’70s
Noah’s Barks pages covering things relating to the years 1970 to 1979, i.e. the ’70s.
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The Warriors
I recommend the Director’s Cut of The Warriors as it adds a few scenes that make more obvious its playfulness and pulpy influences which offsets the questionable machismo and misogyny. That aside, this is a great mini-classic with surprisingly good acting, sci-fi-esque dystopian costume design, and excellently choreographed fight scenes (though they’re often edited weakly… (read more)
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The McCarthyism allegory was never necessary to induce fear. It worked in the first place because assimilation and ostracization are a natural human phenomenon in any culture. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a good movie that avoids becoming a great one by ignoring the unique venues promised by its own concept. The tense hot-seat… (read more)
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Dirty Harry
Let’s just forget about The French Connection and reevaluate Dirty Harry instead. What we have here isn’t just a film that broke boundaries in how much of the crime world media was allowed to show, but a blueprint for a taut, tough, crime-thriller for any generation. Instead of dealing with faceless drug deals we get… (read more)
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The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a John Cassavetes character study where a strip club owner is caught between his personal motivations and a mob hit job. Ben Gazzara puts on a fantastically subtle performance and hides his true feelings until the end. However, his character really only faces challenge, not conflict, and this… (read more)
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Céline and Julie Go Boating
The theme to take away from ‘Céline and Julie Go Boating’ is the opposite of what it likely aims for: some art is too distant to attempt to make your own. (read more)
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Watership Down
Watership Down is a classic adventure story with a youth-friendly aesthetic, but realizes children will eventually have to come of age and stop only watching comedies. Triumphs aren’t given by fortune but instead constant suffering full of threatening risks. The art and animation is pretty but blandly realistic, so it’s the surreal religious visions where… (read more)
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Assault on Precinct 13
Easily comparable to Escape from New York (EfNY) in quality. Assault on Precinct 13 lacks EfNY‘s apocalyptic visions and set designs, but gains a better put together screenplay that only has ups and no downs. Unlike Halloween, the stuff preceding the main event isn’t trash and has some good humor. When the going gets tough,… (read more)
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Rabid
From a director known for his unrestrained writing and penchant for controversy comes an inconsequential zombie flick that a David Cronenberg fan may want to believe is a little more clever than it appears. It’s not, though. That was Shivers, which came out before this. Rabid lacks both Cronenberg’s intelligence (the science of the horror… (read more)
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Dawn of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead is an almost unique horror movie. It’s the rare type that succeeds at being simultaneously tense and fun. The mall setting supplies a sort of “private clubhouse” wish fulfillment that makes it easy to root for the reasonably intelligent and competent cast, and George Romero divides the action and slow segments… (read more)
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Halloween
I don’t think I’ll ever understand what makes a man a slasher fan. Is it the tension? The tension that exists for less than 50% of every one of these “classics?” It can’t be the teen movie fluff that inadequately bridges the gaps with an awful uninspired script and mediocre acting. You can tell everyone’s… (read more)