DVD Josh

Looking for some reccommendations in the vein of Italian Job, Vanishing Point, etc from this era. Thanks!

celluloidwisdom

Oh my, where to begin... (do they have to be available on DVD? R1?) Also, I'll try to go with less publicized titles.

Getting Straight (Eliot Gould and Candice Bergen) - Anyone who's ever had to undergo comprehensive oral exams will appreciate Gould's comps episode. Early Harrison Ford appearance, too. Not on DVD.

The Strawberry Statement (Bruce Davison and Kim Darby). Great period piece. Tops among the campus protest films (well, unless you count Billy Jack...) Not on DVD.

Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin). Take one frustrated Vietnam vet. Mix in some half-understood Native American Mysticism. Add a pinch of half-nekkid peacenik hippie guru lady as love interest. Sprinkle with judo and garnish with a dash of political improv troupe and a generous helping of class warfare / small-town prejudices. Yield: something so early 70s that it begs to be projected on a giant denim screen. Available on DVD

Busting (Gould and Robert Blake). Gritty cop drama. Not on DVD.

Walking Tall (Joe Don Baker). Sheriff Buford T. Pusser. Enough said. Available on DVD

Macon County Line (Max Baer Jr.). THE drive-in flick of the 70s. Available on DVD.

Willard (Bruce Davison, Ernest Borgnine). I'll watch anything Mad Magazine parodied... Not available on DVD, though its remake is.

Serpico (Pacino, Tony Roberts). Available on DVD.

The Seven-Ups (Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco). Begs for a DVD release. Great to watch with The French Connection as a double bill. Throw in FC 2 from Frankenheimer, and you're assured an evening of grit...

Panic in Needle Park (Pacino and Kitty Winn). Brutal realism, filmed with skilled dispassion by Jerry Schatzberg. Available on PAL DVD (Region 0). See also Scarecrow (Pacino and Hackman), not available on DVD

Born to Win (George Segal and Karen Black). Fantastic Segal performance. Early DeNiro. Available on DVD

Cisco Pike (Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black, Gene Hackman). Not available on DVD.

Bad News Bears (Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow, Jackie Earl Haley). Makes my Top 10 of all time. Available on DVD. Also from Ritchie: Smile (not on DVD) and An Almost Perfect Affair

The Candidate (Robert Redford, Melvin Douglas, Peter Boyle). Available on DVD. More Ritchie

Marathon Man (Dustin Hoffman, L. Olivier, Roy Scheider). From John Schlessinger. Available on DVD

The Long Goodbye (Eliot Gould). Gould is all over these 70s films, and deservedly so. This one's been mentioned before, but it really is a must-see: Altman does Raymond Chandler. Available on DVD. Add Nashville - one of the best American films ever.

Sorcerer (Roy Scheider). William Friedkin's underrated homage to Wages of Fear. Available on DVD

Dog Day Afternoon (Al Pacino, John Cazale). For my money, Pacino's best performance. Available on DVD

The Paper Chase (Timothy Bottoms, John Houseman, Lindsay Wagner). Ah, Harvard. And the Socratic Method. In teaching contract law. How can it miss? Available on DVD

Superfly / Shaft / Shaft's Big Score / Shaft in Africa / Black Caesar / Coffy / The Spook Who Sat by the Door / Cotton Comes to Harlem - Sweet Sweetback got his due, so...the best of the rest, blaxploitation-wise... Available on DVD.

Uptown Saturday Night (Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier). It's no Mother Jugs and Speed, but it has it's moments. On DVD.

Day of the Locust (Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith). Why is this not on DVD?

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Harvey Keitel, Diane Ladd, Alfred Lutter, Jodie Foster, Vic Tayback). Great early Scorsese. Fantastic performances. And no Linda Lavin to turn the whole affair into an annoying, maudlin mess, bless us all... Not yet available on DVD. Also, Boxcar Bertha (Barbara Hershey). Scorsese works for Corman.

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen). Not available on DVD.

Across 110th Street (Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto). Available on DVD

Bone (Yaphet Kotto, Joyce Van Patten). Available on DVD

Putney Swope (1969, but close enough...). Robert Downey SR! Available on DVD

Hard Times (Bronson and James Colburn). Walter Hill's paean to depression-era bareknuckle fighting. Also from Hill, The Driver, with Ryan O'Neal and Bruce Dern. Available on DVD (The Driver is available in a European edition).

Fingers (Harvey Keitel). From James Toback.

Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter). - Carpenter pays tribute to Rio Bravo. Great Kim Richards cameo.

3 Days of the Condor (Redford, Dunaway).

Day of the Jackal. (Edward Fox) - Brilliant.

Two Lane Blacktop (Warren Oates, James Taylor, a Beach Boy) - If you like Vanishing Point, you'll like this. Also, try Cockfighter and The Shooting.

Five Easy Pieces (Nicholson, Black, et al.) - Deconstructing the sandwich. Also, The King of Marvin Gardens (Nicholson, Dern, Burstyn) and The Last Detail.

What's Up, Doc? - Great screwball comedy from Peter Bogdanovich. No huge fan of the later Babs am I, but I loved her in this film.

Harry and Tonto - Art Carney and his cat. Yup. From Paul Mazursky. Also from Mazursky, Next Stop, Greenwich Village and Blume in Love.

The Wanderers - From Philip Kaufman. Starring Ken Wahl and Karen Allen. Part nostalgic, part surreal. Released the same year as Walter Hill's The Warriors (and often confused with same). Woefully underrated. I wish Criterion had the rights to this one rather than kaufman's Unbearable Lightness...

The Rose - Bette Midler, Alan Bates.

American Friend (Dennis Hopper) - Wim Wenders flick.

Blue Collar (Pryor, Kotto, Keitel) - from Paul Schrader.

Don't Look Now (Sutherland) - N. Roeg does horror.

Electra Glide in Blue (R. Blake). - available on Japanese DVD

The Honeymoon Killers.

Then there are the obvious titles -- Taxi Driver, Network, etc.

Giles

Get Carter (1971) Michael Caine is great - vastly superior to the Americanized version with Sylvester Stallone.

BlackBeauty92

that's all i know from your list

Serpico & Assault are

also, you can't go wrong with David Lean

tecumseh1000

I'll add a few personal favorites from the era:

The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three: (Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw)

The Laughing Policeman: (Walter Matthau, Bruce Dern)

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot: (Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges)

I'll also add seconds for Serpico, Walking Tall, The Seven-Ups, and particularly 3 Days of the Condor...

muggins

The original Gone in 60 Seconds.

So many car crashes.

celluloidwisdom

Great calls, all. I love Get Carter, too. Haven't yet seen the original Gone in 60 Seconds. There really are too many to name (and remember)...

Black Sunday. Rollercoaster. The Verdict. The Anderson Tapes. Profession: Reporter (The Passenger). Zabriskie Point. Kes. The Tenant. MacBeth (Polanski's version). Murder By Decree. The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes. Alice's Restaurant. And Justice for All. Straw Dogs. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Badlands. Days of Heaven. Barry Lyndon. The Beguiled. Big Wednesday. Sisters. Dressed to Kill. Blow-Up. Blow Out. A Boy and His Dog. Breaking Away. Bullitt. Capricorn One. Carnal Knowledge. Catch-22. Le Cercle Rouge. China Syndrome. Coming Home. And on and on and on. (I pulled these titles from my DVD collection). Did I mention Brewster McCloud? Harold and Maude? The Harder They Come? Day of the Dolphin? Deliverance? The Deer Hunter? Heaven's Gate (brutally underrated). Midnight Cowboy? Death Race 2000...?

What a great era for filmmaking.

Andalusia

Bullit, Bullit, and more Bullit!

celluloidwisdom

Forgot Medium Cool. Truly a document of its time.

BlackBeauty92

bond... james bond

Giles

jeesh! between both your first and second list of films, I've got a great list of films I can add to netflix and VHS rentals from Potomac Video to catch up on.

In regards to Kes is this available in the US on vhs, I know that a Region 2 DVD is available. I am a big fan of Ken Loach and this one is high on my list of films to see.

celluloidwisdom

Happy to help! Re: Kes... I dunno about VHS availability. I have the R2 UK DVD, which is pretty nice.

Geofferson

Ah, 60s and 70s films...my favorite topic! Plenty of good suggestions noted already. I'll add:

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (Peter Fonda)
Gold (Roger Moore)
The Super Cops (Ron Liebman)
Play Misty for Me (Clint)
Special Delivery (Bo Svenson - little known gem)
The Silent Partner (Elliott Gould)
Busting (Elliott Gould & Robert Blake)
$ (Warren Beatty & Goldie Hawn)
The Parallax View (Warren Beatty)
The Hot Rock (Robert Redford)

jdslater

The Killers with Lee Marvin, just watched it on the Criterion disc, so cool!.
Lee Marvin rocks in this film and the extras are excellent.

Hiro11

This is my vote for the "Excellent European Film Most Butchered By Hollywood" Award. Close seconds to Spoorloos/The Vanishing and La Femme Nikita/Point of No Return.