Lifeguard (1976)
[6] Sam Elliott plays an L.A. beach lifeguard who begins to question, at the age of thirty-two, if it might finally be time to put on a shirt and get a 'real' job. There's no question that Sam Elliott has charisma and…
Alucarda (1977)
[6] In this dream-like film from director Juan López Moctezuma, a teenaged girl named Justine goes to live at a convent after the death of her parents. Unfortunately, her nun roommate, Alucarda, turns out to be a satanic lesbian with slightly vampiric…
The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
[3] This faux documentary featuring people's alleged encounters with a sasquatch-like monster in the Louisiana woods made millions at drive-ins across America when it was released. It was a remarkable fete for a G-rated homegrown independent flick featuring non-actors. And that's the…
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
[8] Indie maverick John Cassavetes examines a family under the stress of mental illness in A Woman Under the Influence. Cassavetes regulars Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands (his real-life wife) star as the parents of three children whose family is put to…
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
[2] During World War II, four fascist leaders round up a group of adolescent boys and girls to torture for one-hundred-twenty days. Just knowing what Salò is about kept me from watching it for decades. But now that I've finally seen it,…
King Kong (1976)
[6] After the world saw its first bona-fide blockbuster, 1975's Jaws, daring Italian movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis decided he needed to go down in history for producing the second one. He settled on a remake of 1933's King Kong and hired…
Fritz the Cat (1972)
[7] Ralph Bakshi's first animated feature is an X-rated adaptation of Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat. Fritz is a college student who likes to have a good time by way of weed and women, but manages to cram a lot of philosophical…
The Great Gatsby (1974)
[7] F. Scott Fitzgerald's most required reading is faithfully script-adapted by Francis Ford Coppola, with Jack Clayton directing a production as lavish as required for the story of the uber-wealthy but mysterious Jay Gatsby. We enter into Gatsby's opulent world through the…
The Aristocats (1970)
[4] In one of Disney Animation's weaker efforts, a jealous butler seeks to do away with a mother cat and her three kittens before their owner can bequeath her fortunes to the furry little bastards. I can't blame him, really. The cats…
Patton (1970)
[5] George C. Scott's charisma is the best thing Patton has going for it. The film is a pastiche of the famous (and infamous) army general's career through World War II, including his successful invasion of Sicily, media blunders resulting in military…