“Midnight Cowboy” isn’t the most uplifting of films at the best of times and it certainly didn’t help when my girlfriend at the time told me I had obviously fashioned my appearance on Dustin Hoffman as the conman and hustler Ratzo Rizzo. She should see what I look like now.
I much preferred Hoffman’s portrayal of Jack Crabbe in “Little Big Man”, one of the few films I’ve seen that were as good as the book, which I’d read a few years before. This was at a time when America – or Hollywood to be exact – started to take a long hard look at the way the settlers had treated Native Americans over the last few hundred years or so. “Little Big Man” was the better of the two films shown above, “Soldier Blue” reveling too much in the blood-letting and an in-your-face reference to the Vietnam War.
Be honest. Take a look at the poster above and then don’t try and tell me your first reaction isn’t “Jeez, that has got to hurt”.
Original Cinema Quad Poster – Movie Film Posters
A couple of little gems that hit the big screen in 1971. he following year saw the release of another Burt Lancaster Western, “Ulzana’s Raid”. This and “Valdez” would make a great double bill if you were so inclined.
Original Cinema Quad Poster – Movie Film Posters 
Talking of double bills this has got to be one of the best or worst ever depending upon your cinematic taste. Reviews for “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” seem to be split between “trashy, gaudy and about as funny as a burning orphanage” or “a satire of Hollywood conventions, genres, situations, dialogue, characters and success formulas”, although that last one was written by film critic Roger Ebert who also co-scripted the film, so make of that what you will. As for “Myra Breckinridge”, if you’ve ever wanted to know what a film directed by a British ex-pop singer (Mike Sarne) looks like then check it out. Or not as the case might be.
I recently caught “Bloody Mama” on TV and remembered a pre-fame Robert DeNiro as a glue-sniffing drug addict who succumbs to an overdose before the bloody climax of the film. A very low-budget effort but enjoyable just the same.
This is the double bill that got the er.. juices flowing between me and my girlfriend. Check out page 298 of the Kindle version of the book if you want to know more. Pervert.
Probably my favourite of all the films I saw in 1971. I’d tried to read the book but couldn’t really get into the mindset required to appreciate it. Once I’d seen the film it all fell into place and I even recently read it again. Not to be confused with the blandly inoffensive TV version starring George Clooney. Avoid that one at all costs. Better still – read the book.
Not that much to rave about on TV apart from a new Western series called “Alias Smith and Jones”, a comedy show supposedly inspired by “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. The fun came to rather an abrupt end when one of the leading actors, Pete Duel, blew his brains out and was instantly replaced by a look-alike.
One show that did last a bit longer than most was “The Old Grey Whistle test” which began towards the end of the year and ran for nearly five decades. A lot of the acts weren’t really my cup of tea but they did showcase the Beach Boys in 1972 so somebody at the BBC must have known what they were doing.
We’re finally coming to the end of this series of posts on “The Maynards of Margate”. Just one more year left to go then it’s ‘adios amigos’ as I attempt to try and finish another of the many books I’d like to write that no one will ever read. I genuinely find writing for nobody a hugely enjoyable process, although I’m beginning to suspect that might be the first sign of madness.
Steve Mayhew 