Dog Day Afternoon

This film starred a young Al Pacino and was based on the real life Brooklyn bank robbery attempt by John Wojtowicz. The film dealt a lot with the anti-establishment feeling of the times and was probably also fueled by the Attica State riot (hence the famous "Attica! Attica!" lines from Pacino in the film).

The thing that sticks out story-wise for me was the fact that at no time did Pacino's character seem to be simply a "bad guy" robbing the bank. Everyone from the crowd to the hostages in the bank seemed to gravitate towards him and see that he was someone they could empathize with. Another aspect of the story was the homosexuality of Pacino's character. It was at the time a very unique protrayal as most gay characters before were mostly the stereotypical overly feminine-type. Although Pacino's lover in the film comes close to that.

The sense of realism in the film was done very well. From the camera-work (lots of hand-held) to the use of location light and subtle artificial lighting, it all created a feeling that this was something that could take place in the real world. On that note, interestingly there is also a lack of a soundtrack for the majority of the film.

Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever was one of the first movies my mother saw when she first came to america in the 70s. along with Grease. Since then she has always loved movies that involved dancing and John Travolta.

For me, my memories of the film always had to do with the hilarious performance of an italian-american by Travolta and with the extraordinary dance sequences set to the Bee Gee's catchy soundtrack. I always just remembered it as a dance film.

What came as a surprise while watching it this time were the parts of the movie that involved Travolta's character's search for purpose and a better life, the sexual scenes (including a semi-rape scene), and the gang violence. I guess I never really paid attention to those parts when I watched it so long ago or it's possible that my mom skipped past those as I was a child at the time.

Nevertheless, I now appreciate the film as not only a symbol of 70's disco music and dance, but also as a complex story that shares a lot of the themes we have been seeing in other 70's films in class.

SHAFT

Willy: Listen, Snow White. Me and you gonna tangle, sooner or later. Did you hear what I say?
Shaft: Why don't you stop playing with yourself, Willy? You ain't gonna do SHIT!


Ah finally SHAFT, and thank god it wasn't that crap-o-rama Shaft 2000. I enjoy Samuel L Jackson as much as the next guy, but that was pretty horrible.

Back to the real Shaft, first thing that really stood out and I never really noticed any previous times I've watched Shaft: the AUDIO is GARBAGE. I guess my ears are a bit more sensitive to it now since I've had to deal with audio problems in my own projects but I was really distracted by the bad audio mix of music and dialogue, the bad voice overs, and sound effects. Actually I enjoyed sound effects, they are significant of the times and established that 70's blaxploitation feel.

Shaft is that classic BAD ASS character that most people love to watch. Does what he wants to do and says what he wants to say, no one is as cool as Shaft. I understand why this character was such an inspiration to the black movement. Shaft was a non-watered down, and hyper realistic black character that hadn't been seen beforehand.

I remember what it was like the first time I saw a strong character that looked like me (Asian) in a movie or on television, I had an unexplainable feeling of pride and connection to the character.

"Who was it?" you ask?

Believe it or not...Mr Miyagi. LOL

Taxi Driver

"You talking to me?"

I think most Martin Scorcese fans would agree that Taxi Driver is one of his best films and one of Robert Deniro's most memorable performances.

Filled with the craziness and complex characters that I've come to love and respect from these 70's films I've been watching, Taxi Driver's no holds barred violent ending was the sugar on top. Characteristic of Scorcese, the ending has the realistic, unsugar coated violence that is one of the staple ingredients to a Scorcese film.

The way Scorcese created a character out of his gritty New York City was really well done. You really feel the violence, the sex, and the overflowing dirtiness of the New York the main character, Travis Bickle, encounters on his nightly route in his taxi.

The story really sucks you in as Travis Bickle experiences more and more of the city at night, and as he becomes disgusted by it all, you feel the same. While his ultimate plan is a little extreme for my tastes, I can identify with just being fed up with the world and wanted to do something to make it better.