In 1971, Charles Manson was found guilty of the Tate-LaBianca murders; Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali in The Fight of the Century; The Ed Sullivan Show aired its final episode; Starbucks and FedEx were founded; The New York Times published The Pentagon Papers; Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs; Walt Disney World opened; The… Continue reading Five years before America’s bicentennial: A look back at 1971
Tag: Historical films
Little Mac Richard in a pit of snakes
Nosferatu (1922) Max Schreck inhabited the role of vampire Count Orlock so completely in this beautiful nightmare, he inspired a cottage industry of conspiracy theories casting him as an actual vampire. These theories eventually inspired their own film. Director F.W. Murnau, whose other credits include The Last Laugh (1924) and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), died tragically… Continue reading Little Mac Richard in a pit of snakes
The year before the world turned upside down: A look back at 2019
In 2019: Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit the Arabian peninsula; The Republic of Macedonia renamed itself the Republic of Northern Macedonia; Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met for the second time in Hanoi, Vietnam; Disney bought 21st Century Fox; Robert Mueller concluded his report into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and… Continue reading The year before the world turned upside down: A look back at 2019
Best of the 1930s
The Blood of a Poet (1930) The first part of Jean Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy is a surrealist fever dream. An artist paints a mouth which starts talking, then transfers to his hand, then to a nearby statue. This statue convinces the artist to pass through a mirror to a bizarre world inhabited by opium smokers… Continue reading Best of the 1930s
Best of the 1990s
Dreams (1990) Nearing the end of his life, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reflects on his childhood and finds inspiration for several beautiful vignettes. After a child stumbles upon a fox wedding during a sunshower, his furious mother demands he apologize. Their surviving commander orders the ghosts of Japanese soldiers returning from the second World War… Continue reading Best of the 1990s
Best of the 1970s
Watermelon Man (1970) White salesman Jeff Gerber (Godfrey Cambridge) wakes up to discover he’s become a black man overnight. His transformation causes problems at work, with the police, and with his neighbors. His seemingly liberal wife (Estelle Parsons) who once chastised him for not caring about the problems faced by black people in America, leaves… Continue reading Best of the 1970s
A vampyr played tennis in the Big East for 12 Years
Requiem for the Big East (2014) A part of ESPN’s excellent 30 for 30 series, this is the story of the Big East Conference from its founding in 1979 until its demise in 2013. While the Big East exists as a conference today, it’s a completely different entity. This was fascinating, but rushed. It’s too difficult to condense thirty years… Continue reading A vampyr played tennis in the Big East for 12 Years