Doc Moonlight

Found a great movie, by chance, that fits in with the challenge: STILYAGI, a Russian musical about a group of Russian teens who try to adopt the ways of American teenagers in 50's Russia. They don't get much information from the West, so their adaptations are outlandish, and they are subject to raids from conservative groups. Colorful, some great dance numbers and the only musical I have ever seen where the hero and the heroine sing a love song to each other while naked. You can find it on YouTube. Doc recommends!

I found it because I read a story about it being adapted into a Broadway musical.

caligulathegod

But it's not actually about the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks. It's a contemporary drama. I was looking again and this challenge does not actually have wild cards. It has ZEITGEIST wild cards. That's for stuff like Woodstock, Rebel Without a Cause, Saturday Night Fever, etc. They are for contemporary productions that define their eras. I don't see anything in Jaws that really screams '70s. So that actually shoots down the sports event wild card as well.

numbercrunch

Winding down this challenge. I watched Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). This Sergio Leone film doesn't get as much attention as it should compared to the Dollars trilogy. Also recommend Duck You Sucka.

Giles

sorry ... it's been noted that Benchley wrote Jaws as an inspiration of the 1916 attacks.

the only thing that screams 70's is the hair and tacky clothing ... LOL

caligulathegod

Right, but it still takes place in 1975 and is about Amity instead of New Jersey. Nearly any film can be said to be inspired by a past event in the author's mind.

BobO'Link

I agree on both counts! I think Once Upon... is a better film than the Dollars trilogy films, and I think those three are very good, the absolute best of the Spaghetti Westerns.

Trevor

I've been watching documentaries about coups and assassinations, randomly inspired by our current political climate.

caligulathegod

Be sure to number and tally your lists by the end of next week.

numbercrunch

I completed my list. Thanks to caligulathegod for a great june of historical film watching.

shadokitty

Being overlap time, I decided to watch an episode of Ancient Aliens, on History Channel On Demand, about sacred rituals. I like the fact that close to the entire series is available to watch on demand.

malazar

My great regret for this challenge is that I didn't discover that there are a ton of spaghetti westerns on Amazon Prime until the day before the challenge ends.

shadokitty

I didn't even know there were. My great regret is that it never occurred to me until yesterday to watch Flying Through Time, and The Complete History Of Air Combat. I only got one episode in each.

pacaway

Finished the month with Citizenfour and The Danish Girl

caligulathegod

I didn't get in nearly as much as I wanted. Working 10-12 hour days 6 days a week kept me from a lot of movies.

Ash Ketchum

I have a ton on my "watch list," but I didn't get to actually watch any during this challenge, although I started watching RENEGADE RIDERS. I did watch a Mexican western on Amazon Prime for this challenge, HARD BREED TO KILL (1967), starring none other than...Slim Pickens!

shadokitty

My list is finalized. I ended up with 156 watches, the last two of which were double credit entries for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge. I didn't do first time views, as with TV shows, I don't list them. Thanks for running a great Challenge, Caligula. I had a lot of fun.

Ash Ketchum

John Milius' "Rough Riders," a two-part miniseries about Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders and their action in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, aired on the Western Channel last night, so I closed out the challenge with Part 1. (Part 2 was on too late for me.) Brian Keith, in his last role, plays President William McKinley. He'd once played President Theodore Roosevelt for Milius, in THE WIND AND THE LION (1975).

Question for BobO'Link: I see you have THE WIND CANNOT READ on your list post. How did you get to see that? I did a blog post on Japanese actress Yoko Tani, the film's female star, and that's the one film I came across in her filmography that I most wanted to see.

BobO'Link

It's part of a set called "The Best of British War Cinema" I picked up a few months back (Amazon link on title). I really like British war productions and had run across it while looking for Dirk Bogarde comedy films. He's also in that production. It's a really good set and quite a bargain.

Giles

This challenge is by far my favourite - did double time yesterday and the day before finishing movies I had started - four hours of 'Ancient Aliens' on tv last night was exhausting but a good way to get me primed for the sci-fi /fantasy challenge - thanks Caligula for hosting this

malazar

*runs off to add that to his watch list* That sounds pretty amazing.

Ash Ketchum

Wow, thanks for that link. I never even heard of most of the movies in that set.

omike

My list is finalized.

The centerpiece of my challenge was Rocket Science a documentary TV series (12 episodes) made in Canada which covered the US space program from the X-planes through the Apollo missions. Apparently there was also a pilot episode not included on the DVD set. I thought this was an excellent series combining footage of liftoffs, outer space, and moon walks with interviews with pilots, astronauts, members of mission control and even Walter Cronkite! It also spent a little time on the Russian space program and current events when those had a direct impact on the space program. I don't remember where I got the DVDs. I know it was at a convention and the most likely one is the first Worldcon I went to back in 2006 but I just can't be sure. As kind of an addendum and to wrap up the challenge last night, I watched The Wonder of It All, a documentary about seven of the twelve men who walked on the moon. Instead of a historical approach, this film explored the thoughts and feelings of very different people who shared a common experience. This was fascinating and ended the challenge on a very high note.

Thanks to caligulathegod for keeping this challenge going. I never watch real high numbers in this one but I do enjoying seeing some westerns and war movies and learning something from a documentary or two.

Ash Ketchum

List finalized (#10 in the list thread).

Doc Moonlight

List Finalized

Trevor

List finalized, managed 23 viewings.