Tag Archives: 1970s

Dasso yugi / Jail Breakers (1976) Kôsaku Yamashita, Shin’ichi Chiba, Haruko Wanibuchi, Eitarô Ozawa, Action, Crime

Dasso yugi AKA Jail Breakers (1976)
The film is packed with nice stunts throughout, but the screenplay could be better. After escaping the prison Chiba teams up with a bunch of thugs, who design prison escapes for money. Unfortunately trust and loyalty are unknown concepts to these men who take turns deceiving each other. The endless “who’s-cheating-who” game has been done better in other films, and sometimes the writing is downright sloppy: when a carefully planned escape operation fails, Chiba simply steals a fire engine and drives away without anyone noticing! It also feels that director Kosaku Yamashita, who made his name with yakuza films, was a bit out of his element here. However, even with these weaknesses it’s an entertaining action comedy which compares favourably against some of the later, similar Yasaku Matsuda films like Execution Game (1978) and No Grave for Us (1979). The focus is on stunts and comedy.
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Sister Emanuelle (1977) Giuseppe Vari, Laura Gemser, Mónica Zanchi, Gabriele Tinti, Drama, Erotic

sister_emanuelle
Renouncing her “sinful” past, Emanuelle has entered a convent and has dedicated herself to a life of service. Enter Monika, the free-spirited, free-loving daughter of a wealthy Baron. Emanuelle is charged with keeping Monika in line, but when the young girl’s wild ways bring back memories of her own sensual past, Emanuelle begins questioning her own religious and sexual identity. Advances from an escaped killer who is hiding in the convent serve to complicate matters further.
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Cola Candy Chocolate (1979) Sigi Rothemund, Olivia Pascal, Philippe Ricci, Dolly Dollar, Comedy, Romance, Erotic

Cola-Candy-Chocolate
After a nasty argument with her boyfriend Carl, young Gaby spontaneously accepts her girlfriend invitation to join her on a vacation to Manila. Her plans to forget about Carl succeed very rapidly as she meets Dr. Andreas Witzig, a young scholar who plans to marry his fiancee on the island. During the following days, Gaby tries her best to convince the man of her dreams to change his mind.
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Theatre of Blood (1973) Douglas Hickox, Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry, Comedy, Horror

Theatre of Blood (1973)
Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) stars as an actor overlooked for a critics’ acting award, despite producing a season of Shakespeare plays. After confronting the Critics’ Circle, an attempted suicidal dive into the Thames results in Lionheart being rescued by your typical paraffin/meths/turps swigging tramps. Lionheart then (presumed dead) exacts his grizzly, and quite amusing revenge on the critics who denied him his finest hour.
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March or Die (1977) Dick Richards, Gene Hackman, Terence Hill, Catherine Deneuve, Drama, War, Adventure

March or Die (1977)
Foreign Legion Major Foster (Hackman), an American haunted by his memories of the recently-ended Great War, is assigned to protect a group of archaeologists at their dig. Foster’s unit includes the charming, thieving rascal Marco (Hill), who joined the Legion only to avoid prison. After long stretches portraying the boredom and hardship of day-to-day life in the Legion, Foster’s command occupies a small village where the archaeologists believe they’ve found a burial site sacred to the Arabs. An Arab leader (Holm) uses this affront to unite the tribes in Jihad, and attacks the tiny Legion garrison at the dig. An epic battle follows, very reminiscent of the film “Zulu”. Costumes, firearms, and props are all very authentic-looking, and show great attention to detail.
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The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) Norman Tokar, Bill Bixby, Susan Clark, Don Knotts, Family, Comedy, Western

The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)
Three orphaned siblings are forced upon confirmed bachelor Donovan (Bixby) in a 19th century boom town of Quake City, CA. After an earthquake shakes the area, the children find a large gold nugget worth tens of thousands of dollars. But their newfound wealth is causing more problems than it’s solving, so they agree to “give” the gold to two bumbling outlaws (Knotts & Conway). But they only way they can get the gold is to steal it from the bank vault where it’s being held for safe keeping.
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Ein Unbekannter rechnet ab / Ten Little Indians (1974) Peter Collinson, Charles Aznavour, Maria Rohm, Adolfo Celi, Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Ein Unbekannter rechnet ab (1974)
A group is invited, under false pretenses, to an isolated hotel in the Iranian desert. After dinner, a cassette tape accuses them all of crimes that they have gotten away with. One by one they begin to die, in accordance to the Ten Little Indians nursery rhyme. After a search is made of the hotel, they realize that the murderer is one of them. A few members of the group attempt to trust each other, but the question still remains, who can one trust? And who will leave the hotel alive?
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