1970s, group 8
- Truck Turner (1974)
- Bone (1972)
- Coffy (1973)
- Superfly (1972)
- Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
- Willie Dynamite (1974)
- Black Caesar (1973)
- Hell Up in Harlem (1972)
- Cleopatra Jones (1973)
- Dolemite (1975)
- Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song (1971)
- Black Belt Jones (1974)
- Shaft’s Big Score! (1972)
- Foxy Brown (1974)
- Detroit 9000 (1973)
- Slaughter (1972)
- Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
- Adam at 6 A.M. (1970)
- Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974)
- Winter Kills (1979)
Lots in the Blaxploitation genre here. Also, be sure to check out William Richert’s quirky Winter Kills, a very ‘70s black comedy based on a far more serious book by Richard Condon, writer of The Manchurian Candidate. Adam at 6 A.M., featuring a young Michael Douglas, is an interesting film as well –quiet, cerebral, and quintessentially countercuture.
previous: set 1; set 2; set 3; set 4; set 5; set 6; set 7.
Don’t you mean Truck Turner, the cinematic debut of Nichelle Nichols?
Glenn Reynolds and I get drunk on Mickey’s Wide-Mouth and watch that one on Beta.
Oops. Thanks for catching that. I had Bad News Bears on the mind again.
I saw Sweet Sweetback at my college’s free film series and Melvin Van Peebles gave a talk afterwards. I can’t believe he kisses his mother with that mouth.
Bizarrely Black Belt Jones is not available, but the sequel is.
It’s going to drive me nuts when I get down to the seven or so movies that will never see DVD release.
Willie Dynamite? is Napoleon’s Father?
This is seriously going to hurt my percentage. Damn, I was really gaining on it for a while…
Gotta know your blaxploitation, son.
1 of 20…sigh. dirty mary crazy larry.
sigh.
Winter Kills? Come on, that one is just a stinker. As bad as The Soldier …
oh, right. You like The Soldier too …
Never mind.
I don’t know that I’ve seen The Soldier. Ken Wahl, ‘82? No. Fort Apache, The Bronx, on the other hand…
Loved Sterling Hayden in Winter Kills, and I love that they took a serious book and turned it into a very dark comedy. Plus I’m a Jeff Bridges fan.
Wait- are you telling me Jeff that there are movies from the 70’s you haven’t seen? Frankly, I am finding this very hard to believe.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying all of these films are great (or even, in some cases, good); however, I do think the films I’ve listed are universally either important (as cultural texts capturing a particular American ethos) or else –in the case of the great ones I’ve listed—underseen.
”…not saying all of these films are great (or even, in some cases, good); however, I do think the films I’ve listed are…underseen.”
A possible connection there, eh?
Cause and effect?
Hmmmm.
No.
Ok. Just asking. I’ve only seen 1 of them after all.
Hollywood, the artistically bankrupt cesspool that it has become, is remaking Truck Turner with Queen Latifah and some other cats that I can’t think of right now.
Ugh. Oh well: Bad News Bears, The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Shaft… Hollywood is systematically remaking films that never needed a remake.
There was a rumor that Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia was going to be remade with Benecio Del Toro, but last I checked on IMDB I couldn’t find anything about it.
Let’s not forget all of the stupid-ass TV shows being made into flicks. They’re even doing a black version of The Honeymooners starring Chris Tucker and I think Cedric The Entertainer.
Aahh, finally the blaxploitation genre, although, honestly, no Blacula?
In what genre will appear the Ken Russell stuff?
And please more Terry Southern work..I know you know it.
But which Southern flick gives you Steve McQueen, Rip Torn, Tuesday Weld, and, believe it or not, Cab Calloway??
Cincinnati Kid, I think. Which is finally coming out on DVD at the end of this month.
Blacula could have been added to the above list, but it’s not really in the urban street crime mold of the others.
Why that would be “The Cincinnati Kid” set in N’O’leans I believe. ‘Course that was made before Jeff was born. Come to think of it most of these were – or he was a toddler – so it can’t be nostalgia that drives him … Bring on that Celluloid Wisdom …
OK, you can break in line whenever you want
Cigars for Jeff and MC.
To Ken Russell, I would add Alan Parker’s stuff–nothing says ‘70’s like Jack Wild (unless it’s Marty Feldman.)If there’s a kid’s genre, add Melody.
Alternately, I don’t believe we’ve seen, Where the Buffalo Roam?
WTBR is 1980. But don’t fret—I’ve been fooled by that year several times putting these lists together (Fame (speaking of Parker), Dressed to Kill…)
I included Midnight Express, but I haven’t seen Bugsy Malone, so that about exhausts Parker in the 70s—though in the 80s and early nineties, with Fame, Mississippi Burning, Angel Heart, Birdy, and The Commitments, he’ll show up more later.
Right, sorry.
Okay, I get it, you’re ingnoring Ken Russell.
But what did you think of Lords of Flatbush?
Two for the Money?
you’ve probably added Dillinger (Michelle Phillips and Cloris Leachman??
and, speaking of Jack Wild, did I mention Charles Martin Smith?
see also, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins.
…or not.
Goldstein you Philistine! You ignoramus! I can’t believe you would post a round up of Blaxplotation flicks and leave out the Pam Grier classic…
Black Mama, White Mama.
I am sooooooooooooo not impressed.
“Just to be clear, I’m not saying all of these films are great (or even, in some cases, good)…”
BINGO!!!
They were called Blaxploitation (Black Exploitation) films for a reason. Most werent great or even good films… Most werent important films.. but they were an integral part of the early 1970s.. They capture an era..
Kung-Fu movies were another really big genre back then.. but Tarantino has payed plenty of homage to them with KB-1.
You like Jeff Bridges, huh? I really liked Fearless … Wrong decade for this thread, but good none the less. Scariest first person plane crash I’ve watched..