The Movie Journal

  Electra Glide in Blue (1973) 1973’s Electra Glide in Blue is a movie that only could have been made in the early 1970’s. It is a meandering film that features striking cinematography (from future Oscar-winning Conrad Hall) and tells a story about one’s disillusionment, this time within the police force. Eventually, the film would become a cult classic despite some production woes and gave more people an opportunity to discover Robert Blake. Despite the prodding pace, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Blake delivers a fine performance. The powerful ending was unexpected as it came out of nowhere, but it does fit the theme of the film regarding disillusionment and how people can be completely different people than what you expect them to be. This project was directed by first-time (and last) director James William Guercio. He is better known as the producer of hit musical band Chicago. Some members of the band, such as Peter Cetera, actually make an appearance throughout. He was an...

  Enter the Dragon (1973) 1973’s Enter the Dragon was America’s…and my first foray into the kung-fu world of Bruce Lee. Prior to this film, Lee was an international superstar but has seen limited success in the States. This film changed everything. It became a very successful film, but sadly is the swansong for Lee due to his untimely death. I was incredibly surprised by how much I enjoyed this feature. The story is borderline silly at times, but I was taken aback how the story became a “low-rent” spy thriller a la James Bond…which I enjoyed. Lee has proven himself as a great actor and seeing his fighting moves impressed me. I try to avoid martial art films because they do not appeal to me, but I need to catch up on Bruce Lee’s work. Due to Lee’s global success, Warner Brothers joined forces with Lee to produce the movie and bring it to a wider American audience. The production received a very modest budget, but director Robert Crouse and his team made every penny count. The scre...

Badlands (1973) Terrence Malick’s Badlands is an incredible directorial debut and as many people say, one for the ages. In essence, this movie became a cult film because of how picky Malick was when it came to choosing projects to direct. Between 1973 and 1997, he only directed two films. But this review will focus on Malick’s 1973 feature. Badlands has everything you want from a Malick film. A story that represents the American lifestyle and culture, beautiful cinematography from Tak Fujimoto, haunting music from the likes of Nat King Cole and Carl Orff, and a story that is held together in narration by one of its main characters. Like most Malick films, this may not be for everyone. Those expecting a traditional Western, look elsewhere. Those looking for a thoughtful, intelligent film about American values (well, values of 1973’s Americans), this is the film for you. Badlands was written by Terrence Malick himself. His source of inspiration for his main characters Kit ...

American Graffiti (1973) Seeing the reviews for American Graffiti from the old-timers make me want to relive my childhood and teenage life all over again. There are memories created that will never die but it makes you long for those memories. Of course, I’m not an old man and my childhood culture isn’t the same culture set in this film. This is the generation of my parents and they know about this culture even better than I do, but the message is the same. It’s all about remembering the times you had when growing up. The year this film took place is 1963, and boy was everything so different when compared to today. Everyone back then listened to the radio, cruised amongst the highways looking for women to pick up, hung out at the local drive-in restaurant, and so forth. People either went to college or just found a local job and set out cruising. Gosh life was so simple back then! This film authenticity was created with the driving force of director and screenwriter’s George Lu...

Mean Streets (1973) People who know me very well know that I am a huge Martin Scorsese fan. Along with Steven Spielberg, Scorsese is probably my favorite all-time director. He made so many memorable classics that are worth watching over and over again with films like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. However, I’m sad to report that Mean Streets is not one of those classics. At least not for me. It was a very well-received movie, but after watching it two times I couldn’t figure out why people were over the moon about the film. It’s not a bad film, but it is mostly boring. The acting is great and there are several fun scenes, but this is one of Scorsese’s lesser efforts. I can’t hold it against him because this film is his first feature project he had a say in. As a young filmmaker, this film shows he was still learning his craft. That being said, he manages to introduce the world to his style of directing and although I’m not the biggest fan of the movie, its still a solid movie debut ...

Serpico (1973) 1973 was a very strong year for movies. I say it’s the best year in movies produced in the modern Hollywood system up to 1973. It’s not the best year of the decade (1976 is just fabulous for excellent movies), but with the likes of American Graffiti, The Sting, and this movie, Serpico , it’s hard not to get excited about the year of film in 1973. I’ll say off the bat that Serpico is an excellent movie. I can hardly call that a surprise given the amount of talent behind the film. The story, based off real-life events, is very engaging and its brutally honest. Just like Mean Streets showed, living in New York City was not exactly all that safe. While Mean Streets covered everyday life in a New York community, this film covers the police and more specifically, police corruption. The film shows that pretty much every cop in the NYPD were corrupt to some degree whether it’s racketeering or paid murder, but one man decided to show honesty and integrity….and nearly pays...

The Sting (1973) If you have never seen The Sting before, my recommendation is to see it immediately. This is such a fun, wonderful movie and it’s another example why 1973 was a great year in movies. The film is very stylish to look at and it gave me the authentic 1930s feeling although I get a feeling the art designer went a little beyond the authenticity. That being said, the production design and the costumes are excellent features of this movie. But not only is this film stylish, it also has a deep plot. Credit goes to director George Roy Hill for making this movie understandable and enjoyable for the mass audience. The movie does have a tendency to get overly complicated at times because of all the twists and turns that come out of nowhere-and to great effect. The first time I watched the movie, I fell in love with it but I was completely lost by the ending in the final showdown. My second viewing had me understand what was going on and that is all because of the excellen...