The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
[6] An Englishman finds himself prisoner on an island where a mad doctor is mixing human and animal DNA. The fine line between what is human and what is animal is one of my favorite subjects, so I love the…
Wise Blood (1979)
[6]
John Huston tackles Flannery O’Connor’s gothic tale of southern evangelism. Wise Blood is a curious movie full of interesting ideas, not the least of which is a paradoxical main character who shuns Jesus while simultaneously torturing himself for some sort of redemption. Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Child’s Play) stars as the son of a ‘hellfire and brimstone’ preacher (Huston in flashbacks) who moves to a new city and tries to start up his own church, “The Church Without Jesus.” Preaching on street corners, he easily wins the undying allegiance of a simpleton played by Dan Shor (Tron, Bill and Ted) and makes enemies with rival street preachers (Harry Dean Stanton and Ned Beatty) who only seek to swindle a dollar from faithful onlookers.
The Other (1972)
[7]
In The Other, To Kill a Mockingbird director Robert Mulligan does a great job engendering sympathy for a schizophrenic child who is channeling the spirit of his deceased twin. Chris and Martin Udvarnoky do a commendable job playing the boy and his ‘other,’ and famed acting teacher Uta Hagen is good as the Russian aunt who begins to put two and two together after a series of tragic ‘accidents’ happen on the family farm.
Airport ’77 (1977)
[5] The least entertaining (even in a cheezy way) of the Airport disaster ilk. The star-studded cast seems to realize what a turkey they're in, but mad cheers to Olivia de Havilland, Christopher Lee, Lee Grant, and Darren McGavin for…
Pocket Money (1972)
[4] Paul Newman teams up with Lee Marvin to deliver cattle from Mexico to a shady dealer played by Strother Martin. Newman and Martin are re-teamed here with Cool Hand Luke director Stuart Rosenberg, with a script adapted by Terrence…
The Black Hole (1979)
[8] It may have been Disney's pallid attempt to cash in on the success of Star Wars, but The Black Hole is another kind of animal, a kitschy matinee sci-fi/horror movie that's worth a look in its own right. It's…
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
[8]
Three girls and a teacher mysteriously disappear during a 1900 school picnic at a strange rock formation in this Australian film from director Peter Weir (Witness, Master and Commander). Weir uses his trademark poetic license to suggest a supernatural cause, but don’t look for a firm answers — the film is based on a true story that was never solved.
The Towering Inferno (1974)
[7] Steve McQueen and Paul Newman help rescue people trapped in a flaming highrise in Irwin Allen's disaster opus, The Towering Inferno. It is what it is -- we all at one time or another want to watch disaster unfold…
Alien (1979)
[10] Ridley Scott's sci-fi/horror opus Alien is really a haunted house movie set in outer space, where a ragtag team of "space truckers" do battle with one of the most fascinating monsters in movie history. Scott is one of the…
The Muppet Movie (1979)
[9] Jim Henson's Muppets make the leap from television to the silver screen in this comedy-musical road trip across America that shows us how the foam and felt vaudeville troupe found each other and entered show business. We meet Kermit…