Helping to popularize bodybuilding and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pumping Iron also introduced the world to everyone’s favorite Hulk, Lou Ferrigno. Unsurprisingly, during the half of the film concentrating on their rivalry during the 1975 Mr. Olympia competition, Arnold is the villain while the Hulk is our hero. I wonder if audiences in the 70s felt as […]
To see a plethora of actual footage from MLK Jr’s life, this film is worth the watch. It doesn’t offer much new if you are well versed in his life, his mission, and the times he lived, but hearing his words in his own voice is powerful. The celebrity interstitials are sometimes a bit jarring and pulling from the flow of the narrative, but it is nice to see many famous faces join in the cause.
Oscar Nomination: Best Documentary, Features
I preface this with the fact that I have never read the book nor knew much about any of the plot going in. The film is fairly trippy from the start as only films from the late 1960/early 1970s seem capable of. Once I got a feel for the time jumps, it made for an enjoyable and captivating ride watching our hero Billy Pilgrim, played by Michael Stacks, as a POW during World War II, as a family man in the modern day, and on Tralfamadore. I delight in stories that reject a linear timeline worldview and this one is a great edition in that category.
The protagonists in my favorite Blaxploitation films are generally not outright criminals or at least ones that are seeking some level of redemption. Ron O’Neal’s Priest is having none of that. He’s seeking to retire as a cocaine dealer, but only after one big windfall so he can continue living in the manner to which he’s accustomed. When the corrupt police get in his way, he does manage to put them down with karate and a well-placed Mafia hit. The Curtis Mayfield soundtrack is unforgettable. The fashions and the style are perfectly emblematic of 1970s pimp culture. 
With a somewhat convoluted story, Julie Andrews tries to shed her pure Mary Poppins image by portraying a German spy during World War I who also engages in the occasional striptease. American pilot Rock Hudson flies in as her target and love interest. The tone of the extravagant production matches the story, jumping from comedy to romance to musical to spy flick, moving from one to the next with little sense of flow. 
Oscar Nominations: Best Costume Design; Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Original Song Score
Gene Wilder is a naïve, devout, newly graduated Polish rabbi sent to the United States to lead a Californian congregation.. His journey from Philadelphia to San Francisco includes a bevy of adventures, including meeting up and befriending bank robber Harrison Ford. It’s a bit overlong for the story at hand, but Wilder is as sweet and endearing as ever and his chemistry with Ford is surprising.
Seeing the DVD cover for this film, I wrongfully assumed it was a war, or at least military focused movie. Instead it is the story of an asshole father who would rather flying planes than treat his family, especially his oldest son, with any kindness. There is also a shoehorned in story of the son’s black friend being harassed by racist rednecks, as if the main story didn’t have enough weight to hold a film by itself. Despite my dislike for the story itself, the cast particularly Robert Duvall and Michael O’Keefe as the father and son respectively work wonders with the material. Even though Julie Anne Haddock was little utilized as the younger daughter, I also have a soft spot for the season 1 Facts of Life cast.
Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role
An unnecessary remake of the Hitchcock classic, this version is a bit weighed down by casting the leads with Cybill Shepherd and Elliott Gould as somewhat obnoxious Americans. The obnoxious qualities luckily wane over the course of the film but it dully settles to being very close to the original. This version is certainly watchable and also contains the incomparable Angela Lansbury, so the time isn’t a complete waste.
I wish more people would watch this movie, since it resonates greatly in current times. Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel reunite to bring to the screen this adaption of the French absurdist play about a town where people who follow the herd turn into rhinoceroses. They both bring the same charm and energy to this film as they did to The Producers.