Critics Club III: Film of the Year 1974

[Neon Ignition]

It's time for Nixon to resign and for us to vote!


1974




What was your Film of 1974 and what are your thoughts on the year in film in general?

[Atticus]

It's not as good as the first one but it's Godfather pt II for me.

[QualityChimp]

Wow, another top year!
While I have a think, I'll have a listen to the theme from The Taking of Pelham 123 (if you wanna do the rhyme, then come see me) by David Shire.

[vanpeebles]

To be fair, the 70s was a golden decade for film.

[Dogg Thang]

Now we're finally getting into my lifetime. Probably a controversial choice but I'm giving it to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Because I have never seen a film so raw and horrible yet without seemingly pushing it in obvious ways. It's surprisingly not gory, for example, and yet the violence seems horrifying. I don't enjoy the film and I'll probably never watch it again but it's a fascinating piece of work with a fascinating history too.

[JazzFunk]

You forgot to include THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE!!!

[Atticus]

I keep forgetting there's a multiple vote option ...

Now we're finally getting into my lifetime. Probably a controversial choice but I'm giving it to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Because I have never seen a film so raw and horrible yet without seemingly pushing it in obvious ways. It's surprisingly not gory, for example, and yet the violence seems horrifying. I don't enjoy the film and I'll probably never watch it again but it's a fascinating piece of work with a fascinating history too.

Me and my mates used to laugh through much of TCM when it was only on video, millionth generation bootleg copy ... but then we saw it in the cinema and it kicked our collective asses good and proper. I can remember us leaving the Showcase in total silence, along with the rest of the auditorium.

[Neon Ignition]

Me and the missus have decided to use these as a guiding rod for future film watching. Essentially watching the biggest films of the last 50 years in the order they released assuming we can find a copy to watch. With the 70's you can slowly sense a building momentum as they go on and the 80's is going to be insane.

[CMcK]

As obvious as it is to pick it The Godfather part II is my choice here. One of the few sequels the surpasses the original.
And if you haven’t seen Phase IV and fancy a good 70s SF film look no further.

[QualityChimp]

Blazing Saddles is still hilarious. The humour is so bonkers and eclectic from clever race humour through to punching a horse. More beans?


Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. Although I probably prefer Terror of Mechagodzilla, this one is still great. The moment where Godzilla is back to his old rampaging ways, mashing up an oil refinery, then ANOTHER Godzilla appears, but wait, what's that shining on the bad G? *Gasp*!


Dark Star is an amazing first film for John Carpenter and takes that grungy "realistic" space travel and lets it spiral out of control. The exasperated crew trying to reason with a sentient bomb is ace.


The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I'll be honest, all these kinda merge into one, but this is the one with the centaur and statue carrying four arms. Ray Harryhausen is a legend and I can imagine films like this must've wowed audiences of the time. They're actually decent adventures even without the special effect. Oh and Caroline Munro was in this...


Herbie Rides Again. I prefer Goes Bananas, but it was a decent sequel. One for the kids.


Phase IV
Ooh, I've banged on about this before, but it's one of those films where I'd seen pics in books, but never had chance to see it. There's some really memorable imagery in this and seeing the humans battling ants that have become intelligent is a real curiosity. It's not a great film, as it seems to get lost towards the end, but it's a memorable ride along the way.


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a charming comedy about a zany family that will do anything to keep those meddling, trespassing teenagers off their property.
This was banned for yeeeears and finally got approved, but it got a cinema release first, which I remember going to see and as CMcK says, it's not crazy-gory, but it's really hard-hitting. Leatherface whacking someone with a mallet or lowering them onto a meathook was really dark, even years later. I think the soundtrack deserves a nod with its unerving sounds.


The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is a brilliant crime romp that deserves to be watched. Didn't Tarrantino nick the idea of Mr. Colour from this? There's a lot of forgettable characters in this, but the cat-and-mouse jousting between Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw is brilliant to watch. I also mentioned earlier that it features an amazing score by David Shire. I've done a compilation of chase funk tracks and this is the first track.


The Towering Inferno this was one of those films that always seemed to be shown on Boxing Day. That or The Poseiden Adventure! The strength of this film isn't that it's a Steve McQueen vehicle, but that all the characters had their own strengths and weaknesses and you really cheer for them to escape.


He has a powerful weapon,
He charges a million a shot.
An assasin second-to-none,
The Man With the Golden Gun.

Some people lament this Bond outing, but I think it's almost the perfect Bond film.
Like a ticklist: Cool james, car stunts, exotic locations, intimidating bad guy, memorable henchman, great story and gorgeous Bond girls.

[JazzFunk]

Gesundheit.

That's a great film. You should check out the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER soundtrack, there's a few cool David Shire disco instrumentals on it.

[QualityChimp]

Gesundheit.

That's a great film. You should check out the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER soundtrack, there's a few cool David Shire disco instrumentals on it.

Ah cheers, I didn't know that!