Lifetime Movies: 1976

I can't seem to get these out of my head (hint), this lifetime movie idea has consumed me, it scares me, will there be a Scorsese film on here? Will my favoritism toward a director, or my need to pick something obscure, cloud the truly "best" film from my list, or will I move toward what's popular?...I think you have to go with your gut and not look back...don't pick a film because it "needs" to be picked or what it means to history, either your own history or the film's history...I am clearly putting to much thought into it, or not enough. Anyway, today I came across an issue, "When is a film released"...today's 1976 film was released in '76 but was not released in the US first, according to IMDB, although it was shown to a small group of friends of the directors in 1976, and probably 1975 as well.

The Nominees

Rocky
Logan's Run
Eraserhead
Taxi Driver

This has got to be the closest and most back and forth I have done and I only have done 3 years so far...looking ahead to years to come, this one is easy compared to the choices soon to be,...its like Sophie's Choice...by not picking Taxi Driver do I lose credibility with the Scorsese Fan Club?

The winner is Eraserhead

I am not sure how many times David Lynch will be on this list, this may be the only one, even though I love all his films, but this film is special, and I will admit had it not been for all the "Extras" (Frank hates them I love them) on the DVD special edition of Eraserhead this spot would have been Rocky's probably. Eraserhead was a student film gone ballistic, It was Lynch's first feature while he was at AFI in 1971. It took him 5 years to complete it at an abandoned garage loft in the back of the school. Lynch and wife and only a handful of friends, including the great Jack Nance, worked on the film with little to no money, with no help, eating stolen sandwiches from Hamburger Hamlet for years...all lighting, costumes and effects were handmade, garbage, taken or found. The vision of the artist was never compromised, never edited and is a walk into the abstract. If you don't "get" Eraserhead as a film...who can blame you, but if you are not able to give it a chance and try to make your own sense out of it, you have no soul, at least no film soul. This starts the "almost" uncompromising, dream like career of one of America's greatest creative directors. Compared with the other films on the list it may not have the plot or storyline of Rocky or the acting of Taxi Driver or the fun of Logan's Run, but it has the seeds of brilliance that comes very rare, it is always something new found when I watch it, I try and imagine myself watching the filming..on set...I see Henry's Room in the film and know that for years that was actually a built room for David Lynch, he slept there, he cared for it, he decorated it...and you know he has done the very same thing in almost all his films, with care and excellence, a boyscout work ethic with an abstract expressionistic view of film.

Thoughts on the others:
Rocky: the best story of the year, I watch it about once a year, may be Stallone's best...but didn't he steal the story from some guy who got beat by Ali?

Logan's Run: I was always fascinated by this film as a kid, I could hardly wait when I heard that Bryan Singer might make it...it never happened, but seeing Logan get out of his home and go back to earths surface was great...also see The Island and 12 Monkeys

Taxi Driver: Sacrilegious not to be picked I know...Travis Bickle is the Anti-Batman..so is he retarded, is he Jesus, is he Naive?...Paul Shrader and Martin Scorsese had original thoughts that this should be shot in black and white on straight video...talk of a sequel have been around for a while...it should stay put, no sequel please.

Till 1977: may the force speak shellfish on devils tower while playing old school hockey:...BOOM