I just saw it two days ago...I DVR'd it from Showtime (?). It was indeed gritty. Between this, Cruising, and a few others, Al Pacino is the King of 70s Urban Grittiness! Tonight, TCM has a quintuple bill: The Panic In Needle Park (8 PM EST), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (10 PM EST), Klute (12 AM EST), Fingers (2 AM EST), and Report to the Commissioner (4 AM EST). It's like someone who works there is following this thread!
And to think they put this together months ago,possibly/probably last year. Know that the Thursday theme this month is indeed NYC in the '70s. Caveat-the 4/16 lineup has been moved to Tues. 4/26,due to the in person April Film Festival being reformatted for a cable version. The 4/9 and 4/23 nights are mostly light-hearted . The 4/26 night centers on black '70s action movies with an NYC backdrop. The 4/30 line up is a mix of genres.
+1 Has this ever been released on video? I don't recall seeing it available. Watched this a couple of times on over-the-air TV in the 70's and/or 80's, if memory serves. Doug
The Out-Of-Towners is a lot grittier movie than anything I would have expected out of Neil Simon. Also, The Anderson Tapes.
A favorite film of mine that fits the OP's criteria is Dead Presidents by The Hughes Brothers. Set in the Bronx from the late 60s thru the early 70s with a tour of Vietnam sandwiched in. One of the greatest soundtracks from that era plays throughout this film. Highly recommended!
I didn't know that!! I do see they have a pay per view option where they have like 5 films available. I can't believe these cable channels have 10 slots for every major movie channel that shows an incredibly limited number of films older than 5 years and apparently EVERY nasty slick horror film produced in the last 30 years... but they don't have some cash to spare on a coupla channels of classic films.
I failed again! It won't be the last time. I've just always associated it with Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, (Welcome Back Kotter) and I haven't seen it in decades. Those are my lame excuses.
Not exactly apropos, but Paris is Burning was filmed in the early to mid 80's in NYC, though it was released in 1990. There are scenes filmed in The Jane hotel, which at the time was a notorious flophouse. Now it's a hip lounge and Mediterranean restaurant at the start of the high line. Drag queen shows aren't my cup of tea, but it was an interesting and well made documentary, and there are some great shots of early 80's NYC.
It's not perfect, but it's really good. You can't go wrong with Robert Mitchum. I'd like to see somebody do my favorite Higgins book, "The Rat on Fire".
I’ve been watching the movies that were mentioned here and appeared on TCM last week. Panic in Needle Park was pretty good, but you can kind of see the genesis of the overacting Al Pacino in a few scenes. Whatever happened to Kitty Winn? She was great. The Taking of Pelham...was real good. Walter Matthau is such a fine actor. I kind of think he was wasting that great talent with all of those California Suite type movies though. Jerry Stiller should have been in more movies don’t you think? Klute stunk. I erased it about 45 minutes in. I was so enamored of this movie when it came out. Jane Fonda was embarrassing. What was the deal with Fingers? Best part of that was watching Paulie Walnuts snapping HIS fingers to get the waiter’s attention lol. Luca Brasi makes an appearance. Tonight it’s The Commissioner.
Coogan's Bluff with Eastwood I think it was was shot on the West Coast, but Lee Marvin is always worth a look: Point Blank The Professionals Also check out: Charley Varrick and The Outfit
Coogan’s Bluff is 1968, Charley Varrick is set in somewhere like Colorado, The Outfit is somewhere similarly rural and Point Blank is 1967 LA. All great films though.
