Great Indie Films You Never Cared About (70's)

This is my final installment to my trilogy of posts. I would like to do one for the 60's, but since it was so long ago, almost all of the great movies (and a lot of not so great) are famous ones that everyone has seen.

1. Hair (1979)

"-Who are you doing it for [referring to going to war]?
-I'm doing it for you man.
-Well don't. Because if the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't do it for you."

The last great musical to come out of Hollywood until the 2000's. What makes Hair exception (besides the music) is that it truly captures the lives of hippies. It showed us that most of the troubles of war didn't come from the battlefield at all. The plot of Hair is that Claude Hoover Bukowski encounters a hippie tribe with names such as Woolf, Burger and Hud. We don't know most of their real names, and somehow we don't care. Anyway, Claude wants to see New York City before he goes off to war (whether he is drafted or volunteered is unspecified.) The hippies befriend him and give him a true welcome to New York. Back to the music. The music consists of classics such as "Let the Sunshine In," "Aquarius," "Hair" and "Good Morning Starshine." It's safe to say that you've heard at least two of these at some point in your life. Now that I got that out of my system, back to the plot. The ending is quite possibly the most heartbreaking ending of any musical I have ever seen (even more so than West Side Story and The Sound of Music combined.) It's fairly easy to find (it airs on TCM fairly often [once a month]) and is on Netflix and is in the library I go to. You won't have much trouble finding it.

2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

"What ever happened to Faye Wray? That delicate, satin draped frame? As it clung to her thigh, how I started to cry, because I wanted to be dressed just the same. Give yourself over to absolute pleasure. Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh. Erotic nightmares beyond any measure and wonderful memories you can treasure forever. Can you feel it? Don't dream it, be it."

This is one rare film where I can actually say that I laughed and I cried and I had a great time. This movie always makes me melt every time I see the last scene (the floor show.) I think that it was intended to be both campy and serious at the same time (not unlike Ferris Bueller's day off.) Now, let me try to describe the plot to those of you who haven't seen it. Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) decide to go see their friend and ex-tutor Dr. Everrett Von Scott (Jonathan Adams.) On the way, they get a flat tire and to go a nearby castle. They are greeted by a creepy, hunchbacked handyman named Riff Raff (screenwriter Richard O'Brian.) As they enter, they are greeted by the maid Magenta (Patricia Quinn.) The castle belongs to Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry.) Dr. Frank-N-Furter is a "Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania." He is building a sex slave who he calls Rocky (Peter Hindwood.) From there, strange stuff happens. Thats the basic plot. Overall, this is an extremely strange film with a lot of fun and great music.

3. Manhattan (1979)

"Oh really you liked that? I thought it was gimmicky."

The reason I used that quote is for one reason alone; that is how the conversation usually goes when I say I like Manhattan. Time for me to quote a critic. Roger Ebert said, "Watching it again, I realize is isn't about love, but loss." That's something that most people fail to grasp. Romantic-comedies don't all have to be happy, or even about love. No one in Manhattan is happy (both the movie and the city.) I can't describe the plot more than saying that boy meets girl. Boy is 40ish, she is a teenager. That's about it. As several hundred people have said, the main character isn't Woody Allen's, Meryl Streep's or Diane Keatons, but it is the city of Manhattan. Nothing else happens except for more and more of that. What astonishes me is that Woody Allen managed to shoot it in black and white. This is something that I feel is usually forgotten. Woody Allen shot in black and white when no one else was. He kept it alive by making it the most beautiful film he has ever made.

4. Marathon Man (1979)

"Is it safe?"

That's the famous quote. there isn't much other important dialog that I would quote. What makes this suspense film exceptional is not only the performances, or the script that climaxes perfectly, or the "what's around that corner" directing, or the eerie soundtrack, but a mix of all of these concepts. For most films I like to talk on and on about, but this one, you're better off going into it without knowing anything. So for once, I'm just saying, "Go see this movie because I say so!"

5. The Fiddler On the Roof (1971)

"A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy. But here in Anatevka, you might say we are all like the fiddler on the roof. Trying to scratch out a simple tune, without breaking his neck. You might ask why he stays up there. Well, because it is our home, we are happy here. You might ask how we keep order in a society like that. That I can explain in one word: Tradition!"

That opening monologue basically tells you the whole film. The plot is that a Russian milkman must marry off his five daughters as they go from oldest to youngest they start to break the sacred tradition more and more. By this part of the list, you probably know that I like musicals a lot. I personally consider this to be the best stage musical ever created. I personally like it for how it manages to be so long without being boring, manages to have incredible music, manages to make us love all the characters (even the ones some characters hate) and accomplishes so much in it's time. That's all I can really say about Fiddler. So once again, see this movie.