MC Yearly Consensus - 1974

[Spinal]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the voting is closed, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB Power Search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Spinal]

1. The Phantom of Liberty
2. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
3. Sweet Movie
4. Edvard Munch
5. Young Frankenstein

[Mysterious Dude]

1. A Woman Under the Influence
2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
3. Hearts and Minds
4. The Conversation
5. Chinatown

[Robby P]

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2. The Conversation
3. F for Fake
4. Black Christmas
5. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Tons of great movies that didn't quite make the cut. Probably my favorite year for cinema.

[Melville]

1. Chinatown
2. Edvard Munch
3. The Conversation
4. The Godfather: Part II
5. A Woman Under the Influence

HMs: The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, F for Fake

[Russ]

1. Female Trouble
2. Chinatown
3. The Conversation
4. Lenny
5. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

[Lazlo]

1. The Godfather Part II
2. Chinatown
3. A Woman Under the Influence
4. Young Frankenstein
5. The Sugarland Express

[Yxklyx]

Are these consensi speeding up? I've wanted to see Edvard Munch but it's slow in coming.

1. Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
2. Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (Lina Wertmüller)
3. Phantom of the Paradise (Brian De Palma)
4. Lacombe Lucien (Louis Malle)
5. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)

6. Black Christmas (Bob Clark)
7. Martha (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
8. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
9. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese)
10. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

[Spinal]

Are these consensi speeding up?

They've been at a regular 3-day pace for quite some time now.

[origami_mustache]

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
2. The Godfather II
3. Chinatown
4. F is For Fake
5. The Conversation

HM: A Woman Under the Influence, Blazing Saddles

[dreamdead]

This year is going to be brutal.

1. The Conversation
2. F For Fake
3. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
5. Godfather Part 2

HM: A Woman Under the Influence, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

H/S: Cabaret, Martha, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

[Spinal]

This year is going to be brutal.

Yeah, I don't hold out much hope for my faves this year.



H/S: Cabaret

1972

[Grouchy]

1. Chinatown
2. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
3. The Conversation
4. The Godfather Part II
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Damn, it feels terrible to leave out A Woman Under the Influence and Young Frankenstein. Incredible year for film.

[balmakboor]

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2. Young Frankenstein
3. The Godfather II
4. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
5. A Woman Under the Influence

Amazing year. Yes indeed.

[Pop Trash]

1. The Godfather: Part II
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
3. Young Frankenstein
4. Chinatown
5. Hearts and Minds

6. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
7. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
8. The Conversation
9. A Woman Under the Influence
10.Blazing Saddles

This year is pretty arse kicking. There's still a bunch from this year that I want to see. Particularly the foreign films.

[Derek]

1. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
2. The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. Parade (Jacques Tati)
4. F for Fake (Orson Welles)
5. Lancelot of the Lake (Robert Bresson)
******************************
6. Swept Away (Lina Wertmueller)
7. Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
8. Celine and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
9. Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks)
10. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Werner Herzog)

HMs: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)
Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)
Lenny (Bob Fosse)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbiner)

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. A Woman Under the Influence
2. Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
3. F For Fake
4. The Conversation
5. Lacombe, Lucien

[MacGuffin]

1. Celine and Julie Go Boating (Rivette)
2. The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper)
4. The Amputee (Lynch)

[MadMan]

1974 is just a monster year, utterly amazing. I must see more from this year.

1. Blazing Saddles
2. F For Fake
3. Chinatown
4. Young Frankenstein
5. The Godfather: Part II
6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
7. Madhouse
8. The Conversation
9. The Man With The Golden Gun
10. Death Wish

[Boner M]

Will watch Cockfighter soon.

1. A Woman Under the Influence (Cassavetes)
2. The Conversation (Coppola)
3. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder)
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper)
5. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Sargent)

6. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Peckinpah)
7. Alice in the Cities (Wenders)
8. Celine and Julie Go Boating (Rivette)
9. The Phantom of Liberty (Bunuel)
10. Martha (Fassbinder)

HM: Even Dwarfs Started Small (Herzog), Chinatown (Polanski), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Herzog), Lenny (Fosse), Lancelot Du Lac (Bresson), Female Trouble (Waters),
Shift (Gehr)

[MacGuffin]

HM: Even Dwarfs Started Small (Herzog)

1970.

[Spinal]

1970.

Also not worth mentioning honorably.

[MacGuffin]

Also not worth mentioning honorably.

Do you like Harmony Korine movies?

[Spinal]

Do you like Harmony Korine movies?

I like one Harmony Korine movie.

[MacGuffin]

I like one Harmony Korine movie.

Interesting.

[Stay Puft]

1. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
2. F for Fake
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
4. Chinatown
5. Madhouse

[Yxklyx]

Dog Day Afternoon is 1975 and came in 5th.

[Stay Puft]

Oops.

(I blame Clipper Ship Captain.)

[MacGuffin]

Sorry.

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Young Frankenstein
2. Chinatown
3. The Conversation
4. Sugarland Express
5. The Godfather Part II

[Ezee E]

1. Godfather Part II
2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
3. Bring Me THe Head of Alfredo Garcia
4. Foxy Brown
5. Chinatown

[Ezee E]

Will watch Cockfighter soon.


The Monte Hellman movie?

Damn, I saw it, but really don't remember a thing about it.

And Netflix needs to get those Cassavetes movies quick.

[Boner M]

The Monte Hellman movie?

Damn, I saw it, but really don't remember a thing about it.
You surely must remember the film's official tagline:

He came into town with his cock in hand, and what he did with it was illegal in 49 states.

:eek:

[Spinal]

I want to know the state where that is legal.

[MadMan]

I want to know the state where that is legal.Sure you do, yah dirty pervert.

[monolith94]

1. F for Fake
2. Chinatown
3. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
4. Young Frankenstein
5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

[soitgoes...]

1. Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
2. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Werner Herzog)
3. General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (Barbet Schroeder)
4. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)
5. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
-------------------------------------------------
6. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
7. Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks)
8. First Love (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
9. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah)
10. Closed Mondays (Bob Gardiner, Will Vinton)
11. The Sugarland Express (Steven Spielberg)

[Teh Sausage]

1. The Conversation (Coppola)
2. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Herzog)
3. Chinatown (Polanski)
4. The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
5. Young Frankenstein (Brooks)

I must see F For Fake.

[Qrazy]

1. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
2. Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
3. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
4. Ali Fear Eats the Soul
5. F for Fake

6. Blazing Saddles
7. Phantom of Liberty
8. A woman under the influence
9. The Sugarland Express (Steven Spielberg)
10. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Werner Herzog)

Negative Infinity: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Celine and Julie Go Boating

It will be a sad state of affairs of TCM comes in first place.

[Yum-Yum]

1. Female Trouble
2. Phantom of the Paradise
3. The Conversation
4. Thriller - A Cruel Picture
5. Black Christmas

[Boner M]

3. The Conversation
:crazy:

[Yum-Yum]

:crazy:

What the fuck?!?

Oh, you mean what's a "good" film doing on there. Well played, my friend.

[balmakboor]

1. Female Trouble
2. Phantom of the Paradise
3. The Conversation
4. Thriller - A Cruel Picture
5. Black Christmas

I actually really like all of those movies with the partial exception of Thriller. I'm far from a prude and everything, but the inserted shots of explicit sex really torpedoed the movie for me, almost the definition of gratuitous.

[ledfloyd]

1. The Conversation
2. California Split
3. Chinatown
4. The Godfather Part II
5. F for Fake

[Robby P]

It will be a sad state of affairs of TCM comes in first place.

Why is that?

[Sycophant]

Why is that?I'd imagine it has something to do with this.

Negative Infinity: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Celine and Julie Go Boating
Pretty sure he posted thoughts on it in the FDT a while back.

[Spinal]

In a year with The Godfather II, The Conversation, Chinatown and F for Fake, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has zero chance of finishing #1. It will probably make the list though.

[Yxklyx]

From what I've read, Qrazy just doesn't like movies that have a B movie feel to them.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I can tally this Spinal. I'll be around for the next few weeks.

[Qrazy]

From what I've read, Qrazy just doesn't like movies that have a B movie feel to them.

I'm Ok with it making the list, just not number one.

---

Yeah I find it fairly limiting for horrors (TCM, Carnival of Souls) or dramas (Naked Kiss) but the exception I can think of for me is comedy and sometimes pulp if it's done very well.

[Grouchy]

What the fuck?!?

Oh, you mean what's a "good" film doing on there. Well played, my friend.
Both Phantom of the Paradise and Black Christmas are extremely good movies. Thriller is fun, but I wouldn't call it "good" in a traditional way.

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. The Conversation
2. California Split
3. F for Fake
4. The Godfather II
5. The Street Fighter

[Kurosawa Fan]

I weep for California Split's poor showing. :cry:

[ledfloyd]

I weep for California Split's poor showing. :cry:
i can't be blamed for this.

[Raiders]

1. The Conversation (Coppola)
2. F for Fake (Welles)
3. Martha (Fassbinder)
4. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Peckinpah)
5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper)

----------------------------------------------

6. Celine and Julie Go Boating (Rivette)
7. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder)
8. A Woman Under the Influence (Cassavetes)
9. Lancelot of the Lake (Bresson)
10. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Herzog)
11. Hearts and Minds (Davis)
12. Phantom of the Paradise (De Palma)

That's not even counting Black Christmas, Chinatown and The Godfather Part II. Best year ever.

[soitgoes...]

Best year ever.
It's interesting to see what year's certain people consider to be the best. I think 1974 to be a very strong year. Perhaps the strongest of the 70's, which by my own admission is a fairly weak decade for me in terms of what I've seen. I'd be curious what other years people consider to be the strongest? If pressed, I'd say 1957, but 1962 deserves strong consideration.

[Pop Trash]

It's probably 1974. That is, if you believe (like me) the 70s were the best decade for filmmaking. Although, on my own personal subjective level it would be 1994 or 1997.

[Boner M]

I wish I was a moviegoing teen in the early-mid 70's. That would've ruled.

[Epistemophobia]

1. A Woman Under the Influence
2. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
3. Lancelot of the Lake
4. The Phantom of Liberty
5. Celine and Julie Go Boating

[MadMan]

I wish I was a moviegoing teen in the early-mid 70's. That would've ruled.So do I. I think the 70s is the greatest decade for film, ever.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I'll be tallying tomorrow, so any ballots need to be posted/changed before then.

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. F For Fake
2. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
3. The Conversation
4. Young Frankenstein
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

[thefourthwall]

Sadly, I haven't seen too much; at least they're good ones.

1. Blazing Saddles
2. Chinatown
3. Young Frankenstein

[origami_mustache]

can't believe I still haven't seen Young Frankenstein :crazy:

[baby doll]

can't believe I still haven't seen Young Frankenstein :crazy:You're not missing much.

1. Celine et Julie vont en bateau (Jacques Rivette)
2. F for Fake (Orson Welles)
3. A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes)
4. California Split (Robert Altman)
5. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)

[Grouchy]

can't believe I still haven't seen Young Frankenstein :crazy:
Stop whatever you're doing and go seek it out.

[origami_mustache]

Stop whatever you're doing and go seek it out.

I think I will save it for October along with Carnival of Souls and Argento films.

[Grouchy]

I think I will save it for October along with Carnival of Souls and Argento films.
Carnival and Frankenstein would make a kick-ass Halloween double feature.

Watch those and Deep Red in one sitting. Drink wine and eat some cheese.

[MadMan]

I think I will save it for October along with Carnival of Souls and Argento films.Nice. The first time I saw Young Frankenstein was during Halloween. I later saw it on the big screen-it was two years ago, I believe-and that was a great experience.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I suck. Tabulating now. I hope to have the results by the end of the night.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#10
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1479/alfredogarciadx1.jpg
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Sam Peckinpah


An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.

The only movie directed by Sam Peckinpah that he had final cut on - all the others were re-cut by the studios. Upon release, it was banned in Sweden, Germany and Argentina. One of the few critics to actually praise the film was Roger Ebert, who would win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism the following year.

"The movie is some kind of bizarre masterpiece. It's probably not a movie that most people would like, but violence, with Peckinpah, sometimes becomes a psychic ballet. His characters don't look for it, they don't like it, and they negotiate it with weariness and resignation. They're too beat up by life to get any kind of exhilaration from a fight. They've been in far too many fights already, and lost most of them, and the violence they encounter is just another cross to bear." - Roger Ebert

[Raiders]

You know you done fucked up, don't you?

[Kurosawa Fan]

You know you done fucked up, don't you?

:)

My computer at home overheated and crashed last night. It's old and needs to be replaced, but I don't feel like shelling out money for a new one. I'll be posting the rest of the list soon.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#9
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1533/kasperhausergy2.jpg
The Enigma of Kasper Hauser
Werner Herzog

Herzog's film is based upon the true and mysterious story of Kaspar Hauser, a young man who suddenly appeared in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to speak or walk, and bearing a strange note; he later explained that he had been held captive in a dungeon of some sort for his entire life that he could remember, and only recently was he released, for reasons unknown. His benefactor attempts to integrate him into society, with intriguing results.

Herzog discovered the lead actor, Bruno S., in a documentary about street musicians. Fascinated by Bruno, Herzog cast him as the lead in two of his films, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Stroszek despite the fact that he had no training as an actor. Bruno's own life bears some similarities to Kaspar Hauser's, and his own unbalanced personality was often expressed on set. In Herzog's commentary for the English language DVD release, he recalls that Bruno remained in costume for the entire duration of the production, even after shooting was done for the day. Herzog once visited him in his apartment, to find him sleeping on the floor by the door, in his costume.

"The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is perhaps best approached as a response to the outcry and controversy that already surrounded Herzog's pictures at this early point in his career. With his finger so firmly against the nerve of the popular consciousness, he presents the story as a gothic fable--an early version of The Elephant Man where an unfortunate is used as a mirror to gratify the myth of pure altruism while indicting the fear of difference epidemic in every level of society." - Walter Chaw

[Duncan]

I could swear Walter Chaw used to be a great critic.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#8
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/2144/alicd5.jpg
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Rainer Werner Fassbinder


Emmi, a woman truly in the second half of life, falls in love with Ali, a Berber guest worker more than ten years younger. When they both decide to marry, everybody seems to be against them. When the folks calm down a bit, Emmi and Ali get deeply unsure about their relationship.

The film was shot in just under two weeks, and was planned as an exercise in film-making for Fassbinder, to fill in the time in his schedule between the work on two other films, Martha and Effi Briest. Ironically, it is considered to be one of his best films.

"Ali: Fear Eats the Soul ends on a more hopeful note than All That Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life, and even Todd Haynes's Far from Heaven. Fassbinder recognizes that change—however sudden, surreal, or magical—is a natural part of progress. But is it really progress if a local shopkeeper makes nice with Emmi—despite the color of her husband's face—because she doesn't want to lose her business?" - Ed Gonzalez

[Kurosawa Fan]

#7
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/126/womancoverpreviewpw7.jpg
A Woman Under the Influence
John Cassavetes


Peter Falk is a blue collar man trying to deal with his wife's mental instability. He fights to keep a semblance of normality in the face of her bizarre behavior, but when her actions affect their children, he is forced to take drastic measures.

John Cassavetes, could not find any distributor for this film after completion, and was at one point literally carrying the reels of the film under his arm from one theater to another in hopes of getting one to play his movie. Finally, 'Martin Scorcese' , who had recently become a critically acclaimed director thanks to his film Mean Streets (1973) and happened to be a huge fan of Cassavetes' work threatened to pull his film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) from a major New York film festival unless they accepted this film. Cassavetes initially wrote the film as a play but Gena Rowlands talked him out of it, stating that the role would be far too harrowing and exhausting to play night after night.

"Somehow neither Mabel nor Nick, for all their naked imperfections, can be easily shaken or second-guessed. At every moment, regardless of the eventual reaction to their words or actions, their faces convey a storm of contemplation that we simply can’t imagine. They may be baffled by each other and by themselves, but they know more than we do. The best we can do is watch, empathize, and identify like any decent person humble enough to know we don’t know any better." - Eric Hynes

[Spinal]

The film was shot in just under two weeks, and was planned as an exercise in film-making for Fassbinder, to fill in the time in his schedule between the work on two other films, Martha and Effi Briest. Ironically, it is considered to be one of his best films.

Freakin' Fassbiner, man. Let's see, I've got about two weeks between this film and my next film. Take a vacation? Nah, I think I'll make another film.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#6
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/7352/youngfrankensteinbh02cb9.jpg
Young Frankenstein
Mel Brooks


Dr. Frankenstein's grandson, after years of living down the family reputation, inherits granddad's castle and repeats the experiments.

The film was shot with many of the same props and lab equipment as the original Frankenstein (1931). Teri Garr, who plays Inga, was called in when Madeline Kahn, whom 'Mel Brooks (I)' had originally wanted for the role, turned it down and asked if she could play Elizabeth instead. Mel Brooks told Garr that if she could come back the next day with a German accent, he'd like her for Inga. She looked at Mel and said, "Vell, yes, I could do zee German ackzent tomorrow - I could come back zis afternoon" and the part was hers. Gene Wilder's favourite film of his own.

"You have to let this Mel Brooks comedy do everything for you, because that's the only way it works. If you accept the silly, zizzy obviousness, it can make you laugh helplessly. It's Brooks' most sustained piece of moviemaking--the laughs never let up." - Pauline Kael

[Kurosawa Fan]

#5
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1128/texaschainsawwv6.jpg
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Tobe Hooper


Five friends visiting their grandpa's gravesite are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

Director Tobe Hooper claims to have got the idea for the film while standing in the hardware section of a crowded store. While thinking of a way to get out through the crowd, he spotted the chainsaws. During the dinner scene towards the end of the film, when Leatherface cuts the girl's finger, he actually does cut her finger because they couldn't get the fake blood to come out of the tube behind the blade. Edwin Neal, who played the Hitchhiker, said that making the film was more miserable than his service in Vietnam and said that he might kill director Tobe Hooper if he ever saw him again. Alternate titles for the film included "Headcheese", "Leatherface" and "Stalking Leatherface".

"What separates Texas Chainsaw Massacre from its predecessors is its anarchic, cynical hysteria—its bizarre and dark-as-hell gallows humor. Watching Night of the Living Dead today with the wrong audience can turn the one-time king of terror films into a monotonous and campy affair, thereby sabotaging the film's 11th-hour plunge into hell. But because Chainsaw is often as audaciously funny as it is distressing, no one dares laugh. In many cases, the juxtaposition of horror with comedy is so confrontational, it can have a stultifying, choking effect." - Eric Henderson

[Kurosawa Fan]

#4
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/5594/fforfakeqj0.jpg
F for Fake
Orson Welles


Orson Welles' free-form documentary about fakery focusses on the notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and Elmyr's biographer, Clifford Irving, who also wrote the celebrated fraudulent Howard Hughes autobiography, then touches on the reclusive Hughes and Welles' own career (which started with a faked resume and a phony Martian invasion).

An excerpt of Welles' 1930s War of the Worlds broadcast was recreated for this film, however none of the dialogue heard in the film actually matches what was originally broadcast. Hidden within a montage of footage of Howard Hughes is one brief shot of a man disembarking from a ship who looks similar to Hughes, but is actually actor Don Ameche. Wells filmed a trailer that lasted for almost five minutes and featured several shots of a topless Oja Kodar. The trailer was rejected in the U.S. as it was deemed too long and over-indulgent.

"But it's also a film that creates its own scale of experience, a sleight-of-hand exercise that asks unanswerable questions of itself even as it presents perfectly obvious mysteries before us. Beginning with footage from a BBC doc, Welles dances around art forger Elmyr de Hory, his lying biographer/Howard Hughes scamster Clifford Irving, Hughes's duplicitous intercourse with the world, and the filmmakers' own canard-filled biography; accepted notions of authenticity, fakery, experthood, aesthetic value, and narrative are not only debunked but redefined." - Michael Atkinson

[dreamdead]

Word for #5 and 4. So much enjoyment to be found in both. Will Coppola beat Coppola? Hmmm.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#3
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2452/godfatheriifz9.jpg
The Godfather Part II
Francis Ford Coppola


The early life & career of Vito Corleone in 1920's New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on his crime syndicate stretching from Lake Tahoe, Nevada to pre-Revolution 1958 Cuba.

The early buzz on The Godfather (1972) was so positive that a sequel was planned before the film was finished filming. Francis Ford Coppola had a horrible time directing The Godfather (1972) and asked to pick a different director for the sequel, while taking the title of producer for himself. He chose Martin Scorsese, whom the film executives rejected. Thus, Coppola agreed to direct the film, with a few conditions - that the sequel be interconnected with the first film with the intention of later showing them together; that he be allowed to direct his own script of The Conversation
(1974); that he be allowed to direct a production for the San Francisco Opera; and that he be allowed to write the screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974) - all prior to production of the sequel for a Christmas 1974 release.

"Combined, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II represent the apex of American movie-making and the ultimate gangster story. Few sequels have expanded upon the original with the faithfulness and detail of this one. Beneath the surface veneer of an ethnic period piece, The Godfather is not so much about crime lords as it is about prices paid in the currency of the soul for decisions made and avoided. It is that quality which establishes this saga as timeless." - James Berardinelli

[Kurosawa Fan]

#2
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9182/chinatownxv6.jpg
Chinatown
Roman Polanski


A private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water.

The original script was over 300 pages. Roman Polanski eliminated Jake Gittes' voiceover narration, which was written in the script, and filmed the movie so that the audience discovered the clues at the same time Gittes did. Faye Dunaway and Roman Polanski were notorious for their on-set arguments; during filming, Polanski pulled out some strands of Dunaway's hair.

"There's also an eccentric sensuality that runs through the film, with the characters getting turned on by strangeness. This cuts both ways, since the central discovery about Evelyn is both illicit and amoral. But that's what gives the film its staying power—not just the shock of discovering those peculiar depths of humankind, but that slight intangible thrill of moving toward it." - Jeremiah Kipp

[ledfloyd]

yay, this means the other coppola will be up where it belongs.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#1
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/391/theconversationwv9.jpg
The Conversation
Francis Ford Coppola


A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered.

The film was originally envisioned as a horror movie with Marlon Brando. Gene Hackman's character was to have been named Harry Call, but a typing error led to his being name Harry Caul and the name stuck. As Harry refines and re-refines the recording, he interprets what he hears in different ways. In fact, the dialog was recorded multiple times with different readings to get this effect.

"Coppola, who wrote and directed, considers this film his most personal project. He was working two years after the Watergate break-in, amid the ruins of the Vietnam effort, telling the story of a man who places too much reliance on high technology and has nightmares about his personal responsibility. Harry Caul is a microcosm of America at that time: not a bad man, trying to do his job, haunted by a guilty conscience, feeling tarnished by his work." - Roger Ebert

[Kurosawa Fan]

Results:

1. The Conversation - 76
2. Chinatown - 69
3. The Godfather Part II - 60.5
4. F for Fake - 51.5
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 50
6. Young Frankenstein - 36
7. A Woman Under the Influence - 32
8. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - 24
9. The Enigma of Kasper Hauser - 19.5
10. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - 14

11. Celine and Julie Go Boating - 12.5
12. California Split - 11
13. Blazing Saddles - 10
13. Female Trouble - 10

[Ezee E]

Dark Knight is the best American film since The Conversation.

Stupid Chaw. He should pay attention to our consensii.

[Ezee E]

Freakin' Fassbiner, man. Let's see, I've got about two weeks between this film and my next film. Take a vacation? Nah, I think I'll make another film.
I would love to have those opportunities.

[Raiders]

Freakin' Fassbiner, man. Let's see, I've got about two weeks between this film and my next film. Take a vacation? Nah, I think I'll make another film.

What's even more amazing his that Maria, also made in 1974, is even better than Fear Eats the Soul.

[balmakboor]

What's even more amazing his that Maria, also made in 1974, is even better than Fear Eats the Soul.

You had me scratching my head for a bit. You mean Martha. And yes, it is even more amazing in some ways. Which I prefer depends on my mood. I also prefer Effi Briest at times from 1974.

[Raiders]

You had me scratching my head for a bit. You mean Martha.

Damn it. I fail.

[Spinal]

Of the big 4, The Conversation is definitely the one I like best.

[Qrazy]

Of the big 4, The Conversation is definitely the one I like best.

I like it least, or maybe more than F for Fake, still quite like them all though.

[MadMan]

The Conversation at #1? Really? I mean I can accept it, but some of the other films listed in the Top 5 are better.

[Grouchy]

The Conversation at #1? Really? I mean I can accept it, but some of the other films listed in the Top 5 are better.
I've always felt it was the best movie Coppola ever made. I like it even better than Apocalypse Now.

[Raiders]

The Conversation at #1? Really? I mean I can accept it, but some of the other films listed in the Top 5 are better.

No. This is incorrect.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I've always felt it was the best movie Coppola ever made. I like it even better than Apocalypse Now.

This.

[MadMan]

No. This is incorrect.Its not my fault that Coppola made better films than it, although I do think that its better than The Godfather Part II. Of course opinion can't be incorrect either way, so this whole conversation is utterly pointless :P

[Boner M]

The Cassavetes is way too low. That Eric Hynes quote is great, though.