Steve McQueen, everyone's favorite anti-hero was a 70's phenomena.
Yep. Steve McQueen, with "Bullitt" and "The Getaway", came into his own in the 70's.
Now, this is interesting. Saw all of '74 yesterday and there wasn't one mention of Watergate! I know this is a fluffy series, but they did mention Patty Hearst. And they could've killed the segment on "Sweet Home Alabama", as they'd already covered Lynyrd Skynyrd in '73 (commenting on "Free Bird").
Aah but Bullitt was 60´s.
Seventies-I think of Starskey & Hutch,Kojak,Charlies Angels,miles and miles of awful Hanna-Barbera trash and then,milestones like "Jaws".
Interesting that Nixon knew he had ordered the break in a fought like a shrew to keep his job and hide the evidence.
Of course, McQueen got his big break in 1960's "The Magnificent Seven" but until we lost him to cancer, he was merely popular and not regarded highly enough as an actor, especially in films like "The Sand Pebbles" (also the 60's).
Patty and mention of the SLA is a very relavent event of the 70's.
Jaws and Kojak have been featured, plus the film version of "Fiddler on the Roof" which includes Paul Michael Glazer in its cast (he played Perchek, the suitor for the middle daughter).
One thing that totally blew my mind when I heard it was the theme to The Electric Company (Morgan Freeman was in the cast!!!). That just completely brought me back.
We're gonna turn it on
we're gonna bring you the power
we're fly so high far as you can see and be free
on the Electric Company!
i bet the good ol' electric company never lost power
Branching out from just TV, the best Broadway musicals of the 1970's represented an evolution of the art:
It began rather timidly with the Tony Award going to "Applause" with only one show stopping number and the rest, a forgettable score. Then in 1971, Sondheim's "Company" burst onto the scene, following in the next year by "Follies" (both candidates for Rob Murrow to make into films that could be as least as good as "Chicago.") This was a three year sweep for Sondheim with "A Little Night Music" winning in '73 (and made into a less-than-perfect Elizabeth Taylor movie). Then a lull until 1976's "A Chorus Line" (made into a disastrous movie directed by Richard Attenborough). On a roll, "Annie" won in 1977 (made into another lackluster film by none other than John Huston, but redeemed in probably the best of the TV musical productions by Disney). Finally, Sondheim returns, winning the Tony for "Sweeney Todd." All in all, Sondheim was definitely a force of the 70's.
(Who would have thought in 1970 that the decade would spawn a musical about a barber who slashes his customer's throats and a girlfriend who then bakes them into pies?)
I stand corrected, hebba.
McQueen's 70's filmography, eoe:
Enemy of the People, An (1978) .... Doctor Thomas Stockmann
Towering Inferno, The (1974) .... Chief Michael O'Hallorhan
Papillon (1973) .... Henri 'Papillon' Charriere
Getaway, The (1972) .... Carter 'Doc' McCoy
Junior Bonner (1972) .... Junior Bonner
Le Mans (1971) .... Michael Delaney
"Papillon" was really the film that topped off his anti-hero roles (until "Tom Horn" in the 80's). Even in "Towering Inferno," he was the protagonist that stood up as the hero of the film but the character was pretty one-dimensional.
I know that "Papillion" was more respected as a role and as a movie but I've always been partial to "The Getaway" with his then-wife Ali McGraw.
Ah, Steve McQ - excellent!
Last night we watched '75 and '76 - SNL, Monty Python, the assassination attempts on Gerald Ford, Land of the Lost. Really makes you realize that the first and second halves of the decade (like most decades, come to think of it) are very different.
Y'Know, I found I didn't get as much of a nostalgia jolt when I viewed the latter half of the decade's episodes versus the former half.
1979 in particular was kind of disappointing. I mean, I remember the hostage crisis was all over the news, and there was nearly no mention of it, and I also recall punk morphing into new wave and becoming a lot easier to take (e. g. Gary Numan, etc.) but after talking about punk in I think it was the '77 or '78 episode, nada in '79. Weird.
