I have now watched 46 films that were released in 1970. A complete list of the films I saw can be found here. My favorites are listed in alphabetical order. I left off the excellent short documentaries Original Cast Album: Companyand 7 Plus Seven. From the List, I either couldn’t find or had no interest in seeing Deep End; Zabrieski Point; and The Spider’s Stratagem.
I do believe this might be the first time every film on my favorites list has been in color!
Brewster McCloud Directed by Robert Altman Written by Doran William Cannon 1970/US IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime Rental
The Lecturer: In these words, the German poet Goethe expressed man’s desire to fly, “How I yearn to throw myself into endless space and float above the awful abyss.”
A murder mystery with no solution, a fairy tale with no happy ending, and all around chaos mark this early work by director Robert Altman.
The film is set in an alternative universe somewhat similar to that we know. The film is intersper)ed with meditations on flight and the characteristics of various birds by a crazed Lecturer (Rene Auberjonois). Brewster McCloud (Bud Cort) lives in a fall-out shelter in the Huston Astrodome. There he works on a contraption that will allow him to fly like a bird. He is assisted in this by mysterious beauty Louise (Sally Kellerman). Meanwhile, various people that have crossed Brewster are found strangled and covered in guano.
Louise warns Brewster not to have sex because that will interfere with his flying. But Brewster succumbs to the advances of Astrodrome tour guide Suzanne (Shelley Duvall). Suzanne’s talents as a race-car driver come in handy in the inevitable car chase. With a cast of thousands including Margaret Hamilton as an old crone, Stacey Keach as Brewster’s ancient boss, William Windom as a pillar of the community, and Michael Murphy as Frank Shaft, a San Francisco cop brought in to help in the murder investigation.
Altman throws in every off-beat idea he can come up with plus a bunch of movie homage and winds up with something that is mildly amusing if not particularly great. It probably didn’t help that he threw out the entire screenplay and made things up as he went along. Bud Cort already had his “Harold” persona perfected by this time and is quite good.
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il giardino del Finzi-Contini) Directed by Vittorio de Sica Written by Ugo Pirro and Vittorio Bonicelli from a novel by Giorgio Bassani 1970/Italy IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Giorgio’s Father: In life, in order to understand, to really understand the world, you must die at least once. So it’s better to die young, when there’s still time left to recover and live again.
A beautiful, sad film about being young at the end of an era.
The setting is Ferrara, Italy in the 1930’s. The wealthy Jewish Finzi-Contini family live on a grand estate. Their children are all beautiful and athletic. An invitation to the house or tennis court is esteemed a great honor. Middle-class Giorgio (Lino Cappolicchio) is trying his damndest to woo Micol Finzi-Contini (Dominique Sanda).
During the long lazy afternoons we spend with the family we hear rumblings as the rights of Jews are gradually stripped away. Can love triumph over politics? With Helmut Berger as Alberto Finzi-Contini.
I didn’t find this a powerful film but it is a very beautiful one. A lush dream-like atmosphere envelopes the elegant world of the Finzi-Continis making it even more tragic when reality hits.
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis won the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film. It was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Donkey Skin (Peau d’ane) Directed by Jacques Demy Written by Jacques Demy from a fairy tale by Charles Perreault 1970/France IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Le roi bleu: Have fairy-tale princesses all disappeared?
The perfect trip during Lockdown. Visit a land where the sun always shines and true love triumphs in magical jewel-like colors.
Once upon a time and far far away, The Blue King (Jean Marais) was at the death bed of his beloved wife the Blue Queen. The queen made the Blue King promise to re-marry when he had found a woman at least as beautiful as herself. The queen died and the king searched far and wide for a bride. Alas, the only woman as beautiful as his late wife is their daughter the Blue Princess (Catherine Deneuve). The Princess is alarmed by this proposal but is rescued by a visit from her Fairy Godmother (Delphine Seyrig). After advising her charge to demand any number of impossible things from the King the final challenge is to request the skin of his magic donkey (which defecates gold and jewels.) The King complies and the Fairy Godmother transports the Princess to a faraway kingdom disguised in the donkey skin. She loans the Princess her fairy wand.
The kingdom contains a very eligible Prince named Charming. We are now on the way to the various adventures leading up to a happily ever after.
Well, this is just delightful. There are several references to Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast (1946) but the tone is quite different. There are a few songs but I wouldn’t call it a musical per se. The main thing is the fabulous sets and costumes and the perfectly cast actors. Recommended.
Performance Directed by Donald Cammel and Nicholas Roeg Written by Donald Cammel UK/1970 IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Turner: I’ll tell you this: the only performance that makes it, that really makes it, that makes it all the way, is the one that achieves madness. Right? Am I right? You with me?
Take heaping helpings of bloody violence, couple these with psychedelic weirdness and you get a movie I just don’t like.
Psychopath Chas (James Fox) enjoys his work as hit man/enforcer for the mob. He always thinks up the most spectacular and terrifying ways of collecting debts. One day he slips up and kills a couple of guys who were sent my the management to kill him. He is now on the run for his life.
His travels cause him to more or less force his way into the flat of artist Turner (Mick Jagger) and his two girlfriends. This is where the sex, drugs and rock and roll come in. After a large dose of psychodelic mushrooms Chas is in Turner’s hands. Their personalities and appearances finally merge. I am not clear why,
After the gratuitous gore of the first part of the movie, I more or less didn’t care what happened in the second part. As far as I am concerned it was completely missable.
I will say James Fox gave it his all in a performance well outside his usual range.
The Landlord Directed by Hal Ashby Written by Bill Gunn from a novel by Kristin Hunter 1970/US IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
Fanny: He thinks the Lord put white people on this earth as punishment. ‘Course I don’t hold with no sacrilegious talk like that.
Hal Ashby’s directorial debut comes complete with his signature quirky world view.
At age 29, Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) still lives with his wealthy parents in their palatial mansion. Elgar gets the idea of building his own home. Interestingly, he decides to buy a Brooklyn tenement building, evict all the black tenants, and redecorate. This will be easier said than done. The tenents soon have Elgar wrapped around their little fingers.
Elgar develops warm relationships with sassy Marge (Pearl Bailey); Fanny (Diana Sands) and her radical husband Copee (Lou Gossett Jr.); and begins to fall for biracial beauty Lanie (Marki Bey). Elgar’s mother (Lee Grant) tries to butt in by financing the redecorating plan.
This sharply written comedy about race relations features some nice performances and is quite entertaining. It doesn’t hold a candle to my beloved Harold and Maude (1971) but then what would?
Lee Grant was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in this film.
Wanda Directed by Barbara Loden Written by Barbara Loden
1970/US IMDb page
First viewing, Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Norman Dennis: If you don’t want anything you won’t have anything, and if you don’t have anything, you’re as good as dead.
Barbara Loden’s rambling story about a woman at loose ends is good but is it unmissable?
The setting is somewhere in the rust belt. Wanda (Loden) works in a clothing factory, She is not fast enough to be retained. Her ex-husband is seeking custody of the children. She shows up late at court wearing curlers and admits the kids would be better off without her. She then tries to eke out an existence by picking up men at bars. Finally, she picks up the wrong guy, Norman Dennis (Michael Higgins)
Norman is super controlling and demeaning. However, he seems to need a companion and takes her on a long road trip. Toward the end, Norman informs Wanda that they are going to rob a bank. She does not want to go along but doesn’t seem to realize she has a choice.
This is good as a character study of the lot of an uneducated woman with low self-esteem in the late 60’s early 70’s. Loden is very good as the title character. The production has a grimy, seedy feel throughout. I’m not sorry I saw it but don’t consider it a must-see either.
Dodesukaden Directed by Akira Kurosawa Written by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, and Shinobu Hashimoto from a novel by Shugoro Yamamoto 1970/Japan
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065649/reference
First viewing/Criterion Channel
A film must be made with the heart, not the mind. I think today’s young filmmakers have forgotten this and instead they make films through their calculations. That is why Japanese films no longer have an audience. In all honesty, films must be made to target the hearts. During the time of Ozu, my mentor, and also in my time, no filmmaker made films based on theory and calculation, and that was why Japan’s cinema was capable of shaping its golden years. Young filmmakers use techniques to humiliate the audience. This is wrong. We must serve cinema and make a film that would stimulate the audience. Ultimately, the aim should be to make an artistic film. That’s simple, isn’t it? — Akira Kurosawa
This was Kurosawa’s first color film. And what colors!
The setting is a slum/squatters camp that seems to be located at the edge of a garbage dump. The plot is made up of interlocking stories and vignettes of everyday life. Some are comic, some are tragic, and some are a little bit of both. A key linking device is a mentally-challenged boy who is obsessed with streetcars . He is the conductor of an imaginary one that travels back and forth through the settlement throughout the day while he chants “Dodes’kaden, dodes’kaden, dodes’kaden” imitating the motor of the streetcar.
Other stories include a girl who is abused and overworked by her uncle while her aunt is in the hospital; a beggar with a big imagination who lives with his small son who scavanges for their food; a couple of comic drunks and their long-suffering wives; a prostitute who lives with her husband and many children; etc. It would seem to be a grim life but Kurasawa endows everything with vibrant. almost magical color and there is plenty of kindness to go along with the pain.
I knew very little about this going in and was enchanted by it. This doesn’t look anything like the Kurosawa we are used to but it was clearly made by a master who went wild with the possibilities of color cinematography. Recommended.
Dodesukaden received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign-Language Film
Husbands Directed by John Cassavetes Written by John Cassavetes 1970/US IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Harry: Gus, Archie, look what I did to that phone booth. I kicked the hell out of it. Yeah. Like I’ve been telling my wife for years. Aside from sex, and she’s very good at it, God damn it, I like you guys better. I really do. Now, who the hell else could put up with me, huh? I’m a jerk, I know it. So, let’s go home and get it over with.
I love me some John Cassavetes but I have mixed feelings about this one.
Four married men in their thirties are as close as can be. Â One of their number dies. Â After the funeral, Harry (Ben Gazzara), Archie (Peter Falk) and Gus (Cassavetes) decide to go on an epic bender. Â They end up at a bar where they have a singing contest with other very drunk patrons. Â This and the after effects last until morning. Â All face going home to get ready for work. Â Harry’s long-suffering wife is really not happy to see him and a physical fight ensues. Â Archie and Gus try to put Harry back together again mentally.
Harry decides the answer to all his problems is a trip to London. Â He talks the other two (who still have not checked in with their wives) into joining him. Â The three go to a casino where they proceed to pick up three women. Â They take these back to their hotels where they pair off and reunite in the morning. Â All this stuff is accompanied by raw emotion as only Cassavetes can write it.
I might have liked this more if I were a man. Surely I could never be married to any one of these three bad boys. Â Cassavetes idea of “freedom” is also different than mine. Â There’s something about him that is on my wavelength however and I’m glad I saw it. Â It’s not something I will be coming back to.
Gena Rowlands has a tiny dialogue-free appearance as Gus’s wife in a flashback in the beginning.  Their children appear at the end when Gus comes home with his tail between his legs.
Tristana Directed by Luis Buñuel Written by Luis Bunuel and Julio Alejandro from a novel by Benito Perez Galdos 1970/Spain/France/Italy IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Don Zenón: And the Ten Commandments? Don Lope: I respect all of them, except those to do with sex, because I’m sure they were added to the truly divine ones by Moses for political reasons that don’t affect me.
Yes, Buñuel can tell a straight-forward story and tell it very well.
Tristana (Catherine Deneuve) is an innocent and religious teenager. Her mother has just died and Don Lope (Fernando Rey) becomes her guardian. Don Lope is a well-known libertine, atheist, and socialist. Eventually, he has his way with Tristana. He tells her both of them are free to end the relationship when they wish. This is far from true. Don Lope claims rights as both Tristana’s father and her husband, despite being neither. He essentially confines her to the house
Tristana grows to hate Don Lope more with each passing year. Don Lope inherits some money and, worried about Tristana’s increasing rebellion, marries her. But that does not prevent his wife from exacting protracted revenge, especially as Don Lope becomes more and more frail. With Franco Nero as Tristana’s lover.
Tristana wears black to her wedding
I had no particular expectations going in but this wound up being one of my favorites of all the Buñuel I have seen. All Buñuel’s tics are in evidence but this works perfectly as an engrossing tale of oppression and revenge. There is little to no surrealism. Rey and Deneuve are fabulous as always. Deneuve is so pretty I keep forgetting what a really fine actress she was. Recommended.
Tristana was nominated for the Acaemy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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