The Year in Review- 1973

It was the year "the scariest movie ever made" added class and award-caliber credibility to the horror genre. Al Pacino joined the police force, Jack Nicholson joined the Navy, and Sissy Spacek joined a murderous Martin Sheen. Robert Redford reunited with Paul Newman, Robert De Niro met Martin Scorsese, and Marlon Brando used butter. Here are the ten best films in order for 1973.

1. "The Exorcist"(1973) William's Friedkin's second masterpiece(the first was "The French Connection") has lost none of it's shocking, diabolical power in the five decades since it's December 26th release. I know adults that are still scared of this movie. Think about that for a minute. Writer William Peter Blatty, adapting his own 1971 novel, constructs the chilling tale of a Georgetown actress whose preteen daughter is possessed by the devil, and the two heroic priests called upon to save her. Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Ellen Burstyn, and a 13 year old Linda Blair are all excellent. Friedkin's direction was flawless during a famously tough six-month shoot, and two sequels and two prequels never came close. David Gordon Green has a new reboot trilogy planned. Good luck with that.

2. "Serpico"(1973) Al Pacino is absolutely great as an honest member of law enforcement in Sidney Lumet's gritty fact-based police drama. Frank Serpico joined the NYPD in 1959 and went from clean-shaven, idealistic patrolman to bearded undercover whistleblower who took a bullet to the face in Brooklyn, eleven years later. His efforts to expose rampant systemic corruption led to drastic change and the Peter Maas book that inspired this film. Many quality actors appear in small roles, too many to name, and Lumet achieves authenticity in 104 actual locations and a screenplay by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler.

3. "Badlands"(1973) Terrence Malick's low-budget($300,000), delectably-low key directorial debut, which he also wrote, set up the audacious auteur for lifelong fame and acclaim. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek were discovered by audiences in roles loosely inspired by infamous 1950s couple Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate. The great outdoors became a Malick trademark, as the dead-end South Dakota duo were lovingly lensed by first-time cinematographer Tak Fujimoto. The poetic "Badlands" was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry on it's 20th anniversary in 1993.

4. "The Last Detail"(1973) Jack Nicholson increased his cool factor as irrepressible Navy lifer Billy "Bad-Ass" Buddusky in director Hal Ashby's naturalistic dramady. His assignment, along with partner Otis Young, is to deliver a thieving young recruit from Virginia to Portsmouth Naval Prison in Maine. Randy Quaid's quietly-sympathetic sailor was his most serious acting role before broad comedy redefined his career. "Detail" captures the rowdy free spirit AND sobering cynicism of it's time, while Robert Towne's realistic screenplay doesn't contain one false note.

5. "Mean Streets"(1973) You don't make up for your sins in church. That's bullshit and you know it. Martin Scorsese's first great movie is rough, and raw, and contains many of the hallmarks of his legendary career- dimly-lit bars, improvisation, jukebox hits, clever camerawork, Catholicism. It's all right here. Harvey Keitel headlines as a young hood in Little Italy, and a 29 year old Robert De Niro is dynamite, in his breakthrough role, as his volatile sidekick Johnny Boy. The De Niro-Scorsese tandem would last for ten films("Killers of the Flower Moon" marks their 50th anniversary in 2023), and is simply the greatest actor-director partnership of all time.

6. "The Sting"(1973) Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and director George Roy Hill, the titanic trio behind "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", reunited for the spiritual sequel to that 1969 classic. Add Robert Shaw to the mix as a Depression-era crime boss, and you've got another major box office success. David S. Ward's celebrated screenplay has the two cool con men hatching complex plots in Joliet and Chicago with Edith Head's 1930s costume design, a memorable Marvin Hamlisch/Scott Joplin score, and a great ending(spoiler alert- they get to live this time). A high-class production, "The Sting" won seven of it's ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Director.

7. "Paper Moon"(1973) Let's be grateful that Ryan and Tatum O'Neal got along well enough to light up Peter Bogdanovich's best film(I'm not a big "Last Picture Show" guy). The famous father-daughter duo had crackling chemistry as unlikely con artists in Kansas and Missouri in 1936. An eight-year old Tatum is terrific in a landmark child-star performance, and is still the youngest competitive Academy Award winner in history. Madeline Kahn also earned a Supporting Actress nomination as a fellow traveling trickster. Now, eat your Coney Island and enjoy the deep-focus black-and-white cinematography of Laszlo Kovacs and Alvin Sargent's savory screenplay.

8. "American Graffiti"(1973) This ensemble coming-of-age crowd-pleaser had a huge, far-reaching impact on pop culture- TV's soon-to-be #1 show "Happy Days", '90s indie darling "Dazed and Confused", and yes, "STAR WARS" wouldn't exist without it. A then-unknown George Lucas co-wrote and directed a semi-autobiographical, slice-of-life tale set entirely on the last day of summer in 1962 Modesto, California, with 40 songs, 300 cars, and a critical assist from friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola. Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Philips, and a Stetson-wearing Harrison Ford all appear. "Graffiti" was nominated for Best Picture, and earned $115 million in the U.S. on a $777,000 budget.

9. "Last Tango in Paris"(1973) Marlon Brando gave one of the five best performances of his career in this pitch-black drama, that may now be too tough for 21st Century viewers to take. Does writer-director Bernardo Bertolucci deserve to be posthumously cancelled for the treatment of 20 year old neophyte Maria Schneider? The butter scene is scandalous, but as the real star, and real protagonist, the French actress had reason to be proud of this role. The best fuck you're ever going to get is in this apartment. Suicide, depression, masochism, sexual exploitation. "Last Tango" is the textbook definition of challenging art.

10. "Save the Tiger"(1973) Jack Lemmon toppled Brando, Pacino, Redford, and Nicholson to take the Best Actor Oscar as bitter, burnt-out, morally-compromised businessman Harry Stoner in this still-relevant drama from "Rocky" director John G. Avildsen. Small businesses were going up in flames before the Vietnam War had even concluded, and Lemmon's nervous energy and desperation is evident in nearly every frame. It's almost fitting that "Tiger" faded from America's collective memory in much the same way as it's tired protagonist knows he won't have a job in a few years. Theater vet Jack Gilford is good as his reluctant partner-in-crime.

Honorable Mentions- "The Offence"(1973) Sean Connery is a crazed cop in this dark Sidney Lumet drama. "Scarecrow"(1973) Al Pacino and Gene Hackman are dirty drifters in this downbeat gem. "Walking Tall"(1973) Joe Don Baker carries a big club. "High Plains Drifter"(1973) Clint Eastwood directs and stars in another cowboy classic. "Coffy"(1973) Here's Pam Grier. "The Friends of Eddie Coyle"(1973) Robert Mitchum doesn't have any. "A Touch of Class"(1973) Glenda Jackson wins Best Actress again. "Live and Let Die"(1973) Roger Moore debuts as 007. "Enter the Dragon"(1973) Bruce Lee is immortalized. "White Lightning"(1973) Burt Reynolds is Bobby 'Gator' McKlusky. "A Doll's House"(1973) Jane Fonda in 19th Century Norway. "The Way We Were"(1973) Barbra Streisand wins Best Original Song. "Chino"(1973) Charles Bronson owns a ranch in this lightweight Western. "Don't Look Now"(1973) Nicolas Roag directed 1973's OTHER horror classic. "Charley Varrick"(1973) Walter Matthua was a movie star. "Robin Hood"(1973) The Disney animated version. "The Seven-Ups"(1973) Roy Scheider chases more bad guys. "Magnum Force"(1973) The second "Dirty Harry" movie. "Papillon"(1973) Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman in a French prison in 1933. "Sleeper"(1973) Woody Allen wakes up in the year 2173. "The Day of the Dolphin"(1973) Mike Nichols and George C. Scott were out to sea.

The Year in Review- 1975

It was the year Jack Nicholson went to the nut house and Steven Spielberg got the whole country OUT of the house. Al Pacino yelled "Attica!", Stanley Kubrick staged the Seven Years' War, and Walter Matthua bickered with George Burns. Charles Bronson was a champion, Robert Altman was the critics' choice, and Woody Allen whined his way through the Russian army. Here are the ten best films in order for 1975.

1. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"(1975) Jack Nicholson is fantastic as an anarchic mental patient in Milos Forman's masterful adaptation of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel. When Kirk Douglas aged out of his Broadway role, Randle MacMurphy quickly became a quintessential Nicholson characterization. Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched is a bone-chilling portrait of subtle villainy and stone-cold bureaucracy, and her Oregon institution(that was supposed to be better than prison), is populated by a plethora of acting talents- Danny DeVito, Christopher LLoyd, Brad Dourif, Will Sampson. "Cuckoo's Nest" collected the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay(the big five), and is one of the best dramas of all time.

2. "Jaws"(1975) A 28 year old Steven Spielberg became an industry icon, seemingly overnight, with the release of "the first summer blockbuster", an expertly-crafted, crowd-pleasing adaptation of Peter Benchley's 1974 novel. The legacy and impact of the second-biggest movie of the '70s(behind "Star Wars") can't possibly be overstated. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw needed a bigger boat on their quest to kill a great white shark with an appetite for Long Island beachgoers. This memorable trio made movie history, thanks to John Williams' sensational score and Spielberg's supremely-skilled treatment of B-movie material that could have easily sank without a trace in lesser hands. "Jaws" became shorthand for superior entertainment, and nearly fifty years later, I still can't go in the water.

3. "Serpico"(1975) "Attica, Attica!" Al Pacino extended his hot streak with an electrifying turn as inept Brooklyn bank robber Sonny Wortzik in this fact-based drama from his famed "Serpico" director Sidney Lumet. Truth is stranger than fiction, as the sweaty events of August 22nd 1972 proved. Pacino's three-time costar, the late, great John Cazale only appeared in five films, all of which were nominated for Best Picture. Charles Durning was ideally cast as the street cop summoned to a fourteen-hour hostage situation, while Chris Sarandon's debut was a respectful early representation of the gay community. Frank Pierson's heavily-researched script won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

4. "The Sunshine Boys"(1975) Walter Matthua and George Burns made a wonderful duo(even though they could barely be in the same room) in this classy Neil Simon-scripted comedy, based on his popular 1972 play. I had the good fortune of coming across crusty vaudevillians Willy Clark and Al Lewis as a channel-surfing teenager, and have had considerably higher comedic standards than my unevolved peers ever since. Director Herbert Ross, a frequent Simon collaborator, maximizes the potential of every priceless exchange, giving the 79 year old Burns an unexpected career revival. Richard Benjamin deserves a mention as Matthua's long-suffering nephew/agent.

5. "Barry Lyndon"(1975) Stanley Kubrick's least-celebrated major work, based on William Makepeace Thackeray's 1844 novel, is still miles better than what most directors could manage on their best day. Ryan O'Neal's title character is an 18th Century Irish rogue, a duellist, a deserter, and a testament to his stature in the industry at the time. John Alcott's Oscar-winning composition and natural light will turn you into a film snob if you make it through all three hours. While not a box office success, "Lyndon" and it's 300-day Dublin shoot has only grown in the public's estimation in the decades since, as Kubrick productions tend to do.

6. "Hard Times"(1975) Walter Hill's white-knuckled directorial debut set the tone for the unapologetic masculinity that would define his entire forty-year film career. Charles Bronson was a hard man, no acting required, and his Depression-era drifter found the tigh-lipped tough guy at his most commercially viable. Now, let's hear it for producer Lawrence Gordon, for giving us so many good times. James Coburn handles the cash as a bare-knuckle boxing manager in Louisiana. Bronson's real-life wife and frequent costar Jill Ireland was at her loveliest as his romantic interest.

7. "Nashville"(1975) Robert Altman's sprawling, plotless ode to the country music scene serves up an hour's worth of stage performances and a rich ensemble cast(Henry Gibson, Ned Beatty, Michael Murphy, Keith Carradine, Lily Tomlin, Shelley Duvall) to make up for it's total lack of formal narrative structure. Altman has always been an acquired taste- you either jive with his loose fly-on-the-wall style or you don't. "Nashville" sits right next to "MASH" for those that enjoy the fresh air, firmly establishing the brazenly unconventional director as one of the essential artists of 1970s cinema.

8. "The Passenger"(1975) Jack Nicholson had four films released in 1975, and this is the other good one. "Blow-Up" director Michelangelo Antonioni's slow-moving, slow-burn travelogue about a roaming, disillusioned journalist in Spain and North Africa, hasn't got any of the music cues, expository dialogue, or plot resolution that U.S. audiences are accustomed to. What it does have is stunning camerawork from Luciano Tovoli, and an existential identity crisis hanging over it's tired protagonist. Maria Schneider of "Last Tango" fame, is quietly affecting as 'The Girl', his loyal young companion. "The Passenger" was impossible to find until Jack participated in a 30th anniversary DVD release. The last fifteen minutes separate the film freaks from everyone else.

9. "Love and Death"(1975) Woody Allen and Diane Keaton firmed up their fruitful partnership in what may be the prolific writer-director's fastest, funniest film. Russian literature, Allen favorite Ingmar Bergman, and Napoleon Bonaparte(James Tolkan) are among the satiric targets of this 85 minute trip to the war-torn 19th Century. I can't decide what I love more- Keaton's enthusiasm and wonderful facial expressions or the bouncy "Troika" theme, borrowed from Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev.

10. "The Prisoner of Second Avenue"(1975) A jumpy, jaded Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft are a struggling couple in Neil Simon's New York, where the robberies outnumber the job opportunities for regressing 48 year old men. This was the apex of the city's spiritual and fiscal crisis, pre-Gerald Ford bailout, but it's all played for laughs in Melvin Frank's ace adaptation of one of Simon's lesser-known works, that still ran for 798 performances on Broadway. When you give up the right to complain, you cease to exist. "Prisoner" is a comedy for those that feel like one, in these anxious, uncertain times. PEGOT winner Marvin Hamlisch("The Sting", "The Way We Were") provided the musical score.

Honorable Mentions- "Shampoo"(1975) Warren Beatty was a womanizer. "Brannigan"(1975) John Wayne journeys to London. "The Great Waldo Pepper"(1975) The great Robert Redford and George Roy Hill. "The Day of the Locust"(1975) John Schlesinger depicts 1930s Hollywood. "Breakout"(1975) Charles Bronson speaks. "The Eiger Sanction"(1975) Clint Eastwood climbs a mountain. "French Connection II"(1975) Popeye is back by popular demand. "Night Moves"(1975) Gene Hackman made plenty of moves. "Smile"(1975) Michael Ritchie directs a beauty pageant. "Three Days of the Condor"(1975) Robert Redford vs. Max von Sydow. "Picnic at Hanging Rock"(1975) Schoolgirls disappear in Peter Weir's breakthrough. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"(1975) I went to a Halloween screening, it was quite the scene. "Rooster Cogburn"(1975) John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn. "The Man Who Would Be King"(1975) Sean Connery and Michael Caine reign over this John Huston epic.

Great Movies- Unforgiven

Thirty years ago today,