In the Mood for Cinema

Ten Underseen Crime Classics of the 1970s

The 1970s are generally regarded as one of the best decades in film history. After the golden age of Hollywood came to an end and the Hays code was abolished in 1968, it was time for a new breed of filmmaker to come in – fresh independent talent flourished and cinema suddenly had freedoms that had not been experienced before.

One genre that benefitted from this loosening of the rules would definitely be the crime genre. The dark allegories and hints of the film noir era were no longer necessary as filmmakers now had full freedom to display violence and sordid actions with a bloody bludgeon rather than the careful metaphors that had to be used before. This is not to say that the 70s lacked subtlety, but rather that they had a whole new range of cinematic tools to reckon with and as such there were a wide range of sleazy thrillers, outrageous comedies and gritty gangster flicks that came to life this decade.

There are several iconic crime films from the ’70s, including Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Roman Polanski’s Chinatown and William Friedkin’s The French Connection, which are all rightly regarded as some of the utmost pinnacles of the genre. However, for this list, we wanted to stay away from films that most people will have heard of and hopefully seen, and instead shine a spotlight on some crime films released in the 1970s that have not been paid the same attention and definitely deserve revisiting.

First, a few honourable mentions:

The Laughing Policeman (Stuart Rosenberg, 1973)

The Seven-Ups (Philip D’Antoni, 1973)

The Gambler (Karel Reisz, 1974)

Rolling Thunder (John Flynn, 1977)

Straight Time (Ulu Grosbard, 1978)

And now, in no particular order…

TEN UNDERRATED CRIME FILMS OF THE 1970s:

The Super Cops (Gordon Parks, 1974)

Crime films based on true stories often embellish the facts in favour of providing their audiences with entertainment, but in the 1970s there was a certain movement towards displaying gritty realities and films weren’t afraid of going to cynical or bleak places.

Directed by Gordon Parks of Shaft fame, The Super Cops stars Ron Leibman (who you might recognise as Rachel’s dad from Friends) and David Selby as Greenberg & Hantz, two New York detectives who became known on the streets as Batman & Robin for their vigilante methods – the pair refused to bow down to the rampant corruption of the era and were as much interested in taking down criminals as they were exposing crooked cops.

Like many films of the era, there is lots of on location shooting in the streets and the action is hectic and fast paced with a deft comedic touch. This is a sort of prototype buddy cop film, which would become a staple of the ’80s, and one that Edgar Wright noted as a strong influence on Hot Fuzz.

Going in Style (Martin Brest, 1979)

Prior to making one of the biggest action comedies of the 1980s (and one that is now in the process of becoming a Netflix reboot) in the Eddie Murphy starrer Beverly Hills Cop, Martin Brest made this decidedly low key heist film about a trio of elderly pensioners (played by George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg), who are totally bored with their lives and decide that, with nothing much to lose, what would be the risk in robbing a bank if it gave them some much needed adventure?

The film was actually remade in 2017 by Zach Braff with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin replacing the original cast members. Despite this, the original remains a sorely underseen minor classic, a film that is played for laughs but retains a poignant touch throughout.

A whimsical film, gently paced, and featuring three fantastic performances from its leads as widowers who simply want to feel young again. Perhaps the key to this picture being charming and engaging is that the characters are treated with respect and the humour that arises from their unusual decision occurs naturally, with Brest painting a pertinent picture of what it’s like to be old, retired and forgotten in the ever bustling New York City.

The Anderson Tapes (Sidney Lumet, 1971)

Sidney Lumet is one of the greats of cinema, and the 1970s is arguably his most successful decade as a filmmaker, releasing such classics as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Network. However, at the beginning of the decade, he teamed up with Sean Connery to make The Anderson Tapes, about a thief who reenters society after 10 years in prison and immediately plans his next heist.

The building he decides to rob is the upper scale apartment block his girlfriend resides in, and, unbeknownst to him, his moves are being recorded. The film features a stellar cast aside from Connery, including Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker and a big screen debut for a young Christopher Walken.

Like most crime capers, not everything goes to plan, and an array of unfortunate events lead our protagonist into some sticky situations, but that’s all part of the fun of course. Lumet directs with his typical no nonsense style, allowing the cast of eccentric characters to lead the story, but still imprints some stylish visual flourishes upon the film. A somewhat forgotten success in his hugely successful filmography.

Coffy (Jack Hill, 1973)

Pam Grier is perhaps most well known to modern audiences as the star of Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown, but in the 1970s, she made a name for herself as the star of several blaxploitation flicks, and indeed that was the reason Tarantino picked her to be the protagonist of his 3rd feature.

Coffy is one of the best films she made during her prolific period and marks the 2nd collaboration out of 3 with director Jack Hill. She stars as the eponymous “Coffy” Coffin, a nurse who sets out on a bloody trail of revenge after her younger sister is injured by some contaminated heroin.

This is a downright dirty and sleazy picture, featuring drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, mobsters and all sorts of unsavoury characters. Vigilante vengeance missions were popular in the 1970s and it doesn’t get much more cynical or messy than this.

The Sugarland Express (Steven Spielberg, 1974)

A Steven Spielberg film in a list of underrated pictures? This may seem like a contradiction in terms, but actually, prior to 1975’s Jaws, Spielberg was an independent director trying to make a name for himself in the moviemaking business.

The Sugarland Express is one of many films influenced by the iconic Bonnie & Clyde, starring Goldie Hawn and William Atherton as Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin, two small time crooks who lose their baby and go on a rampaging mission to get him back.

Part road movie, part lovers on the run, part hostage thriller, this is a multi faceted movie that also deals with the sensationalist fame that often happens when the media gets a hold of a particularly saucy criminal situation. The two lovers are forced to drag a captive policeman all over Texas in their mission to get their baby back, and Spielberg displayed that, even before the gargantuan budgets of his later movies, he was a real cinematic talent. Unfortunately now somewhat forgotten considering the scale of his future blockbusters, The Sugarland Express is well worthy of a viewing as it still holds up magnificently.

The Hot Rock (Peter Yates, 1972)

Crime capers have been done so often that it is perhaps one of the hardest genres to stick a degree of originality upon. They tend to have similar plots and story conventions, and while some directors may try a different take on the heist genre, they often end up falling short.

Peter Yates, already an established filmmaker following his Steve McQueen classic Bullitt, would have been well aware what a difficult undertaking it is to make an original heist film, so instead, he went along a safer route. With The Hot Rock, he didn’t try anything particularly new or inventive, but crafted an immaculate, tightly paced heist comedy that is simply a lot of fun and the set pieces get progressively bigger and more daring without him ever losing control.

Robert Redford is an ever reliable lead in a charming film that also features the likes of George Segal, Ron Leibman and Moses Gunn. Witty, entertaining and a strong influence on Steven Soderbergh for his Ocean’s trilogy.

Charley Varrick (Don Siegel, 1973)

Following up the iconic Clint Eastwood starrer Dirty Harry was never going to be an easy task, but Don Siegel did a fine job with the under appreciated Charley Varrick.

Walter Matthau, a man who seems to have been nearing retirement his entire career, stars in the lead role as a guy who robs a small bank in a non descript small town but soon discovers that the money obtained actually belonged to the mob. Now he has to evade both the mafia and the police in dusty rural New Mexico.

Matthau is typically brilliant as the world weary Varrick, employing his usual brash cynicism in his uniquely charming manner. Siegel directs with a lack of sentimentality and things inevitably go wrong as plans are scuppered. Charley Varrick isn’t quite the household name that Clint Eastwood’s franchise detective became, but he deserves a second look in this slow burning heist thriller.

Black Caesar (Larry Cohen, 1973)

“Paid the cost to be a boss”. So goes the chorus in James Browns’ theme song for Larry Cohen’s rise and fall crime story Black Caesar, a tune that features prominently throughout the film to great effect.

Fred Williamson stars as Tommy Gibbs, a guy who witnesses police violence from an early age growing up in the ghetto, and grows up to become a formidable criminal.

Black Caesar is a loud and angry film, taking direct aim at the racism that plagues society with fervent vigour. There are several scenes of shocking violence and the tone remains consistently dark, with the tragic ending foreshadowed from the beginning. Cohen was well known for inserting political undertones into his exploitation pictures but here he goes full throttle, unleashing a flurry of attacks on the corrupt capitalist regime that allows discrimination and inequality to thrive. Williamson is a stunning lead in this red hot, unrelenting tale of a man who stops at nothing to get to the top.

Hardcore (Paul Schrader, 1979)

Paul Schrader is probably best known for his incendiary collaborations with Martin Scorsese, not least of which writing the scripts for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull (Schrader famously kept a loaded gun in his desk when writing Taxi Driver, which should give an indication of the kind of storyteller he is). He is an extremely accomplished director in his own right though.

His debut feature Blue Collar, about a group of fed up workers who rob a safe at their union headquarters in retaliation at their corrupt bosses, would also have been a more than apt pick for this list.

His second feature Hardcore, is the film we will be showcasing today though. The film stars the late grizzled great George C. Scott as Jake Vandorn, a conservative midwest businessman who is deeply religious and about as far removed from the world of pornography as one can imagine.

However, when his daughter goes missing, he is forced to embark on a trip to the Californian sex scene in order to try and rescue her. As he goes deeper and deeper into the sordid world of pimps, prostitutes and pornographers, he has to reckon with the realisation that she might not want to be found.

Schrader’s religious upbringing informs the film’s subject matter, and despite the initially disagreeable nature of Vandorn, the film is much about his personal journey of discovery as it is about his quest to find his daughter. The story becomes bleaker and darker as it goes on but it is not without some hope, and this modicum of optimism manages to restrain the otherwise utterly sombre atmosphere. A voyeuristic dive into a bleak world with a towering lead performance and several sections of cinematic revelry that have to be seen to be believed.

Night Moves (Arthur Penn, 1975)

Last but certainly not least is Night Moves from director Arthur Penn of Bonnie & Clyde fame. This 1975 neo-noir stars Gene Hackman as Harry Mosby, a private investigator, who, in typical cinematic fashion, has an utter mess of a home life and uses his job to try and deflect from the fact he is completely miserable.

Mosby is a former football player who was once well known but is now middle aged, balding and going nowhere in particular. His girlfriend is cheating on him and his PI business isn’t particularly financially successful. So when he takes on a case involving the missing daughter of an ex Hollywood actress turned bitter alcoholic, he finds himself engrossed and there are several twists and turns as the case becomes more and more dark and dangerous.

Hackman embodies the role of the dishevelled Mosby and the film is certainly ambitious as it sees him travel from California to Florida and back again several times in his quest to unravel the details of what’s going on, and inevitably the more he investigates the more complicated it becomes.

Night Moves is one of those films that doesn’t hold its viewers’ hand, and may even leave a bit of a sour taste as the credits roll as there are no satisfying conclusions. This is the point Penn was trying to make, however, and his unrelentingly cynical film is full of biting satirical dialogue, egotistical characters and stunning locations. A mind bending, cynical classic and one that deserves more attention today.

Léa Seydoux to Reteam with David Cronenberg for his Upcoming Feature ‘The Shrouds’

There seems to be a recent trend in ageing Hollywood filmmaking upping their prolificacy. Perhaps they have come to the realisation they don’t have too much longer on this Earth and they still have many stories to share. This can only be a positive thing, as the likes of Paul Schrader, Terrence Malick and Clint Eastwood have released arguably their best work in the past decade.

Another veteran of the industry, David Cronenberg, made his return to the big screen with this year’s sci-fi film Crimes of the Future, which was his first feature since 2014’s Map to the Stars. However, Cronenberg certainly isn’t going to leave such a long gap before his next film. The previously announced The Shrouds has just obtained a new cast member. Léa Seydoux, who starred in Crimes of the Future, will join her French countryman Vincent Cassel in the upcoming project, which is currently in pre production and set to commence shooting in Spring 2023.

The Shrouds will be another twisty psychological thriller from the body horror veteran, with the only seemingly safe prediction that it will be gloriously macabre. Cronenberg himself has described it as a very personal project, stating that some parts are autobiographical. The mysterious synopsis reads as follows:

Karsh (Vincent Cassell), an innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.

Although there is no specific release date yet, an estimate of mid-late 2024 seems likely considering shooting is still yet to take place. We’ll keep you updated with any more cast announcements as the project becomes more concrete.

A Matter of Life and Death

A review of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s epic wartime romantic drama from 1946

I’ve fallen in love with her. Her accent is foreign, but it sounds sweet to me. We were born thousands of miles apart, but we were made for each other.
— Peter (David Niven)

War films are one of the long-standing staples of the movie industry and perhaps no single war has seen more depictions than World War 2. In 1946, just one year after the Nazis were defeated, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger used it as the setting for one of their grand productions. But this is no ordinary war movie. WW2 is merely a backdrop for an endlessly inventive, rousingly romantic and endearingly whimsical tale of a British man and an American woman falling in love against all odds.

The basic premise centres upon a a British aviator (played by David Niven) who is supposed to die when he leaps out of his burning bomber plane without a parachute. Miraculously he survives, and it is determined by an afterlife court that he has somehow cheated death, thereby breaking universal law, and this must be rectified by recalling him to heaven. The problem is that he doesn’t want to go as he has fallen in love with the American radio operator (Kim Hunter) who picked up his call before he fell. The nature of mortality and love are brought into question as he must stand trial in an outer world court to prove his love is genuine and determine whether he will live or die.

It’s a love story like no other and indeed a film with no real equivalents. Elements of other films do come to mind. Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life employs similar motifs, where a suicidal James Stewart is shown by an angel what life would be like in his small town if he were never to exist. However, A Matter of Life and Death takes on an altogether more grandiose approach to its themes and utilises stunning visual effect techniques to portray its subject matter.

Made in a time well before CGI was even invented, let alone standard practice in the movie industry, Powell & Pressburger had no choice but to be creative with their visuals. The lack of technology at their disposal led to creativity that knew no bounds. From the stirring opening exchanges, as Niven falls in love with Hunter while escaping a bomber plane on fire, to the fantastical production design of heaven itself, the visuals are breathtaking. Thousands of extras make up the crowd in the trial scene, in an amphitheatre reminiscent of the Roman coliseum. Although heaven does look gloriously otherworldly, the practical effects and real life people make it that much more believable and admirable.

A small yet ingenious subversion of expectations was to shoot the Earth scenes in glorious technicolour, whilst the Heaven scenes are in black & white. When cutting from one place to another, colour fades into the screen and vice versa. It’s a striking way of showing us the true beauty lays in being alive and that our two protagonists are youthful and full of exuberance with long, grand futures ahead of them. There are many neat visual tricks and flourishes like this including a grotesque yet wondrous shot of an eyelid closing during surgery and some handheld camerawork of a motorcycle crash that has to be seen to be believed.

If the film falters at any moment, it is perhaps during the trial scene, which becomes a little too entrenched in its British versus American debate and occasionally strays away from the romance which makes the story so appealing. There are grounds for this, however, and at the time the film was made that was very much a topical debate. The trial is built up to with strong narrative pacing and leads to a sentimental yet well earnt finale. The content of the film is so doggedly romantic that ending with the message that love conquers all does not feel remotely out of the realms of reality within the context of the film’s universe.

Suspension of disbelief is welcomed for this epic tale, but it does not feel like lazy writing to have the two leads fall in love in a matter of mere minutes. Their encounter is explosive and dynamic and sets the tone for the rest of the film which never lets up in terms of being earnestly and unabashedly romantic but also not so self-important as to be unable to poke fun at itself. A small meta moment occurs when an angel enters the real world from heaven and declares how refreshing it is to see in technicolour for once. It is this valiant combination of rousing romanticism with an adeptly light touch of whimsy that makes the film so engaging.

Powell & Pressburger were so ahead of their time with their visionary masterpieces that their works still astound and shock to this day. And they were a perfect match for each other. According to cinematographer Jack Cardiff (remarkably this was the first feature that Cardiff shot), Powell was the risk taker of the two. He was full of wild ideas and would push and push until sometimes he got a little ahead of himself but Pressburger was always there to reign him in and maintain structure and focus. As such, they enjoyed many successful collaborations together and perhaps it is not a surprise that neither’s careers were particularly fruitful after they parted ways as filmmaking partners. Their time together could not be replicated but thankfully they were prolific, and A Matter of Life and Death stands impressively tall amongst their many towering pieces of art.

Taste of Cherry

I don’t want to give you a gun to kill me. I’m giving you a spade, a spade.
-Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi)

A man drives around Tehran and its outskirts, searching for passengers to pick up and offer a job. At first his journey seems aimless, but soon it becomes abundantly clear. The man, named Mr Badii (Homayoun Ershadi, in a remarkably assured performance that belies his then non-professional actor status) wants to kill himself and he needs someone to bury him once he is dead.

His identity is ambiguous. There is little background on him. We do not even learn his first name. In a conversation with his first passenger, a young Kurdish army man keen to get to his barracks on time, he reveals that he too used to be in the army. However, and this is vital, we do not ever learn why exactly he wants to kill himself. Why now? At what point did he decide ‘enough is enough’ (as he so succinctly puts it)? These questions and more are posed in this poetic masterpiece from acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami.

The reasoning behind his decision for suicide never being disclosed is a narrative choice which is directly opposed to the sensibilities of Hollywood and western filmmaking in general. As such, some may find it somewhat jarring and difficult to connect with as it is not a straight forward narrative. They would not be alone should they be put off by the film. The late great critic Roger Ebert famously named Taste of Cherry as one of his most hated films and declared it to be ‘excruciatingly boring’, proving that even the most esteemed of critics can get it wrong sometimes.

For this writer however, the lack of emotional backstory to the protagonist renders the story more universal and soon the viewer becomes attached to him by mere virtue of being a voyeur on the ride with him throughout. He picks up several different passengers along the way, each offering different reasons as to why he should not kill himself. He remains stubbornly adamant and even grows frustrated that nobody will help him. He receives advice from a perturbed young soldier, an Afghani security guard, a religious student and finally a wise old Turkish man who imparts some of the most philosophical and affecting advice.

A bleak desert landscape on the outskirts of bustling Tehran is a central character here too. Wide shots show Mr Badii’s car twisting and turning over the dusty terrain as he engages in debate with his various passengers. The car is often shown from afar, but the dialogue is always heard as if up close, maintaining a constantly intimate relationship between viewer and protagonist. Although we may not know much about his background, nor do we ever learn much, we grow close to him because he is always with us. Of course, a major part of the pathos is down to the stunning performance by Homayoun Ershadi. As I mentioned above, he was a non-professional actor at the time and was actually discovered by Kiarostami for this particular film. It seems to beg belief that he’d never acted in a film prior to this, for his performance is utterly assured and mature. His face emanates grave wisdom and he utters philosophical, dark lines with an intellectual quality and a quiet intensity.

When there are close ups, they focus on either Badii’s face or the face of his passenger. It is rare for the two to be in a shot together and this is because Kiarostami was behind the camera in the seat next to his actors and speaking the dialogue to them himself, encouraging them to come up with their own answers to his questions. This method allowed for lots of improvised dialogue, which is especially impressive because much of it feels well rehearsed and scripted.

There is no score for almost the entirety of the film, but the sounds of the desert form a kind of melodic backdrop for the scenes. Tyres running steadily over gravel, the car engine rumbling, the wind blowing, leaves on trees swaying, even police sirens whirring in the background to give one a reminder this harsh landscape is just outside a city.

The meditative approach of the majority of the film comes to an extraordinary and ultimately ambiguous conclusion as thunder rumbles in the dark morning hours before the sun has risen and we are faced with the blinking eye of a storm before being plunged into total darkness. What follows, I will not spoil, but it leads the viewer to question the reality of everything that has preceded and ruminate on the artificiality of filmmaking in general.

The film moves at a slow pace, true, but this allows it to breathe and the runtime of 95 minutes is far from off-putting. The tension builds ever so subtly with a delicate, touching and sometimes even humorous tone that when the inevitable climax takes over it is impossible to tell what Mr. Badii is going to do. The power of Taste of Cherry lasts for a long time after the end credits have finished rolling and certainly encouraged this writer to finally get to grips with more works from Kiarostami and more Iranian cinema in general.