Blockbusters and Birdwalks

This is the first part of an eight-part series about difficult movies. 

Part 2 will focus on Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris”. Part 3 will focus on Don Edmonds’s “Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS”. Part 4 will focus on Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct”. Part 5 will focus on Terry Jones’s “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”. Part 6 will focus on Martin Scorsese’s “Last Temptation of Christ”. Part 7 will focus on Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled”. Part 8 will focus on Dinesh D’Souza's “2000 Mules”.

***

Referenced media:

• “Bone Tomahawk” (S. Craig Zahler, 2015)
• “Brawl in Cell Block 99” (S. Craig Zahler, 2017)
• “The Passion of the Christ” (Mel Gibson, 2004)
• "Tim” (Michael Pate, 1979)
• “Pulp Fiction” (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

Audio quotation:

• “Dragged Across Concrete” (S. Craig Zahler, 2019), including the songs “Street Corner Felines” (featuring Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, and The O’Jays), “Don’t Close the Drive In” (featuring Butch Tavares), and “Shotgun Safari” (featuring Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, and The O’Jays) written by Jeff Herriott and S. Craig Zahler 

"Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter again in your life as much as you do right now."

"Half my life is over and I have nothing to show for it. Nothing. I'm a thumbprint on the window of a skyscraper. I'm a smudge of excrement on a tissue surging out to sea with a million tons of raw sewage."

This is the sixth part of a six-part series about American movies from 1976. 

Part 1 focused on John G. Avildsen’s “Rocky”. Part 2 focused on James Fargo’s “The Enforcer”. Part 3 focused on Michael Ritchie’s “The Bad News Bears”. Part 4 focused on John Cassavetes’s “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie”. Part 5 focused on Brian De Palma’s “Obsession”.

***

Referenced media:

• “King Kong” (Merien C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)
• “King Kong” (Peter Jackson, 2005)
• “Man on Wire” (James Marsh, 2008)
• “The Wiz” (Sidney Lumet, 1978)
• “Design for a Living” (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933)
• “Transformers” (Michael Bay, 2007)
• “An American Werewolf in London” (John Landis, 1981)
• “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (Peter Jackson, 2001)
• “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (Peter Jackson, 2002)
• “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (Peter Jackson, 2003)
• “The Hidden Fortress” (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)
• “Nashville” (Robert Altman, 1975)
• “Benson” (Susan Harris, 1979-1986)
• “The Little Mermaid” (John Musker and Ron Clements, 1989)
• “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1989)
• “Marathon Man” (John Schlesinger, 1976)
• “Car Wash” (Michael Schultz, 1976)
• “Gold Told Me To” (Larry Cohen, 1976)
• “Carrie” (Brian De Palma, 1976)
• “Assault on Precinct 13” (John Carpenter, 1976)
• “Rocky” (John G. Avildsen, 1976)
• “Bound for Glory” (Hal Ashby, 1976)
• “A Star Is Born” (Frank Pierson, 1976)
• “Silver Streak” (Arthur Hiller, 1976)
• “The Shaggy D.A.” (Robert Stevenson, 1976)
• “Freaky Friday” (Gary Nelson, 1976)
• “Wizards” (Ralph Bakshi, 1977)
• “Slap Shot” (George Roy Hill, 1977)
• “Jaws” (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
• “Batman” (William Dozier, 1966-1968)

"It looks like we're up chocolate creek without a Popsicle stick!"

This is the fifth part of a six-part series about American movies from 1976. 

Part 1 focused on John G. Avildsen’s “Rocky”. Part 2 focused on James Fargo’s “The Enforcer”. Part 3 focused on Michael Ritchie’s “The Bad News Bears”. Part 4 focused on John Cassavetes’s “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie”. Part 6 will focus on John Guillermin’s “King Kong”.

***

Referenced media:

• “Old Boy” (Park Chan-wood, 2003)
• “Vertigo” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
• “Casualties of War” (Brian De Palma, 1989)
• “Sneak Previews” (Thea Flaum, 1975-1996)
• “Greetings” (Brian De Palma, 1968)
• “Psycho” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
• “Carrie” (Brian De Palma, 1976)
• “Jaws” (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
• “Star Wars” (George Lucas, 1977)
• “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
• “The Simpsons” (Matt Groening, 1989-now)
• “The Tenant” (Roman Polanski, 1976)
• “Silent Movie” (Mel Brooks, 1976)
• “Logan’s Run” (Michael Anderson, 1976)
• “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson” (Robert Altman, 1976)
• “The Omen” (Richard Donner, 1976)
• “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (Clint Eastwood, 1976)
• “The Opening of Misty Beethoven” (Radley “Henry Paris” Metzer, 1976)
• “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” (John Badham, 1976)
• “Saturday Night Fever” (John Badham, 1977)
• “The Return of a Man Called Horse” (Irvin Kershner, 1976)
• “The Empire Strikes Back” (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
• “The Shootist” (Don Siegel, 1976), 
• “Bugsy Malone” (Alan Parker, 1976)
• “Scarface” (Howard Hawks, 1932)

"Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do."

EXTREMELY PROFANE QUOTATION OF EXTREMELY PROFANE MOVIE AHEAD!

This is the fourth part of a six-part series about American movies from 1976. 

Part 1 focused on John G. Avildsen’s “Rocky”. Part 2 focused on James Fargo’s “The Enforcer”. Part 3 focused on Michael Ritchie’s “The Bad News Bears”. Part 5 will focus on Brian De Palma’s “Obsession”. Part 6 will focus on John Guillermin’s “King Kong”.

***

Referenced media:

• “Rosemary’s Baby” (Roman Polanski, 1968)
• “The Dirty Dozen” (Robert Aldrich, 1967)
• “Mean Streets” (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
• “The Godfather” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
• “Ambulance” (Michael Bay, 2022)
• “Con Air” (Simon West, 1997)
• “Road House” (Rowdy Herrington, 1989)
• “Taxi Driver” (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
• “Grey Gardens” (David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer, 1975)
• “The Room” (Tommy Wiseau, 2003)
• “Big Shark” (Tommy Wiseau, TBD)

"A rare beauty in the North. She's the finest lady on earth. A glance from her, the whole city goes down. A second glance leaves the nation in ruins. There exists no city or nation that has been more cherished than a beauty like this."