Category Archives: 1976

Cria cuervos

Posted on May 13, 2021 | 2 comments

Cria cuervos (Cria!)
Directed by Carlos Saura
Written by Carlos Saura
1976/Spain
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

“Raise ravens and they’ll pluck out your eyes” – Spanish proverb

Carlos Saura shows us the darkness and light of childhood in this sad and beautiful film.

The film was made as Francisco Franco lay dying and covers a time shortly before this. The setting is Madrid, Spain.  The story is told as flashbacks within flashbacks, a format I generally dislike but that works very well here.

Our heroines are the three daughters of a fascist officer and his wife (Geraldine Chaplin). Eight-year-old Ana (Ana Torrent) is the central figure and the most highly sensitive of the girls.  Her sisters are maybe twelve and five.  Ana witnesses her father in bed with his mistress shortly before the woman runs out and he is found dead, presumably from a heart attack.

Ana’s adored mother Maria died somewhat earlier in incredible pain, presumably from cancer.  We see her and Ana interacting affectionately in earlier days and also scenes where Ana witnesses her bitter arguments with her father and her painful last days.

Currently the girls are living with their aunt Paulina, Maria’s sister, their invalid grandmother, and Ana’s guinea pig Roni.  Paulina is stricter than their mother was but is struggling mightily to bond with the children.  The children love to be naughty when no one is looking. They play a game of dress-up in which they act out the arguments between their mother and father.

The film flashes back to Maria telling Ana that a jar of powder labeled “baking soda” is a potent poison. Armed with the powder, Ana attempts to redress her grievances.

Ana Torrent was a real find for Saura and she carries the film on her capable, natural shoulders.  Geraldine Chaplin is equally superb.  The children suffer more heartbreak than many people do in an entire lifetime.  The film sensitively explores the inner life of a traumatized child.  Not a fun watch but highly recommended.

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1976

That’s Entertainment, Part II

Posted on May 8, 2021 | 6 comments

That’s Entertainment, Part II
Directed by Gene Kelly
Written by Leonard Gershe
1976/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Gene Kelly: [narrating over a clip from For Me and My Gal with Judy Garland] For Me and My Gal was my first film, and boy was I lucky! I co-starred with Judy Garland. That’s what I call starting at the top!

Movie buffs will want to start with Part I, but there are many gems from the MGM legacy in Part II.

Gene Kelly directed and he and Fred Astaire are the co-hosts.  This means that they get to dance together a couple of different times!  They are sill sublime years after their prime.

Most of the movie is devoted to clips from lesser-known musicals, many of which I have not seen.  There are also clips from some of MGM dramas and comedies showcasing a bevy of the famous stars in the MGM galaxy.  My favorite clips were of Eleanor Powell dancing.  How unjustly forgotten she is! Absolutely the most amazing female tapper that ever lived.

I needed something uplifting after Carrie (1976) and this was just the ticket!

Trailer

 

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Posted in 1976

Carrie (1976)

Posted on May 6, 2021 | 2 comments

Carrie
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Lawrence G. Cohen from a novel by Stephen King
1976/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Margaret White: Carrie, you haven’t touched your apple cake.
Carrie: It gives me pimples, Mama.
Margaret White: Pimples are the Lord’s way of chastising you.

A movie about humans doing cruel and disgusting things to each other was not for me, no matter how well it was made.

Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a high school senior.  She is viewed as the class weirdo.  One day in the gym showers she discovers she is bleeding and panics.  It is her much-delayed first menstrual period.  The girls think this is hilarious and taunt her.  As punishment, the gym teacher assigns all the mean girls to detention.  Those that refuse detention will be unable to attend the senior prom.  The meanest of all the girls (Nancy Allen) plans an elaborate revenge on Carrie with her boyfriend (John Travolta).

Carrie has clearly been traumatized by her religious fanatic mother Margaret (Piper Laurie). Now that she is a “woman”, Margaret fears that all the sins and evils of Eve will descend her daughter.  Then one of the girls (Amy Irving in her film debut) talks her boyfriend into taking Carrie to the prom.  Margaret forbids this but Carrie is intent on going and says nothing can stop her.  How true this is!

The prom turns out to be a huge humiliation to Carrie.  Unbeknownst to everyone, Carrie can fight back – and in spectacular fashion.

I generally have a bad reaction to cruelty in movies and my reaction to this one was no exception. I also found some of the script kind of dated and trite. The acting, on the other hand, was phenomenal and the special effects were stunning.

Sissy Spacek was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar; Piper Laurie was nominated for Best Supporting Actress

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1976

Allegro non troppo (1976)

Posted on May 5, 2021 | 2 comments

Allegro non troppo
Directed by Bruno Bozzetto
Written by Bruno Bozzetto, Guido Manuli, and Maurizio Nichetti
1976/Italy
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

The Presenter: It’s nothing. They’re mad. Mad as hatters. They insist that our film – this is all so ridiculous – was already made by a certain fellow years ago. A certain someone by the name of Prisney or Grisney. Some American.

The Fantasia (1940) concept is given a surreal treatment with live action comic interludes.

A presenter explains the filmmaker’s “unprecedented” idea of setting animation to classical music.  The unprecedented part turns out to be that instead of Stokowski we get an orchestra of grandmas conducted by a slightly mad man and we are introduced to the slightly mad artist.  The animation is surreal and each segment is followed by a comic sketch.

The humor was probably lost in the translation but I enjoyed the animated sequences.  It’s no Fantasia but it is a fairly fun watch.

Clip – “Ravel’s Bolero”

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Posted in 1976

Murder by Death (1976)

Posted on May 3, 2021 | 4 comments

Murder by Death
Directed by Robert Moore
Written by Neil Simon
1976/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Lionel Twain: You’ve tricked and fooled your readers for years. You’ve tortured us all with surprise endings that made no sense. You’ve introduced characters in the last five pages that were never in the book before. You’ve withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it. But now, the tables are turned. Millions of angry mystery readers are now getting their revenge. When the world learns I’ve outsmarted you, they’ll be selling your $1.95 books for twelve cents.

This is a fairly funny spoof of murder mysteries featuring an all-star cast and rare screen appearance by Truman Capote.

It is a dark and stormy night.  The mysterious Lionel Twain (Capote) has invited the world’s five greatest detectives and their sidekicks to dinner.  They are: Sam Diamond (Peter Falk) and Tess Skeffington (Eileen Brennan); Milo Perrier (James Coco) and chauffeur Marcel (Peter Cromwell); Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester) and nurse (Estelle Winwood); Dick (David Niven) and Dora Charleston (Maggie Smith); and Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) and adopted son Willy (James Narita).  Each is greeted to the creepy mansion by blind butler Bensonmum (Alec Guinness).  Dinner is to be prepared by a hired maid who turns out to be deaf, mute, and illiterate in English (Nancy Walker).

After dinner their host appears and announces there will be a murder in that very dining room at midnight.  The sleuth who is able to solve the murder will win $1 million.  If none is able to solve it, the reputations of all will be permanently ruined.

Many hilariously scary happenings occur before the big reveal.  Or make that reveals.

Although this was evidently written for the screen, I am sure I saw it as a stage play and remembered the ending.  There are some good pokes at traditional mystery tropes.  Other jokes fall flatter.  Neil Simon is hit or miss with me.  My favorite aspect was Truman Capote.  Peter Sellers’s fake Chinaman gets old fast.  Fans of Simon might want to check this out.

 

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Posted in 1976

Mr. Klein (1976)

Posted on May 2, 2021 | 2 comments

Mr. Klein
Directed by Joseph Losey
Written by Franco Solinas and Fernando Merandi
1976/France
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

 

Films can illustrate our existence . . . they can distress, disturb and provoke people into thinking about themselves and certain problems. But NOT give the answers. — Joseph Losey

This is a beautifully made and acted film.  Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of unsolved mysteries, especially those with so many distressing images of the persecution of Jews.

The film is set in 1942 Paris, France.  Robert Klein (Alain Delon) is an art dealer who lives a life of debauched luxury with his concubine,  Currently, he is profiting enormously from buying artwork offered by fleeing Jews at a deep discount.  One day, a copy of a Jewish newspaper is delivered to his door.

The police have the subscription list.  Robert goes to the police department and insists that a mistake has been made.  He is a life-long French Catholic.  The police are skeptical. Robert is required to provide certification that both sets of grandparents were not of Jewish blood.  Robert becomes convinced that there is a second Robert Klein who is trying to frame him.

So begins Robert’s investigation which takes him all over Paris and into the French countryside. He becomes completely obsessed with locating his doppleganger.  Too obsessed.  With Jeanne Moreau in a small role as a lover of the “other” Robert Klein.

My plot description does not adequately convey the twists and turns of this movie. There were many points where I was convinced that our Robert Klein and the other Robert Klein were the same person.  At other points it is equally clear the other Klein is setting up our Klein to take the fall for his Jewishness.  So, the story is a mystery within a mystery with a devastating unhappy ending.  I was certainly in no mood for this.

Anyway, Losey’s direction is spot on, the film looks great, and this has got to be one of Delon’s finest performances.  Delon produced the movie so it clearly meant a lot to him.  If the plot sounds intriguing, you might as well give it a chance.  There are parts that are not easy to look at.  (Such as the beginning where a naked woman is being examined like an animal to determine her “race”.)

Restoration Trailer

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Posted in 1976

All the President’s Men (1976)

Posted on May 1, 2021 | 5 comments

All the President’s Men
Directed by Alan J. Pakula
Written by William Goldman from a book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
1976/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

John Mitchell: [on phone] All that crap you’re putting in the paper? It’s all been denied. You tell your publisher, tell Katie Graham she’s gonna get her tit caught in a big wringer if that’s published. Good Christ, that’s the most sickening thing I ever heard.

A true story that is as suspenseful as any thriller even when you know the ending.

The film begins when a security guard detects a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Party at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.  He calls the police and five burglars are apprehended.  Papers on the burglars led to the arrests of Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy both of whom had connections to the White House and the Committee to Re-Elect the President.

Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) are rookie reporters for The Washington Post.  Woodward is assigned to cover the arraignment of the men and discovers that high-powered attorneys are interested in the case.  This arouses his suspicions and he follows up.  Eventually Bernstein is assigned to partner with Woodward on the story.

The two form a powerhouse team after some initial friction.  They are getting nowhere when Woodward contacts an official that comes to be known as “Deep Throat” (Hal Holbrook). He speaks to him only on the condition that he is not quoted even as an anonymous source.  His advice is to “follow the money”.  This the two reporters do.  It is a frustrating but fascinating journey through Washington bureaucracy.  Most people are unwilling to talk but unwittingly make the reporters even more suspicious.

Eventually, the story gets so big that Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) is encouraged to put somebody more seasoned on the case.  He declines to do so.  In the end, a couple of honest insiders speak up and their info leads all the way to the top. The rest is history.  With Jane Alexander as a bookkeeper and Jack Warden and Martin Balsam as editiors.

I saw this in the theater when it came out.  It holds up beautifully all these years later.  It was so interesting to see all the location shots of Washington, D.C. where I was to work many years later.  The thoroughly engrossing screenplay is aided by a wonderful cast and meticulous production design.  Recommended.

All the President’s Men won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Robards); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; and Best Sound. It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Supporting Actress (Alexander); Best Director; and Best Film Editing.

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1976

The Bad News Bears (1976)

Posted on April 30, 2021 | 4 comments

The Bad News Bears
Directed by Michael Ritchie
Written by Bill Lancaster
1976/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Engelberg: You’re not supposed to have open liquor in the car. It’s against the law.
Coach Morris Buttermaker: So is murder, Engleberg. Now put that back before you get me in real trouble.

Gee, I love this movie!  Along with everything else, I think this may be Walter Matthau’s best performance.

Morris Buttermaker (Matthau) is a beer-guzzling pool maintenance man.  In the old days, he was a second-rate minor league baseball player.  A local politician sued for the right to add an additional team to the area’s ultra-competitive Little League, one that would allow misfits who were never chosen to play.  He hires Buttermaker as coach.

The team is hopeless and Buttermaker is in it strictly for the money.  He half-heartedly trains the boys.  But something about the condescending attitude of the gung-ho parents and coaches of the other teams gets him interested in helping his hapless charges when the season starts.  He bribes Amanda (Tatum O’Neal), whom he taught to throw a mean curve ball when he was dating her mother, to pitch for the team.  Eventually she entices the local “bad boy” (Jackie Earle Haley), a cigarette-smoking motor-bike riding twelve-year old with a powerful swing, to join.

The fortunes of the team improve.  Will Buttermaker succumb to the winning-is-everything attitude of the other coaches?  And how will the Bears perform in their last game?

One need have no interest in baseball to enjoy this movie.  One just needs to remember what it was like to be a child.  I love it because all the kids have so much personality and the script is hilarious with plenty of heart. And Matthau is absolutely superb.  Warmly recommended.

 

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Posted in 1976

Network (1976)

Posted on April 28, 2021 | 4 comments

Network
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Paddy Chayefsky
1976/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Howard Beale: Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

In 2021, this scathing critique of the TV ratings game seems less outrageous than prescient.

Howard Beale (Peter Finch) has been the evening news anchor at UBS (the “fourth network”) for eleven years.  The network is under new ownership by Communications Corporation of America (CCA).  CCA executive Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) will no longer tolerate low ratings for any program, including the news.  News Bureau Chief Max Schumacher (William Holden) has the task of giving Howard, an old friend, two weeks notice.  The next night Howard gets on the air and announces his retirement and his intention of committing suicide on the air a week later.  He is summarily fired but soft-hearted Max allows him to make a formal farewell to his audience.  Howard, who has been hearing voices, takes advantage of this opportunity to launch into his famous populist rant and urge his audience to express their pent-up rage audibly.  When shouts are heard coming from windows all over America, the executives know they have a hit on their hands.  Max is disgusted.

In the meantime, a new ratings-obsessed entertainment programmer, Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway), is in town.  She successfully pitches the idea of having a part reality TV, part drama called the “Mao Tse Tung Hour”.  A domestic terrorist organization will stage a real “happening” and the network will create a drama based on the event.  Diana also manages to move Howard from the news division to the entertainment division to capitalize on his rabid following.   He is now billed as the mad prophet of the airways.

Despite his contempt for Diana’s ideas about television, Max cannot escape his attraction to the much younger woman.  For Diana, the affair is strictly sexual.  She is all business all the time.  Meanwhile, Howard’s madness intensifies.  When he protests CCA’s acquisition by the Saudis, the management tries a couple of different tactics to stop him. With Beatrice Straight as Max’s wife and Ned Beatty as the CEO of CCA.

Network looked into the future, a future that looked far-fetched at the time but seems increasingly realistic as the years have gone on.  Paddy Chayefsky’s brilliant script anticipated both reality TV and sensationalist, politicized news programming.  Are we but one step away from the Q-Anon Show?  All the components of filmmaking come together to create something that perfectly achieves its intentions.  Highly recommended.

Network won Academy Awards in the Categories of Best Actor (Finch); Best Actress (Dunaway); Best Supporting Actress (Straight); and Best Original Screenplay.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor (Holden); Best Supporting Actor (Beatty); Best Director; Best Cinematography; and Best Film Editing.

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1976

Kings of the Road (1976)

Posted on April 26, 2021 | 2 comments

Kings of the Road (Im Lauf der Zeit)
Directed by Wim Wenders
Written by Wim Wenders
1976/West Germany
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Originality now is rare in the cinema and it isn’t worth striving for because most work that does this is egocentric and pretentious. What is most enjoyable about the cinema is simply working with a language that is classical in the sense that the image is understood by everyone. I’m not at all interested in innovating film language, making it more aesthetic. I love film history, and you’re better off learning from those who proceeded you. — Wim Wenders

The final film in Wim Wenders’ “Road Trilogy” deals with existential loneliness and the death of cinema.  Sounds dreadful but it definitely works.

Bruno Winter (Rudiger Vogler) is a laid-back movie projector repair man, who drives from one small town’s decrepit theater to another in a huge old bus.  The current journey takes him through towns on the border between West and East Germany.

One day, he witnesses Robert Lander (Hanns Zischler) drive his VW beetle into a lake.  At the last moment, Robert changes his mind and swims to shore with one small suitcase. Bruno helps Robert dry off and offers him a sleeping place for the night.  Slowly there is a wordless agreement that Robert will stick around for the ride.  We learn later that Robert has just split up with his wife.

The two drive leisurely to the soundtrack of rock ‘n’ roll music.  At one stop, Bruno meets a woman who sells tickets at a porno theater he is servicing and has a one-night stand with her.  Bruno is quite willing to make detours and both men eventually visit their childhood homes.  Robert visits his father and forces him to finally listen to him and his views on how he never listened to his wife.  Bruno visits the now empty home he grew up in.

The two encounter a man whose wife crashed their car into a tree and killed herself.  They stay with him until the car can be towed.  Finally the journey is interrupted by the border. The two get drunk and indulge in some boozy soul-searching.

This is definitely a slow burn and the viewer spends a lot of time waiting for something to happen.  But the journey itself is interesting and there is a lot of wry humor to be enjoyed. The movie theaters that Bruno stops at all contain memorabilia of the Golden Age of Hollywood now lost and replaced by porn or sensationalist fare.  At the last theater, the proprietor says she is keeping her closed theater in working order in case movies that are worth seeing get made again.  The film probably would reveal even more on a rewatch. Fans of action need not apply but if you are looking to experience a leisurely road trip with some important points to make, I can recommend.

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Posted in 1976