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I find this to be a particularly fascinating and exciting year of cinema. The height of the "taboo-breaking era" (for better and sometimes for much worse) that had begun in the 1960s, the undeniable full arrival of "New Hollywood," and an almost baroque "flavor" to many of the films.
1. The Music Lovers (Russell) - Tchaikovsky's life seen as a cinematic fantasia. Stunning mastery of the language of film - the first of three movies from Ken Russell this year.
2. The French Connection (Friedkin) - Welcome to the dirty, grimy 1970s. An influential "New Hollywood" legend.
3/4. The Devils/The Boy Friend (Russell) - Russell's next two. Using mainly the same crew and cast, the first is an X-rated, visceral, draining, mad look at the contrast between religious hysteria and true sainthood, and the other is a G-rated charming, silly, zany, toe-tapping very English musical.
5. The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich) - Life in a town so desolate you can only leave it or loathe it. It looks like it was made in 1951 (when it was set), but taking advantage of 1971 freedoms.
6. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick) - Do you see what I mean by the baroque flavor of this year? Kubrick somewhat garbles Anthony Burgess' message, but as a film it excites the senses.
7. Desperate Characters (Gilroy) - Shirley MacLaine and Kenneth Mars trying to retain their sanity in Fun City.
8. Fiddler on the Roof (Jewison) - L'Chaim! And John Williams' first Oscar!
9. Nicholas and Alexandra (Schaffner) - Doesn't achieve David Lean stature, but still a great historical epic, one of the last of the classic mid-century style.
10. Macbeth (Polanski) - One of the best Shakespeare screen translations ever.
10. Straw Dogs (Peckinpah) - Sam's masterpiece, in my opinion.
The Hospital (Hiller) - I look at this as the first of a Paddy Chayefsky trilogy, followed by "Network" and "Altered States."
Trafic (Tati) - Tati's last, and most underrated.
Two English Girls (Truffaut) - A gorgeous, but sad Truffaut film.
also good: Sometimes a Great Notion, Get Carter, Death in Venice, Murmur of the Heart, Diamonds are Forever, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (my first time ever in a movie theater), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (primarily for the incredible texture of its look), Sunday Bloody Sunday, Escape from the Planet of the Apes (the best of the sequels - an almost Shakespearian tragedy for me as a little kid), Four Nights of a Dreamer, Play Misty for Me, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (like a parody of "The Godfather," a year before. It even has DeNiro!), Walkabout
I still want to see: THX-113 (saw it in the early 1980s, not since), Minnie and Moskowitz, Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying These Terrible Things About Me?, and two early Fassbinders: Beware of a Holy Whore and The Merchant of Four Seasons.
Well, gang? What are your faves of '71?
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Loads of great movies then
A Clockwork Orange
Dirty Harry
THX1138
Two Lane Blacktop
Godzilla vs Hedora
Duel
Drive He Said
Vanishing Point
The French Connection
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
doesnt The Mephisto Waltz have pretty much the same premise as Avatar lol
scores- The Last Run, Esc Planet of the Apes, Mephisto Waltz, Wild Rovers, Dirty Harry, The Omega Man, Wake in Fright, Big Jake, Willard
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DIDN'T LIKE:
* Play Misty for Me (I'll admit I may have just been in the wrong mood and might change my opinion upon a rewatch.)
MILD SPOILER:
There's a section in "Misty" that some people criticize as a dramatic flaw, but I like very much: During the second half of the film, Clint Eastwood's character, believing that Evelyn (Jessica Walter) is safely locked away in a hospital, takes his girlfriend Donna Mills to an outdoor jazz fest. For several minutes the movie turns into a kind of music documentary before the story resumes when Evelyn returns.
This lengthy break from the plot has been criticized, but I think it works well as a respite - although we're certain there'll be more suspense later on, we're placed momentarily in Eastwood's more relaxed state of mind. But I also like it precisely because it "breaks the rules" of dramatic structure. I rather enjoy it when films go off in digressions and break free from constantly advancing the plot.
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Posted: |
Sep 5, 2013 - 4:33 PM
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By: |
Ralph
(Member)
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“Sunday Bloody Sunday” — Schlesinger’s most accomplished piece and is the only English movie of the 70s that recalls the glory days of Britain’s movie industry when it made winners like “Look Back in Anger,” “Room at the Top,” “Sons and Lovers,” “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning,” “The Entertainer” and “The Innocents.” Best of all, “SBS” hasn’t been made rot by time; it still works, thanks in part to the director’s and performers’ skillful restraint and in larger part to critic-author Penelope Gilliatt’s wonderful ear for Britspeak and her compassion for educated adults who, if masochistically, accept “half a loaf.” It’s also a movie presaging our fixation on communications: here are 1970 characters dependent upon phone answering services as lifelines, while we now have answering machines, faxes, e-mail, buzzing wrist watches and all purpose cell phones and IPads. (For those who once used answering services, we’re sure to be flooded with memories of operators who never picked up after a set number of rings or ever got those important messages or names quite right. Or having to suffer their bitchiness when they enjoyed relaying negatives.) Obviously, 42 years later, “SBS” is not for the mob; required to enjoy it is a predisposition to liberal affaires d’amour and pot-smoking kids. And a tolerance for Schlesinger’s inordinate love of “Così fan tutte.” Mozart, of course, composed an opera buffa; Schlesinger and Gilliatt compose an opera soapa.
“The Beguiled” — Not only Siegel’s favorite, it’s also his best since “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and as close to an accidental piece of American trash art as we’re likely to get. In some ways it’s a little like D.H. Lawrence’s “The Fox,” only magnified as cheeky Southern gothic. Civil War Unioner Clint Eastwood seeks refugee from the Confederates in a girl’s school run by fluttering lesbo Geraldine Page, with assistance from man-hungry Elizabeth Hartman and a load of other starvers. Clint’s initially delighted by his good fortune in stumbling upon such a willing smörgåsbord until jealousies erupt. He holds his own against scenery chewer Page; semi-comicly droning on, this may be his most intriguing performance and he’s definitely at his most shaggy attractive. Crazed Geraldine pulls out the familiar Page stops and they work better here than in any of her other psychotic tours de force. Mounted with loving care, the movie’s atmosphere is terrific claptrap; even the weepy moss entrances. Siegel gave this trash what he gave the original “Body Snatchers” — a patina of faked, frenzied seriousness that sends us away giddy with pleasure.
“The Devils” — Ranking prominently amongst the Vatican’s “condemned,” the horror show is the epitome of rabid Catholicism. So, no surprise, it’s probably the best reflection of Russell’s auteur: His hyperbolic style meets the perfect subject. Based on Huxley’s “The Devils of Loudun,” the story — though likely not as the director shot it — is supposedly garnered from fact, yet, as a matter of caution to the unsuspecting, retold throughout the centuries very much embellished. (In David King Dunaway’s “Huxley in Hollywood,” we’re given to believe that this particular “Nuns’ Story” was a “two shows daily” sales pitch — i.e. perversely cavorting nuns as big business.) Of course, most of us don’t go to Russell movies for historic verity — we go to enjoy the atrocities and obscenities.
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Several of you have cited "Get Carter" which I had thought was a 1970 release. I now see, according to IMDB, that it premiered early in '71, so I'm now adding it to my first post. Thanks for the correction. 
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I thought I'd start a companion series to Mastadge's best/favorite films threads that cover 1983 onwards. Mine looks at the years preceding those. Please add your thoughts.
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Posted: |
Oct 12, 2013 - 9:41 AM
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By: |
mastadge
(Member)
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Mark, I think Solaris is '72, not 71.
Here's a tentative top 10:
Harold and Maude (Ashby)
The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman)
Walkabout (Roeg)
A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick)
The French Connection (Roeg)
Fiddler on the Roof (Jewison)
Dirty Harry (Siegel)
Klute (Pakula)
10 Rillington Place (Fleischer)
Also good: The Hired Hand, Wake in Fright, Duel, Giù la testa, Valdez is Coming, Straw Dogs, Get Carter, Murmur of the Heart, Land of Silence and Darkness, A New Lead, Macbeth, Red Sun, The Hospital, Murphy's War, Punishment Park, The Beguiled
Still need to see the Ken Russell movies.
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Mark, I think Solaris is '72, not 71.
Auugghh - I had originally known "Solaris" as a film of 1972, but some source I read (perhaps a book about Tarkovsky) made me believe that it premiered in 1971 - but every source I'm checking now confirms a March 1972 premiere. Grumble, grumble. Thank you for alerting me. I have "reconstituted" my '71 list. 
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