Film Discussion Lunch: The Films of 1974

This April, we continue our now annual tradition of taking a close look back at the films of 50 years ago. That brings up to the stellar year of 1974. To the general public, it was the height of the disaster cycle (by plane, train, skyscraper, or what used to be the ground.) Serious film buffs may remember it as the year Francis Ford Coppola gave us not one, but two masterpieces. Funny film buffs may remember it for Mel Brooks doing the same. Horror was getting more horrifying, New York was not a good place to be a criminal and, as for paranoid conspiracies, forget about it, Jake.

(Note: This is a list of our suggested viewings, but we are happy to discuss any film that came out in 1974.)

• Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)
• Godfather Part II and The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
• 27 Down (Awtar Krishna Kaul) available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBwJPErunzQ
• Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
• Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese)
• Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders)
• Black Christmas (Bob Clark)
• Céline and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
• Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
• Death Wish (Michael Winner)
• The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Werner Herzog)
• Foxy Brown (Jack Hill)
• The Parallax View (Alan J. Pakula)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)
• The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin)
• A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes)

(Image taken from the great YouTube channel Reel Classic Film Reviews, which talk about 1974 and other classic film topics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LX1Qg-tmy8 )