|
A documentary
showcasing what went on behind the greatest movies of the 1970's in a period
where there was not a great deal of movies coming out and attendance at these
movies was fairly low. I was a child of the 70's and remember with fondness
the era. Mind you, the majority of my viewing consisted of kids shows and Star
Wars, however I can say that I did view some of these flicks during the period
they were made.
An odd thing that I do
have to say about this flick is that I have seen the R1 version and it runs
for about three hours or so compared to the 108 minutes of the R4 version. As
a result whilst the feature flows well, there were moments that I did feel
that we were missing a little something.
Directed by Ted Demme
(actually his last film before his death in 2003), we go behind the scenes of
the great movies of the time such as Rocky, Easy Rider, The Exorcist, The
Godfather, Taxi Driver and others and then are lucky enough to be able to
watch interviews with the pioneering writers, directors and actors who made
this magic happen in a time of great social upheaval.
I personally found the
entire disc fascinating and especially loved how the feature was interspersed
with footage from the movies that were being discussed, along with key scenes
or highlights from those films. I don't know what Demme had to do to get all
these people to make themselves available to go into such depth for this
feature however I am certainly not complaining.
I think that this
feature is marvelous, however it will only really appeal to fans of great
cinema who can see beyond the great special effects that we take for granted
today. To some younger viewers, this feature may appear to be coverage of
titles that mean nothing to them but I can reassure you that if not for these
movies, the ones that you are enjoying today would most likely have not been
made. The movies of the 70's paved the way for moviemakers to go out on a limb
and try new things. They didn't always work, however as in the case of these
featured films, not only did they work, but they worked stunningly.
16:9 here and all the main interviews are nice and sharp.
It's just when we are shown some of the older footage that we do some some
errors however this is to do with the source material and not the transfer
onto DVD.
Dolby 2.0 and no subwoofer use. This is a doco after all
and anything more would just be a waste to put it frankly.
The special features
here are a treat and for those who got into the main feature will feel that
the extras strongly expound upon it. There are additional interviews that run
for about half an hour, some biographies and Umbrella Propaganda.
| 
