1970: the year of interesting failures (17 titles)
After the abundance of brilliant films released in 1969 (see my previous collection) 1970 was a bit of a barren wasteland. There were some all time classics, but on the whole the year was one of underachievement. Even the most important film of the year (Performance) had been made a few years earlier and had its release delayed. This list catches the mood of the times (I hope) and presents some of the more interesting fare that was on offer. They made up for it in 1971 though....
88% from 5 members
Soldier Blue
1970 was the swansong year for the Western as standard movie fare. This is one of the many attempts of the time to make the western up to date (i.e. show how badly native americans were treated and act as a allegory of the Vietnam war and don't spare the shocking violence).
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Soldier Blue
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, Donald Pleasence
Director: Ralph Nelson
Certificate:
This violent drama is based on an allegedly historic encounter between white settlers and the Cheyenne Indians, of the west. Based on Theodore V. Olsen's novel ARROW IN THE SUN, the account enacts the struggle of a U.S. soldier named Honus Gant (Peter Strauss) and a white woman named Cresta (..read more »
67%
from 1,238 member
Little Big Man
see above
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Little Big Man
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam
Director: Arthur Penn
Certificate:
Arthur Penn's film of Thomas Berger's bestselling novel demystifies the old west with it's funny, chaotic portrayal one man's experiences in its closing days. Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), a 121-year-old Indian living in a rest home, relates his incredible life experiences. According to Crabb's ..read more »
69%
from 2,173 members
A Man Called Horse
more of the same
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A Man Called Horse
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Richard Harris, Judith Anderson, Jean Gascon
Director: Elliott Silverstein
Certificate:
An Englishman is initiated into the Indian culture in an amazing ritual.
67%
from 891 members
Rio Lobo
a return to traditional western fare, Howard Hawks' final offering
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Rio Lobo
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: John Wayne, Jennifer O'Neill, Jorge Rivero
Director: Howard Hawks
Certificate:
Howard Hawks's final film once again teams him with John Wayne, with a script by Leigh Brackett (who also wrote his EL DORADO and RIO BRAVO). The time is just after the end of the Civil War. Wayne is Union Colonel Cord McNally, who is teamed with two Confederate soldiers he captured during the war ..read more »
66%
from 924 members
Performance
Notting Hill Gate as it never will be again: a dazzling cocktail of sexual liberation, LSD, East End gangsters and astounding music
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Performance
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Michelle Breton, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg
Director: Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg
Certificate:
Psychological melodrama about a vicious gangster on the run, who takes refuge with a former pop star. One of the most bizarre cult films ever made.
67%
from 2,029 members
Walkabout
More proof thet Nic Roeg was the greatest film director of the 1970s. The stone-age meets the 20th century in the Australian outback and dies of a broken heart.
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Walkabout
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Jenny Agutter, John Meillon, Lucien John
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Certificate:
After a pair of British children are abandoned in the Australian outback, they join up with a young Aborigine who is performing his traditional, coming-of-age rite of passage, the Walkabout. A commentary on pastoral simplicity versus cosmopolitan clutter, this haunting film marked Nicholas Roeg's ..read more »
68%
from 2,569 members
Figures In A Landscape
One of the many interesting failures:Its a parable of the times: we would all like to make a break for freedom but the faceless bastards won't let us.
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Figures In A Landscape
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Robert Shaw, Malcolm McDowell, Henry Woolf
Director: Joseph Losey
Certificate:
Based on a novel by Barry England, the film stars Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell as two escaped prisoners in an unidentified totalitarian country. MacConnachie (Shaw) and Ansell (McDowell) occasionally pause to exchange profundities but spend most of their time on the run from an omnipresent ..read more »
48%
from 181 members
The Conformist
powerful stuff from the cutting edge of Italian cinema
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The Conformist
(1970)
Starring: Jean-Louis Tritignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Certificate:
A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.
79%
from 211 members
The Go-Between
That year's classic british period piece: see it back to back with Walkabout
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The Go-Between
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Margaret Leighton, Alan Bates, Julie Christie
Director: Joseph Losey
Certificate:
In the summer of 1900, a thirteen-year-old boy who is staying with a wealthy classmate becomes involved in delivering the messages exchanged between the boy's older, engaged sister and a handsome neighbor.
67%
from 947 members
Catch 22
Another interesting failure: best seen if you haven't read the book.
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Catch 22
on DVD
(1970)
Starring: Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Anthony Perkins
Director: Mike Nichols
Certificate:
Based on Joseph Heller's much-loved best-selling novel, this sometimes disturbing antiwar satire centers around a group of World War II fliers in the Mediterranean and the insanity of war. The catch-22 of the title deals with a military snafu that results when a bombardier in the war attempts to ..read more »
63%
from 2,710 members
Average rating for this collection:
88% from 5 members
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