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.