1978

Watership Down

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Watership Down. Nepenthe Productions 1978.

Before watching the movie:

If there is one thing I know about this movie and book, it’s that they traumatized a lot of children. I know there are rabbits, and I think they go to war, and the horrors of that war are not shied away from. I have to confess that with the sum of that information, I always pictured rabbits holding rifles on a battleship or submarine. When I first heard the title, I pictured an airship crashing, which was especially silly because an airship is not a watership. But anyway, nobody seems to want to discuss what it is aside from “cute rabbits experiencing The Horrors” so I don’t have any idea what to expect.

That poster does look pretty bleak and existential though. I have strong Ralph Bakshi movie vibes from that design, but it might just be a late 70s aesthetic.

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The Cheap Detective

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The Cheap Detective. Columbia Pictures 1978.

Before watching the movie:

It’s amazing how for a while after the debut of Columbo, pretty much every noir detective character type seems to have gravitationally attracted Peter Falk. Not that there were all that many such roles to go around. It turns out this is parodying Humphrey Bogart specifically, but basically all Bogart films, compared to Murder By Death, which is specifically a Sam Spade parody.

It’s probably not a good sign that this movie is so jam-packed with big name actors and I’ve only heard of it by cruising the back catalogs of streaming platforms, but on the other hand, anything from before 1998 that isn’t an 80s or 90s cult classic is getting hard to find online. Which is a shame because there are a lot of great movies over 40 years old.

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Halloween (1978)

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Halloween. Compass International Pictures 1978.

Before watching the movie:

For such an iconic movie, foundational to the modern horror genre, I find myself realizing how little I know about this movie. I know a lot around it, like how it was meant to be an anthology franchise, but continuing the Michael Myers story in the second movie locked in audiences to expect the series to be about him, the mask is a modified Captain Kirk mask, Jamie Lee Curtis began her film career here and is amazingly making direct sequels to it almost 45 years later. But what goes on within the movie? Well, there’s a slasher, and he kills people. Maybe that’s all that was necessary back when the slasher genre was being invented.

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The Cat from Outer Space

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The Cat From Outer Space.
Walt Disney Pictures 1978.

Before watching the movie:

In the 60s and 70s, Disney’s live action movies department came up with some pretty outlandish ideas. Some of them are cartoon ideas, but done in live action, some are just… did they throw darts at a board or something?

This is an adventure about an extraterrestrial cat. There’s some humans trying to help the stranded alien cat get home and some other humans trying to steal the cat’s technology, and I don’t really know much more than that, which I learned only minutes ago.

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Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?

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Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? Lorimar Productions 1978.
Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? Lorimar Productions 1978.

Before watching the movie:

I don’t remember how I originally came across this movie. Maybe I was looking up Robert Morley, maybe something else referenced the title, I don’t remember. But I do know that when I heard the title, I had to look it up to see if it was a real movie. And then I read the description and had to see it. And then it was not available online, so it ended up being a Christmas present. Which I am now watching.

I look forward to a globetrotting romp through culinary masterpieces, and also murder.

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National Lampoon’s Animal House

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Animal House. Universal Studios 1978.

Before watching the movie:

I’m not sure how I’m going to sympathize with the troublemaking fraternity here, aside from everyone else being bullies. They have fun and don’t hold with stuffy rules, but I’m pretty sure they also go beyond harmless mischief. The Dean would have to be really petty (which he probably is anyway) to put them on whatever “double-secret probation” is for only silly college pranks like stealing mascots.

I’m probably too mature for this movie, but I’m not sure I was ever the kind of person who’d aspire to be the Deltas. Continue reading →

Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke

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Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke. Paramount Pictures 1978.
Cheech and Chong’s Up In Smoke. Paramount Pictures 1978.

Before watching the movie:

I don’t entirely get stoner comedy. No doubt, that’s because it’s the only real contact I have with stoner culture and you’re meant to consume stoner entertainment while stoned, so pretty much anything would be funny. But then there’s an element of making fun of how dulled the cognitive reflexes are while under the influence that would probably be funnier sober, so I guess it’s more about having fun with the lifestyle.

I’m fond of Cheech Marin’s comedy work, though I came in from a very different angle than most people (children’s edutainment). Tommy Chong I’ve really only encountered through Cheech & Chong, apparently because he had a rough time keeping his career afloat after Cheech split off to pursue acting. In most of their work together that I can remember, he seems like, if not the straight man (because high people are funny), the one who was there so Cheech had someone to play off of.

So… road movie about being high. I want to like it, but I can’t come up with much reason to express why. Continue reading →

The Amazing Captain Nemo

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The Return of Captain Nemo. Warner Bros. 1978.
The Return of Captain Nemo. Warner Bros. 1978.

Before watching the movie:

I try to stick to movies with a theatrical release, but I’m not sure this had one, as it was written as a three-part television pilot. I do know that it brings Captain Nemo to the modern era, and it stars Jose Ferrer as Nemo and Burgess Meredith as the bad guy, and the contrast between great cast and silly concept caught my curiosity and attention, and I could not leave it on the shelf.

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