The 1971 Mini-List

[DarkImbecile]

The Beguiled (Siegel) — I think I'm one of a tiny handful who prefers the Sofia Coppola version to this one:

Really? I was under the impression that this hadn't aged well and that most people, critics included, preferred Coppola's twist on the material. If not, I and a bunch of people I know are in that small hand

The Coppola has lower averages on both Letterboxd and IMDB, and several of the accounts I follow on Letterboxd made a point of noting the superiority of the 1971 version in their reviews; I also remember at the time there was a bit of unease with Coppola dropping the enslaved character (though I think her reasoning for doing so was sensible) that contributed to a dismissal of her film.

[therewillbeblus]

Family Life (Ken Loach)
I'm curious what twbb might think of this from a therapeutic standpoint. Some cogs in the system describe the film's lead character as schizophrenic, her condition not having been impacted by her environment (which they describe as a favorable one in which she's had every opportunity) but this seems to me to be plainly ironic. In fact she's been suffocated by people who constantly talk about having her best interest in mind without considering her feelings, and she's come to a point of learned helplessness. In other Loach films the culprit might be some cold, unfeeling state welfare division, but here the most guilty party would seem to be the family unit itself and its insistence on children repeating the lives of their parents without necessarily any good reason behind it. Any deviation from the set path, or perceived intention to deviate, or even innocent dalliance that has a chance of leading in that direction is chastised as a failing that must be corrected before it becomes serious. And this all happens under the guise of parental love, which is beyond criticism because "all a parent can do is their best." Anyway, compelling stuff with no easy solutions, and Loach doesn't sugarcoat any of it

Thanks for your indirect recommendation. I really liked this and share your reading. It's interesting to view it in the context of the cloudy 70s aggressively disorienting self-actualization, because we don't often get depictions of adults in family systems holding onto rigid values to oppress youth in this decade, compared to, say, the 50s. Or, at least, I feel like more films were being made about that dissonance affecting the elders with an equal kind of destabilization, or framing the adults as harmless characters 'out of touch' and thus resigned to the tertiary space of delusionally clasping to past ideology in the margins of the narrative, if focus was pitched on them at all. But no, this film is a ruthless account of these systems still functioning in working order, and gravitating any false hope in psychedelic expansion back into the sober reality of the inescapable tangible forces in one's milieu - not the self-constructed one of likeminded peers, but the one that governs over them, bubble or no bubble. The mirage is that the counterculture movements have any impact in destabilizing the power of old systems.

The film is not interested in validating the parents' perspectives as tragic in losing a hold on their daughter, because their absolute ignorance leaves zero space for a willingness to change or see something different than their own narcissistic projections. The mother says she knows her daughter better than her daughter knows herself throughout, which is classic objective-power dynamics (used predominately in therapy until the last couple decades, which is why her therapist's affirming interventions feel so progressive - though client-alliance isn't a new concept; it's how any work gets done at all and always has been the key ingredient to change), but the closest we come to appreciating her position is when she complains to the institution that she was desperate to get some "control" over her daughter. It's as much of an admission that she's lost and impotent in how to parent or understand this generation as anything in this movie.

It's also interesting that the diagnosis is schizophrenia, since the nature/nurture debate has often extended to that extreme of a psychotic diagnosis in academic settings. I remember several professors using the question of whether we most often see homelessness causing schizophrenia, or schizophrenia causing homelessness, without a known answer, in abnormal psych and assessment and diagnosis classes. This film's case study is clearly a misdiagnosis, but it's a more realistic version of Gaslight - where Janice breaks down in the hospital, briefly convinced that the "machines" are controlling things, only after having her agency removed and then being repeatedly confused and disempowered in a vicious cycle perpetuated by multiple providers in positions of power over her. A nurse coming in and saying a bunch of things she doesn't understand and then saying "I'm glad we had this little chat. You're smart, you'll figure out what I meant" is the straw to break the back, but it also causes Janice to hang on to a few key words in her monologue as she experiences an episode of emotional dysregulation, informing the reality she projects onto the care worker intervening during the crisis. Though she was already severely agitated prior, and what we know about agitation/escalation, is that kids particularly (but really most people) only hear about 8% of what's being said to them in these moments, and base their reactions mostly upon other instincts. Anyways, Sandy Ratcliff was outstanding.

Also, while it's not unique to compare a raw, intimate social-problem British film from this era to Mike Leigh's work with naturally-conceived dialogue, etc., I swear the score used identical music cues to his early work. Or am I going crazy too?

[swo17]

Afraid I can't really help with your question, as the only music I recollect was the Neil Young song sung by the group, and I'm not familiar with Leigh's work until the late '70s

[swo17]

if you're able to list any other films that stand out to you as being bumped ahead multiple years from their LB/Wiki/IMDb date (maybe in the general 70s thread), that would be appreciated.

Actually, perhaps I should mention that Du côté d'Orouët is eligible for this year, 1971

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks, I had already switched that one based on the earlier discussion with domino in one of these threads- I’m adjusting my own master list according to yours, so keeping records as they’re mentioned, though I appreciate the reminder for everyone else since it’s an easy no. 1!

[knives]

Don’t forget to look at my letterboxd list for any other surprises.

[therewillbeblus]

Kaere Irene: A terrific verité depiction of navigating complex socio-sexual relationships through the banalities of early adulthood. The 90-minute film felt like La maman et la putain if edited down into the pace of a kitchen-sink sex comedy, that just can't manage to sustain its defensive distractions long enough to escape from the lurid aches of drama overwhelming ephemeral harmony and contentment. Its natural dialogue and central performances (especially Mette Knudsen) feel wholly real and channel the flaws and vulnerability of performance into informing the character's, rather than attempting a doctored performance from an assumed sense of character. This film is one of the more excitedly honest looks at youthful romantic plights, communication challenges, and disorganized self-actualization; a staring-contest where all the breaks in concentration inevitably lead back to those glaring eyes that won't let us evade their immediacy. [Too bad I didn't nominate it in time - a cursory cross-check with SNAPSЖOT revealed another "Irene" title and I incorrectly assumed it was an alternate title for this - but I still encourage people to seek it out for the overall decade project]

[swo17]

I don't know why you would think it's too late--I just made it eligible and people still have two weeks to vote or to revise their votes if they've already submitted a 1971 ballot (PM me if you need a link to edit your ballot)

[therewillbeblus]

I thought eligible titles were decided in stone by the end of the month before voting, but I must have missed a memo since the 60s project ended, thanks

[swo17]

When I was using QuestionPro to run the vote there was a logistical issue with changing the ballot after setting it up. Now with the database that we've been using since the 1967 list, I can add things at any time and it doesn't present a problem. However, people are still encouraged to suggest additions earlier rather than later, because obviously less people are likely to be able to give a film a chance if they only learn about it at the last minute

[swo17]

Blink and you'll miss 'em...

Rom 70/71 (Werner von Muzenbecher)
Thanks to twbb for suggesting this--dynamic shots of cityscapes not unlike others I've seen before, but there's something hypnotic and alluring about it.

Homage to Old Ladies (Zoltán Huszárik)
This is an extra on the Hungarian MaNDA DVD for the also 1971 essential Szindbád, available with two different scores. I especially like the original one, whose brash electronics perhaps feel at odds with the titular images, but perhaps those old ladies aren't quite what they seem.

Sea Rhythms (Jim Davis)

I'm not sure if this is Davis's last film, but it's his latest one that I know about, and so likely my last chance to recommend or vote for him for quite some time. Anyway, this is another strong film that feels perhaps like a scuba dive in an alternative ocean made of light instead of water.

Encyclopædia Britannica (John Latham)
Moderately clever idea for a film, rifling through several volumes of an old encyclopedia at two pages per frame, reducing the "entirety" of human knowledge (itself limited by publication date and the perspective chosen to be represented) to an unintelligible 10 minutes of sensory information, but it gets major points for prolonged dedication to the bit, which took so long to shoot that some intended consequences of lighting/outside weather variations are baked into the final product.

The White Bird Marked with Black (Yuri Ilyenko)
I think the last time I highlighted some shorts in the same year as an Ilyenko feature, I threw that in for some reason. As I can't exactly break with tradition now, here is my 1000-word review:

[therewillbeblus]

Rom 70/71 (Werner von Muzenbecher)
Thanks to twbb for suggesting this--dynamic shots of cityscapes not unlike others I've seen before, but there's something hypnotic and alluring about it.

I haven't seen this yet - do you mean suggesting the Re:Voir disc in the group buy? Thanks for prompting me to get to it though!

[swo17]

Correct

[the preacher]

Here’s the letterboxd version of the master list.

Least popular title on my ballot is Yılmaz Güney's The Father. Lowest average rating is for Billy Jack (3.0)

[Black Hat]

Can Luigi Zampa's A Girl in Australia please be added?

[swo17]

Done, thanks!

[knives]

Managed to sneak a couple of films one a potential list maker and the other one of the worst films I’ve ever seen.

Agnus Dei
After a couple of films where I wasn’t terribly excited with what Jancso was doing he hits me with this. The film is very family and could have played merely as a greatest hits, but tying all of his devices to the history of Hungarian religion as it relates to war makes for a new experience full of conflicted emotions. The sense of self immolation reminds me a lot of Austeria and the infusion of ghastly humour caused me to jump a few times.

Cry Uncle
For some reason I assumed Joe put Avildsen into the mainstream, but Lloyd Kaufman’ name in the credits immediately put to bed that impression. This is a totally artless farce that doesn’t play as extreme and stylish as later Troma’s nor even maintaining the weird oddness of its contemporaries like Where’s Poppa?. Probably the best best comparison point is Frears’ Gumshoe, but even that at least had some effort to go on. This just plays out as porny.

[swo17]

Oh, this kind of snuck up on me, but obviously today is the last day of the month, and so the last day to vote!

[ryannichols7]

I like ending it on the last day of the month, but often times I forget when that is

I totally failed at writing my entries up this month, it seems to be an every other month thing for me

[swo17]

The 1971 List



##. Film (Director) points/votes(top 5 placements, aka likely votes in decade list)/highest ranking

01. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich) 322/16(10)/1(x2)
02. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman) 301/16(7)/2
03. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman) 271/13(7)/1(x2)
04. The French Connection (William Friedkin) 202/11(5)/2
05. Szerelem [Love] (Károly Makk) 196/11(5)/1
06. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick) 186/9(6)/1(x4)
07. A New Leaf (Elaine May) 178/10(5)/3
08. Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah) 177/10(6)/3
09. Klute (Alan J. Pakula) 156/10(1)/4
10. Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg) 155/9(5)/1
11. Utvandrarna [The Emigrants] (Jan Troell) 140/7(4)/1(x2)
12. Szindbád (Zoltán Huszárik) 130/7(2)/4
13. Carnal Knowledge (Mike Nichols) 119/8/7(x2)
14. Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent [Two English Girls] (François Truffaut) 109/7(3)/3
15. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby) 108/7(2)/1
16. The Go-Between (Joseph Losey) 106/6(3)/2(x2)
17. Du côté d'Orouët (Jacques Rozier) 101/5(3)/1(x2)
18. Macbeth (Roman Polanski) 98/6(2)/1
(tie) Händler der vier Jahreszeiten [The Merchant of Four Seasons] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 98/7(1)/3
20. Hapax Legomena I: (nostalgia) (Hollis Frampton) 96/5(1)/1
21. Sunday Bloody Sunday (John Schlesinger) 95/6(1)/3
22. Dirty Harry (Don Siegel) 94/5(2)/2
23. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur [Four Nights of a Dreamer] (Robert Bresson) 82/6(1)/5
24. Little Murders (Alan Arkin) 77/4(2)/3(x2)
25. Il Decameron [The Decameron] (Pier Paolo Pasolini) 76/4(2)/2
26. La classe operaia va in paradiso [The Working Class Goes to Heaven] (Elio Petri) 75/7(1)/2
27. Out 1 (Jacques Rivette) 72/6/9(x2)
28. Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte [Beware of a Holy Whore] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 67/5(2)/2
29. Taking Off (Miloš Forman) 66/4/6
30. Punishment Park (Peter Watkins) 63/4(2)/2
31. Get Carter (Mike Hodges) 59/4(1)/1
32. Égi bárány [Agnus Dei] (Miklós Jancsó) 58/3(1)/5
33. Morte a Venezia [Death in Venice] (Luchino Visconti) 57/3(1)/4
34. Duel (Steven Spielberg) 54/6/8
(tie) The Devils (Ken Russell) 54/5(1)/3
36. Family Life (Ken Loach) 51/3(1)/4
37. Le Souffle au cœur [Murmur of the Heart] (Louis Malle) 44/3(1)/2
38. Giù la testa [A Fistful of Dynamite] (Sergio Leone) 43/3/9(x2)
(tie) Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart) 43/3/11
(tie) Trafic (Jacques Tati) 43/4/10
41. The Boy Friend (Ken Russell) 41/2(1)/1
(tie) 儀式 [Gishiki] [The Ceremony] (Nagisa Ōshima) 41/4(1)/4
43. Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff) 39/3/6
44. Долгие проводы [Dolgie provody] [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova) 38/2/7(x2)
45. Daughters of Darkness (Harry Kümel) 35/2(1)/4
(tie) Socrate [Socrates] (Roberto Rossellini) 35/3/10
47. 書を捨てよ町へ出よう [Sho o suteyo, machi e deyō] [Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets] (Shūji Terayama) 33/2/7
48. 曼陀羅 [Mandara] [Mandala] (Akio Jissōji) 32/2(1)/1
(tie) Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (Roy Ward Baker) 32/2/9
50. La Maison des bois (Maurice Pialat) 31/2(1)/2
(tie) Shaft (Gordon Parks) 31/3/6

ALSO-RANS

出所祝い [Shussho iwai] [The Wolves] (Hideo Gosha) 30/2/8
The Last Movie (Dennis Hopper) 29/2(1)/4
Fiddler on the Roof (Norman Jewison) 28/2/7
Whity (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 27/2/7
Born to Win (Ivan Passer) 27/4/12
The Andromeda Strain (Robert Wise) 26/2/8
Bananas (Woody Allen) 25/2/6
告白的女優論 [Kokuhakuteki joyūron] [Confessions Among Actresses] (Kijū Yoshida) 25/2/8
The Hired Hand (Peter Fonda) 25/2/13

沈黙 [Chinmoku] [Silence] (Masahiro Shinoda) 24/2/10
Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit [Land of Silence and Darkness] (Werner Herzog) 23/2/6
Summer of '42 (Robert Mulligan) 23/2/6
Minnie and Moskowitz (John Cassavetes) 23/2/9
Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta [Jabberwocky] (Jan Švankmajer) 23/2/11
Vladimir et Rosa (Jean-Luc Godard & Jean-Pierre Gorin [Groupe Dziga Vertov]) 21/2/8
In nome del popolo italiano [In the Name of the Italian People] (Dino Risi) 19/2/11
Sometimes a Great Notion (Paul Newman) 19/3/14
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles) 18/2/9
Bleak Moments (Mike Leigh) 18/2/11
The Beguiled (Don Siegel) 18/3/15

W.R. – Misterije organizma [Mysteries of the Organism] (Dušan Makavejev) 17/3/14
The Blood on Satan's Claw (Piers Haggard) 15/2/13
The Panic in Needle Park (Jerry Schatzberg) 15/2/18
Una lucertola con la pelle di donna [A Lizard in a Woman's Skin] (Lucio Fulci) 10/2/17
Max et les Ferrailleurs [Max and the Junkmen] (Claude Sautet) 6/2/21

ORPHANS

Film (Director) highest ranking

The Night Digger (Alastair Reed) 22
Trzecia część nocy [The Third Part of the Night] (Andrzej Żuławski) 15
The Man with Two Heads (Andy Milligan) 25
The Hospital (Arthur Hiller) 23
The Brotherhood of Satan (Bernard McEveety) 22
Cisco Pike (Bill L. Norton) 21
Play It Again, Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez) 17
Wild Rovers (Blake Edwards) 24
Joe Hill (Bo Widerberg) 3
The Raging Moon (Bryan Forbes) 20
Hannie Caulder (Burt Kennedy) 24
新獨臂刀 [Xin du bi dao] [New One-Armed Swordsman] (Chang Cheh) 12
Kære Irene [Dear Irene] (Christian Braad Thomsen) 23
Juste avant la nuit [Just Before Nightfall] (Claude Chabrol) 16
Mon oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra) 22
Play Misty for Me (Clint Eastwood) 9
4 mosche di velluto grigio [Four Flies on Grey Velvet] (Dario Argento) 12
Millhouse: A White Comedy (Emile de Antonio) 24
...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità [Trinity Is Still My Name!] (Enzo Barboni) 24
The Point (Fred Wolf) 10
A Safe Place (Henry Jaglom) 25
Hapax Legomena III: Critical Mass (Hollis Frampton) 9
The Murder of Fred Hampton (Howard Alk) 12
The Big Doll House (Jack Hill) 9
Pink Narcissus (James Bidgood) 4
The Last Valley (James Clavell) 1
Numéro zéro (Jean Eustache) 11
Le Frisson des vampires [Shiver of the Vampires] (Jean Rollin) 13
Sie tötete in Ekstase [She Killed in Ecstasy] (Jesús Franco) 10
Vampyros Lesbos (Jesús Franco) 6
Sea Rhythms (Jim Davis) 10
Lust for a Vampire (Jimmy Sangster) 15
Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal [Don't Deliver Us from Evil] (Joël Séria) 10
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (John D. Hancock) 5
Twins of Evil (John Hough) 17
Encyclopædia Britannica (John Latham) 22
Życie rodzinne [Family Life] (Krzysztof Zanussi) 4
Bello, onesto, emigrato Australia sposerebbe compaesana illibata [A Girl in Australia] (Luigi Zampa) 17
Ecologia del delitto [A Bay of Blood] (Mario Bava) 2
The Plot Against Harry (Michael Roemer) 21
La Région centrale (Michael Snow) 10
The Telephone Book (Nelson Lyon) 13
Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês [How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman] (Nelson Pereira dos Santos) 8
Such Good Friends (Otto Preminger) 25
I Don't Know (Penelope Spheeris) 15
Directed by John Ford (Peter Bogdanovich) 16
Countess Dracula (Peter Sasdy) 18
Hands of the Ripper (Peter Sasdy) 12
Pioniere in Ingolstadt (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 22
Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian) 7
10 Rillington Place (Richard Fleischer) 16
The Last Run (Richard Fleischer) 14
The Grissom Gang (Robert Aldrich) 23
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Robert Fuest) 16
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Robert Stevenson) 15
Pretty Maids All in a Row (Roger Vadim) 9
Die Bettwurst [The Bed Sausage] (Rosa von Praunheim) 18
সীমাবদ্ধ [Seemabaddha] [Company Limited] (Satyajit Ray) 16
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (Stan Brakhage) 25
Gumshoe (Stephen Frears) 23
Red Sun (Terence Young) 25
Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) 20
修羅 [Shura] (Toshio Matsumoto) 1
Der plötzliche Reichtum der armen Leute von Kombach [The Sudden Fortune of the Good People of Kombach] (Volker Schlöndorff) 12
Blanche (Walerian Borowczyk) 10
Fata Morgana (Werner Herzog) 9
Rom 70/71 (Werner von Mutzenbecher) 20
Baba [The Father] (Yılmaz Güney) 13
Білий птах з чорною ознакою [Bilyi ptakh z chornoyu oznakoyu] [The White Bird Marked with Black] (Yuri Ilyenko) 6
Tisztelet az öregasszonyoknak [Homage to Old Ladies] (Zoltán Huszárik) 15

22 lists submitted

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks swo

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks swo - but wow, this is the first time I've looked at a final list's contents and seen about ten films that would've bumped off my back ten... I need to do a better job at reviewing the master list next time. I'd like to issue an apology to whoever was left with Chabrol's Juste avant la nuit as an orphan in particular, as it would've cracked my top ten

1. Du Cote D'Orouet
2. Two-Lane Blacktop
3. Little Murders
4. Two English Girls
5. The Last Picture Show
6. Harold and Maude
7. Carnal Knowledge
8. (nostalgia)
9. The Big Doll House ORPHAN
10. Don’t Deliver Us From Evil ORPHAN

[ryannichols7]

my last second decision to put Love at #1 appears to have leapfrogged it into the top 5 (and over Kubrick!) so I'm incredibly pleased. while The Last Picture Show is still a long time favorite, I was bowled over by Karoly Makk's film and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since watching it. maybe my favorite Hungarian movie to date and that's a strong claim in the same year as Szindbad. also pleased to see Agnus Dei make the list and beat out some big names, and some films I expected to be way higher (The Devils and Out 1) be a lot lower than expected. more of you should watch The Emigrants. and I apologize to lovers of (nostalgia) as I totally failed to vote for it...

* were new for the 1971 project. ** were revisited for it. I had a very high number of revisits this year, but also many of these I hadn't seen in over a decade

15 Händler der vier Jahreszeiten [The Merchant of Four Seasons]
14 Sunday Bloody Sunday*
13 Trafic**
12 McCabe and Mrs. Miller**
11 Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte [Beware of a Holy Whore]*
10 Carnal Knowledge*
09 Égi bárány [Agnus Dei]*
08 Duel
07 The French Connection
06 A New Leaf*
05 Szindbad**
04 Two Lane Blacktop**
03 Utvandrarna [The Emigrants]*
02 The Last Picture Show**
01 Szerelem [Love]*

[bottlesofsmoke]

Thanks swo! And thanks knives for posting the letterboxd lists, they are really helpful.

1. The Last Picture Show
2. The Go-Between
3. A New Leaf
4. Straw Dogs
5. Macbeth
6. Taking Off
7. Carnal Knowledge
8. Two-Lane Blacktop
9. Out 1
10. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
11. Two English Girls
12. Little Murders
13. Harold and Maude
14. The Wolves (also ran)
15. The Merchant of Four Seasons

16. Juste avant la nuit (orphan)
19. Confessions Among Actresses (also ran)
20. The Raging Moon (orphan)
23. Summer of '42 (also ran)
24. Wild Rovers (orphan)
25. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (also ran)

[therewillbeblus]

16. Juste avant la nuit (orphan)

25. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (also ran)

I was the other vote for the Fulci, and would've saved the Chabrol too - mea culpa