1976 in film.

Top ten box-office films of 1976:

1. Rocky
2. A Star Is Born
3. King Kong
4. Silver Streak
5. All the President's Men
6. The Omen
7. The Bad News Bears
8. The Enforcer
9. In Search of Noah's Ark
10. Midway

What are your top three films for 1976? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:

1. Taxi Driver
2. Nuts in May
3. All the President's Men

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN FILM • forum.chorus.fm

 

1. Rocky
2. Taxi Driver
3. Face to Face

I have a soft spot for Rocky. Shout out to In the Realm of the Senses.

 

1. Mikey and Nicky
2. Rocky
3. Taxi Driver

all the president’s men honorable mention. M&N is my favorite criterion find.

 

This was a weaker year for me. After Taxi Driver, nothing really stuck out as a must-add. Nuts in May is a very little-known Mike Leigh film about an obnoxious couple in nature, is very funny. His career took off with Naked in the 90's but he was around for years before that.

 

1. Taxi Driver
2. Network
3. Rocky

Honorable mentions:

Buffalo Bill and the Indians
Carrie
The Eagle Has Landed
Freaky Friday
Harlan County, USA
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Murder By Death
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Voyage of the Damned

 

Nuts in May is a great film. Both that and Abigail's Party from next year showing that Leigh was making that squirmy / uncomfortable comedy about 25 years before it became popular again.

 

1. Taxi Driver
2. Nuts in May
3. Network

I saw Taxi Driver on Thursday in the cinema, which was my first trip back in the cinema for about 8 months, and probably the longest gap since I was a toddler or something. In a film of horrific images and actions, by far the worst bit is Jodie Foster making herself Jam on toast, and then dousing it in sugar.

Nuts in May as mentioned before is one of Mike Leigh's early TV films about a couple having a horrible time camping. A classic British class / value clash, with them getting into fights and just being awful company. Worth watching through your fingers.

Third choice was a bit harder, but I went for Sidney Lumet's Network, which seems perpetually relevant and continually influential satire on media news.

Also in contention for third spot were Mr Klein, The Tenant and In The Realm of the Senses.

For some quality Hong Kong trashy films (a category I'll be posting more of for the next 20 years of thread or so), we have Black Magic 2, a quick sequel to the first one from 1975, and basically the same film again, as well as The Oily Maniac, which is about a man who gets cursed and becomes a big puddle of oil in human form, and ambles around yelling and killing people, before disappearing into a puddle and zooming off.

For a really cool short film from this year, we have John Smith's The Girl Chewing Gum, which is him "directing" passers by, and then inanimate objects on a London street scene, before getting even more surreal towards the end. Great fun, and only 11 minutes, so worth your time;

 

1. In the Realm of the Senses
2. News from Home
3. Insiang

My number one was an easy pick for this year. A film that absolutely stunned me on first watch and then felt like a genuine revelation when I caught it again on 35mm 5 years later. Picked the Akerman and Brocka for 2 and 3, but it was really a toss up that also considered Noroît, Kings of the Road, and Ici et ailleurs. I also adore Agnes Varda’s Daguerréotypes, an early foray into the docu-diary approach that would define her late career output. Just a lovely film with gorgeous 16mm photography.

 

1.Taxi Driver
2. Rocky
3. Network

 

1. Taxi Driver
2. Network
3. All the President’s Men

 

Another year I'm leaving a few 5 stars out but..

1. Network
2. Rocky
3. Bad News Bears

(4. All the Presidents Men
5. Mikey & Nicky)

 

Murder by Death is amazing and the original Freaky Friday was a pleasant surprise. Good picks

 

1. Rocky
2. All the President's Men
3. The Outlaw Josey Wales

Movies I really like:
Silent Movie
Network
Murder by Death
Taxi Driver
Freaky Friday
The Front
Car Wash

Good ones:
Bound for Glory
Cria Cuervos
Fellini Casanova
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
The Ritz
Voyage of the Damned
The Man Who Fell to Earth

Solid/fine:
Carrie
Bugsy Malone
The Slipper and the Rose
Marathon Man
The Bad News Bears
The Omen
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
King Kong
Novecento

Not a fan:
In the Realm of the Senses

 

*banging pots and pans in the street* watch mikey and nicky

 

I missed a whole week?

 

I thought you were boycotting the project.

 

Taxi Driver
All The President’s Men
Network

 

It's so easy to forget (probably because of the many, many sequels and that Stallone is somewhat of a punchline) but Rocky is basically a perfect movie.

 

1. Carrie
2. Assault On Precinct 13
3. Rocky

Rocky might be higher or might not be there at all, I haven’t seen it in a while.

Also dig Kings Of The Road and The Omen.

There’s a violent discord common to a lot of these 1976 movies, much moreso than 1975. Even as I express fondness for some of them, I wonder what I’m connecting with.

Remembering I enjoyed it as a kid, I watched The Outlaw Josey Wales recently and was shocked by its fascist, misogynist, racist, generally repellent overtones.

Reading into it, I learned the movie is based on a book by KKK leader turned fake Cherokee author Asa Earl Carter who also wrote the George Wallace line “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”.

When i was 12 or whatever i think i was like fuck yeah josey wales is a badass, but now, wtf that dude sucks

i’ve never seen Buffalo Bill And The Indians. Am i gonna be bummed?

 

This is another stacked year with way more than three that I could easily pick but as per usual those I have watched most often and still adore will get prioritized and they are -

1. Carrie
2. The Outlaw Josey Wales
3. All the President’s Men

Other favorites from the year include; Robin and Marian, Assault on Precinct 13, Marathon Man, Burnt Offerings, The Eagle Has Landed, Family Plot, The Omen, Network, and The Pink Panther Strikes Again.

 

1. Taxi Driver
2. All the President's Men
3. Assault on Precinct 13

 

Taxi Driver wins it with 24 votes. Rocky was in second place with 14 votes. Taxi Driver will move on to the bracket.