At this time of year, we were most likely out of school for the summer. (Feel free to play the Alice Cooper song for inspiration if you so desire). If we were of high school or college age, on hot days and nights, like a good portion of the country is now experiencing, we went to the movies. It was more than entertainment — it was our cooling station at a time when not everyone had home air conditioning, like Mister B’s family.
So, the question arose in Mister Boomer’s mind of what it was that we were going to see at the movies fifty years ago. Here are some summer movies from 1971 that may have been on boomers’ lists:
Carnal Knowledge
Mister Boomer didn’t see this one, but his aunt did. The family story for years to come was about how she totally misunderstood the title. “I went to see Cardinal Knowledge,” she said, “because I thought it was a movie about the pope.” This very adult film was hardly about the pope, but rather it follows two men who met in college and became friends, and their intertwined relationships with women over the span of a couple of decades. This Mike Nichols film starred Jack Nicholson, Ann-Margret, Art Garfunkel and Candice Bergen, among others.
They Might Be Giants
Starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, Scott’s character Justin Playfair imagines himself to be Sherlock Holmes after the traumatic death of his wife. When Playfair’s brother (Lester Rawlins) tries to get him placed in a mental institution for observation, psychiatrist Dr. Mildred Watson, played by Joanne Woodward, takes an interest in his case. Once Playfair learns her name, he accepts her as his Dr. Watson in pursuit of his archenemy, Professor Moriarity. Mister Boomer remembers seeing this one on TV but not at the movies.
The Anderson Tapes
A Sydney Lumet film starring Sean Connery as a safe cracker ex-con, it was about a complicated robbery of an entire building of upscale residences. The caper is flawed from the beginning and ends with tragic consequences. The film also stared Dyan Cannon, Alan King and Martin Balsam, and it was the film debut of Christopher Walken. Music was by Quincy Jones. Somehow, Mister Boomer missed this one altogether.
The Panic In Needle Park
The title refers to a park so named for the drug sale and use in its confines. This is one of those 1970s downer films about drug use and its affect on people and their relationships. The film starred Al Pacino. Again, not the type of film Mister B would go out of his way to see.
Le Mans
A film about a Le Mans race car driver played by Steve McQueen, this was a movie Mister B went to see. He was a big fan of McQueen’s movies. The film used actual footage of the 1970 Le Mans race. Michel Legrand did the music for this film, and also The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), another of McQueen’s films.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
A Robert Altman film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, it follows the exploits of gambler John McCabe (Beatty), who ends up in a small mining town, only to find himself in a position to create and profit from a brothel. Prostitute Constance Miller (Christie) becomes his manager and ultimately, his romantic partner.
Klute
Jane Fonda starred as Bree Daniels, an actress/model who turns to prostitution to pay the bills. Donald Sutherland plays detective John Klute, investigating a case that encompasses a former client of Bree. The two become romantically involved in the process.
A good many of the films of the summer of 1971, as can be seen, clearly portray adult themes. Of course, there were more: Sunday, Bloody Sunday was released that July, starring Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch; Murders in the Rue Morgue starred Jason Robards, a film loosely based on the poem by Edgar Alan Poe; The Omega Man, a post-apocalyptic film starring Charlton Heston was released that August; and a host of others.
Mister Boomer worked through the summer of 1971 in an effort to save money for college, so didn’t see many movies that year. How about you, boomers? What movies from the summer of 1971 are memorable for you?