Good Movies 1972

The Godfather - This blockbuster from the Mario Puzo novel of the same name was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starred Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton. This star studded crime drama of the mob is rated as the second best movie of all time, behind only Citizen Kane. It also boasts two very successful spin offs, Godfather II and Godfather III. The Godfather Website

Slaughterhouse-Five - Directed by George Roy Hill and starring Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman and Valerie Perrine. From Kurt Vonnegut Jr's famous anti-war novel we find Billy Pilgrim living through the bombing of Dresden as a POW in Nazi Germany. Time dilates with Billy owning a car dealership in Indiana, on exhibition in a zoo with a naked hollywood sex pot on a faraway planet, and being stalked and assassinated by a crazy old war buddy. A lot for just one movie. His wife's hysterical drive to the hospital is a classic. More on Slaughterhouse-five

New Movies 1972

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex But Were Afraid To Ask - Directed, written and staring Woody Allen this movie of funny sexual vignettes was a hit for Allen. Also starring Louise Lasser, John Carradine, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds, Gene Wilder, Jack Barry, Erin Fleming, Lynn Redgrave and Regis Philbin.

Sleuth

The Candidate

Ben
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Super Fly

Play It Again, Sam

Cabaret
Butterflies Are Free
Boxcar Bertha
Carry On Abroad
Carry On Matron
The Cowboys
Frenzy
The Heartbreak Kid
The Last House on the Left
Man of La Mancha
The Other
Pete 'n' Tillie
Pocket Money
Prime Cut
Shaft's Big Score
Snoopy Come Home
Solaris
The New Land (Nybyggarna), Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film

B Movies 1972

Blacula - A Samuel Z. Arkoff production Starring William Marshall as the vampire in this blaxploitation movie. Though it won the first BEST HORROR FILM award (Saturn Awards) it did not do well until the early 1980s when Elvira featured it on her late night tv show and it gained a cult following. Much more on Blacula

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

The Fury of the Wolfman

Entertainment News 1972

(Sex in the Cinema)

Fritz the Cat - Not only the first animated movie presented to adults but with a X rating no less. Today it would be a humdrum R rating. Ralph Bakshi brought Robert Crumb's irreverent sixties comic book character Fritz to the silver screen. Years in the making for the sexual controversy coupled with Crumb distancing himself over Bakshi making a joke of Crumbs leftist politics, it finally got made and became a success. Video excerpt adult content.

Last Tango in Paris - Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci also gains an X rating mainly for a bathroom sex scene between male star Marlon Brando and new girl in the tub Maria Schneider. Those having seen the movie never see a stick of butter the same again. It created such a controversy that Schneider and even Brando said they regret making the movie and were used by Bertolucci. The bathtub scene was removed in England, the movie banned in Chile and not only never released in Italy, but Bertolucci was convicted of pornography. Again much like Fritz the Cat this movie would be a humdrum R these days. Review by Roger Ebert

Deep Throat - Unlike the previous two movies, this one was the real thing, X Rated pornography. Directed by Gerard Damiano and starring Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems it created what was then called "porn chic", interest in porn by the middle class. The movie cost $50,00 to produce, a lot for porn of the time. Lovelace was paid virtually nothing as her husband/manager Chuck Traynor took her $1200 share. Damiano was also forced out after its controversy began making money. The Hundreds of millions it made went to the New York Mob who funded it. Linda Boreman (Lovelace) spent the last 20 years of her life as an an anti-porn activist. She died in 2002. See Deep Regrets

Academy Awards 1972

Picture: "THE GODFATHER", "Cabaret", "Deliverance", "The Emigrants", "Sounder"

Actor: MARLON BRANDO in "The Godfather", Michael Caine in "Sleuth", Laurence Olivier in "Sleuth", Peter O'Toole in "The Ruling Class", Paul Winfield in "Sounder"

Actress: LIZA MINNELLI in "Cabaret", Diana Ross in "Lady Sings The Blues", Maggie Smith in "Travels With My Aunt", Cicely Tyson in "Sounder", Liv Ullmann in "The Emigrants"

Supporting Actor: JOEL GREY in "Cabaret", Eddie Albert in "The Heartbreak Kid", James Caan in "The Godfather", Robert Duvall in "The Godfather", Al Pacino in "The Godfather"

Supporting Actress: EILEEN HECKART in "Butterflies Are Free", Jeannie Berlin in "The Heartbreak Kid", Geraldine Page in "Pete 'n' Tillie", Susan Tyrrell in "Fat City", Shelley Winters in "The Poseidon Adventure"

Director: BOB FOSSE for "Cabaret", John Boorman for "Deliverance", Francis Ford Coppola for "The Godfather", Joseph L. Mankiewicz for "Sleuth", Jan Troell for "The Emigrants"

Top Box Office 1972

Dueling Banjos

Deliverance - This action movie from the popular James Dickey novel was produced and directed by John Boorman and starred Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox. The story of city slicker friends taking a weekend canoe trip down a remote Georgia river. When one of the party is abducted and raped by members of the local Republican Base, macho Burt Reynolds kills one of them causing mishap and mayhem down the river. Delivernace the Movie.

Sounder - Directed by Martin Ritt and starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Carmen Mathews, Taj Mahal and Eric Hooks. It is story of the injustice served upon a poor depression era Louisiana Black share cropper as experienced through the eyes of his son and his dog (Sounder). The movie version of this young adult novel by William H. Armstrong goes much easier on the white people involved than does the book.

1. The Godfather
2. The Poseidon Adventure
3. What's Up, Doc?

4 . Deliverance
5. Jeremiah Johnson
6. Cabaret
7. The Getaway
8. Lady Sings the Blues
9. Everything You Always Wanted to Know...
10. Sounder