Over the Edge: The 70's Cult Movie Guide

Something unanticipated happened when I wrote about the movie Xanadu for LeisureSuit.net--freaks and weirdoes came out of the woodwork to honor what I thought was a campy, long-forgotten teen flick from my teen years. Many of those responding were either small children, or sometimes not even born when the movie came out in 1980. "Why on earth would anyone champion this movie?" I asked myself.

And it got me thinking--it's time to do a general overview of my cult favorites from the 70's. Why now? Just for the hell of it, and because I'd better do it now before I forget most of this stuff. Please understand: there are literally thousands of movies one could fit into this category, from the completely obscure, to major-studio releases that have either fallen by the wayside or were never big hits to begin with. This article is in no way meant as a quantitative overview--if it were qualitative, I wouldn't even be doing it. It's simply meant as a chance for me to recall many of the off-kilter movies of the 70's that have stuck with me, and many that I have tracked down over the years, some in the wonderful used bins of various Manhattan video stores.

The only constant? I can't think of anything profoundly sociological to impart here--like the 70's, this article is a great big mess. The only constant is that a vast majority of these movies were shown five times a day on Home Box Office. Back then, HBO only showed "really bad" movies five times a day, usually in the morning , late-night and afternoon. I'd turn on HBO by chance on a summer's day and bark, "Oh, shit, they're showing Over the Edge again."

If only I'd known that that would be the last time I'd see some of these movies. I'm not sure if VCR's existed back then (these were the days of Beta), and even if they had, there was no damn way my father could afford one, as getting HBO was enough of a financial stretch. If not for HBO, I would not have known many of these movies, as they came and went in a flash in theaters, not to mention I was too young for some of the R-rated selections. As for the inclusion of early-80's movies and far fewer movies in the early 70's, this was due to two things: 1) my age, as I was a small child in the early 70's and not really up on cult movies; and 2) every decade tends to have a spill-over effect, i.e., trends that were big at the end of one will not stop cold as a new decade begins. Thus, there were a ton of early 80's movies that feel now like 70's movies.

There will be plenty of movies I have missed (some on purpose) and even a few here which aren't typically cult movies, but somehow have that feel now. So, sit back and enjoy, whether this dredges up memories or seems like a foreign language.

Bless the Beasts and the Children (1971)
Director: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Bill Mumy, Barry Robins, Miles Chapin

This is an odd flick about a bunch of misfit kids in Arizona who take it upon themselves to save a buffalo herd set for slaughter--with disastrous results for one of the gang. This movie is notable for three key contributions: 1) the groovy theme song by the then red-hot Carpenters; 2) use of the song "Nadia's Theme," which went on to be the theme for the soap opera The Young and the Restless and a massive mid-70's hit. (That wasn't its title then--the piece got its name when ABC used the music for stories on Romanian gymnast Nadia Comenici while she piled up gold-medal performances in the 1976 Olympics.) And 3) Bill Mumy got to strut his stuff outside the environs of his hit show, "Lost in Space". Overall, a pretty hackneyed, awful movie, but it brought many a tear to teenage iconoclasts' eyes at the time.

The sequel, boasting of Michael Jackson's Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning theme song. (We couldn't find a picture of the original.)
Willard (1971)
Director: Daniel Mann
Starring: Bruce Davison, Ernest Borgnine, Elsa Lanchester, Sondra Locke

Willard is like The Blob with rats instead of oozing goo. Willard, as played by Bruce Davison, is a momma's boy who lets everyone push him around, including Al Martin (played by pretty boy Ernest Borgnine), who runs Willard's late father's business. What no one knows: Willard has two rats for friends that he names Ben and Socrates. They live with him in his mother's run-down mansion. (And, as we find out later, Ben and Socrates are quite the gadflies and have scores of rat friends hiding out in the mansion.) When Willard's mother dies, Martin flies into a rage and kills Socrates, which devastates Willard, not to mention Ben, who, with a little help from his friends, treats Martin like Swiss cheese. Willard is not to be confused with its lesser sequel, Ben, which had a dynamite theme song courtesy of a pre-nutjob Michael Jackson.

Billy Jack (1971)/The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
Director: Tom Laughlin
Starring: Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor

If you're looking for true early 70's rebellion, Billy Jack was it. Billy, as portrayed by Tom Laughlin, was a rebel ex-Green Beret, half-Indian who lived in the hills outside of a "hippie" school run out West by Taylor, who had that earth-mother vibe down perfectly and, naturally, was in love with Billy, along with all her fawning, highly-dysfunctional students, who were all hot tail in that Karen Valentine way. (Karen Valentine, object of my first few hard-ons along with Julie Newmar as Catwoman on Batman, was one of the leads in the TV series Room 222.)

The movie is a bit confused, but the confusion is essential to Billy's character--whether to strive for peace in a violent world, or use violence against those who clearly don't want peace. There are plenty of cool kung fu action sequences where Billy kicks major redneck ass. (When he takes his big, black cowboy hat off, sighs and starts rubbing his face, look out.) Much wacky spiritual stuff ensues, including Billy's snake dance, where he lets rattlesnakes bite him as part of an ancient Indian purification rite. The scenes between the uptight town folk and the wild hippie kids are priceless. (Watch for a young Howard "WKRP in Cincinnati" Hesseman as part of the goofy hippie acting troupe.) The sequel is more of the same--and made Laughlin a mint at the time.

Theatre of Blood (1973)
Director: Douglas Hickox
Starring: Vincent Price, Diana Rigg

Price plays Edward Lionheart, an over-the-top Shakespearean actor who had his career killed by numerous bad reviews and appeared to commit suicide by jumping from the veranda of one of those critic's luxury apartments . . . only to resurface years later with an outcast group of hippies and street trash, with the sole purpose of killing off his critics via various Shakespearean murder scenes. This is Vincent Price at his best--casting subtlety to the wind and over-acting his ass off. There's an odd glitter rock feel to this movie, as it took place in London right when Bowie and T. Rex were kicking in. In his own way, this is Price's warped stab at rock stardom, and he makes it.

Mean Streets (1973)
Director: Martin Scorcese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel

This movie is too big to be a cult favorite. But it's notable for one key element in terms of cult flicks: the use of identifiable rock music in the soundtrack in lieu of usually less-vivid background music. This was where it all began, whether it was the one-two punch of the Rolling Stones' "Tell Me" and "Jumping Jack Flash" in the bar scene where we first see Johnny Boy, or the brilliant use of "Please Mr. Postman" in the pool-hall fight scene. This was exciting stuff as the music perfectly suited the action, and no one had the bright idea to do this before. It would play an integral role in weaving popular music into movies, to the point now where soundtracks are often either far too intrusive, or occasionally better than their movies.

That'll Be the Day/Stardust (1973/74)
Director: Claude Watham/Michael Apted
Starring: David Essex

That'll Be the Day is sort of a British American Graffiti in that it sets out to define England in the late 50's, as American rock music is tearing up the charts. Rather than having fun, though, David Essex plays Jim Maclaine, a young boy who drops out of school to work in a seaside holiday camp with, of all people, Ringo Starr, who actually did do the kind of menial chores (running bumper cars and Ferris wheels) portrayed in the movie. (It's worth the rental price just to see Ringo in mutton chops and cheap period duds playing miniature golf.) It's a gray, ugly British film, but perfect in the way it nails the mundanity of British working-class life at the time, and how much of a jolt rock was in that context. The movie ends with Maclaine dumping his young wife and child (as his World War II-bound father had done at the movie's start) to buy a guitar in a pawn shop.

Stardust is the sequel, and currently unavailable on video. My memory is vague on it, but I recall the Essex character becoming a massive superstar, only to flame out on drugs and ego trips once he ditches his band and turns into the lonely genius. Whereas That'll Be the Day essayed late-50's England, Stardust set out to document a rock star's rise to fame in the 60's and subsequent flame-out in the 70's. Keith Moon appears in both movies, and as far as I'm concerned you can ditch Tommy and The Wall as rock-idol movies of choice in favor of Stardust--if only you could find it anywhere.

The Groove Tube (1974)
Director: Ken Shapiro
Starring: Ken Shapiro, Chevy Chase, Richard Belzer, Lane Sarasohn

The Groove Tube was revolutionary at the time--an R-rated send-up of American television, complete with commercials. Surprisingly enough, it holds up today, albeit with the occasional slow-developing laugh that audiences would not have the patience for now. A lot of gratuitous nudity and drug references. One thing I never understood about The Groove Tube--it got away with male full frontal nudity, twice (with numerous examples of the female variety), and didn't get an X rating. One in particular is still shockingly funny: an upside down penis, poked through a cardboard back drop, with eyes painted on the testes, giving a public-service announcement on V.D. How did they get away with this in 1973 when they couldn't do it in 2000? Watch for pre-stardom Richard Belzer and Chevy Chase. Along with the then-burgeoning "National Lampoon" magazine crew (with future 80's teen flick czar John Hughes in its ranks), they laid the path for "Saturday Night Live".

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Director: Michael Cimino
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy

As Senior Editor Kerry Douglas Dye has noted, any movie with George Kennedy can't be bad. When not continuing his Dirty Harry series or making really awful country-themed movies (like Every Which Way but Loose and Any Which Way You Can), Eastwood was doing quality work like Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Here he stars as Thunderbolt, a Korean war vet and traveling con man who, as the movie begins, flees the gun-firing Kennedy from a church pulpit, where he was posing a minister to fleece his flock. He nearly gets run over by a Corvette, driven by Lightfoot (Bridges), and thus starts their joy ride. Kennedy, a fellow war vet and con man, is chasing Eastwood because they have an old score to settle--the botched robbery of a bank, which they decide to try again. The movie is often hilarious, whether it details road freaks like the speed-crazed redneck with the tailpipe in his car’s back seat and a trunk full of live rabbits, or the funny interaction between the frumpy, angry Kennedy and free-spirited Bridges.

Beyond the Door (1974)
Director: Oliver Hellman (Ovidio G. Assonitis)
Starring: Juliet Mills

This movie scared the shit out of me at the time, mainly for its newspaper ad: a hideous picture of a woman's scowling face with those demonic yellow eyes, as more famously portrayed by Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Every day when I opened up the paper to the movie listings page, I'd see that face, and my imagination would run wild with fear, such was the horror I felt from all that demon shit. What was even worse when I saw this horrible Italian Exorcist rip-off: it starred Juliet Mills, famous as the sweet-natured nanny on the TV series "Nanny and the Professor". It was quite a trip to see her vomiting green shit, spinning her head and talking backwards Latin in a scratchy baritone. I imagine 70's Italian horror is a bizarre genre unto itself, one I've never delved into. This movie is unavaible on video.

Law and Disorder (1974)
Director: Ivan Passer
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Carroll O'Connor

This one is unavailable on video. A great time piece of New York in the early 70's, with Carroll O'Connor and Ernest Borgnine playing two disgruntled Manhattanites who are tired of watching crime escalate in their neighborhood. So they form an auxiliary police group with other like-minded guys in the neighborhood to stop what they see as the deterioration of their home. There's one hilarious scene where a pot-smoking hippie repeatedly moans "fuck you" in response to everything an incredulous Borgnine says. This is mainly a comedy, but it has a very heavy ending that feels out of context. Thematically, Law and Disorder played it down the middle, recognizing that the men were clearly right to be alarmed at the state of their neighborhood, and expertly sending up their urban paranoia.

The Longest Yard (1974)
Director: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Michael Conrad, Richard Kiel

Burt Reynolds had his own powerhouse industry of nothing but Southern movies throughout the 70's: Deliverance, White Lightning, W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings, Gator and Smokey and the Bandit. There was a real greasy feel to these movies, and The Longest Yard also falls into this tradition, as Reynolds plays a bored Southern football star who goes recklessly driving with his girlfriend's Camaro (with Skynyrd's "Saturday Night Special" blasting on the radio), gets arrested and thrown in jail. But not just any jail--this one has a champion football team lead by the sadistic guards, and the warden, played by the oily Eddie Albert, wants Reynolds to field a team of inmates to play the guards. Of special note are the black transvestite cheerleading squad at the big game and Bernadette Peters as the warden's hot-to-trot but creepy secretary.

The Lords of Flatbush (1974)
Director: Martin Davidson, Stephen F. Verona
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Henry Winkler, Perry King

Lords of Flatbush can be seen as the darker, more urban side of American Graffiti. This was a big trend in the mid-70's, to look back fondly on the 50's, as demonstrated by the long, massive success of "Happy Day"s. And who do we have here? Henry Winkler, pre-Fonzie, playing an un-Fonzie like wimpy greaser in a gang of Brooklyn hoods led by pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone. The plot was the usual tripe, and I can't even remember it. Back-to-back with The Wanderers (1979), which took place in the Fordham section of the Bronx, one can get an interesting take on outer-borough New York life in the late-50's. Both movies were vastly eclipsed by the popularity of Grease, which is a shame.

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper

Musical satire, and rock soundtracks, got no better than Phantom of the Paradise. William Finley plays Winslow Leach, an aspiring (and nerdy) singer/songwriter who fails an audition for megalomaniacal music impresario Swan (played by the dwarfish and then hugely popular Paul Williams), but catches Swan's ear with selections from his rock opera. Swan steals them, has Leach disposed of, and plans to turn Leach's songs into a new rock opera that will take the music world in a whole new direction. The only problem is, after a nasty accident where he gets his face stuck in a hot vinyl record press and falls into the East River, Leach lives and turns himself into the Phantom to haunt the theater where Swan will stage his opera. It's the old Phantom of the Opera story crossed with Faust and Ziggy Stardust.

The real story here is the soundtrack, written entirely by Williams, which is a great mix of glitter rock, Beach Boys doo wop, and 70's ballads, all performed by the cast. Of special note is Gerrit Graham as Beef, the effeminate glitter rock star who turns hunky with a guitar and meets an electrifying end. Williams is also excellent as the evil impresario who sold his soul to rock and roll.

Mandingo (1975)
Director: Richard Fleischer
Starring: Ken Norton, Susan George, James Mason, Perry King

Whatever plot there is in this yarn about plantations and slavery, forget it. Mandingo will always be remembered for having a strapping black buck going full-on with a white woman, namely heavyweight boxer Ken Norton and the sassy Susan George. This was heavy duty stuff at the time that was bound to bring out the racist in many white viewers. Never mind that Perry King got his groove on with a black woman--it just didn’t have the same visceral effect. (This might not have been the case if they had cast George Kennedy; then again, George Kennedy fucking anybody would be a shocking sight.) I also recall the startling slave-trading scene, where a powerful-looking Norton has his privates groped by a slave-owning granny. Dino De Laurentiis (who also produced Lipstick, Flash Gordon and King Kong among many others) was behind this one, and seeing his name in the 70’s assured one of a campy good time. Mandigo also deserves credit as a period piece leading the way for Alex Haley’s profoundly important 1977 mini-series, "Roots". But, buddy, Mandingo ain’t no "Roots".

Death Race 2000 (1975)
Director: Paul Bartel
Starring: David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone

This movie warped my fragile little mind back in 1975. As with The Exorcist, I saw it far too early in life. Here we are, in the year 2000, and, well, the movie wasn't quite right with its predictions, but it wasn't far off via current trends like professional wrestling and extreme sports. The big sport in America in the movie is the Death Race, a nationally-televised, cross-country race where the drivers score points for how many people they run over, with small children and senior citizens representing bonuses. Carradine stars as Frankenstein, the legendary dark hero dressed in black with a mask, who has survived numerous flaming crashes. His main competition is Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, played brilliantly by the eminently greasy Sylvester Stallone. All along, the racers are being knocked-off by a mysterious underground movement trying to overthrow the violence-prone, fascist government of America. Plenty of violence, dark humor and even a little T&A--what more could a lad ask for?

Cooley High (1975)
Director: Michael Schultz
Starring: Glynn E. Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs

Cooley High was sort of a black American Graffiti--and very well done. Turman and Hilton-Jacobs (who would go on to greater glory as Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington in "Welcome Back, Kotter") play high school friends in Chicago in the early 60's, encountering all the pitfalls and joys of boyhood. (One particularly funny scene finds a monkey in the zoo throwing shit at them.) This is different from American Graffiti in that it also chronicles the more harsh realities a black kid in the city dealt with when he ran afoul of bullies, which leads to the movie's tragic ending. I recall feeling genuinely moved by Cooley High at the time, but haven't seen it in years. The lead character, as played by Turman, aspired to be a writer, which led to the creation of the TV series "What's Happening", with the only connection being that character, as the series took place in Los Angeles in the 70's.

Lisztomania (1975)
Director: Ken Russell
Starring: Roger Daltrey, Paul Nichols

Ken Russell has made some really bad, albeit highly campy movies in his time--Tommy and Lair of the White Worm come to mind. Listzomania is a movie Russell may not mind having his name on, but Roger Daltrey must be in hell knowing copies of this movie still exist. Listzomania is an impressionistic take on the life of 19th-century composer Franz Liszt. Only I wouldn't imagine Mr. Liszt had fantasy sequences where he gleefully rode a gigantic penis while wearing a dress. Daltrey is pretty bad here, although he fits the role Russell had in mind for him, i.e., to portray Liszt as a rock star in his time. This was a popular folly of the 70's, to imagine that rock stars of today were interchangeable with "wild" classical composers (like Tom Hulce as Mozart). Yes, we were screwed up in the 70's--then again, no worse than a bunch of deluded 90's rap clowns posing in the same style of the infamous "Great Day in Harlem" photo of important jazz artists from earlier in the century.

The Bad News Bears (1976)
Director: Michael Ritchie
Starring: Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neill, Vic Morrow, Jackie Earl Haley

Not just being in the Little League at the time but on one of the worst teams, I felt a special kinship to The Bad News Bears, which hit close to home with its portrayal of obnoxious coaches and parents bullying kids into living out their baseball dreams. Walter Matthau was brilliant as Buttermaker, the drunken has-been who turned to pool cleaning in Los Angeles after his Minor League baseball career ended. As Amanda, the tomboy pitcher, Tatum O'Neal got her only other big role after winning an Oscar for Paper Moon. Also of note is Jackie Earle Haley as the juvenile delinquent who turns out to be the best player in the league. (When the other kids first speak of him, one of the Mexican kids blurts out, "El Diablo!") Much more than a kid's sports movie, it nailed the hypocrisy of organized sports for children and delved into the general pettiness of childhood. And avoid any sequels--they're all terrible.

Mother, Jugs and Speed (1976)
Director: Peter Yates
Starring: Billy Cosby, Harvey Keitel, Raquel Welch

Bringing Out the Dead anyone? Years before this recent Scorsese flick, Mother, Jugs and Speed delved into the world of ambulance drivers, and not as tritely as the title may suggest. Cosby starred as Mother, the big-hearted pro of the company. Welch was Jugs, derogatorily named after her beautiful tits, and Keitel was Speed, a deposed cop/Vietnam Vet looking for a new start. This was as a vehicle for Cosby to keep pace as a movie star (Uptown Saturday Night and Let's Do It Again, both with Sidney Portier, were good movies and hits) aside from his Saturday morning TV show ("Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids"--the only lunch box I remember owning). It was also a nice way to ogle the incredibly beautiful Welch, who was cruising on The Three Musketeers and her smash TV movie, "K.C. Bomber", where she played a roller-derby queen. Keitel seemed a little lost in this comedy, but it didn't do him any harm.

Car Wash (1976)
Director: Michael Schultz
Starring: Ivan Dixon, Bill Duke, Antonio Fargas, George Carlin, Franklin Ajaye

Car Wash is a "day in the life" of the workers in a downtown Los Angeles car wash. A movie this sweet couldn't possibly be made today. The white characters (like Carlin as a cab driver, or Richard Brestoff as the nebbish son of the car-wash owner quoting Mao and ingratiating himself with the black workers) would have their identities subverted or constantly derided so the producers could sell the movie under the guise of "hiphop culture"--mainly to white kids who lap this shit up and don't know they're being manipulated. The troubled ex-con, played brilliantly by Bill Duke, would be made into an in-your-face anti-hero today, rather than the angry/vulnerable man he was in 1976. The beauty of Car Wash is that it had a mostly black cast, but the other members (an Indian, a Latino and a few whites) maintain their own identities, and get along without being too insulting. Gee, what a concept; what's happened to it in the past 24 years? Is Bill trying to point out how exploitative and pandering film makers have become with a genre like this? Imagine that. (Watch for a pre-"thirtysomething" Melanie Mayron, pre-nose job and built like a brick shithouse, as the owner's secretary.)

The Car (1977)
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Starring: James Brolin, a black sedan, Kathleen Lloyd

Horror flicks in the 70's got no worse than The Car (unless we're talking Michael Caine in The Hand), although automotive terror was done much better a few years earlier with Steven Spielberg's "Duel", and a few years later with Stephen King/John Carpenter's Christine. Call it Jaws on wheels. James Brolin is a small-town sheriff who quickly comes to realize that a mysterious black sedan with shaded windows is trying to run over everyone in town. Whether it's giant ants, a killer shark, alligators or snakes, it's the same old story of man vs. freak of nature, although this is more man vs. manmade product imbued with pure evil. Noteworthy scene: Kathleen Lloyd gathering her schoolkids in a cemetery and noticing that the car can't run them over because they're on hallowed ground. She then proceeds to taunt the car with slurs as it sits on the edge of the cemetery, revving its engine in anger. Name calling is hallowed behavior? I pray this is unavailable on video. [Editor's note: recently release in widescreen DVD(!)]

One on One (1977)
Director: Lamont Johnson
Starring: Robby Benson, Annette O'Toole

Ah, Robby Benson! If you didn't live in the 70's, you won't understand how huge this teen heart throb was in his time. A list of his other achievements: Ode to Billy Joe, Ice Castles, Walk Proud, Tribute, The Chosen and Running Brave, to name a few. The plot never mattered in his movies, so long as his Tiger Beat fans could gaze longingly into those big, puppy-dog eyes as he saved the day and won over the girl of his dreams. In One on One, he played a high-school basketball star encountering the pitfalls of major college sports as he runs into a coach who hates him, teammates who are just as good as or better than he is, and, sigh, a lovely, bright tutor played by Annette O'Toole, who's tired of dating her snooty, jock-hating, grad-school boyfriend and can't help falling in love with Robby, the dumb jock with a heart of gold. If nothing else, One on One had some groovy songs on the soundtrack by the then-enormous Seals and Crofts.

The Choirboys (1977)
Director: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Charles Durning, Perry King, James Woods, Louis Gosset, Jr., Don Stroud

Based on a Joseph Wambaugh novel, The Choirboys didn't know if it wanted to be a comedy or a drama. Yes, I know of the word "dramedy"--but this movie is literally schizophrenic with either very funny or very serious scenes and feels too choppy as a result. Charles Durning stars as Sperm Whale, an obnoxious-but-friendly cop on the verge of making his pension, which he won't if he keeps holding "choir practices"--drunken parties he periodically throws every few weeks that often turn rowdy. One such session leads to a troubled, Vietnam Vet cop (played by Stroud) having a flashback and accidentally shooting a gay man prowling at night in a park. Ha ha funny? Hardly. Yet, The Choir Boys was positioned as such and stiffed as a result. Of special note: the always intriguing Burt Young as Scuzzi. This movie is unavailable on video.

Slap Shot (1977)
Director: George Roy Hill
Starring: Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Strother Martin

Meant as a commentary on the violence of pro hockey as best exemplified by Philadelphia's "Broad Street Bullies" of the mid-70's, Slap Shot has since become a classic among hockey fans, especially for the Hansen Brothers, three young horn-rimmed weirdoes, reluctantly hired by the coach played by Newman, who turn out to be demons on the ice, while they play with Matchbox cars in their hotel room. Ontkean, a few years before he and Harry Hamlin shared the first on-screen gay kiss in Making Love, stars as the only player on the team with real talent and no compulsion for violence. Newman is excellent as the aging player/coach who knows he's a sham, but recognizes he has to be to stay alive, as the factory in their dying rust belt town is about to close down and force the dissolution or selling of his team. Sports movies get no better than this.

FM (1978)
Director: John A. Alonzo, Lamont Johnson
Starring: Martin Mull, Michael Brandon, Eileen Brennan

FM is the story of the workers of a radio station taking it over when the really cool station manager, played by Michael Brandon, quits because he refuses to let the corporation owning the station sell ad space to the Army. (In 1978, this was a burning issue, as Vietnam was still fresh in everybody's mind.) The problem is the music the station was playing was the top-selling music of the day (The Eagles, Tom Petty, Boston, etc.) The DJ's weren't rebels--they were playing corporate rock (much of which I and millions of others bought) that was no different than the marketing play lists already being sent to radio stations en masse! But this is Hollywood, and besides, a lot of people at the time were deluded enough (still are) to believe that major corporations were selling true rebellion in the form of highly-marketed pop music. It's a fun movie anyway, even though Jimmy Buffett's concert appearance is as dated as his current fans, the dreaded Parrotheads. This movie served as inspiration for the TV series "WKRP in Cincinnati". Watch out for the special in-store L.A. Tower Records appearance by REO Speedwagon! And please note: the really cool people in 1978 wore satin baseball jackets.

Almost Summer (1978)
Director: Martin Davidson
Starring: Bruno Kirby, Didi Cohn, Tim Matheson

Almost Summer is unavailable on video. Simply stated, a fairly bad movie about a high-school mover-and-shaker, Bobby De Vito, played by a young Bruno Kirby, taking an unknown but nice-guy student (Darryl Fitzgerald, played by John Friedrich) and serving as his campaign manager for a run at class president, against De Vito's ex-girlfriend, played by Lee Purcell. Some nice secondary roles here are Didi Conn (also in You Light Up My Life, which I refuse to write about, and ditto for her role in Grease) as Darryl's equally-nerdy girlfriend and Tim Matheson as the all-powerful quarterback who realizes he won't make it in college ball. There were hundreds of movies like this, ranging from soft-core porn to cheery tele-movies, all low budget knock-offs that portrayed white high school America in the 70's as a sunny, fun place where the main things were to try to get laid and find out who you were. The culmination of this came a few years later with the first gross-out teen epic, Porky's, but movies like Almost Summer served as a prototype. And the theme song by Mike Love and Celebration was pretty damn good, too.

Bloodbrothers (1978)
Director: Robert Mulligan
Starring: Richard Gere, Tony Lo Bianco, Paul Sorvino, Marilu Henner

Based on Bronx native Richard Price's novel of the same name, Bloodbrothers found Richard Gere at a strange point in his career. After initial success as the street tough in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, he made the critically-touted bomb Days of Heaven and Blood Brothers, before breaking out with American Gigolo. Bloodbrothers is the hammy story of a young man in the Bronx played by Gere, Stoney De Coco, trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, as his father pressures him to become a swaggering, womanizing construction guido like himself. This movie deserves a special award for blatant Italian-American over-acting, as nearly every scene is a screaming match along the lines of "whassa matta you" and "ay, fungoo." But it's a fun watch, especially seeing Taxi's Marilu Henner as Annette, the "town pump" with a heart of gold who's a waitress at Stoney's favorite disco club. Call this a less musical version of Saturday Night Fever.

Cotton Candy (1978)
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Clint Howard, Charles Martin Smith, Erika Fox, Ron Jeremy

This is the only tele-movie to make the list. While coasting on the trashy glory of Eat My Dust and Grand Theft Auto, and long before sappy shit like Cocoon and Backdraft, Ron Howard tore many a page from the Roger Corman director's book. Cotton Candy is just such a case--Charles Martin Smith plays a nerdy high-schooler who feels the urge to form a rock band of like-minded nerds to take on the town's biggest rock band, led by a Leif Garret clone prone to wearing velvet tuxedos with no shirt and knocking out a hideous cover of Clapton's version of "I Shot the Sheriff". Does the band of nerds win? It's a tele-movie--what do you think? Even then-prepubescent Leisure suit editor Jordan Hoffman recalls his first hard-on, I mean this movie, thanks to the "erotic" strip poker scene, where Farrah-flip-haired Erika Fox gets down to her bra and panties. I'm certain this is unavailable on video.

Checkered Flag or Crash (1978)
Director: Alan Gibson
Starring: Joe Don Baker, Susan Sarandon, Larry Hagman

"The Dukes of Hazard" didn't come out of nowhere. That horribly addictive TV series sprung from really bad automotive movies like Checkered Flag or Crash. There were a bunch besides this: Crazy Mary and Dirty Larry, Smokey and the Bandit, The Gumball Rally, both Eat My Dust and Grand Theft Auto (by Ron Howard, who is mentioned later) and hundreds of other shitty car movies. The only constant? They did big enough box office that hacks kept making them. All I can remember about Checkered Flag or Crash is that flavor-of-the-month Joe Don Baker starred in it, and in one scene, he wrecks his car and gives the thumbs-up sign from the wreckage. Susan Sarandon was in this? Christ, it must have been slim pickings for her between Rocky Horror and Atlantic City. I hope this is unavailable on video.

Blue Collar (1978)
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto

Richard Pryor had it all in the 70's--universal respect for his stand-up comedy and an acting career that began with the best of intentions--but got strange when he became a superstar with tripe like The Toy and Superman II. He made a string of successful concert movies mixing humor and sobering asides--his best bit was about a trip to Africa that made him vow to never use the word "nigger" again (a concept which now seems to trite to many younger folk of all colors). His movies, like The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings, Which Way Is Up? and Greased Lightning, were unashamedly black and entertaining. Blue Collar was his best, with Pryor starring as Zeke, an assembly-line worker in a motor plant. His friends, Jerry (Harvey Keitel) and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto), are tired of being broke and conspire to rip-off their corrupt local union. Little did they know the union would prove far more vindictive than any other authority figure. The film speaks many hard truths, including the one that social class is just as divisive (and potentially unifying) as race in our society. Kotto is especially good, as his tired eyes say everything about the distrust all the workers feel towards the union and plant. Like Car Wash, movies like this concerning race don't get made enough anymore. Captain Beefheart does a nice job with the theme song.

Corvette Summer (1978)
Director: Matthew Robbins
Starring: Mark Hamill, Annie Potts

The world was at Mark Hamill's feet after Star Wars. Before then, he was pulling minor guest roles on TV series like "One Day at a Time". Afterwards, one would have assumed he could have any role he wanted, but if Corvette Summer was any indication, he was in serious trouble. A silly movie about Ken Dantley (Hamill), a high-school gearhead, building the perfect Corvette in his shop class, only to have it stolen. On a trip to Vegas, Ken sees the car, but also sees a hooker, played by the under-ratedly hot Annie Potts, gets her mixed up in his crazy life, and they both go about busting the car-stealing ring that swiped his Corvette, man. An awful movie--Hamill never truly recovered from it. All I can remember of it is Hamill triumphantly bursting through the roof hatch of Potts' van after she lays him on her water bed. It was good for that much--the classic 70's scenario, losing one's virginity in the back of a van. Cool.

Nunzio (1978)
Director: Paul Williams
Starring: David Proval, James Andronica, Morgana King, Tovah Feldshuh

This was another slice of New York in the 70's, this time Brooklyn. David Proval stars as Nunzio, a slightly-retarded delivery boy who lives for his mother and the comic books which give him hope of one day being a super hero. (He even has a caped uniform for special occasions.) But the neighborhood is crawling with the sort of dumb, abusive white trash one can still find in New York's outer boroughs. Not to mention a teenage hussy played by Tovah Feldshuh, who bangs Nunzio on a dare during one of his grocery stops--I recall this scene being very hot. His only protector is former neighborhood tough guy and big brother played by James Andronica. The grand finale comes with an apartment building fire where Nunzio gets to show his true colors to the disbelieving people of the neighborhood. This movie is unavailable on video.

Over the Edge (1979)
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Starring: Matt Dillon, Vincet Spano, Pamela Ludwig

This one's the keeper of the whole bunch, a genuinely disturbing and amoral movie starring, who else, a teenage Matt Dillon as Richie White, a tough kid with a single hippie mother (he steals her car--and finds Hendrix in the tape deck!) living in a planned suburban community out West where the kids are all freaking out and getting stoned because there's nothing to do. This movie is exactly how I remember the 70's: too many nasty, arrogant kids raised by thoughtless, selfish parents, and, as a result, the need for miracle youth drugs of today like Ritalin. Forget about themes though--it perfectly captures the look of the time: banana-seated Huffy bikes with sissy bars and flags, skimpy shorts and tube socks, really bad hair and everyone wearing wire-framed glasses. I'm convinced that when Richard Linklater made his brilliant 70's tribute, Dazed and Confused, he "borrowed" mightily from Over the Edge. And with a soundtrack by Cheap Trick, how could it miss? Of special note are a young Vincent Spano as the mean kid with a mini-bike who lives in the junkyard, and Pamela Ludwig as a troubled tart whose big scene is dancing around in an abandoned luxury home with a loaded gun while Cheap Trick's "Surrender" blasts from an eight-track. Brilliant stuff, and frighteningly accurate.

Fast Break (1979)
Director: Jack Smight
Starring: Gabe Kaplan

Fast Break existed for one reason only: to cash in ASAP on Gabe Kaplan's Welcome Back, Kotter fame. It's a simple story of a city basketball coach hired to revive a failing (and predominately white) small college team in Nevada. Kaplan does so by recruiting a few New York City ringers (all black), even a woman disguised as a man. Beyond that, it was relatively plotless and pointless. I'd be shocked if this was available on video.

The Warriors (1979)
Director: Walter Hill
Starring: Michael Beck, James Remar

It's a long way from Brooklyn's Coney Island, home of street gang the Warriors, to Woodlawn, the north-Bronx cemetery where a massive meeting of key inner-city gangs is to take place. Led by Michael Beck (who would face far greater adversity after his role in Xanadu), the gang shows up with thousands of others, only to be wrongly accused of gunning down Cyrus, the messiah-like leader trying to unify the gangs. The accuser is the always-great James Remar, who never fails to impart a weasel-like intensity to every role. This is a road movie, with the road being the subway line the Warriors need to take to get back home safely, as every gang in the city is out to kill them. Naturally, a film this incendiary and timely would inspire real-life gang morons to shoot up theaters--and the movie got much bad press over this. The Warriors is notable for the colorful gangs (especially the psychos dressed as baseball players, with bats and faces painted black and white) and a joke for its unrealisitic portrayal of late-night subway trains always being in the station and leaving at the moment when the Warriors hop on and ditch their pursuers on the platform. Remar steals the show with his closing "Warriors, come out to play-ay" chant, keeping rhythm with beer bottles clanking on his fingers.

Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
Director: Allan Arkush
Starring: The Ramones, P.J. Soles

Rock 'n' Roll High School is awful, barely watchable. But it's fun in that it showcases the Ramones and their music, which was just cresting at the time and not nearly as popular as some folks seem to remember. The plot is too silly to get into--more high-school bullshit, including every student's fantasy for the grand finale. P.J. Soles, between starring roles in Halloween and Stripes, marked time with this one as a Ramones fanatic who must find a way to get her song to the band. To say the Ramones can't act is an understatement--Dee Dee Ramone has a look in his eye throughout the movie like a dog following a piece of meat being held off camera. While this movie is awful, it does have a great, unissued Paul McCartney song at the beginning ("Did We Meet Somewhere Before?"), and, let's face it, compared to its sequel, 1991's Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever, starring an already-gone Corey Feldman, the original feels like Citizen Kane.

Take Down (1979)
Director: Kieth Merrill
Starring: Maureen McCormick, Lorenzo Lamas, Edward Herrmann

An insipid sports/high school flick about a frumpy English teacher (Edward Herrmann--the video store owner in The Lost Boys) in a small town forced to take over as wrestling coach. The team is in shambles, until the new coach finds the strength within himself, blah blah blah. Take Down is notable because Maureen McCormick, TV's Marsha Brady, got one of her first and last movie roles, aside from periodic Brady Bunch tele-movies, and Lorenzo Lamas got his first starring role as the troubled student who could make all the difference and redeem himself if he could just come out for the team. I also recall one wrestler who couldn't perform without having disco music playing. And a very young Stephen Furst (Flounder in Animal House) as a reluctant heavyweight wrestler recruited from the high-school band. This better be unavailable on video.

Breaking Away (1979)
Director: Peter Yates
Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earl Haley

Breaking Away was hardly a cult classic, but it's a great "small" movie anyway, focusing on the hardships felt by young "townies" living in a college town (in this case Bloomington, Indiana) and in that fragile post-high school period of uncertainty. In this case, they're called "cutters" after the stone cutters who worked the quarries outside of town before the industry dried up. Dennis Christopher never got a better role than Dave Stohler, a kid who dreams of becoming a professional bicycle racer, so much so that he pretends he's Italian to emulate his heroes, the Cinzano Racing Team. Also of note is Dennis Quaid as Mike, the ex-high school football star who blew off college, and now finds himself living in a town where there will always be 20-year-old football stars while he does nothing but age and work. The movie shows how their dreams either die or are shattered, only to be replaced by harder realities that may not be as pleasing, but still give them hope. No other movie captures that feeling of post-high school inertia better than Breaking Away, especially in regards to living in a small town.

Americathon (1979)
Director: Neal Israel
Starring: Peter Riegert, Harvey Korman, Fred Williams, John Ritter

I haven't seen Americathon in years, but I recall it being pretty bad. The story is America in the future is in such dire financial straights that it needs to throw a telethon to raise money to save the country. The only thing I remember about it is that Elvis Costello performed "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea" in it. Everything else is just a big blur. Does anyone else remember this movie?

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979)
Director: Gilbert Moses
Starring: Jonathan Winters, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Meadowlark Lemon

I remember very little of this movie. Only that Dr. J was in it, and he couldn't act. Kareem Abdul Jabbar was in it, too, but nowhere near as appealing as he would be in his Airplane cameo. Meadowlark Lemon was always fun to watch, but much more in action with the Harlem Globetrotters. This is the kind of movie you rent on a lark and end up taking out after 10 minutes. By the way, there is no giant fish in the movie--it's a reference to the astrological sign Pisces. It should have been Taurus, mixed with feces.

Roller Boogie (1979)
Director: Mark Lester
Starring: Linda Blair

This movie was made for two reasons: to cash in on Linda Blair's rapidly eroding name value and take advantage of the disco rollerskating craze sweeping the nation, best exemplified in Cher's 1980 video for "Hell on Wheels." I can't recall the specifics, but Linda and her beau, who had a look that suggested that the producers couldn't talk Scott Baio into commercial suicide, set out to save an L.A. roller disco via winning a dance contest. The grand finale, I do recall--the couple, after much trial and tribulation, winning the big contest while "roller boogying" to Supertramp's "Is It Mine" from their smash-hit "Breakfast in America" album. Not sure if this one is available on video.

The Great Santini (1979)
Director: Lewis John Carlino
Starring: Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, Michael O'Keefe, Lisa Persky

Pat Conroy has made a living writing about his asshole father, and The Great Santini is the best film adaptation from his novels. Duvall stars as Bull Meechum, an aging Marine fighter pilot who finds it easier partying with his flight crew than spending time with his family. Meechum gets stationed in South Carolina, and as a result of his aging and lack of wars to fight in, is given a more sedentary role. His son, Ben, played by a young Michael O'Keefe, is a high-school basketball star and is constantly at odds with his bullying father. (One priceless scene has Bull "beating" Ben in a game of driveway basketball--by cheating--then further humiliating him by bouncing a basketball off the back of his head and taunting him.) It's these sort of outbursts, mixed with displays of genuine love for his family, that make it a great movie. There are also funny interactions with his liberal daughter, Mary Anne (played by Lisa Persky), who in a bid to get his attention while he reads the newspaper, dramatically latches on to his leg and informs Bull she's been impregnated by a gay black Jew, to his complete disinterest. I recall being horrified by Duvall's character, but now that I'm older, I can see that he had some good points, too. Watch out for my all-time favorite redneck, David Keith (as Red Pettus), harassing the sweet-natured black son of the Meechum's housekeeper. And don't forget to take in Blythe Danner, who makes her daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow, look kind of weasly.

Up in Smoke (1978)/Next Movie (1980)/Nice Dreams (1981)
Director: Lou Adler/Tommy Chong/Tommy Chong and Timothy Leary
Starring: Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong

Cheech and Chong may never have been nominated for an Oscar, but their movies were huge hits, and for good reason: they were undeniably funny, even if they over-indulged in stoner humor, which was the whole point. Some memorable scenes include one hearty female party-goer snorting Ajax, thinking it was cocaine, and carrying on like a gorilla in the face of Stacey Keach, who brilliantly over-played an uptight DEA agent. The audiences for these movies knew what they were in for, as Cheech and Chong were making successful comedy albums long before movies. (Their biggest hit was "Earache My Eye" backed with "Sister Mary Elephant.") The great moments in this stoner's trilogy are far too numerous to mention, and, frankly, the movies may not be suitable for viewing alone. But with a gang of friends who can roll along with drug humor and silly slapstick? Forget it--a highly-recommended film festival.