The Boys in the Band by William Friedkin 1970

Yeah, this is the director who did The Exorcist.

It's Harold's birthday and Michael decides to throw a party for him with all their gay buddies. A 'straight' friend of Michael's shows up, however, and this creates a great amount of conflict, as he never knew his friend was gay. It's a pretty interesting and entertaining film. It's definitely a period piece, but very interesting to watch. It really gives you an idea of what gay folks had to deal with back in the late 60s and early 70s.

They showed this film alot at the Parkway since Clark and Diversey was boys town in Chicago back then.

It's one of the first films in the USA around a gay theme.

Privilege - 1967 - Peter Watkins

A pop star assists the church and state in their role of effecting social control.

This fictional film by Watkins was inspired by this documentary about Paul Anka:

Serpent (or: The Outlaw) / Orochi - Buntaro Futagawa - 1925

Before there was Mifune Toshiro, there was Tsumasaburo Bando. You can see this amazing actor in this complex silent film. Bando is a samurai of integrity who is falsely accused of wrongdoing by corrupt samurai and he is forced to hit the road as a ronin and is falsely stigmatized as an outlaw.

He becomes a Job-like samurai, suffering unfairly but refusing to compromise his integrity. This is really a silent film worth watching.

An amazing silent Japanese film. Unfortunately, for this version there is a really annoying Russian narrator who speaks over the original Japanese narration in the film. My suggestion would be to turn off the sound completely and just read the subtitles and watch the film.

If you need a musical background, here's some traditional Japanese music. Open this link in another window and turn off the sound of the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRM_FNooJHc

I love this gagaku music...it seems perfect for the bizarre twists and turns in the hero's story...

Humanity and Paper Balloons - 1937 - Sadao Yamanaka

One of the greatest films ever made.

Street without End - 1934 - Mikio Naruse

Another Naruse masterpiece.

Apart from You - 1933 - Mikio Naruse

Naruse was a genius who was interested in and concerned by the lives of women in the Japan of his era. There's a huge amount of compassion toward the plight of women and the dilemmas they face.

In this film, a teenage boy struggles with the fact that his mom is a geisha. Basically, everything Naruse did was interesting.

Sisters of the Gion - 1936 - Kenji Mizoguchi

Two sisters are geishas but they have different views concerning their work. The youngest sister believes that women are being exploited in this profession while the other seems grateful for the opportunity to earn a living through the profession.

I Am Curious Blue, I Am Curious Yellow - 1968 - Vilgot Sjöman

This film was banned in the USA in the late 60s as pornographic...but it's not pornographic, it's critical of US policies in Vietnam and just critical of the USA in general.  Actually, it's a pretty innocuous film.

Please watch the film here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YOMOAPoo-o


Here is: I Am Curious Yellow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiQcu0IqZEY

The Man Who Fell to Earth - 1976 - Nicholas Roeg

David Bowie stars in this film. Nicholas Roeg also directed Walkabout, Don't Look Now...amazing stuff.

In this film David Bowie plays a space alien who comes to Earth looking for a way to transport water to his drought-stricken planet.

What I love is that he seems to come from a planet where his species/race has evolved into a truly peaceful and non-aggressive type of being. So they are incapable of coming to Earth as colonizers - so the best that the David Bowie character - Tommy - can do is to try to make a lot of money here to build a spaceship to transport water to his planet. His inability to be aggressive is not an asset in his pursuit of getting water back to his planet.

The Day The Earth Stood Still - 1951 - Robert Wise

A classic sci-fi film

Fahrenheit 451 - 1966 - Truffaut

In the future the government burns all books...

Sunday Bloody Sunday - 1971 - John Schlesinger

The Univited - 1944 - Lewis Allen (cool old ghost story)

Walkabout - 1971 - Nicholas Roeg

Watch the film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IreKlOjvEgQ

It's an allegorical film, but it's an allegorical film about alot of things at the same time. So it has interpretations on all kinds of levels.

Actually, it's a film set in the Australian desert but it was originally a novel about two American children who survive an airplane crash and meet an American Indian boy who helps them before dying of influenza.

An amazing film.

Seven Beauties by Wertmueller 1975

Pasqualino is a small business owner in Italy and he believes in honor. After accidentally killing a man (in the name of honor) and cutting him up and packing him in a suitcase, and then getting caught, he goes into the Italian army, deserts and the Nazis send him to a death camp.

But Pasqualino was blessed with the seven beauties and when he finds the Commandant of the camp is a woman – a morbidly obese and disgustingly ugly German lady – he realizes his only recourse to survival involves sexually seducing her.

Others in the camp with courage and integrity and compassion die in the most disgusting manner – one man commits suicide by jumping into a trough of human shit. Pasqualino survives. Well, Pasqualino always survives and you are surrounded by Pasqualinos and may not even know it.

Kanal by Wajda 1957

A group of Polish resistance fighters has to go down into the Warsaw sewer system to try to evade a squad of Nazi soldiers who are hunting them down.

David and Lisa by Frank Perry 1962

An early film with Kier Dullea - the guy from 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Janet Margolin is so beautiful in this film as Lisa. Unfortunately she never became the 'star' some folks expected her to become, but she was married and had a couple children and may have had a meaningful life regardless of 'stardom'. The sad thing is that she died at the age of 50 of ovarian cancer.

A story about two teens who meet in a mental health facility...very touching film. Their love for each other ultimately helps each of them to overcome serious problems.  This is quite a good film.

Zabriskie Point by Michelangelo Antonioni 1970

Antonioni comes to America and looks at the protest movement.

Two films by Antonioni you have to see:

L'avventura

and

Blow Up

Scarlet Street by Fritz Lang 1945

A must-see film by Fritz Lang...

Manhunt by Fritz Lang 1941

Fritz Lang used Geoffrey Householder's (really fun) novel 'Rogue Male' to make this film.

This is such a great film to watch - an English big-game hunter tracks Hitler to see whether he might be able to kill the 'ultimate' animal.  The film is set just before the world begins to fully realize what a monster Hitler is.

What I liked about this film and novel is that the hero is a member of the upper class who has not been taught how to be a real moral actor in the world. Everything to members of his social class is a 'game'. So although he knows Hitler is evil, his attempt to kill Hitler is not completely serious and therefore he fails.

Throughout the film he develops a true moral character and becomes capable of entering the war against Hitler.

Walter Pidgeon does a great job of acting in this film.

Watch the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLA2lKcR-2k