MICHEL DUMOULIN Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB. France, 1977. Productions Orlando. Produced by Orlando. Among the most popular singers of her day, and reportedly the most celebrated in France’s music history, Dalida (born Iolanda Gigliotti in Cairo to Italian parents) is still beloved by many a music fan (you can still hear remixes of her songs on a…
Category: 1977
Short Eyes (1977)
ROBERT M. YOUNG Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB.5. USA, 1977. Screenplay by Miguel Pinero, based on his play. Cinematography by Peter Sova. Produced by Lewis Harris, Robert M. Young. Music by Curtis Mayfield. Production Design by Joe Babas. Costume Design by Paul Martino. Film Editing by Edward Beyer. Miguel Pineyro’s Tony-nominated play, based on his own experiences behind bars, is adapted to…
The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
JOHN LANDIS Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5. USA, 1977. KFM Films. Screenplay by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker. Cinematography by Stephen M. Katz. Produced by Robert K. Weiss. Music by Igo Kantor. Production Design by Rick Harvel. Costume Design by Deborah Nadoolman. Film Editing by George Folsey Jr.. This collection of skits was the cinematic entrance of the Zucker/Abrahams boys and the first…
One Sings, The Other Doesn’t (L’une chante, l’autre pas) (1977)
AGNES VARDA Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB. Venezuela/France/Belgium, 1977. Ciné Tamaris, INLC, Institut National de L’Audiovisuel, Paradise, Population, Societe Francaise de Production. Screenplay by Agnès Varda. Cinematography by Charles Van Damme. Music by François Wertheimer. Production Design by Franckie Diago. Costume Design by Franckie Diago. Film Editing by Joele Van Effenterre. Toronto International Film Festival 1977. Teenager Pauline rejects her bourgeois family to help twenty-two year…
The Deep (1977)
BB.5 (out of 5) The success of Jaws meant that Peter Benchley’s follow-up novel would also find its way to the big screen, another adventure story with plenty of excuses to get characters into treacherous waters. Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset play a married couple on vacation in Bermuda who enjoy scuba diving and, on one particular…
Islands In The Stream (1977)
FRANKLIN J. SCHAFFNER Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB. USA, 1977. Paramount Pictures, Zeeuwse Maatschappij N.V.. Screenplay by Denne Part Petitclerc, based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. Cinematography by Fred J. Koenekamp. Produced by Peter Bart, Max Palevsky. Music by Jerry Goldsmith. Production Design by William J. Creber. Film Editing by Robert Swink. Academy Awards 1977. Ernest Hemingway’s posthumously published final novel is the basis…
Smokey and the Bandit
BBB.5 (out of 5) Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed are hired to move a truckload of Coors beer from Texas to Georgia (something that was illegal at the time) in barely more than a day, which they’re happy to do for the fat payload waiting for them at the end of it. Reynolds’ part of…
A Special Day (Una Giornata Particolare) (1977)
ETTORE SCOLA Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB.5. Italy/Canada, 1977. Compagnia Cinematografica Champion, Canafox Films. Screenplay by Ruggero Maccari, Ettore Scola, collaboration with Maurizio Costanzo. Cinematography by Pasqualino de Santis. Produced by Carlo Ponti. Music by Armando Trovajoli. Production Design by Luciano Ricceri. Costume Design by Enrico Sabbatini. Film Editing by Raimondo Crociani. Academy Awards 1977. Cannes Film Festival 1977. Golden Globe Awards 2017. Podcast: My Criterions. It’s May 8,…
The Report (Gozaresh) (1977)
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB. Iran, 1977. Screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami. Cinematography by Ali Reza Zarrindast. Produced by Bahman Farmanara. Production Design by Ahmad Mirshekan. Film Editing by Mahtalat Mirfenderski. Abbas Kiarostami looks at a disintegrating marriage between a civil servant who works for the tax department and his frustrated housewife (future Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo). The husband goes…
Joseph Andrews
BBB (out of 5) Tony Richardson follows his Oscar winning Tom Jones with another Fielding adaptation fourteen years later. Written by the author as a satirical piece meant to capitalize on the success of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, the hopelessly wry story has Pamela’s brother Joseph Andrews (played by a dewy young Peter Firth) working as a footman to…
Capricorn One (1977)
PETER HYAMS Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB. USA/United Kingdom, 1977. Associated General Films, ITC Films. Screenplay by Peter Hyams. Cinematography by Bill Butler. Produced by Paul N. Lazarus III. Music by Jerry Goldsmith. Production Design by Albert Brenner. Costume Design by Patricia Norris. Film Editing by James Mitchell. A rocket ship launches in full view of an excited audience, its mission after sixteen years…
Rollercoaster (1977)
JAMES GOLDSTONE Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5. USA, 1977. Universal Pictures. Story by Sanford Sheldon, Richard Levinson, William Link, Screenplay by Richard Levinson, William Link, suggested by a story by Tommy Cook. Cinematography by David M. Walsh. Produced by Jennings Lang. Music by Lalo Schifrin. Production Design by Henry Bumstead. Costume Design by Burton Miller. Film Editing by Edward A. Biery, Richard M. Sprague. Timothy…
