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15 Thrillers From The 1970s You May Not Know

nullBlack Sunday” (1977)
Best be assured that when Steven Spielberg was preparing to make “Munich” — easily his best film of the aughts — the filmmaker was screening John Frankenheimer‘s terrorist thriller “Black Sunday” for mood, tenor and tone (John Williams scored both movies and we swear he subtly steals from his own oeuvre). Fortunately for Spielberg he wasn’t watching the picture for pace and rhythm as this is the achilles heel of what might be an otherwise excellent thriller fit for the top of the ’70s canon. As it is, “Black Sunday” is a very good picture, but one that comes with engrossing sequences that are soon delayed by long passages of expository plot talk that lets the air out of the tension. Sprawling and lengthy at two-and-a-half hours, Frankenheimer’s picture centers on three central characters, an American Vietnam POW turned against his country (Bruce Dern), a European member of the Palestinian Black September terrorist movement (Marthe Keller) and Robert Shaw, aka Quint from “Jaws,” showing his range as a an Israeli Mossad agent hot on the trail of this plot to blow up a blimp above of a Super Bowl game in Miami that the President is scheduled to attend. Fritz Weaver co-stars as an FBI agent, but the film is largely a three-wick fuse that could have burned a little faster. The opening is electrically charged, the conclusion gripping (minus the climactic visual FX explosion which is sadly pathetic) and the character beats throughout are rich. But the middle isn’t taut and sags — this is a picture that should have had more running tension throughout. Still, it’s an engaging and occasionally crackling thriller despite its flaws. [B]

nullThe Domino Principle” (1977)
One of the weirder thrillers from this period (which is really saying something), “The Domino Principle,” directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Gene Hackman and Mickey Rooney (wait, what?), begins with a confrontational faux documentary sequence with voiceover that basically suggests that every person in the audience is under the control of some shadowy unseen power. It’s a pretty nutty way to start a movie, and somewhat tonally inconsistent with what follows, which is compelling in its own right. The film follows Hackman’s character, a Vietnam vet convicted of killing his lover’s husband, who is approached by a mysterious man (Richard Widmark) and given the opportunity to leave prison in exchange for pulling an assassination for an unnamed organization. At 97 minutes, the film is incredibly leisurely paced, with the first act basically consisting of a series of interviews with Hackman trying to figure out whether or not he’s fit for the mission, and the second act focusing on Hackman’s non-assassination work outside of prison, which includes reconnecting with his former flame (Candice Bergen with a thick, not-entirely-convincing Southern accent). But part of the fim’s distinct charm is the way that it combines a small, human story of redemption with these kind of overtly stylistic flourishes (exemplified by a soft-focus love scene that wouldn’t be out of place in a Brian De Palma movie). And while it somewhat sags under the weight of too many third act plot twists (and there isn’t nearly enough Eli Wallach as one of the agents), it remains a beguiling, offbeat ’70s thriller just the same, one that strives for social consciousness (it is Stanley Kramer, after all) but ends up instead just being super entertaining. [B-]

nullTwilight’s Last Gleaming” (1977)
One of the weirdest, funniest and coolest movies of the ’70s (period), “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” concerns a group of men who escape from a military prison, who take over a top secret military instillation and threaten to start a nuclear war unless the President reveals some very dirty business involving Vietnam. It even takes place slightly in the future of…1981! Burt Lancaster plays the leader of the rogue military guys (in a performance that clearly inspired Ed Harris in Michael Bay‘s hugely popular “The Rock“), heading up an admirably all-star cast of noted character actors that includes Joseph Cotton, Paul Winfield, Burt Young (who casually refers to Winfield’s character as “Africa”), Richard Widmark and Charles Durning as the hapless president whose thorny moral position is established early and put to the test throughout the movie. “Twilight’s Last Gleaming,” directed by the colossally underrated journeyman filmmaker Robert Aldrich (who else could have directed “Kiss Me DeadlyandThe Dirty Dozen?”), makes wonderful use of the split-screen editorial technique, utilized often to show the geographic relationship between different characters at the same time (a year after De Palma used it to similarly great effect in the climax of “Carrie“), adding to the mesmerizing, almost hypnotic nature of the movie (also helpful: Jerry Goldsmith‘s punchy, unobtrusive score). “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” was unjustly marginalized and, until recently, only notable in the pop culture mainstream for inspiring the title of the season seven Sideshow Bob air-show episode of “The Simpsons.” Thankfully, Olive Films recently released the film, with a sparkling new high-definition transfer on DVD and Blu-ray, complete with an extensive documentary detailing the film’s importance as a pulpy confrontation of America’s involvement in Vietnam. [B+]

nullThe China Syndrome” (1979)
Released mere weeks before the real-life nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, the reception of “The China Syndrome” undoubtedly benefited from its topicality and seeming prescience. But the film still holds up years later as an effective, compelling thriller. Admirably stripped of unnecessary embellishments like a romantic subplot or an overly tricksy shooting style, instead it focuses on Jane Fonda‘s TV reporter, ambitious to graduate from fluff pieces to hard news, after she and her cameraman (Michael Douglas) witness a nuclear near-disaster, which is only narrowly averted by company employee Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon). Godell’s subsequent transition from line-toeing company man to suspicious investigator to justifiably paranoid whistleblower, provides the film with much of its emotional power, detailing the toll that such activity can take on one good man, who is inevitably treated as a pariah by colleagues anxious not to rock their bosses’ boat. One of the highlights of James Bridges‘ directorial back catalogue, it is said that his more classical style of filmmaking found him out of favour in the blockbuster era of the 1980s. But this restraint means the film has stood the test of time well: in its low-key tone it is almost the archetype for a whistleblower film, yet it never feels too familiar. It garnered Oscar nominations for Fonda and Lemmon, and also for the script, though ironically, Fonda was beaten out by Sally Field for “Norma Rae,” a role Fonda turned down. [B+]

We could obviously keep going on and on. Other well-known ‘70s thrillers you should know include “Marathon Man,” “Night Moves,” “Klute” and crime thrillers like “The Seven Ups,” “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” “The Outfit” and “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” Slightly lesser known but just as interesting is crime film “Charley Varrick” (you could do a whole sub-genre of Walter Matthau or James Garner ‘70s flicks too). Other ‘70s thrillers to watch (and some we’ll surely tackle next time) include Costa Gavras’ hard-to-find on DVD “State of Siege,” Bernardo Bertolluci‘s hard-to-find “The Spider’s Stratagem,” Steven Spielberg‘s little-seen 1973 Made-for-TV political thriller, “Savage,Sam Peckinpah‘s espionage thriller “The Killer Elite,” Irvin Kershner‘s “Raid on Entebbe,Richard Lester‘s “Cuba” starring Sean Connery, Theodoros Angelopoulos‘ “Days of 36,Claude Chabrol‘s “Nada,” “The Boys From Brazil,” “Winter Kills,” “The Carey Treatment,” “Farewell, My Lovely,” “The Eagle Has Landed,” “Report to the Commissioner” (Richard Gere’s screen debut), “Freelance,” “Man On A Swing,” and maybe “Capricorn One” if we ever do ‘70s thrillers with an outer-space bent. Thoughts? Your favorite lesser-seen/little-known ‘70s thriller? We’ll surely be back for more at some point.

– Rodrigo Perez, Drew Taylor, Oliver Lyttelton, Kevin Jagernauth, Katie Walsh and Jessica Kiang

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