70's Film Class overview

Overall my experience in 70's Film class has been very enlightening and fun. Before this class my knowledge of movies spanned from the 80's on. Being a child of the 80's this might seem obvious but a lot of my other classmates had delved into earlier films many times. I had only seen a few films along the likes of the classic monster movies, Alfred Hitchcock films, and the more well known 70's films such as Star Wars, Star Trek and Rocky.

While it took me a few films to really get into the 70's style, once I did I really enjoyed the complex nature of each film. Seeing the patterns of influence in each was also very cool and allowed me to notice themes that were common to almost all of the films we watched. Whether it be political, social, racial, economical, or musical themes, each had a strong presence in the films we watched. The 70's really introduced a lot of the great characters and stories that still drive modern American cinema.

After experiencing this class I can now say that I am pretty well versed in 70's film and can identify many of the themes created then that still exist in movies today.

Assault on Precinct 13

Assault on Precinct 13 was an awesome movie. Filled with action, suspense, and great characters I was wide awake during this one :)

As an early John Carpenter film, his influences are very easy to see in Assault. It had characters that came right out of a western (the sherrif, the prisoner, etc), the villains were almost inhuman as they attacked the building in an unstoppable mob of zombies fashion, and the group dynamic was right out of the great horror films.

The horror/survival film aspect became apparent as when each character was introduced I found myself thinking "hmmm he/she is gonna live" and "oh he/she is definitely dead. I wonder exactly how and when its gonna happen."

I felt this was a great last film to watch as it pretty much had every aspect from every film we've watched. There was the unlikely hero (prisoner), gang/city violence, the strong black and female characters, winning only when working together, and even a conspiracy feeling when the gangs would hide all evidence of violence when police would come by.

Overall Assault on Precinct 13 is highly recommended to all.

Unmarried Woman

Unmarried Woman was a very interesting movie to watch as it was a depiction of the Women's Liberation movement of the 70's.

The women in this film were unlike the "Leave it to Beaver" moms of the past and showed the struggles of a woman who was fed up with just being a housewife and wanted to take charge of herself, her job, her sexuality, her LIFE.

I felt the film was able to show women as being in charge of their affairs without her having to be overly masculine. She was able to do the things a man could normally do back then (most notably her promiscuity as first) and still come off as feminine.

One funny aspect of the movie that I liked was that during all of the scenes involving Erica and her girlfriends, I couldn't help but feel that this was the genesis for the Sex and the City group dynamic :)