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.
Fantastic Planet (1973)
7.8/10
Director: Rene Laloux
Starring: Oms, Draags
A winner at the Cannes Film Festival 1973, 'Fantastic Planet' is a full length animated fantasy set on the planet of the Draags in a far-off solar sys... Read more
The Wicker Man (1973)
7.6/10
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
Evil Roy Slade (1972)
7.3/10
Director: Jerry Paris
Starring: Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Henry Gibson, Dom DeLuise, John Astin
This made-for-TV spoof western gem was shown in the early 70s making an indelible impression on all lucky enough to catch it. John Astin is terrific i... Read more
Aguirre, The Wrath Of God (1972)
8/10
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Del Negro, Helena Rojo
Based on the journals of Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, and tells a hallucinatory tale of Spanish colonialists searching for El Dorado, the legendary cit... Read more
Aguirre, The Wrath Of God (Blu-ray) (1972)
7.9/10
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Del Negro, Helena Rojo
Based on the journals of Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, and tells a hallucinatory tale of Spanish colonialists searching for El Dorado, the legendary cit... Read more
Cabaret (1972)
7.8/10
Director: Bob Fosse
Starring: Michael York, Marisa Berenson, Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Helmut Griem
Winner of 8 Oscars, including Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Lisa Minnelli) and Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey) and widely regarded as one... Read more
Sleuth (1972)
8/10
Director: Joseph L Mankiewicz
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine
Mystery tour-de-force based on Anthony Shaffer's play starring Laurence Olivier as an eccentric writer of mystery novels coercing his wife's lover Mic... Read more
El Topo (1971)
7.5/10
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky
Aka "The Mole." "I ask of film what most North Americans' ask of psychedelic drugs" said Writer, Director and star Alexandro Jodorowsky of this stunni... Read more
Harold and Maude (1971)
8/10
Director: Hal Ashby
Starring: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Cyril Cusack, Vivian Pickles
With the idiosyncratic American fable "Harold and Maude", countercultural director Hal Ashby fashioned what would become the cult classic of its era.... Read more
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
4.4/10
Director: Mel Stuart
Starring: Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Gene Wilder, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole
One of the most memorably strange children's films ever made, equally influenced by the dark underpinnings of Roald Dahl's original book ("Charlie and... Read more