Come A Little Bit Closer

Not exactly the seventies, the song is from the sixties, and the movie from the nineties, but still a familiar song for us Products of the Seventies. I went to school with one of the sax players, and have been listening to him since the eighties. I never get tired of The Iguanas.
From 1996, The Iguanas with Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos. I'm lovin' this!

Fritz The Cat

At the risk of appearing crude and Vulgar, I came across this video. For those Products of the Seventies, how many weren't curious about this movie when it was released? Dig the soundtrack, vintage seventies porn-jazz.

The Dude

Another movie clip, from one of the greatest movies of all time. The Dude, a true product of the seventies, who hasn't changed at all since the seventies. The Dude embodies all that we can be, all that we ever wanted out of life. We all think we could be The Dude, but we can't. None of us. The Dude is unattainable perfection. He's what keeps us reaching for the stars.

Boogie Nights

Stumbled on the movie Boogie Nights while surfing tonight. This movie is cool. About 70s porn star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), who works for porn director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds). If nothing else, it's worth checking out just for the disco soundtrack. Brilliantly put together.

Harold and Maude

My college showed movies in an auditorium every Friday night. It didn't matter what was playing, for a dollar my girlfriend (now wife) and I could see a movie. Some were good, some not so good. But it was only a buck, and we were together.

One night they played this movie. Neither of us had heard of it, and when this scene played to open the movie, we were aghast. We did not know how to take the movie. It took a few viewings before we "got it". And even today, I'm not sure what we "got", but the movie still holds a very warm spot in my heart. And the soundtrack was one of the most perfect movie soundtracks ever.

Hesitate To Post...

I hate to post anything, it will move Carrie Fisher's picture from my last post further down the page. Damn, she's looking fine.

Carrie Fisher's "Wishful Drinking"

Carrie Fisher Finishes Our Sentences About Family, Work And That Bikini - Monkey See Blog : NPR.

Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking, her one-woman show based on her book of the same title, is a wry, hilarious, insightful, and occasionally touching theatrical memoir of the woman who grew up as the daughter of celebrity parents (Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher); went on to become a film icon with her role of Princess Leia in the first three Star Wars films; struggled with manic-depression and substance abuse; and had emotionally fraught relationships with Paul Simon, the super-famous musician to whom she was very briefly married, and agent Bryan Lourd, who left her for another man after they had a child together.

I dig Carrie Fisher, always have. I haven't read either of her books, I seem to have developed some kind of a middle age ADD and find it hard to read. But there are a few books I'd really love to read, and hers are at the top of the list.

"So for me, for my mother, my grandmother, my father, my uncle, and for the common good, I must now kill you, and your brother."
The Blues Brothers - 1980

The Neighborhood Drive In

What would a seventies blog be without a drive-in movie post?

We had one in our neighborhood, about 8 blocks from home. When we were kids, if we were lucky enough to get out after dark and able to stay out a while, we would walk down there. We had to cross a highway to get there, and if our parents knew we'd get in trouble. But there was a golf course directly behind the theater, and we'd pull a bench from the course up to the back fence, and watch the show.

I had a paper route when I was a teenager, and I'd deliver papers from my Schwinn Orange Crate, and later, from my 10 speed Schwinn Continental. If I got done early, I'd pedal down to the drive-in.

There was a couple of big, mean, brothers my age that cleaned up the drive-in parking lot the morning after shows. You had to get there early to beat them to the lot. But if you did... There were always cans of un-opened beer, partially full bottles of Boones Farm, and all kinds of assorted goodies. It was a teenagers paradise. I'd make a quick swing through, throw the best stuff in my paper sack, and pedal home before the clean-up crew got there. I'd ditch the stash somewhere on the banks of the creek that wound through our neighboorhood park. We'd come back later and pretend we actually liked the stuff.

Later, when we were actually driving, we hit that drive-in with buddies and dates. I saw "Star Wars" for the first time there. Yet another memorable night was spent with a few friends, beer, and other leafy "illicit substances". We watched "Marathon Man". The sound of that dentist's drill was absolutely horrific.

All in all, it was a spot of significant memories for this Product Of The Seventies.

Walk The Line

Watched "Walk The Line" last night, the movie about Johnny Cash. I was a little surprised. It was good, but not as good as I expected it to be. And it was much more critical of him than I imagined it would be. It also had a very unsatisfying ending. The characters were not developed well enough, Johnny and June were, but that's about it. The music was OK, but didn't show much of the stories behind the songs.

Overall, I give it 3, maybe 3.5 out of 5. Fair to good, but not great.

Peter Benchley Dies

Peter Benchley, Author of 'Jaws,' Dies at 65

Peter Benchley, whose 1974 novel "Jaws" turned shark attacks into a national obsession and who later used what he called his "fish story" to help promote oceanic conservation, died yesterday morning at his home in Princeton, N.J. He was 65.

The cause was pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs, said his wife, Wendy.

In Honor Of Oscar Night

The Top Ten box-office movies of the Seventies were, in order:

1. Star Wars (1977)
2. Jaws (1975)
3. The Godfather (1972)
4. Grease (1978)
5. Superman (1979)
6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
7. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
8. The Sting (1973)
9. The Exorcist (1973)
10. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

I don't understand why "Logan's Run" didn't make the list...

Here is a cool site with this information: http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/70/70movies.htm