List of Crap #115: Top 50 Movies of the 70s Countdown!

[PsychoGoatee]

Would it be safe to say you're a bigger fan of Lemmy PG?

Safe bet there , I'm surprised Lemmy never worked with Electric Mayhem. At least that I know of, though probably ran into eachother on the road.

[ScottotD]

I take responsibility for there not being more horror, didn't know this was happening before it started

Still never seen Close Encounters. I'm sure I will one day...

It's a good rainy Sunday afternoon/evening movie

[Johnny Unusual]

#3

167 Points, 10 Lists, #1 George 2.0, Stethacantus

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch.

Year 1975

What's it about?

Sheriff Brody works in the small beach town of Amity Island, whose entire economy is tied to tourism.  When a body is found on the beach, Brody suspects a shark attact, but the people of the town are quick to downplay it, fearing the consequences of scaring off tourists.  Brody ends up conceding but when a second attack happens, Brody feels guilt for not having done enough.  With the help of an oceanographer and a shark hunter, Brody must hunt down the shark and kill it, only to find the beast more formidable than any of the men could have suspected.

What's it REALLY about?
With Jaws being one of the most successful movies of all time, the crowd pleasing killer shark movie has drew a lot of scholarly analysis, with a lot of people seeing a view of post Watergate society and/or how we are expected to move beyond it.  I think there is definite social commentary (both intended and unintended perhaps) about how a community is supposed to survive (I don't know if it was intended as an environmental metaphor, but man does it work now) with people at the top trying to ignore the problem and three men from different social classes (wealthy, lower class and middle class) come together to defeat the menace.  There's also a great theory about how the real monster is Brody's secret alcoholism (he drinks a LOT in this movie).  But one of the themes is the one that makes it so appealing: it tackles primal fears about man's delicate place on the top of the food chain and the unknown nature of the ocean and, well, nature.

Legacy
This is basically the movie that created the blockbuster.  Granted, you could make a strong argument that it was the Exorcist, but Jaws had the advantage of, despite its monster movie nature, could reach a wider audience and was just more of a fun, rewatchable movie.  It helped to completely transform the film landscape and what New Hollywood could accomplish (and ironically, for better or worse, may have signaled its forthcoming end).

I used this scene to scare high school students in my English language class when I was in Korea.  It ALWAYS got a reaction (that and sometimes I showed the climactic scene in Psycho).

Trivia
Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss could not stand each other and the two argued all the time, which resulted in some good tension between Hooper and Quint.

Johnny's Thoughts
I watched it again recently and it is such a good movie.  Spielberg, when on his a-game, is almost unbeatable at making the platonic ideal of what a movie can be, filled with spectacle, humanity and a sense of fun.  It's no surprise he's one of the few directors everyone knows by name.

[PsychoGoatee]

The rifftrax of that is good too. I liked how they made fun of how many phones he had in his office, a lot of phones. I haven't seen most of the "good movie" riffs, that one works though. Roy Scheider is great, and his one-liner to Jaws is one of the iconic lines for sure.

[linszoid]

So I wonder who will end up at number 1? Will it be Guy from Harlem or Mitchell?

[Cyrusso]

So I wonder who will end up at number 1? Will it be Guy from Harlem or Mitchell?

Just a wild guess but probably neither of those.

[F-Zero]

Special Edition DVD has all three cuts.

The "When You Wish Upon A Star" cut left a bad taste in my mouth. Spielberg please.

[Edward J Grug III]

Jaws at three? Jesus guys. ;P

[F-Zero]

The rifftrax of that is good too. I liked how they made fun of how many phones he had in his office, a lot of phones. I haven't seen most of the "good movie" riffs, that one works though. Roy Scheider is great, and his one-liner to Jaws is one of the iconic lines for sure.

Ditto.

I really appreciate the riff on Jaws because it grounds the horror. And the loneliness.

[F-Zero]

Jaws at three? Jesus guys. ;P

I had it pegged #1 for sure.

[Johnny Unusual]

#2

178 Points, 12 Lists, #1 Darth Geek

First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.

Year 1975

What's it about?

King Arthur, after gathering his Knights of the Round Table, is charged by God to find the location of the Holy Grail.  After a poorly planned seige on a French Castle, the knights split up in order to discover the location of the Grail.  Sirs Arthur and Bedevere try to meet the challenge of the mysterious and powerful Knights Who Say Ni.  Brave Sir Robin runs into a three headed giant.  Sir Galahad face the horror that lurks inside Castle Anthrax.  Lancelot infiltrates Swamp Castle on his own.  Sir Not Appearing in This Film does not appear in this film.  And as the Knights face unfathomable monsters and challenges, a police investigation goes forward.

What's it REALLY about?
A loving skewering of classic myths.

Legacy
One of the most quoted comedies of all time and was adapted into a stage play, "Spamalot".

Trivia
The French tactic of pelting Arthur and his knights with livestock echoes the relatively modern legend of a medieval siege of the fortified southern French town of Carcassonne. Said to have been near starvation, the townspeople used the last of their food to pelt the besieging army to convince them, suffering likewise, that the town was well stocked with food and that the siege was hopeless. The tactic was successful, and the siege was lifted.

Johnny's Thoughts
I loved this movie since I first saw it as a child, with its weird, ridiculous humour.  It gets better but I know it almost TOO well, that I often need to take long breaks from it for it to make me laugh again, so I forgot some of the jokes and the nuance of the unforgettable ones.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

When this came out on VHS I practically wore out the tape, could practically recite the entire thing from memory back then.  These days I also have to give it years off to be able to laugh at it again.

[George-2.0]

No shocker then, it's gonna be Star Wars. Eh, I fart in Star Wars general direction.

I like the other 2 

And to be 'that guy' -- technically Jaws invented the summer blockbuster. Exorcist was released in December, and while there had been event pictures before (James Bond - Live and Let Die for example was released in July '73), Jaws set the table for what we have today. Big, expensive, summer spectaculars

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Oh....  That Guy....  Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!








Fetchez la vache...

[Johnny Unusual]

#1

214 Points, 11 Lists, #1 Linszoid, MartyS & Pak Man

Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.

Year 1977

What's it about?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a farmboy named Luke Skywalker yearning to leave his home winds up in possession of two droids, one of whom has a message for an "Obi Wan Kenobi".  Knowing a hermit named Ben Kenobi, Luke seeks him out and finds himself drawn into a quest to find a princess taken by an evil empire.  In order to find her, Luke, Kenobi and the Droids team up with smuggler Han Solo and his partner Chewbacca in order to find her.  When they do, they also discover a weapon so powerful, it can take control of the universe.  Can Luke and his friends save the galaxy from the Empire and one of its more powerful agents Darth Vader?

What's it REALLY about?
Classic good vs. evil stuff, as well as putting condensing the classic heroes journey in a way that combines a multitude of genres.  Sci-fi might seem obvious, but it is also a fairy tale, a western, a war adventure movie and a samurai picture all rolled into one.  The story is so simple, it is also kind of the perfect blending of the various adventure genres while remaining very much its own thing.

Legacy
I don't have to tell you, do I.  If Jaws created the blockbuster, Star Wars, a scant two years later, rewrote what the blockbuster was to be.  The brought back genre film and science fiction film in particular in a big way, but more than that, this movie became a phenomenon that no other film had before and while some may come very close, none have matched since.  Putting aside the obscene amount of merchandise, it took up a lot of real estate in the collective cultural psyche and capturing the imagination of audiences and becoming interwoven into culture in a way that will last forever.  It might be silly to call it a religion, but to many, that's how meaningful the franchise is and it all began here.

Trivia
Kenny Baker has said that often when the cast and crew broke for lunch, they would forget he was in the R2-D2 outfit and leave him behind.

Johnny's Thoughts
This may not be my number one, but it is one that means a lot to me.  Its my first movie.  When I was four, I would watch it EVERY DAY for a long period from a VHS taped from TV.  I was obsessed.  Remember those computerized war maps from the debriefing scene?  I drew that on the walls of my house.  It was my everything.  The prequels kind of killed my seemingly bottomless enthusiasm for the movies for a while but the Force Awakens helped pull me out of that funk.  Hopefully, Lucas will come to his senses some day and allow the original film as it was scene to come back into theatres.