1970's Hall of Fame

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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I've had my eye on Johnny Got His Gun for awhile now, as it's a Dalton Trumbo story. I've seen Robin & Marian it's nicely done too. I watched it when I was on an Audrey Hepburn kick. I think it was her last movie Too lazy to look those facts up. I had noticed it was your one pointer
Johnny Got His Gun is a great underrated gem.
VERY, VERY true, Matt. Out of all the ones I thought over, this is the one I regret the most over not choosing.
And yes, Citizen, I do believe it'll be one you would thoroughly enjoy.
I'm watching Martin in the next few days. Think it looks interesting from the trailer, not a typical vampire film:

That does look intriguing, camo and from what sexy and cat says, I'm looking forward to what you have to say about it.

One movie that caught my eye, and I swear it sounds familiar, is The Outfit. May have to go looking for that one.




Sorcerer (1978)

This was amazing on so many different levels that I don't know where to begin!

Beautiful filmed! And I don't mean the lush jungle and I don't mean fancy camera work...I mean each scene starts with an establishing shot that looks like an award winning National Geographic photo. Being a long time still photographer myself, I noticed how special the camera shots were set up. @Joel will notice them too.

This is one of my favorites shots:


Look at how the camera is set up to shoot through a window that gives an illusion of a picture frame around the photo. I love that diagonal line that runs from the soldier in the foreground to the plane debris, to the plane in the background landing. That gives depth....Damn! that shot alone says so much. The soldier is kicked back casually drinking a soda pop while holding a gun... we can see the remnants of a crashed plane that no one has bothered to clean up...as another plane lands in this forgotten out of the way hell hole place.

The entire movie was like that and for me that was even better than the story. I was in a visual heaven!

The story itself was sophisticated. It sort of reminded me of The Guns of Navarone or The Dirty Dozen, where a rag tag band of misfits must go on a dangerous mission and risk their lives....but this is way different in that there are no heroes here and that's rare for films like this. The four men involved here are despicable. It's not like their rouges but still have a good side, they're murders and hardened thieves. The film makes an analogy that they've been sent to hell on Earth and there's no happy ending for these condemned men.

OMG! the special effects were huge, I don't recall ever seeing any practical effects done on this grand of scale. I mean they blow up an oil well with a monstrous fire ball!....and the trucks over the river on a swinging bridge, damn that was real! Real trucks, real bridge, real river in the real jungle! I've never seen anything like that before.

Everything is so impressive in this film. I could tell those jungles were real and not on a studio lot as I've been to the tropics and that's what they look like.

No CG here, and we'll never see a film made this big! It must have cost a fortune, the detail is amazing.

This is going to be one of my favorite films in this HoF.
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I know exactly what you mean, Citizen, Sorcerer, so far, is the definite unearthed gem of this HoF for me.
I made a bunch of screen shots of Sorcerer. Tell me if these don't look like award winning photos.





Those are just the portraits, there's a lot of great shots of landscape and still life in the movie.



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@Citizen Rules. My plan is to read your review as soon as I finish Sorcere. Its due tomorrow to be finished. Ill write my thoughts and then jump immediately over to your review for maximum effect.

I admit i am excited to see and HEAR this movie. Tangerine Dream buh buh!



Women will be your undoing, Pépé



Dog Day Afternoon

This is a very powerful performance by Al Pacino, and that's saying something since pretty much everything this man has done is easily describable as powerful.
But, still, the tension, the fear and the near panic to keep it together exudes from the mad looks in his eyes during this failed bank robbery that is strongly based on an actual attempted robbery/hostage situation.

There is a dark comedy mixing beneath the surface as things spirals nearly out of control as both Pacino's character, Sonny and, once more, playing a cop is Charles Durning doing his damnest to keep ***** from getting bloody, or worse.
When I'm mentioning actors, I must include Sonny's partner Sal, played by John Cazale who is most known as Fredo from The Godfather. Playing Sonny's reason for robbing the bank, is Chris Sarandon who completely nails it as a nervous wreck of a man in search of a sex change.
Also, keep an eye out for Lance Henriksen as one of the detectives and, for those who know her, Carol Kane as one of the hostages.

One of the incredible aspects is that how soon you care about Sonny's character as things go completely wrong and the police arrive and it becomes a hostage situation. You can argue that the sympathy comes with it being Pacino and we all like Pacino, but that sells it short.
It is HOW Pacino plays Sonny that we begin to root for him and cheer for him to make it out on the other side. Watch, and you will see.

Like the tag lines mention, this does become a media circus and the crowd outside go from cheering Sonny to jeering the police. It continually remains a volatile and explosive situation that, at any second can go south, VERY easily; and this tension stays and never eases up.

Along with this, is some very intriguing displays of, not only mob mentality and the circus that the media seems to know as the only protocol, but of those caught in the very center of it all. Those on both sides of the standoff, the police and the 6 women tellers and the manager being held captive as it all plays out.

I have seen this movie a number of times in my life and I'm VERY happy to have a reason to see it again. Thank you, @CaptainT for nominating this.



Sorcerer (1977)
Director: William Friedkin

This was a surprise. I thought it was going to be something completely different. First off I have to say that there's that unmistakable 1970's era level of sophistication that comes through with the staging and directing of this film. Lots of erratic zooms and handheld juxtapose static shots with deep lighting, brilliant use of natural light, and carefully (I think) planned color schemes in the overall scene design. The sound plays a big part, too, since the threading of sound is run underneath scenes in such a way to give a carpet like flooring for everything to just kind of exist on top of. Lots of need for that since this is essentially a collection of scenes that are very disjointed but eventually lead to the ultimate adventure.

There are amazingly nuanced scenes that act as transitions that roar with the sound of fire or shriek with some effect for awakening from a nightmare.

The mission to take four men from different parts of the world and have them take refuge in a place to be hand picked for a suicide mission transporting turned nitro is a very unique premise. I haven't seen "Wages of Fear" so I feel like that may explain some of my issues with the film on a story level, or perhaps, better yet, an editing level. One thing this film does not do is spell everything out for the viewer. I kept thinking at how lucky I was to have an american in there once in a while putting some ketchup on my fries in the way of exposition, because I sure as hell couldn't understand about 60% of the dialog recording, accents, or even some of the dialog itself.

None of the deep and visceral ruminations of any one character, especially Roy Scheider's, had me informed on what exactly I was holding onto. I did not know much back story, if any at all, and it seemed that when the madness montage would happen, I'd just be kind of scratching my head. The film looked really beautiful with most scenes in some exotic location - interiors sometimes looking more exotic, and Tangerine Dream's minimalist score was kind of neat (if underwhelming), but I just couldn't feel the weight that was so clearly trying to break through like the tires of those laboring trucks on the wood bridges, which, was some of the most intense action at a slow pace I have seen, wow!

Sorcerer is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Maybe that much I did get from the film. I felt like the animal that William Friedkin is as a director, and the team he composes to achieve his strong visual and rhythmic style, is enough to sell me that this is a masterpiece. However I also feel that this film is someone else's masterpiece. A masterpiece I may not quite fully understand, but a work of art I can at least glimpse at and feel from a considerable distance.

Me,...watching 'Sorcerer'.




Sorcerer (1978)

Being a long time still photographer myself, I noticed how special the camera shots were set up. @Joel will notice them too.

Yes, I did notice them, for sure! It was an incredibly visual film. Beautiful at almost every turn!

The story itself was sophisticated.

You said a mouthful!

The film makes an analogy that they've been sent to hell on Earth and there's no happy ending for this condemned men.

Well, I'll be damned! If you check my review, you'll see I didn't even make that connection. Thanks for giving me more perspective!

I don't recall ever seeing any practical effects done on this grand of scale. I mean they blow up an oil well with a monstrous fire ball!....and the trucks over the river on a swinging bridge, damn that was real! Real trucks, real bridge, real river in the real jungle! I've never seen anything like that before.

When those soldiers ran into the hut and IMMEDIATELY it blew up...that was a genius use of editing (I think)...it had to be! Jump cut masked by handheld work and the explosion distracting the eye from the seam? Hot shlt moment, nevertheless!
Great Review...some of my responses to you above in this post, in the quote...



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Has anyone seen both Wages of Fear and Sorcerer? I watched Wages of Fear a while back, and Sorcerer has been on my watchlist ever since then, so I'm curious if anyone can compare the two movies.






Dog Day Afternoon

This is a very powerful performance by Al Pacino, and that's saying something since pretty much everything this man has done is easily describable as powerful.
But, still, the tension, the fear and the near panic to keep it together exudes from the mad looks in his eyes during this failed bank robbery that is strongly based on an actual attempted robbery/hostage situation.

There is a dark comedy mixing beneath the surface as things spirals nearly out of control as both Pacino's character, Sonny and, once more, playing a cop is Charles Durning doing his damnest to keep ***** from getting bloody, or worse.
When I'm mentioning actors, I must include Sonny's partner Sal, played by John Cazale who is most known as Fredo from The Godfather. Playing Sonny's reason for robbing the bank, is Chris Sarandon who completely nails it as a nervous wreck of a man in search of a sex change.
Also, keep an eye out for Lance Henriksen as one of the detectives and, for those who know her, Carol Kane as one of the hostages.

One of the incredible aspects is that how soon you care about Sonny's character as things go completely wrong and the police arrive and it becomes a hostage situation. You can argue that the sympathy comes with it being Pacino and we all like Pacino, but that sells it short.
It is HOW Pacino plays Sonny that we begin to root for him and cheer for him to make it out on the other side. Watch, and you will see.

Like the tag lines mention, this does become a media circus and the crowd outside go from cheering Sonny to jeering the police. It continually remains a volatile and explosive situation that, at any second can go south, VERY easily; and this tension stays and never eases up.

Along with this, is some very intriguing displays of, not only mob mentality and the circus that the media seems to know as the only protocol, but of those caught in the very center of it all. Those on both sides of the standoff, the police and the 6 women tellers and the manager being held captive as it all plays out.

I have seen this movie a number of times in my life and I'm VERY happy to have a reason to see it again. Thank you, @CaptainT for nominating this.
Great review, Ed! Awesome that we're all getting into some killer 70's flicks! I think after I motorboat through Fantastic Planet, this'll be next.

You're right on the money with Pacino's acting chops. Would you say this period was his peak years?



Has anyone seen both Wages of Fear and Sorcerer? I watched Wages of Fear a while back, and Sorcerer has been on my watchlist ever since then, so I'm curious if anyone can compare the two movies.
I like Sorcerer much more but opinions are widely varied.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Great review, Ed! Awesome that we're all getting into some killer 70's flicks! I think after I motorboat through Fantastic Planet, this'll be next.

You're right on the money with Pacino's acting chops. Would you say this period was his peak years?
I would definitely say he was at his most adrenaline packed momentum with, what could be considered as a hefty chunk of his greatest list depending on one's preference.Where everyone mentions the movies during this decade when talking about their favorite Pacino movies.
For me, there seems to be this ascending hunger and drive into the characters he played. Where as, he arrived and was able to continue his artistic journey at his own leisure. If that makes any sense.

BTW, LOVED the nuances and descriptive style you write with. Describing the sound as a carpet effect and exploring the visual aspect of Sorcerer. Even talking about getting lost in some of it, perhaps a secondary view at some point may help that feeling? I've known a number of films where that was VERY necessary.



Joel, I agree with just about everything you said about Sorcerer. I think I liked it better than you, but I can see that you appreciated it the visual styles of Friedkin. I didn't rate it, but if I did it would be a
++

This was a surprise. I thought it was going to be something completely different.
When I started watching the movie and it was in Arabic and then in French, I though maybe I had got the wrong movie and I knew it was an English language film. It happened once before in an Hof that I watched the wrong film with the same title....but of course this was the right version I watched.


Lots of erratic zooms and handheld juxtapose static shots with deep lighting, brilliant use of natural light, and carefully (I think) planned color schemes in the overall scene design.
I didn't notice any erratic zooms, not saying there weren't any, just that I don't remember that, and I do hate the overuse of a zoom lens on a film camera. B movies in the 70s were bad for that.


The 'handheld juxtapose static shots with deep lighting' would be want I called the National Geographic photo shots? I think we're talking about the same think. Stunning and I'm glad you mentioned the lighting as I noticed too that it was very efficiently lit and exposed. The film had a sort of dark, but still properly exposed look. I loved that look.


The sound plays a big part, too, since the threading of sound is run underneath scenes in such a way to give a carpet like flooring for everything to just kind of exist on top of.
I know you're a musician so you're more in tune with that (no pun intended) than I am. But I did see you mention Tangerine Dream and I was vaguely familiar with them. I couldn't help but think of the synthesizer score as sounding like the score from The Warriors. Well you will see, err I mean hear what I mean.

One thing this film does not do is spell everything out for the viewer. None of the deep and visceral ruminations of any one character, especially Roy Scheider's, had me informed on what exactly I was holding onto. I did not know much back story, if any at all...
I felt like the animal that William Friedkin is as a director, and the team he composes to achieve his strong visual and rhythmic style, is enough to sell me that this is a masterpiece.
Very true. ...it's big of visuals, both grand action scenes, (like the drive over the narrow mountain ride, and the bridge) and the visual beauty of how it's filmed...and the beauty of the surrounding, but hellish jungle





I'm pretty sure raul said he's out so I'll hold off on Fantastic Planet until ed confirms it
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