Woodstock – Get Rekt!

Yeet! People still say that, right? Right, that’s the intro done, today I’m removing as much bias as I can as I review my tenth favourite movie of 1970. Which movie is that? Woodstock! It’s a comprehensive, some may say exhaustive, documentary on the music festival of the same name. A landmark moment in music, and in 20th Century US history, it’s probably the most famous gig of all time. While there are plenty of artists who were huge at the time, or who are favourites of mine who couldn’t or didn’t make the show, it’s nevertheless a fascinating time capsule. Lets see how it scores.

Sales: 4: I can see some viewers going five on this – honestly that’s fine. I don’t think anything less than four would be fair given the fact that it’s a documentary (not a genre that makes money usually), and that it made over 50 million from a less than 1 million budget. Possibly, people who go three may say that for such an important movie it should have made even more money.

Chart: 4: The film was a slow burner, given it was only in selected theaters but due to crowds trying to pack in to the limited showings, it eventually spread. Chart details are limited though – this is a tough category to be accurate in without the data.

Critical Consensus: 5: The film received rave reviews at the time, and that positivity hasn’t died down over the decades. It’s frequently called out as one of, if not the greatest documentaries ever. It was nominated for two Oscars, winning Best Documentary.

Director: 4: Directing can come down to personal style, but for me Wadleigh does enough to make the film feel, look, and sound as if you are there. You’d be hard pushed for me to accept anything less than a 3 here unless you feel like The Director simply had to capture the footage and stick it all together. Of course it wasn’t as simple as that – the mixture of crowd shots from deep within, of the stage from backstage and front row, of the buildup, the swooping aerials, it all serves as the template of music documentary film-making.

Performances: 3: As this is a Documentary, feel free to switch this category out for something else. Otherwise you need an average here – 2 or 3. Or, you could simply go with the actual musical performances. I’m going for an average 3.

Music: 4: As with any Music Festival, the music is going to be hit and miss for most people. For me, the high moments are epic and the lesser songs and artists still work if only for a single watch. There’s no doubting there are some of the most important performers of the 20th Century, at times giving their most iconic performances.

Cinematography: 3: There’s only so much that can be done in this category giving the time and place and format, but it’s as good as you would expect. 3 or 4 seems to be the natural selection.

Writing: 2: Another one you can switch out for something else – your standard documentary’s ‘Writing’ may be the incisive questions asked by the film-maker. Here again, it’s all about watching the musicians and fans. Of course, there are snippets with locals, fans, etc, but I think I’m going with a 2 average here which, when calculated with the previous average 3, will give a true average of 2.5 for both – yay!

Wardrobe: 3: Damn it! It’s another average. It’s 1970, and a bunch of hippies. If you really love that sort of thing, by all means go five. If you hate that sort of thing, give it a 1 – though I’d question why you’re watching the film in the first place. Swap this one out if you want, but I’ll go with an average 3.

Editing: 4: Much of the power and impact of the film comes from the editing. It’s a 4 or a 5 for me here. It does jump around a little too much for me at times which, while mimics the realism and madness of a live show, can make it difficult when you just want to appreciate the performance.

Make up and Hair: 2: I may have detected a flaw in this scoring system where it comes to documentaries. Don’t worry, there’s hardly any documentaries in my Top Ten lists – in fact this may be the only one – so lets just go average here and say no more. Possibly you should cut this down to 1o categories each with a score out of 10.

Effects: 3: Same again, average 3.

Art and Set: 2: And once more, average 2.

Sound: 4: It sounds phenomenal, especially recent versions. The team don’t scrimp on the crowd noise so you really get a feel for the intensity and energy sweeping through the farm, as well as the music itself.

Cultural Significance: 5: I can’t approve lower than a 4 here. The key question may be, do you consider the actual event’s significance, or the film’s release? Obviously the even was hugely significant, but I feel like that significance would have dwindled over time – remember, this is 50 years ago now (!) and this documents the event in a pure and cinematic way which serves to keep it fresh. The film has been mentioned in media several times since, and of course it’s difficult to imagine musical documentary films after which weren’t influenced.

Accomplishment: 5: The purpose of the film was to document the event for those who were there, and those who weren’t – the music, the fans, the look, the sound, the day and the night. I think it succeeds.

Stunts: 3: Average 3.

Originality: 3: I don’t think music festivals or documentaries on them were anything new at this point, but it certainly set a precedent. I can’t say it does much in an overly original way – it’s more the style and the verite approach (again which others had done in recent years) which helps it feel less static.

Miscellaneous: 5: I’m going to give a 5 here, mainly to counter the average scores I was forced to give elsewhere. I could say that some of the additional footage which has come to light over the years only serves to increase the mythology and potency of the event.

Personal: 4: While I love the film and the event, I’m not going to give it a perfect 5. It does feel more like one of those one-off experiences I don’t need to see again, and I’d tend towards simply picking and choosing the songs I like and listening to the audio rather than watching the whole thing again. Then again, when the mood takes me I’ll watch some excerpts.

Total: 72/100

72 Seems like a reasonable score given how I feel about the movie. That’s maybe low B, high C material depending on how you grade. It does feel like it edges further towards ‘important for what it is’ and away from ‘entertaining for what it is’, if that makes a difference to you as a viewer. It’s definitely not something I watch regularly, but it is definitely more important than many of the movies I do watch regularly. And yet, it does entertain very well. Maybe if there were more of the artists I cared about I would increase my personal 4 to a 5. In any case, it’s still in my favourite ten movies of 1970 – what more do you want from me? GET REKT!

Let me know in the comments how you feel about Woodstock? Were you there? Were you conceived there? Are you still there? Share!

Nightman Listens To – McCartney Debut (Beatles Solo Series)!

Greetings, Glancers! It’s safe to say we haven’t got off to a flying start with regards to the quality of the Beatles solo work I’ve heard so far. Experimental guff and Ringo’s ramblings, but surely old faithful Paul will give us a slice of groovy pop rock with his debut? And hey, I even know (and like) one of the songs listed here so it can’t be all bad! I know the album was mostly written and recorded when The Beatles were splitting up and fighting so maybe the music will reflect whatever anguish and torment was being felt. Or maybe it reflects the fresh start Paul needed. Or maybe it’s more of the same sort of ballad and blues based stuff from Let It Be. Who knows? Well, I’m about to….

‘The Lovely Linda’ hand drums of some sort and sweet ‘la la la’ vocals and melodies. Oh, it’s over. An unnecessary laugh at the end there.

‘That Would Be Something’ is led by a neat riff. It’s a little bluesy. The vocals feel distant. Nice introduction of the drums and a funny piece of mouth drumming going. Sounds like he’s experimenting and having fun without being too outlandish or abstract.

‘Valentine Day’ continues the low-fi style. It’s a pretty cool introduction. Unless it’s going to be an instrumental. Still, it’s neat and lean, like a jam or a loose set of ideas waiting to become something else.

‘Every Night’ reminds me of Joni Mitchell. The guitar sound, anyway. It’s very sweet. It’s just as catchy as you would expect. I could see this landing on something like The White Album. A nice surprise. Surprise isn’t the right word, it’s McCartney for Heaven’s sake.

‘Hot As Sun/Glasses’ feels Mediterranean, lazy, Mexican, Greek? I don’t know, something about lazing about on a beach with a drink and zero cares. It’s already better than most of the instrumental stuff on Yellow Submarine. Then it goes all weird and ghostly. Then he sings… something?

‘Junk’ is another sweet one, more sorrowful this time. It ticks the melody box, and it ticks the emotion box, so what more do you need?

‘Man We Was Lonely’ opens in dreamy fashion. Then it goes off in stomping fashion like some of the more dodgy compositions of his final years in The Beatles. It’s similar to those, but maybe this one’s newness means I don’t mind it as much. Catchy too. Feels like one Ringo could have tackled.

‘Oo You’ is very bluesy and mirrors the rock tracks of Abbey Road. Good vocals. It still feels very loose, like he just walked in with a few ideas and started recording. Still good.

‘Momma Miss America’ is, I’m guessing, another instrumental. At least these instrumentals are good – I can see these being hits or becoming hits if vocals were added, unlike what most bands’ instrumentals are like. It gets less dreamy and more groovy as it goes on. Great bass and guitar all around.

‘Teddy Boy’ is another which sounds straight out of The Beatles later catalogue. It’s fine but a bit too close to McCartney’s Music Hall stuff.

‘Singalong Junk’ is a sequel to junk? More piano led. Or an instrumental version. It’s quite lovely too.

‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ is the one song I knew before hearing the album, and as far as I can tell it’s the main (only) one which has survived over time. It does feel like the most complete song, compared to the jam-style nature of most of the others. It has a tighter, more traditional structure, and again wouldn’t feel out of place on Let It Be. 

‘Kreen Akrore’ starts with sporadic drums for about a minute before a jumpscare guitar and piano drops. Then it gets weird – monkey noises and more drums and sounds. It’s the most experimental piece of freestyle on the album, just a few minutes of arsing about and messing with different sounds and styles.

So, that was somewhere middling. It followed the experimentation and avant-garde nature of John and George’s first solo outings, but thankfully these were not as esoteric, coming across more as studio jams than ill-advised freak-outs. Quite a few of the ‘traditional’ songs feel either unfinished or waiting for that little extra touch to make them fully realised – in the traditional sense, but most of those are still perfectly good to listen to thanks to Paul’s ability as a songwriter. There are a few songs here that I didn’t know previously which I plan on listening to again – which is more than I can say for any of the other three boys’ efforts so far. It’s not peak Beatles material, but there are gems.

Nightman’s Playlist Picks: Every Night. Hot As Sun/Glasses. Junk/Singalong Junk. Oo You. Momma Miss America. Maybe I’m Amazed.

Best Cast – 1970

First, apologies for my absence last week – I was gallivanting around the countryside and couldn’t be arsed doing any internet things. Now, this:

My Nominations: Airport. Catch-22. Cromwell. Five Easy Pieces. Kelly’s Heroes. The Kremlin Letter. MASH. Ryan’s Daughter.

Another of my favourite categories, in that it has been unsullied by Academy rules and politics, this one you are free to choose between ensemble performance, a smaller group of strong performances within a larger cast, or simply having a stellar cast performing together. Pick what you like, basically. With the 70s, many of my most favourite performers, and some of the most respected of all time, began coming to the fore meaning we have films with these up and comers reaching their peak in films alongside past masters and veterans. The historical epic was given way to smaller director led films, though there was still plenty of room for films with ensembles thanks to the disaster movie.

Airport surely kicks things off having both a large cast of stars and a couple of acting awards and nominations. The cast includes Burt Lancaster, Helen Hayes, Dean Martin, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, George Kennedy, and Jacqueline Bisset, and doesn’t only feature them in minor roles. Likewise, Catch-22 goes for big names with Alan Arkin, Orson Welles, Anthony Perkins, Martin Sheen, Bob Newhart, Jon Voight, Art Garfunkel, Martin Balsam, Bob Balaban, and others as military misfits. MASH gives its key players bigger roles – from Donald Sutherland to Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt to Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall to Carl Gottlieb. On the smaller side of things, Five Easy Pieces features strong outings from Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspatch and The Kremlin Letter has Bibi Andersson, Orson Welles, Max Von Sydow, Richard Boone, Nigel Green and more.

My final three choices are more of the same – Kelly’s Heroes brings together old pals Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas once again, Cromwell sees Timothy Dalton joining Richard Harris, Alec Guiness, Patrick Wymark, Charles Gray and others while Ryan’s Daughter has Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, and John Mills hamming things up.

My Winner: MASH

It’s a toss-up between the ensembles, so in the end it may come down to who you prefer or which film you like more. Let us know in the comments which film of 1970 you would give the Best Cast Award to!

Best Stunt Work – 1970

My Nominations: Brewster McCloud. They Call Me Trinity. Catch-22. Little Big Man. Kelly’s Heroes. Tora Tora Tora.

We return to one of my favourite awards, namely because it has never been an official award, and also because stunts are one of those things which draw you to Cinema at a young age – a good stunt will stay in your mind just as much as a powerful line of dialogue or piece of acting. Many people will tell you that, for practical stunts, the 1970s are the finest decade. Certainly we saw an explosion of car chases and stunts, and not only on the big screen, but also through hit TV shows which continued into the 80s, such as CHiPs, Knight Rider, The A-Team, The Dukes Of Hazard etc etc. There’s something unique about the stunts of this era – the way they were filmed, up close, from multiple angles, with realism, and with plenty of slow mo. And they always seemed to take place on some dusty LA highway or desert road. Brewster McCloud has a plethora of stunts, from the aforementioned car chases and crashes to fisticuffs, well placed bird crap, and a boy flying like Icarus. Little Big Man features some stunts which deserve to be more well known and are visually iconic if not part of the public consciousness – the horsework and leaping from carriages here is second to none. They Call Me Trinity doesn’t come near the iconic status of the other films, but is still an underrated and very funny spaghetti western with plenty of action.

Our last three movies are three standard war movies each with their own flavor of action and stunts – Tora Tora Tora most notable of course for its aerial scenes – the same can be said for Catch-22, while Kelly’s Heroes is a more traditional mixture of gunplay, tanks, explosions, and punch-ups.

My Winner: Brewster McCloud

Let us know in the comments which film of 1970 you would hand the Best Stuntwork Award to!

Best Visual Effects – 1970

Official Nominations: Tora Tora Tora. Patton

Tora Tora Tora is the more action packed movie and has more obvious effects work – dated now of course, but fair for the time. Patton isn’t a film you think of when you think Visual Effects, but I get that they wanted to keep their nominations to certain types of movies.

My Winner: Tora!Tora!Tora!

My Nominations: Tora!Tora!Tora! Beneath The Planet Of The Apes. Kelly’s Heroes.

It’s a new decade and the first decade where computer generated wizardry would come to the fore. That is in a few years time though, so for now we are making do with those maestros of puppets and pyrotechnics. As such, we look to War and Action movies for spectacle – sci-fi and horror were out of popularity at this point. It’s slim pickings this year, even with the various War movies – Kelly’s Heroes and BTPOTA both feature fairly standard effects.

My Winner: Tora!Tora!Tora!

Let us know in the comments which film of 1970 has the best Special Effects!

Best Writing (Adapted) – 1970

Official Nominations: MASH. Airport. Lovers And Other Strangers. I Never Sang For My Father. Women In Love.

There are a few films I’m surprised to see missing out this year, especially when they are exactly what typically get nominated. Larry Kramer and Ken Russell crafted the script for Women In Love, a largely faithful adaptation which balances theme presented via dialogue with performance and visuals. I Never Sang For My Father is a little film which says a lot, again the screenplay allows room for performance rather than relying entirely on obtuse or emotive outbursts while Lovers And Other Strangers is just the sort of light distraction some people desired in 1970. Airport and MASH were always going to be the forerunners, and MASH is the more deserving winner.

My Winner: MASH

My Nominations: MASH. Airport. Women In Love. Little Big Man. Patton. The Boys In The Band. Cromwell. The Magic Christian. Dodesukaden. The Conformist.

Yeah, I’m putting Patton here – it’s where it should be. I add two offbeat choices in Kurosawa’s Dodesukaden, perhaps the strangest film he ever directed (about people who live in a dump/junk yard) and The Magic Christian which brings together one of the oddest casts ever seen on film to make an episodic skit-show adaptation. Cromwell probably deserved a nomination but by this point audiences were not so interested in historical epics, The Boys In The Band would have been a bold nomination, and Little Big Man was a bit of a snub. Finally – The Conformist – a film as dense in theme as it is beautiful.

My Winner: MASH

Let us know in the comments which film you would award the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for 1970!

Best Writing (Original) – 1970

Official Nominations: Patton. Five Easy Pieces. Joe. Love Story. My Night At Maud’s.

Patton was a deserving winner this year thought it doesn’t sit so nicely with me given that it’s a biopic – biopics to me, especially those which strive to be as close to reality as possible, never feel original. You have Patton’s entire life to pull from – his own speeches, witness testaments etc etc, so this isn’t something which was simply pulled from nowhere. Hell, it was even based on a couple of biographies. Obviously it was well written, but I don’t know if it belongs here. Carole Eastman on the other hand crafted her original Screenplay for Five Easy Pieces the more traditional way. It’s not one which is famously quotable, but I put that down to fewer people having seen it over the years. Everyone knows Love Story, but it’s really only here for a couple of soppy one-liners that don’t really make sense. My Night At Maud’s is a film all about the script and dialogue given that the action is largely replaced with text. As a foreign film it’s a strange nomination as it never stood a chance at winning and was probably seen by a small circle outside of the critics. It’s a good screenplay though but not one I would choose over some of the other films. Joe is the final nomination and it gets my win. It’s interesting because it is both dated and yet mirrors much of what is happening in North America and across the world today. Norman Wexler’s scripts were always of their time and never shied away from delving into the grittier points of subculture – the Academy would never pick it, I’m still surprised it was even nominated, but it gets my vote.

My Winner: Joe

My Nominations: Five Easy Pieces. Joe. The Aristocats. Brewster McCloud.

I add three to my list – The Aristocats probably shouldn’t be here as it’s not even that interesting a movie but it’s fairly unique for Disney. Brewster McCloud is just funny, will make you laugh guaranteed, and is a precursor to a lot of movies which would come in a few years time. Any pick is fine, but when humour works, go with humour.

My Winner: Brewster McCloud

Let us know in the comments which film gets your vote for Best Original Screenplay of 1970!

Best Animated Feature – 1970

My Nominations: The Aristocats. 30,000 Miles Under the Sea. The Phantom Toll Booth

In the seventies we were still so ‘early’ in the lifecycle of animated movies that Disney essential owned the market. As the decade progressed, Japan would see increased output of increasing quality and a few more companies would begin to emerge. MGM’s The Phantom Tollbooth has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but was not a success and MGM’s animation studio closed soon after. I prefer this to the similar (in style) Bedknobs and Broomsticks. 30,000 Miles Under The Sea is another early Toei Animation fantasy with plenty of action, but I think we all know what the winner here will be. The Aristocats is a minor Disney movie though fairly unique with its animal characters and musical approach.

My Winner: The Aristocats.

Let us know in the comments which animated feature of 1970 you would pick as winner!

Best Score – 1970

Official Nominations: Love Story. Airport. Cromwell. Patton. I Girasoli. Let It Be. The Baby Maker. A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Darling Lili. Scrooge.

This year the category was again split in two – with Love Story winning in the ‘Not A Musical’ category, and Let It Be winning the Best Score or Adaptation category. It’s not surprising that Love Story won here – the main piano theme by is synonymous with tragedy and has been used in other media, usually for comedy purposes. It’s a great piece, it feels a little Western, tragic in nature, haunting, sweet, but also quite weird or alien. While none of the other pieces reach these heights of being recognizable many of them are nice and simple and memorable for anyone who has seen the film, running the gamut from pastoral love themes to barren sadness. Alfred Newman’s soundtrack is tense and pulsating – a lot of bass and a high tempo, interrupted by stabbing high strings, while also giving a sense of the rushing, bustle, and escapism suggested by airports. The soundtrack does have other notable moments – a lazy love theme staving off the tension of the flight and landing. Frank Cordell’s theme for Cromwell is surprisingly operatic and reminds me of the later The Omen and even the even later Conan The Barbarian while Jerry Goldmsith works his magic once again on Patton. His knack for brief cues and refrains is superb, and everyone will recognise those fading, recurring triple notes which open the movie while the stirring strings and flutes lurk in. The whole soundtrack is rousing, passionate, patriotic, but doesn’t celebrate in war – remembering the tragedy and sacrifice. Our last nomination in this side of the category comes from Italy – I Girasoli or The Sunflower sees Henry Mancini lending some heartfelt sadness to the tragic drama – the main theme shares a lot with that of Love Story. 

Let It Be speaks for itself, a collection of songs which appear on the album of the same name, albeit in different forms, along with covers and songs from other albums. A Boy Named Charlie Brown shouldn’t really be here given that it came out in 1969 while The Baby Maker is a bizarre choice on the surface – Fred Karlin’s soundtrack peppered with hippy folk sensibility, rock freakouts, and light flute notes. The final nominations are less surprising – with both Darling Lili and Scrooge being musicals. Musicals being what they are, I tend to think of the actual songs before the soundtrack so neither stand out for me from an incidental point of view. Let It Be easily wins in the second category for me, but the first is much more difficult as each is a worthy choice.

My Winner(s): Patton and Let It Be

My Nominations: Patton. Let It Be. Love Story. Cromwell. The Aristocats. The Bird With The Crystal Plummage. Gimme Shelter. Woodstock. Kelly’s Heroes. MASH. Zabriskie Point.

I bring only three over to the dark side – if Let It Be gets nominated, then so surely must Gimme Shelter and Woodstock – both featuring great music and performances from some of the most important bands of all time. I have to throw The Aristocats in there because, even though I’m not a huge fan of the film or of Jazz, it is a film about music and has a certain vibe and energy to it. A much easier nomination would be MASH – aside from the obvious Suicide Is Painless theme, there are other mini compositions which bring humour to the military standards. Another obvious one for me is Zabriskie Point – another soundtrack featuring popular artists of the time, but one which blends songs with instrumental pieces. Lalo Schifrin brings the funk to Kelly’s Heros – a carefree swagger characterized by Eastwood and Co in the movie while Ennio Morricone got it together with Dario Argento long before Goblin did, and in doing so created something creepy and beautiful (if a little similar to Rosemary’s Baby in places).

My Winner: Patton.

Let us know in the comments which Score of 1970 you would pick as winner!

Best Costume Design – 1970

Official Nominations : Cromwell. Airport. Darling Lili. The Hawaiians. Scrooge.

Cromwell is a worthy winner, though on a personal note this era and style does little for me from any sort of aesthetic viewpoint. Airport gets a nod for the sheer scope and diversity on offer, Scrooge is much the same as Cromwell though a couple of centuries later. The Hawaiians and Darling Lili don’t really need to be here – both are fine but nothing out of the ordinary.

My Winner: Cromwell

My Nominations: Cromwell. Tora Tora Tora. MASH. Brewster McCloud. Catch-22. The Conformist.

If I add one war movie, then I have to add them all – my three picks here all being of a similar quality. The Conformist gets another nomination, because of course it does, while Brewster McCloud is hilarious. It deserves a nomination for those wings alone. Well, that’s about the only ‘costume’ costume in the whole things, but anyway….

My Winner: Cromwell

Which film of 1970 do you pick as the winner for Best Costume Design – let us know in the comments!