70's Movies

So Last night I caught up with my sky plused Rollerball from 1975 on MGM HD because Mrs Golfy was out with the girls.

I love 70's movies. There's something about that clunky era of movie making that makes wobbly sets and bad haircuts just eminently watchable. 70's movies just push my buttons in a warm, comfortable and familiar way and yet I was but a child of the 70's (as mentioned elsewhere) so could almost never have seen any of them in their original context.

I was surprised to learn that much of the location filming for Rollerball was done in Munich, which I suppose, given that it had just played host to the olympics, was as futuristic as a city can get in 1975. The BMW Building stands out then as it still does today, even though I read it's been renovated.

There's a bunch of obvious 70's movies of course: Star Wars, Jaws, Alien, and The Excorcist to name but four. But more intriguing are the slightly forgotten ones - you know, you've seen them or bits of them and you really should see them again - or all of them. I'd count Rollerball in this list, along with (in alphabetical order)....

All The President's Men (1976)
Capricorn One (1977) Currently being remade.
Dark Star (1974)
Deliverance (1972)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Escape From Alcatraz (1979)
Get Carter (1971) Remade in 2000
King Kong (1976) from the original 1933 version and remade in 2005
Little Big Man (1970)
Logan's Run (1976) Became a TV Series and a remake is scheduled for 2012
Marathon Man (1976) "Is it safe?"
Serpico (1973)
Silent Running (1972)
Slueth (1972) Remade in 2007
Soylent Green (1973) and a remake is scheduled for 2012
The Andromeda Strain (1971) remade into a TV series in 2008
The Black Windmill (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
The Day Of The Jackal (1973) and remade in 1997
The Deep (1977)
The Eiger Sanction (1975)
The Fench Connection (1971)
The First Great Train Robbery (1979)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
The Omen (1976) remade in 2006
The Poseidon Adventure (1972) remade in 2006
The Sting (1973)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) remade for TV in 1998 and remade in 2009
Three Days Of The Condor (1975)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Towering Inferno (1974)

So - if you find yourself with a spare 2 hours this weekend, go and get one of these, stick a pair of flares on, grow your hair long and feel groovy man as you settle into what my parents must have thought of as "a cutting edge movie" in it's day.

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