Moving right along…

Gonna give you ’74 and ’75 today. Kill two birds with one stone kind of thing. I did so want to release 1 year of films each day up until THE moment of the dreaded 50th B-day, but time does its thing (and lately it doesn’t just fly, it moves at lightening speeds) and we are going to have to double up here!

First up – 1974 – a year of directors with multiple movies! In no particular order:

1. Young Frankenstein: Almost every list on the internet from Reddit to Collider, Rotten Tomatoes to Screen Rant, ranks Young Frankenstein as Mel Brooks’ best film. Second only to…
2. Blazing Saddles: This was MY introduction to Mel Brooks. My father played this one endlessly around the house and I’m fairly certain I saw LONG before it was appropriate. The only actor I knew was Gene Wilder who was by then a god to me (see Willy Wonka). It would be years before I understood beyond farts around campfires and double entendre’s from Madeline Kahn.
3. The Godfather 2: Better than the first? Is Empire better than New Hope?
4. The Conversation: The other Frances Ford Coppola movie of ’74.
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: It took me years to find the guts to sit down and commit to watching this one I think the hype was ultimately far worse than the film itself, but the movie still pays off!
6. Lenny: Dustin Hoffman is brilliant.
7. Herbie Rides Again: I loved these movies! It isn’t as good as the first one of course, but after a while they all blend together. Herbie even got his own attraction in Hollywood studios Orlando for a little while!
8. The Taking of Pelham 123: A couple of remakes came from this film, but this is the one that stands at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
9. Benji: This movie played on tv constantly probably ten years or so after it came out. It’s silly and cheesy of course, but it was the best live action dog movie we had at the time. And the dog lives!
10. Chinatown: Did you know there was a sequel to this movie? The Two Jakes. 1990

1975: The year my brother Shawn is born – a far better year in films than mine. I am rightfully jealous.

1. Jaws: Let’s start off with the obvious. Like so many movies of my childhood, I was far too young to have seen them in the theatre so naturally I caught them on public television, and on repeat! And as a pure Gen-Xer, I had exactly zero supervision while I gobbled this one down and then staunchly refused to enter even the shallow end of Green Lakes ever again.
2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Didn’t actually see it until I was in a production (and let me tell, you have not done live theatre until you have had toast, toilet paper and hot dogs thrown at your head) This is the first of many Tim Curry appearances!
3. Tommy: It’s trippy I know, but its also amazing and so is the cast!
4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Need I say anything more?
5. Escape to Witch Mountain: My Disney entry for ’75. Does anyone out there remember this one? Two kids with psionic powers end up being aliens? No? Sounds dumb, but this movie and its sequel were actually pretty great at the time.
6. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest: It will be a few movies before I am introduced to Jack for the first time…I had to go back and watch this one much later in life.
7. Dog Day Afternoon: Sydney Lumet let Pacino pick his theatre buddies to play his co-stars in this movie based on a real life bank robbery gone wrong.
8. Nashville: Good lord who’s NOT in this film? Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Jeff Goldbloom?! Shelly Duvall, Ned Beatty and Keenan Wynn?? I’m going to go watch it right now!
9. The Apple Dumplin Gang: Ok so there is another Disney entry…its nothing to go nuts over but I loved this movie! It’s Don Knotts and Tim Conway and they are simply adorable together.
10. Return of the Pink Panther: The 4th Pink Panther film is the only Pink Panther I know and acknowledge. And yet another movie I completely associate with my dad’s piano playing.