The Movie Journal

Cabaret (1972) 1972’s Cabaret …is not your ordinary musical. The old cliché is that musicals are supposed to make you happy. This particular film, not so much. Director Bob Fosse, who spent lots of time around musicals in Hollywood and on Broadway, did not shoot this film like a musical. It is a dark tale that reeks of desperation. It depicts the Weimar Republic in Germany as Nazism was on a fast rise. It showed the decadent underbelly of Berlin in the early 1930’s. The club, The Kit Kat Klub, is everything that the German Nationalists, later known as the Nazi Party, wanted to destroy. The movie takes some time getting used to, but it is one of those movies where it is completely worth the watch because it stays with you for a long time. Even if you somehow hate it, you’ll remember the imagery and the songs. Bob Fosse was quite a character, In his movies, he also acts as choreographer and he is an excellent one. He did an amazing job blocking out the dance moves. The su...

Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Movies like 1972’s Jeremiah Johnson is why I love 70’s cinema….and cinema in general. The movie is a contemplative, visceral work of art. I noticed many films from the 70’s experimented with different ways of storytelling. Some movies, such as this particular film, does not focus too much on a strong narrative. This western relies upon imagery, music, and legendary mythos that defines the “Mountain Man” era. The movie requires patience because the story is told at a slow pace on purpose. I promise that you will be rewarded for your patience! The movie reunites director Sydney Pollack and star Robert Redford. In the span of their respective careers, they worked together nine times! This was their second feature after 1966’s This Property Is Condemned . This movie originally paired Clint Eastwood and Sam Peckinpah, but the duo did not get along so they pursued other projects. Warner Brothers casted Redford in the lead role without anyone in the dire...

What's Up, Doc? (1972) I was very much looking forward to seeing what director Peter Bogdanovich had in store with his 1972 hit, What’s Up, Doc? I was absolutely floored with his previous picture, The Last Picture Show . That movie was one of the best films of 1971 and it was an effective drama about a dying town. Even though screwball comedies are what I least enjoy, I thought Bogdanovich, would at least, elevate this movie beyond standard fare. Boy, was I ever wrong. The movie was painfully unfunny and I thought Barbara Streisand was annoying and she basically fits the definition of an obsessive stalker. There were some redeeming moments saving this movie from utter failure, mainly Ryan O’Neal’s Cary Grant-esque character and the San Francisco chase scene towards the end of the film. History lesson time! Screwball comedies were very popular in the 1930’s. The genre essentially combined romance with over-the-top lunacy. 1938’s Bringing Up Baby is the perfect example...

A Clockwork Orange (1972) Stanley Kubrick is back! And he brings with him another controversial albeit delightful movie. In the 1960’s, he directed two genuine masterpieces in 1964’s Dr. Strangelove and 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey . Both were fascinating movies that had something to say-usually things that stirred the pot. In 1972, his most controversial movie of all was released titled A Clockwork Orange . I absolutely loved this film and I am not ashamed to admit it. I loved the film’s take on a bleak, dystopian future reminiscent of a fascist society. I loved the characters in the film despite their ultra-violence. I loved the music and the use of Beethoven and Rossini. Just every little thing about this film can be called a masterpiece. There were people who despised this film because of it use of violence. The kind of violence displayed in the movie was something that was very, very rare in 1972. Even in today’s standards, this film is violent. Maybe it even glorifies i...

The Godfather (1972) “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” -Don Corleone When I first saw The Godfather many years ago, I initially called the film “a long, boring piece of crap.” Needless to say, but there was something immensely wrong with my teenage brain. Luckily as I have matured, so have my tastes in cinema. This film is heralded as an American classic, and now I can wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. As famed critic Roger Ebert pointed out, this movie is the one where most people can agree on its quality. Hardly a single person dislikes this movie and that is a very good thing. Ultimately, The Godfather is still a very long movie but I have come to appreciate it more with each viewing. The film is obviously about the mafia, but this is a different kind of mafia film. Prior mafia films and even those after this one deals with perspectives from an outsider and their perceptions of violence and death with the mafia. However, this film is told with...

Deliverance (1972) Let me open this review with a little history lesson. (I know, sooooo boring right?) My hometown of Lebanon used to be a bigger town. But in the 1970’s, part of my town was leveled in order to create a reservoir. So people living in the area where the reservoir was being built had to leave their homes. So a part of our civilization vanquished for a manmade body of water. There is a similar theme in this film, Deliverance . The film takes place in the mountains of Georgia and a river which is very dear to our main characters is about to disappear because of a dam building which would flood the area. Like in my area, people have to leave their homes to escape the flooding. It is a very sad situation all around, but that theme makes this movie all the more better. I enjoyed Deliverance very much. It has been regarded of one of the best films of 1972 and I think I can agree with that. This is just a simple adventure of four men traveling the rapids in pursuit of...

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)   The 1970’s is the decade that gave birth to the disaster movie genre. In my review of 1970’s Airport , I pointed out how that movie gave birth to disaster movies of that decade which in turn spawned disaster blockbusters of today’s age. These kind of movies are meant to be dumb, silly fun and the makers of these kind of movies embrace what these movies are meant to do: to entertain. You won’t be getting any thespian acting or a serious melodrama. Instead you’ll get an onslaught of special effects and a thin story usually about trying to survive and that is quite okay by me. Another early example of a rather entertaining disaster film is 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure. I enjoyed the film for what it was. It has a big cast of former Oscar winners and big-name movie stars, and they all seemed to have a grand ol’ time. Sure, the dialogue is cheesy sometimes but the action is what we are here to see. And in that regard, the movie clearly succeeds. ...