, which selectively romanticizes the past - maybe if you didn't experience it first-hand at all, it's actually easier...

I agree with you on (nearly) every point! I haze zero nostalgia for my "coming of age" decade, the eighties, but am endlessly fascinated by what came before my time. I love both the Golden Age and the 60s-70s, though I prefer the first half of the 70s to the second half, and the last half of the 60s over the first!

And IMO the sixties didn't truly end until around 1973---there's just so much overlap, culturally speaking.

[Nathan Dodge]

What a flashback. I haven't seen this one since the late 70s. Bronson was the man.

I hadn't seen The Mechanic in about twenty-five years, but certain aspects of it stayed with me, and I obviously appreciate the film more now on a different level as an adult than I did as a thirteen year old.

Yes, Bronson was the man and the 70s was his decade as a superstar. I enjoyed The Mechanic so much I bought the original U.S. and Japanese posters. They would look too odd hanging in my 1924 bungalow so for now they are in storage...

Here's another worthy Bronson film: Mr.Majestyk

Bronson was born in 1921, what's so out of place? If they made Mr. Majestyk today, it would just be called "Majestyk" and Billy Bob Thornton would be the star.

So many times we hear about movie actors being "the real deal", but in Bronson's case, it's actually true. On the commentary track for Our Man Flint, it's said that genuine tough guys like Bronson, Lee Marvin, and James Coburn wouldn't even get past the studio gate for an audition nowadays...sad but true.

[Doctor Strange]

Nathan - The 60s ended even later on college campuses. Believe me, as somebody who was in college 1973-1977, I know. It wasn't until after Watergate and the end of American involvement in Vietnam that things really began to swing to the disco style-over-substance and self-indulgent hedonism that characterized the 70s.

But this was also true the decade before: the early (pre-Beatles) 60s were far more like the 50s than what we think of as the 60s... The classic "60s" was really more like 1964-1974.

[Nathan Dodge]

Nathan - The 60s ended even later on college campuses. Believe me, as somebody who was in college 1973-1977, I know. It wasn't until after Watergate and the end of American involvement in Vietnam that things really began to swing to the disco style-over-substance and self-indulgent hedonism that characterized the 70s.

But this was also true the decade before: the early (pre-Beatles) 60s were far more like the 50s than what we think of as the 60s... The classic "60s" was really more like 1964-1974.

In other words, the massive boomer sellout began full swing after 1974.

I have a mood I call my '65-'75 mood and my interests are primarily the TV shows, film music, and films of the period. For me, it begins with the James Bond craze and ends just before the premiere of JAWS in June, 1975. Though 64-74 would be more accurate, I guess.

You're right, 1963 is more like 1958 than 1968!

[Doctor Strange]

Yeah, more or less. We shouldn't over-generalize, but I will say this (again, based on my own experience):

I don't know that I'm typical of my mid-boomer cohort (born 1955), but when I was a junior/senior in college, I could see the difference between myself and people just a couple of years younger. I was still enthused with 60s idealism, an English major with vague dreams of getting into the film business, but most of the incoming freshmen were far more dedicated to making big bucks and having steady careers - pre-med, pre-law, business, and poly-sci majors. The enormous cultural shift of 1980, when idealism was abandoned for self-interest, was on the horizon...

I felt totally lost in the America of the 80s, an outdated idealist, but the folks a few years behind me (i.e., the late boomer cohort) were primed for it.

[just_me]

Nathan - The 60s ended even later on college campuses. Believe me, as somebody who was in college 1973-1977, I know. It wasn't until after Watergate and the end of American involvement in Vietnam that things really began to swing to the disco style-over-substance and self-indulgent hedonism that characterized the 70s.

But this was also true the decade before: the early (pre-Beatles) 60s were far more like the 50s than what we think of as the 60s... The classic "60s" was really more like 1964-1974.

Exactly right. The first half of the 70s was really an extension of the late 60s. To me the 60s were two distinctively different eras within one decade. The same with the 70s.

It was interesting, but many years ago a bunch of people I worked with threw a 60s party. Only people old enough to remember where they were when JFK was killed were invited. Everyone was asked to dress in what they thought of when they thought of the 60s.

There was a wide range from very straight, preppie collegiate types to Mary Quant type miniskirts and white disco boots to anti-war hippies. I was completey surprised because I thought everyone would come dresses similarly to me.

[Nathan Dodge]

BTW, a book I'm interested in reading is Easy Riders and Raging Bulls which chronicles this period of movie history. I think there's a corresponding documentary, as well.

Another 1970s movie I like a lot is Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Don't know your view of Peckinpah, but I find his ascent and precipitous decline one of the more interesting stories of the period. It'd be interesting to see what kind of movies he'd be doing today...same goes for his frequent collaborator, composer Jerry Fielding. Two leading lights that left us too soon.

[Feraud]

BTW, a book I'm interested in reading is Easy Riders and Raging Bulls which chronicles this period of movie history. I think there's a corresponding documentary, as well.

I've seen parts of the documentary and it is good. The IFC channel frequently shows it.

[Doctor Strange]

I'm not really a big Peckinpah fan. I like some of his movies (e.g., The Ballad of Cable Hogue), but I tend to prefer other 60s stylists like John Frankenheimer, Arthur Penn, Sidney Lumet, Franklin Schaftner, Tony Richardson, etc.

That's definitely a good book, BTW.