View Full Version : Gritty 70s Movies.
The 70's movies often had a gritty raw look and style to them directors like Quentin Tarantino still trying to capture with varying successes. Classics like Dog Day Afternoon, Dirty Harry, and Serpico. Here's two lesser known movies of the genre I bet many of not seen. What lesser known 70s classics you recommend? I saw all of those move in the theater as a kid when they didn't care what your age was to get in. Those where some times....
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0xE-68P4ao
#2 on my list:
Electra Glide in Blue, with a very young Robert Blake, 1974. This one was pretty dark and reminds me of Easy Rider from the LE side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q-hSSks9fU
Telefon.
I would argue that Tarantino is trying to connect to the 70s' success. Maybe if he could have a screenplay without more than 5 F-bombs, he would succeed... (don't get me wrong, I like most of his movies. But the use of the 'eff' word detracts from what would otherwise be excellent movies)...
Averageman
05-16-20, 19:17
A lot of the lesser known or B movies of the Seventies were the second feature at the drive in on a summer night.
Having seen both "Electra Glide in Blue" and "Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry" I can assure you they are best seen from the back of a station wagon that has been equipped with a foam mattress covered by an old blanket with a grocery sack full of popcorn and a Coke in a glass bottle.
Never share a Coke with your four year old brother, he leaves floaters.
Ahh those were good times and good movies.
Never heard of the second one but Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is a classic for Mopar lovers. Vanishing Point is another.
For some reason I really liked Two Lane Blacktop.
ThirdWatcher
05-17-20, 03:12
The “Walking Tall” trilogy.
The “Billy Jack” movies were interesting. Also all the original “Death Wish” movies. Pretty much any Charles Bronson movie is bad ass in my book.
The Dumb Gun Collector
05-17-20, 21:51
https://youtu.be/boKe4FSYhJM
Hardocore w George C Scott
The “Billy Jack” movies were interesting. Also all the original “Death Wish” movies. Pretty much any Charles Bronson movie is bad ass in my book.
The original Death Wish was probably one of the most brutal films of it's era.
#2 on my list:
Electra Glide in Blue, with a very young Robert Blake, 1974. This one was pretty dark and reminds me of Easy Rider from the LE side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q-hSSks9fU
I’m going to put this in my watch list. I just threw out a large family size can of Cap Stun a few weeks ago. It was still in the package. I think I saw that sliding into a pouch on his duty belt. Probably not. I think it was invented in the ‘80’s.
Included with Prime and made the year I was born!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200518/d71036708fca6c047a7d49b322312694.jpg
ThirdWatcher
05-17-20, 23:36
... Also all the original “Death Wish” movies. Pretty much any Charles Bronson movie is bad ass in my book.
+1. I was a real Charles Bronson fan too back in the day.
+1. I was a real Charles Bronson fan too back in the day.
I’ve been watching movies with my kids. My especially youngest, she’s 12. It’s made me think of watching Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson with my Dad.
Theses are some of my favorite Jose Wales clips.
https://youtu.be/eyPZFi2b380
https://youtu.be/atzmdijMfRY
https://youtu.be/e63Tk-5UKPc
titsonritz
05-18-20, 03:13
Marathon Man
Serpico
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Averageman
05-18-20, 06:33
I think two movies from the 60's set the stage for gritty 70's movies.
Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde were late sixties movies that took drug use and violence to a new level. I remember the hoop la when they first came out and all the Ladies in the suburbs were a little upset as they went too far.
And yeah, the folks loaded us up in the station wagon and took us to both of those too. I think my Mom and Dad guess I was asleep when Billy got hit by the shotgun at the end, but I let out a "WOW" from the dark part of the back of the station wagon when it happened.
Marathon Man
Serpico
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Holy cow, Marathon Man is a great movie, and scared the crap out of the first time I watched it (circa 1980...I was 12, 13 or so).
Serpico is a classic.
SomeOtherGuy
05-18-20, 09:43
The original Mad Max from 1979. It's not post-apocalyptic or sci-fi, it's a gritty film set in rural Australia. The writer-producer based a lot of it on his personal experience as a traveling ER physician in the same area.
Five_Point_Five_Six
05-18-20, 13:27
'The Friends of Eddie Coyle' is one that comes to mind.
Marathon Man
Serpico
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Beat me to the punch.
I'll add Dog Day Afternoon and Mean Streets.
ETA:
Also technically preceding the 70's but Battle of Algiers is an excellent faux-documentary...fair warning...you have to read subtitles and listen to French. IMO it is worth it.
Beat me to the punch.
I'll add Dog Day Afternoon and Mean Streets.
ETA:
Also technically preceding the 70's but Battle of Algiers is an excellent faux-documentary...fair warning...you have to read subtitles and listen to French. IMO it is worth it.
Mean Streets might be one of the most boring movies I've ever seen. The Wild Bunch, while technically 1969 was pretty gritty and still mostly holds up. If you want really bleak, Across 110th Street probably qualifies. The New Centurions is also a good one and IMO much better than Electric Glide in Blue.
Averageman
05-19-20, 06:18
The Choir Boys, 1977.
Great Movie.
The Choir Boys, 1977.
Great Movie.
I hate to be that guy, but the book was better.
Seven ups, which was a new york based car chase movie with gene hackman. Mcq with john wayne. And Bullit
titsonritz
05-19-20, 12:17
And Bullit
I was going to say Bullit but it was released in '68.
My bad I was 6 then when it came so 52 years since I last have seen. That's why I remember seven ups as a sequel of sorts to bullit
Averageman
05-19-20, 16:12
I hate to be that guy, but the book was better.
Wambaugh
http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wambaugh
I can honestly say, I found all of his stuff to be gold.
Loved the grim humor.
Johnny Rico
05-19-20, 16:48
Papillon.
Steve McQueen at his finest.
titsonritz
05-20-20, 01:51
Assault on Precinct 13
The Warriors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeEbtiruH2Q
The Warriors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeEbtiruH2Q
Trivia: Father of a girl I went to school with and dated a short time years later, wrote the book that was made into the movie The Warriors.
Emperor of the North 1973.
Depression era Lee Marvin as hobo number one vs sadistic railroad bull Ernest Borgnine.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SBVpNAwmoY
Averageman
05-20-20, 17:46
Hard Times, Bronson as "Chaney" a Gritty hard scrabble fighter from the depression era.
Mr Majestyk Bronson as "Vince".
Chato's Land Bronson as "Pardon Chato".
Breakheart Pass Bronson as "Deakin".
Seeing a pattern here?
Death Hunt.
It came out in 1981, but has always been one of my favorite Charles Bronson movies.
Edited to add:
Loosely based on a true story. The real event was the RCMP's first use of aircraft in a manhunt.
Johnny Rico
05-22-20, 14:58
Rocky.
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). I saw it 6 times when it was released, each time with different friends. It was R rated and I wasn't old enough to see it by myself, so I had older friends get me in. Back in those days you got two films for a Saturday Matinee, and the cost was $1.75. It was shot on a low budget on 16 mm film, in the countryside near Austin, Texas. All location shooting - no studio shots.
None of the sequels were worth a damn, but the original did have grit. What it didn't have was gratuitous blood - instead suspense with camera angles and darkness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3TILW0O_C0
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). I saw it 6 times when it was released, each time with different friends. It was R rated and I wasn't old enough to see it by myself, so I had older friends get me in. Back in those days you got two films for a Saturday Matinee, and the cost was $1.75. It was shot on a low budget on 16 mm film, in the countryside near Austin, Texas. All location shooting - no studio shots.
None of the sequels were worth a damn, but the original did have grit. What it didn't have was gratuitous blood - instead suspense with camera angles and darkness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3TILW0O_C0
That was one of two movies that really messed me up as a kid.
Saw it during the early days of cable TV around 1981. What got me is that while I knew there were bad people in the world, I didn't know there were effing deranged people in the world. While everyone else was horrified by things like leatherface putting the girl on the meat hook, what got me was the dinner table scene where the family was mocking the girl and there were actually human arms repurposed as chair arms. The depiction of her captivity at the hands of the family made me reconsider what I accept as a "human." This also eventually led to my realization that there are certain "things" I could kill with zero remorse or consideration.
titsonritz
05-22-20, 23:29
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a classic, it truly stands among the genre. It is so much better than the typical slasher flicks, a good representation of the depravity out there.
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a classic, it truly stands among the genre. It is so much better than the typical slasher flicks, a good representation of the depravity out there.
For me, it was a totally different film than the standard horror film. I've been to the old Gulf Station that was used in the filming, owned by the eldest brother, Drayton Sawyer. When I saw it last it was closed, but I heard it's a Texas BBQ joint. Another trivia piece is when the film opens, you hear a narrator describing the events. That voice was none other than actor John Larroquette, friend of director Tobe Hooper from the University of Texas. In fact a lot of the crew were film students from the U of Texas.
One other piece of trivia is the song playing on the radio when they picked up the hitchhiker with the wine stain birthmark and Polaroid camera. It plays in the background during that entire van sequence. The song was Fool for a Blonde by Roger Bartlett, who is a Texas Swing musician and songwriter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FiWZ_jjxMM
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