Tuesday, May 23, 2017

8 Off My Head: Siri Says 1974

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It must be Tuesday because here I am talking to my telephone - I said, "Siri, tell me a number between one and one hundred," and Siri said back to me, "74." No hello, no addressing me by my name like I did, just "74." God she's rude. Anyway as we do every week we're taking that "74" and turning it into "1974" and then we're going through The Movies of 1974 and picking our favorites.

And 1974 was an astonishing year for movies, you guys! There are a full eight movies I absolutely adore and could never live without. Seriously, these are All Time Faves - as the titles jumped off the page at me I couldn't believe these were all in the same 12 month span. So instead of doing the usual list of five, let's do eight. I could round them up to ten, but let's not. Eight's a perfectly nice number!

My 8 Favorite Movies of 1974

(dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
-- released on March 5th 1974 --

(dir. Mel Brooks)
-- released on December 15th 1974 --

(dir. Roman Polanski)
-- released on June 20th 1974 --

(dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
-- released on April 20th 1974 --

(dir. John Waters)
-- released on October 4th, 1974 --

(dir. Bob Clark)
-- released on December 20th 1974 --

(dir. Brian De Palma)
-- released on November 1st 1974 --

(dir. Tobe Hooper)
-- released on October 4th 1974 --

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Runners-up: Blazing Saddles (dir. Brooks),  The Godfather Part II (dir. Coppola), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (dir. Scorsese), The Taking of Pelham 123 (dir. Tony Scott), Lenny (dir. Fosse)...

... Foxy Brown (dir. Jack Hill), It's Alive (dir. Larry Cohen), Phase IV (dir. Saul Bass), Zardoz (dir. John Boorman), Flesh For Frankenstein (dir. Paul Morrissey), Blood For Dracula (dir. Paul Morrissey), Effi Briest (dir. Fassbinder), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (dir. Werner Herzog), Sweet Movie (dir. Dusan Makavejev), Madhouse (dir. Jim Clark)

Never seen: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (dir. Sam Peckinpah), Death Wish (dir. Michael Winner), Sugarland Express (dir. Steven Spielberg), California Split (dir. Robert Altman), The Phantom of Liberty (dir. Luis Buñuel), Celine and Julie Go Boating (dir. Jacques Rivette), The Night Porter (dir. Liliana Cavani), Dark Star (dir. John Carpenter), Swept Away (dir. Lina Wertmüller)

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What are your favorite movies of 1974?
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4 comments:

Pierce said...

• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore – Terrific, especially for Ellen Burstyn’s Oscar-winning performance. A pleasant surprise from Martin Scorcese
• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Beautiful, and the best thing Cicely Tyson’s ever done.
• Blazing Saddles – So damned funny!
• Butley – Alan Bates and Jessica Tandy. One of the best of those American Film Theater productions.
• Chinatown – I’ve seen it a couple of times, and don’t get the big deal over it. Not a fan of Faye Dunaway.
• The Conversation – Gene Hackman is tremendous in this classic!
• The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder – A pleasant surprise. Probably lost, but a really enjoyable movie.
• Daisy Miller – Bogdanovich’s attempt at a George Cukor movie. It should have been done in the 1940s with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier instead.
• Dark Star – One of John Carpenter’s first movies, great fun.
• Female Trouble – Divine’s finest performance.
• The Godfather Part II – A masterpiece. Better than the first one!
• The Great Gatsby – Beautiful, faithfully crafted movie. A superb film.
• Harry and Tonto – Art Carney’s heartfelt performance is remarkable.
• Lenny – Valerie Perrine is marvelous in this. It’s tough to sit through, and the first time I realized I don’t care for Dustin Hoffman.
• The Longest Yard – Burt Reynolds in a football comedy. Entertaining.
• Murder on the Orient Express – Delicious movie, just saw it on TV again last night, but the David Suchet is really better.
• The Sugarland Express – Early Spielberg. Goldie Hawn is sensational in it.
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three – A surprisingly good thriller.
• That's Entertainment! – An important documentary that reminds us how great MGM’s movie musical classics are.
• A Woman Under the Influence – Two words: Gena Rowlands
• Young Frankenstein – A comedy classic!

joel65913 said...

Ya there were a lot of great films this year. Glad we're allowed the extra three.

Murder on the Orient Express
Chinatown
Report to the Commissioner
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Parallex View
Lenny
Juggernaut
A Woman Under the Influence

Anonymous said...

What is that last GIF from?

Jason Adams said...

It's from Zardoz, anon