1977's Star Wars - no Episode IV title, no Jabba, no Maclunkey

It's quite possible - perhaps even probable - that I never saw this movie in the theatre until the 1997 Special Edition. I was a little too young to see it the first time around, and so it was The Empire Strikes Back that provided my definitive Star Wars theatre-going experience.

Star Wars, therefore, was all about rental, TV, and eventually Laserdisc viewings until that fateful release of 1997. No need to get too much into the wild tweaking that Lucas did to his movies (I'll just say that I don't think I've ever heard the life get sucked out of an audience quite like the reaction to the Greedo edit), and after he decided to release only the Special Edition versions from that point onwards, I was pretty pleased to be in possession of the earlier cuts.

I was very surprised when Lucas deigned to provide a bonus disc on the above DVD set featuring the original 1977 theatrical release just, I suppose, to shut the angry fans up. I do love that he went truly original in its presentation: it's not anamorphic, nor does it have surround sound - it's pulled straight from 1977 and slapped onto a disc.

And the thing is, after viewing it with my son we agreed that anyone who watches this and their takeaway is that the effects are either poor or incomplete are just flat-out missing the whole point (you might actually be the only one, George Lucas). I can't think of a single augmented effect in any edition that improves upon the telling of the story. 

It's just a beautiful film.

1977's The Silmarillion an incredible bounty of bonus content

My memories of diving into Tolkien as a kid started with the Rankin/Bass animated adaptation of The Hobbit (released in 1977, though I feel confident in saying that I wasn't watching it that year but much later on), but there were elements of the Lord of the Rings around my house thanks to my brother's appreciation of the books. I was always especially fascinated by the cover of his copy of The Two Towers, which is now in my possession, so here's the artwork:

I was equally fascinated by his collection of Royal Doulton LOTR figures based on the style of the Ralph Bakshi film - these are not in my possession, but here's an image anyway:

Oh, and I was terrified of the Gollum figurine and tried to avoid looking at it on my brother's display shelf.

I'd ended up reading the Lord of the Rings in and around 87/88, but it wasn't until I was re-invigorated into the world by rereading the books in advance of each Peter Jackson movie that I finally followed up with The Silmarillion. Yes, that's my brother's copy in the top picture - yes, it too is in my possession, but I feel like I'm just holding onto the set for him. 

It's a wonderful thing to have had Christopher Tolkien put this book out into the world as a sort of "Edwin Drood" insight into the workings of his father; it's a stunning work that shows so clearly that The Hobbit and LOTR were but the tip of Tolkien's creative iceberg. 

1977's Bubbliciousness

I can't find out for certain, but I doubt that watermelon was an available flavour upon the release of Bubblicious in 1977. Still, I took what I could get. 

Good news: it's still a stupidly thick piece of gum that delivers the bubbles.

Bad news: it still fills you with regret once the flavour runs out.

1977's top TV show sees Laverne & Shirley done dirty by a robot

 

For this spin-off from Happy Days, of which I actually knew very little beyond the opening credits (and the great tribute paid to it in Wayne's World), I had to rely on a posting from Dailymotion to find an episode from the year I needed to watch. Honestly, every time I find myself using Dailymotion to watch something that can't be found anywhere else I'm surprised that the site is still running. 

I got a little bit of everything that I needed from this episode: some clever hijinks featuring the odd couple housemates; hijinks featuring Squiggy and Lenny; and hijinks from the most notable guest star of the show: a horny, malfunctioning robot that attacks Laverne in a toy store, leading to an attempt by to sue the toy company that turns into a light treatise on the failings of the criminal justice system.

Running as the top show for two years straight is obviously a testament to the popularity of Happy Days launching the spin-off but, then again, Happy Days was only the top show for one year, so L&S must have connected to viewers more deeply.

Here's the link to the video for as long as it (and the site) remains accessible: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ynmna

Mountain-man-looking Dan Hill's 1977 soft-rock opus Longer Fuse

 

Well, Dan Hill, Juno Award winner for best album with Longer Fuse, I'm not going to lie: it took about half of your album for me to fall for your relentless earnestness. After the immediately recognizable hit Sometimes When We Touch to open, I wasn't exactly sold on an entire album of the stuff that no doubt inspired John Ondrasik and who knows how many other smooth troubadours. 

But - by the time You Are All I See and Southern California rolled around, I'd stopped waiting for a break in the calm waters and settled in nicely for the rest of the album, at which point I was nicely rewarded by Still Not Used To as a good closer. 

Can't say as I'm ever going to take this album for another spin, but it was a nice listen on a weekend.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSGVVEAakzy49Bix_VyDkwSIB-klNH0Om&si=o1l27lTVhxSY6g69

1977 shocker: Rumours is a fantastic album

 

I borrowed a friend's LP for this because using the CD from the library just wasn't sitting right with me - I'm trying to listen like it's 1977 (and, besides, I'm turning pretty hard on Spotify and the like right now). 

Well, it's still amazing. It hasn't actually been that long since I borrowed this album for a summer listen anyway, and it won't be long until I do it again. There are hits and sleepers on every track but, when the chips are down, I'd pick Songbird as my favourite.

The only thing I keep wondering is whether The Chain is best used as the tremendous Side B starter, or if it could have actually worked better as the album closer?

1977's Oscar winner: the deserving Annie Hall

An argument over which movie deserves the Best Picture Oscar is completely unwinnable, pointless, and always fun, but I can understand why Annie Hall walks away with the gold in 1978. The playfulness of the structure is so smoothly integrated with the story that it never feels like it's showing off or trying something quirky for the sake of itself. It feels like a whole new kind of movie experience for the time, but I've thought that about other movies and it turned out that I just hadn't seen the stuff that inspired them. Maybe there was another "Annie Hall" before this one, but if so I haven't seen it.

While Allen is good, he couldn't possibly hold my attention for an hour and a half on his own. Keaton, who I will admit I've never really thought of as great, bad, or anything in between, is excellent here. I've even seen the movie before, too, although it's been a long time, and I didn't remember being so impressed by her range.

And, yeah, of course it's hard to stomach hearing some jokes that were still landing in the 70s, especially with the gift of hindsight and imagining Allen workshopping bits about underage sexual conquests ... but, yeah. The movie's still great. 

Also: I've blurred out the name of the library because there's no need to throw them too far under the bus, but after seeing the dreaded "This film has been formatted to fit your screen" title card, I tried to flip the DVD to what was presumably a widescreen version and, well, I should have known that it wouldn't work because of this:  

Maybe it wasn't actually a two-sided disc ... but now I'll never know.

1977's video games: Racing, Football, and (still) Pong

Three more games that I can't actually play right now, but it's getting closer to my time. Well, one of them I very well might have played, actually.

First up is the number one arcade game: the F1 cabinet pictured above. Looks like another massive leap in gaming quality compared to last year's racers.

Here's some gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lqYPSe5fNU

Meanwhile, with the Color TV-Game 6, Nintendo continues to stake its claim in the home gaming market - although, in this case, only in Japan. And what could you play? Well ... Pong, of course, except that it was called Light Tennis. There were six variations on the game with different obstacles and difficulty types, but it's still Pong.

Here's some suitably rough-looking gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPx3PbIxAvc

And, finally, here's one where there's at least a decent chance that I played it as a kid. I have two older brothers who both played football (and who will return in a story about The Legend of Zelda in a few weeks), and I remember these kinds of games kicking around the house. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/Mkx_CUetA_o?si=DZoZRIEm9qkW_U6e

1976's big winner (and loser): Rocky

I only had one movie to watch this week, since the top earner of the year also happened to nab the Oscar in '77. Despite all the winning, the backbone of this movie - the one thing that makes it all worthwhile - is that Rocky loses the match. 

I have deep affection for the rest of the series (and the Creed films, too), but there's nothing else that works like this first one. I love the super-hero version that takes on Thunderlips. I love the Cold War-stopping "piece or iron". I appreciate how they struck a similar tone in Rocky Balboa. 

But, again, the first is the best. Turning the underdog story on its head and deking the audience out by revealing that he doesn't care about winning, but just about proving himself, was quite clever.

I was struck by Shire's performance this time more than I have been in the past; I've never dismissed her, mind you, but I tuned into the fine details of her slow transformation much more in this viewing.

And Young is great. And Weathers is splendid. And Meredith is spectacular. 

Happy to watch this one again. 

1976's best-seller: Leon Uris' Trinity is a mythic epic

 

Another historical drama in my run, which is much more akin to Centennial than to Ragtime, Trinity is a relatively taut story about the build-up to Ireland's Easter Rising and stunted rebellion against English control. Mind you, as it is indeed historical fiction, it's more about impossibly heroic figures in a palpably realistic struggle, which makes for a great read if not, and I say this without personal expertise on Irish life at the turn of the 20th century, a wholly reliable picture of the times.

The growth of Conor Larkin from young observer to activist (though maybe defeatist is the end result) is engrossing. He's a fun character because he's built like a legend: a smart, sensitive, warrior-poet (to borrow a line from Braveheart), but, because of his nature, I couldn't help but feel for the more ordinary people surrounding him throughout his whole life and the chaos his incredible nature and exploits bring into theirs, often to their detriment. 

Conor is an idea written into a man, and this idea, an independence, while noble and unrelenting, is meant to show that it must also bring pain into the world when it succeeds, as even its success divides the people of Ireland.

I suppose that thinking about these big ideas and wanting to learn more about the documented truths of those times, and the continued struggles that follow after the book's ending, might well have been the ultimate goal for Uris. Again, the story is great and the characters are fun (and more than once I mourned for losses, so these people meant something to me), but Uris could have set this in a completely fictional setting or shielded it behind a dense allegory - instead, I suspect that Uris hopes to be like his character Mr. Ingram, imparting upon us, as Ingram did Conor, the gift of curiosity to keep reading and keep learning about his world's real history.

1976: Happy Days, pre-shark

There were just two things I needed from my dip into Happy Days, season four; I got them both plus a little more than I’d hoped for.

Here was my short list: seeing Pat Morita (he returned in an episode featuring graduation); and catching any bit that was used in the Buddy Holly video (I got that one from a clip episode that showed Fonzie’s crazy, arm-flinging dance).

Honestly, I’d forgotten about the happiness found within a clip episode. I know they’re cheeky and just cheap to produce, but there’s something really comforting about a slim story bolstered by someone saying “I remember a time when…” and throwing us into a flashback. 

It was noticeably Fonzie’s season; I can’t remember too much about watching the show in reruns when I was a kid, but it feels like he was probably taking over like Bart did for a while with The Simpsons.

Without trying to wax too sentimental about “the way TV used to be,” I was struck by how easily just about everyone on the show wasn’t just there for acting, but could throw in a song or a dance when required - my favourite instance being Tom Bosley doing a little waltz n’ croon.

The series opened with a three part arc featuring a demolition derby in which Fonzie and his estranged love go up against the Malachi Brothers and their feared Malachi Crunch maneuver. Beyond how awesome that synopsis is, I went down a lovely rabbit hole as I knew I knew one of those brothers, and I knew he was a bad dude.

Boy, did I know him ... and boy, is he a bad dude.

Godspeed, Michael Pataki.

"Neiges" is my top discovery from 1976. Well, 1977. Actually, 1975 ...

 

Here's a reminder that the Juno Awards have always been cute in a very Canadian way. Again, for those that don't know, the Junos are the northern version of the Grammy Awards, and what makes them special are the strange decisions that occasionally come around.

In my project, I'm always looking ahead one year in terms of accolades (this week's Best Picture winner at the 1977 Oscars, for example, is 1976's Rocky). Well, the Junos don't always work smoothly like that. In 1977 they didn't award a "Best Album" award but a "Best Selling Album" award, and that happened to be "Neiges" by André Gagnon, released in 1975 and obviously a slow burner on the sales front.

My favourite award given out at the '77 Junos, though, was "Most Promising Canadian Artist", awarded to ... Heart? 

Anyway, "Neiges" is fantastic. "Dédéthoven" is a terrific mash-up, Classics on 45, Big Bootie Mix kind of medley. "Ta Samba" would make for an excellent Mario Kart track tune. "Wow" has the feel of an on-the-edge detective whose chief has had it up to here with his lawless shenanigans. And "Neiges" itself is a closing anthem worthy of this journey.

I listened to this single-take recording off an LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvPCaa7UsdQ

Then I listened a few more times. 

Highly recommended. 

It's 1976 and the world of Canadian doughnuts will never be the same

I don't pick them up as often these days, but from having a couple of hundred set up as a late night snack at my wedding to seeing them become a required treat for my kids after they endured any kind of needle, Timbits have always been around and are definitely worthy of celebrating.

For the record, my favourites:

Old-fashioned sugar
Powdered jelly-filled
Sour cream glazed
Chocolate
Plain

It's 1976, and Frampton certainly came alive, but ... why?

 

In my mind this has always been a legendary live album that I've never got around to listening to (same with Cheap Trick At Budokan).

So - am I missing something? Did I have to be there?

This was a fine listen, but nothing about this album bowls me over to the point that I recognize it as an obvious best-selling album of the year. 

Doobie Wah - fine. Do You Feel Like We Do - fun. Cool cover of Jumpin' Jack Flash.

But I'm not sure why this was such a massive hit. I'd love to hear from people who were there to explain the phenomenon. 

1976 in video games: Nintendo rules (but still Pong, too)

 

I know very little about Nintendo's history prior to the Donkey Kong era of games in the arcade. I knew about the company's start-up making trading cards, but nothing really about its efforts in the 70s. After learning about Wild Gunman a couple of weeks (i.e. "years") ago, I've now had the chance to look into 1976's top arcade earner: EVR Race. 

In short: it was a betting machine that played different versions of either a horse or a car race (the horse race seems to be the one most reported on, so maybe it was more popular or prevalent), and "players" would simply pick a winner and hope for the best. There wasn't any control over the horses or cars, so it really was just a gambling game. 

A site called thedoteaters.com features a short clip of the video used: https://youtu.be/YaUmcG3iors

What's more meaningful to me from that year was an early Nintendo handheld game: this prototype version of Duck Hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=YaUmcG3iors. After this, it won't be long before I'm spending an awful lot of time with the NES Zapper, shooting ducks and being laughed at by a video game dog.

And by the way: I lost a lot of games on the hard level of Pong. Tried keyboard, tried mouse ... I think I'm ready for the end of Pong's three-year dominance of home video gaming.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: The Mandela/Ratched effect?

 

As with many things in this project, I'm coming in well aware of how popular or revered something is but not necessarily knowing much about the movie, show, album, or book itself.

All I knew about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was that Nurse Ratched was so bad she made the top ten list of AFI's top 50 villains. Worse than the Xenomorph. Worse than the Terminator. Worse than Amon Goeth!

With that in mind, I couldn't help but finish this movie with a resounding "Huh?" to that ranking. 

In what world is Ratched even a villain, never mind a worse-than-a-real-life-Nazi-villain?

Here come some minor spoilers for a 50-year-old movie, by the way.

If you want to label the system that created the institute and techniques featured in the movie as the villain ... that would make sense. If you want to turn the movie on its head and label the convicted rapist, being tested for whether he is actually insane or just trying to game the system, the villain ... that's understandable.

Ratched, though, is trying her best within the system to provide help through structure. She's the only voice that speaks up to keep working with McMurphy, because she doesn't want to pass the buck like her superiors suggest, and she believes that she can really help him. 

She's got her hang-ups, but she's no villain.

Shoot, even Autobot Jazz himself, Scatman Crothers, proves to be way more of a problem than Ratched by helping McMurphy sneak two women into the institute on the promise of sex. I don't suppose I'd call that villainous either, but it means that Ratched isn't even on my radar as a problem.

Crothers, by the way, was my second biggest pleasant surprise to see in this notable cast. The guy I was happiest to see wasn't Dourif, Lloyd, Schiavelli, or DeVito - who I didn't even recognize for the half of the movie...

I was happiest to see Johnny from Police Squad!

I liked the movie, and though it smells a little bit like the kind of story and performances that the Oscars have always loved to love, I can nonetheless see why it rose to the top as Best Picture.

Pop Rocks!

No sucralose or aspartame in here, baby. First introduced in 1975, so part of this week's celebration - with an assist by Picard's Peanuts for carrying some vintage candy.

 

First impressions of All in the Family

 

For both 1974 and 1975's top-rated TV show, I had All in the Family on tap with its fifth and sixth seasons, so I'm catching it at the end of a remarkable run as the top TV show for five years running. I made selections of episodes as I didn't have time to watch both seasons all the way through, and was treated to a fortuitously-timed 100th episode retrospective during season five.

I can't recall having ever watched it before, but I knew its reputation as a progressive, issue-laden show created by like-minded people packaged within a family arguing over those issues. I wouldn't expect anybody who truly believes in the backwards things brought up for laughs is going to watch the show and think "Gee, I should change my way of thinking," and a cynical side of me wonders if presenting both sides was simply a way to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, but at least it was doing something with its air time and was committed to putting stuff out there for people to think and talk about. Not every show has to be pushing social issues, but not every show has to be Two and a Half Men, either. 

One of the most jarring things about watching it was just taking in a sitcom again. So much of the format was familiar to me, even if I wouldn't have been able to describe it ahead of time: the feeling of watching a filmed stageplay; the pauses for laughter; and the built-in moments for applause in response to something noble or sweet (a tribute to the format's legacy here: https://youtu.be/QfaUdwmegQk?t=119). 

I got to see the pilot for The Jeffersons in there, too, as one episode took a break to follow them to their new apartment - that was a nice bonus. Plenty of familiar faces show up, too, but none as surprising to me as a fresh-faced James Cromwell.

I enjoyed watching it and, even without watching full seasons, I was with these characters and really starting to care about them. I'll file this one as something to come back around to later.

Ragtime reveals America's underbelly

I'd seen the musical in Toronto in '96 or '97, but the story stuck with me only in the sense that as events transpired in the book I had that sort of real-time recollection of the moment. I don't remember the songs off the top of my head, either, so that's something I want to listen to when I have some time.

As luck would have it, this was awfully intriguing as a follow-up to Centennial. Both books were taking aim at American history and both weaved together fictional characters and artistic takes on real people - and that's about where the similarities stopped. 

Centennial is verbose while Ragtime is cutthroat in its economy. In fact, Doctorow delights in subverting his own characters' desire for grandiose speech by cutting them off with action, having them bite their own tongues in silence, or just blurt out something quicker in place of a speech. Centennial is laudatory of the greatness of its characters, sometimes only barely acknowledging the hurt and degradation caused by the securing of wealth and power, while Doctorow dehumanizes the people and shoves the ugliness of how they treat one another into the forefront. 

Really, they are a fascinating pair of books because I liked them both for very different reasons. The fact that they overlap timelines just enough also fed into the idea that I was reading some kind carnival mirror reflection of the same story. 

Another great read - two-for-two in this project so far.

Thanks, movie gods: seeing Jaws in the theatre

Because I started my march through 52 years at the end of August, and because that placed 1975 into the second week of September, and because Jaws was back in theatres to mark its 50th anniversary ... I was able to go to the movie theatre and celebrate the film in style.

It has been so long since I've seen this movie that I couldn't even guess when it was. The truth is that it freaked me out as a kid and I don't really like being freaked out. I don't watch horror movies for fun, and I never felt the need to return to this one.

Well, this viewing was fun. Really fun.

It didn't feel like 1975, of course. Popcorn is too expensive (but almost always purchased), only three other people were in the theatre, and it was remastered into 3D. Because this was never meant for 3D, the transfer actually created my favourite kind of 3D movie: one in which it extends the depth and background rather than focusing on having stuff poke out of the screen. It looked great.

I couldn't help but smile when the main theme played. I'm sure it was foreboding and moody at the time, but too many viewings of Airplane! have robbed it of that effect for me.

And after hearing people talk about Robert Shaw for years without actually remembering much about his performance, I will concur that he perfectly threads a line between cartoon and character. 

I can see why there was desperation to try and re-create the magic of this movie in sequels, but the well-known, at-times accidental brilliance of this film's creation is such a great story and, like me seeing a rerelease that coincides with my viewing schedule, there really wasn't a chance of catching the lightning again.

Elton John, BTO, and the burden of expectations

 

1975's top-selling album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy has all the markings of an album I should have really enjoyed, but most of it washed over me without leaving much of an impact. Since I try to go into new listens, readings, or viewings blind if at all possible, it wasn't until after listening to it that I learned it's so near and dear to both John's and Taupin's hearts as an autobiographical concept album. 

I have one theory as to why it didn't click for me on first listen: the only big thing that I knew about it going in was that it featured Someone Saved My Life Tonight, which happens to be my favourite song from the duo. With that highest possible watermark, it's fair to say that I was expecting an awful lot from the rest of the record. While I didn't expect or even want an entire album of variations on "Someone", the fact is that I was essentially waiting for that song to arrive and then listening dutifully after it was over. The rest of the songs were just there to support the main event.

All of this means that I'll have to return to the album later and see if I have a different experience the next time around.

On the other hand, here's the Juno-award winning BTO, fresh after winning the same award for top album of the year in 1974, with Four Wheel Drive.

Here's where expectations, or lack thereof, can be a blessing. What did I expect from this album? Some cool riffs and some fun rock songs; nothing autobiographical and nothing pushing artistic boundaries. What did I get? Exactly all of that. I had a much more enjoyable listen of this album - but would I necessarily categorize it as a better album than Captain Fantastic? That doesn't seem quite right.

All I know is that She's a Devil is an out-there ride of a rock song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSNauSqKvnI

1975's video game round-up

There's nothing new for me to play this week - except, since Pong is still the number one game for the home console market in 1975 and I was feeling emboldened by my comeback victory on https://www.ponggame.org last week, I upped the difficulty level, played more aggressively, and proceeded to blow a big lead and lose.

What I'll be watching for out in the arcade world is Speed Race - re-released or re-titled as Wheels in 1975 and taking the top money-making spot for games that year. It's a great looking game for that time - really, a substantial leap forward in graphics - and my future, 80s self will be paying tribute to it through playing Spy Hunter, Rad Racer, and more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jc9_xrD2_M

Also out there gobbling up quarters was the pinball game Strato Flite, so that's another one I'll try to get my hands on someday. Until then, you can always count on YouTube for a relaxing gameplay vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XevLhYF0f0Q

The Godfather Part II: Its parts are greater than its sum

 

It hasn't been all that long since I last saw this, but here it is as the 1975 Oscar winner for Best Picture - so I'm watching it in my 1974 week.

It's a sequel that works pretty well when it probably shouldn't work at all. It features two stories, neither of which are quite enough to carry their own movie, and Michael's story is so disjointed that it seems to reset a few times after we return to it from flashbacks. 

Vito's tale is much more engrossing, handled excellently by DeNiro, yet he's still saddled with the occasional "seqeully" bit like saying his version of the unrefusable offer line - maybe they should have tripled down on that line and made it the franchise's "I have a bad feeling about this." Vito's story is good enough to carry the inconsistencies of the present-day stuff, which still has great moments, to be sure, such as Kay with the single bravest thing ever said to a mafia boss? Ever? In any film or in real life?

It's got me ready to watch the third one again for the first time in a loooong while, that's for sure.

A dragon slayed: James A. Michener's Centennial

 

This was the first book that I'd lined up to read for my project: 1974's best-selling, 1000+ page -long book (mine, the edition pictured above, came in at just over 900 pages - not sure what's up with different edition lengths). It's a beast. It made me question whether the task I've undertaken is physically possible within given time constraints.

The fact that it took me a week and a half to finish it proves that this is going to be tough on occasion. However, I've already started the next book and, as it comes in at an comparatively cute 300 pages, I feel like the scales will balance out in the long run.

I knew nothing about this book going in, though I remember seeing his book Hawaii on my parents' bookshelf when I was younger. I tried not to learn anything about Centennial before picking it up from the library, but I did catch the word "sprawling" in a synopsis.

Well, yeah, that's a good word for it. Any sprawling epic that begins with the Earth's formation has already got my respect and attention. Moving through the emergence of life, dinosaurs, horses, and beavers before settling in to offer story after story of people who share connections through generations, either familial, geographical, or circumstantial, Michener spins a tale so broad in scope yet with such specific characters that it's quite unlike anything else I've read.

Oh, he has problems with being a white man embodying the spirit of several different cultures, but as least he paints American cowboys with as much caricature as he does Mexican cooks. It also seems pretty clear that he respects all of the peoples that he's writing about, and his research doesn't scream out any lack of depth - he's just prone to using what were surely worn-out stereotypes even in 1974.

The stories, though, are king, and after spending so much time in his world I found myself a little sad to close the last chapter. I don't have any time over the next year, but I'll look forward to diving into another work of his later on. Might as well be Hawaii.

Blazing Saddles and the test of time

It has been a long time since I watched this, and while it was certainly never my favourite amongst Brooks' films (top honour goes to Young Frankenstein, which was incredibly released later in the same year), I always held it back of my mind as an important work of spoof and satire. Brooks pushes buttons and, when he's at his best, does what comedy can do better than any diatribe: he makes you laugh and then makes you think about why you're laughing.

So, a black sheriff with an alcoholic friend earning the respect of racist townsfolk while offering up and chopping down all kinds of stereotypes is a worthwhile spectacle, though it's still kind of amazing to me that it pulled in the most money of any movie in 1974. Gene Wilder is especially great, and he plays his part as just a really sweet, kind guy. 

After my viewing, it still holds onto its place as what some call "culturally and historically important" - I just wished the movie clicked for me overall. It has great bits, but I find it meandering at times and not quite locking me in for the whole story. This doesn't include the gonzo ending of running around Hollywood, though, because that's obviously, and beautifully, meant to completely disconnect from the rest of the movie.

What was totally unexpected was the DVD inclusion of a pilot for Black Bart, a never-to-be TV spin-off/re-imagining of Blazing Saddles starring Lou Gossett, Jr. and a slew of other recognizable faces (for me, I was most pleased to see Gerrit Graham who I know from Spaceship/Naked Space/The Creature Wasn't Nice).

Way to try and cash in on a successful movie, folks!

1974's top video and arcade games

The first video game that I remember playing, as must be the case for many, many people, is Pong. It wouldn't have been in 1974, mind you, but I do have a strong memory of playing at my parents' friends' house at a Christmas visit. Maybe New Year's. My guess is that I was around five years old, and the crazy thing is that them having a Home Pong system was still a really big deal when this game had already been doing gangbusters in the arcades and at home for years.

It's easy to find an emulator to play: 

Yeah, that's me taking down the CPU 10-6. Actually, it was a little tense as I fell behind early. That site is here: https://www.ponggame.org

Meanwhile, number one at the arcades, at least according to the data I was able to find, were two games that I simply cannot easily find a way to play.

First is a Dealer's Choice pinball game, which is one I'll keep in the back of my mind whenever I find myself in an arcade bar. If it ever turns up, I'd love to play it and check it off the list.

The other is Wild Gunman:

Now, I'm familiar with the later version from the NES, but I didn't know much about the game's cabinet origins. I have a feeling that this thing isn't kicking around in any retro arcades - but again, I'll keep my eyes peeled. I also figured if you can't play 'em - watch 'em, so I found a couple of gameplay/history videos.

This one is informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n85S0zwHN-s (and includes a salacious tidbit thrown in at the end about another Nintendo arcade game called Fascination).

This one, though, is a fever dream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgBwG0svJWI&t=29s

It's the type of thing that Video Aces would have accidentally used to make a video of The Blender Childen's "Mr. MX-7" and been hailed as visionaries (see the movie Tapeheads for reference). 

Catching Up with Band on the Run and BTO

 

The best-selling album of 1974, which is why it's on my list despite being released in '73. 

I've never heard any of the tracks on this album past the title track, which I love, and the second song Jet, which is a winner for me because of the brass.

Beyond that, the whole thing really is a great, complete album experience. One reason I've long loved the opening song is the medley quality to it (when the chips are down, I'd pick the Abbey Road medley as my favourite thing by the Beatles), so when the closing sequence of the album includes callbacks to other songs on the same album, well - this is right up my alley. As soon as it finished I listened to the whole album again.

Let Me Roll It is a really fun tune; No Words really struck me as an echo of If I Needed Someone; and Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five is exactly my kind of closing track. 

It's no bold statement to write a glowing review of a fifty-year-old, well-loved album by a former Beatle - but here it is. As much as I'm ready for this project to deliver some nostalgia for me in revisiting things I know well, I'm just as excited to find blind spots like this.

Band on the Run also featured as the best-selling international album at the 1975 Juno Awards (Canada's Grammy Awards, if you aren't familiar with them). Top Canadian album from that year was 1974's Not Fragile by Bachman-Turner-Overdrive, so of course I'm listening to that, too.

Similar to my limited exposure to Band on the Run, beyond the renowned You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (a track from what would be a pretty good album featuring stuttering by various artists), I knew nothing about this BTO classic. It's straightforward rock and not pushing any envelopes (which is especially interesting now that I've read that the title Not Fragile was coined in direct comparison to the very pushy Fragile by Yes), but it is great at doing what it does well. 

Rock Is My Life, and This Is My Song is my standout favourite upon first listen.

Glad to have found a YouTuber who posted videos for both sides of the vinyl: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caZHvBkXcPw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKn3SeK9us4

Setting the table (movie-wise)

With a list of books, movies, albums, shows, and games awaiting my attempt at rapid-fire consumption over the next year, it occurred to me to do a lead-up run of movies featuring a smattering of pre-70s films. It's not lost on me that with all of the media types I listed above I wasn't planning on doing the same for books, movies, shows, or games. At the end of the day, I suppose, movies are the one for me.

Some of these have been on my "to-see-list" for ages, and some I found while browsing some decade-by-decade lists. I guess I could have spread the wealth around countries more robustly but, c'est la vie. I watched these over a weekend.

****

Intolerance (1916)

Certainly a "check the box" viewing here; it's just one of those movies that I know much about from reading but hadn't sat down to watch it. I was most impressed by the battle sequences and the fun effects and some crazy stunts. The four stories were unevenly interesting, which seems fair because they weren't all given equal focus within the movie itself, and the tenuous connections between them sometimes felt like critical comparison essays I used to write in high school where the only real link between them was the text using the words "intolerance" and "intolerant" as often as possible.

Can't imagine I'd need to watch it again, but it felt appropriate to give it its due.

****

Safety Last (1923)

I was surprised by the opening sequence's sight gag with the noose, because no matter how many times I'm given evidence that everything old is new again, I am always taken aback by older movies using stuff that I'd expect to find in a ZAZ film. I actually liked the little things along the way (sneaking into work, hiding from the landlady, and especially pretending to be a manager) as much or more than the extended building-climbing sequence - although I loved and respected that it was soooo long.

****

The General (1926)

Nothing at all like what I expected. I was prepared for stunts, gags, and hijinks, but not a sympathetic (and apparently quite accurate) retelling of a U.S. Civil War's Southern army adventure. In short: the stuntwork was there - and it was clever and entertaining - but viewing this purely as an adventure/love story rather than as a historical timepiece suddenly throws it into my list of massively influential films for comedy, adventure, and action genres. 

****

Modern Times (1936)

Again, this was an unexpected experience because I didn't know anything about this one before going. I didn't pick this intentionally because it was Chaplin's final film as The Tramp, nor because it was a landmark mish-mash of silent film and "talkie" - that was just a lucky stroke that led me to this perfect inclusion in this kind of fest.

It's funny, it's poignant, and its mixture of silence and sound was fascinating. Goddard was terrific, and rather carried the picture at times - though, obviously, what are you watching this picture for if not to see Chaplin roll out some of his greatest tricks. 

****

The Rules of the Game (1939)

The design of this was fascinating; most locations as they were filmed gave an "extended stage set" kind of feeling. Inside these sets, the actors were all terrific, the satire was comedic without going for comedy bits, and the whole thing just felt so sad watching these people ruin lives all around them.

Much love for the burly and forlorn French Willem Dafoe in the middle of the picture above.

Also: so, so many animals were harmed in the making of this movie.

****

Rashomon (1950)

I appreciated the runtime here: it was lean, constantly pushing forward, and therefore leaving very little time for pondering what one version of the truth meant before I had to consider the next. Performances were fantastic across the board with different energy and purpose for everyone - Shimura was the standout for me; not because anyone dropped the ball but because he was so intriguing to watch. 

I suppose when I say the pace didn't leave any time for questions I was thinking specifically about how I was instinctively hesitant to buy into a medium's testimony as a plausible construct but - no time to think about that! Gotta move on! 

It's an incredible work to provide options with no answers, ostensibly because the truth of the story is not really the point here. This isn't a whodunit but more a whydunit, and even that's left to grapple with by the end. 

****

Tokyo Story (1953)

My goodness. This wasn't even on my list of "movies to see" from over the years, and it's safe to say that without deciding to start the project in this way I might never have found my way to it. Instead, as I browsed lists to look for the most often revered movies by decade, I luckily picked this and was rewarded with a singularly mesmerizing viewing experience. 

The patience of this film is incredible. Shots linger on a location for several moments after a scene has rightfully "ended" and even sometimes after characters have exited and left the area empty. There is almost no singular shot that I remember: the camera doesn't move, zoom, pan, track, or in any other way distract from the moment. Characters aren't talking straight to the camera - I don't think? If they aren't, they're looking as close as they can to it without actually directly addressing it. Music is minimal. Sound is sparse. 

In short: there's nothing going on here except the slow revealing of relationships and that's more than enough. In fact, as the final 45 minutes accelerates the story, relatively speaking, it's still at a speed that only feels breakneck because of how patient everything has been leading up to it. 

I'll be revisiting this one.

****

The Seventh Seal (1957)

In all honesty, I've meant to watch this ever since I became aware that the beloved Brewmeister Smith/Ming the Merciless of my youth was, in fact, a very big deal. 

Actually, everyone in this movie is a very big deal. Probably the most beautiful collection of people I've seen in a movie, and all of them threatening to steal scenes from one another at every turn. It's hopeful and full of despair and exactly what I expected and would want from a movie about Death. 

To think that it's also finally setting me up properly for the Death sequence in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" - not to mention Bill and Ted battling Death in a game of Battleship... 

And I feel a little ashamed that I've seen "The Seventh Sign" twice as many times in my life as I've now seen this. 

Ultimately, of all the movies this weekend, this might be the most important building block that I've now added to my foundation.

****

Il Posto (1961)

Chosen because ... it was on my PVR, it checked off the 1960s, and it wasn't too long of a runtime as I was nearing the end of the weekend. Hardly an eloquent decision-making process, but I'm so glad I chose it. 

This has all the awful qualities of youth: uncertainty mixed with occasional bombast, culminating in the terrible achieving of a goal that immediately becomes heavy and maybe even undesirable. It's funny at nice intervals and has some effective moments of heartache as it winds its way patiently along its uncertain plot. Basically: it's those growing pains at work, no matter what country or decade you're watching it in. 

****

What a beautiful time watching movies. You may have noticed that I skipped the 40s altogether; this is because it became obvious right away that I've seen more movies from that decade than any other - not counting those after I was born. So, no need to pay tribute to those years right now.

Bring on the 70s!