Colleen's Weblog: Post #11: What People Paid To See In 1970

The connections between top movies and top songs are always apparent since both are forms of entertainment that the majority of the populations have access too. In 1970, this was no different. We will closely examine the traits of both the top ten songs and the top ten movies of 1970 in hopes of finding common ground among the two that might help us define their historical significance and how they reflected the times.

Wikipedia serves as our provider of the top ten grossing films of 1970, and has a pretty robust list of the top films of 1970. Granted some of the films were released towards the end of 1969, their gross income still counts into the year of 1970, because box office numbers aren’t exactly tallied up on midnight of December 31st. I’m sure we’ve seen similar happenings at awards shows that rate events that happen from last year. This just helps from people being barraged from all these annual award shoes suddenly springing up in early January.

1. Airport

2. M.A.S.H.

3. Patton

4. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

5. Woodstock

6. Hello, Dolly!

7. Cactus Flower

8. Catch-22

9. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

10. The Reivers

      By the 1970 America was already landing troops in Vietnam. At the time the war was still in good taste and didn’t receive as much bad publicity until the mid 1970’s. In 1970, three war movies ascended to the charts of the top ten. M.A.S.H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) was a black humor detailing the day-to-day activities of a mobile hospital during the Korean War. The movie attempts to quell the horrors of the war itself with its comedic dialogue. The movie itself was deemed “culturally significant” by Congress and given a place in the United States National Film Registry. Patton detailed the war career of General Patton during World War 2. While not directly linked to the war in Vietnam, it still detailed an overall view of America’s war attitude. His famous speech from the film details many ideas that directly contradict the notion of the Vietnam War itself. The opening line mentions “Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war, because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.” In perspective to today, his speech seemed rather vain, since we didn’t really win a war in Vietnam. But for people in 1970 the film probably bolstered people’s opinion of the Vietnam War, since by 1970 the majority of the American public wasn’t too well informed of the disaster that was happening across the Pacific. Catch-22 is another World War 2 themed film that questions the rationale of military mentality. This almost seems synonymous with the whole criteria of the tumultuous reasons for American becoming involved in the Vietnam War, and the inevitable opposition to the war itself. [1]

      These films share little contrast to any of the songs listed as the top ten in the 1970’s. Giving the almost wholly distant happy go luck nature of the songs compared to the war in Vietnam. At the extreme, the Simon and Garfunkel song “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” plays into the concept

      Number six and seven on the top 10 grossing films of the 1970s are Hello, Dolly! and Cactus Flower. Hello, Dolly! was first a musical that soon was turned into a film. It is about a young woman who fancies the attention of a rich man because she wants his money so she can spend it to help others. Also, in the film, she plays cupid and hooks up several other couples. The movie Cactus Flower is a comedy about a man who is afraid to move on further and marry his girlfriend so he lied to her about already having a wife. His girlfriend asks to meet his wife and so he then has his secretary pretend to be his wife. In the process, he gets to see a different side of his secretary and is torn between her and his girlfriend. These two movies compared to the top ten songs are very similar. Some of the songs and these two movies have the themes love, blissfully optimistic, feel good, and the lust of a woman in common. The movies have a big theme about love and women, which a lot of the songs from the 70s can relate to. The songs in the 70s had no direct links to the war and in these movies you see the life outside of war. There is a difference however between the movies and the songs. In the move Hello, Dolly! She shows interest in the man for his money only to help the better good and spread the money to others. This lack of greediness is in theme with the real life of the 1970s. The people of the 70s were very free spirited and wanted to help everyone including the animals and environment.[2]

      Woodstock was a three day music and art festival that took place in Bethel, NY in 1969. It took place from August 15-17th. Around 500, 000 people showed up for the festival and traffic was backed up for as much as 20 miles. Many different people came to the festival: anti-war protesters to Vietnam veterans, pro government advocated to anti-government advocates, gays/lesbians to anti-gays, legalize drug advocates to ban drugs advocates, rednecks, black militants, and just those people there to watch the music and enjoy the art.

      The media portrayed Woodstock as a time of “peace and love.” However, this may be true, but Woodstock was followed by a lot of positive and negative events. Since more than 500, 000 people showed up to the festival, after just one day food was running low and sanitation was horrible. The government had to send over food supply by airplane. According to police reports, there were two deaths(but there were also two births). Trespassing and burglary was a problem, as well as violence in general. There were positives that came about from Woodstock. “On the positive side, 500,000 young citizens were virtually left on their own and discovered the words Sharing, Helping, Consideration, and Respect to be very powerful. Thousands left the Woodstock event with a totally different outlook on life” . [3]

      The various artists that performed at Woodstock paved the way for musicians in the early 1970’s. Sly and the Family Stone and Crosby Stills Nash and Young are two bands that played during Woodstock, and were included in the film, who made it in the top 10 songs of 1970.

      The Reivers is a story of a man who looks back 60 years to a road trip that he took. Along the way he encounters many obstacles and the biggest one of all is he discovers the world of adults-from racism and vice to possibilities for honor and courage. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a James Bond movie the plot for this movie is Bond is on a hunt to kill his biggest enemy but a man approaches him and asks him to marry his daughter so that he can protect her and in return this man will give Bond all the information that he needs to find his enemy. Bond then becomes trapped in his own actions he has found himself falling in love with this girl and then must decide between taking out his enemy, who is about to destroy to world, or keeping the girl that he loves. Bonds movie relates to the songs of the 70's because a lot of them had a romantic side to them. The Reivers relates to the 70's as opening up to different cultures and accepting people for who they are this was a big movement in the 70's this is also what many of the songs represent.[4]

      Airport was the first real disaster movie. A Chicago airport manager tries to keep the airport manager tries to keep the airport open during a snowstorm. A terrorist bomber plots to blow up an airplane. This movie relates more to the song by Simon and Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Waters.The movie was about a terrorist and the song is about there’s always a way when there’s trouble. [5]

      After an emotional Esalen-style retreat. Bob and Carol Sanders return to Los Angeles to embrace love and complete openness. They happily reveal their love affairs to everyone, including Ted and Alice Hederson. When the two couples go to Las Vegas, Ted admits to a love affair of his own. Alice demands a mate-sharing foursome. Before they could begin, doubts arose. This movie shares similar themes to the song “Venus” by The Shocking Blue. It’s a sexual type of movie with all the love affairs and sexual innuendos.[6]

[1] Robert Altman, M.A.S.H, 20th Century Fox, 1970; Franklin J. Schaffner, Patton, 20th Century Fox, 1970; Mike Nichols, Catch-22, Paramount, 1970.

[2] Gene Kelly, Hello, Dolly!, 20th Century Fox, 1969; Gene Saks, Cactus Flower, Sony Pictures, 1969.

[3] Micheal Wadleigh, Woodstock, Warner Brothers, 1970.

[4] Mark Rydell, The Reivers, Paramount, 1969; Peter R. Hunt, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, United Artists, 1969.

[5] George Satton and Henry Hathaway, Airport, Universal Studios, 1970

[6] Paul Mazursky, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Sony Pictures, 1969

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