The MoFo Top 100 of the 1970s: Countdown

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2 good movies that didn't make my list

Straw Dogs is the best Peckinpah I've seen, but there was at least 35 better 70's movies I've seen

As for TDCOTB it's good, but I think that Bunuel other 70's work is way better.
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I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I haven't seen either of those. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is one of those films I know I ought to get round to watching, since it gets mentioned here so often. I've never had any particular inclination to watch Straw Dogs from what I've heard about it.



The Brave Little Weeman Returns!
The one I campaigned for will not make it. There is another I should have campaigned for because I'm now afraid it won't make the list.
What did you campaign for Raul? We tend to have similar tastes. PM it to me.
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On the other hand, Straw Dogs is exactly the kind of movie that I seek out. I had it at #23, and it's the 2nd movie from my list to show up. It's been a favorite of mine for over 30 years and features 1 of 8 great 70's performances that I've seen from Dustin Hoffman. I fear that only 1 or 2 more of his movies will show up; it really should be 4 more. Put Hoffman's 70's showing with Midnight Cowboy in 1969, and Tootsie in 1982, and you have what I think is one of the all time great stretches by any actor.
Clicky HERE.
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Little Big Man
Papillon
Lenny
All The President's Men
Marathon Man
Straight Time
Kramer vs. Kramer

Which of those do you think will make it cricket?
I think Kramer vs. Kramer and All the President's Men will make it.

I think Marathon Man and Little Big Man have a small chance.

I think the other 3 have no chance.



I think Little Big Man's got a pretty good chance. I didn't vote for it, but I know a lot of people like it.
The man who wrote that died the other day.
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The man who wrote [Little Big Man] died the other day.
Thomas Berger. Yup. He wrote the novel. There's a sequel to the book that he wrote decades later, called simply The Return of Little Big Man, which is also pretty good. Calder Willingham adapted the screenplay, and also wrote The Graduate, Paths of Glory, One-Eyed Jacks, and Rambling Rose, he died a long time ago.

I can neither confirm nor deny at this point whether it made the MoFo '70s List. It's one of my favorite movies, too, but it takes more than two high-placed votes to make this cut. Time will tell (you guys).

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Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I think this pair are the two best on the list so far, and with Straw Dogs we finally have one from my list where I had it at #17.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is Buñuel, so of course it contains surrealism, but you shouldn't let that dissuade you from watching it. I really think it's his best film and it's told in such a sharp, playful manner it should appeal to a broad audience. Basically, it contains his usual takes of social and religious satire, but these "typically-bourgeois" characters really do some surprising things which in hindsight and context make more sense than they usually do in the Buñuel Universe. Part of the fun is that all these characters fit well into the surrealistic vision of "Anything Goes", but they have an almost idiotic internal logic, so that makes the film both endlessly entertaining and subversive of both mainstream cinema and surrealism itself. Two of the recurring motifs which appeal to my sense of humor are that the characters repeatedly sit down to eat but are interrupted, and that at regular intervals during this wonderful, episodic film, they find themselves walking along an empty highway at a very brisk pace. These are just two of many things in the film which add to the its mystery and meaning. Needless to say, I've rewatched it many times and it's still surprising, funny and fresh every time.

I watched Straw Dogs again just a couple of weeks ago. It's a very complex thriller about Peckinpah's theme of men having to prove their manhood and their need for and almost addiction to violence, no matter how civilized they believe themselves to be. In Dustin Hoffman's marriage, his wife Susan George would be considered the more-traditionally macho of the pair, at least until he decides to provide sanctuary to dangerous simpleton David Warner and has to protect his residence from the primitive, drunken and violent locals who want Warner. Peckinpah shows himself (again) to be a master of building unease and tension which explodes in a meticulously-edited series of pure cinema. He's greatly aided throughout by Jerry Fielding's musical score which can just about match him, rhythm-for-rhythm, in the awesomely-cross-cut scene where Hoffman is earlier taken out hunting by the locals and left to fend for himself while his wife is attacked in a weird rape/seduction. It's my favorite Peckinpah, mainly for what's an exotic locale (rural England) for him and the bravura finale. Whatever Peckinpah is your fave is a personal thing, but I'm happy to see his vision represented twice so far on this list.
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Saw people talking about Little Big Man and was going to shriek with joy because that's on my list -- but nope -- that wasn't the movie for today -- it was STRAW DOGS.....



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Straw Dogs was in the pile of DVDs I forgot to include when making my list. It might have made my top 25 but I wouldn't have put it above Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, which was my #12.
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