1971 Films

I would like to watch a film released in 1971 this weekend. Which one should I see? Watch them with fresh eyes and let’s compare notes.

A Clockwork Orange

Get Carter

Walkabout

Minnie and Moskowitz

Klute

The Panic in Needle Park

Dirty Harry

The French Connection

The Last Picture Show

Murmur of the Heart

Straw Dogs

Diamonds Are Forever

54 thoughts on “1971 Films”

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  1. Klute and Walkabout are two of my favourite films. (Fonda is so perfectly cast, and the scenery in Walkabout is mesmerising) Get Carter is one of the best British crime films ever made, with Caine at his peak.
    It’s a hard choice, so watch them all! 🙂
    Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I think Straw Dogs/Clockwork Orange are just plain nasty, Panic In Needle Park disappointed me, Willy Wonka is great, but always on TV. (Same for Dirty Harry) Shame to leave out The Last Picture show, which is evocative of an era. So that is 4 films to watch, 2 each day. 🙂

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  4. Clockwork Orange and Get Carter are two excellent films, but there are three of the others I am unfamiliar with. Straw Dogs was filmed in Cornwall, where we have spent many many happy family holidays. It’s quite intriguing to see what it used to look like forty years previously!

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  6. Well this is my decade Cindy – I grew up on these films, by sneaking into a theater that showed them as I was well under age….”A Clockwork Orange” is just too much for me now, and while I own it I just don’t re-visit it….”Diamonds” is by far the weakest Connery Bond film, and “Straw Dogs” is also too much for me – oh, and I own all of the films on your list, and “Klute” is something I can watch over and over…SO great – Jane Fonda has been on my wife’s show 3 times now and she is simply the nicest and most honest person ever! “Last Picture Show” is a masterpiece and “The French Connection” a well-deserved Best Picture….I wrap by saying “Dirty Harry” is everything that I love about 70’s cinema

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    1. Hi John. I like Klute very much. I saw it years ago, so I don’t remember much. Diamonds — well I thought I ought to see every James Bond movie. This is one of the worst, eh? I never saw Straw Dogs, but agree, at my age now, I’m not into extreme violence and degredation. It pulls me down into a dark funk.

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      1. You will NOT like “Straw Dogs”…a powerful film that really is too unsettling to watch….”Diamonds” is fun just because it’s Connery’s swan song but you will literally groan a few times as you watch – still better than 3 of the Daniel Craig efforts!

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          1. I was going to do a review of all of the Bond films this year – looking at them with an eye toward what is dated or out of sync with today’s viewers…I decided I dint’ want to get into that – they are what they are and I am completely opposed to censoring anything from the past that inadvertently ruffles sensibilities today.

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          2. It is hard, isn’t it. I think it is fine to see and acknowledge the sexism and realize you are watching the past and the societal norms are different now. Thank God. I can look at a 1971 film and realize the norms are different today. I feel I need to be reminded. Time rolls on. I like to remember how much I have changed. Perceptions change. Gotta have reference points. Don’t take them away, eh?

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        2. Willy Wonka is easily my favourite film of the one’s mentioned to enjoy as family entertainment. I’m hesitant to admit I don’t think I have seen half of the movies listed. I’ve lost count how many times I have seen WW. I think Gene Wilder’s performance is one of / if not the greatest of the fantasy-musical genre and the production design is to die-for. How it has just 7.8 / 10 on IMDB boggles my mind. I love Clockwork Orange from those others mention, but I haven’t seen it for a decade or so. I need to be well prepared to face that one head-on again, like almost all of SK’s films.

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          1. I adore Gene. He was mesmerizing to watch. Especially Young Frankenstein. Clockwork is amazing, but it is so disturbing, I don’t mind passing it up for something else. Especially one I have not seen. I chose Play Misty for Me…

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          2. Same here, we all love Young Frankenstein. I think it is my favourite Brooks movie. Elon Musk spoke about owning Gene Wilder’s house and he said it was really quirky. ‘Play Misty for Me’ was one of my Dad’s favourites. That Roberta Flack song is something else!

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  7. does it have to be on this list? some alternates are Carnal Knowledge, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Two Lane Blacktop, sunday Bloody sunday, The Hired Hand, El Topo, The Devils, the Decameron, The last movie, 10 Rillington Place, . Fistful of dynamite, Death in Venice, Two English Girls.

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      1. Two Lane Blacktop is probably the most interesting one in terms of 70’s American films. The director, who recently died, was mentor to the daughter of a good friend from Greece. whose first movie has been winning awards at festivals around the world for best film, best director , and best actress. it is phenomenal, and you should see it if you can, Title is Holy Emy. I dislike McCabe and Mrs Miller, but have watched it several times for the way Vilmos Zsigmond films the pacific northwest and for the leonard cohen songs. Diamonds are forever isnt my favorite Bond, but it beats the roger Moore outings.I really disliked K;lute, thought fonda was terrible. watched it again recently and still dislike it. If you havent seen Straw Dogs, you should. Not Peckinpahs best, but he does what he can with a story that has nothing to it except a bloody climax and an actress who is best not seen and not heard. See it for Hoffman and David Warner, as well as the peek into small town English hooliganism and Cornwall location shooting. I watch Willie Wonka all the time with my daughter. It is a good motivational film on the benefits of not being a brat.

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        1. I grew up and shared the love of Willy Wonka with my female kid and grands. Oh, yes, an easy allusion to reference is Verucka.
          I still tear up when Charlie busts out of the elevator.
          As for the others, I will pick one or two and create a post. You have seen them all multiple times. Not much fun for you…I wish there was a film you haven’t seen fm the 70s.

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          1. there are plenty from the 70s i havent seen. just the other day i saw Umberto Lenzis Syndicate Sadists for the first time.

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          3. many Italian genre films of the 70’s have some insane titles. one of my favorites from 71 is A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin.

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  9. Pingback: 1971: Play Misty for Me – Cindy Bruchman

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