Tale of a boy, roughly eight, who experiences a number of problems due to his estranged relationship with his mother. Mom wants her little boy to be someone other than who he is; junior is stubborn, fights back. Can these two find a common ground before the ending credits roll?
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Tag Archives: 1970s
The Land That Time Forgot (1974) Kevin Connor, Doug McClure, John McEnery, Susan Penhaligon, Adventure, Fantasy
Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) is among a small group of survivors taken in by a German submarine after the vessel has sunk their ship. When a struggle ensues between the German officers and their captives, the U-boat, which is running out of fuel, ends up coming across an uncharted island. Unfortunately for the passengers and crew, dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures roam the land, and everyone must fight to survive the perils of the lost island.
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The Best of Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures (1975) James Algar, Winston Hibler, Documentary, Family
The film opens with a salute to Walt Disney, a pioneer of nature films and animal lover, followed by a compilation of excerpted segments from the True-Life Adventures film series showcasing animals of all kinds depicted in dramatic, fascinating moments of habitats from the American prairie to the North American desert, to Africa, the Amazon jungle and to the Arctic.
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Wild Rovers (1971) Blake Edwards, William Holden, Ryan O’Neal, Karl Malden, Western
Ross Bodine and Frank Post are cowhands on Walt Buckman’s R-Bar-R ranch. Bodine is older and broods a bit about how he will get along when he’s too old to cowboy. Post is young and rambunctious and ambitious for a better life than wrangling cows. When one of their fellow cowboys is killed in a corral accident, Post suggests a way into a better life for himself and his friend: robbing a bank. Bodine reluctantly joins in the plan and the two contrive to rob the local bank. They make good their escape initially, but Walt Buckman and his two sons, John and Paul, are incensed at this betrayal by their own trusted employees. John and Paul set out to bring Bodine and Post to justice.
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Blind terror / See No Evil (1971) Richard Fleischer, Mia Farrow, Dorothy Alison, Robin Bailey, Mystery, Thriller
Sarah is a blind girl who has returned to her home, a country manor in which all of the occupants are dead. She unknowingly sleeps overnight, among a houseful of corpses, arising the next morning to quietly creep out of bed, in order not to awaken the other members of the household.
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Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1973) Samuel Fuller, Glenn Corbett, Christa Lang, Sieghardt Rupp, Crime, Thriller
Following Shark!, Sam Fuller’s luck getting films funded didn’t change much; Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street is Fuller’s only film of the ’70s. Technically, it’s not even a proper film, but if you didn’t know it was made as an episode of the German cop series Tatort (which is amazingly still running), you’d never have guessed it. Where American television stifled Fuller’s creative spirit and made him conform to the norms of whatever show he was working on, the producers of Tatort allowed Fuller the freedom to make whatever he wanted. He took this freedom and ran with it, crafting a unique, exciting picture unlike anything else in the Fuller catalog. Part crime thriller, part farcical comedy, Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street is a hidden gem in Fuller’s filmography.
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Le Voyou / The Crook (1970) Claude Lelouch, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Danièle Delorme, Charles Gérard, Crime, Thriller
When Simon (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is released from prison, he emerges with a bold kidnapping scheme. He enlists the help of an old cohort and his former lover, Martine (Christine Lelouch), to kidnap a young boy. The child’s father is an employee at a bank, and the three criminals blackmail the financial institution, demanding $1 million in ransom. Out of fear, the bank pays the sum, but the kidnappers may have bitten off more than they can chew.
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The Fearless Avenger / Mushukunin mikogami no jôkichi: Kawakaze ni kako wa nagareta (1972) Kazuo Ikehiro, Tôru Abe, Yoshio Harada, Akio Hasegawa, Action, Drama
Thirsting for revenge, Jokichi rashly attempts to assassinate the evil Chogoro but ends up being captured by Yakuza. His life is spared by Boss Juzaburo, in order that the harmony of an important commemoration not be further disturbed. Though now even more of an outcast, Jokichi is asked by another Yakuza boss, Umezo, to guard Oyuki, the wayward daughter of Juzaburo. The tragic consequences of this assignment will lead him into a deadly trap and a final confrontation with Chogoro.
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Amici Miei / Mes Chers Amis (1975) Mario Monicelli, Ugo Tognazzi, Gastone Moschin, Philippe Noiret, Comedy, Drama
Like in many other Monicelli movies, the main theme of Amici miei is friendship, seen from a rather bitter point of view. It tells the story of four middle-aged friends in Florence who organize together idle pranks (called zingarate, “gypsy shenanigans”) in a continuous attempt to prolong childhood during their adult life…
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Kunoichi ninpo: hyakka manji-garami / Female Ninja Magic: 100 Trampled Flowers (1974) Chûsei Sone, Junko Miyashita, Hitomi Kozue, Yûko Katagiri, Fantasy, Erotic
Acclaimed Nikkatsu studio pinku eiga filmmaker Chusei Sone directed this action-packed softcore melodrama concerning a group of female ninjas who use sexual magic along with their considerable fighting skills to protect their province from takeover by a ruthless shogun and his band of fighters.
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