18. Scarecrow (1973)
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
Featuring Al Pacino and Gene Hackman
Max Millan: “[while introducing Lion to Coley] Ah, Coley this is my associate,Lion.”
Coley: “It’s nice to meet you Lion.”
Lion: “It’s nice to meet you Coley, Max has told me nothing about you.”
After his big breakthrough in The Godfather (Coppola, 1972), Al Pacino went back to do a film with Schatzberg. The guy directed Al’s debut in cinema, namely The Panic in Needle Park (1971). Together with Zsigmond, famous of the photography in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman, 1971), he tried to make the film’s cinematography look extraordinary. Pacino and Hackman play two drifters, reminiscent to Voight and Hoffman in the brilliant Midnight Cowboy (Schlesinger, 1969) but much stranger and stupid in a poetic kind of way.
17. Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Directed by Mike Nichols
Featuring Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel
Sandy: “Looks aren’t everything, you know.”
Jonathan: “Believe me, looks are everything.”
The disputed subjects of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and The Graduate (1967) already astonished audiences, consequently Carnal Knowledge (1971) even more so through its controversy. We look at enactments by two extremely talented actors, Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel, following their college years in the 1940’s to adult life in the contemporary 1970’s. Disappointed in relationships and intercourse with the opposite sex, the film explores in essence the emotional confusion of not only them but all men.
Art Garfunkel would later retreat to the same subject in Roeg’s Bad Timing (1980) starring Theresa Russell. Whereas this time, the narrative differs because of it evolving into an erotic thriller.
16. Mikey and Nicky (1976)
Directed by Elaine May
Featuring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMCDCPOzPTo
Mike Nichols, coincidentally the previous director on the list (n° 17), and Elaine May used to be a comedy duo. They had a refreshing style of irony and satire that influenced actors like Steve Martin and Bill Murray. Her enchanting witty touch is clearly visible in A New Leaf (1971) which she directed, wrote and played in, together with Walter Matthau. Her black humor conduct of The Heartbreak Kid (1972) gave a role like a glove to Cybill Shepherd. Subsequently her supervising led Warren Beatty’s lovely Heaven Can Wait (1978) to a big succes. Later on, she would work again with him and Hoffman on Ishtar (1987), which resulted in one of the most notable commercial flops since Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate (1980). That last film so called ended the era of New Hollywood, together with Coppola’s One from the Heart (1982).
Mikey and Nicky stands out in her oeuvre as an intriguing drama about friendship, trust and the fragility of both. John Cassavetes and Peter Falk, friends in real life, collaborated a couple of times before and succeed in delivering a realistic and believable tragedy of betrayal.
15. Two-lane Blacktop (1971)
Directed by Monte Hellman
Featuring James Taylor, Dennis Wilson and Warren Oates
“Performance and image, that’s what it’s all about.” (GTO)
Put ‘pseudo-Cat-Stevens’ James Taylor and ‘Beach Boy’ Dennis Wilson together in a car and what do you get? Mostly existential silence and some really cool glances. The charismatic Warren Oates (GTO) on the contrary, meets them on the road, picks them up as hitchers and chatters away, recounting many wonderful made up stories. Beautifully shot race and drive scenes make this a road movie classic next to Easy Rider (Hopper, 1969) and Vanishing Point (Sarafian, 1971). Monte Hellman started as a filmmaker under the mentoring of Roger Corman and helped starting up Jack Nicholson’s acting career.
14. Point Blank (1967)
Directed by John Boorman
Featuring Lee Marvin
“I want my money.” (Walker)
Lee Marvin as Walker just wanders about through stylistic scenes that were clearly inspired by film noir and the French Nouvelle Vague. He searches for his ‘MacGuffin’, here primarily money. At the beginning of the film, his friend betrayed him and ran off with his lady and his dough. His aim to get revenge and above all his money back, remains a blind, superficial need that never goes into depth. The easy end gives away the subtle satire of John Boorman through the picture. In interviews, the director joked about the fact that Lee Marvin just threw the script out of the window without reading it. Although this may be true, the film’s blankness serves for a compelling existential trip that evolves into the perfect thriller, practically achieving the class of a ‘Melvillean’ crime story. By and large a marvelous and fascinating film of the same man who made the suspense roller-coaster Deliverance (1972).
