Daily Archives: July 18, 2021

1977 Recap and Favorites

Posted on July 18, 2021 | 4 comments

I have now viewed 46 films released in 1977.  A list can be found here.  This is way more movies than I have watched for the last several “years”, mostly due to seeing movies previously that I did not review here.  From the 1001 Movies List, I have not seen Last Chants for a Slow Dance.  I have Killer of Sheep listed as a 1978 film. Man of Marble, Soldier of Orange, and The Man Who Loved Women most likely would have made my list had they been available to me during this session. I last saw them years ago and have not included them in this list.

Stroszek – Directed by Werner Herzog

Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Directed by Stephen Speilberg

Annie Hall – Directed by Woody Allen

Eraserhead – Directed by David Lynch

The American Friend – Directed by Wim Wenders

Running Fence – Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin

A Special Day – Directed by Ettore Scola

The Ascent – Directed by Larisa Shepitko

Opening Night – Directed by John Cassavetes

Pumping Iron – Directed by George Butler and Albert Fiore

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Posted in 1977, Top Ten Lists

Wizards (1977)

Posted on July 18, 2021 | Leave a comment

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.

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Posted in 1977