Paul's Favourites
The 7th Arts's highest level of achievement can be judged alongside great literature, great music, and great painting, with many filmmakers creating enduring masterpieces.
The list of film titles below may not all be enduring masterpieces, but I have however, fond lingering memories of all of them. They all fit the criteria of what I feel films can or should do, to not only be well crafted, but also to entertain, inform, enlighten and more often than not, take the viewer down roads less travelled...
Can only hope you also will discover or rediscover some viewing pleasures among my all-time favourites' listed below.
The Tenant (1976)
7.7/10
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Shelley Winters
Polanski's most autobiographical film is, like "Repulsion", a journey through the distorted realm of the human mind. Polanski himself plays Trelkovsky... Read more
Dersu Uzala (1975)
8.3/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Yuri Solomon, Maxim Munzuk
Kurosawa's remarkable, personal tale of the friendship between a wise old man and a young Soviet explorer, filmed in the beautiful expanse of Siberia,... Read more
Barry Lyndon (1975)
8.1/10
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Ryan O'Neal, Hardy Kruger
How does an Irish lad without prospects become part of 18th-century English nobility? For Barry Lyndon (Ryan O'Neal) the answer is: any way he can! Hi... Read more
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
6.6/10
Director: L Q Jones
Starring: Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Jason Robards
Don Johnson (Vic) stars with a telepathic canine named Blood in this cult black comedy adapted from a novella by Harlan Ellison. Set in a post-apocal... Read more
Dersu Uzala (Blu-ray) (1975)
8.2/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Yuri Solomon, Maxim Munzuk
Kurosawa's remarkable, personal tale of the friendship between a wise old man and a young Soviet explorer, filmed in the beautiful expanse of Siberia,... Read more
The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
7.9/10
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Bruno S, Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira
About a young man who in the 1820's suddenly appeared in a small German town, full-grown but seemingly a new born child, unable to speak and stand. Br... Read more
That'll Be The Day (1973) / Stardust (1974)
Director: Michael Apted
Starring: David Essex, Adam Faith, Larry Hagman, Keith Moon, Rosemary Leach, Ringo Starr,...
'That'll Be The Day' tells the story of a young man (David Essex) growing up in the dreary working-class world of Britain who comes of age and finds h... Read more
The Holy Mountain (1973)
7.9/10
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky
After "El Topo" and with the production assistance of John Lennon and ABKCO Films and the desire to become "the Cecil B. De Mille of the underground",... Read more
Badlands (1973)
7.9/10
Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Alan Vint
Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek star in this tale of two outcasts on a murder-spree in a film that is one of the most stunning directorial debuts in the... Read more
The Wicker Man (Blu-ray) (1973)
7.5/10
Director: Robin Hardy
Starring: Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt
A British police officer goes to a small island off Scotland to find a missing girl, only to discover that the islanders practice a Celtic religion wh... Read more