If one were to trace my passion for film back to its roots, they would find that it all started with my father. A movie fan himself, he had a particular fondness for action films, Westerns, and war movies. Even before my family got our first VCR, my father watched a lot of movies on television -- back when regular network channels still aired theatrical films on a frequent basis -- and, once I was old enough, I would often join him. As I got older, my love of movies would eventually surpass my dad's as I grew up to be a full-blown film geek. But it was through him that I first discovered the James Bond series, as well as his favorite movie stars, like John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, and Steve McQueen.
Back when I was still only five days old -- my movie-watching days still years away -- one of those favorites had a new film released in theaters.
The Getaway was the latest film from Sam Peckinpah, best known for his violent Western epic The Wild Bunch (1969). Based on the novel by Jim Thompson, the film starred Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw (who would become a real-life couple during production) as husband-and-wife criminals who are involved in a bank robbery and, after being double-crossed by their partners, end up on the run with the loot, fleeing for the Mexican border, with both the law and their ex-partners in pursuit.
The cast also features Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, Sally Struthers, Jack Dodson, and Slim Pickens. The screenplay was written by Walter Hill (one of his earliest produced screenplays, before he became a successful writer/director just a few years later), and the music score was provided by Quincy Jones.
Like most films from the '60s and '70s, I first saw this one on TV as a pre-teen, when I started staying up late during summer vacation to watch the late-night movie on Ottawa's CJOH-TV (now CTV Ottawa) or Montreal's CFCF-12 every night. I loved it then and, after recently re-watching it, I enjoyed it just as much now. It's dark and gritty, tense and exciting, with one memorable vignette after another. My personal favorites are the chase through a railway station and on board a train, and, most of all, the garbage truck scene and the moments leading up to it.
Critics' opinions were less favorable upon its release, however. Both Roger Ebert and Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave the film negative reviews. Peckinpah himself was unhappy with the film, stating that final cut was not his but McQueen's, as per the actor's contract with First Artists. Nevertheless, the film grossed $36,734,619 by the end of the year, making it the eighth highest-grossing picture of 1972.
Meanwhile, across the ocean, an animated film was released in France, one that starred a certain well-known intrepid boy reporter...
Tintin and the Lake of Sharks (Tintin et le Lac aux Requins) is based on Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin comic strip series, originally published in Belgium, but the film is not written by Hergé (though he did supervise) nor is it based on any of the pre-existing Tintin stories. Instead it featured an original story written by Belgian comics creator Michel Regnier (a.k.a. Greg), who was a friend of Hergé's, and directed by Hergé's publisher, Raymond Leblanc.
Although not as well-known in the U.S., The Adventures of Tintin is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century and had a tremendous following in Canada as well. As of 2015, Tintin has been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies.
I first discovered Tintin in second grade, during a trip to the school library. While searching for something new to read, I came across a copy of Flight 714 (original French title: Vol 714 Pour Sydney). It piqued by interest so I borrowed it. I was immediately hooked, and once I found out there were more (via the rear of the book, which featured a cover gallery of every volume), I set out to read every single book in the series. Fortunately, the school library carried a copy of every one. By the time I reached third grade, I had read and re-read them all. And to this day, I am still a fan.
Tintin and the Lake of Sharks was not the first time Hergé's beloved creation was brought to the screen. There had been four previous adaptations: a stop-motion puppet production in 1947; two live-action films in 1961 and 1964, and an animated feature in 1969. There had also been an animated TV series in France than ran for seven seasons, from 1959 to 1964. But Lake of Sharks would be the last time Tintin would reach the big screen for almost 40 years.
The film takes Tintin, Snowy (Milou), and Captain Haddock (as well as the Thompson and Thomson/Dupont & Dupond) to Syldavia, where Professor Calculus (Tournesol) has his newest invention stolen by Tintin's old foe Rastapopoulos. Together, the group must find and recover the invention, rescue a pair of captured local children they'd befriended, and bring Rastapopoulos to justice once again.
The film offers some fun moments but is an overall disappointment. The film's failure can be attributed to two major problems. The first is the uneven narrative structure. So much time is spent setting up the story that the second half of the film feels rushed. It's as though the filmmakers suddenly realized halfway through that they had to get the rest of the story told, with only 30 minutes to do so. The second problem is a particularly big one to Tintin purists. Although all of the characters have their individual traits and personalities intact, and the slapstick humor is in the same vein as Hergé's strips, the story lacks the underlying political commentary often found in the source material. This might make the film more kid-friendly, but it, and the apparent disregard for Hergé's pacing and attention to detail, makes the production feel more like a hollow imitation of a Tintin story than the genuine article.
On television that night, the Big Three networks' primetime schedule consisted of their usual Wednesday night shows. NBC aired new episodes of the police drama Adam-12, and McMillan & Wife, starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James. CBS aired new episodes of the drama Medical Center, and Cannon, starring William Conrad.
ABC aired another "ABC Movie of the Week," an original made-for-TV movie entitled Every Man Needs One. Starring Connie Stevens and Ken Berry, the romantic comedy told the story of a male chauvinist architect who is pressured into hiring a feminist as his assistant, only to find himself falling for her.
Also on ABC were new episodes of their two new Wednesday night shows: the musical variety show The Julie Andrews Hour, and the sitcom The Paul Lynde Show.
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The Paul Lynde Show starred comedian Paul Lynde (obviously) as Paul Simms, a husband and father. His family consisted of his wife Martha (Elizabeth Allen), and two daughters, Barbara (Jane Actman) and Sally (Pamelyn Ferdin). The show also starred John Calvin as Barbara's husband, Howie, and real-life couple Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara as Howie's parents.
The show was designed to be ABC's counterpart to CBS's All in the Family, which, at the time, was the most popular series on primetime television. However, the show lacked the controversial and topical issues brought up by the other series, due to ABC's continued restriction on social issues at the time. Therefore, critics dismissed the show as derivative and the series garnered low ratings for its entire single season.
This week's episode (#13) was entitled "Martha's Last Hurrah." To this day, the series has never been released to DVD.
Finally, on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson's guests were voice artist and comedic actress Patti Deutsch, actor George Maharis, and musical guest Della Reese.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the Paris Peace Talks -- intended to establish peace in Vietnam and put an end to the Vietnam War -- were still in session. But on this day, after a six-hour meeting between North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho and U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, peace negotiations were deadlocked.
Back when I was still only five days old -- my movie-watching days still years away -- one of those favorites had a new film released in theaters.
The Getaway was the latest film from Sam Peckinpah, best known for his violent Western epic The Wild Bunch (1969). Based on the novel by Jim Thompson, the film starred Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw (who would become a real-life couple during production) as husband-and-wife criminals who are involved in a bank robbery and, after being double-crossed by their partners, end up on the run with the loot, fleeing for the Mexican border, with both the law and their ex-partners in pursuit.
The cast also features Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, Sally Struthers, Jack Dodson, and Slim Pickens. The screenplay was written by Walter Hill (one of his earliest produced screenplays, before he became a successful writer/director just a few years later), and the music score was provided by Quincy Jones.
Like most films from the '60s and '70s, I first saw this one on TV as a pre-teen, when I started staying up late during summer vacation to watch the late-night movie on Ottawa's CJOH-TV (now CTV Ottawa) or Montreal's CFCF-12 every night. I loved it then and, after recently re-watching it, I enjoyed it just as much now. It's dark and gritty, tense and exciting, with one memorable vignette after another. My personal favorites are the chase through a railway station and on board a train, and, most of all, the garbage truck scene and the moments leading up to it.
Critics' opinions were less favorable upon its release, however. Both Roger Ebert and Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave the film negative reviews. Peckinpah himself was unhappy with the film, stating that final cut was not his but McQueen's, as per the actor's contract with First Artists. Nevertheless, the film grossed $36,734,619 by the end of the year, making it the eighth highest-grossing picture of 1972.
The second film to open in theaters that day -- and the biggest release of the entire week -- was The Poseidon Adventure.
Produced by the legendary Irwin Allen and directed by Ronald Neame, The Poseidon Adventure featured an all-star cast that included four Academy Award winners: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, and Red Buttons. The cast also includes Carol Lynley, Stella Stevens, Roddy McDowall, Jack Albertson, Leslie Nielsen, and Pamela Sue Martin. The story centers on the SS Poseidon, an aged luxury liner on her final voyage from New York City to Athens before being sent to the scrapyard. On New Year's Eve, the ship is overturned by a tsunami caused by an underwater earthquake. Passengers and crew are trapped inside and a maverick preacher (Hackman) attempts to lead a small group of survivors to the top (bottom) of the ship and, hopefully, to safety.
The film opened at #1 at the box office, and by the end of the year, its total gross was $93,300,000, making it the #2 highest-grossing film of 1972, second only to The Godfather (which had opened in March). The film also paved the way for numerous copycat films that followed the same formula, all of them featuring all-star casts. Although Airport (1970) had come first, it was the success of The Poseidon Adventure that ushered in the disaster film genre that was so prevalent throughout the '70s. And although many of those copycats were of varying quality, ranging from watchable (The Towering Inferno) to flat-out awful (Earthquake), The Poseidon Adventure has always stood head and shoulders above them all. It's not great cinema by any means, but it is pure escapist entertainment of the highest order.Meanwhile, across the ocean, an animated film was released in France, one that starred a certain well-known intrepid boy reporter...
Tintin and the Lake of Sharks (Tintin et le Lac aux Requins) is based on Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin comic strip series, originally published in Belgium, but the film is not written by Hergé (though he did supervise) nor is it based on any of the pre-existing Tintin stories. Instead it featured an original story written by Belgian comics creator Michel Regnier (a.k.a. Greg), who was a friend of Hergé's, and directed by Hergé's publisher, Raymond Leblanc.
Although not as well-known in the U.S., The Adventures of Tintin is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century and had a tremendous following in Canada as well. As of 2015, Tintin has been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies.
I first discovered Tintin in second grade, during a trip to the school library. While searching for something new to read, I came across a copy of Flight 714 (original French title: Vol 714 Pour Sydney). It piqued by interest so I borrowed it. I was immediately hooked, and once I found out there were more (via the rear of the book, which featured a cover gallery of every volume), I set out to read every single book in the series. Fortunately, the school library carried a copy of every one. By the time I reached third grade, I had read and re-read them all. And to this day, I am still a fan.
Tintin and the Lake of Sharks was not the first time Hergé's beloved creation was brought to the screen. There had been four previous adaptations: a stop-motion puppet production in 1947; two live-action films in 1961 and 1964, and an animated feature in 1969. There had also been an animated TV series in France than ran for seven seasons, from 1959 to 1964. But Lake of Sharks would be the last time Tintin would reach the big screen for almost 40 years.
The film takes Tintin, Snowy (Milou), and Captain Haddock (as well as the Thompson and Thomson/Dupont & Dupond) to Syldavia, where Professor Calculus (Tournesol) has his newest invention stolen by Tintin's old foe Rastapopoulos. Together, the group must find and recover the invention, rescue a pair of captured local children they'd befriended, and bring Rastapopoulos to justice once again.
The film offers some fun moments but is an overall disappointment. The film's failure can be attributed to two major problems. The first is the uneven narrative structure. So much time is spent setting up the story that the second half of the film feels rushed. It's as though the filmmakers suddenly realized halfway through that they had to get the rest of the story told, with only 30 minutes to do so. The second problem is a particularly big one to Tintin purists. Although all of the characters have their individual traits and personalities intact, and the slapstick humor is in the same vein as Hergé's strips, the story lacks the underlying political commentary often found in the source material. This might make the film more kid-friendly, but it, and the apparent disregard for Hergé's pacing and attention to detail, makes the production feel more like a hollow imitation of a Tintin story than the genuine article.
* * *
On television that night, the Big Three networks' primetime schedule consisted of their usual Wednesday night shows. NBC aired new episodes of the police drama Adam-12, and McMillan & Wife, starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James. CBS aired new episodes of the drama Medical Center, and Cannon, starring William Conrad.
ABC aired another "ABC Movie of the Week," an original made-for-TV movie entitled Every Man Needs One. Starring Connie Stevens and Ken Berry, the romantic comedy told the story of a male chauvinist architect who is pressured into hiring a feminist as his assistant, only to find himself falling for her.
Also on ABC were new episodes of their two new Wednesday night shows: the musical variety show The Julie Andrews Hour, and the sitcom The Paul Lynde Show.
.jpg)
The Paul Lynde Show starred comedian Paul Lynde (obviously) as Paul Simms, a husband and father. His family consisted of his wife Martha (Elizabeth Allen), and two daughters, Barbara (Jane Actman) and Sally (Pamelyn Ferdin). The show also starred John Calvin as Barbara's husband, Howie, and real-life couple Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara as Howie's parents.
The show was designed to be ABC's counterpart to CBS's All in the Family, which, at the time, was the most popular series on primetime television. However, the show lacked the controversial and topical issues brought up by the other series, due to ABC's continued restriction on social issues at the time. Therefore, critics dismissed the show as derivative and the series garnered low ratings for its entire single season.
This week's episode (#13) was entitled "Martha's Last Hurrah." To this day, the series has never been released to DVD.
Finally, on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson's guests were voice artist and comedic actress Patti Deutsch, actor George Maharis, and musical guest Della Reese.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the real world, the Paris Peace Talks -- intended to establish peace in Vietnam and put an end to the Vietnam War -- were still in session. But on this day, after a six-hour meeting between North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho and U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, peace negotiations were deadlocked.
The main point of contention was who would have political power in South Vietnam if a cease-fire were announced. The North Vietnamese negotiators demanded the dissolution of the government of the South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu, the disbanding of the South Vietnamese army, and the installation of a coalition government. The U.S. refused to consider the North Vietnamese demands and steadfastly supported Thieu and his government.
The South Vietnamese were making their own demands. Over 100,000 North Vietnamese troops had occupied territory in South Vietnam during the 1972 Easter Offensive. Nguyen Van Thieu demanded that the North Vietnamese recognize Saigon's sovereignty over South Vietnam, which would make the continued presence of the North Vietnamese troops in the South illegal. The North Vietnamese refused Thieu's demands, saying they would not recognize Thieu's government and would not remove their troops. They walked out of the negotiations.
After the meeting, Kissinger flew back to the U.S. to confer with President Richard Nixon. Nixon in turn issued an ultimatum to Hanoi to send its representatives back to the conference table within 72 hours or face severe measures.
Five days later, the North Vietnamese would reject Nixon's demand.
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