All aboard the time machine to 1974!
Find a seat please! Strap on that seat belt and remember when we arrive in the year 1974 you’ll have to know which Toronto Movie Theater you’re intending to visit to see your film of choice with a crowd who have likely never seen your selection. Don’t be playing spoiler.
Everyone seated? Here we go……..
O.K. Rather than delay the suspense you may as well know I’m intending to see the film that solidified Charles Bronson as a major box office attraction in North America after first seeing his star rise to legendary status overseas.
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Jack anyone? And for nostalgia fans I must say it’s nice to see Oliver Reed’s name in the ad for The Three Musketeers alongside the beautiful Miss Raquel’s.
Some movie buff I am. I actually had to check this title out because I had no idea that Omar Sharif actually played Captain Nemo. Please let me know if I need to track this one down. As for Herbie, my Mom might have actually taken me to this in the day. My memory is a bit foggy on that one.
No sense in my going to see Macon County Line (though I love the added drive-in feature) since I just picked it up on blu ray. I will admit that I’m really liking that double bill of Poe and the Doll Squad. I need to find myself a copy of the Poe film. Anyone seen it?
Here’s another quartet of titles I’m not all that familiar with aside from having a copy of the Maggie Smith movie around here somewhere. For the record, Kazablan, is a musical directed by the man who would one day rule Cannon Films, Menahem Golan. Miss Lansbury starred with Michael York in 1970’s Something For Everyone. Obviously in rerelease here and the plot I just checked out over at the IMDB doesn’t sound half bad. Lastly, Malizia, is a sex romp by way of Italy.
6 Months! Since the advent of home video and the ever changing world of how movies are distributed it must be over 20 years since a movie played that long in theaters like Mel Brook’s satirical take on the western did. As for Mr. Beatty, is it wrong to admit I’ve never seen The Parallax View?
If Richard Dreyfuss is your guy there are a couple titles to choose from. And no, Jaws, is still a year in the future.
Plenty to choose from here. Streisand or perhaps her ex-hubby Elliott Gould reuniting with MASH pal Donald Sutherland? Sunshine? No idea but I hear people talking about this guy named Stallone and that he might be around for awhile.
Won’t be surprised if someone decides they want to see the classic that puts Newman and Redford together on the con. Add Hitchcock into the mix if you head to the drive-in.
The cult hit with Peter Fonda and Susan George is sure to turn some heads and then there’s those of us who are always excited to see Warren Oates scoring a lead role.
Here’s what I appreciate about movie houses from the past before the VHS tape changed the industry. You could still expect to see classic films of earlier eras still playing on occasion. Titles like the must see Frederic March – Myrna Loy Best Picture of 1946, The Best Years Of Our Lives.
No doubt this is a tough decision back in the day but it also reminds me that we fans of tough guy cinema missed out on an Eastwood / Bronson pairing when they were in their prime years of protecting us regular folk from the hoods and muggers that preyed upon us. Opportunity missed. BIG opportunity missed.
Following your movie of choice be sure to get back to the time machine pronto because we’re leaving at 11:59 PM sharp. And that empty seat in the back of the time machine? Don’t get any ideas cause I’m bringing this back with me and it’ll be resting there. When we arrive back in 2020 keep your paws off it. It’s heading to the vault at Mike’s Take.
Well, what movie did you choose to see on our journey back in time?
Mike's Take On the Movies 
A solid year for movies. I’d like to have seen Death Wish in that era with my one Uncle as we’re both Bronson fans
I’d like to have experienced seeing it in New York City theaters where the cheers were supposedly quite loud.
Frenzy! I love Hitchcock
Can’t blame you. Amazing list of titles to his name. Great pick.
I’ll have one ticket for White Dawn please!
And why not. Warren Oates and Lou Gossett! A great film based on a true story. Tragic but a must see.
Saw it on bbc2 many moons ago. Kaufman always interesting.
Blazing Saddles.
Here’s to Mel Brooks!
Okay, from a ‘go back in time and have fun’ standpoint, I’d pull into the Brampton and watch the double feature of ‘The Sting’ and ‘Frenzy’. From a Hitchcock-fan’s standpoint, I’d have to go to the Donlands to see ‘Rebecca’ and ‘Notorious’. But being a fan of Clint Eastwood, I’d also have to consider the Imperial Six to see ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot’, and steal the one-sheet from their…wait, somebody already got to it!
And yeah, I agree with your lament about Eastwood and Bronson not making a film together. If one HAD been made, what sort of film would you have preferred: a buddy-cop crime film, a war actioner, a ‘City Heat’ type of comedy, or (my choice) two tough guys pairing up to go after a bad guy, for reasons of revenge or to retrieve someone/something that was kidnapped/stolen from them.
Fine choices above and as for Clint and Charlie, I guess it would have to play to their images so maybe a couple of cops on the same hoods trail? A revenge flick about a heist gone bad? Whichever we missed out.