1974

Best Director-winning Francis Ford Coppola’s critically-acclaimed gangster epic sequel The Godfather, Part II (1974), — actually a prequel — became the first ‘sequel’ to win Best Picture. It would help launch the trend toward blockbuster sequels. It was the first instance that a sequel received the subtitle of Part II.

At the Oscar ceremony in 1975, Howard Hawks received an Honorary Oscar inscribed “A master American filmmaker whose creative efforts hold a distinguished place in world cinema.” Jean Renoir received one that said “A genius who, with grace, responsibility and enviable devotion through silent film, sound film, feature, documentary and television has won the world’s admiration.”

We lost Samuel Goldwyn, Patricia Collinge, Betty Compson, Duke Ellington, Agnes Moorhead, Donald Crisp, Otto Kruger, Walter Brennan, Vittorio De Sica, Pietro Germi, Anatole Litvak, and Jack Benny.  Chevy Chase, Jeff Goldblum, Edward James Olmos. and John Rhys Davies made their film debuts.

Following impeachment hearings started on May 9th  Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency on August 9th, making him the first and only President to do so. His vice president, Gerald Ford, took office after him and soon gave Nixon a full pardon for his wrongdoing.

Inflation continued to spiral out of control around the world reaching 11.3% in the USA and 17.2% in the UK as the global recession deepened.  A 55 MPH maximum speed limit was imposed in the U.S. to conserve gasoline.  Daylight Savings Time started in January to conserve power.  President Ford announced an amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.  Heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

“The Way We Were” spent three weeks on the Billboard charts making it the number one single of 1974 in the US.  There were no Pulitzer Prizes awarded for fiction or drama.  Time magazine named King Faisal of Saudi Arabia “man of the year for 1974.” The magazine said the king was “a principal factor” in quadrupling oil prices, and that he “holds more power than any other leader to lower or raise, them” in the future.

Syria and Israel agreed to a ceasefire on the Golan Heights on June 5. Isabel Peron, Juan Peron’s third wife, became President of Argentina after the death of her husband, making her the first female president in the world.  Soviet authorities expelled author Alexander Solzhenitsyn,  revoking his Russian citizenship.

The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang was discovered at Xi’an, China. The skeleton “Lucy”, a distant ancestor of man, was discovered in Ethiopia.

The Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner was developed.  Pocket calculators appeared in the shops.  A very primitive word processor came in use.  The UPC bar code was introduced.

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Here is the short list I will pick from for the year.  Suggestions and warnings welcome.