Jaws

Duh da...duh da...duh da duh da duh da...duh na na! (sorry I had to)

Like most people my age, seeing Jaws for the first time as a kid was pretty intense and has instilled a fear of sharks whenever I'm in the ocean :)

Jaws is one of the classic Spielberg blockbuster films, so much so that it has been a part of the Universal Studios back lot tour for around two decades now. It was one of the very first "high concept" films as in seeing the poster or even hearing the name of the film pretty much gives you the premise.

To keep in the common themes of 70's films Jaws is full of the ideas of paranoia, a covered-up secret, and a complex protagonist with internal struggles. Also looking back at The Conversation the sounds in this film play a big part in influencing emotions and the moods of different scenes.

To that end, "Mood" is a good way to describe the world Spielberg created for Jaws. He did what most great horror/thriller films do, not show the monster until later in the film. His use of sound and visuals simply created the moods of panic, chaos, and just the feeling of being completely unsafe at the beach or in the water without having to show the gigantic (and not to mention hilariously fake looking) shark until well into the story. That's something that a lot of horror movies today forget to do: set the mood right.

This film never gets old for me and it's always a great experience whenever I watch it.

The Conversation

Francis Lord Coppola's The Conversation was a very interesting film for me. I was very enticed by the story and its cinematography was really well thought out. For Coppola, The Conversation was his attempt at experimenting with a few things. Mostly he was trying to do something with repetition and the sound design of the film was incredibly done.

The story centers around Harry Caul (played by Gene Hackman) who is a surveillance expert. I liked that his last name was a homonym of "call" as he deals with phones a lot in his work. The conflict of the film comes in when he becomes more and more concerned that a couple he was hired to spy on may be killed by his employers.

As with the other 70's films we watched Harry is a very complex and somewhat introverted character. He is dealing with psychological problems that stem from guilt over a previous job where his target was murdered by his client. This causes Harry to be very paranoid and secretive even to the people he works close with.

The sound design in this film is very well done. Since Harry Caul's job requires him to listen to everything with such precision, the audience is brought into this experience through almost every sound being exaggerated to the point of being overwhelmed by them.

Lastly there are certain points in the film where the camera takes on a surveillance cam point of view moving back and forth (often in Harry apartment) over the same area in a timed fashion following more of a set pattern rather than following the action or the character as it would in a traditional film.

Overall a great thriller/mystery and easily a new favorite Coppola film for me.

The Parallax View

Staying with the theme of paranoia and conspiracy I've seen in the 70's films we've been watching, The Parallax View deals with mysterious government plots and finding the truth.

Parallax stars Warren Beatty (Dick Tracy woo! :D) as Joe Frady and alcoholic investigative reporter trying to unravel the mysterious deaths of reporters who were present at the assassination of a US senator. This leads him to infiltrate the Parallax Corporation and discover the secrets behind their organization. Naturally, he applies for membership and gets in far deeper than he ever realized. It turns out to be a kind of temp agency for assassins.

I enjoy mysteries very much so this film was interesting to watch as it combined a good "who-done-it" with the 70's style of realism, a complex main character and an anti-government theme. I admit I had to watch it a few times just to piece all of it together.

Coming Home

"Coming Home" is the story of life on an army base hospital during the Vietnam War. It centers mostly around Jane Fonda's character as the wife of an army Captain played by (Bruce Dern) as she struggles with her life while her husband is away. She begins volunteering at the veteran hospital where she meets the other main character played by Jon Voight.

This was the first film we have watched in class that has kept my attention throughout. While it still had the 70's style of story telling to it (realistic characters/situations, open ending, social commentary about the war, etc) it was the first to feel like a well structured story to me. The characters were interesting and complex and the story unfolded well with little dead spots.

The music used in the film was great (all were artists who were in some way opposed to the Vietnam War) and flowed well with the great visuals of the film.

The Long Goodbye

Last class we watched Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" starring Elliot Gould as private investigator Philip Marlowe. Overall i liked the film, as i am a fan of film nior genre, but this was a different take to the style.

The characters were complex, as ive noticed they tend to be in the 70's, and story as well was a complex maze of people and situations Marlowe would find himself intertwined with. I was slightly confused at times but that would often fix itself as the story went on and i felt the ending was fitting and as with the case of the previous film "Five Easy Pieces" the end was not THE END as it were.

One thing that sticks out aside from the film aspects of the movie was the small role played by a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. I admit i laughed to myself when i saw him. Fitting that this comes after i had my Schwarzenegger movie marathon last month. I guess i forgot this film in the lineup :)

Woodstock and Five Easy Pieces

This blog has been created for my new 70's Film and Culture class. I will be posting weekly reflections and responses to the films we watch in class.

Last week we watched a few scenes from Woodstock and Five Easy Pieces. Loved Woodstock, wish we could watch the whole thing :)

Five Easy Pieces was....interesting. It was used to introduce us to the new style of film that started in the late 60's and into the 70's. It took me a while to wrap my head around the whole thing.

I'll think about it more and add to this post later on.