Category: 1970s

Beatlemania comes to New York and four friends, each with a different motivation, are desperate to get tickets for The Beatles’ debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. With my own recent Beatles obsession, it seemed an opportune time to watch director Robert Zemeckis’s first feature film. I’m incredibly surprised that I had never seen this before and how perfect it was in encapsulating that one specific pop culture moment while barely even showing the actual musicians. I remember reading that the foursome on Sex and the City television show tried to cover the various opinions that women would have on any subject and the four girls here do the same: stereotypical Beatles fan Wendy Jo Sperber dreaming of a future as Mrs. Paul McCartney, ambitious Teresa Saldana trying to get a rare photo of the band, cynical Susan Kendall Newman staging a protest at their mere existence, and engaged Nancy Allen wanting one last fling with her friends. Aside from being relateable, it’s also incredibly entertaining.    

Diagnosed with a fatal disease, Burt Reynolds decides to take his own life, but not before meeting up one last time with various family and friends. When he finally makes his attempt, it is unsuccessful and he winds up in a mental hospital where he is befriended by fellow patient Dom DeLuise. I think one of the reasons many films of the late 60s and 70s turn me off is I generally find the leading men of that era dislikable. Reynolds is a prime example of this. His brand of steamrollering machismo leaves no room for the women of the film, which is a shame because the film has some winners with Sally Field, Joanne Woodward, Kristy McNichol, and Myrna Loy. Occasionally funny, especially for anyone who enjoys DeLuise’s schtick, it quickly overstays its welcome even with a fairly poignant ending.  

Saxophonist Robert De Niro meets singer Liza Minnelli on V-J day, leading to a tumultuous relationship that runs against their burgeoning music careers. From the beginning De Niro has not a single redeeming characteristic which makes for real confusion as to why the bubbly Minnelli would want anything to do with him. She’s delightful in the film which some musical moments that really shine, but the rest of the film is such a drag that every one of its 163 minutes is felt. It’s a strange thing that the theme song has become such a standard that it seems like it has existed for much longer than this film.