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Screen World 1975, Vol. 26
First edition bound in gray cloth. A very good copy in a very good dust jacket. Dust spotting to the edges of the book's upper page block. Rubbing and fraying to the bottoms of the cloth. The dust jacket is tanned and soiled at its panels and spine. Rubs to the head and heel of its spine. With 1,000 photographs.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1975
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February 13, 2024
The inside cover blurb really says it all: the comprehensive pictorial and statistical record of the 1974 movie season with more than 1000 photographs. Always a fantastic guide to the year's films; an annual that contains vital information but avoids critic comments or star ratings and doesn't provide a synopsis.
1974 was one of the really great years in cinema, producing at least three all-time American film classics. Two came from Francis Ford Coppola: 'THE GODFATHER PART II'' (in my opinion, even better than his earlier classic 'The Godfather') with an outstanding cast including Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg. The melding of three generations of the Corleone family and the changing influence of the crime syndicate through the years was flawlessly executed by Coppola. De Niro absolutely brilliant (and Oscar heralded) as the younger version of the Marlon Brando character from the original film. Just about the "perfect film."
Somewhat overshadowed was Coppola's other film "THE CONVERSATION," a compelling drama dealing with wiretapping, murder and obsession. Pre-Watergate and one of the first films to deal with surveillance and privacy issues. How Gene Hackman was ignored by the Academy remains a mystery to me.
Remains one of the best films of the 1970's.
Number three masterpiece was Roman Polanski's "CHINATOWN" with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway at their best in a sordid, complex mystery set in the Los Angeles of the 1930's. Bizarre and fascinating; nothing is quite what it seems. Brilliant Oscar winning script by Robert Towne and stunning photography by John Alonzo. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and would probably have swept the Oscars in any other year.
There were classy thrillers like the underrated Alan J. Pakula - Warren Beatty paranoia flick "THE PARALLAX VIEW," the crackerjack thrillers "THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE" (with Walter Matthau in fine form) and "THE ODESSA FILE"; disaster movies "THE TOWERING INFERNO," and the not so classy "AIRPORT 1975" and "EARTHQUAKE" (anyone remember Sensurround?).
Disasters in different ways: Lucille Ball as "MAME," Cybill Shepherd as "DAISY MILLER" and the pretty to look at but bland remake of "THE GREAT GATSBY."
Mel Brooks hit the jackpot with his madcap Hollywood send-up "BLAZING SADDLES" and gave new meaning to sharing baked beans with your fellow cowpokes around the campfire, amongst numerous other riotous events spoofing the Western - and later, with the crazy "YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN" with Gene Wilder again, this time as the experimental good doctor and eye-popping Marty Feldman as his loyal assistant. Madeline Kahn made memorable appearances in both.
Dustin Hoffman as "LENNY" Bruce. All-star international hit: "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS," the more than interesting Robert Altman crime pic "THIEVES LIKE US," Terrence Malick's debut "BADLANDS" with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, Spielberg's underrated "THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS," Gena Rowlands outstanding in hubby John Cassavetes film "A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE," Art Carney won an Oscar for lumping his cat across the country in "HARRY AND TONTO" and Black-centered films "CLAUDINE," "LOST IN THE STARS," "UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT" and "THE EDUCATION OF SONNY CARSON" had mixed results but at least they gave audiences a welcome change from White Hollywood.
In the foreign-language market; releases from the great masters:
Ozu with his charming take on Japanese family life: "EARLY SPRING"/ Fellini with his bawdy reminisces of his youth in 1930s Italy -the Oscar winning "AMARCORD"/ Bergman with his 299-minute television drama cut-down to movie length: "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson./ Malle with his brilliant film detailing guilt, innocence and the amorality of power in an occupied French town during wartime German occupation: "LACOMBE LUCIEN" and Bunuel with another sublime surrealist comedy "THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY."
Overall, an outstanding year!
Among the promising new actors: Richard Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, and Bernadette Peters and in the obituaries, a fond farewell to Samuel Goldwyn, Bud Abbott, Jack Benny, Walter Brennan, Vittorio de Sica, Donald Crisp, Agnes Moorehead and Oscar winning cinematographers Hal Mohr and Leon Shamroy et al.
1974 was one of the really great years in cinema, producing at least three all-time American film classics. Two came from Francis Ford Coppola: 'THE GODFATHER PART II'' (in my opinion, even better than his earlier classic 'The Godfather') with an outstanding cast including Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg. The melding of three generations of the Corleone family and the changing influence of the crime syndicate through the years was flawlessly executed by Coppola. De Niro absolutely brilliant (and Oscar heralded) as the younger version of the Marlon Brando character from the original film. Just about the "perfect film."
Somewhat overshadowed was Coppola's other film "THE CONVERSATION," a compelling drama dealing with wiretapping, murder and obsession. Pre-Watergate and one of the first films to deal with surveillance and privacy issues. How Gene Hackman was ignored by the Academy remains a mystery to me.
Remains one of the best films of the 1970's.
Number three masterpiece was Roman Polanski's "CHINATOWN" with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway at their best in a sordid, complex mystery set in the Los Angeles of the 1930's. Bizarre and fascinating; nothing is quite what it seems. Brilliant Oscar winning script by Robert Towne and stunning photography by John Alonzo. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and would probably have swept the Oscars in any other year.
There were classy thrillers like the underrated Alan J. Pakula - Warren Beatty paranoia flick "THE PARALLAX VIEW," the crackerjack thrillers "THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE" (with Walter Matthau in fine form) and "THE ODESSA FILE"; disaster movies "THE TOWERING INFERNO," and the not so classy "AIRPORT 1975" and "EARTHQUAKE" (anyone remember Sensurround?).
Disasters in different ways: Lucille Ball as "MAME," Cybill Shepherd as "DAISY MILLER" and the pretty to look at but bland remake of "THE GREAT GATSBY."
Mel Brooks hit the jackpot with his madcap Hollywood send-up "BLAZING SADDLES" and gave new meaning to sharing baked beans with your fellow cowpokes around the campfire, amongst numerous other riotous events spoofing the Western - and later, with the crazy "YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN" with Gene Wilder again, this time as the experimental good doctor and eye-popping Marty Feldman as his loyal assistant. Madeline Kahn made memorable appearances in both.
Dustin Hoffman as "LENNY" Bruce. All-star international hit: "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS," the more than interesting Robert Altman crime pic "THIEVES LIKE US," Terrence Malick's debut "BADLANDS" with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, Spielberg's underrated "THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS," Gena Rowlands outstanding in hubby John Cassavetes film "A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE," Art Carney won an Oscar for lumping his cat across the country in "HARRY AND TONTO" and Black-centered films "CLAUDINE," "LOST IN THE STARS," "UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT" and "THE EDUCATION OF SONNY CARSON" had mixed results but at least they gave audiences a welcome change from White Hollywood.
In the foreign-language market; releases from the great masters:
Ozu with his charming take on Japanese family life: "EARLY SPRING"/ Fellini with his bawdy reminisces of his youth in 1930s Italy -the Oscar winning "AMARCORD"/ Bergman with his 299-minute television drama cut-down to movie length: "SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE" starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson./ Malle with his brilliant film detailing guilt, innocence and the amorality of power in an occupied French town during wartime German occupation: "LACOMBE LUCIEN" and Bunuel with another sublime surrealist comedy "THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY."
Overall, an outstanding year!
Among the promising new actors: Richard Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, and Bernadette Peters and in the obituaries, a fond farewell to Samuel Goldwyn, Bud Abbott, Jack Benny, Walter Brennan, Vittorio de Sica, Donald Crisp, Agnes Moorehead and Oscar winning cinematographers Hal Mohr and Leon Shamroy et al.
Displaying 1 of 1 review