Category Archives: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Sleeper
Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/My DVD collection
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Miles Monroe: My brain? It’s my second favorite organ!

One of the last of Woody Allen’s silly movies, this combines slapstick humor, random gags, and satire.  It’s pretty funny and we find out that Mid-20th Century Modern architecture still convinces as futuristic in 2173.

Miles Munroe (Allen) was a clarinetist and health food store owner way back in 1973. Complications of a minor surgery cause his body to be cryogenically frozen.  He is illegally thawed out in 2173 by scientists who want to use him to help revolutionaries in the Underground infiltrate the secret Aires project.  The above ground society is ruled by a Great Leader and questions nothing.  The conformists are also frigid and have sex with the help of an orgasmatron machine.

Miles undergoes many obstacles on his way to Aries project disguised as a robot.  First he shows up at the door of Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton), a conformist and very bad poet.  She is terrified but eventually helps him.

En route Luna becomes a member of the underground and convinces a very reluctant Miles to become involved in revolution.

This movie is one gag after another – if one doesn’t make you laugh, the next probably will.  We see Allen taking on increasingly sophisticated projects from a production point of view and this looks pretty fabulous. Recommended for those looking for a good time.  Allen wrote the Dixieland jazz score.

This concludes my viewing for 1973. I finally got my hands on a Sleeper DVD I could play on my player the very last day!

Mean Streets
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Martin Scorsese and Matdik Martin
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Charlie: Don’t be smart, Johnny.
Johnny Boy: What do you mean? I ain’t smart. I’m stupid. Remember? I’m so stupid you gotta look out for me. Right? Right?

Martin Scorsese comes into his own by going back to his roots.

The story is set in New York City in the mid-1960’s.  Charlie (Harvey Keitel) is a debt collector for his uncle.  He knows how to survive on the mean streets of Little Italy yet is haunted by his Catholic indocrination.  He gets along well with the uncle who wants to set him up in his own restaurant.

His best friend is the unhinged, possibly psychopathic, Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro).  He owes money to everybody dumb enough to give him a loan.  He owes $1800 plus interest to tough guy Michael Longo.  Michael begins to feel like he is being played for a chump and is counting on Charlie to get his money for him.

Charlie gets mixed up in this mess partly out of friendship for Johnny Boy and partly because of his his intimate relationship with Teresa (Amy Richardson), Johnny Boy’s cousin.  As the story goes on Johnny Boy becomes more and more erratic and starts fooling around with guns.  But Charlie can’t seem to abandon him.  Let’s just say none of this is going to end well.

There are some amazing complex shots and sequences in this movie that show Scorsese’s assured mastery over filmmaking.  Add to some fine acting – this was De Niro’s first collaboration with the director – and fabulous production values.  The movie contains Scorsese’s signature oldies score, and his themes around Catholicism and machismo.  Not Scorsese’s best film by any means but nevertheless recommended.

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This may be the last 1001 List film I watch for 1973.  One time with The Exorcist was enough for me.  I am really sad I can’t find Sleeper anywhere except for purchase in DVD Region 2 editions.  Based on descriptions, I’m skipping The Mother and the Whore, Turkish Delight and Pat Garret and Billy the Kid unless I get some reader recommendations to change my mind. I’m on the last lap of 1973 which will  “end” on January 15.

Don’t Look Now
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Written by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant from a story by Daphne Du Maurier
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
One of 1000 Great Horror Movies on theyshootzombies.com

Laura Baxter: This one who’s blind. She’s the one that can see.

Roeg uses his cinematographer’s eye to stun us with variations on the color red and the gritty side of Venice, Italy.  All this beauty accompanies the well-acted, horrifying and tragic story of a couple trying to come to terms with the drowning death of their daughter.

John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura (Julie Christie) Baxter are a happily married couple living in England.  John is a renowned church restorer.  They have two children, Christine and Johnny.  One day, Christine drowns in a pond on their property.  John had a premonition and was running to his daughter before his son called out to him.

After an unspecified period of time, John and Laura put their son in boarding school and move to Venice, Italy where John is friendly with the local bishop and working hard on restoring a church dear to him.  John is deeply immersed in his work so has that outlet but Laura is sad all the time.

One day, they are eating in a restaurant where two ladies are staring at them.  One of the them has something in her eye and Laura offers to help.  It is then that she discovers the two are sisters and the blind one is a psychic.  The blind one tells Laura she saw her little girl sitting beside her and the girl was laughing and happy.  This makes Laura like a new woman.

John believes the psychic is a fraud and discourages Laura from seeing the sisters.  But Laura sneaks off anyway.  The psychic tells Laura John is in great danger and should leave Venice immediately.  John thinks this is hogwash.  Then he starts having some very disturbing visions.  I’ll stop here.  The film has an unforgettable ending.

Everything about this movie is so well done.  Roeg creates some fabulous montage sequences, including a notorious one in which we watch the Baxters make love intercut with their dressing for dinner.  The Venice of this movie is not the tourist Venice but a city that is decaying with age, creating a really creepy mysterious atmosphere.  The acting is perfect and the score is beautiful.  Be prepared to endure some real tragedy along with your scares.  Highly recommended.

High Plains Drifter
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Ernest Tidyman
1973/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Sarah Belding: I knew you were cruel, but I didn’t know how far you could go.
The Stranger: Well, you still don’t.

This movie lost me after the violent rape at the beginning.  It proceeds to get more violent, bloody and cruel.

Clint Eastwood known only as “The Stranger” rides into the little Western town of Lago. He first kills the three gunmen who have been protecting the town. Then pretty  young Callie Travers (Marianna Hill) deliberately runs into him.  She complains he tore her dress.  Then she gives him some lip so he takes her to a barn and violently rapes her. Later she voluntarily sleeps with her rapist, though with ill intent.

The Stranger has nightmares about the town’s former Marshall who was horrifically whipped to death in Lago by multiple men (we see this in excruciating detail) because he threatened to reveal the town’s secret.

After the killing of their gunmen, the town’s leaders decide that The Stranger is the man to take care of three outlaws who have been released from prison and have threatened to burn down the town.  The Stranger is initially reluctant but an offer of anything/anything he wants convinces him to take on the job.  What he wants especially is to destroy the town along with the outlaws.  He forces the people to do many incomprehensible things.  The movie builds to an elaborate violent climax in which the the Stranger’s plan comes together.

I really didn’t want to watch this after the rape.  But I persevered and saw the entire thing, which was also too violent and cruel for me.  Obviously this is on The List and seems to have many fans on IMDb.  So I am in the minority here.  Actually, there is nothing really wrong with the movie and those with thicker skin than mine might love it.

The Wicker Man
Directed by Robin Hardy
Written by Anthony Shaffer from a novel by David Pinner
1973/UK
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Lord Summerisle [quoting Walt Whitman): I think I could turn and live with animals. They are so placid and self-contained. They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins. They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God. Not one of them kneels to another or to his own kind that lived thousands of years ago. Not one of them is respectable or unhappy, all over the earth.

What an unusual and fantastic movie!

Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) visits Summerisle in search of a missing girl. The residents are very reluctant to provide information absent the authorization of Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee).  In any event, all deny ever knowing such a girl.

Howie, a devout Christian, is appalled to find that the islanders have adopted a pagan religion, which features a fertility cult and celebrates the gods of nature.  Many of the songs they sing strike Howie as obscene.  He will gradually find out more about the religion and more about the fate of the missing girl.

Howie’s investigations will get him deeper and deeper into a place he does not want to be. It would be wrong to reveal any additional details of the plot.  With Diane Cliento and Britt Ekland as islanders.

I knew next to nothing about this movie and  just loved it  Goes straight on the Favorite New-to-Me Movie list.  I cannot think of a single thing that could be improved.  It is powerful, creepy, and scary without being overly gory.  Highly Recommended.

The Long Goodbye
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Leigh Brackett from a novel by Raymond Chandler
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Marty Augustine: It’s a minor crime, to kill your wife. The major crime is that he stole my money. Your friend stole my money, and the penalty for that is capital punishment.

Altman’s reimagination of Philip Marlowe for sunny 70’s California works better than might be expected.

Elliott Gould plays Philip Marlowe as a straight-arrow smart-ass.  He is stuck in the 40’s , wears a suit at all times and maintains a strictly platonic relationship with the dope-smoking topless blondes dancing on the opposing balcony.  As the movie opens, Marlowe’s greatest challenge is to find the correct brand of cat food for his finicky cat in the middle of the night.

But later that night, Marlowe’s friend Terry Lennox drops in.  He says the police are unjustly pursuing him for the murder of his wife.  He asks Marlowe to take him to Mexico.  Marlowe is convinced Terry is innocent and complies.

Upon his return, he finds a group of thugs (including an uncredited Arnold Schwarzenegger) in his house.  They are sure Terry murdered his wife but they are more concerned about the $350,000 Terry owes them.

Marlowe returns to Mexico.  The police tell him Terry has committed suicide.  Marlowe does not believe this either and looks up Terry’s friends Roger (Sterling Hayden) and Eileen (Nina van Pallandt) Wade.  Roger is drying out at a sanitorium run by Dr. Verringer (Henry Gibson).  Marlowe frees Roger, who is a real character.  The plot has numerous twists and turns and I will stop here.

This is neo-noir played out mostly in the bright sunshine of the Pacific Coast.  Altman uses the contrast between the old-timey Marlowe and the thoroughly corrupt rest of the cast to great effect.  It’s more light-hearted than most noirs and Gould is snappy with the one-liners.  John Williams created an evocative score using variations on the first two lines of the theme song.  Recommended.

Serpico
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from a book by Peter Maas
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Tom Keough: Frank, let’s face it. Who can trust a cop who don’t take money?

Somethings never change.  The thin blue line is one of them.  Al Pacino is a force of nature as Frank Serpico, an honest cop who risked his life to expose rampant corruption within the NYPD.

The story occurs in New York City from 1960-1972.  Policemen didn’t earn large salaries on the NYPD in the mid-20th century, but the job came with many “benefits”, most of which were illegal.  Frank Serpico enters the force as an eager young rookie and is almost immediately indoctrinated into the culture.  It starts with a free lunch.  Then he witnesses payoffs.  He honestly believes the brass will care.  They do not appreciate his information.  Serpico was already in disfavor with his colleagues for not accepting money and they get more suspicious and dangerous as the years drag on.

Serpico is transferred to the narcotics squad where he finds the possible booty corrupt cops can skim from drug deals can range in the 10’s of thousands of dollars.  The stakes are never higher.  Serpico finally gets his superiors to believe him, but only at a terrible cost.

It’s so good to see these great actors in their prime.  Somehow most of them had problems reining in a performance as they aged.  Anyway, Pacino here ranges from tenderness to explosive rage and it’s all perfectly believable.  Storywise, I suppose nothing is new. Whistleblowers will never be popular.  Worth seeing.

Al Pacino was nominated for a  Best Actor Oscar and Salt and Wexler were nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

F for Fake
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Orson Welles
1973/France/Iran/West Germany
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Orson Welles: What we professional liars hope to serve is truth. I’m afraid the pompous word for that is “art”.

What is this?  It’s not a documentary, nor a mockumentary, nor a fiction film.  Let’s call it a fun essay on the junction between truth and lies.

The setting is the resort island of Ibiza.  Director Orson Welles, writer Clifford Irving, and painter Elmyr De Hory are enjoying the jet setter life style.  They are all tricksters in one way or another.  Irving famously faked an autobiography of Howard Hughes.  Prior to that he had written the book “Fake” about the prodigious forged output of Elmyr.

Welles is gleeful as he explores the question of the value of art without a name and a certificate of authentication behind it.  If a forged Modigliani is indistinguishable from a real one is the fake the lesser work of art?  Welles also gets a chance to perform magic tricks, tell impossible sounding stories, talk about the famous “War of the Worlds” broadcast, and generally pontificate.   With Oja Kodar, Welles’ real-life girlfriend, as a young beauty who walks out of Picasso’s life with 27 original portraits.

I had fun watching this.  It’s interesting without necessarily being a must-see IMHO, unless, of course, you are a Welles completist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twlA_yzagXo

Badlands
Directed by Terence Malick
Written by Terence Malick
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Holly Sargis: [voiceover] In the stench and slime of the feedlot he’d remember how I’d looked the night before. How I ran my hand through his hair and traced the outline of his lips with my fingertip. He wanted to die with me, and I dreamed of being lost forever in his arms.

In his debut, Terence Malick proves himself to be a master of poetry and light.

The story takes place in 1959 in the Badlands of South Dakota and Montana.  Holly (Sissy Spacek) is a 15-year-old girl practicing her piano and baton lessons.  Most of her ideas about life seem to have come from true confession and movie magazines.  Kit (Martin Sheen) is a self-obsessed 25-year-old who is being fired from his job as a garbage man as the movie starts.  He gets work at the local cattle yards but is really not cut out for employment.  He fancies himself as having the looks and cool of James Dean.  When he spots Holly out twirling her baton, she agrees with him and they are soon having a romance.  Holly’s father (Warren Oates) tries to put a stop to this so Kit shoots him and sets the house on fire.  Holly and Kit hit the road.

The remainder of the movie follows the trajectory of Kit and Holly as they cross the wide open spaces of Great Plains.  Kit proves himself a psychopath who is capable of killing for any reason or no reason at all.  The couple try to build a hideout and home in a woods but this is short lived.

I love the sparse landscape and dialogue which is so plain and poetic at the same time. The actors are perfect for their parts and the cinematography is glorious.  For a movie with so many murders, this is far more about mood than it is about action or suspense.  It has held up well over time and I recommend it.

Amarcord
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Federico Fellini and Tonino Guerra
1973/Italy
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Oliva: Uncle Teo’s up a tree!

I usually say 8 1/2 (1963) is my favorite Fellini film.  After rewatching this one, I’m not so sure.

The title means “I Remember” in the dialect of Rimini where Fellini grew up.  Fellini says the film is not autobiographical though some of the incidents come from his childhood.  If Rimini was anything like this is was full of some real “characters”!

Anyway, the film covers one year in teenager Titta’s (Bruno Zanin) life, beginning and ending with puffballs signaling Spring.  Titta lives in the countryside with his crazy parents, senile grandfather, and vain uncle.  The parents yell at each other non-stop.  In fact, this movie is full of loud, volatile Italians shouting at each other.

Mussolini is in power and this is mostly quite OK with the residents of Rimini, with the exception of Titta’s father.  

Titta and his chums are all at the height of teenage horniness and much bawdy comedy is milked from this fact.  The plot is highly episodic and each of the episodes are pretty wonderful.  The fantasy Mussolini parade and wedding; the nympho La Volpina; the busty tobacconist, town beauty Gradisca (Magali Noël) and her friends; Uncle Teo up in the tree; the town going out to gaze at the cruise ship; snow! – all of these are small gems.

This is the warmest and funniest of the Fellini films I’ve seen by far with nary a sign of introspection or dissatisfaction.  Even death is treated in a matter of fact way.  The movie just makes me feel good.  It’s fun to look at the world again through the eyes of a teenager. Fellini continues to prove himself a master at wrestling a great film from thousands of moving parts.  Highly recommended.

Amarcord was Oscar-nominated for Best Director and Best Writing, Original Screenplay.