Wizards
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Written by Ralph Bakshi
1977/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime

Weehawk: [to horse] Steady, Westwind. We’ll eat alone, lest we sit with fools.

The good vs. evil plot is just OK but the animation and music are absolutely outstanding.

In a post-apocalyptic earth, the land of Scortch is a polluted place occupied by mutants and ruled over by evil wizard Blackwolf.  The Good Lands are ruled by Blackwolf’s good brother, Avatar.  Both are about 9,000 years old.  Both lands are also full of elves and fairies, malignant or benevolent as the case may be.

Blackwolf has somehow got hold of an ancient movie projector.  The movie is a stream of Hitler speeches and combat sequences.  Blackwolf decides that fascism and technology are the route to world conquest (he obviously didn’t watch the end of the movie).  The good guys have only love and magic to defeat them.  A little band led by Avatar travels the perilous road to Scortch to save the planet.

The fantasy wasn’t the big draw, at least for me.  The fantastic animation and score overcame all and I really enjoyed it.  Thanks for the tip Hoosier.

And that finishes my viewing for 1977.

Mogliamante (Wifemistress)
Directed by Marco Vicario
Written by Rudolfo Sonego and Marco Vicario
1977/Italy
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell. — Walter Scott

This is a good movie about a delicious revenge.

Beautiful young Antonia De Angelis (Laura Antonelli) has been married off to the much older wine merchant Luigi (Marcello Mastroianni).  She is miserable and is now confined to bed with “progressive paralysis”.  This seems to have been induced by a combo of pills and persuasion.  It leaves Luigi free to take endless business trips.

Then suddenly Luigi goes missing, and is presumed dead.  Actually, he is hiding out over the shop across the street from his house where he can keep an eye on Antonia.

He watches as she miraculously recovers and takes over his business.  She learns a lot about Luigi because his horse and carriage automatically stops at the places he used to frequent.  Most of these featured far more pleasure than business.  She learns about his wild sex life and also about his plans and dreams.  Slowly, Antonia’s yearning for revenge leads to the sexual awakening of the previously frigid ice princess.  Luigi cannot avoid being a witness to this.

This was a very watchable film (particularly Mastroianni).  Not a must-see but I’m glad I saw it.  Thanks for the tip Mr. Laurie.

Clip – dubbed; I watched subbed

A short tribute to my Marcello

The Chess Players (Satranj Ke Khilari)
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Written by Satyajit Ray, Shama Zaidi, and Javid Siddiqui from a story by Premchand
1977/India
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

“Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.” – Bobby Fischer

Satyajit Ray gives us a comedy for a change of pace.  But not without a heaping helping of social critique.

The film is set in and around Lucknow, India in 1856.  Wajid Ali Shah rules over the kingdom of Awadh.  He is not much of a ruler or leader but he loves all the trappings of his estate – his crown, his palace, his music and dance performances, etc.  He also writes poems and songs and is considered a devout Muslim despite his large harem.

He and his forefathers have kept the kingdom independent by financing many of Britain’s wars and providing troops for these.  This is no longer enough for the British, who deputize General Outram (Richard Attenborough) of the East India Company to demand that Ali Shah sign a treaty that includes terms requiring his abdication.  The British are prepared to fight if necessary.

In the meantime, two nobles, Mirza Sajjad Ali (Sanjeev Kumar) and Mir Roshan Ali (Saeed Jaffrey), who by rights should be advising the king and organizing resistence, play chess day and night.  They have become completely obsessed ignoring the outside world completely, including their wives.  When the wife of one of them steals their chess peaces, they pursue increasingly ludicrous means of carrying on with the game at various locations.  I’ll end here

I enjoyed this one.  It’s absolutely beautiful to look at and, along with the comedy of the chess players, provides a social critique on how India contributed to its own demise.  Recommended, but if you’ve never seen a film by Ray, I’d strongly suggest starting with the Apu Trilogy.

Clip

Padre padrone (“My Father, My Master)
Directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Written by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani from a book by Gavani Ledda
1977/Italy
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime

[last lines] Father: Don’t laugh at Gavino. Hands on your desks! Today is Gavino’s turn. Tomorrow will be yours.

This is a good movie about the struggle of a boy to come of age despite the bleak circumstances of his life.

The story is based on the autobiography of Gavani Ledda, who narrates the beginning and ending of the film.  Gavani lived in a rural Sardinian village in a large family totally dominated by its brutal, ruthless father.  The father pulls Gavani out of elementary school at age 6.  He goes to work as a shepherd in the mountains.  This means he is alone in the middle of nowhere for long stretches of time.  His most frequent visitor is his father who usually finds some reason to beat him for an infraction of the rules.

At one point, some traveling musicians wander by playing the accordion.  Gavino buys a broken one for the price of two lambs.  His father does not buy the story that the lambs were stolen by bandits.  So he gets another thrashing but he does eventually teach himself to play well.

When Gavani turns 20 he wants to go to Germany in search of work.  Dad has a nasty surprise for him there.  Finally, father has a kind of half-cocked idea of becoming a financier.   He thinks Gavani’s enlistment in the Italian army will bring honor to the family.  Gavani arrives to basic training illiterate and unable to speak standard Italian.  Dialects are forbidden.  He has a hard time but his innate intelligence pulls him through.

I think I was more impressed the first time I saw this but I enjoyed it this time as well.  It’s a peek into a really foreign culture.  In this case, there is beauty in the simplicity of life but also a critique of how tradition stifles people.  The child abuse could possibly trigger some people, but otherwise I recommend it.

The Spy Who Loved Me
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum from characters created by Ian Fleming
1977/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Stromberg: Well, well… a British agent in love with a Russian agent. Détente, indeed.

Perfect movie for when you need a break from thinking.

James Bond (Roger Moore) is assigned to investigate the highjacking of U.S. and Soviet nuclear submarines.  Relations with the Soviets are good for the moment and Major Anya Amasova from the KGB is assigned as his partner.  They are a match made in heaven except for the fact that James killed Anya’s husband.  It should not be too much of a spoiler to say that SPECTRE is behind the plot, this time under the direction of Stromberg (Curt Jurgens).

Everything plays out just exactly like you would think it would.  The action is fairly stirring and this episode’s enforcer is Jaws (Richard Kiehl).

The Bond franchise lost its luster for me when Roger Moore took over the character.  Barbara Bach made a beautiful Bond girl but her acting leaves something to be desired. I needed some light entertainment yesterday and the movie has my all-time favorite Bond title tune and all worked out well.

Carly Simon sings “Nobody Does It Better” (The Spy Who Loved Me)