Are there any Ive missed out on? Y'know the sort of thing...Marathon Man, Parallax View, Taking Of Pelham 123, French Connection, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico etc.....that sort of thing.
Any suggestions?.
Any suggestions?.
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
"The Conversation", "Night Moves" and "Hustle" are pretty good. All have that bleak cynicism which characterised a lot of American films of the period.(Many film historians put this down to a general feeling of disillusionment and mistrust of authority follwing Vietnam and Watergate) -
70s NYC/American thrillers.
Panic in Needle Park was an early Pacino that was real weird, probably the Drugstore Cowboy of its time. It's about a heroin drought for the fiends. On dvd it's real good, because on vhs the image of dark 70s NY shit always sucked.
Fort Apache: The Bronx was the last of the 70s NYC police films (as it was 1980-81.) Makes a good double feature with Wild Style, one of the must-see films of all time as it was the birth of the hiphop/breakdance/graffiti culture in the BX (some action scenes as well, such as the graffiti artist getting chased by the undercovers through the train depot.)
Obviously the Blaxploitations, from Superfly - Hell Up In Harlem - Shaft - Coffy - Black Caesar - Across 11oth Street. My favorite is Superfly, as the cinematography was so fucking good (especially the Curtis Mayfield "Give Me Your Love" scene on the Central Park bridge in the snow, with both characters wearing white fur coats...gives me chills in the middle of summer.)
I'll assume Death Wish & Mean Streets & Taxi Driver are givens.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
Conversation is so good (I have a thread on otf...silver ?...about it.) Gene Hackman's monolouge is probably my favorite of all time.
However, it's San Fran. The other two are LA.
Also, I'll assume The Warriors is a given. If anyone hasn't seen it, see it on a big screen with a loud stereo with a few knucklehead friends. One of the great American films of all time.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
Robert Duvall in 'The Outfit'. Oh and Milius' 'Dillinger' is a helluva humdinger.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
JV is the man, as always. Panic in Needle Park is a great call, even if it recalls a less than brilliant period in the city's history, and that of the Upper West Side in particular.
Midnight Cowboy was made in the late 60s, but is equally evocative of a city that I knew very well.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
Saturday Night Fever has got some nice 'dark NY 70s' moments in it.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
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I'm not sure 'The Outfit' (brilliant, brilliant film) is set in New York - looks like the mid-west to me. Or possibly West Coast.
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
I've currently watching Serpico on DVD from Netflix because I've never seen it.
So far, I've got about halfway through.
What am I missing here? This is an unbelievably boring film. When does it get interesting? I'm about to give up just like I did with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
It does say slashAmerican so I'm all over the shop here - yeah 'The Outfit's out west i think. But just to stretch things chronologically as well - Serpico & Dog Day always make people forget about Prince Of The City and Q&A and that's a shame.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
How about Three Days of the Condor, and The Star Chamber?Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
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You're right, Neil K ... 'slash American' ... soz. But it does say '1970s', and Q&A (great film you're right - Nick Nolte, eh?) is 1990.
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
Well there you go. For New Yorkers, all I could see was NYC.
This is going to take some work.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
Look no further than Scorsese - "Taxi Driver" + "Mean Streets"
another one I haven't seen in awhile - "Marathon Man" -- beware of dentists asking "Is it safe?"
Reed: it won't be easy, but if you get a chance to see "Good, Bad & the Ugly" in a theater w/ a cranking sound system and a few beers, tequila shots in you, it will change your feelings about one of my fave films.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
I can see how it would be much better in those circumstances.
I think it might be a generation ga[. A lot classic movies made before about 1980 seem to me, at least, to drag and be over-long. I imagine that's because I grew up in the era of MTV, Miami Vice and the dawning of the summer blockbuster action film.
There are some exceptions, of course like The French Connection which, as I recall from seeing a few years back, has good pace and maintains the tension throughout. And of course, even at their length, I never find the Godfather films boring or too slow. Probably because they're so well written.
With the Good, the Bad and The Ugly, I felt like I'd seen enough to get the gist of the performances. The soundtrack went from cool to tedious around the one hour mark and I just didn't care how the story turned out (although I know because I once saw the ending on cable). It could have been at least 45 minutes shorter.
I've also come to the conclusion that I don't much care for Clint Eastwood on screen.
Serpico was a big disappointment for me. Hardly anything happens until he gets shot, but we already know that's going to happen because it's shown in the opening scene. It's a great performance by Pancino and Frank Serpico seems like a fascinating and admirable person, but it moves a snails pace and covers the same territory over and over. Perhaps the point was to make the viewer as frustrated with the story as Frank Serpico was with the corruption in the NYPD.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
I hear you -- I got a minor in Film Studies and the films of Sergio Leone still move me - very deliberate and very borrowed from Kurosawa. I found the scraggly Man With No Name, Spaghetti Westerns shot in Spain were far more realistic than theclean-shaven, John Wayne varieties.
The 80's brought out far more slick production and many, many more camera moves and edits -- French Connection was ahead of its time on that one.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
Well, reed. I'm aghast, and I'm offended.
You've failed the test, and you've broken the code.
This day shall be called "Black Sunday" (not the American 70's thriller about blowing up the Super Bowl with a blimp.)Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
How about Three Days of the Condor, and The Star Chamber?
Wasn't The Star Chamber early '80's? But Three Days Of The Condor is a corker and I'd also bring in The Yakuza both by Sydney Pollack. Both are superb examples of action thriller by a director best known for drama and light comedy. I do remember the editing, especially, being swift and decisive - not in the MTV way so beloved of Michael Bay et al, but crisp and electric.
I'd suggest Chinatown has good thriller elements, too.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
Ah, I also think we're forgetting Peckinpah's '70's post-Wild Bunch contribution: The Getaway and The Killer Elite.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
jason voorhees wrote:
Right On Sucker!!! I absolutely love this film.
Also, I'll assume The Warriors is a given. If anyone hasn't seen it, see it on a big screen with a loud stereo with a few knucklehead friends. One of the great American films of all time.
Would Vanishing Point or THX 1138 come under the title?Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
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Charley Varrick is a good 'un (although perhaps 'heist' rather than 'thriller').
Vanishing Point is a kind of existential road movie, isn't it? And THX etc is sci-fi(?)
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
I don't know about Vanishing Point (long, long time since I've seen it), but I don't think THX 1138 would. It's more a cold, cerebral-ish piece of science-fiction, which is incredible given the recent crappy output of its director.Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
"Warriors....come out and plaaaayyyyy...Warriors....come out and plaaaayyyyy..." clink, clink, clink --- one of the great movie creeps of all time...
"Vanishing Point" -- grooved on it yrs ago - watched it recently and it just didn't hold it -- "Charley Varrick" great one!
"Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" still a great Northwest action romp!Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
How about "The Driver"?
And whatever happened to Ryan O'Neal?Comment
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70s NYC/American thrillers.
O'Neal's working in television these days, chiefly in the foresic crime series, Bones. And The Driver's a good shout.Comment
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