Here are the links to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the series.
What's Up Doc?
Starring Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand and being directed by Peter Bogdanovich, this film screams "1970s", so I added it to the list. However, it really doesn't fit in with the types of movies I think of as having that 70s style of film making - character-driven, gritty, often uncomfortable, daring (for dramas), sticking it to the establishment (for comedies), or star-studded adventure yarns (for "disaster' films). This is probably due to the fact that What's Up Doc? is an homage to the screwball comedies of earlier decades, so it feels like it came from an earlier era. In most of those types of films, there is usually some sort of misunderstanding that leads to crazy (often romantic) hijinx, usually ending in a chase or a food fight or something. This film is no different - it involves 4 people with identical traveling cases that are being sought by others for different reasons that culminates with a high-speed chase through the streets of San Francisco. Add to that mix a bit of mistaken identity (completely orchestrated by Streisand), and its a recipe for disaster.
Since I never was the biggest fan of those old type of screwball comedies, plus the fact that I found the 2 main characters slightly annoying, this film really didn't do anything for me. Instead of being charming and funny, I found O'Neal's character's constant slips of the tongue unrealistic and ridiculous (even for a zany comedy). Also, unless I missed it, they never gave a reason why Streisand's character suddenly latched on to O'Neal. It just wasn't believable to me.
(I couldn't find a trailer on YouTube that allowed embedding. Oh well...)
The Godfather
I said in Part 1 of the 1972 movie series that I wasn't sure if I would re-watch this film along with the others because, lets face it, I have seen this film many times. However, since I recently purchased it on Blu Ray, and my friend Pat had never seen this movie (I know - RIDICULOUS), I went ahead and gave it another viewing. I am really not going to get too much into it, since everyone knows about this film. I will say that, considering the condition of the original prints, they did a tremendous job on restoring it for Blu Ray. Other than the parts that were in terrible shape, it looks and sounds fantastic. If you have a Blu Ray player, this is a must purchase.
Last Tango in Paris
I watched this film the day after I re-watched The Godfather, and I think that juxtaposition made what is (and is intended to be) an uncomfortable movie even more so. In Godfather, Marlon Brando plays Don Corleone as a patriarchal figure (as he should) - someone who has done terrible things in his life, but it was all for his family, either the figurative or literal one. Despite the fact that he has 4 children, he is someone that you would never picture having sex. Last Tango, on the other hand, is all about Marlon Brando and sex. The combination of those 2 things alone would kind of make this a difficult film to watch. Add in the fact that Brando is using anonymous sex to help him through the pain of his wife's suicide, it results in a movie watching experience that is compelling to watch, but is probably not a film that I would go out of my way to re-watch.
Brando plays a man named Paul, whose wife committed suicide so recently, they haven't even had a chance to clean up the scene due to the police investigation. A chance meeting with an engaged woman (Jeanne) in an empty apartment leads to a sexual relationship where Paul demands that they use no names or divulge any personal information about themselves. Through both the way Paul treats Jeanne (its obvious that he has a lot of anger against women due to his wife's suicide) and his interaction with his in-laws, we see how raw he is as he tries to deal with his grief. Movies that deal with that subject matter are rarely easy to watch, and this one is no different.
That does it for 1972. Up next (sometime in the future, if I can ever get part 2 of the 1988 music entry done)... 1971 (I am randomly selecting the years for this series, but after 1971 I may just end up going in chronological order since I already did 1970 and 1972 - we'll see).
