 Notes from awards committee: The year 1974 was a good year for Hollywood with many excellent movies. The best motion picture of the year is Chinatown. The acting is as good as it gets and film is filled with many bravura touches and ranks as a true masterpiece. This was the movie that cemented Jack Nicholson as a Hollywood superstar, John Huston played the unforgettable Noah Cross, Director Roman Polanski has a famous cameo scene with a knife, but Faye Dunaway steals the picture with an intense, haunting performance as the alluring, wealthy fem fatale with plenty of secrets. The storyline is complex, mysterious yet simple to follow; it is dark and seedy without relying on vulgarity. The production is outstanding - with a sense of time and place that evokes the '30's Los Angeles in striking detail- every building, the cars (lovely rare automobiles), hairstyle and apparel, Chinatown revives an era that exists, for the most part, in the fading memory of people's minds. The tight script hurdles the story forward faster than Faye behind the wheel of her Packard convertible. The story has plenty of film noir reoccurring themes: the rich but dysfunctional family, hidden blood relationships, and of course, jealousy and greed leading to murder most foul. To say any more would spoil the film. I have watched this film about ten times and I am still unspeakably moved by the ending. It still stings. The World at Large
 Fun Surprises -
The Great Gatsby - is based on a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that was published in 1925. TGG is often called the Greatest American Novel, but rather than debate that claim I’ll provide the simplest synopsis I can: Set in New York, the film plunges us into the American Roaring 1920’s of the rich and powerful. Jay Gatsby, a very rich man with a secret past, pursues a former love. Robert Redford plays Jay Gatsby and he embodies every characteristic written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This 1974 version Directed by Jack Clayton, as far as I’m concerned, is the only acceptable version to watch. The Director does an excellent job of Showing, not Telling, this tragic love story. Odessa File - delivers in the suspense department; setting up a nicely paranoid atmosphere, with the Nazi threat always present in 1963 Germany. The movie is based on true events and WWII history details, but uses artistic license liberally to enhance the story. A superb scene not to miss – the Reunion Party of the Waffen SS Siegfried Division in a Hamburg beer hall is worth the price of admission. Still reveling in nostalgia for the Nazi glory days, their old leader gives the boys a rousing speech. You can almost smell the beer and sauerkraut on the old general’s breath as he breaks into a rant that Hitler would have approved. This is one of Jon Voight's career best performances, and the supporting cast is effective, especially Maximillian Schell at his cigarette waving, evil villain, dramatic best. Also see talented beauty Mary Tamm, as Voight's girlfriend, Sigi, in her excellent motion picture debut. Death Wish – made a big splash in 1974 with movie fans and was in perfect tune with the rising disgust with violent crime. The hero of the movie is Charles Bronson who is driven to vigilante justice after his family is brutally attacked and the law fails to provide protection or justice. The film is quite fascist and pro-2A, and of course hated by Hollywood gun grabbers. The Conversation – is a low-key, underrated mystery-thriller, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, about Harry Caul, a brilliant, introverted surveillance expert. Harry is the kind of skilled craftsman who can put a bomb in a pocket pager. But he is mostly building bugs (secret listening devices). This unique techno-driven movie is proven prescient for the 2020s anxiety about privacy invasion in the internet age. Gene Hackman (as Harry) gives one of his finest performances and is well supported by John Cazale, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Teri Garr, Robert Duvall and the underrated Allen Garfield as Harry’s business rival. This is Peak Coppola during his incredible lucky streak in the 1970s. He truly had the golden touch until he didn’t. Like the original Godfather film, The Godfather Part II was a major commercial and critical success for Francis Ford Coppola. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won six. It is the first sequel to win Best Picture. It is regularly featured in lists of the greatest movies ever made. That said, the film has several weaknesses with the tangled, messy plot and the three-hour, twenty minute run time is too long. I mark this film for the point I was hit with Mafioso Fatigue. GF2 is a well-crafted film with plenty of talent, but does not ring in as Best Picture.
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