Top 10 of the Decade: The 1970's

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Lancemc said:
9 Americans though, and a Polish-directed Hollywood genre film. But it was a joke, and you're certainly right on all accounts.
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It'll expand as I dive further outside of the US. Bunuel, Herzog, Oshima, Bertolucci, Antonioni, Fellini and Melville will get some plays in the future.
 
1. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
2. Close Encounters of The Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
3. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
4. Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)
5. Fellini’s Casanova (Federico Fellini, 1976)
6. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
7. Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975)
8. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
9. That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Brunel, 1977)
10. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)

Nothing here needs much explanation. I agree with the comment earlier about this being the best decade for American film. It was probably the best decade for horror as well. One could make a very strong argument that it was the most visually interesting decade as well. I do not mean just in special effects but in set design, imagery and tone.
 
I'm very disappointed that Laz didn't list a certain 1973 film by Jean Eustache
 
Nice.

I'm sure there are many who won't get that reference.

mother-and-the-whore.jpg
 
Screwtape2 said:
One could make a very strong argument that it was the most visually interesting decade as well. I do not mean just in special effects but in set design, imagery and tone.
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When I think of what Vittorio Storaro alone did in the 70's it's astounding:

The Conformist
The Spider's Stratagem
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage
Last Tango in Paris
1900
Luna
Apocalypse Now

And of course you have standout work by Gordon Willis:

Klute
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
The Parallax View
All The President's Men
Annie Hall
Interiors
Manhattan

Also Vilmos Zsigmond:

McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Hired Hand
Deliverance
The Long Goodbye
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Deer Hunter
Winter Kills

There is also insanely good work in the 70's from Nestor Almendros, Laszlo Kovacs, Conrad Hall, Haskell Wexler, and others.
 
Screwtape2 said:
One could make a very strong argument that it was the most visually interesting decade as well. I do not mean just in special effects but in set design, imagery and tone.
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I on the other hand think this is sort of an idiotic statement to make about any single decade or period in particular. You can make the same very strong argument about every other decade of film to date with an equally strong set of a hundred films and filmmakers as examples.
 
Lancemc said:
I on the other hand think this is sort of an idiotic statement to make about any single decade or period in particular. You can make the same very strong argument about every other decade of film to date with an equally strong set of a hundred films and filmmakers as examples.
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Obviously it would all be subjective but I believe that a decade can standout above others when you observe the overall body of work. Equipment, people, ideas, style and just about every element of filmmaking has been altered in multiple ways. Without a consistency I think certain periods have a perfect storm of experienced filmmakers and production personnel along with creative young talent. The 1970's for me are an example of this.
 
Lancemc said:
I on the other hand think this is sort of an idiotic statement to make about any single decade or period in particular. You can make the same very strong argument about every other decade of film to date with an equally strong set of a hundred films and filmmakers as examples.
Click to expand...

Screwtape2 said:
Obviously it would all be subjective but I believe that a decade can standout above others when you observe the overall body of work. Equipment, people, ideas, style and just about every element of filmmaking has been altered in multiple ways. Without a consistency I think certain periods have a perfect storm of experienced filmmakers and production personnel along with creative young talent. The 1970's for me are an example of this.
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Lance, I think you're wrong. The photography from the 70's stands out for a lot of long held rules about cinematography being broken, combined with faster film, filters, etc. You think you can make that argument for any decade? What strides were made in the 80's and 90's that are so major?

We can certainly make lists of the best-shot films from any period, but I don't think the rise of the film school directors was the only landmark thing happening in the 70's. Some of the best cameramen in cinema history were making their names at the same time, and it's a big part of what made those films so great.
 
If you want to make a more historical argument about innovation and visual technology, the new schools of talent coming about etc, then that's fine. I still have a huge problem labeling any one decade as the "most visually interesting," since that strikes me as a judgment of art and aesthetics, which yes, are subjective, and there are arguments to be made for any single period of cinema history on those terms alone, since it comes down to the varied groups of particular artists and visions producing work during any given time (though I think in general we could agree that post major studio era would give birth to much of what we're going for). Have any of us seen work from every talented visual filmmaker from every decade to make such a call, as though that alone would even qualify someone? Hardly in any case. But in the manner I interpreted the statement, yeah, I think arguments can be made for the 60s, 80s, 90s or whatever in comparison to the 70s in terms of "visually interesting" filmmaking. Mainly because it's an unwinnable "debate" for any side
 
1 Taxi Driver , Scorsese 76
2. 7 Beauties, Wertmuller 75
3 One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Forman 75
4 Kramer vs Kramer, Benton 79
5 Rocky, Avildsen 76
6 Grease, Kleiser 78
7 The Way We Were, Pollack 73
8 Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Stuart 71
9 Young Frankenstein, Brooks 74
10 Duel , Spielberg 71
 
Lancemc said:
If you want to make a more historical argument about innovation and visual technology, the new schools of talent coming about etc, then that's fine. I still have a huge problem labeling any one decade as the "most visually interesting," since that strikes me as a judgment of art and aesthetics, which yes, are subjective, and there are arguments to be made for any single period of cinema history on those terms alone, since it comes down to the varied groups of particular artists and visions producing work during any given time (though I think in general we could agree that post major studio era would give birth to much of what we're going for). Have any of us seen work from every talented visual filmmaker from every decade to make such a call, as though that alone would even qualify someone? Hardly in any case. But in the manner I interpreted the statement, yeah, I think arguments can be made for the 60s, 80s, 90s or whatever in comparison to the 70s in terms of "visually interesting" filmmaking. Mainly because it's an unwinnable "debate" for any side
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You're right, I got a little far away from the original post and was simply defending the cinematography angle. But in terms of the rest of the elements, no I don't think it stands out, aside from "tone", which is again debatable.
 
lazarus said:
You're right, I got a little far away from the original post and was simply defending the cinematography angle. But in terms of the rest of the elements, no I don't think it stands out, aside from "tone", which is again debatable.
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Yeah, his original statement implied looking at "set design," "tone," and thus practically all aspects that go into a film's visual which is, well, most of a film. At least the kind of film I gravitate towards. So all the things that go into an aesthetic, like mise-en-scene, composition, production design, choreography (of actors, dance numbers, background extras/traffic/whatever, action), visual or special effects, and of course the cinematography (lighting, filters, film stock, aspect ratio [and I recently had an interesting conversation on another forum about our preferred aspect ratios], camera movement) and I'd suggest even something like editing is intrinsically tied to the visual aesthetic of a film. Most of these falling under the control of the auteur director, even back into the studio era before the term came about. So I think if we're aiming to assess the visual appeal of a particular period or decade or anything, we're going to look at what the masters of any given period at the height of their talents are doing in film.

Not to mention technique and aesthetics are something that just continues to change, like fashion, and grow like technology and build upon itself over time, so even from that perspective I don't think it's possible to point out any one period above others. Every time has its masters and they're always doing interesting and progressive and beautiful things within (or frequently without of) the trends and aesthetics of the time. So really I think it just comes down to basic individual preference towards which artists are doing the work you gravitate towards at any given point, thus negating any sort of "obvious" elevation of a particular decade or period.

Personally I'd say I prefer the "visuals" of the 60s or 90s, given the sorts of aesthetic and stylistic things my favorite filmmakers of the times were doing, or even the 2000s (which one could make a similar argument for based purely on the rise of an entire new era of film, digital, and all its implications. But it's hardly a science, and is limited by the artists whose work I've had access to and responded to.
 
One could make a very strong argument that it was the most visually interesting decade as well. I do not mean just in special effects but in set design, imagery and tone.[/QUOTE]




Bertolucci's Luna (1979) is one of those films even if the movie is wacky:coocoo:
 
Best scenes of the '70s?

I'd like to nominate the scene where Michael kills Sollozzo and McCluskey at Louis' Restaurant.

Yes?
 
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