It’s odd that we’ve made it to the seventies before having trouble getting ahold of the DVDs we’re supposed to watch, but Netflix seems to have some gaps in its collection of Oscar winners from the era.

I first watched The Godfather trilogy my freshman year in college, as I was avoiding anything resembling studying for finals. I was impressed by parts I and II, but I found part II to be quite lousy. I think I like part II the best, as part I moves a little slowly at times. That said, it’s still a wonderful movie.

What did I like about the movie? The music, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando, the epic scope (man am I a sucker for an epic), and the dialogue. What don’t I like? Diane Keaton. I also found it really hard to keep all the characters straight, particularly the Corleone family liutenants.

The Godfather @ IMDb

What struck me the most about this movie? That it was odd to see Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman looking so young — almost distractingly so.

I’m having trouble thinking of anything to write, it’s been a few weeks since we watched this movie. Nothing much about it has really stuck out in my mind, except that it feels really dated compared to modern police dramas and that this is another movie that just screams out that it was made in the seventies. It was decent, but clearly didn’t make much of a lasting impression.

The French Connection @ IMDb

The only thing I knew about George Patton before watching this movie was that he was somehow related to tanks and the Battle of the Bulge. Having admitted that I know very little about the man, I felt like Patton strove to show both the positive (his tactical knowledge) and the negative (his abrasiveness) in Patton. One of the themes that runs through the movie felt particularly true — Patton was a man out of time, who was designed for battle in a time when being a military leader had as much to do with politics as war.

The movie moves quickly through World War II (it has to in order to follow Patton through the entire war), which can leave the viewer behind at times. We will see the aftermath of a battle without its beginning, or the start of a campaign but not its end. This makes the movie feel very discontinuous, fragmented. In spite of this, I enjoyed the movie as a learning experience both about the war and about Patton. I greatly enjoyed watching George C Scott as Patton, and Karl Malden as Omar Bradley but I learned after the fact that Scott was a somewhat disingenuous choice for Patton. The real Patton had a rather high-pitched voice, and was a poor public speaker. Since much of the movie relies on Scott’s presence and gravelly voice to give life to Patton, I feel like we get a somewhat idealized vision of the man.

Patton @ Wikipedia Patton @ IMDb

The feel of the movie is vintage 1970s — gritty, real, with lots of pop songs and shots of people walking around the big city at night. Throw in some neat camera tricks at a drugged-out party and you’ve hit most of the popular visuals of the era. These tricks get a little old after a while, though they avoid to irritating repetition that was most of Tom Jones.

I did have two big problems with the movie, primarily the odd flashbacks which seem to be hinting at some nasty past for Joe Buck. The problem is that the Joe Buck we see in no way bares the scars one would expect to find if he and his girlfriend were both gang raped. My other big problem was the scene where Joe (apparently) kills a man from Chicago who has invited Joe up to his hotel room (for sex presumably). I can understand the robbery, but Joe proceeds to attack the man with a telephone in a manner completely inconsistent with everything we’ve learned about him.

In the end the tale of Joe and Ratso is a pretty depressing one, though mostly well told, but I’m not a big enough fan of 1970s film making to want to sit through the whole thing again.

Midnight Cowboy @ IMDb

Roger Ebert’s Review from 1969, which seems to say most of what I just said with much better writing.

Why on earth are Fagin and Sikes so freaked out about Oliver leaving? Haven’t kids run away before? It appears that Oliver is a member of the gang for approximately 12 hours before he’s adopted. He hardly has time to meet Dodger before being sent off to bed and then sent off to get caught, let alone become so familiar with the gang as to represent a threat. Admittedly, the kid playing Oliver isn’t too bad, since all he has to do is stand there with a bemused look on his face as the events in the movie pass him by.

Oliver! @ IMDb

They call me Mr. Tibbs

One interesting side effect of watching old movies is getting to see classic lines in context. Some work (”I coulda been a contendah“) and some don’t. Well, this one works pretty well. I’m really growing to like Sidney Poitier, and I thought Rod Steiger did a pretty good job as well. I’m a little annoyed about the resolution to the murder though.

In the Heat of the Night @ IMDb

A note about the DVD, you can watch the movie with the commentary on, and what’s awesome about this is that he (the director) doesn’t talk through any of the songs and the voice track has been removed. This means that with the subtitles on, you can do your own karaoke and you too can drive your spouse crazy! Do, a deer a female deer, Re, a drop of golden sun…Sorry, Jack…