First movie/last movie: D.W. Griffith

Judith of Bethulia (1914)
The Struggle (1931)
Once again, I need to point out that I'm only talking about feature-length films here. Griffith made a ton of notable short films before Judith of Bethulia.

American movies, 1970-1979

from Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger (1975)
A little bit of a cheat this time, but then again, maybe not. Jack Nicholson is the American part of this international production, which was directed and co-written by an Italian who wrote it with an African and an Englishman, and it was filmed in several different countries with a cast from all over the world.

My moviegoing: 2003

from Andrew Jarecki's Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

First movie/last movie: Samuel Fuller

I Shot Jesse James (1949)
Street of No Return (1989)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Robert Altman's Nashville (1975)
Most Altman fans pick Nashville as the man's greatest work, though I'd choose McCabe & Mrs. Miller, California Split, The Long Goodbye, 3 Women, Brewster McCloud, and possibly even Secret Honor and Popeye over Nashville. Geraldine Chaplin's character is so ill-conceived and idiotic that not even an actress of her caliber can do anything with it other than turn it into a shrill cartoon, the film has very little to say about the real city of Nashville but pretends to anyway, and a handful of characters are underdeveloped and poorly used. Still, it's got an atmosphere and tone that's unlike anything else I've seen, about a half-dozen scenes that are just about perfect, performances from Lily Tomlin, Gwen Welles, Ned Beatty, Barbara Baxley, and Henry Gibson that just nail it to the wall, a mood you can physically feel like weather, and I couldn't stop picking out images, including the one moment when Chaplin's really able to do something with the one-note caricature she's saddled with. I don't love this movie as a whole, but I love it anyway.

My moviegoing: 2003

from Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944)
Austin Film Society's European Directors in Hollywood series
When I saw this film, some of the audience laughed with smug, knowing condescension at an admiring comment Fred MacMurray's character tells Barbara Stanwyck's about the value of her home. I have to paraphrase, but he said that a house as nice as Stanwyck's must have set her back about $30,000, which caused a portion of the audience to react with that exaggerated, self-satisfied laughter you sometimes have to hear when you see an old movie in a theater. Look at how sophisticated we are compared to these 1940s rubes. Let us laugh at them with their foolishly reasonable home prices. We live in a more refined era, an era in which we pay grotesquely inflated prices for basic housing. Yes, that's right. We're laughing at them. Stupid old-timey rubes.
Other than those few moments of irritation, seeing this movie on the big screen was an absolute pleasure.

First movie/last movie: John Frankenheimer

The Young Stranger (1957)
Reindeer Games (2000)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Woody Allen's Love and Death (1975)

My moviegoing: 2003

from Aki Kaurismaki's The Man Without a Past (2002)

First movie/last movie: John Ford

Straight Shooting (1917)
7 Women (1966)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Michael Winner's Death Wish (1974)
I know this film and its many sequels are reactionary, right-wing, pro-vigilante, asshole revenge fantasies, but I just can't deny the pleasures of seeing Charles Bronson blow away street punks. Plus, Herbie Hancock did the score, and it's a good one.

My moviegoing: 2003

from Fritz Lang's Human Desire (1954)
Austin Film Society's European Directors in Hollywood series

First movie/last movie: Victor Fleming

When the Clouds Roll By (1919)
Joan of Arc (1948)

My moviegoing: 2003

from Karen Moncrieff's Blue Car (2002)
We went to see a different movie, but the print was damaged so the theater gave us free passes to see something else. We picked Blue Car. That was a poor decision. Blue Car sucked.

American movies, 1970-1979

from Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

First movie/last movie: Robert Flaherty

Nanook of the North (1922)
Louisiana Story (1948)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Martin Scorsese's Italianamerican (1974)

My moviegoing: 2003

from Otto Preminger's Laura (1944)
Austin Film Society's European Directors in Hollywood series

First movie/last movie: Federico Fellini

Variety Lights (1950)
The Voice of the Moon (1990)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974)

Quote

"I don’t like what I call empty shots, that are there just for screenwriting reasons. ... If there isn’t something in the shot, you have to bring it. I can’t imagine how a lot of moviemakers are doing shots just to explain something in the story. No painter would ever paint an image, no musicians would ever record a sound, for such a reason. I’ll never show someone crossing a street so you’ll understand he’s going from one place to another. I’ll do it if I like the street, or because of the light, or because of something. If not, I won’t do it, I’ll cut it."

-- Jean-Luc Godard, from a 1980 interview with Jonathan Rosenbaum

My moviegoing: 2003

from Neil Labute's The Shape of Things (2003)

First movie/last movie: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Love Is Colder Than Death (1969)
Querelle (1982)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

My moviegoing: 2003

from Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair (1948)
Austin Film Society's European Directors in Hollywood series

First movie/last movie: Sergei Eisenstein

Strike (1925)
Ivan the Terrible, Part II (1958, filmed in the mid-1940s)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Paul Mazursky's Harry and Tonto (1974)
Mazursky is one of those frustrating filmmakers with a nice eye and an affinity for good character actors but too many annoying tendencies to make a movie that's good from beginning to end. I tend to enjoy isolated scenes from his movies without ever being satisfied overall. This one has some of his best and worst qualities.

My moviegoing: 2003

from David Cronenberg's Spider (2002)

First movie/last movie: Carl Theodor Dreyer

The President (1919)
Gertrud (1964)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Monte Hellman's Cockfighter (1974)

My moviegoing: 2003

from Robert Siodmak's Criss Cross (1949)
Austin Film Society's European Directors in Hollywood series

First movie/last movie: Gene Kelly

This is just Kelly as a director, not a dancer/actor.
On the Town (1949, with Stanley Donen)
The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

American movies, 1970-1979

from Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II (1974)