Zardoz (1974)

I’m pretty sure I think John Boorman is obnoxious. Zardoz is definitely obnoxious. I found it outrageously unfocused and wildly sexist. Strangest of all, perhaps, is that even though Sean Connery wears an outrageous red speedo for the entirety of the film, Zardoz just isn’t that much fun, despite being a sci-fi adventure film.

The Longest Yard (1974)

Burt Reynolds was at the top of his game in the mid-1970s. He made so many good movies. The Longest Yard is a really brutal film about prison violence. It is, however, a raucous comedy in the style of film Reynolds excelled at making. I absolutely enjoyed the hell out of this. Burt wears an incredible pair of pants in his first scene, and look out for Bernadette Peters in a small role as a horny secretary. The other true, brilliant highlight of The Longest Yard is the cheerleading squad during the big game, which consists of a total of nine beautiful prison queens who all take their wigs off at the end of the game. It's fabulous.

The Island at the Top of the World (1974)

The Island at the Top of the World is good, adventurous Disney fun in the vein of Journey to the Center of the Earth.

The plot of this, incidentally, is an absurdity, but who cares.

I watched this on Disney+.

Arabian Nights (Il Fiore delle Mille e Una Notte)

I loved Pasolini's Decameron, and I loved this adaptation of the Thousand and One Nights. I know that Arabian Nights and The Decameron are allegedly both supposed to part of some "trilogy of life". I put no stock in that at all, but this film is very similar in form to The Decameron, and I loved it for that. This is a sexy, romantic, delightful romp. With its scenes of homosexuality, explicit heterosexual sex, and erect penises, Arabian Nights was, unsurprisingly, not released in the United States until much later. 

It's quite clear, though, that Pasolini – with this film and with the Decameron – is interested in sex as something unsullied and pure, something that cultures try to disrupt and destroy. For him, these films that adapt stories from the medieval period are really showing us this purity.

Il Fiore delle Mille e Una Notte is also notable for the way it treats Ninetto Davoli, Pasolini's longtime lover. This was their final film together, and Davoli left Pasolini to go marry a woman. In the Mille e Una Notte, Davoli's character is violently punished for his faithlessness and callousness.

The Widow Couderc (1971)

La Veuve Couderc (The Widow Couderc) – which was released in France in 1971 and in the U.S. in 1974 – is a lovely, sultry film about a widow and a younger man and their love story. He is a criminal, of course, and the small town's morality won't let these two people be happy, but I liked this a lot. Also, listen: if there is any excuse to watch Simone Signoret in absolutely anything, I just go ahead and take it. As far as I know, she's never given a performance that I didn't adore. She's just a brilliant performer, and I am always happy to watch her. As for Alain Delon... that icy stare is perfection (although I do like him better sans moustache).

I watched this as part of the Criterion Channel's Alain Delon series. It's last day on the Channel is January 31st, so I wanted to see this film before it left.

La Tregua (1974)

Truce is a sweet, sad film from Sergio Renán. It's anchored by a quietly brilliant performance from Héctor Alterio. An older man is bored with his life and is working only so that he can retire. His relationship with his kids is slightly strained but this is only because they're in their twenties and need to live their own lives. What is the father with the empty nest to do? This one falls in love with a young woman, and the whole thing is just charming as hell. This is quite enjoyable.

I will say that this is one of a number of pictures from this period nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar where we watch an older man fall in love again and rediscover a youthful verve in his dotage.

La Tregua deserves special mention for its homosexual subplot. The main character's younger son is a gay man who is in the closet, and part of the plot is an involved discussion of homosexuality and happiness.

In Danger and Dire Distress the Middle of the Road Leads to Death (1974)

In Gefahr und Größter Not Bringt der Mittelweg den Tod (In Danger and Dire Distress the Middle of the Road Leads to Death) is a protest drama from West Germany in the mid-1970s. It's interesting as a kind of time capsule of politics from the period. And the filmmaking is intriguing. But this style of thing just isn't for me. Why am I not into documentaries? I do not understand this about myself.

Je Tu Il Elle (1974)

Ok. Well Je Tu Il Elle is unlike anything I've ever seen. I liked it a lot, actually. And it is amazing to see Niels Arestrup at such a young age!! This is the second Chantal Akerman movie I've seen in as many months. Both of them were strange and I was into both, as well.

I watched this on the Criterion Channel, which is showing a whole bunch of Akerman movies. This one was her first and it's famous for a real-time lesbian sex scene, which was (obviously) why I watched it.

The Little Prince (1974)

The Little Prince is actually quite a charming movie musical. I loved the Lerner and Loewe songs. This is in spite of the fact that the Bob Fosse number is super weird and I've never really liked Gene Wilder. But all of the stuff with Richard Kiley and the boy is pretty great, and I liked the Donna McKechnie stuff, as well. And this film was orchestrated by Angela Morley, which is fun, even if Loewe, apparently, refused to go oversee the orchestration because he was unhappy with the studio at the moment. Drama.

Lacombe Lucien

I think the trouble with Louis Malle's Lacombe Lucien is Lucien himself. He's an awful little entitled young man who winds up working for the Nazis in the south of France. I guess I'm not sure what I was supposed to like about him. Of course, he's a stupid little boy, who doesn't have many options in life, but he knows he could do better, he just chooses the easiest, most violent path possible. Malle's film is well made, of course, but I don't think I liked it much. The film's best performance is by Holger Löwenadler, who plays the father of the woman Lucien claims he loves.

The Three Musketeers (1974)

Now I know The Three Musketeers was originally written for the Beatles, and so its madcap humor is supposed to work in a particular way, but the trouble is I just didn't think any of this was really very funny.

The costumes are very, very cool. Honestly. But the rest of this thing just didn't really work. Its humor was sort of lost on me, and I really thought that both Michael York and Raquel Welch were boring. My lord Welch is beautiful, but she is truly terrible in this movie.

I've been curious to see this film (and its sequel The Four Musketeers) since I read in Faye Dunaway's autobiography that the actors thought they were only making one film. (You can read about this, but the actors sued, and now there is a clause in every SAG contract that the actor is only making a single film.)

Reading reviews of this movie, I feel like maybe I missed something – like maybe the jokes were just going over my head...? Perhaps they were. I will probably watch the sequel too. Maybe I'll start to understand Richard Lester's humor when Faye is onscreen more.