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Movie Quote of the Day – Wanda, 1970 (dir. Barbara Loden)
Wanda Goronski: I don’t have anything. I never did have anything. Never will have anything.
Norman Dennis: You’re stupid.
Wanda Goronski: I’m stupid?
Norman Dennis: If you don’t want anything, you won’t have anything, and if you don’t have anything, you’re nothing. You may as well be dead. You’re not even a citizen of the United States.
Wanda Goronski: I guess I’m dead, then.
Movie Quote of the Day – I Never Sang for My Father, 1970 (dir. Gilbert Cates)
Tom: I appreciate your concern. . .but I’m perfectly able to carry on
by myself. As I said, with Gene’s help from time to time. I imagine we could have dinner once in a while, couldn’t we, Gene? Once or twice a week? Take you up to Rotary. Some of the speakers are amusing.
Gene: Sure, Dad.
Tom: Give us time to get together at last, a chance to know each other.
Alice: Gene wants to get married.
Gene: Alice.
Tom: What?
Alice: Gene wants to move to California and get married.
Gene: Alice, will you shut up?
Alice: I can’t help it. You’ve never faced up to him. Let him ruin your life.
Gene: I can handle my own life!
Alice: You can’t.
Tom: Children. Children.mI don’t want to interfere with either of your lives. I took of myself at 8, I can take care of myself at 80. I’ve never wanted to be a burden to my children.
Gene: I’m gonna hang around, Dad.
Tom: There’s no need to.
Gene: I’ll move in until you start feeling better.
Tom: I don’t want to ruin your life.
Gene: I didn’t say that.
Tom: I’ve long had the impression that my only function in this family was to supply the money…
Gene: Dad.
Tom: To supply funds for your education.
Gene: Dad, will you stop it!
Tom: As far as I’m concerned, this conversation has ended.
Movie Quote of the Day – Tristana, 1970 (dir. Luis Buñuel)
Don Lope: It’s good to have dreams, even if they’re frightening. . .The dead don’t dream.
Movie Quote of the Day – Jane Eyre, 1970 (dir. Delbert Mann)
Jane Eyre: Why do you confide in me like this? What are you and she to me? Do you think that because I am poor and plain, I have no feelings? I promise you, if God had gifted me wealth and beauty, I should make it as hard for you to leave me now as it is for me to leave you. But He did not. Yet, my spirit can address yours as if both had passed through the grave and stood before Him equal
Mr. Rochester: Jane.
Jane Eyre: Let me go, sir.
Mr. Rochester: I love you. I love you!
Jane Eyre: Please, don’t make me foolish.
Mr. Rochester: Foolish? I need you. What is Blanche to me? I know what I am to her. Money to manure her father’s lands with. Marry me, Jane, say you’ll marry me.
Jane Eyre: You mean it?
Mr. Rochester: You torture me with your doubts. Say yes. Say yes.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Landlord, 1970 (dir. Hal Ashby)
Elgar Winthrop Julius Enders: You know what NAACP means, don’t you?
Joyce Enders: You tell me what it means.
Elgar Winthrop Julius Enders: It means “Niggers Ain’t Always Colored People”!
William Enders Sr.: What did he mean by that?
Joyce Enders: He just called us niggers.
William Enders Sr.: Us?
Oscar Vault Monday – Love Story, 1970 (dir. Arthur Hiller)
Often cited as one of the films that started the “Paramount Renaissance” in the 1970s, Love Story was nothing short of a phenomenon when it was released. Erich Segal, who wrote the screenplay, was asked by Paramount to write a novelization of the film in to create pre-publicity; it became a best seller. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with this film. Mostly this is because I think it is really poorly written. I hate the characters. I don’t think they are really developed at all. But, I love the art direction and the cinematography and most of the performances. As I was watching it, I felt like it was this perfectly crafted film wasted on a mediocre screenplay and that just feels like a shame to me. Love Story was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning one: Best Original Score (won), Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor John Marley, Best Actor Ryan O’Neal, Best Actress in a Leading Role Ali MacGraw, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were: Airport, Five Easy Pieces, MASH and winner Patton.
Movie Quote of the Day – Zabriskie Point, 1970 (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)
Cop: Occupation?
Rebel: Associate professor of history.
Cop: That’s too long. I’ll just put down clerk.
Movie Quote of the Day – Love Story, 1970 (dir. Arthur Hiller)
Oliver Barrett IV: Hey, what makes you so sure I went to prep school?
Jennifer Cavalieri: You look stupid and rich.
Oliver Barrett IV: Actually, I’m smart and poor.
Jennifer Cavalieri: *I’m* smart and poor.
Oliver Barrett IV: What makes you so smart?
Jennifer Cavalieri: I wouldn’t go out for coffee with you.
Oliver Barrett IV: Yeah, well I wouldn’t ask you.
Jennifer Cavalieri: Well that’s what makes you stupid.
Oscar Vault Monday – Five Easy Pieces, 1970 (dir. Bob Rafelson)
This is such a fantastic film. It would be an interesting companion piece to another Nicholson film from the era – Mike Nichol‘s 1971 film Carnal Knowledge. Both films are sort of America’s answer to Britain’s “Angry Young Man/Kitchen Sink” dramas from a decade earlier. There are probably earlier films that fit that bill as well. What’s interesting to me is that they take a look at a new sort of angst that rose out of the sixties and has never really left – an angst that found its roots in the emerging teenager of the 50s (more on that in a bit). This is definitely one of Nicholson’s best performances and a must for any fan. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, though it didn’t win any: Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress Karen Black, Best Actor Jack Nicholson, Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were Airport, Love Story, MASH and winner Patton.
Movie Quote of the Day – Patton, 1970 (dir. Franklin J. Schaffner)
Gen. George S. Patton Jr.: Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
the diary of a film history fanatic 