Category Archives: 1975

Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Directed by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin
1975/UK
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

French Soldier: I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

If you like Monty Python’s mixture of silliness and cheek, you will love this.

There is not exactly a plot.  There is a premise.  The story takes place in 900 A.D. England. King Arthur is recruiting knights for his Round Table at Camelot.  After several adventures the appropriate number are found and Camelot is almost reached.  Then God pops in to send them on a quest for the Holy Grail.

Arthur and his knights face one comic and surreal obstruction after another en route to their goal.  With Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones in multiple roles.

Monty Python’s first feature film is a ton of fun and anarchy.  I had forgot the killer bunny!  I wasn’t a huge fan of Monty Python’s brand of humor back in the day but they have grown on me and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this.  The gags come so fast that if one doesn’t work the next one will crack you up the next minute.

Derzu Usala
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa and Yuriy Nagibin from a novel by Vladimir Arsenev
1975/USSR
IMDb Page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Dersu Uzala: Fire angry, forest burn for many days. Fire get angry, frightful. Water get angry, frightful. Wind get angry, frightful. Fire, water, wind. Three mighty men.

This is a beautiful movie about how different cultures view the wilderness.  I doubt I’d guess it was directed by Kurosawa if I didn’t already know.

The year is 1902. Captain Arsenev and a small troop of soldiers are on a mission to explore the Siberian wilderness.  At the beginning of their trek, they run into Dersu Uzala an indigenous trapper and hunter.  He is immediately enlisted as a guide.  A good thing too as his survival skills save the Russians more than once.

Dersu has a pantheistic belief system in which the natural world is treated with the utmost respect.  He is terrified of a menacing spirit currently represented by a tiger.  The Russians go home to their families.

Later, Arsenev leads a larger and more extensive exploration of the same area.  He soon reunites with Dersu.  However, the years are catching up with his friend.  His vision is failing and he can no longer hunt as well.  He agrees to return to the city with Arsenev but finds life there is not for him.

The scenery is beautiful and Kurosawa gets to exercise his love for wind and rain.  The story is a good one too.  I don’t know if I’d call this a must-see but it is enjoyable.

Dersu Uzala won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Trailer is dubbed for American audiences.  Version I watched was in Russian with subtitles.

Nashville
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Joan Tewkesbury
1975/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Albuquerque: Now, if we don’t — we don’t live peaceful, there’s gonna be nothin’ left in our graves except Clorox bottles and plastic fly swatters with red dots on ’em.

Altman and Tewkesbury cram 24 characters and almost that many subplots in one movie. That we care about all these characters  is a testimony to their mastery of the craft.

As the movie begins, a plane lands in Nashville bearing Hal Phillip Walker, a populist candidate for President representing the Replacement Party, along with his campaign staff.  He drives around town in a van with a bullhorn spouting his folksy political philosphy.  His is a grassroots campaign popular with young people.  His supporters will be seen carrying signs and handing out flyers throughout the film.  The finale of the candidate’s day will be a rally with free country entertainment.

Others are arriving to perform at the Grand Ole Opry or to seek fame as country musicians. All these people become interrelated in some way in the many threads woven through the film.

One of the stories involves Linnea (Lily Tomlin), a white singer in an all-black gospel choir, who is raising two deaf children without much support from her husband Delbert, who is working as the lawyer for the Hal Phillip Walker campaign.  One of the groups in town, Bill, Mary and Tom, is a folk-rock trio.  Tom is a serial philanderer who sees Linnea as a challenge.  The other girls approach him and he does not resist.

A second thread is the return of star Barbara Jean to the stage after an accident.  She is still frail and it’s up in the air whether she can stand up to the pressure.  With Henry Gibson as an arrogant phony country legend; Barbara Baxley as his pixilated Kennedy-loving wife; Geraldine Chaplin as a perfectly hilarious BBC documentarian; Keenan Wynn as a man whose wife is dying and cannot get ditzy groupie niece Martha (Shelley Duvall) to show any interest; Karen Black as Barbara Ann’s rival; Gwen Welles as a wannabe; and Barbara Harris as another wannabe.  We also get cameos by Eliott Gould and Julie Christie.

This is one of my favorite movies.  I know it’s kind of messy and misanthropic but that doesn’t matter much to me in this case.  I can’t think of a movie in which a cast the scope and size of this one in which every minute is made to count.  Unfortunately, human nature has not changed for the better in the years since this came out.  I always break out in chills when Barbara Harris belts out  “It Don’t Worry Me.”  Recommended.

Keith Carradine won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song for “I’m Easy”.  The film was nominate in the categories of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Tomlin), Best Supporting Actress (Blakely), and Best Director.

Trailer (spoilers)