Hello. My name is Lucy, and I think the 1970s were cinema’s best decade so far, perhaps ever.
People think of it as a peak time in American cinema in particular, when New Hollywood was cooking. The defanging and eventual abandonment of the Hays Code allowed for greater creativity and edge, and the medium had simply aged enough at this point that more people knew what they were doing.
You have your tried and true classics: The Godfather, Star Wars, Taxi Driver, Jaws, Grease, etc., but you also have big swings like Dog Day Afternoon, A Woman Under the Influence, Pink Flamingos, and (my personal favorite) Nashville.
And that’s just the Americans. You turn those subtitles on and you’ve got all time bangers like House, Stalker, The Ascent, and Le Cercle Rouge. It might’ve been the coke, but everyone was juiced up in theretofore unseen levels. People were churning out great movies in comparable volumes to the slop we churn out today.
I love 70s movies so much, I decided that I’m going to watch (and rewatch) all of them. And write about each one. This is my white whale.
Letterboxd has the number of movies made in the 1970s at 50,603. IMDb’s list has 57,888.
“But Lucy,” you say, “that’s too many movies. EVERY movie made in the 1970s? Wouldn’t picking one year be a more achievable goal?” You’d be right. But I’m not concerned with achievability. I’m still working on the Sims 100 Baby Challenge on-and-off two years later. I’m having fun. Everything these days feels like a box to check off or a LinkedIn-core to-do list for self-actualization, and I am simply doing this because I feel like it now.
It’s far likelier I give up than finish the thing. But, who cares? Every new 70s movie added to my repertoire is a gift. We don’t have a TCM channel to fall asleep to anymore (at least I don’t). We’re handed remakes and sequels and 35 new Lifetime Christmas movies and 10 hour fireplace loops every year. At the risk of sounding like a total asshole, I want to watch at least one thing a week that makes me think. And put down my stupid phone and take notes so I actually watch it.
In order to make this as simple as possible, I’m laying out a few rules for myself:
Feature length films only.
There were some short films made in the 70s, some by masters of the craft, but I am leaving those out. A decent chunk of those 50,603 (I have to believe) are shorts, and this makes the task at hand seem less daunting.There will be spoilers.
I’m not writing reviews here; I’m making thought stew. I’ll try and drop warnings, but I would love it if you watched the movies with me, so you can go in with the same knowledge. Plus, I feel like 49+ years is past the statute of limitations on spoilers.I am watching in no particular order.
I’m not starting with the first movie released on January 1, 1970, because I know that having a rigid order I have to watch the movies in will be the quickest way to give up. You just have to wait for the mood to strike to watch Jeanne Dielman, you know?I am going to try and watch one a week and post about it on Sunday.
Sometimes, routine can be good.
Thank you for joining me on this stupid-yet-noble journey I’m making for myself.