Yearly Consensus 1970

[Spinal]

Submit your five favorite films and five favorite performances from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten in both categories. 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

10.5 pts will be required to make either list.

There will be no restrictions on short films.

There will be no distinction made between male and female performances.
There will be no distinction made between lead and supporting performances.
Voice acting can be considered a performance.


I would like to be able to count votes as they come in. This means that if you change your vote, you need to make a new post. Please quote your old list and then add your new list so that I can easily track the changes. I will not be looking for edits. Once you make a post, consider your vote cast.

You may begin now.

kEogJacjLTE

[Spinal]

1. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
2. El Topo
3. Scrooge
4. Catch-22
5. Gimme Shelter

1. Albert Finney, Scrooge
2. George C. Scott, Patton
3. Alan Arkin, Catch-22
4. Sally Kellerman, MASH
5. John Lazar, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

[elixir]

1. Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski)
2. The Hart of London (Jack Chambers)
3. A Swedish Love Story (Roy Andersson)
4. Husbands (John Cassavetes)
5. Wanda (Barbara Loden)

1. Barbara Loden, Wanda
2. Ben Gazzara, Husbands
3. Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist
4. Shelley Duvall, Brewster McCloud
5. Dolly Read, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

[Pop Trash]

Huh, I forgot Wanda came out this year. I wrote a review of it one time if anyone cares to read it.

[Watashi]

I've seen a whopping two films from 1970.

[baby doll]

Films:
1. Zorns Lemma (Hollis Frampton)
2. Le Genou de Claire (Eric Rohmer)
3. Performance (Donald Cammell / Nicolas Roeg)
4. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Russ Meyer)
5. The Spider's Stategem (Bernardo Bertolucci)

Performances:
1. Béatrice Romand, Le Genou de Claire
2. Stéphane Audran, Le Boucher
3. John Lazar, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
4. James Fox, Performance
5. Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist

1970 movies I haven't seen but want to:

Le Cochon (Jean-Michel Barjol / Jean Eustache)
Days and Nights in the Forest (Satyajit Ray)
L'Enfant sauvage (François Truffaut)
Fata Morgana (Werner Herzog)
Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson)
Gods of the Plague (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Husbands (John Cassavetes)
The Man Who Left His Will on Film (Nagisa Oshima)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Billy Wilder)
Scenes From Under Childhood (Stan Brakhage)
Serene Velocity (Ernie Gehr)
The Spider's Strategem (Bernardo Bertolucci)
THX-1138 (George Lucas)
Vampir-Cuadecuc (Pere Portabella)
Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh)

[Melville]

1. Serene Velocity
2. Kustom Kar Kommandos
3. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
4. The Grandmother
5. Patton

1. George C Scott, Patton
2. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
3. Elliot Gould, MASH
4. Donald Sutherland, MASH
5. Jaroslava Schallerová, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

I need to start watching the movies elixir's watching.

[B-side]

1. The Spider's Stratagem (Bernardo Bertolucci)
2. Husbands (John Cassavetes)
3. Our Daily Bread (Mani Kaul)
4. Claire's Knee (Eric Rohmer)
5. Kustom Kar Kommandos (Kenneth Anger)

1. Ben Gazzara - Husbands
2. Catherine Deneuve - Donkey Skin
3. Jack Nicholson - Five Easy Pieces
4. James Fox - Performance
5. Laurence de Monaghan - Claire's Knee

[soitgoes...]

1. Kustom Kar Kommandos (Anger)
2. Ucho (Kachyna)
3. The Bread and the Alley (Kiarostami)
4. Gimme Shelter (Maysles, Maysles, Zwerin)
5. Claire's Knee (Rohmer)

1. Jirina Bohdalová, Ucho
2. Radoslav Brzobohatý,Ucho
3. Alan Arkin, Catch-22
4. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
5. Ben Gazzara, Husbands

[B-side]

I can't stress how brilliant The Spider's Stratagem is. Please do yourself a favor and watch it before this consensus is over. It was recently upgraded on KG with a higher quality rip. Trust me, it's worth it.


http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz70/SalvadorDali_2010/Movie%20Caps%20Pt%202/vlcsnap-2011-11-06-05h03m38s25_400x293.jpg http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz70/SalvadorDali_2010/Movie%20Caps%20Pt%202/vlcsnap-2011-11-06-06h04m58s220_400x293.jpg

[elixir]

Okay, I watched that Anger. Not gonna crack my top 5, but it's pretty good.

[B-side]

Okay, I watched that Anger. Not gonna crack my top 5, but it's pretty good.

I thought you'd have watched The Spider's Stratagem by now. If you haven't, watch it immediately. I'll even give you 2 GB to download it!

I will extend that offer to anyone here. I will give you more than enough bonus to download this film and watch it, assuming you're a member of KG, of course.

[elixir]

Ha, it was three minutes long! And that Kiarostami is only 11 minutes, I'll watch that soon, too.

But you don't need to give me bonus. Let me just clear some space, and I'll dl it tmrw and try to watch it soon...

[B-side]

Just watched The Bread and Alley. I have no idea how Kiarostami can create such immensely absorbing and compelling cinema from such simple frameworks. Meant to be a simple educational film, but it evokes so much more. He really is one of the greatest filmmakers alive.

[Russ]

1. Deep End
2. Little Big Man
3. El Topo
4. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
5. The Boys in the Band

1. Chief Dan George, Little Big Man
2. Leonard Frey, The Boys in the Band
3. Cliff Gorman, The Boys in the Band
4. Jane Asher, Deep End
5. Gerrit Graham, Hi, Mom!

[Dukefrukem]

I've seen a whopping two films from 1970.

According to my spreadsheet, I haven't seen any! :eek:

I have THX-1138 as 1971

[Raiders]

People, people... La Rupture. See it. Nevermind with that Le Boucher nonsense*, this is the film to see. It is amazing, wonderful, incredible. Stop with all these other silly films. Do it.

*OK, it's a great film, but still...

1. La Rupture
2. Wanda
3. The Conformist
4. Performance
5. Hi, Mom!

6. Five Easy Pieces
7. Zabriskie Point
8. Trash
9. Gas-s-s-s
10. Claire's Knee
11. Le Boucher
12. Husbands

Amazing year really. All those films deserve to be on a list.

Performances:
1. Stéphane Audran, La Rupture
2. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
3. Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist
4. James Fox, Performance
5. Barbara Loden, Wanda

[baby doll]

Performances:
1. Béatrice Romand, Le Genou de Claire
2. Stéphane Audran, Le Boucher
3. John Lazar, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
4. James Fox, Performance
5. Jean-Louis Trintignant, The ConformistEdited. I some how mixed up Béatrice Romand with her Conte d'automne co-star Marie Rivière (who isn't in Le Genou de Claire at all). How embarrassing.

[Robby P]

Five Easy Pieces
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Claire's Knee
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Catch 22

[baby doll]

I thought you'd have watched The Spider's Stratagem by now. If you haven't, watch it immediately. I'll even give you 2 GB to download it!

I will extend that offer to anyone here. I will give you more than enough bonus to download this film and watch it, assuming you're a member of KG, of course.My KG user name is Ukulele_Hobbyist.

[baby doll]

I have THX-1138 as 1971That's what IMDb says as well. In any event, I'd still like to see it when I get the chance.

[Boner M]

Never realised how many good'uns were released this year 'til reading the thread.

1. Wanda
2. Deep End
3. The Spider's Stratagem
4. Le Boucher
5. Husbands

RU: The Conformist, Performance, Serene Velocity, La Rupture (Sorry Raiders), Claire's Knee, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, The Conformist, Hi Mom!, Colossus: The Forbin Project

1. Peter Falk, Husbands
2. Ben Gazzara, Husbands
3. John Cassavetes, Husbands
4. Stephane Audran, Le Boucher
5. Barbara Loden, Wanda

[Thirdmango]

I've seen a whopping two films from 1970.

Until this week I had just seen one with The Aristocats. Now I'm at 2 and hopefully by the deadline I'll be up to at least 5.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Some of the more notable 1970 movies on Instant:

And Soon the Darkness (Robert Fuest)
Bloody Mama (Roger Corman)
Burn! (Gillo Pontecorvo)
The Christine Jorgensen Story (Irving Rapper)
An Infinite Tenderness (Pierre Jallaud)
Joe (John G. Avildsen)
The Landlord (Hal Ashby)
The Music Lovers (Ken Russell)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Billy Wilder)
Sunflower (Vittorio de Sica)
Two Mules For Sister Sara (Don Siegel)
Tora Tora Tora (Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku)

[Mr. McGibblets]

The Landlord is fantastic.

[dreamdead]

Some of the more notable 1970 movies on Instant:


How are you able to call these up within a year?

[Dead & Messed Up]

How are you able to call these up within a year?

Go from category to category, click "view all," click "sortable list," and sort by year. It's kinda tedious. Sadly, I haven't found a way to just search "1970" as a year.

[dreamdead]

Go from category to category, click "view all," click "sortable list," and sort by year. It's kinda tedious. Sadly, I haven't found a way to just search "1970" as a year.

Gotcha. I had hoped you'd found some glitch/hack that lets one search through all of the categories simultaneously to cull up those films. Regardless, I appreciate that you post these--it's a wonderfully way to quickly prioritize those that are getting mentioned in these threads.

[Grouchy]

1. Performance
2. The Red Circle
3. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
4. The Butcher
5. Five Easy Pieces

[Sycophant]

I've seen about six or seven films from 1970, and only feel like putting forward the following:

1. MASH
2. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
3. Aristocats

[Raiders]

Gotcha. I had hoped you'd found some glitch/hack that lets one search through all of the categories simultaneously to cull up those films. Regardless, I appreciate that you post these--it's a wonderfully way to quickly prioritize those that are getting mentioned in these threads.

I like InstantWatcher:

http://instantwatcher.com/titles/all?earliest_year=1970&latest_year=1970

From here you can click the genre tags at the top of the page to filter further.

[Sycophant]

I've seen about six or seven films from 1970, and only feel like putting forward the following:

1. MASH
2. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
3. Aristocats

Let's do this instead:

1. MASH
2. Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter
3. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

[Russ]

People, people... La Rupture. See it. Nevermind with that Le Boucher nonsense*, this is the film to see.
And likewise, you (and others) need to see Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End (that is, if you haven't already). I'm liking seeing it place so high on a few ballots so far.

Spinal, in the previous 70's poll you turned me on to Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Consider this reco a payback for that favor.

[Lazlo]

1. Patton
2. El Topo
3. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
4. MASH
5. 7 Plus 7

[Melville]

And likewise, you (and others) need to see Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End (that is, if you haven't already). I'm liking seeing it place so high on a few ballots so far.
Following my advice to myself to watch the movies elixir's watching, I just watched it. Great, terrifically freewheeling depiction of romantic and sexual anxiety and the energized uncertainty of youth. I might watch another movie or two before posting a final, revised ballot, but It'll definitely be on there.

[Pop Trash]

Films:
1. Five Easy Pieces
2. Gimme Shelter
3. The Conformist
4. Zabriskie Point
5. Little Big Man

Performances:
1. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
2. Chief Dan George, Little Big Man
3. Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist
4. Dustin Hoffman, Little Big Man
5. Barbara Loden, Wanda

[Mysterious Dude]

1. The Wild Child
2. Deep End
3. The Go-Between
4. Little Big Man
5. Lovefilm

1. Dustin Hoffman, Little Big Man
2. Jack Nicholson,, Five Easy Pieces
3. Daniel Olbrychski, Landscape After Battle
4. Shirley Stoler, The Honeymoon Killers
5. Kenneth Nelson, The Boys in the Band

Quite a few blind spots this year: Tristana, The Spider's Stratagem, The Ear, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, The Green Wall. There's a Chilean film called Jackal of Nahueltoro that I'm particularly interested in. I'd like to watch them all before the voting ends, but unfortunately, I'm employed. I will probably be able to watch Valerie and her etc. but I don't know how likely it is to be one of my favorites.

[Yxklyx]

* Top 5 Films

1. Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh)
2. Catch-22 (Mike Nichols)
3. The Grandmother (David Lynch)
4. Zabriskie Point (Michelangelo Antonioni)
5. Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson)

* Top 5 Memorable Performances

1. Jimi Hendrix - Woodstock
2. Donald Sutherland - Kelly's Heroes
3. Jack Nicholson - Five Easy Pieces
4. Kurt Raab - Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?
5. Mick Jagger - Performance

[Yxklyx]

Following my advice to myself to watch the movies elixir's watching, I just watched it. Great, terrifically freewheeling depiction of romantic and sexual anxiety and the energized uncertainty of youth. I might watch another movie or two before posting a final, revised ballot, but It'll definitely be on there.

Where did you guys find Deep End? On VHS?

[Melville]

Where did you guys find Deep End? On VHS?
I just googled it. But it's available on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK.

[Russ]

Because it's fun, I think I'm going to include one performance clip on this and the future polls (enclosed in spoilers for convenience), especially if it's something obscure that most folks may not have seen.

This clip is from William Friedkin's filmic adaptation of the play, The Boys in the Band, featuring a remarkable performance by Leonard Frey, reprising his role from the play.

bqrL0XfjjJU

[Ivan Drago]

1. El Topo
2. Gimme Shelter
3. The Boys in the Band
4. M*A*S*H
5. Tora! Tora! Tora!

I'll do performances later.

[B-side]

My KG user name is Ukulele_Hobbyist.

Transferred. I'm counting on you to help get it in the top 10.;)

[baby doll]

Transferred. I'm counting on you to help get it in the top 10.;)Thanks. I'll try to get to it on my day off.

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. The Conformist
2. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
3. MASH
4. Claire’s Knee
5. Bed and Board

[Pop Trash]

Performance was pretty awesome. Would make a good double feature with Zabriskie Point. Yay hippies!

[Llopin]

1. Le genou de Claire
2. Husbands
3. Le Voyou
4. Vampir-Cuadecuc
5. Dodes'ka-den

1. Ben Gazzara, Husbands
2. Peter Falk, Husbands
3. Radoslav Brzobohatý, Ucho
4. Fernando Rey, Tristana
5. John Moulder-Brown, Deep End

[dreamdead]

1. Claire's Knee
2. MASH
3. Woodstock
4. The Conformist
5. Five Easy Pieces

Performances:

1. Béatrice Romand, Claire's Knee
2. Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist
3. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
4. Jimmy Hendrix, Woodstock
5. Stéphane Audran, Le Boucher

[eternity]

1. Catch-22
2. Zabriskie Point
3. Le Cercle Rouge
4. Husbands
5. M*A*S*H
-
6. Myra Breckinridge
7. Patton
8. The Aristocats
9. Tora! Tora! Tora!
10. Five Easy Pieces

[transmogrifier]

1. Five Easy Pieces
2. MASH
3. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
4. Brewster McCloud
5. The Red Circle

[baby doll]

Films:
1. Zorns Lemma (Hollis Frampton)
2. Le Genou de Claire (Eric Rohmer)
3. Performance (Donald Cammell / Nicolas Roeg)
4. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Russ Meyer)
5. The Spider's Stategem (Bernardo Bertolucci)Updated.

[Thirdmango]

I've now watched five 1970 movies in the past two weeks. I'm up to six films in this year now.

1. Patton (Franklin J. Schaffner)
2. The Spider's Stratagem (Bernardo Bertolucci 70)
3. The Twelve Chairs (Mel Brooks 70)
4. MASH (Robert Altman 70)
5. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Billy Wilder 70)

6. The Aristocats (Wolfgang Reitherman 70)

Performances:

1. George C. Scott (Patton)
2. Ron Moody (The Twelve Chairs)
3. Robert Stephens (Private Life of Sherlock Holmes)
4. Guilio Brogi (Spider's Stratagem)
5. Dom DeLuise (The Twelve Chairs)

[B-side]

Two more days to get The Spider's Stratagem on the list. ;)

[Spinal]

Updated.

What did you take off?

[baby doll]

What did you take off?I took off The Conformist, moved Le Genou de Claire from third to second, and moved Performance from second to third.

[Spinal]

I took off The Conformist, moved Le Genou de Claire from third to second, and moved Performance from second to third.

Thanks.

[Derek]

1. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
2. A Swedish Love Story (Roy Andersson)
3. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Vittorio De Sica)
4. Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson)
5. Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville)

Also highly recommended is one of my favorite A-G short films, Les Habitants. Would be on the list, but figured I'd make room for the Melville since it has a shot at the top 10. Anyway, it's only ~8 minutes:

enoJAHDoQ5w

[B-side]

Peleshian's We was in my top 25 films first seen in 2011. Been meaning to see more of his stuff.

[Mr. McGibblets]

I don't think I'll get to more films before tomorrow, so:


The Landlord
Brewster McCloud
MASH
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Little Big Man


Performances:


George Scott, Patton
Beau Bridges, The Landlord
Bud Cort, Brewster McCloud
David Hemmings, Fragment of Fear
Dustin Hoffman, Little Big Man

[Melville]

1. Serene Velocity
2. Kustom Kar Kommandos
3. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
4. The Grandmother
5. Patton

1. George C Scott, Patton
2. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
3. Elliot Gould, MASH
4. Donald Sutherland, MASH
5. Jaroslava Schallerová, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
New ballot:

1. Serene Velocity
2. Deep End
3. Kustom Kar Kommandos
4. A Swedish Love Story
5. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

1. George C Scott, Patton
2. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
3. Elliot Gould, MASH
4. John Moulder Brown, Deep End
5. Jane Asher, Deep End

I started watching Hart of London, but it seemed to require me to pay attention.

[elixir]

New ballot:

1. Serene Velocity
2. Deep End
3. Kustom Kar Kommandos
4. A Swedish Love Story
5. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

1. George C Scott, Patton
2. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
3. Elliot Gould, MASH
4. John Moulder Brown, Deep End
5. Jane Asher, Deep End

I started watching Hart of London, but it seemed to require me to pay attention.
That's not a movie I'd easily recommend. The rest on my list, sure. Glad you liked Deep End and A Swedish Love Story! I was surprised to see no one else put the latter on their list until Derek did...gorgeous movie.

[Melville]

That's not a movie I'd easily recommend.
Based on the first 10 minutes, I'm guessing I'd love it if I actually set aside the time to clear my mind and get engrossed in it. Have you seen Serene Velocity, by the way?

[elixir]

Based on the first 10 minutes, I'm guessing I'd love it if I actually set aside the time to clear my mind and get engrossed in it. Have you seen Serene Velocity, by the way?
Yeah, definitely need to be an active, alert participant for that one. It's on UBUWeb btw, not sure how you're watching it.

No, I haven't. A bit over 20 minutes? I'll get on it.

[Spinal]

Deadline extended 1 day.

[elixir]

Updated with that spider flick.

1. Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski)
2. The Hart of London (Jack Chambers)
3. A Swedish Love Story (Roy Andersson)
4. Husbands (John Cassavetes)
5. Wanda (Barbara Loden)

1. Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski)
2. The Hart of London (Jack Chambers)
3. A Swedish Love Story (Roy Andersson)
4. The Spider's Stratagem (Bernardo Bertolucci)
5. Husbands (John Cassavetes)

Performance list is the same.

Thanks for encouraging me (us) to watch the Bertolucci, B. I found it really masterful; every camera movement was just ahhhh. The editing in this film is insanely good--absolutely mesmerizing. Great shit.

I also watched Serene Velocity, and I don't know...I don't think this kind of film is for me. :/

[B-side]

Thanks for encouraging me (us) to watch the Bertolucci, B. I found it really masterful; every camera movement was just ahhhh. The editing in this film is insanely good--absolutely mesmerizing. Great shit.

It's ceaselessly astonishing on a technical front. Helps that the narrative stringing it all together is intriguing and elevated significantly by the roaming camera.

[Melville]

I also watched Serene Velocity, and I don't know...I don't think this kind of film is for me. :/
Yeah, most people aren't so keen on it. But your love of Hart of London made me inquire. Maybe that one changes a lot over its running time? Anyway, here're are my thoughts on Serene Velocity (http://melvillian.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/serene-velocity-ernie-gehr-1970/), if you're interested.

[B-side]

I wasn't too into it either. Preferred Side/Walk/Shuttle, though that one had me a bit weary after a while.

[elixir]

Yeah, most people aren't so keen on it. But your love of Hart of London made me inquire. Maybe that one changes a lot over its running time? Anyway, here're are my thoughts on Serene Velocity (http://melvillian.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/serene-velocity-ernie-gehr-1970/), if you're interested.
That's definitely a good write-up and I can appreciate the thoughts behind it, but I just admittedly don't really gravitate towards these kinds of structuralist(?) films. I wish I was mesmerized and overwhelmed by it, but I just feel completely outside of it, so it ends up just being some sort of endurance test for me (though it wasn't long, so it was alright). It reminded me most of Wavelength, which I also don't care for. So, yeah, I suppose I like my avant-garde to be more varied, and London definitely changes throughout its runtime.

[Melville]

I wasn't too into it either. Preferred Side/Walk/Shuttle, though that one had me a bit weary after a while.
It sends a surge through me. I haven't seen Side/Walk/Shuttle, though I remember looking for it in the past. How does it compare to Serene Velocity? Shift is the only other one available on UBU.

[Melville]

Wavelength
Now that I did not care for.

[B-side]

How does it compare to Serene Velocity? Shift is the only other one available on UBU.

It's essentially just a visual trick repeated over and over, but it has an appeal to it. In that sense, it's pretty similar to Serene Velocity, but its "trick" is more easily appreciated.

[Spinal]

Six performances qualified for the list. They will be listed momentarily.

[Spinal]

Favorite Performances of 1970

#6

Sure, I'm white. Didn't you hear me say, "God bless George Washington. God bless my mother."? I mean, now what kind of Indian would say a fool thing like that?

Dustin Hoffman, Little Big Man


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Did you know?

To obtain the hoarse voice of a 121-year-old man, Hoffman sat in his dressing room and screamed at the top of his lungs for an hour.

[Spinal]

Favorite Performances of 1970

#5

"Equal parts Cassavetes-style vérité, Actors Studio resolve, and remarkable prophecy of the say-little, know-less, just-watch minimalism of recent Asian cinema, Wanda is also an overwhelming portrait—caught in grainy 16mm—of Middle America in the late '60s. There's a commitment to real people, and to the backlands of Pennsylvania coal country, that you may have never seen before." -- Michael Atkinson

Barbara Loden, Wanda


http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/3449/wanda02.jpg

Did you know?

Loden, the wife of Elia Kazan, also directed and wrote the film. Unfortunately, she died of cancer before being able to make another.

[Spinal]

Favorite Performances of 1970

#4

I won't be in danger. After all, what have I done? My duty.

Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist


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Did you know?

Trintignant won Best Actor at Cannes in 1969 for the film Z.

[Spinal]

Favorite Performances of 1970

#3

Rommel... you magnificent bastard, I read your book!

George C. Scott, Patton


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Did you know?

Scott's gravelly and scratchy voice is actually the complete opposite of real-life Patton's high-pitched, nasal and somewhat squeaky voice.

[Spinal]

Favorite Performances of 1970

#2

I mean, if a woman has a brain, give her the opportunity to use it. Along with other parts.

Ben Gazzara, Husbands


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Did you know?

Gazzara told Charlie Rose in 1998 that he went from being mainly a stage actor who often would turn up his nose at film roles in the mid-1950s to, much later, a ubiquitous character actor who turned very little down. "When I became hot, so to speak, in the theater, I got a lot of offers," he said. "I won't tell you the pictures I turned down because you'll say, 'You are a fool,' and I was a fool."

[Pop Trash]

Was Cassavetes ever not an alcoholic in his own movies?

[Spinal]

Favorite Performances of 1970

#1

It's ridiculous. I'm sittin' here listening to some cracker asshole lives in a trailer park compare his life to mine. Keep on tellin' me about the good life, Elton, because it makes me puke.

Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces


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Did you know?

Nicholson is one of only two actors who have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s; the other is Michael Caine.

[Spinal]

FAVORITE PERFORMANCES OF 1970

1. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces (30.5)
2. Ben Gazzara, Husbands (20.5)
3. George C Scott, Patton (19)
4. Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist (17)
5. Barbara Loden, Wanda (12.5)
6. Dustin Hoffman, Little Big Man (10.5)

Not quite:
Beatrice Romand, Claire's Knee (10)
Stephane Audran, Le Boucher (9.5)
James Fox, Performance (9)
Chief Dan George, Little Big Man (9)
Peter Falk, Husbands (9)

[Spinal]

#10

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Catch-22

Director: Mike Nichols

Country: USA

Yossarian is a bombadier during World War II. He desperately tries to be declared insane by the Air Force in order to go home. However during the process he slowly watches each of his friends and crew die off in the horrors of war.

When Second Unit Director John Jordan refused to wear a harness during a bomber scene, he fell out of the open tail turret 4,000 feet to his death. A pilot episode for a Catch-22 series was aired on CBS in 1973, with Richard Dreyfus in the Captain Yossarian starring role.

"Catch-22 is so good that I hope it won't be confused with what is all too loosely referred to as black comedy, which usually means comedy bought cheaply at the expense of certain human values ... [Catch-22] is almost beside itself with panic because it grieves for the human condition." -- Vincent Canby

[Spinal]

#9

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Husbands

Director: John Cassavetes

Country: USA

Three friends, Harry, Archie and Gus, embark on a cleansing weekend of the soul after the sudden death of their friend and contempary Stuart.

The scene at the bar where Leola Harlow tries to sing "It Was Just a Little Love Affair" was completely improvised. Harlow reportedly had no idea that they were filming and thought the actors were actually criticizing her performance. Cassavetes needed to cut an hour and a half from the film in order to shorten it to its contractual requirement of 140 minutes. Columbia cut another 11 minutes in response to negative reviews, which were restored on DVD in 2009. The remaining 85 minutes remain lost

"Husbands is a portrait of a friendship that has outgrown its usefulness and men who discover just how unfulfilling acting like adolescents can be. Intentionally exhausting and painful, the film was subtitled 'a comedy about life, death, and freedom' during its original theatrical run, but it’s less funny-ha-ha or funny-strange than funny-agonizingly-sad." -- Nathan Rabin

[Spinal]

#7 (tie)

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El Topo

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Country: Mexico

Characterized by its bizarre characters and occurrences, use of maimed and dwarf performers, and heavy doses of Christian symbolism and Eastern philosophy, the film is about a violent, black-clad gunfighter and his quest for enlightenment.

Years later, Alejandro Jodorowsky, ashamed of the part he forced his own son to play, invited him to his house. He went with his son to the backyard and asked him to dig. Inside the hole, there was an old teddy bear and an old picture of her mother, and Alejandro said: "Now you are 8 years old, and you have the right to be a kid". The title of the movie and the main character's name are a metaphor of the underground cinema in the sixties. The mole digs holes so as to emerge from the underground to the surface.

"Reviews of El Topo tend to be infuriating because their authors, myself included, fail to make coherent sense of the film and are reduced to laundry lists of its ingredients ... The film exists as an unforgettable experience, but not as a comprehensible one." -- Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#7 (tie)

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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

Director: Billy Wilder

Country: UK

When a bored Holmes eagerly takes the case of Gabrielle Valladon after an attempt on her life, the search for her missing husband leads to Loch Ness and the legendary monster.

Because of schedule conflicts, Wilder couldn't supervise the cuts demanded by the Studios. So, he entrusted the task to editor, Ernest Walter. Wilder strongly disliked the cuts made by Walter, and couldn't re-edit the movie because all the deleted scenes were lost or thrown away. Some of those scenes are available today, but never with both the audio and the video intact.

"Though the emotional crux of the film is rooted in the Sherlock Holmes mythology, it doesn’t take a huge leap of logic to see how its questioning of a life spent overanalyzing could apply to a dyed in the wool cynic like Wilder himself." -- Jeremy Heilman

[Spinal]

#6

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The Spider's Stratagem

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

Country: Italy

Athos Magnani, a young researcher, returns to Tara, where his father was killed before his birth. The father, also named Athos Magnani and looking exactly like the son, was killed by a fascist in 1936 -- or so says his mistress, the town statue, and everyone in town. As the son untangles the web of lies this story is constructed from, he finds himself ensnared in the same web.

The screenplay was written by Bertolucci based on Theme of the Traitor and the Hero written by Jorge Luis Borges.

"The Spider's Strategem is not, as you've probably gathered, a mass-audience movie. It will have most appeal to people sensitive to Bertolucci's audacious use of camera movements and colors." -- Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#5

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The Conformist

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

Country: Italy

Marcello is going to Paris on his honeymoon and his bosses have an assignment for him: look up an old professor who fled Italy when the fascists came into power. At the border of Italy and France, where he and his bride have to change trains, his bosses give him a gun with a silencer.

The image of blowing leaves influenced a very similar scene in The Godfather, Part II. Bertolucci proposed the film adaptation of the novel, Il conformista, to Paramount, without ever reading it himself.

"... Bertolucci manages to combine the bravura style of Fellini, the acute sense of period of Visconti and the fervent political commitment of Elio Petri — and, better still, a lack of self-indulgence." -- Kevin Thomas

[Spinal]

#4

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Deep End

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski

Country: West Germany/UK

15-year-old Mike takes a job at the local swimming baths, where he becomes obsessed with an attractive young woman, Susan, who works there as an attendant. Although Susan has a fiancé, Mike does his best to sabotage the relationship, to the extent of stalking both her and her fiancé.

Many years later Jane Asher denied suggestions that she had used a body double for some of her scenes: "I certainly didn't! ... And, looking back, I like the way it's done." The film was made in around six months, from conception to completion.

"Skolimowski's relentlessly hyperactive camera mirrors not just the increasing psychological and emotional instability of its main character, but suggests something is amiss all around him as well." -- Jaime Christley

[Spinal]

#3

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Five Easy Pieces

Director: Bob Rafelson

Country: USA

Robert Dupea has given up his promising career as a concert pianist and is now working in oil fields. When Robert hears from his sister that his father isn't well, he drives up to Washington to see him.

When Dupea goes to quit his oil-rigging job, the loud whirring of machines can be heard in the background. This identical sound effect was used for the trash compacter scene in Star Wars. The traffic jam on the freeway was shot on a new and unopened section of Interstate 5 near Bakersfield, CA.

"[Jack] Nicholson helped redefine the leading man as a guy who doesn't have the answers but still swaggers through with the show of confidence and control of someone who does." -- Sean Axmaker

[Spinal]

#2

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Claire's Knee

Director: Eric Rohmer

Country: France

Jerome spends his last holidays as a bachelor at Lake Annecy where he meets an old friend. She talks him into a flirt with his landlady's teenage daughter, Laura, but he falls for Laura's half-sister Claire and develops a desire to caress her knee.

Named Best Film of the year by the National Society of Film Critics. The film received the Louis Delluc prize as best French film of the year

"Brialy plays the quintessential Moral Tales hero: He's thoughtful about his choices, even though he can't quite shape his thoughts to account for his feelings, and he ends up doing the right thing almost by accident. " -- Keith Phipps

[Spinal]

#1

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MASH

Director: Robert Altman

Country: USA

During the Korean War, the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is shaken up by the arrival of crack surgeons who set about dealing with the daily carnage of the war by raising hell.

There were only a few loudspeaker announcements in the original cut. When Altman realized he needed more structure to his largely episodic film, editor Danford Greene suggested using more to frame different episodes of the story. During principal photography, Sutherland and Gould spent a third of their time trying to get Altman fired. Gould later sent a letter of apology, and Altman used him in some of his later works, but he never worked with Sutherland again.

"The brackish irony is that the liberators are really bullies: Their macho antics aren’t rebellious ways of hanging on to humanity in the face of war, but troglodyte impulses which have been unchained and excused by war. Altman chronicles the sardonic wasteland with a camera that's always in the wrong place at the right time." -- Fernando F. Croce

[Spinal]

1. MASH (31.5)
2. Claire's Knee (26)
3. Five Easy Pieces (25.5)
4. Deep End (22)
5. The Conformist (20)
6. The Spider's Strategem (18)
7t. El Topo (16.5)
7t. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (16.5)
9. Husbands (16)
10. Catch-22 (14.5)

Gimme Shelter (13.5)
Le cercle rouge (12.5)
Little Big Man (12)
Performance (11.5)
Kustom Kar Commandos (11)


2008 poll:

1. The Conformist (58.5)
2. MASH (39)
3. El Topo (37.5)
4. Claire's Knee (31.5)
5. Patton (31)
6. Catch-22 (30.5)
7. Five Easy Pieces (29.5)
8. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (25.5)
9. Le Cercle rouge (19.5)
10. Even Dwarfs Started Small (19)

Near misses:
Le Boucher 18.5
Gimme Shelter 18
Little Big Man 14
Woodstock 14
The Grandmother 11

[Pop Trash]

2008 > 2012, but I suppose Bertolucci split his own votes this time around.

[B-side]

#6

The Spider's Stratagem

Nice. We'll have to get it into the top 3 next time around.