“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you. Course there’s lots of cars on the road like yours. They all get to look the same. They perform about the same.” ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’, directed by Monte Hellman in 1971, is an American road movie in which two cars race from Arizona to East Tennessee. It’s a raw,…

“No, nothing I ever do is good enough. Not beautiful enough, it’s not funny enough, it’s not deep enough, it’s not anything enough. Now, when I see a rose, that’s perfect. I mean, that’s perfect. I want to look up to God and say, ‘How the hell did you do that? And why the hell…

“Good evening. Today is Wednesday, September the 24th, and this is my last broadcast. Yesterday I announced on this program that I was going to commit public suicide, admittedly an act of madness. Well, I’ll tell you what happened: I just ran out of bullshit. Am I still on the air? I really don’t know…

“There is a homosexual pancreas in the closet.” ‘Celine and Julie Go Boating’, directed by Jacques Rivette in 1974, is a labyrinthine, experimental farce set in Paris. It tells the story of two women who meet by accident in the city, become inseparable friends and then become involved in a weird, time-traveling murder mystery ghost…

“It seems to make me return to the place, poignantly dear to my heart, where my grandfather’s house used to be in which I was born 40 years ago right on the dinner table. Each time I try to enter it, something prevents me from doing that. I see this dream again and again. And…

“Protect us from widowhood…protect us from immigration…Save us O Lord from starvation…Save us O Lord from the holes in our boots…” ‘Red Psalm’, directed by Miklós Jancsó in 1972, is a Hungarian movie set in a village in 1890. The villagers are rebelling against the feudal government and the film is made up of a…

It is now five months since I finished watching Mark Cousins’ ‘Story of Film’ and decided to increase my knowledge of and exposure to more interesting movies (I’m aware all this makes it sound like a prison sentence). I’ve watched, thought about and written about 133 movies watched which means around 30,000 words or a…

“Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?” ‘Star Wars’, directed by George Lucas in 1977, is an American science fiction/fantasy that is now most famous for its special effects, the cultural franchise that followed it, and for the line of toys that shaped the imaginations of children (myself included) throughout…

“She eats unmarried young girls. It is the only time she can wear her wedding gown.” ‘House’, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi in 1977, is a Japanese horror-comedy-musical-teen movie that rivals ‘The Wicker Man’ for its genre bending, ‘Funeral Parade of Roses’ for its manipulation of  visual conventions and ‘Donkey Skin’ for its sheer, unabashed oneiric…

“You know as well as I that from the point of view of your home, from the perspective of your own country, your father is dead. This cannot be entirely remedied. That death throws a certain shadow on his existence here.” ‘The Hourglass Sanatorium’, directed by Wojciech Jerzy Has in 1973, is a Polish fantasy…

“Bring out the perverts!” ‘The Bird with the Crystal Plumage’, directed by Dario Argento in 1970, is the director’s first movie. It’s a whodunit along the lines of ‘Psycho’ in which an American writer, Sam Dalmas, witnesses an attempted murder and then helps the police chase a serial killer at the risk of his and…

“Aren’t you ever going to stop deluding yourself? Handling Max? Behaving like some ludicrous little underage femme fatale? You’re… you’re about as fatale as an after dinner mint!” ‘Cabaret’, directed by Bob Fosse in 1972, is a musical set in Berlin in the 1930s. It’s the story of Brian, a British academic, played by Michael…

“You see that fella in the red sweater over there? His name’s Donnie McCoy. Works a few of the protection rackets for Cunnaro when he’s waiting for something better to happen. Donnie and I have known each other since we were six. Take a good look at that face, Floyd. Because if he ever finds…

“A man who never speaks ill of women does not love them. For to understand them and to love them one must suffer at their hands. Then and only then can you find happiness at the lips of your beloved.” ‘Fellini’s Casanova’, directed by Federico Fellini in 1976, is a film from late in the…

“Once upon a time there was a king so great, so loved by his people and so respected by neighbouring kingdoms that he was the happiest of monarchs. And his happiness was even greater for having chosen a beautiful and virtuous wife. The couple lived in perfect harmony. They had a daughter of such grace…

“Do sit down, Sergeant. Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent.” ‘The Wicker Man’, directed by Robin Hardy in 1973, is strange, subversive, creepy and just a little bit perverted. The plot is simple: a policeman, Sergeant Howie, is lured to a Scottish island called Summerisle to solve the case of a…

“It’s good to have dreams, even if they’re frightening… The dead don’t dream.” ‘Tristana’, directed by Luis Buñuel in 1970, is a Spanish movie based on a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós, but with Buñuel’s characteristic alterations and flourishes. The plot focuses on a triangular relationship between Tristana, played by Catherine Deneuve, Don Lope, her…

“Gentled by the lilting musical contribution of Donovan (who plays the Piper), Demy’s film isn’t quite so harsh as the Grimms’ version but, if it pulls some of its punches, they are felt nonetheless.” ‘The Pied Piper’, directed in 1972 by Jacques Demy, is a colourful, stylised retelling of the fairy-tale that features a host…

“I felt nothing for him anymore. Far from it, it got worse. When we ate together his chewing… it was like an explosion. When he swallowed my gorge rose. The way he cut meat, held his cigarette, his whiskey glass… it all seemed so absurd, so affected. I was ashamed for him because I imagined…

“I can feel death in this room! I feel a presence, a twisted mind sending me thoughts! Perverted, murderous thoughts… Go away! You have killed! And you will kill again!” ‘Profondo Rosso’, directed by Dario Argento in 1975, is an Italian serial killer thriller, part of the giallo genre, with inventive shocks, a surprisingly tight…

“It was a Haldeman operation. The whole business was run by Haldeman, the money, everything. It won’t be easy getting at him, he was insulated, you’ll have to find out how. Mitchell started doing covert stuff before anyone else, the list is longer than anyone can imagine… it involves the entire U.S. Intelligence Community. FBI……

“The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish.” Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’, directed in 1979, is a post-apocalyptic, mystical quest movie that follows three men: a scientist, an author and a guide as they journey into an abandoned wasteland (the ‘Zone’) looking for a mythical ‘room’ that will grant them wishes. It’s essential Tarkovsky’s…

“He’s one hundred years overdue for death” ‘Valerie and Her Week of Wonders’, directed by Jaromil Jireš in 1970, is a dark, fairy-tale horror, adapted from a 1932 novel, that follows the adventures of the title character as she negotiates a series of dreamlike encounters with vampires, her strange family and the eccentric local villagers….

“Suzy Banyon decided to perfect her ballet studies in the most famous school of dance in Europe. She chose the celebrated academy of Freiburg. One day, at nine in the morning, she left Kennedy airport, New York, and arrived in Germany at 10:40 p.m. local time.” ‘Suspiria’, directed by Dario Argento in 1977, is an…

“Colonel: Marijuana isn’t a drug. Look at what goes on in Vietnam. From the general down to the private, they all smoke. Thévenot: As a result, once a week they bomb their own troops. Colonel: If they bomb their own troops, they must have their reasons.” ‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’, directed by Luis…

“The inhuman thing about American TV is not so much that they hack everything up with commercials, though that’s bad enough, but in the end all programmes become commercials. Commercials for the status quo. Every image radiates the same disgusting and nauseated message. A kind of boastful contempt. Not one image leaves you in peace,…