10 Magnificent Movie Masks

Ah yes, the mask: a symbol of the Dramatic Arts, a valuable tool for the actor, a disguise to shield your identity from your victims/loved ones/law enforcement/Sally Field. In modern culture it feels most strongly associated to superheroes and weapon-wielding maniacs -- I got some of those here, but in choosing my absolute favorites masks it's made clear that everybody's got something to hide (up to and including who's really The Walrus). 

- Paul

Eyes Wide Shut

Just gonna go ahead and get this one right outta the way. I could do a book on these (I'm sure there are already several) and all the different styles and names they're given (The Picasso, The Jolly, The Plague Doctor, even The "Ryan O'Neal") but the one that stands out contextually is The Bauta, who nods at Bill and then later it's implied that he tattles on him. I have to go over there and show my face. 

3 Ninjas

We bring this movie up a lot on this site, usually to dump on it - even as a kid I found it embarrassing and rarely had a desire to revisit it. But what did stay with me, and still does, are these Oni masks worn by the 3 Ninjas. Like Eyes Wide Shut I think I was most attracted to the variety and how they all looked different. (I'd point out how each mask is best suited to each character's personality but you know I’d be making that up.) 

Dick Tracy

I'll always own up to my folly that I originally thought that The Blank's face was just his(?) face and not a mask; the movie is populated by gangsters with cartoonish facial deformities, so why not a character without any features at all? It was admittedly a letdown when it was revealed it was a mask, but then my life just became about wanting that damn mask (or at least the damn action figure). 

Nightbreed

Out of all the masked killers in Horror Cinema, leave it to Clive Barker to create the creepiest one, and leave it to David Cronenberg to wear it. It's funny that 80% of this movie is over the top far out fantasy, but the 20% Slasher portion with Dr. Decker is unsettlingly realistic. Dream Halloween costume (after The Blank)!

Demons

Clearly just for decorative purposes, and rightly so; this mask (which implicitly belonged to Nostradamus) causes a severe allergic reaction when it comes in contact with the bloodstream. So be careful because that shit is pointy!

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Another choice that's as plain as the nose on your face, but today I'm here to pick a favorite of the three Silver Shamrock Halloween Masks. Honestly, each one is only as good as the costume that goes with it -- I've been a longtime fan of Dr. Challis's Skull/plaid/Members Only Jacket ensemble, but as my tastes have matured, the skateboarding ballerina with the Pumpkin mask goes too hard to ignore. 

Magical Mystery Tour

There were obviously no limits as to how many goofy costumes Paul could talk his bandmates into wearing. However, as weird as this choice was, they managed to make it weirder with various morbid and literary subtexts. (The Walrus is, in fact, not a symbol of death in any culture's folklore.) 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

If we're gonna say Shredder wears a "helmet" (I would) then the "coolest mask" falls on Casey Jones. Looking nothing at all like the most famous Cinematic Hockey Mask of that moment, and only vaguely resembling its depiction in the comics, it sorta looks like The Punisher logo (which was once intimidating before it became misappropriated by a decidedly unintimidating demographic).

Point Break

Every once in a while I'm reminded that they remade this movie in the past 10 years or so. I'll never see it, but learning that the Ex Presidents masks don't make an appearance is probably what helps me disregard its existence entirely. There was nothing that wasn't cool about the 1991 original, but these masks made the whole thing next level. 

Mrs. Doubtfire

Never mind that Robin Williams was probably my favorite actor/comedian/person in 1993, the most exciting thing in this movie for me (and for every other kid who was obsessed with makeup effects) was the whole latex mask business. The fact that they took the time to share the step by step makeup chair process with the audience made this otherwise not-believable movie that much more believable. 

STATIC SHOTS

Disagreements and Misunderstandings in a Public Bathroom

Take ten seconds and try to think of as many bathroom scenes in movies as you can... If you came up with less than a thousand you need to watch more films. Now try to narrow it down to scenes specifically in public restrooms... still in the hundreds no doubt. Even further still, public restroom scenes that depict some kinda human interaction - maybe on the passionate side. Point is, there are too many to list so I listed the first 10 that came to my mind. 

- Paul

True Lies

Starting off big with maybe the best bathroom brawl of all - the one where Arnold gets to use the really cool secret spy camera they foreshadowed minutes before and ends up saving him a bullet to the head. What follows is a mix of hand-to-hand combat and automatic gunfire, turning the whole set into a slow-motion slip 'n slide that looks a commercial for the greatest water park that never was. (The movie's a Fox property so there's no reason to not have "The Harry Tasker Splash Adventure" at Disney World.)

Starman

Ah the classic men's room mixup, usually involving dick jokes or gay panic (there are several examples on this short list). This whole movie is full of lines I've been quoting since I was 4, but this exchange stands out as being both funny and informative as it taught me the meanings of "take it easy" and "up yours", accompanied by the appropriate hand gestures. My son also learned these customs from this film; circle of life and all that. 

The Shining

The whole movie starts with a well crafted scene of exposition, and then halfway through we find ourselves here and we learn what's really going on. Sorta. Kubirck loves his lavatories (there are several pivotal ones just in this movie), usually as a symbol of privacy or vulnerability, with a heavy lean on the latter here as Jack is manipulated, not by one ghost, but by all the entities who've always been here. 

High Anxiety

While navigating an extremely "dramatic airport", Mel Brooks is instructed by Robert Ridgely to follow him into the men's room, where he's treated to a full frontal trench coat peepshow and some classic bad taste Ridgely humor. It's notable that whenever Robert Ridgely's playing it straight he's consistently believable - almost suspensefully so here, to Hitchcockian heights. 

Halloween

Love it, hate it, or mostly meh on it, Michael's acquisition of his "Michael Myers costume" is RZ's remake seems to be the most memorable moment for all -- due almost entirely to Ken Foree's sassy-but-menacing delivery of every single line. "I'm Joe Grizzly, bitch!"

Innerspace

Throughout the movie, Martin Short speaks out loud to the miniaturized Dennis Quaid inside his body, causing much confusion to those around him. One such instance occurs at the urinal, causing Joe Dante regular Kenneth Tobey to impart his wisdom: "Play with it, pal, but don't talk to it." That sentiment confused me when I was 5, and even still I don't think I've fully grasped its value. 

Crocodile Dundee II

Mick Dundee threatens Stephen Root's manhood with his unquestionably large knife to get information regarding this movie's sorta tedious drug lord plot. It's hard to appreciate in hindsight but any appearance of the iconic knife in the sequel was the equivalent of seeing lightsabers in The Phantom Menace. You had to be there. 

Quick Change

More toilet shenanigans that supposedly hint at male homosexuality - or perhaps something insidious, I was never really sure. Bill Murray and Randy Quaid remain unseen in the bathroom stall as Bill removes stacks of stolen cash duct taped to Randy's body, resulting in a lotta tearing and groaning sounds and causing the other remaining patron to recoil in horror and exclaim, "You people can keep this city!" This guy must've been imagining something along the lines of Cenobite role-play. 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Raoul Duke spills LSD on his red woolen shirt, and hippie Flea proceeds to suck it off. No big deal -- except some straight-laced square (who's attending a Jefferson Airplane performance at a psychedelic night club for some reason) catches them in the act, ruining his life "forever". Honestly, my biggest takeaway from this moment is the decades-long desire to match Johnny's exact fit of stripes and plaid. 

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Nothing too subtle going on here. The sounds of struggle emanate from Austin's bathroom stall as he fends off an assailant, leaving cowboy Tom Arnold confused, then concerned, then impressed (this is the first time I'd ever heard of the concept of a "courtesy flush" but I've held onto it). Two things I believe but can't be sure of: Mike Myers named a character "Number 2" just to use it as a punchline for this scene. And you can't make a bathroom movie list without at least two Tom Arnold movies. 

12 (mostly) Loyal Pets

This isn't a Lassie or Willard situation. There'll be no Yearlings or friends named Flicka. These creatures didn't crave the spotlight and their relevance in the dynamics to the story ranged from fleeting to peripheral. But then they had their moment they made it all about them, and so today we show our respect to these supporting players of the Animal Kingdom. 

- Paul

Max

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Like the Whos, Max was always on the side of good, and he was the only one to witness The Grinch's transformation. Like everything else in the 1966 animated special, the marriage of Dr. Seuss and Chuck Jones was a union forged in the starts, but the best of both worlds was most prominent in Max: he was pure Looney Tunes but without the cynicism. 

Artie

Saved by the Bell

Artie is Slater's pet chameleon. Screech and Zack babysit Artie while Slater's away for the weekend. Zack predictably kills Artie due to negligence. Because Slater had spent most of his life moving around and changing schools, Artie was the only friend he could hang onto. Perhaps his death was existentially necessary to illustrate that his Bayside friends will ultimately be his "Friends Forever". That's tough love but there was a lotta that on this show. 

Basil

A Clockwork Orange

For a young, sadistic sociopath, Alex sure had a soft spot for that snake (who clearly died under mysterious circumstances). Funny story that you've probably already heard: supposedly Kubrick got the idea to include a pet snake (which wasn't mentioned in the book) when he learned of Malcolm McDowell's phobia of them. 

Precious

The Silence of the Lambs

Real name Darla, also famously worked with John Landis, Joe Dante, and Tim Burton. But her biggest and arguably her most integral part to a plot played out here - she was used as a negotiating tactic which ultimately went nowhere, but her fate most likely involves apartment life with Catherine and her cat. 

Wildfire

Song by Michael Murphey

Here's some mellow and manipulative Adult Contemporary for you; this chart-topper from 1975 tells the story of a young lady who dies in a blizzard when she was separated from her horse, Wildfire (the horse also presumed dead). A notorious tearjerker to all the prepubescent horse girls of the mid 1970s, but as a middle-aged man in the mid 2020s I can tell you that when that chorus hits it still hits hard. 

Elvis

Miami Vice

You'd think having an alligator as a cast member would guarantee some eventual carnage, but no. Elvis knew how to act threatening but was really nothing more than a slob who was only ever one step away from sporting sunglasses and a tropical shirt. He definitely brought some lightheartedness to the vibe and was a necessary ingredient in making it the most 1980s TV that there ever was. 

Gil

What About Bob? 

I'm not sure what the symbolism was but it wasn't subtle; a "fish outta water" story maybe? At any rate a lotta emphasis is put on Gil, up to and including being a prominent part of the opening title sequence, ultimately making him the sorta mascot of the movie. 

Khartoum

The Godfather

Some symbolism is less subtle - this message was loud and clear. It's tough to determine if Jack Woltz actually cared for this horse as a pet or just as a financial asset, but I guess it doesn't matter - in either case Khartoum was doomed to pay the ultimate price. Not personal, strictly business. 

Big Al

Beverly Hills Cop II

How do you make a turtle interesting without martial arts training or pizza? Saturate it in the cool neon ambience of a Tony Scott movie. Big Al's only real function was to provide vicarious character development, so all we really learn about him is that he definitely has a sweet life surrounded by ample plant life, and that he definitely knows where his own dick is located. 

Dart

Stranger Things

The "secret pet" is such a nostalgic trope (that's obviously the point) but the twist here is that the pet does not repress its animalistic instincts to bite people's heads off. And thank god for that - the last thing this series needed was a CG slug wrestling with morality like a STAR WARS villain. 

Dicky

The Beyond

Maybe the only instance I can think of when a dog successfully chases away zombies to protect its owner. Unfortunately we're in Fulci Land so naturally Dicky decides to turn on said owner and graphically devour her. 

Tina

Napoleon Dynamite

Really I just like llamas. Like, a lot. But equally, Tina is one of the few characters in the story who isn't a complete jerk; they suggest that she's grumpy or impatient but clearly they're just projecting. 

1980: Give the past the slip

"The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know."

- Harry S. Truman

The main reason I started exploring these anniversary milestones was as an excuse to reminisce about the major pop culture events that I was there for; a means to keep a journal for the stuff I should've journaled the first time. Lately I've been moving away from my own timeline into years I have no emotional connection to - either because I was too young to remember or I just hadn't yet been born. As a result it's forced me to get more philosophical and abstract (and probably pretentious) about trying to conure up some objective sense of nostalgia for all of us to share, but really it's just my lust for history gussied up into some Kumbaya singalong we can all participate in. It sucks showing up to the party only to find out you missed its peak -- and so I'm here to learn about the past, and I'm condemning myself to repeat it. 

 

Same as the start of any decade (in the 20th century at least), the fashions and feels of the previous era bleed into the next one in nebulous ways. TV shows like Little House on the Prairie and Alice were still cracking the Top 10 in ratings, Barbra Streisand and Bob Seger were topping the charts in record sales, and popular songs like "Upside Down" by Diana Ross and "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. felt very much like a culture we were about to leave behind. But while some things remained as jarring reminders of the 1970s, there were plenty of totally tubular debuts that became synonymous with The Reagan Era. Pac-Man and The Rubik's Cube were released globally. U2, Iron Maiden, and The Sugarhill Gang released their debut albums. Magnum P. I. and Bosom Buddies premiered. John Lennon was killed. Mount St. Helens erupted. The Iraq-Iran War began. And, Ronald Regan was elected President of the U.S. The aftertaste of bell-bottoms and Disco was certainly still swishing around the zeitgeist, but the decade of brash greed and big hair was breakin' its way into history one power move at a time. 

 

In today's culture, "The 1980s" has practically become a brandname as recognizable and marketable as Nike and Nintendo. The phrase itself conjures up a lotta stylized imagery and audio that, while they may be clichés, are all rooted in very real aesthetics/institutions/scenarios; you could've walked out of a matinee of Friday the 13th as you cranked Gary Numan on your Sony Walkman on your way to 7-Eleven for some Jell-O Pudding Pops, all before the end of Year Zero. But unless you were entirely hip and persistently progressive, you were still riding the vibes of the 70s; with Carter still in office and The Doobies still on the dial it was hard to tell which way was forward. Surprisingly, one avenue that seemed to be largely directionless was the movies. 

 

Mainstream American Cinema is like chips & dip to me - particularly when I was younger. That's actually true for most of the planet, and it was especially true in the big splashy era that was The 80s. But from my own point of view, the razzle-dazzle was not yet present at the beginning of the decade, and frankly the hard-hitting originality of The 70s had also faded away - at least as far as Hollywood was concerned. I will point out that three monumental, iconic American Comedies were released that year, and I suppose that's a pretty impressive legacy. But for me, 1980 was most notable for European Horror: an intermingled parade of cannibals, zombies, witches, and ghosts that found their way to The States - in fictional and literal terms. There were a few significant shocks from the U.S. but many of them were incredibly tame and immensely boring - especially when held up against the splatter that would inspire the eventual subgenre that became "80s Horror" and turned me and everyone else in my generation into confirmed ghost story and horror film addicts. 

- Paul

1. The Fog

In a time when "spookiness" began to fall out of favor, a master of the medium was gaining momentum, and his grasp of mood may've peaked right here; when a writer/director also composes their own music score, you're entirely at the mercy of their world. It's so fitting that it's an honest-to-god campfire tale because I grew up with this movie and so its urban legend angle still works on me with those same childhood chills. 

2. STAR WARS: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

The original movie brought fun and optimism to the gritty 1970s cinematic landscape. Ironically, its sequel brought forboding bitter pills to kick off the safe decade of happily-ever-afters. But this was most exciting because this world was still brand new; unlike Superman or James Bond, we couldn't be sure how menacing it could get, and they wielded that power like a Master Jedi. 

3. City of the Living Dead

It's my favorite zombie movie - if you can even call them that; they seem to have a variety of super powers that allows them to move through walls and eviscerate victims telepathically. (And you thought running zombies were trouble.) There's so much grotesque creativity in this movie and it's executed with such excess that it's nearly a Comedy. It goes hard, in a way mainstream Film no longer does. 

4. The Shining

There's barely a single frame in the whole picture that isn't recognizable and/or renowned -- even the dissolves and title cards are championed. I call attention to that because that's exactly how is should be; you could say Kubrick quite possibly had an eye for detail, but I'd be quick to nominate this movie as his most meticulous in terms of poise and precision. Like a spine-tingling symphony. 

5. The Blues Brothers

You'd undoubtedly find this in the Comedy section, but I'll be damned if it isn't one of the best Action Movies of the year and maybe all time. Even the music (which is aces) takes a backseat to the car carnage that honestly gets overlooked on all the Car Chase Movie lists. 

6. Airplane!

Like Strangelove before it, this parody has proven to have more longevity than the material it's spoofing. The funniest part is that I didn't know any of the Airport movies when I was little so I actually got caught up in the drama of the food poisoning, war flashbacks, and glue sniffing. 

7. Caddyshack

Save for its tedious youth subplot it's like a greatest hits album of 1980 comedians - or at least one of those cereal variety packs. Even as a kid I thought the gopher puppet was lame, and as an adult I've finally reached the point where I think Ted Knight gives the funniest performance. 

8. Zombie Holocaust

Zombies vs. Cannibals: everyone loses, the audience wins! Not to be confused with Dr. Butcher M.D. which is a shorter cut of this film and does not feature Nico Fidenco's music - which is notable to me as it's in my Top 5 movie scores of all time. 

9. Times Square

If I didn't know any better I'd swear this movie was made just as an excuse to showcase Robin Johnson's virtuoso acting abilities; I'm never entirely convinced this isn't some documentary about this vibrant troubled teen and they just built a story around her (accompanied by one of my Top 5 soundtracks of all time). 

10. The Elephant Man

Regardless of costumes and context, most Period Films can never fully disguise their actual year of production. Watching this movie I'm only ever convinced I'm looking at Victorian England -- at the very least there's nothing here that indicates "Another One Bites the Dust" was on the radio while it played in theaters. 

11. Canibal Apocalypse

A truly bombastic title for a movie that is actually pretty intimate and illuminating. Really it's a Vietnam Movie in the vein of Rolling Thunder and Deer Hunter - for all I know the cannibalism plot is just a metaphor for postwar trauma. 

12. Inferno

I've seen this movie several times and I still don't know what's going on - yet it always has me on the edge of my seat. Elaborate set pieces, profound cinematography, genuine surprises, and disgusting brutality is truly more than enough to make compelling Cinema. 

13. Nightmare City

Diabolical zombies that punch and kick and stab and shoot guns, all in addition to their normal flesh eating habits - it's just as unpredictable to the movie's victims as it is to the audience. 

14. Raging Bull

I embraced this movie in a big way, back in my film school days but I eventually lost touch with the melodramatic side of it. But still, all the sequences in the ring truly are some of the greatest spectacles Marty's ever pulled off. 

15. Alligator

Not since Jaws has a Creature Feature managed to be so effortlessly engrossing with minimal use of a creature. Robert Forster headlines a cast of character actors in what is largely a satisfying police procedural. It's just a bonus that the rarely-seen alligator does, indeed, kick ass. 

16. Christmas Evil

With the Slasher boom already beginning to take "shape", this grim allegory went off in a different, better direction that focused less on mindless casualties and more on the sad degeneration of its lead "monster". It's also an aggressively Christmassy Christmas Movie. 

17. Dressed to Kill

Whenever I review any Brian DePalma movie, I declare it to be "his most Brian Depalma movie" -- but I really mean it this time. More than any of the others, this film dares you to not take it seriously. And whether you do or don't, you're gonna enjoy it either way. 

18. Humanoids From the Deep

Whenever I hear "low budget 80s Monster Movie" it's always cooler in my head than what they put on the screen. Humanoids actually fulfills my expectations in most areas - particularly the monsters themselves (designed and created by Fog maestro Rob Bottin). 

19. The Godsend

Evil kid situations usually get dragged down in a lotta exposition and plot. This is a refreshing take (for any genre) that maintains its eerie mystery while managing to unfold at an alarming pace. Also the kids in these kindsa movies can sometimes come off as annoying, but this little girl is super sinister. 

20. Cannibal Holocaust

I adored it for its cinematography and music score - and I still very much do. I'll always hesitate revisiting it without shielding my eyes with my hands - so I'm forced to make a compromise, because the movie does not. 

STATIC SHOTS

1980

1975, will you ever win?

I've been watching a lotta Double Dare reruns lately - early episodes from 1986/1987 mostly. If you're not familiar with it (or just plain forgot) the show was famous for making kids do stupid tricks that usually involved getting messy with stuff like whipped cream and raw eggs, but the bulk of the show was actually long stretches of trivia questions in all different areas of knowledge. Frankly I found the series kinda tedious when I was a kid and mostly ever only experienced it as background noise, but as an adult I find it a bit more engrossing - especially the Q&A parts. In the area of Pop Culture there are obviously a lotta questions about Duran Duran and Family Ties and Gremlins, but equally there are just as many questions about The Beatles and Gilligan's Island and The Three Stooges. And these 10-year-old contestants usually nailed it -- because of course they would, I would've too. The point I'm making here is that, as kids, the environment we absorb doesn't consist solely of the latest trends, but also the sorta-recent stuff - because of our parents or older siblings, because of TV and radio, because of the fads and fashions of everything from your haircut to your couch that's predicated upon everything that was so 5 minutes ago. 1975 unfolded eight years before I was born, yet somehow I still manage to carry enough nostalgia for it to commemorate its 50th anniversary with some authority. (And I ain't jive talkin'.)

 

I'm not sure by what means the generations before and after my own kept in touch with the past, but for me it was a steady diet of Nick at Nite and TIME LIFE Music Infomercials. It's one thing to rent old movies or walk barefoot across your grandmother's shag carpeting, but for me a decade of the 20th Century is best and most easily experienced through its music and its television. When I was 10 years old my favorite shows were All in the Family and M*A*S*H and nothing felt particularly antiquated about them; sure the film stock and videotape looked different from modern sitcoms but even that always carried a comforting familiarity for me - like some kinda past-life experience intruding on present time. But all Shining powers aside, I grew up in an era when the dial was drowning in syndicated TV, so while shows like Roseanne and Seinfeld were on once a week, Bob Newhart and Mary Tyler Moore were there every day (sometimes more). Stuff like politics and economics were far less important to me as a kid than what was on the tube, and the tube told me that these happy days are yours and mine. 

The first band I truly became a fan of was Queen, and by "fan" I mean albums/posters/t-shirts kinda fan, so that definitely put me in a place before my time. But in the years leading up to that, my environment was saturated in the sounds of Barry Manilow and Barbra Streisand and B. J. Thomas (amongst others) and certainly nothing ever seemed dated to the point of alien or exotic - I'm sure a lot of it wasn't exactly "hip" but that was all well before an age when that really would've mattered to me. So by the time I was a teenager lying in bed in the middle of the night watching commercials for music collections, I had legitimate nostalgia for the songs they were selling. This was before I had a credit card or checkbook in my name, so in lieu of any 1 a.m. impulse purchases I finally wore my mother down enough to place an order for TIME LIFE's AM Gold: year-by-year compilation albums that cover the entirety of the 1960s and 1970s. As requested, I received 1974, 1975, and 1976 on cassette tape and I familiarized myself with those mellow Top 40 hits to the point that I can't hear "Sister Golden Hair" or "I'm Not in Love" now without feeling like a teenager again. 

 

Rest assured I don't plan on celebrating 1975 by telling you what growing up in the 1990s was like, but instead just reinforcing the idea that you too can play this game at home. We don't need stuff like reboots and remakes to put us in the mind of the past; all the artifacts are there at our fingertips: entire channels that play nothing but The Jeffersons, streaming radio stations and playlists dedicated to ridiculously specific eras featuring hits by the original artists, and with enough grit and gumption you could probably track down some of the movies too -- and you should, because as you probably already know, '75 was a stone cold groove. 

 

I can definitely say that, within the brackets of my own personal favorites, this is one of the most eclectic years in Cinema. And I don't just mean that each movie on my list is different from one another, but that most of them are unique to all movies ever - particularly up to that point in time. Of course there are some that are entirely indicative of 1975 and those are just as valuable, but we were blessed with a lotta groundbreakers and hellraisers that either inspired generations of stories and ideas and changes to the craft, of they continue to stand alone as singular masterpieces that can't ever be duplicated. Sure, that reads dramatically on paper, but if this year is famous for nothing else (Watergate? Vietnam? eh) it produced the most impressive lineup for the eventual Best Picture category at the 48th Academy Awards - the five films nominated are, in fact, my five favorite movies of that year, and never before or since has that been the case. Like any other year there were hidden gems and sleeper hits and cult favorites, but this was clearly a brief moment when movie makers and movie goers and movie critics all seemed to be mostly in sync - probably because much of it was simply and inarguably good. Now imagine the entirety of The Film Community and how it is today: imagine not only having just one culture-changing movie in theaters (or streaming or wherever) but one that we all agree is a legitimate triumph to the art form. Is it at all possible that better movies bring us together while bad and mediocre movies create division? 1975 wasn't exactly peace time on the planet but we all sure hated that shark for eating the Kintner boy. Point being, yeah it'd be nice and fun and entertaining to have really good new movies again, but for the good of society (and maybe even our souls) we may just need them. 

- Paul

1. Dog Day Afternoon

You know I like to leave objectivity out of art, but I've only ever been able to describe this movie as flawless. It's a minimalist "plot" with a million speaking parts in a single location, and yet it's endlessly unfolding at a rapid pace. Obviously if I put it on I'm gonna watch it, but whenever I come across it by accident, everything else I'm doing in that moment has to wait - it's a tired line, but it grabs you and doesn't let go. It's my favorite Pacino movie, my favorite Lumet movie, and my favorite movie of the 1970s. 

2. Nashville

We're all familiar with the concept of the "hangout movie" and this certainly is one, but more than that it creates an entire world - just a whole setting and scenario and dynamic that I love being a part of (from a safe distance). It's fortuitous that it's largely a musical because I can take the soundtrack with me anywhere and it sends me there every time. 

3. Jaws

The first half with the town bumpkins and the insufferable mayor is still clumsy and tiring to me, but that will always be overshadowed by the endlessly engrossing second half; the dynamic between the three guys practically encapsulates the concept of "entertainment", but it's also proof of Spielberg's boundless talents to create Epic Cinema - even with just a rubber shark and a not-quite-big-enough boat. 

4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In a decade built on a foundation of antiauthoritarianism, this movie is The Anthem. There are even several films on this list that deal with the same themes, but it's only this one that stirs up real Rocky-esque support for its protagonists to the point that you wanna jump into the movie and help them defeat the villain. 

5. Barry Lyndon

Kubrick said he had no intentions of ever publishing this shooting script to be sold in stores because it had no literary value. More than The Shining or even 2001 this is perhaps his moodiest movie, thereby making it the most Kubrickian; truly the best (and maybe the only) example of painting, photography, settings, and music all combined to create a unique genre of motion picture. 

6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

So few TV shows can gracefully transition to Film - especially sketch comedy. But because this group took every costume and location so seriously, it created an environment grounded in reality where everyone and everything can be its silliest. 

7. The Man Who Would Be King

The joy of watching a Connery/Caine collaboration could've easily been enough, but even without monumental acting talent, this Action Adventure fable pans out into so many surprise directions that even if you kinda know what it's about it's still gonna surprise you. 

8. Love and Death

While it may be a parody of bleak Russian literature, it tackles all the existential crises that have obviously plagued Woody to this day; clearly they're sensitive subjects because the setups and punchlines are more relentless than in any of his other movies. 

9. Deep Red

He'd already directed several movies, but this feels like the first true and uncompromised Argento film. And even though he's clearly still honing his skills here, the movie has a greater sense of style and suspense than most other films in this or any genre. 

10. Three Days of the Condor

I hated this movie when I was little because I couldn't understand anything that was going on. As an adult it's worked its way into my Christmas Movie rotation -- I still don't know what's going on, but it sure is exciting; everyone's acting their hearts out and that Dave Grusin score swings. 

11. Supervixens

Here was a director who was very much at the top of his game; there've been extremely few other filmmakers who've had as much of a unique understanding of composition and editing as Russ Meyer did and this movie is as good an example as just about most of his others. Special acknowledgement to Charles Napier for being absolutely bonkers in this.

12. Strip Nude For Your Killer

Gialli can be pretty repetitive and stale when they don't know how to fill out the plot. Fortunately in this one the plot is mostly nude models in groovy Italian digs. They understood the assignment - it's what every Giallo should be. It's what every movie should be, really. 

13. Race With the Devil

Cult situations scare me - especially when they cast a wide enough net that you don't know who to trust. Mix that with some car chase stuff and you've got one genre-bending thrill ride that stresses the lesson that so many movies have taught us: don't ever witness a crime. 

14. Black Moon

A feature length metaphor for... something. It's a dystopia, it's a paradise, it's a nightmare, it's a fantasy. Plenty of scholars have tried to decipher it but even director Louis Malle admitted it's all rooted in abstraction, and I'm most comfortable at that speed. 

15. Night Moves

The 1970s was the last decade for cool detectives, and few are cooler than Hackman (which is also a general statement). And like a lotta detective stories the journey is more rich than the destination - which says a lot considering the grandeur of the climax. 

16. White Line Fever

One genre that nearly stands alone in this decade is the Trucker Movie, and in this moment I'm inclined to say that this is the best one; heavy antiestablishment/anti corporate America storyline that angers up the blood and an ending that nearly brings me to tears. The whole movie also really makes me want a beer. 

17. Mirror

Some films are hailed as being "ahead of its time", though I still don't think we've reached that moment in time where this movie would be considered passé. Gloomy, jumbled, measured; it never pretends to be much more than the meandering poem that it is and gets away with it by presenting some of the most haunting images ever filmed. 

18. The Prisoner of Second Avenue

Simon & Lemmon was a formula for magic -- and clearly Anne Bancroft knew how to sing the song just as well. There's very much an old fashioned innocence in everything about it but that also guarantees one of the least obscure depictions of raging against the machine; there's no metaphor for an unjust system, it's literally their environment. 

19. Sheba, Baby

As an Action Star, Pam Grier played a lotta characters that seemed indestructible (which could often thwart any suspense). Sheba is a much more vulnerable heroine which allowed Pam a wider range of humanity decades before Jackie Brown. 

20. Hard Times

The Depression Era was as far away from the 1970s as the 1980s are from us today, so I suppose that's why there were so many movies about it. Anyways, Walter Hill, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, bare-knuckled boxing. It speaks for itself.