calhoun07

I was watching some of the I Love the 70's on VH1 and was quite amazed with the amount of violence the pointed out from the movies they showed clips from. I think on one episode, they talked about Foxy Brown cutting off a guys uh...member and others they talked about struck me as quite violent, especially Taxi Driver. Most of these movies, sadly I suppose, I've never seen so I don't know how violent they were but I was thinking that I don't recall that much voilence in movies I have seen more recently.

lesterlong

A Clockwork Orange would never get made today. The 70s was a great time for violence in movies, sadly not so much today.

Mutley Hyde

Much more violent then. The violence today is crap. There may be a lot of it here and there, but it's James Bond violence... people pop right back up and stay good looking.

Bah. I want to see flinging blood, smeared blood, ghastly bruises, I wanna hear deep, guttural moans of pain, I wanna wince as someone gets pummelled in the face...

ever see Dirty Harry? Remember when the psycho punk took himself to get beat up by the pro so he could frame Calahan for it? Remember how the punk looked afterward, being carted into intensive care? That's violence dammit. The PMRC ain't got JACK to complain about these days!

'70s ultra-violence... it was a good thing - I mourn it's demise.

Crocker Jarmen

I agree completely with Mutley Hyde. The tone of violence in a lot of 70's films was very realistic. Even something as highly praised for it's realism as Saving Private Ryan seems like a fantastic comic book potryal of violence.

I don't know if it was a concious decision to move from more nasty real violence to something more removed from the viewers, or if it's a just a product of film techniques becoming slicker.

I never fail to wince at the nose slice in Chinatown. Even going thru it frame by frame, seeing how fake it really is, twisted my lips up in revolt.

Julie Walker

I agree with violence then being MUCH more powerful & startling than anything in todays cinema.

I think the last truely powerful extreme violence American film i can recall is True Romance.

Yet much of todays stuff,even when it is violent is same old,same old. Nothing really nasty & outrageous like what was done in many earlier films such as the aformentioned 'member' being cut off ect type of creative & painful kills that make you go 'ouch!' instead of 'yawn'.

Everything else is to tame,toned down..or cartoonish to truely offer any true emotional reaction. I really hate how they are going for CGI gore & bullet hits today. VERY fake..& takes away any impact whatsoever.

Yet that scene mentioned in Dirt Harry always makes me wince & feel like i was just socked myself,since it's painful enough imagining going through that,let alone seeing it!

Mondo Kane

Amen, brother.

Not only they were more violent, they were more daring. Going as far as they could possibly go.

Some of the most vicious films of all time:

Cannibal Holocaust
The Streetfighter
Dawn of the Dead
El Topo
Lone Wolf and Cub series
Last House on the Left
Salo
I Spit on your grave
Caligula
Zombie
...All came out in the 70's.

Even Hollywood had balls by pushing the limits with Dirty Harry,Clockwork Orange,The Godfather,Straw Dogs,Death Wish, and Taxi Driver.

Blaxpoitations got in the mix (Check out bullet-happy flicks like Truck Turner,Coffy, and Black Caesar)

Kung Fu cinema wasn't afraid to shed blood (Look at some of the work by Chang Cheh)

And even comedy? Monty Python and the Holy Grail (The Black Knight and the wedding massacre!)

As for most of the action films, here's an excerpt from Badazzmofo #3 which sums things up nicely:

Mutley Hyde

I think you just hit the nail on the head, or maybe the hammer on the head.

During the '70s, the cinema enjoyed a great realism revolution, and not just with violence.

Good example with Chinatown too, Crocker.

LivingINClip

Some of my favorite movie's are from the 70's ...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Last House on the Left
I Spit On Your Grave
GodFather
A Clockwork Orange
Taxi Driver

The list goes on and on. The 70's was a lot more violent and a lot more effective. Not only was there violence, but there was violence for a reason. There was stories to back up all the violence that happened on screen.

Julie Walker

True..& thats why i find violence in todays movie boring. Their is really no reason for it exactly,it's just there & usually so phony,it's pathetic!

I also miss the unhappy everyone dies or at least no light at the end of the tunnel action movies & other films in general had. You know,the guy loses the girl or whatever!

Dirty Mary,Crazy Larry is a great example. EVERYONE dies in the final frame of this. Well at least the main charecters anyway,just as they were about to get away scotfree. A real downer to an otherwise light hearted film. Yet still,it's great it had the balls to end this way..& it's more satisfying because of it!


Heck if Looking for Mr. Goodbar were made today. You can bet your ass. The ending would be changed to a more audience 'friendly' 'girl power' ending where she fights the attacker & survives...cue happy ending & myself vomiting in disgust!

Original Desmond

70s film violence was going ,well actually went down the path of being very exploitative

Things went too far and with the video boom of the early 80s, censorship became a huge issue

The Italians especially made some absolute corkers in the 70s

The whole Cannibal subgenre, Nazi subgenre, increasing mixing of sex and violence etc etc

Some adult films in the 70s also combined hardcore sex with violence, an absolute no no nowadays

Jaymole

70's violence made you think, today's violence makes you want to run out and get an uzi.

And Julie, you really should use spoilers.

Groucho

Yeah, it was a lot more violent then...but a lot of films used that weird orangish fake blood which really dampens the intensity.

ianholm

Dirty Harry

garolo

If you want a great perspective on this, catch A Decade Under the Influence on IFC. I think it's being replayed this weekend.

And yes, the films of the 70's were way more violent and graphic than today. But they had a lot less nudity and sex. Maybe it was because Vietnam was in our living rooms every night at 6:30PM that our society was desensitized to the violence (Kind of sounds like a quote from Danol ).

Cusm

And the one-shot one-kill approach. They(I love the 70's) showed a shot from Death Wish, and Bronson is killing everyone with one shot to the knee or belly.
I find todays violence more realistic, SPR, Reservoir Dogs (more realistic and shocking than the China Town nose job IMO) but there was more in the 70s.

Why did none of us kiddies from the 70s shoot up our schools? I guess it must be the video games, Pong did not have enough blood in it.

Groucho

I would say 1970's films had a lot more nudity and sex as well.

wm lopez

There was a sense of realisim in 70's movies because they weren't aimed at teens. Teens Summer movies didn't start till 1978. After that cop movie always had to have rock music in a action scene. Compare that to scenes in FRENCH CONNECTION, DIRTY HARRY, TAXI DRIVER.

Jepthah

I wouldn't say so much more violent per se. I would sum it up in another word: GRIT. Grit is something adult-oriented movies should have; it's this magical quality, and when it's mixed in the right proportion it results in more memorable violence, and other things too.

Rypro 525

A great violent movie that came out recently was Heat. A 15 min gun battle with no music, just the loudness of the guns and the hits.

Julie Walker

Ahh,thats the right word

Grit!

Really missing from todays cinema sadly since it's so manufactored,compressed,squeezed out of all substance..& meannt to please the mindless masses.

Even when people raved about how gory Final Destination 2 was. How it made them sick,queesy..& upset for liking the film. I had a different reaction. While it was nice to see some splatter return. It still lacked any real 'grit' that made me reel back with "ouch...thats gotta hurt", "awwwww thats sad..glad that didn't happen to me,ughhhhhh" & makes you think about if that happened to you,which makes it more painful & unpleasent.


As for the 'one shot' kills mentioned before. Actually that happened in many westerns long before the 60's & 70's. Really phony stuff & why i don't like them as much(expect a few of Leones work,Wild Bunch etc).

Sure some movies had those phony one shot in the arm 'kills'. But plenty had really gritty down & dirty multilple shots kills that at least felt unpleasent & painful to view,which they should be.


Anyway i've been reading about this new Tobe Hooper film called King of the Ants. Supposedly it is a return to really nasty brutal down & dirty hands on anything goes violence!

He claims their is more violence & blood in it than all of the F13th films. No gun-violence,but real physical using everyday objects type violence from cars,tvs,refrigerators,glass,knives...& more violence.

From the sounds of it & the photos that showed up in Fango of decapitations & piles of splatter. I doubt this will get past the MPAA with an R rating without severe cuts.

So i'll wait & see if a unrated verison comes out & see if the film lives up to the hype.

It may be violent,but will it have that gritty raw feel to it,which is the more important factor?

RyoHazuki

Cause they kept firing Paul Schrader.

DVD Smurf

Huhm, I think I would have to humbly disagree on this...

Irreversible
House of 1000 Corpses
Wrong Turn
Audition and other Miike films...
Thesis
and a remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is looming...

to name a few...

However, I do think A Clockwork Orange is awesome as is the book...

lesterlong

While it was a great battle scene because of the sound mostly, there was almost no shots of blood anywhere. Realistic? I don't know I've never been involved in a big shootout.

When I say Clockwork Orange wouldn't be made today I'm referring to the subject matter not the violence or sex. A film where you are supposed to sympathize with a murderous rapist is a big no-no nowadays.