Favourite Films of 1976

Monday is about movies. Sometimes TV. Now and then I work through the years and list my favourite films. Today is that day once again. And today the year is 1976. A special year for me. Read on…

It’s a regular thing here. Looking at films from a particular year. I decided, a while back, I’d start with the golden run of the 1970s, and, when I remember, I’d work through a year.You’ll remember perhaps I’ve done this already, most recently with 1975, and ahead of that, with 1974, with 1973, with 1972 and with 1971. And if you didn’t know, the past ‘episodes’ of this series of newsletter-posts can be viewed by clicking each link there. (Or, I’ll put them in full down the bottom if you want to save it for after…)

I’m happy to be at 1976 — not because it was the greatest year for film, and I’m not at all going to say that the films on this list are any better than the ones from previous years. They’re just the ones from the year that I like. Same with the other years I’ve already covered and the ones to come. But, and I’m happy to date myself with this comment, they are films from my actual lifetime; 1976 being the year I was born. So, obviously, I still arrived at this films — as a viewer — many years later, but technically these are the first to arrive in my lifetime…so that’s kinda fun, hey!

Let’s dive right in. You all know the drill by now. The favourites of 1976, my favourites, the ones I think about the most and like the best. In no particular order. Here we go…

Taxi Driver

Just when I thought I was a little over this movie, I watched it again, late last year. First time in a while. Still great, still terrifying, still hinges on a wild central performance — maybe DeNiro’s real breakthrough performance for the type of character he’d be best remembered for. And it’s really the start of his collaboration with Scorsese (I know there’s a film before this, but this is the proof it was a collaboration; a pairing!) The music is exquisite, the supporting performances are all wonderful, the writing is fantastic. It’s a true masterpiece. I was young when I first saw this and it scared me and thrilled me. And I still feel that way watching it now.

Network

This film is one of a few on this list I likely first learned about when reading Peter Biskind’s excellent Easy Riders Raging Bulls, a tome dedicated to the great films of the 1970s. Maybe I’d already seen Network though? I can’t remember. But I sure do remember almost every inch of this film, an all-star cast burning up the screen with hot, great satire. A masterpiece. One of only a handful of films from the era that feels not just as good now as then, but as relevant.

Rocky

I love Rocky! Kinda love the whole franchise — but it’s a bit like Halloween or A Nightmare On Elm Street or Friday the 13th in that I really only love the first couple of films, truly, but the funny/silly sequels that follow those are hard to completely ignore. Still, Rocky on its own truly is a masterpiece. A great bit of writing, a well made film, and it’s like the film played out in much the way of its plot — the little film that could. It launched Sly, and a thousand imitators. It’s still one of the all-time great sports movies, and one of the best-ever boxing movies; both are long traditions. But Rocky is there, running to the top of the hill in both categories, up all those steps, hands held high, sweat-stains showing.

All The Presidents Men

I love journalism movies. The good ones. And there are a few. This is an absolute gold-standard. What a story. And what brilliant acting and directing. I think this might have been the first time I ever properly saw Robert Redford, and got to know he was good. So it’s an important film in my life for that fact also. But what a brilliant movie. I think about this movie a lot. I own it. I’m due to re-watch it. But I feel like I’m (almost always) thinking about this film (a lot).

Carrie

This was one of the first Stephen King books I read, and one of the first King adaptations I watched — and so it has to be on the list for that alone. In recent years, I’ve returned to this film a lot, maybe more than I might have thought would be the case. It’s a great treatment of the book, and it’s also a great example of Brian de Palma, and what he does with film. And I love de Palma. But that intro is a bit pervy, still, there’s something to be respected (if that’s the word) by people like Lynch and de Palma and Kubrick, in the way they laid their perversions out for all to see. Didn’t hide. I genuinely love this film though, even after so many times watching it.

And here’s five notable mentions — again in no particular order:

The Omen

When I first saw this it absolutely terrified me. A couple of scenes in particular. And that ending. The stare. But, look, it’s hokey as fuck to watch it now, though that doesn’t matter. It’s the impact of the film that matters. And you always remember the initial impact, the original screening. And so even though I couldn’t put it in my top five, and really do feel Carrie is the better 1976 horror, I really do have to include this. As with so many horrors, the score is crucial. And the Jerry Goldsmith score for The Omen is amazing.

The Front

I loved this film when I first saw it, as a teenager — and the reason I saw it was, primarily, because I was a huge Woody Allen fan. And this was really the first time I’d seen him in something that he hadn’t written or directed. This was interesting to me. So was the subject matter. And that probably holds up better now, than recommending a film for its Woody Allen connection.

Assault on Precinct 13

Pretty much every John Carpenter film is likely to end up on my list somewhere — because I’ve loved his movies, and the music he makes that goes with them. But I’m picking Assault because it has that one scene in particular, the ‘taboo’ scene. He has the character point the gun at the kid and…he fires. He shoots the kid. He kills the kid. You don’t do that. But Carpenter had someone do that. And I fucking love that about him. It’s also close to my very favourite John Carpenter film score. I also love the genre-clash of this film. Carpenter became so masterful at that, putting action, sci-fi, horror and comedy in a blender.

Don’s Party

If there is a genre called “Australian Cinema”, and I sometimes think there is, reductive though that might be, then I’m a fan. I love so many Australian films. The comedies are great. The dark, twisted dramas and thrillers and horrors are amazing. And what about when they combine forces and have a dark drama that’s knotty and twisted but also a comedy. Well that’s Don’s Party, based on the play from a few years earlier (1971). Genius story. Have never seen the play. Would still love to.

Silver Streak

Sometimes a film is wild rather than good, and that’s the case here — but I grew up loving the collaborations of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, and this, their first, was my last; as in I didn’t see this film until I’d seen all the others they made several times. Their buddy films were just wonderful to me, and there’s certainly some spirit about Silver Streak too, an odd film that is tonally a mess. It is a heist film, that plays both as thriller and comedy. And yes, Wilder (R.I.P.) appears in blackface, and there’s no excuse for that. It was 1976. And it’s outrageous that we had another decade or so of blackface in comedy films…but if I look past that I can see some strange and almost brilliant ideas within Silver Streak. And I just like collecting sets — so it felt important for me to finally see the first collaboration between Wilder and Pryor, the film that set off a wonderful run of films that have no doubt also aged badly in various ways.

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So, there you go. What do you reckon? 1976…obviously a fantastic year!

Leave your comments below. And to catch up on the other posts in this series so far see below: