The Usual Choices
A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)
The French Connection (William Friedkin)
The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)
McCabe & Mrs Miller (Robert Altman)
Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg)
But how about...
Macbeth (Roman Polanski)
I have only ever read three Shakespearean tragedies (the other two being King Lear and Romeo & Juliet) and Macbeth was my very first at the tender age of fifteen. It blew me away as we read it aloud in class...then our English teacher took us to see the Polanski film...and then it really blew me away! Beautifully shot (the opening scene is stunning) with the focus being on the ruination of a good man by his inner evil rather than by his ambitious wife (she is the one who went nuts, after all). Sexy, muddy and above all, bloody, this film tends to get dismissed as a mere Playboy conceit...but that's bullshit. It's a work of violent art and more emotionally engrossing than any other Shakespearean movie ever made.
...and what about...
They Might Be Giants (Anthony Harvey)
Charming light comedy about insanity which doesn't do the usual: make the poor soul the target of ridicule. Clever in its premise (bereaved man believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes and uses this guise to try and locate the source of evil in this world; his analyst goes along with the charade and starts to believe it), the film is actually a camouflaged look at loneliness / social isolation in the big city. The plot wanders off-track a couple of times (a little too much with the whimsy) and the use of heartstring-tugging music is just wrong, but its overall quirkiness ropes you in. And George C. Scott as Sherlock and Joanne Woodward as Dr. Watson are an endearing movie couple.
...not to mention...
Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff)
I enjoy movies which target a nation's foibles 'n' flaws (well, make that ANOTHER nation's foibles 'n' flaws) and this movie gets the ugliness of Aussie mateship culture absolutely spot-on. Trust me, it really can be as bad as this: drinking & gambling & drinking & driving & shooting & fighting & hospitality as harassment & drinking & women as objects to have sex with after you have been drinking. All that's missing is the rampant racism & homophobia which are part of Blokedom. Gary Bond plays the tenderfoot perfectly, temporarily enjoying the ribaldry & abandon, then having to deal with what has been unleashed in himself and the people around him. This is horror without the gore.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Brother John (James Goldstone)
One of the most tedious and pretentious celluloid deliverances ever made. The film is about some well-travelled local bloke who always returns to his small town just before someone in his family dies. He pays his respects then skips out again, resuming his world tour. The local old-timer doctor is convinced there is something spiritual about this fella, and on his latest visit, shadows the guy to find out what is going on. This is a post-Sixties film which hasn't managed to let go, so it points out racial tensions ("you people"), union activism and civil unrest all over the land. Well, there's a hard wind a'blowin' and supremely serious Sidney Poitier is going to report back to God on all the inhumanity he has witnessed. And there's gonna be a reckoning, I reckon. Or something. Boring, heavy crap.
My Top 10 Films of 1971
 |
| Some days you eat the bear... and some days the bear eats you. |
#02 A The Last Valley (Clavell)
#03 A The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich)
#04 A Get Carter (Hodges)
#05 A The French Connection (Friedkin)
#06 A- Cold Turkey (Lear)
#07 A- Walkabout (Roeg)
#08 A- McCabe & Mrs Miller (Altman)
#09 A- They Might Be Giants (Harvey)
#10 A- Wake in Fright (Kotcheff)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- The Go-Between (Losey)
#12 B+ Klute (Pakula)
#13 B+ 10 Rillington Place (Fleischer)
#14 B+ Sunday, Bloody Sunday (Schlesinger)
#15 B+ Harold & Maude (Ashby)
#16 B+ Kidnapped (Mann)
#17 B+ Dirty Harry (Siegel)
#18 B+ Taking Off (Forman)
#19 B+ See No Evil / Blind Terror (Fleischer)
#20 B+ Going Home (Leonard)
#21 B+ Play Misty for Me (Eastwood)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B Born to Win [eternal giveaway: blatantly sarcastic title]
> B Carnal Knowledge [wants to be an insightful film for adults, but can't get past racy]
> B And Now for Something Completely Different [aka Monty Python's Greatest Hits...Before The Holy Grail]
> B THX 1138 [clever, inventive, striking...and more than a little boring]
> B Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory [all I ever seem to remember is the chicken being decapitated]
> B Mary, Queen of Scots [whenever Glenda Jackson is offscreen, proceedings go a little flat...Glenda Jackson...]
> B- Let's Scare Jessica to Death [crude 'n' creepy, but too many cliched horror elements stirred into the mix]
> B- The Beguiled [actually a sex-horror film; I'm not a fan of 1990's Misery either]
> B- Little Murders [wants to be a biting social satire, but is nasty urban hysterics instead]
> B- A Clockwork Orange [violence as appealing entertainment, so the whole supposed point is corrupted]
> B- Straw Dogs [violence as cathartic self-help experience; personal growth through shotgun]
> B- The Abominable Dr. Phibes [a horror-comedy that's not gruesome enough or funny enough]
> B- Nicholas and Alexandra [manages to make the end of the Romanov Dynasty seem like a Russian footnote]
> B- Diamonds are Forever [lesser Bond: setting, villains, stunts, Sean; everything is below par]
> B- Mr Forbush and the Penguins [watch 1983's Never Cry Wolf instead]
> B- Zeppelin [passable WWI actioner where the title role is the only interesting character]
> B- When Eight Bells Toll [a James Bond xerox with the wrong person turning up as the 007 clone]
> C The Night Digger [wants to be Psycho with a soft, feel-sorry-for-me centre]
> C Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song [important indie African American urban arty film...but I'm an Aussie]
> C The Blood on Satan's Claw [tries to out-horror Hammer, but doesn't]
> D Flight of the Doves [boring runaway-kids-pursued-by-mean-uncle film that can't even find charm in Ireland]
> D The Nightcomers [Ever wondered what corrupted the Turn of the Screw kids? Don't watch this.]
> D What's the Matter With Helen? [Shelley Winters gets religion and slashes some bunnies]
> E Brother John [A Personal Unmentionable]
> E The Devils [so horrible, it's funny...twice...]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1971 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
The Anderson Tapes (Lumet); The Andromeda Strain (Wise); Bless the Beasts and Children (Kramer); Carry On Henry (Thomas); Creatures the World Forgot (Chaffey); Dad’s Army (Cohen); Demons of the Mind / Black Evil / Nightmare of Terror
(Sykes); Desperate Characters (Gilroy); $ / Dollars (Brooks); Drive, He Said (Nicholson); Family Life (Loach); Fiddler on the Roof (Jewison); Fools Parade (McLaglen); Fright (Collinson); The Grissom Gang (Aldrich); Gumshoe (Frears); The Hospital (Hiller); Johnny Got His Gun (Trumbo); J. W. Coop (Robertson); Lawman (Winner); Made For Each Other (Bean); The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (Turman); Melody / S.W.A.L.K. (Hussein); A New Leaf (May); The Organization (Medford); The Panic in Needle Park (Schatzberg); The Pursuit of Happiness (Mulligan); The Raging Moon (Forbes); Red Sky at Morning (Goldstone); Skin Game (Bogart; Douglas); Such Good Friends (Preminger); The Todd Killings (Shear); Two-Lane Blacktop (Hellman); Unman, Wittering and Zigo (Mackenzie); Vampire Circus (Young); Vanishing Point (Sarafian); Wild Rovers (Edwards); Willard (Mann)
Best Performances of 1971
Julie Christie in McCabe & Mrs Miller
Peter Finch in Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Jane Fonda in Klute
Gene Hackman in The French Connection
Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show
Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show
Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange
But how about...
Mia Farrow in See No Evil / Blind Terror
The hassle with sighted actors playing blind is that they usually aren't terribly convincing (must be tricky). Kudos to Mia in this then; from the first moment she appears, she appears blind (her underfed, gamine, slightly-crosseyed look that was her Sixties trademark assists her with that). The scenes where she wanders through an English mansion, settling herself down for the night, unknowingly surrounded by bloodshed and bodies, is creepy. As she is stalked by a maniac with a boot fetish, we truly feel the magnification of fear and frustration that being in the permanent dark must have.
...and what about...
George Segal in Born to Win
One of the very best portrayals of a complete loser. Groovy New York junkie George seemingly enjoys his wallow in the lowlife, resorting to petty or opportune crime to feed his habit. Despite occasional glimpses of possible redemption and personal reinvention, George bumbles along, getting himself deeper and deeper into some serious shit. It is to the actor's credit that he still manages to command audience attention and a certain amount of sympathy, despite the obvious lack of an ethical compass. Pathetic has rarely been so interesting.
...not to mention...
Richard Attenborough & John Hurt in 10 Rillington Place
Featuring two of the greatest performances of the 70's, this film is about the life and deeds of looney-toons killer John Christie. Richard plays the psychopath with an absolute chill, the placing of his calm facade into a British kitchen-sink setting giving my teenage self nightmares for weeks. And John is his hapless, pathetic scapegoat, a little loser whose response to his manipulated fate is brilliantly portrayed. It is the best work of both actors, and the most perfect humanization of cat-and-mouse ever presented on celluloid. True horror.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Vincent Price in The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Sheer and unabashed hamminess was always the trademark of Vincent Price and many a horror film smacked of campy because of it. But, as TADP proves, if Vincent plays it straight and subdued, it's even worse. As the deranged doctor, Vincent doesn't move a facial muscle, glares unblinkingly just to one side of the camera and, most detrimentally, keeps his mouth shut. Talking haltingly via a pipe to his throat, all of the flamboyant vocal flourishes which we are used to from the actor are gone. This results in something which is unforgivable in a horror film: a monstrous villain who is boring.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1971
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| The Alice Springs All-Boys College. When they send you to Coventry, they don't muck about. |
#02 Jane Fonda in Klute
#03 Richard Attenborough in 10 Rillington Place
#04 Michael Caine in Get Carter
#05 Michael Caine in The Last Valley
#06 Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show
#07 George C. Scott & Joanne Woodward in They Might Be Giants
#08 Gene Hackman in The French Connection
#09 Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show
#10 Glenda Jackson in Mary, Queen of Scots
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Ruth Gordon & Bud Cort in Harold & Maude
#12 George Segal in Born to Win
#13 Mia Farrow in See No Evil / Blind Terror
#14 Donald Pleasence in Wake in Fright
#15 Gary Bond in Wake in Fright
#16 Glenda Jackson in Sunday, Bloody Sunday
#17 The ensemble cast of Cold Turkey
#18 Julie Christie in McCabe & Mrs Miller
#19 Peter Finch in Sunday, Bloody Sunday
#20 Ellen Burstyn in The Last Picture Show
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Janet Suzman in Nicholas and Alexandra [a dull performance]
> Michael Jayston in Nicholas and Alexandra [a dull performance too]
> Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange [charismatic to the hilt but for wrong reasons]
> Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry [an NRA Icon, which is bad enough for me]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1971 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Macbeth (Roman Polanski)
SILVER: The Last Valley (James Clavell)
BRONZE: The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Richard Attenborough (10 Rillington Place)
SILVER: Michael Caine (Get Carter)
BRONZE: Michael Caine (The Last Valley)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Jane Fonda (Klute)
SILVER: Mia Farrow (See No Evil / Blind Terror)
BRONZE: Glenda Jackson (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: John Hurt (10 Rillington Place)
SILVER: Ben Johnson (The Last Picture Show)
BRONZE: Donald Pleasence (Wake in Fright)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Cloris Leachman (The Last Picture Show)
SILVER: Glenda Jackson (Mary, Queen of Scots)
BRONZE: Ellen Burstyn (The Last Picture Show)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: George C. Scott & Joanne Woodward (They Might Be Giants)
SILVER: Ruth Gordon & Bud Cort (Harold & Maude)
BRONZE: The ensemble cast (Cold Turkey)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: David Gulpilil (Walkabout)
SILVER: Dominic Guard (The Go-Between)
BRONZE: TBA
The Alternate Razzies for 1971 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Brother John (James Goldstone)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Vincent Price (The Abominable Dr. Phibes)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Vanessa Redgrave (The Devils)
