Category Archives: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Dawn of the Dead
Directed by George A. Romero
Written by George A. Romero
1978/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: This isn’t the Republicans versus the Democrats, where we’re in a hole economically or… or we’re in another war. This is more crucial than that. This is down to the line, folks, this is down to the line. There can be no more divisions among the living!

George Romero turns the gore up to eleven while at that same time making sardonic digs at consumer culture.

Two of Philadelphia’s SWAT police officers, a traffic reporter and his girlfriend are forced to hole up in a shopping mall by marauding hordes of zombies.  The zombies are also attracted to the mall by some instinctive vague memory of that is where they should go. The mall includes a gun store and the four blow away dozens of their slow-moving foes.

Finally, a group of non-zombie thugs spot the mall and get the same idea.  Then things get much worse.

This movie is non-stop bloody action and is really a ton of fun.  The blood is so over-the-top that it doesn’t disgust or horrify.  It looks like the cast must have had a lot of fun making it.  Recommended if the description appeals

Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman
1978/Sweden
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

Eva: A mother and a daughter, what a terrible combination.

Another beautiful Bergman film about people’s inability to connect.

Eva (Liv Ullmann) is a rather mousey woman who has married a parson.  They have no children but Eva likes looking her after her severely disabled sister Helena (Lena Nyman). She invites her mother Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman, who has just lost her long-time partner, to spend a few days or weeks with them.  Charlotte agrees and Eva is elated to see her again after seven years.  Charlotte is a famous concert pianist who has spent most of her time touring since Eva was a child.  She has simply tried to ignore the existence of Helena and is not pleased she wasn’t told in advance she would also be at Eva’s house.

Charlotte is self-absorbed and has neglected her children in favor of her career.  We later learn that Eva was lessmiserable when her mother was on the road than when she was at home and her mother tried to “fix” her.

During the visit, Eva lets out her pent-up rage.

Bergman and Bergman make a good combination.  And certainly Ullmann always disappears into her parts.  It’s a deep and disturbing movie.  Recommended.

Autumn Sonata was nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Actress (Bergman) and Best Original Screenplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxA94uSQ-t0

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Days of Heaven
Directed by Terrence Malick
Written by Terrence Malick
1978/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Linda: This farmer, he had a big spread, and a lot of money. Whoever was sitting in a chair when he’d come around, why they’d stand up and give it to him. Wasn’t no harm in him. You’d give him a flower, he’d keep it forever.

Beautiful in every way.

The year is 1916.  The country is full of poor immigrants and the film begins with a photo montage of these people.  Bill (Richard Gere) works at a steel foundry in Chicago.  He gets in a disagreement with the foreman and knocks him down.  Bill, his sister Linda (Linda Manz), and his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) set forth to hide out as migrant farm laborers on the Great Plains.  Bill and Abby pretend to be brother and sister.  The work on the farm is very hard but the city folk also enjoy the fresh air and the scenery.

The Farmer (Sam Shephard) has prospered and built a grand house in the middle of his fields.  He spots Abby and is immediately attracted to her.  Bill overhears a doctor telling The Farmer he has about a year to live.  Bill starts to push Abby to reciprocate The Farmer’s attentions.  She isn’t enthusiastic but eventually agrees to marry him so that she and Bill will get his money.

But The Farmer treats Abby very well.  His health stays the same – not better or worse.  And Abby gradually falls in love with him.  Bill can’t stay away and many forms of tragedy ensue.

I’ve seen this several times and it has never let me down.  It is all magnificent from the eerily poetic narration by Linda Manz to the acting and production design.  The cinematography and Ennio Morricone score are stunning.  The whole thing is bathed in golden light.  All the details feel very authentic.  It’s a uniquely American story of ambition, hard work, greed and the vast beautiful countryside. Highly recommended.

Nestor Almendroz won the Oscar for Best Cinematography.  The film was nominated in the categories of Best Costume Design, Best Sound and Best Music, Original Score.

The Hills Have Eyes
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Wes Craven
1977/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
One of 1000 Greatest Horror Films on They Kill Zombies, Don’t They

Brenda Carter: We’re gonna be french fries! Human french fries!

Wes Craven dials the “sadistic cannibal mutants attack family” genre up to eleven.

Retired detective Bob Carter, his wife, son and daughter and their significant others are traveling in the desert in search of an old silver mine, accompanied by a four month old baby.  They take a short cut that deposits them in the middle of nowhere in a broken R.V. Their dogs “Beauty” and “Beast” run off and the men scatter in many directions to find help and/or the dogs.

Unfortunately for the Carters, they are in a wasteland inhabited by a cannibal clan who could be best described as “the scum of the earth”.  They are hungry for human meat, particularly tender young baby, and relish in making each killing as sadistic and grizzly as possible.

The movie is one scene after another of murders and attempted murders as well as a lot of verbal abuse.  The DVD cover describes the movie as “harrowing and nasty”. I agree. It goes right over the top but not in an amusing way.  Recommended only for those with high tolerance for gore and female screaming.

Sleeping Dogs
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Written by Ian Mune and Arthur Baysting from a novel by Christian K. Stead
1977/New Zealand
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Col. Willoughby: [to Smith] I got my eye on you, boy. I got my eye on you really good.

This is a decent action flick set in a dystopian alternative reality New Zealand.

The setting is a New Zealand that has seen political and labor unrest due to an oil boycott.  A fascist government has taken over and the situation has now descended to a war between the government and the resistance.  Apolitical Smith (Sam Neill) has just split up with his wife and has made arrangements to live on an idyllic Maori island with a dog he has just acquired.  Things go swimmingly for awhile.

Then Smith is falsely accused of a bombing a nearby town.  He is now on the run from government forces.  Soon enough the resistance comes by to enlist him in confronting them.

This is an OK movie.  I don’t know that I needed to see it before I died though.

Ceddo
Directed by Ousmane Sembene
Written by Ousmane Sembene
1977/Senegal
IMDb page
First viewing, YouTube
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

All religion seems to need to prove that it’s the only truth. And that’s where it turns demonic. Because that’s when you get religious wars and persecutions and burning heretics at the stake. — John Shelby Spong

Good insight into one African’s take on the slave trade and conversion to Islam.  Unfortunately it moves very slowly and still I could not keep the characters straight.

The setting is in West Africa.  The year is not given.  One might think the story occurred in the 17th or 18th Century.  The score feels very 1977.

“Ceddo” means outsiders.  I don’t know which of the competing groups is referred to.  Anyway, as the story start an imam and a large group of Muslims visit a tribal village.  The people practice their native religion. Lines of heredity run from Uncle to nephew.  The imam has his sites set on usurping the king and forcing the inhabitants to convert.  The imam’s first movie is to have the King’s daughter Princess Dior Yacine kidnapped.  He then slays the King and all of his potential heirs.

The imam basically gives the inhabitants two choices.  They can convert to Islam and accept him as their leader or they will be sold to the slave traders (as represented by a trader and a priest sitting on the sidelines).  The village will put up resistance.

I watched this on YouTube in a version that had English subtitles superimposed on the French subtitles so that neither could be read easily.  I couldn’t catch the plot and the film lost me part way in.  I imagine if I knew more about African history, I would have enjoyed the film more.  It must have been very personal to the director as one of the Muslim converts receives the name “Ousmane” at the naming ceremony.  The film was banned for many years in Senegal for portraying Islam in a negative light.  I wouldn’t call this a must-see.

Eraserhead
Directed by David Lynch
Written by David Lynch
1977/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
One of 1000 Greatest Horror Movies on They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They

Mary X: You wouldn’t mind marrying me, would you Henry?
Henry Spencer: Well… No.

David Lynch’s feature debut is a dark surrealist nightmare with a very obscure plot and spectacular staging, cinematography, and effects.

When he is not on vacation as he is currently, Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) works in a printing plant.  He is passive and eccentric in the extreme.  He is dating Mary, who is also very strange.  The grime of the urban wasteland in which he lives is echoed in the soundtrack of industrial noise which grows stronger to accompany key moments in the film.

One night Henry comes home to his apartment and is told by his sexy across the hall neighbor that Mary has called and invited him to meet her parents at a dinner they are hosting.  At the extremely awkward dinner, Henry learns that Mary has given birth and the child is his.  He agrees to marry Mary.

The “baby” is a deformed alien looking creature.  While the cries and noises of the baby are not out of the ordinary, they drive Mary crazy and she goes home to mother.  Henry is left to tend to his offspring alone.  Immediately, the baby becomes really ill and starts making wheezing noises etc. It breaks out in spots.

Henry copes as best he can and has numerous adventures in his own mind.

For all its critical acclaim, I was not looking forward to watching this film.  I tend to hate surrealist movies with little plot.  In addition, there are long sections with no dialogue.  But I’m so glad I gave it a chance.  The images are stunning and destined to linger in the memory.  The poster says it is a “horror” movie but it is so much more. The film clearly perfectly achieved the creators’ intent, and that is enough for a recommendation from me.

The Ascent (Voskozhdenie)
Directed by Larisa Shepitko
Written by Yuri Klepikov and Larisa Shepitko from a novel by Vasily Bykov
1977/USSR
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Rybak: Fool! You’re a fool, Sotnikov. You graduated from the institute for nothing. I want to live! To live! To kill those bastards! Understand? I’m the soldier. And you’re a corpse. All you’ve got left is your stubbornness – your principles!

I may be maxing out on”horrors of war” movies, even movies as exquisitely shot and thoughtful as this one.

During The Great Patriotic War two partisans, Sotnikov and Rybak are escorting a group of displaced people.  The group has little food so Sotnikov and Rybak go on a mission to see if they can find some.  Before they can return to their comrades they are intercepted by Germans who shoot Sotnikov in the leg.  He bears a hundred yard stare reminiscent of Maria Falconetti’s in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). Clearly his days are numbered. The two men make an arduous journey through deep snow and hide in the humble house of a woman and her three children.  The  woman isn’t exactly thrilled to be hiding soldiers on the run but she does not turn them away.

The Germans arrive not long after and everyone in the village is taken in for questioning, minus the children who are simply left behind.  Sotnikov refuses to tell them anything despite terrible torture.  Rybak maintains that they don’t know anything anyway and their first duty is to remain alive so they can kill more Germans.  Rybak is offered a job in the local collaborationist police force.  Others of the prisoners are eager to spill what little they know,  In fact, the exercise is rmerely a disproportional reprisal for the death of a German (killed by Sotnikov).

This movie really is exquisitely shot.  The Russian winter vistas look splendid.  It asks some important questions about duty to country/community vs. duty to self.  Clearly the USSR soldiers are second to none. The pacing is very measured, making the movie feel longer than its 111 minutes. The score is lovely.  But I’m hitting my limit of times I can watch films that are just one cruel break after another.

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Suspiria
Directed by Dario Argento
Written by Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi
1977/Italy
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
One of 1000 Greatest Horror Movies on They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They?

Madame Blanc: We must get rid of that bitch of an American girl. Vanish! She must vanish! Make her disappear! Understand? Vanish, she must vanish. She must die! Die! Die! Helena, give me power. Sickness! Sickness! Away with her! Away with trouble. Death, death, death!

Dario Argento throws everything but the kitchen sink at a very slight plot to create the ultimate slasher film.

Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), a young dancer, has been accepted as a student at a prestigious dance academy in Germany.  She takes a taxi to the place in torrential rain and is denied entrance by a feminine voice who says something unintelligible including the words “secret” and “iris”.

When she is finally admitted, she discovers the academy is decorated in an extravagant combination of pop art and art nouveau.  The staff is very, very creepy.  Soon people start dropping like flies.

Suzy wants to get to the bottom of these goings on (somehow the police are never called) and puts herself in greater and greater danger.  Blah, blah, blah … something to do with witches.

OK, I could hardly follow the plot not that it matters much.  What we do have in plenty is highly stylish art direction, brilliant cinematography – much of which is saturated in various colors, and some of the most inventively gruesome murders you will ever see.  No kidding,  the sinister imagination in evidence here is amazing.  If you like giallo movies of this sort, I can highly recommend.  I’m glad I watched it but will not be doing so again.

Fan-made Trailer – better quality print and more representative of the film

Saturday Night Fever
Directed by John Badham
Written by Norman Wexler based on a story by Nik Cohn
1977/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Tony Manero: You make it with some of these chicks, they think you gotta dance with them.

Ugly story.  Fantastic music.

Tony Manero (John Travolta) lives in Brooklyn with his critical family, hangs out with his scumbag friends, and works selling paint.  The high point of his week is Saturday night when he is the undisputed best dancer at the local disco and the object of lust for all the ladies.  There is to be a contest with a $500 prize for the best couple.  He badly wants to win this.  So he starts practicing with his adoring usual partner Annette whom he won’t give the time of day to off the floor.

Then he meets Stephanie, an upwardly mobile secretary who happens to be just his type and a fantastic dancer to boot.  They start practicing.

This is an extremely misogynistic movie and I really don’t care to discuss all the disgusting things that happen in it.  Stephanie may be the only thing that can save Tony from being as bad as the rest of his friends.

I put this on for the music.  The plot was just as melodramatic and awful as I remembered it to be from the other times I have seen it.  I recommend buying the soundtrack album.

John Travolta was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and was excellent both in  his character and as a dancer.