Tag Archives: 1970s

Kamome-yo, kirameku umi o mitaka/meguri ai / Oh Seagull, Have You Seen the Sparkling Ocean? : An Encounter (1975) Kenji Yoshida, Ken Tanaka, Yôko Takahashi, Akemi Negishi, Drama

Kamome-yo, kirameku umi o mitakameguri ai (1975)
Fujishita Kumi is an ordinary office lady. Longing to escape her poor fishing village for a life in the city, she came to Tokyo. One day while alone in the office, she’s spotted rolling up her pantyhose by the window cleaner Kurata Katsuo. This was to be their first encounter. Completely enchanted by Kumi, Katsuo does everything he can to get close to her. He’s is a man with a terrible past. With the death of his coal miner father, his family was broken up and he was forced to follow in his father’s footsteps laboring away in the mud. In spite of this, Katsuo still has dreams. He dreams of living in Resiporuko, a utopian fantasyland that exists only in his imagination.
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The Organization (1971) Don Medford, Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, Gerald S. O’Loughlin, Action, Crime, Drama

The Organization (1971)
After a group of young revolutionaries break into a corporation’s headquarters and steal $5,000,000 worth of heroin to keep it off the street, they call on San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs for assistance. Though sympathetic to their cause, the straight-arrow Tibbs refuses to consider it because they broke the law, but when the group is then accused of a murder it didn’t commit, Tibbs finally joins them in order to ferret out the identity of the real killer, while keeping his now rogue undercover investigation a secret from his SFPD superiors.
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The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973) Robert Scheerer, John Amos, Jan-Michael Vincent, Tim Conway, Comedy, Family, Romance

The World's Greatest Athlete (1973)
Stuck with a feeble sports department, college coach Sam Archer (John Amos) faces the ax unless he can reverse the school’s athletic fortunes. An African vacation with his assistant (Tim Conway) answers Archer’s prayers when he spots the athletically gifted Nanu (Jan-Michael Vincent). Sam counts on Nanu’s remarkable abilities to put the team back on the winning track. This upbeat farce boasts an impressive cast of comedians.
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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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