Monday, August 1, 2016

Please Share Your Hard-to-Find Titles!


          Greetings, dear readers! All goes well at Every '70s Movie command central, and if my numbers are correct, approximately 75% of the films that meet criteria for review in this space have been reviewed. Now it's time to ask for some help. This is not one of my rare entreaties for donations, although those are always welcome, hint-hint. Instead, I'm reaching out to my informed and involved readership for assistance with identifying titles that might otherwise hover outside my radar. Here's your mission, if you choose to accept it: In the comments on this post, or in direct contact to me via e-mail or Facebook messaging, please provide the names of the absolute most obscure 1970s movies with which you're familiar.
          I have a list of about 600 movies yet to review, so it's possible I'm already aware of some titles you might suggest, but I'd rather have some redundancy than discover later that something legitimate was accidentally omitted. If you're not sure whether I've reviewed a movie yet, just use the search function on the blog to check the title. If it's not on the blog, I want to know, just in case I'm not yet aware of that particular title.
          This is the time to scrape the tiniest crumbs from the bottoms of your brainpans, friends. If there's some oddity you remember seeing once in a grindhouse or some strange thing you came across on cable, let me know. Please share as much or as little detail as you can muster, up to and including links for research or viewing. On my end, I'll identify whether the film actually meets the criteria and, hopefully, add some exciting new discoveries to my master list as this blog segues into its last couple years of fresh publishing.
          Finally, here's a refresher course on the aforementioned criteria, which might help jog your memories and/or save you the trouble of suggesting something that falls outside the scope of Every '70s Movie. The criteria for inclusion is any English-language, U.S.-made (even partially) fictional feature-length film that received a legitimate theatrical release in America from January 1, 1970, to December 31, 1979. Obviously, I'm also writing about documentaries, foreign films, TV movies, and select releases from 1980, but I've got those categories covered. This invitation is all about making sure I haven't missed something obvious (or not so obvious) while assembling my master list of American-produced (or coproduced) movies of the 1970s.
         Thanks in advance for your terrific suggestions, and keep on keepin' on!

35 comments:

deafman16365 said...

What's about 1971 film ''Red Sky at Morning'' with Richard Thomas, Catherine Burns and Desi Arnaz Jr? This is one of the most underrated films!

redeyespy said...

French Quarter, an odd romance/voodoo hybrid from '77 that takes place in present day and turn of the century New Orleans. I caught it on Amazon Instant last year but is no longer offered (now only on disc).

Also from 1977: I remember Mule Feathers running on Showtime in the early '80s. It's a lame talking mule (voiced by Don Knotts) flick.

Love this blog!!

Vintage Bob said...

Lemora, A Child's Tale of the Supernatural

Unknown said...

Welcome Home Soldier Boys - Available on DVD.

The Challenge - ABC made for TV movie with Darren McGavin and Mako, quasi-SF military.

Assault on Paradise, aka Maniac - starring Paul Koslo and Oliver Reed.

The Father Kino Story, aka Padre on Horseback, starring Richard Egan - my dad built the sets for this.

Mike C.

Unknown said...

Also Mad Bull (1977) with Alex Karras and Susan Anspach - a memorable AMC Movie of the Week that mashed up Rocky with Taxi Driver. Karras is a Greek-American ex-Olympian wrestler who has been relegated to the world of pro-wrestling as a heel, to the shame of his father. He decides to fight one last bout, against a egomaniacal Gorgeous George type, for real. Meanwhile, he is being stalked by a Travis-Bickle-like fan.

Mike C.

Hal said...

Three made for TV movies that are hard to find now but highly recommended (and I have been looking for some time): WELCOME HOME, JOHNNY BRISTOL starring Martin Landau, and WHEN HELL WAS IN SESSION and THAT CERTAIN SUMMER, both of these starring Hal Holbrook.

we said...

Stingray (1978) would be a much appreciated review. I remember seeing it more than a few times on HBO when I was a teen. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there's a standalone DVD, but it's part of a 4 disc set called "Packing Heat".

Unknown said...

"Seabo", a man-in-a-southern-prison-camp movies that makes you feel a little greasy and sweaty just watching it. Available in its entirety on YouTube.

Mike C.

Eric Colin said...

Off the top of my head I'd say:

The Magic Garden Of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)
The Todd Killings (1971)

The former being a somewhat bizarre little film that turns from lighthearted comedy into a drug addled nightmare. It is also noteworthy for being Don Johnson's first film.
The latter is a fantastic drive-in flick loosely based on the exploits of Charles Schmidt with Robert Lyons doing a fantastic job in the leading role.

Unknown said...

Uncle Joe Shannon

Tommy Ross said...

Hey Peter! Here's a brief list of some major obscurities I recently watched, most of them suggested by You Tube robots, and don't appear to be on your site. ENJOY!

SKIP TRACER - 1977
BLOOD-STALKERS - 1978
SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT - 1979

redeyespy said...

Two more:

The Lincoln Conspiracy, courtesy of Sunn Classics.


Pardon My Blooper, a collection of old time bloopers and gaffes, many apparently phony, from Kermit Schafer, who released a few LPs of this stuff.

G-8 said...

Viva Max! I believe it's from 1970 with Peter Ustinov, John Astin and Jonathan Winters. Ustinov plays a Mexicsn Grneral who leads his men in a modern day occupation of The Alamo. It's a comedy.

greg6363 said...

Viva Max! was released in December 1969.

By Peter Hanson said...

Thank you all for the suggestions. Keep them coming!

Jesse said...

I second PARDON MY BLOOPER (it's on VHS). Also, 1971's CHAIN GANG WOMEN from Crown International, 1975's SHARKS' TREASURE,1978's animated METAMORPHOSES (aka WINDS OF CHANGE),1970's MARSHA, THE EROTIC HOUSEWIFE, 1974's THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES, 1975's NAUGHTY SCHOOL GIRLS. 1973's JUST BE THERE is also available on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/151909785

D.M. Anderson said...

"The Farmer", a bloody revenge film released by Columbia Pictures in 1977 starring Gary Conway. This film has never been released on video.

Eric Colin said...

Here are some more that come to mind, should you need them.

Marriage Of A Young Stockbroker (1971)
Jud (1971)
Pigeons (1970)
Lisa And The Devil (1973)
Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
Helter Skelter Murders (A.K.A The Other Side Of Madness) 1971

Spaghettiows Boober said...

Tunnel Vision http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075357/

Douglas said...

I remember a TV movie called Fer-de-Lance...today's title would be "Snakes on a Sub"

Louis Letizia said...

The Wild Little Bunch...Half a House....Road to Salina..The People Next Door...One Russian Summer...Nest of Vipers...From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler...Sidecar Racers...Visit to a Chiefs Son...The Voyage...Shoot it Black Shoot it Blue...Harrad Summer...Where Does it Hurt...He is My Brother...Paperback Hero...Crazy World of Julius Vrooder...Echoes of a Summer...Just Crazy About Horses...Five Days From Home...The Thorn...Some of My Best Friends Are...At Last At Last...Deadhead Miles...Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies...Leopard in the Snow...Born Again..The Hard Part Begins..Countdown at Kusini...Forever Young Forever Free..Win Place or Steal...The Washington Affair..Salty...The Touch...Twist...The Passover Plot...The Memory of Us...Project Kill...Fyre..Bittersweet Love..Interval...Rivals...Paco...Summerdog..The Black Pearl..

By Peter Hanson said...

To all who have contributed to this thread so far, you've unearthed a handful of movies that are new to me, so thank you, and keep up the great suggestions! I mean, who knew Bobby Sherman starred in a '70s movie? Bobby Sherman!!! Exactly the sort of under-the-radar oddities I want to know about.

Unknown said...

Night of the Strangler, an obscure 1972 thriller set in New Orleans, starring Micky Dolenz. A soft-looking copy has been uploaded on YouTube. To keep a Monkees theme going, Dolenz also starred in Keep Off My Grass, a comedy directed by Shelly Berman, in 1975.

Unknown said...

A few I don't see here:

The Optimists (good Peter Sellers flick)
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (Awful Peter Sellers flick)
The Mad Adventures of "Rabbi" Jacob (very odd)

Unknown said...

I pay for access to the total digital archives of my hometown newspaper, and I often look back at the movie listings for the 1970s to figure out the date when I saw a particular movie. What is surprising is the sheer number of movies that were showing every week that I have no memory of, never saw, and know nothing about (and I went to the movies about 4 times a week back in the 1970s, usually double or even triple bills). There were so many theaters in those pre-cable days, entry was relatively cheap even in 1970s prices ($1 a carload was not unusual for many drive-ins, which made their overhead on concessions sales), so there was a huge demand for films, often very low budget to feed all those theaters.

For example on this date in 1974, some of the movies showing locally in Phoenix that I have no memory of (and which haven't been covered yet on your always enjoyable blog) include SKALAWAG (1973) with Kirk Douglas and Mark Lester ("A peg legged pirate is searching for treasure with the help of a young boy, teen girl and a parrot. They'll have to fight Natives and his former crew on the way" - IMDB); INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (1972) ("Somewhere in upstate New York, a young woman is terrorized by a group of rural farmers primarily interested in a harvest of blood."); the fascinatingly titled THE RATS ARE COMING, THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE! (1972) ("The daughter in a family of werewolves decides to put an end to the family curse."); THE BLOOD ROSE (1970) ("An artist becomes obsessed with restoring the beautiful face of his badly burned fiancée, resorting to blackmailing a plastic surgeon into a shady operation."); WHERE DOES IT HURT (1972) a comedy with Peter Sellers and Jo Ann Pflug ("A corrupt hospital administrator decides to get as much money as possible from the patients by any means necessary - lie, cheat or steal."); THE SWAPPERS (1970) ("Six unconnected stories involving wife and husband swapping, or swinging, are described in a titillating way while analyzed by a pseudo psychologist."); THE SWINGING STEWARDESSES (1971) ("Four intercontinental airplane stewardesses based in New York fly to various sexual experiences all over Europe, including Zurich, Copenhagen, Rome and Munich."); CRAZY LARRY, DIRTY MARY (1974) with Peter Fonda and Susan George ("Larry and Deke are a small time car racing duo who rob a grocery store, and plan to use the proceeds to buy an expensive race car in order to win more races and break in to the professional NASCAR circuit"); and THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND OF CAPTAIN NEMO - not the Ray Harryhausen version, but a Spanish 1973 remake with Omar Sharif as Captain Nemo. (One could still see films from the 1960s on the bottom half of a double bill at drive-ins, letting you catch up - the second half of the bill for this was 1968's KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA.)

And that's just one week's worth of films!

There were SO many films made in the 1970s...

greg6363 said...

Slow Dancing in the Big City, John Avildsen's follow up to Rocky was released by United Artists in 1978 but has never received a home video release due to music licensing issues.

Louis Letizia said...

The American Game was a basketball documentary a 1 /4 of a century before Hoop Dreams...Towing...Dance of Death...Alpha Beta...The Rubber Gun...Meetings With Remarkable Men..The Space Movie...The Ra Expeditions..The Stoolie...When You Comin Back Red Ryder? ....Parades...Beware My Your Brethern..Derby...Good Luck Ms Wyckoff...The Statue...Like it Is...tv movie Short Walk to Daylight....Bully....Hang Up..Extreme Close Up..Your Three Minutes Are Up...

redeyespy said...

One for "1980 Week":

Night of the Juggler, with James Brolin as a highly pissed off father trying to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Far from perfect movie, but if nothing else a perfect time capsule for scuzzy late '70s NYC.

Unknown said...

Also worth checking for ideas - "The ABC Movie of the Week: Big Movies for the Small Screen" by Michael Mckenna (Scarecrow Press) - an exhaustive listing and analysis of every ABC made for TV movie.

- Mike C

Frank said...

How about I'm A Fool with Ron Howard and Amy Irving 1977

Lj letizia said...

Goodbye Franklin High ...Cry For Me Billy...Cry of the Penguins....

Lj letizia said...

Half a House has got to be the most obscire Oscar nominated movie ever (Best Song 1976). Another is Looking Up from 1977

r3e said...

Lisa and the Devil....starring Telly Savalis as the devil.

Unknown said...

Night Flowers 1978
Tale of 2 disturbed Vets faling to adjust to life back in the world set in flea pit locations in New Jersey

redeyespy said...

Smile Orange from 1976. Jamaican feature starring Carl Bradshaw, who was in The Harder They Come. I believe the film had an American release and is available on DVD.