During my initial research for this retrospective, one of the first things I was interested in finding out was the first film to be released after I was born. I was surprised when I didn't find anything on the day I was born, which was a Friday. Then the first film I found had a listed release date of December 10, which was a Sunday. I was sure this had to be a mistake, because, as everyone knows, new films in North America are always released into theaters on Friday (and, occasionally, on Wednesday).
So I spoke with a local theater owner (and former employer of mine) who has been in the business since the 1960s. He informed me that Hollywood's current practice of releasing new films on Fridays only began in the mid-'70s. Prior to then, movies could be released any day of the week -- basically whenever the studios felt like releasing one. So it was not uncommon at that time for three or four movies to be released in one week, all on different days.
And so the first movie released in my lifetime came on this date, when I was but two days old.
The movie in question was Sleuth.
And what a film it is! Based on the Tony Award-winning play by British playwright Anthony Shaffer, Sleuth stars Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine and was the final film by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The plot involves a wealthy mystery writer obsessed with games who leads his wife's lover into a diabolical trap. As the movie progresses, however, it becomes uncertain as to who is actually playing whom, as a series of deceptions and counter-deceptions are launched as an elaborate game of comeuppance between the two men.
This film is ranked in IMDb's Top 250, Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide rates it 4 stars (out of 4), and it currently has a 96% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Watching the film, it's easy to understand why. A thriller for the thinking person, this is the kind of movie where the payoff isn't about getting to the end but in savoring every moment on the trip that takes us there. Shaffer himself wrote the screen adaptation of his play and the result is a production that is delicious from start to finish, brimming with splendid dialogue and serpentine twists.
It's also a veritable acting tour-de-force for the film's two stars. At the time of Sleuth's release, Laurence Olivier was (rightly) regarded as one of the greatest actors to grace the screen (and that consensus hasn't changed in the 40 years since), and Caine, whose film career had really taken flight during the '60s, was already a well-regarded actor and was currently in the midst of a busy period, working on one film after another. Both actors are so good here that they elevate what would normally be a good story into a masterpiece.
* * *
In the real world, Amnesty International launched its first worldwide campaign for the Abolition of Torture, which would run for several years.
In Japan's parliamentary election, the Liberal Democratic Party won again, losing 24 seats but retaining 271 of the 491 in the lower house of the Diet.
Richard Fliehr made his professional wrestling debut in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, under the name Ric Flair, battling George "Scrap Iron" Gadaski to a ten-minute draw. Then weighing nearly 300 pounds with short brown hair, Flair scarcely resembled his future "Nature Boy" image, but he drew attention with his charismatic personality and ring endurance.
Brian Molko, lead singer of Placebo, was born in Brussels, Belgium.
* * *
On primetime television that night, the Big Three networks aired new episodes of most of their Sunday night shows. ABC had The FBI, NBC had Night Gallery, and although CBS aired several programs (Anna and the King, The Sandy Duncan Show, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and Mannix), the most noteworthy of their Sunday night line-up was one of their new series: M*A*S*H.
M*A*S*H was adapted by Larry Gelbart from the 1970 feature film directed by Robert Altman and written by Gelbart. The series follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea during the Korean War. The show premiered on September 17, 1972 and ended on February 28, 1983. Like the movie, the series was as much an allegory about the Vietnam War (which was still in progress when the show began) as it was about the Korean War.
Check any list of the greatest television programs of all time and you will find M*A*S*H ranked high on all of them. In 2002, it was ranked #25 on TV Guide's "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time." In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the fifth best-written TV series ever. During its eleven-year run, the show won a total of 14 Emmy Awards, 7 Golden Globes, and 7 Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series. In 1976, the show was honored with a Peabody Award "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." Writers for the show received several Humanitas Prize nominations, winning six times. The series received 28 Writers Guild of America award nominations - 26 for Episodic Comedy (for which it won seven throughout its run) and two for Episodic Drama.
The cast of the first season consisted of Alan Alda as Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, the chief surgeon; Loretta Swit as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan; Jamie Farr as the cross-dressing Cpl. Maxwell Q. Klinger; William Christopher as Chaplin John Patrick Francis Mulcahy; Wayne Rogers as Capt. "Trapper John" McIntyre; McLean Stevenson as the commanding officer Lt. Col. Henry Blake; Larry Linville as Major Frank Burns; and Gary Burghoff as the company clerk Walter "Radar" O'Reilly.
In this week's episode (#11), entitled "Germ Warfare," Hawkeye and Trapper move a North Korean P.O.W. patient into "the Swamp," rather than have him shipped out early, and discover that he has a rare blood type. Since Frank Burns has the same blood type, they furtively steal some of his blood while he is asleep. However, when the patient develops hepatitis, they suspect Frank is the carrier and have to keep him away from Margaret and the patients.
Meanwhile, here in Canada, the CBC aired the latest episode of its newest series - one that has since become a Canadian classic -- The Beachcombers.
Premiering on October 1, 1972 and running until December 12, 1990, The Beachcombers was the longest-running dramatic series ever made for English-language Canadian television. The series followed the life of Nick Adonidas (Bruno Gerussi), a Greek-Canadian log salvager in Gibsons, British Columbia, who earned a living travelling the coastline northwest of Vancouver with his business partner, Jesse Jim (Pat John) aboard their logging tug, the Persephone, tracking down logs that had broken away from barges and logging booms. The series also focused on the supporting cast of characters in Nick's hometown. The show was also an active window into Canada's multicultural heritage.
This week's episode (#10), entitled "Investigators," Nick and Jesse Jim attempt to investigate the mystery behind a rash of stolen pleasure boats that have literally disappeared in the middle of open water. Among this episode's guest stars was future MuchMusic personality Terry David Mulligan.
Unfortunately, to this day, The Beachcombers has not been released to DVD, making it difficult to watch (or re-watch) for the purpose of this retrospective, but the series does continue to air in re-runs on various Canadian networks, such as APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network).
Meanwhile, on British television, the fan-favorite horror anthology Dead of Night aired a new episode.
On Japanese TV, the latest episodes of two of my favorite new anime series of that era were aired: Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Mazinger Z.
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (also known simply as Gatchaman) was produced by Tatsunoko Productions and aired Sunday nights on Fuji TV. Created in the wake of the hugely successful Henshin boom started by Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider in 1971, the show was conceived as a blending of ninja adventure with science fiction elements.
The series was about a five-member team of bird-themed ninja superheroes who battled the menace of Galactor, a technologically-advanced international terrorist organization determined to conquer the world. Recurring themes of the show involved the conservation of nature, environmentalism, and the responsible use of technology for progress and advancement. The Gatchaman team were in the employ of Dr. Nambu of the International Science Organization. The leader of Galactor was an androgynous masked villain named Berg Kattse, who acts on the orders of an alien superior known simply as "Leader X."
The Science Ninja Team itself consisted of Ken the Eagle, the team's leader and tactical expert; Jo the Condor, second-in-command marksman and weapons expert; Jun the Swan, the team's electronics and demolitions expert; Jinpei the Swallow, the youngest member of the team, reconnaissance expert, and Jun's adopted younger brother; and Ryu the Owl, the ship's pilot.
The series became well-known to the English-speaking world a few years later as the adaptation entitled Battle of the Planets. This version was heavily edited in order to avoid controversy from parents and removed elements of violence, profanity, and transgenderism and added kid-friendly elements such as campy robots for comic relief. This was the version I was familiar with and enjoyed as a kid. Once I discovered the original Gatchaman as an adult, I realized how horribly butchered the American version truly was. As any purist will tell you, there is no substitute for the real thing, and I agree wholeheartedly. Once you've had Gatchaman, there's no going back to BotP. Ever.
Mazinger Z, which also aired on Fuji TV, was a Japanese "super robot" anime adaptation of the manga series by Go Nagai. It debuted the previous week, on December 3, 1972, and helped create the 1970s boom in mecha anime, leading to various spin-offs, sequels, and imitations. The series follows Koji Kabuto in his battle against the evil Dr. Hell with his grandfather's greatest creation, the Mazinger Z.
In 1985, an American company called Three B Productions, Ltd. produced an English-dubbed version of the show, renamed TranZor Z. Like Gatchaman, this version was edited heavily for American audiences and, therefore, was inferior to the original.
An apt way to describe Mazinger Z would be "cheesy but fun." The animation is far below the standards we've come to expect from modern anime, but keeping in mind that it was made for '70s television, it's certainly a cut above many American cartoons of the era. At first glance, the show might also appear incredibly clichéd, with all the stock features of the super robot anime genre present and accounted for. However, at the time, these clichés didn't even exist - most of these stock features were introduced with this series and only became clichés via overuse by other series that followed. Keeping that in mind and watching the show in its proper context makes it seem more fresh and original... and a whole lot of fun.
The cast of the first season consisted of Alan Alda as Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, the chief surgeon; Loretta Swit as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan; Jamie Farr as the cross-dressing Cpl. Maxwell Q. Klinger; William Christopher as Chaplin John Patrick Francis Mulcahy; Wayne Rogers as Capt. "Trapper John" McIntyre; McLean Stevenson as the commanding officer Lt. Col. Henry Blake; Larry Linville as Major Frank Burns; and Gary Burghoff as the company clerk Walter "Radar" O'Reilly.
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| From left: Larry Linville (Burns); Loretta Swit (Hot Lips); Alan Alda (Hawkeye); McLean Stevenson (Blake); Wayne Rogers (Trapper John); William Christopher (Father Mulcahy); Gary Burghoff (Radar); Jamie Farr (Klinger) |
Meanwhile, here in Canada, the CBC aired the latest episode of its newest series - one that has since become a Canadian classic -- The Beachcombers.
Premiering on October 1, 1972 and running until December 12, 1990, The Beachcombers was the longest-running dramatic series ever made for English-language Canadian television. The series followed the life of Nick Adonidas (Bruno Gerussi), a Greek-Canadian log salvager in Gibsons, British Columbia, who earned a living travelling the coastline northwest of Vancouver with his business partner, Jesse Jim (Pat John) aboard their logging tug, the Persephone, tracking down logs that had broken away from barges and logging booms. The series also focused on the supporting cast of characters in Nick's hometown. The show was also an active window into Canada's multicultural heritage.
This week's episode (#10), entitled "Investigators," Nick and Jesse Jim attempt to investigate the mystery behind a rash of stolen pleasure boats that have literally disappeared in the middle of open water. Among this episode's guest stars was future MuchMusic personality Terry David Mulligan.
Unfortunately, to this day, The Beachcombers has not been released to DVD, making it difficult to watch (or re-watch) for the purpose of this retrospective, but the series does continue to air in re-runs on various Canadian networks, such as APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network).
Meanwhile, on British television, the fan-favorite horror anthology Dead of Night aired a new episode.
On Japanese TV, the latest episodes of two of my favorite new anime series of that era were aired: Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Mazinger Z.
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (also known simply as Gatchaman) was produced by Tatsunoko Productions and aired Sunday nights on Fuji TV. Created in the wake of the hugely successful Henshin boom started by Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider in 1971, the show was conceived as a blending of ninja adventure with science fiction elements.
The series was about a five-member team of bird-themed ninja superheroes who battled the menace of Galactor, a technologically-advanced international terrorist organization determined to conquer the world. Recurring themes of the show involved the conservation of nature, environmentalism, and the responsible use of technology for progress and advancement. The Gatchaman team were in the employ of Dr. Nambu of the International Science Organization. The leader of Galactor was an androgynous masked villain named Berg Kattse, who acts on the orders of an alien superior known simply as "Leader X."
The Science Ninja Team itself consisted of Ken the Eagle, the team's leader and tactical expert; Jo the Condor, second-in-command marksman and weapons expert; Jun the Swan, the team's electronics and demolitions expert; Jinpei the Swallow, the youngest member of the team, reconnaissance expert, and Jun's adopted younger brother; and Ryu the Owl, the ship's pilot.
 |
| From left: Ken the Eagle, Ryu the Owl, Jinpei the Swallow, Jun the Swan, and Jo the Condor |
Mazinger Z, which also aired on Fuji TV, was a Japanese "super robot" anime adaptation of the manga series by Go Nagai. It debuted the previous week, on December 3, 1972, and helped create the 1970s boom in mecha anime, leading to various spin-offs, sequels, and imitations. The series follows Koji Kabuto in his battle against the evil Dr. Hell with his grandfather's greatest creation, the Mazinger Z.
In 1985, an American company called Three B Productions, Ltd. produced an English-dubbed version of the show, renamed TranZor Z. Like Gatchaman, this version was edited heavily for American audiences and, therefore, was inferior to the original.
An apt way to describe Mazinger Z would be "cheesy but fun." The animation is far below the standards we've come to expect from modern anime, but keeping in mind that it was made for '70s television, it's certainly a cut above many American cartoons of the era. At first glance, the show might also appear incredibly clichéd, with all the stock features of the super robot anime genre present and accounted for. However, at the time, these clichés didn't even exist - most of these stock features were introduced with this series and only became clichés via overuse by other series that followed. Keeping that in mind and watching the show in its proper context makes it seem more fresh and original... and a whole lot of fun.
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