MC Yearly Consensus - 1972

[Kurosawa Fan]

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)

[Russ]

1. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
2. Pink Flamingos
3. Sleuth
4. Deliverance
5. What's Up, Doc?

[dreamdead]

1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
2. Chloe in the Afternoon (Eric Rohmer)
3. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
4. Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci)
5. Cabaret (Bob Fosse)

HM: Cries and Whispers

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. Cries and Whispers
2. Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes
3. Cabaret
4. The Godfather
5. Sleuth

[Raiders]

1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog)
2. The Godfather (Coppola)
3. The King of Marvin Gardens (Rafelson)
4. Chloe in the Afternoon (Rohmer)
5. The Merchant of Four Seasons (Fassbinder)

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

6. Cabaret (Fosse)
7. The Lorax (Pratt)
8. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Bunuel)
9. The Last House on the Left (Craven)
10. The Candidate (Ritchie)

[origami_mustache]

1. Solaris
2. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
3. The Godfather
4. Roma
5. The Lorax

HM: Luicfer Rising

[monolith94]

1. Play it Again, Sam
2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
3. The Godfather
4. Cabaret
5. Man of La Mancha

[Melville]

1. Cries and Whispers
2. Solaris
3. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
4. The Godfather
5. Cabaret

[soitgoes...]

1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
3. Deliverance (John Boorman)
4. Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (Kinji Fukasaku)
5. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel)
----------------------------------------------
6. Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
7. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
8. Frenzy (Alfred Hitchcock)
9. Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill)
10. Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (Kenji Misumi)
11. Sleuth (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

[ledfloyd]

1. The Godfather
2. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
3. Play it Again, Sam
4. Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
5. Deliverance

[Boner M]

1. Fat City
2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
3. The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
4. Ulzana's Raid
5. Last Tango in Paris

HM: The King of Marvin Gardens, Across 110th Street, Solaris, Frenzy, Deliverance

Need to see: The Heartbreak Kid, Images, The King of Marvin Gardens, The Merchant of Four Seasons

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. The Godfather
2. Cries and Whispers
3. Play It Again, Sam
4. What’s Up, Doc?
5. Solaris

[balmakboor]

Sometimes the three film minimum seems unfortunate. The Godfather so totally owns this that it almost seems a disservice to it to mention anything else.

1. The Godfather


2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
3. The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
4. Cabaret
5. The Merchant of Four Seasons

[baby doll]

1. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
2. Red Psalm (Miklós Jancsó)
3. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
4. Fellini's Roma (Federico Fellini)
5. Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel)
6. The Merchant of Four Seasons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
7. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
8. The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (Wim Wenders)
9. Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci)
10. Vertical Roll (Joan Jonas) [video]
bubblin' under...
11. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
12. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex... But Was Afraid to Ask (Woody Allen)
13. Across 110th Street (Barry Shear)
Need to re-see: Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)

[Spinal]

1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
2. Cries and Whispers
3. The Godfather
4. The Lorax
5. Cabaret

6. The Merchant of Four Seasons
7. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
8. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex ...
9. Deliverance
10. Frenzy

[MadMan]

Honestly I haven't seen too much from this year.

1. The Godfather
2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
3. Blacula
4. The Cowboys

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Marjoe
2. Frenzy
3. Sounder
4. The Godfather
5. Under the Flag of the Rising Sun

[Derek]

1. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
4. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
5. Lucifer Rising (Kenneth Anger)
**************************
6. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel)
7. Tout va Bien (Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin & Groupe Dziga Vertov)
8. Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci)
9. The Devil (Andrzej Zulawski)
10. Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill)

HMs: Deliverance (John Boorman)
Snoopy, Come Home (Bill Melendez)

[Lazlo]

1. The Godfather
2. Solaris
3. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
4. Frenzy

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. Aguirre, The Wrath if God
2. The Discreet Charm of the Burgiouse
3. Cries and Whispers
4. Solaris
5. Play it Again, Sam

[Pop Trash]

Frenzy needs more love...

1. The Godfather
2. Frenzy
3. Cries and Whispers
4. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
5. Deliverance

6. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
7. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
8. Slaughterhouse-Five
9. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex
10. Pink Flamingos

[Grouchy]

1. Aguirre: the Wrath of God
2. Last Tango in Paris
3. The Godfather
4. Roma
5. The Getaway

[Duncan]

1. Fellini's Roma
2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
3. The Godfather
4. Solaris
5. The Lorax

[ledfloyd]

edited to add live at pompeii.

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. The Godfather
2. Un Flic
3. Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
4. Cries and Whispers
5. Deliverance

[Raiders]

2. Un Flic


I think I'm going to try and see this over the weekend.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I think I'm going to try and see this over the weekend.

It suffers from a weak conclusion, but everything leading up to that is near perfection.

[Yxklyx]

1. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. What's Up, Doc? (Peter Bogdanovich)
4. Cabaret (Bob Fosse)
5. Solyaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)

6. Frenzy (Alfred Hitchcock)
7. Deliverance (John Boorman)
8. J.W. Coop (Cliff Robertson)
9. Slaughterhouse Five (George Roy Hill)
10. Fat City (John Huston)

[Ezee E]

1. The Godfather
2. Super Fly
3. Cries & Whispers
4. Aguirre, Wrath of God
5. Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

No Deliverance? Ouch.

[Robby P]

1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
2. The Godfather
3. Sleuth
4. Slaughterhouse-Five
5. Deliverance

[Kurosawa Fan]

LAST CALL!!!

[thefourthwall]

1. The Godfather
2. Cabaret
3. Roma

[The Mike]

1. The Poseidon Adventure
2. Deliverance
3. The Godfather
4. Fist of Fury
5. Blacula

HM: Tales from the Crypt, Prime Cut, Raw Meat

[MadMan]

LAST CALL!!!FOR ALCOHOL!



Hehe I couldn't resist.

[Boner M]

Added Ulzana's Raid, though it won't do shit to the results.

[Grouchy]

Added Ulzana's Raid, though it won't do shit to the results.
Great.

MOTHERFUCKING.

Film.

It won't do shit to the results.

[Boner M]

Great.

MOTHERFUCKING.

Film.

It won't do shit to the results.
You should vote for it anyway, if that factor is holding you off.

Anyway, I was really impressed by it; my only quibble was the generic 'perilous western' score, which detracted from some truly disturbing scenes. Otherwise it's as mournful and quietly complex as any western I've seen, and genuinely troubling in it's depiction of racial warfare. Very few actors are as believably world-weary as Lancaster at that stage of his career.

[Grouchy]

You should vote for it anyway, if that factor is holding you off.

Anyway, I was really impressed by it; my only quibble was the generic 'perilous western' score, which detracted from some truly disturbing scenes. Otherwise it's as mournful and quietly complex as any western I've seen, and genuinely troubling in it's depiction of racial warfare. Very few actors are as believably world-weary as Lancaster at that stage of his career.
Actually, I just prefer the other 5 films. Or I'm hoping The Getaway shows up instead, which is equally unlikely.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Crap. I'll tally this first thing tomorrow morning. Got caught up in football this weekend.

[Spinal]

Crap. I'll tally this first thing tomorrow morning. Got caught up in football this weekend.

And you want to be my latex salesman? ... :|

[Kurosawa Fan]

At least my pants aren't around my ankles? That's something, right?

[Kurosawa Fan]

Tallying done. Results to come.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#9 (TIE)
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6038/playitagainsamuu4.jpg
Play it Again, Sam
Herbert Ross


A neurotic film critic tries to get over his wife leaving him by dating again, much by the help of a married couple and his alter ego, Humphrey Bogart.

This was the first screen teaming of Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. Originally to be shot in Manhattan and Long Island but moved to San Francisco when New York film workers went on strike in the summer of 1971.

"Maybe the movie has too much coherence, and the plot is too predictable; that's a weakness of films based on well-made Broadway plays. Still, that's hardly a serious complaint about something as funny as PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM." - Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

A neurotic film critic tries to get over his wife leaving him by dating again, much by the help of a married couple and his alter ego, Humphrey Bogart.

I'm wondering what percentage of Woody Allen characters could be described as neurotic. I'm thinking that it's probably something that you could round up to 100%.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#9(TIE)
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/1912/discreetcol1smzv5.jpg
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Luis Buñuel


A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.

Luis Buñuel is credited with creating the sound effects for this film; he was almost deaf at the time. The date Don Rafael tells Florence is his birthday, 22 February, is also director Luis Buñuel's birthday.

"Both The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie and 1974's The Phantom of Liberty are radical comedic patchworks. Each film's sketches (essentially bourgeois war stories) have a way of slowly and devilishly peeling back the many layers of their respective characters' realities in order to reveal the hypocritical notions of entitlement that possess these people." - Ed Gonzalez

[Kurosawa Fan]

#8
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1016/bittertearsny7.jpg
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
Rainer Werner Fassbinder


Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in. The rest of the film deals with the emotions of this affair and its aftermath.

This film was shot in ten days. It's based on Fassbinder's own play. The text of the play, in its English translation by Denis Calandra, was employed by Gerald Barry as the libretto for his five-act opera.

"Every detail of staging, movement, and utterance is studied, affected to the highest degree, while the lust, anger, malice, and grief are wildly, shockingly real. Watching it, you find yourself taking sides in spite of yourself--all three at once, against the others. You come away reeling, as if you've just engaged in a fistfight with yourself." - Luc Sante

[Spinal]

The text of the play, in its English translation by Denis Calandra, was employed by Gerald Barry as the libretto for his five-act opera.


Cool fact. I'd be curious to hear and/or see that.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#7
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5856/felliniromabd6.jpg
Roma
Federico Fellini

A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens, Federico Fellini.

This is the last movie in which Anna Magnani appears as herself.

"Accurately summed up on camera by Gore Vidal as "the city of illusions," Fellini turns Rome's Catholic ritualism into an opulent ecclesiastical fashion show, while the subway construction sequence and the final, nocturnal tour of the ruins via motorcycle find surreal beauty in the potentially destructive juxtaposition of ancient and modern Rome." - Lucia Bozzola

[Kurosawa Fan]

Cool fact. I'd be curious to hear and/or see that.

This was also on wikipedia:


The opera is also available on CD featuring the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

[Kurosawa Fan]

#6
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1129/deliverance2vy3.jpg
Deliverance
John Boorman


Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.

To minimize costs, the production wasn't insured -- and the actors did their own stunts. (For instance, Jon Voight actually climbed the cliff.) Burt Reynolds broke his coccyx while going down the rapids when the canoe capsizes. Originally, a cloth dummy was used, but it looked too much "like a dummy going over a waterfall". After Reynolds was injured and recuperating, he asked, "How did it look?" The director replied, "Like a dummy going over a waterfall."

"Each actor is attuned to the character he plays, but all of them are dominated by the mysteriousness of the hill country. When they arrive in their cars with their canoes, Boorman frames them up in vast wide shots allowing us to drink in this alien landscape, and many sequences play out in one shot with men looking small underneath the trees and in the valleys." - Jeremiah Kipp

[Kurosawa Fan]

#5
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4480/cabaret2previewof8.jpg
Cabaret
Bob Fosse


A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.

Has the distinction of winning the most Oscars (8) not one of which included the Best Picture Oscar. Billy Wilder and Gene Kelly turned down the offer to direct the project before it was accepted by Bob Fosse.

"When the song Cabaret comes at the end, you realize for the first time that it isn't a song of happiness, but of desperation. The context makes the difference. In the same way, the context of Germany on the eve of the Nazi ascent to power makes the entire musical into an unforgettable cry of despair." - Roger Ebert

[Kurosawa Fan]

#4
http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/1420/solyarisrs7.jpg
Solaris
Andrei Tarkovsky


This film probes man's thoughts and conscience, as it follows a psychologist who is sent to a space station situated over the mysterious Solaris Ocean. The two other scientists there tell the psychologist of strange occurrences in the station, and the Ocean's eerie ability to materialize their thoughts. After being in the station for a while, the psychologist finds himself becoming very attached to its alternate reality...

This was the most widely seen of Andrei Tarkovsky's films outside of the Soviet Union. However, Tarkovsky himself reportedly considered it the least favorite of the films he directed. In Kris Kelvin's room, it is possible to see an icon painted by Andrei Rublev, the Russian painter who inspired Tarkovsky's Andrey Rublyov.

"What ensues allows Tarkovsky to contemplate the meaning of life itself through the interplay of science, philosophy and emotion. "Solaris" is finally an unabashedly romantic work in which the primacy of love is asserted -- but, as Jarvet says, 'To preserve the truth we need mysteries.'" - Kevin Thomas

[Raiders]

I have little doubt KF will scour the internet for a negative press clipping for Aguirre's entry.

[Spinal]

I have little doubt KF will scour the internet for a negative press clipping for Aguirre's entry.

He could pull my trick and quote himself. :)

[Kurosawa Fan]

#3
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2788/criesandwhispersis7.jpg
Cries and Whispers
Ingmar Bergman


When a woman dying of cancer in turn-of-the century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.

Ingmar Bergman explained the use of the color red his film: "'Cries and Whispers' is an exploration of the soul, and ever since childhood, I have imagined the soul to be a damp membrane in varying shades of red."

"Undeniably, Cries and Whispers is a film about the world of women, and is very open in terms of the gender and sexual politics that it portrays. Males, as represented by the doctor and the Chaplain, are completely useless in providing any comfort to Agnes. Also, Karin and Maria's husbands utterly fail to understand the emotional needs of their wives." - Marco Lanzagorta

[Kurosawa Fan]

I have little doubt KF will scour the internet for a negative press clipping for Aguirre's entry.

Don't ruin my surprises.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#2
http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/3650/aguirrell1.jpg
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Werner Herzog


In in 16th century, the ruthless and insane Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.

Although the opening titles claim the film was based on "the diary of the monk Gaspar de Carvajal", director Werner Herzog has stated that there is no historical basis for the story and that the monk's diary was invented to lend it more credence. However, a diary of Carvajal does in fact exist, but Carvajal was not part of any expedition with Aguirre, but rather part of one 20 years earlier to the interior.

"Progressing, inexorably, toward Aguirre's delusional pronouncement that he's "The Wrath of God" (and the contradicting finale, in which he's helplessly besieged by primates), the film exudes an atmosphere of ominous spiritual deterioration generated both from Herzog and Thomas Mauch's instinctively composed, lyrically rugged cinematography and Popol Vuh's hypnotic soundtrack." - Nick Schager

[Spinal]

OK, that's pretty funny.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#1
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4830/godfatherlhi4.jpg
The Godfather
Francis Ford Coppola


The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

A promotional board game titled "The Godfather Game" was released in 1971. The cat held by Marlon Brando in the opening scene was a stray the actor found while on the lot at Paramount, and was not originally called for in the script. So content was the cat that its purring muffled some of Brando's dialogue, and, as a result, most of his lines had to be looped.

"Plain and simple, for better and for worse, The Godfather represents the best of what commercial American Cinema has the ability to accomplish. It is perfect, in its way—no other nation’s cinema since World War II has so consistently offered filmmakers the level of resources of available in Hollywood (and perhaps in no other have they been squandered so regularly), and The Godfather is as absorbing and engrossing as Hollywood’s so-called “invisible style” demands yet as comprehensive, and epic in scope as its intense level of capitalization affords." - Jeff Reichert

[Kurosawa Fan]

Results:

1. The Godfather - 99.5
2. Aguirre, the Wrath of God - 89
3. Cries and Whispers - 31.5
4. Solaris - 29
5. Cabaret - 24
6. Deliverance - 20.5
7. Roma - 17.5
8. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant - 15
9. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - 14.5
9. Play it Again, Sam - 14.5

Not quite:

11. Frenzy - 11
12. Last Tango in Paris - 9.5
12. Sleuth - 9.5

[Ezee E]

I should watch Cries & Whispers again. It's a tough one to watch, but I think it may be Bergman's best. Even better than Persona.

[Grouchy]

12. Last Tango in Paris - 9.5
Would've liked to see this on the Top10. Maybe taking the place of Solaris.

The rest of the list is fucking excellent, as these '70s ones usually are.

[Derek]

Maybe taking the place of Solaris.

No thanks.

Cries & Whispers is one of Bergman's weaker films. I really wish Scenes from a Marriage and Autumn Sonata got half the attention this one does.

[Grouchy]

No thanks.
Me = Tarkovsky's anti-fan.

[Derek]

Me = Tarkovsky's anti-fan.

We have more than enough of those at MatchCut, which is why I was shocked he actually cracked the top 5 with this one.

[Grouchy]

We have more than enough of those at MatchCut, which is why I was shocked he actually cracked the top 5 with this one.
Wasn't Andrei Rublev #1 of its year too?

That's the only one I like.

[B-side]

I should watch Cries & Whispers again. It's a tough one to watch, but I think it may be Bergman's best. Even better than Persona.

Reported.

[baby doll]

"Plain and simple, for better and for worse, The Godfather represents the best of what commercial American Cinema has the ability to accomplish. It is perfect, in its way—no other nation’s cinema since World War II has so consistently offered filmmakers the level of resources of available in Hollywood (and perhaps in no other have they been squandered so regularly), and The Godfather is as absorbing and engrossing as Hollywood’s so-called “invisible style” demands yet as comprehensive, and epic in scope as its intense level of capitalization affords." - Jeff ReichertThis strikes me as rather backhanded. For one thing, I don't think it is the best commercial American cinema has to offer, but then commercial cinema would also include independents like Todd Haynes and Jim Jarmusch who work in the narrative sector, not just studio fare. (Incidentally, he seems to concede that avant-garde filmmakers and video artists like Hollis Frampton and Bill Viola can--and in my opinion, have--accomplished a great deal more.) Don't get me wrong: The Godfather is never less than absorbing and it has great production values, so I'm fully in agreement with Reichert in that respect. But as storytelling it lacks the nuanced characterizations and resonance of Spike Lee at his best (I'm thinking in particular of Do the Right but 25th Hour would also fit this description). And stylistically it's decades behind Orson Welles' best studio work (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil). The Godfather is a good film by any standard, but even by the standards Reichert sets for himself in order to rationalize how the film's been overrated, it's far from being a great one.