1971 poll

[sally]

middle man is 75 on imdb, but company ltd is on youtube? i put the link in the thing

my wife and the dog is one of THE lighthouse movies (phallic illusion). no surprise that the excellent cinematography is by the guy that did al-mummia. thanks kanafani for subbing

[brian d]

^ it’s definitely one of the best quality lighthouse movies. the narrative structure is quite nice too, though i’m not sure how common that kind of flashback structure was in egyptian cinema at that time.

[Lencho of the Apes]

in the thing

Thanks for getting me sorted, x-mags; I seem to have had my eye on a different copy of Company Ltd that was 3 hours long and had no subs... but I can't find it now? I'm good with 1 3/4, if that's the option.

[...]

Part way through The Night Visitor, and it's an odd thing. An English language film with Von Sydow, Ullman, Per Oscarsson and Trevor Howard. The movie has a mixed Euro-vibe to it. It's sort of a thriller psychological mystery deal, with Max playing a farmer who's been committed to an asylum but escapes to torment his family and the community and then returns to the asylum to escape suspicion, with Ullman playing his sister and Oscarsson her husband, a doctor. Howard plays a detective who'll try to sort the whole thing out. It's seems to be trying to be both arty, with the cast, some showy snowy cinematography and an odd, heavy dissonant score making it all feel a bit distant but still tawdry enough to keep it accessible, maybe a bit like a Swedish farm Chabrol, but I've only just watched the first third, so it could go in a different direction as it goes on. It might be something to check out when you're in the mood for wintry murder hijinxs or just want to see Max run around in the snow in his undies.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Trials Of An Okinawa Village - Shigehiro Ozawa

Probably not listworthy, but it was great! fun, perfect pop. Especially recommended for fans of Ladyboss action movies; lead character's a truck-drivin' gal who wants to help in the reconstruction of her birth village... and take down a yakuza gang, and...

[...]

Finished The Night Visitor and it was pretty fun. The equivalent I guess of a "page turner" mystery novel. Not a who-dun-it, exactly more a how is it being, um, dun, why, and how will it end. It's very seventies, as a Swedish/US co-production it keeps a bit of the arty vibe, but more for packaging than for being anything difficult to grasp. It's one of a mostly forgotten kind of seventies "genre" that existed in the US after the MPAA film ratings system was established, back when they took it on its face and actually believed PG (or GP) rated movies were meant as adult oriented entertainment that was given the rating for "subject matter", "themes", or other material that children weren't expected to understand, but was of a different nature than heavy violence or sexuality, which got the "R" or "X" during the brief time an "X" rating didn't just mean porn. And when they thought an adult audience was still a valuable market to appeal to and would prefer movies that differed from those for teens.

The Night Visitor isn't fast paced and doesn't have any real sex or violence onscreen, or at least in frame, but its story and perspective have an amorality to them, with the viewer being entertained by watching a miserable group behave badly without concern over good and evil per se, with the ending too being very of the era, though I won't spoil it for you. All of it is earnest and slightly ridiculous in a way that is enjoyably compelling to watch to see what happens next. The movie has a nice vivid feel to it, with a singular setting and pleasing use of environment, with wintery half light, snow and cold and a particularly excellent asylum that provides the biggest thrills of the movie; first in wondering how Von Sydow's character could escape it, then watching him do it and his return to his cell. The writing is tight in how each scene is constructed and plays out, and the dialogue sparse but fun, even when it's a bit foolish, just to hear the cast try to make it work. Its euro-feel fades a bit, so it's maybe more Chabrol-lite than a full strength version, if even that, but not much less enjoyable for it. Not a must see or anything, but recommended for an entertaining, lightly wicked diversion.

[greennui]

My watchlist:

A Bay of Blood
A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin
A̶p̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶B̶r̶a̶y̶
B̶l̶a̶n̶c̶h̶e̶ ̶
The Blood on Satan’s Claw
T̶h̶e̶ ̶B̶o̶y̶ ̶F̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶
T̶h̶e̶ ̶D̶e̶c̶a̶m̶e̶r̶o̶n̶ ̶
H̶o̶w̶ ̶T̶a̶s̶t̶y̶ ̶W̶a̶s̶ ̶M̶y̶ ̶L̶i̶t̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶F̶r̶e̶n̶c̶h̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶
J̶o̶e̶ ̶H̶i̶l̶l̶
La Maison des bois
L̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶S̶i̶l̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶D̶a̶r̶k̶n̶e̶s̶s̶
The Night Visitor
Out 1
T̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶a̶l̶a̶m̶a̶n̶d̶e̶r̶
Simon, King of the Witches
Woman of Fire

So far, The Boy Friend is the only I've liked enough to be a contender for the final list.

I'm gonna watch Woman of Fire next, I've been saving it for last as I don't really like watching films on youtube. I'm a bit jaded with horror after last month so I'll probably skip the horror ones and I'm not sure if I'll be in the mood for the gargantuan pieces (La Maison des bois is looking most likely).

[rischka]

i'm glad someone else likes the boy friend lol

i ADORED du côté d’Orouët so thx for that

[greennui]

i'm glad someone else likes the boy friend lol

i ADORED du côté d’Orouët so thx for that

It was as delightfully madcap and shrill as you'd expect from a Russell musical. Took a while before I got into it's groove though.

glad you enjoyed it, such a delightful, freewheeling film.

[oscarwerner]

i will repeat it with pleasure:1971-is one of the better or maybe the best cinematic years of all time.
1. Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti)-my top hit
other 19:
2. Sunday Bloody Sunday (John Schlesinger)
3. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)
4.Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah)
5.Klute (Alan Pakula)
6.The Go-Between (Joseph Losey)
7. McCabe and Mrs Miller (Robert Altman)
8.The French Connection (William Friedkin)
9. The Decameron (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
10. Murphy's War (Peter Yates)
----
11. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby)
12. The Music Lovers (Ken Russell)
13. Murmur of the Heart (Louis Malle)
14. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman)
15. Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian)
16. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)
17. Dirty Harry (Don Siegel)
18. Johnny Got His Gun (Dalton Trumbo)
19. Get Carter (Mike Hodges)
20. Duel (Steven Spielberg)
------------------------------------
Honorable mentions:
WR: Mysteries of the Organism (Dusan Makavejev)
10 Rillington Place (Richard Fleischer)
The Hired Hand (Peter Fonda)
Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead (Giuseppe Vari )
Unman, Wittering and Zigo (John Mackenzie)
Mourir d'aimer... (André Cayatte)
The Deadly Trap (René Clément)
Shoot Out (Henry Hathaway)
Pink Narcissus (James Bidgood )
The Last Run (Richard Fleischer, John Huston)
Max and the Junkmen (Claude Sautet)
Sacco & Vanzetti (Giuliano Montaldo)
Trafic (Jacques Tati)
Joe Hill (Bo Widerberg)
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (Ulu Grosbard)
Bless the Beasts & Children (Stanley Kramer)
Punishment Park (Peter Watkins)
Valdez Is Coming (Edwin Sherin)
Taking Off ( Milos Forman)
Play Misty for Me ( Clint Eastwood)
The Beguiled (Don Siegel)
The Hunting Party (Don Medford)
Lawman (Michael Winner)
The Devils (Ken Russell)
The Boy Friend (Ken Russell)
The Omega Man (Boris Sagal)
A New Leaf (Elaine May)
Four Flies on Grey Velvet ( Dario Argento)
The Cat o' Nine Tails (Dario Argento)
The Last Valley (James Clavell)
Little Murders (Alan Arkin)
The Emigrants (Jan Troell)
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles)
Shaft (Gordon Parks)
Nicholas and Alexandra (Franklin J. Schaffner)
Carnal Knowledge (Mike Nichols)
Le Mans ( Lee H. Katzin)
The Panic in Needle Park (Jerry Schatzberg)
Macbeth ( Roman Polanski)
The Anderson Tapes (Sidney Lumet)
The Horsemen (John Frankenheimer)
Duck, You Sucker (Sergio Leone)
Summer of '42 (Robert Mulligan)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Robert Fuest)
Bananas (Woody Allen)
Fiddler on the Roof (Norman Jewison)
THX 1138 (George Lucas)
Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg)
The Night Visitor (Laslo Benedek)
The Andromeda Strain (Robert Wise)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart)
Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton)
Red sun (Terence Young)
The Nightcomers ( Michael Winner)-strange movie with M.Brando
----------------------
Made in USSR:
Gentlemen of Fortune (Aleksandr Sery)
Twelve Chairs (Leonid Gaidai)
------------------------
Made in Lithuania:
Maža išpažintis-(Short confessions) (Algirdas Araminas)

[liquidnature]

du côté d’Orouët

glad to see this getting so much love these days. I just looked at iCM, and I was the 10th person to ever check this movie, in 2013. I knew nothing about it or Rozier at the time, and the only reason I even watched it was because I watched and loved Adieu Philippine due to it being on JRose's list. Just a cool tidbit to me, a very rare occurrence of being one of the first to watch something - the film-lover's equivalent of writing "first" in the youtube comments. how annoying

[rischka]

it's kind of amazing it's in three lists and only 88 checks. just became it's 14th fan

[rischka]

watching emitai now. let's drink

[thoxans]

the blood on satan's claw (piers haggard) leftover from 31 days of october. had to watch it for the title alone, and while it doesn't quite achieve the kitschy charm of the wicker man (tho it actually predates that film), it's still an effective little folk horror flick. does a really good job of capturing its particular time and place. feels more gritty than stylized, which aids the scares. it's mostly about tone (ala wicker), this eerie feeling that something just isn't right, but with just enough gore to keep things family friendly. might make my final list, but we'll see what spots i have left by the end

fools' parade (andrew v. mclaglen) fun! jimmy stewart has a glass eye! kurt russell is ridiculously young! i thought george kennedy's character was wearing braces until i finally realized that his teeth are simply super gnarly! katherine cannon is my new crush! how did curtis not vote for this!? the very definition of a must 'see'

[liquidnature]

you had me at jimmy stewart glass eye

[sally]

ummm. etaix's land of milk and honey was brutal.

[sally]

well i wasn't expecting to at all, but i found the 71 cozarinsky (would have much rather had the 77 cozarinsky, but not complaining). anyone want it?

[Angel]

Joe Hill

Baba (The Father)
Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês (How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman)
Dirty Harry
Du côté d'Orouët
Get Carter
In nome del popolo italiano (In the Name of the Italian People)
Les deux Anglaises et le continent (Two English Girls)
Les lèvres rouges (Daughters of Darkness)
Max et les ferrailleurs (Max and the Junkmen)
Mon oncle Antoine
Pretty Maids All in a Row
Summer of '42
Szerelem (Love)
The Andromeda Strain
The Beguiled
The Last Valley
Utvandrarna (The Emigrants)
Wake in Fright
Xin du bi dao (The New One-Armed Swordsman)

Deliberately excluded (IMDb/TSPDT/S&S top 500)
in rough order of preference (for greg's eyes only)
Walkabout
Xia nü
The French Connection
The Last Picture Show
Two-Lane Blacktop
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Harold and Maude
The Devils
A Clockwork Orange
W.R. - Misterije organizma
Out 1, noli me tangere
Fiddler on the Roof
Morte a Venezia
la Région centrale

To see before the deadline
Calcutta 71
Mlad i zdrav kao ruza
Mourir d'aimer...
Shussho Iwai
Wechma
The Night Visitor (rewatch)

Wanted
Égi bárány
L'amour c'est gai, l'amour c'est triste

[rischka]

sorry to be such a bore but it's my busy season. anyway emitai was grand!



i see we've still got a couple more weeks so i intend to manage a few more films

[...]

in rough order of preference (for greg's eyes only)

Heh. Thanks, and don't worry. I'll keep info hush-hush. No one else ever needs to know.

Preliminary list
Sure things:
Appointment in Bray
The Boy Friend
Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song
Adrift on the Nile
Company Limited
Inn of Evil
Trafic
The Go Between
La Region Centrale
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Possibilities:
Vanishing Point
Two Lane Blacktop
Death in Venice
Malpertius
Little Murders
The Hired Hand
The Andromeda Strain
The Hellstrom Chronicles
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Some of My Best Friends Are
The Night Visitor
McCabe and Mrs. MIller
Le Mans
The Omega Man
10 Rillington Place
The Last Valley
Get Carter
The Hunting Party
Last Movie
Love
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman
Wake in Fright
Healthy People for Fun
The Bequiled
Fiddler on the Roof
Godzilla vs Hedorah
Velvet Vampire
Daughters of Darkness
WR Mysteries of the Organism
Macbeth
Last Picture Show
the Devils
Walkabout
Murphy's War
Duel
The New One Armed Swordsman
The Mephisto Waltz
Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Light at the Edge of the World
The Brotherhood of Satan
Von Richthofen and Brown
The Trojan Women
Drive He Said
Klute
Whity
The Decameron
The Big Boss
Red Sun
The Abominable Dr Phibes
Mary Queen of Scots
The Horsemen
The French Connection
Ten Days Wonder
The Nightcomers
How to Frame a Figg
Rabbit's Moon
Jabberwocky

[sally]

oh wow that kaul

[sally]

also is claude jutra no longer a pariah? i just think if i watch a film of his and there's kids in it....i won't be watching it innocently...

[Lencho of the Apes]

I wondered why Antoine wasn't visible all up in here. Just watched it last night. There's drama I missed...

[...]

Eh, I just don't really much care for the movie, a bit too cloying for me and lord knows male coming of age films always read as pretty suspect in their attitudes, which goes back to Jutra's issues. In general it's a genre I don't much respect, though there are of course some exceptions. Don't even really know how to deal with the personal stuff regarding directors and crew. Jutra is more just another in a long line of creeps in the various movie industries than he is an outlier.

[rischka]

well that settles it for me. i've got enough to watch without cloying coming of age films, thx

[greennui]

I loved Woman of Fire (Kim Ki-young). Stunning melodrama. A colorful, fever dream reimagining of a film I didn't think much of (The Housemaid). It kinda reminded me of Teuvo Tulio and Sensuela, the remaking of his own B&W film and exaggerating everything gleefully with colour. It's available to watch at Korean Film Archive on youtube.

[...]

I suppose, to be fair, I should mention that Mon oncle Antoine was much loved by Canadian audiences, at least until the Jutra thing, so I'd hate to stand in the way of anyone's inner Canucky pleasures.

I'm gonna have to try to fit in Woman of Fire if its on youtube. Thanks for the heads up.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

As one such Canuck, I'm pleased to report that Jutra's star has thoroughly and irreparably fallen among the Canadian film canonizers, so I say, naw, stand in the way! There's plenty of other Canadian movies to appreciate and champion instead (well, some others). My perspective on Jutra's status might be slightly off, mind you, because Jutra was specifically a favourite representative for Quebec audiences and thus always a bit of a different thing for the Anglophone Canadian audience, for whom the loss is less personal or close to home.

[thoxans]

i luv mon oncle antoine. i think it's an excellent film. and from what i remember, it's a leisurely affair, much too meandering to be merely a hohum coming of age flick. oh well

[Curtis, baby]

Canada is interesting, America still canonizes birth of a nation despite the offensive content, to say nothing of the racist creator. The last time tiff released a list of top Canadian films MOA was second, and it's always been second or first. But I suspect it will be absent from the next list. Is that actually good? It's hard to analyze these things. Are newer audiences watching the film with the crimes in mind and is this genuinely making them like the film less? Or are we as country just collectively cancelling the filmmaker? Can we even choose? How do we know? If I watch a new Woody Allen and hate it, can I be sure it's not even partly because Woody Allen disgusts me?

I watched MOA in 2012, before the truth was out, and loved it, so I really don't know on this front