Christmas Movie Releases - 1970

Continuing with a look at past years Christmas movie releases we now take a look at 1970. In that year the giant movie palaces were still thriving but some suburban theaters (particularly those in or nearby malls) were building twin screen theaters. However with the movie palace still having the dominance of playing most of their films in exclusive runs, the suburban theaters had to look for those exclusive releases to hit their areas in second run, thus making the number of big Christmas movie releases still relatively low as the suburban theaters, while having big movies for their Christmas releases, were just playing the same films the palaces had had their own runs on already.

Christmas of 1970 saw the release of 11 movies. Four of those movies would go on to be nominated (and win in some cases) for Academy Awards but only one of those four was nominated for the coveted Best Picture award. Six of the films were box office hits, one of them an absolute smash hit. Interestingly three of the films released were major box office flops. Only two of the films released that Christmas were made for kids, one of them a musical rendition of a classic story and one from Walt Disney. Both were hits.

Here is a look at the films released at Christmas of 1970. As always the films are listed alphabetically and, as always, I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

THE ARISTOCATS (Walt Disney; Director - Wolfgang Reitherman) Disney's first animated release since 1967's Jungle Book was this engaging story of a retired Madame who owns four cats and the greedy butler who discovers the woman plans to leave her fortune to the cats and his plan to kidnap the cats and get the fortune for himself. This entertaining film was what parents had ordered and the film was a huge success grossing over $26 million despite mixed reviews.

BREWSTER McCLOUD (MGM; Director - Robert Altman) Director Altman's second film of 1970 (following the hugely successful M*A*S*H) was this oddball comedy starring Bud Cort as a young man living in a shelter in the Houston Astrodome whose sole dream in life is to create wings that will allow him to fly within the confines of the Dome. Altman populates his film with his usual amount of off the wall characters in weird situations but the film is utterly original and must be seen to be believed. Critical reaction to the film was strong (this film convinced most the M*A*S*H was no fluke) but the subject matter was too strange for conventional audiences (as many of Altman's other films would be) and the film flopped at the box office.

THE GREAT WHITE HOPE (20^th Century Fox; Director - Martin Ritt) One of the most acclaimed films of the year was this powerful drama about a black boxing champion (James Earl Jones) who is in love with a white woman (Jane Alexander) and soon discovers the white boxing establishment is doing what they can to knock him down and ruin his life. This film, based on the equally powerful and popular stage play would receive strong reviews and was a box office success. It would receive two Academy Award nominations, for Best Actor and Best Actress for its two leads, but failed to win either.

LITTLE FAUSS AND BIG HALSY (Paramount; Director - Sidney J. Furie) Motorcycle racing is the focal point of this romantic, action drama starring Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard as racers and unlikely friends. The film was dismissed by critics but was a solid hit at the box office.

LOVE STORY (Paramount; Director - Arthur Hiller) The sensation of the Christmas season and much of 1971 was this blockbuster hit (whose novel, by Erich Segal, would become a blockbuster hit before the movie came out but after the film was in production) about the romance between a Harvard Law student (Ryan O'Neal) and a music student (Ali McGraw). Because of their divergent backgrounds the man's wealthy father ties to sabotage the coupling but their bond is too great - until fate steps in to give them the biggest fight of their lives. Audiences, particularly females, went nuts for this film and were sucked in by the beautiful musical score, the attractiveness of the lead characters and the now famous tag line, Love means never having to say you're sorry. The film received mostly negative reviews but went on to gross an amazing $49 million at the box office, making it the biggest hit of 1970. The film would also be nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, Supporting Actor (John Marley), Original Screenplay and Musical Score. It would deservingly win the award for Best Score.

THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT (Columbia Pictures; Director - Herbert Ross) George Segal and Barbra Streisand star in this adult comedic farce about a frustrated writer in New York (Segal) who vents to his landlord that his wildcat neighbor (Streisand) is really a woman for hire. Streisand is evicted and soon taking up residence with Segal as this new odd couple struggle to become friends that could possibly need to more. The film was not well received by the critics but was a solid box office hit making over $12 million, largely due to Streisand's enormous popularity at the time.

RIO LOBO (20^th Century Fox; Director - Howard Hawks) Another phoned in collaboration between director Hawks and John Wayne was this tired and stale film about a civil war survivor who searches for the traitor that caused the defeat of his unit and the death of his closest friend. Hawks' direction is uncharacteristically lazy here and Wayne appears to be phoning in his performance. Despite some of their worst reviews ever the film was still a mild hit at the box office, thus proving Wayne was a superstar in no matter what the film was.

RYAN'S DAUGHTER (MGM; Director - David Lean) Lean's epic love story, his first film in five years after the hugely popular Doctor Zhivago, was this action romance set in Ireland in 1916 during the tumultuous Easter Rising, where a troubled British officer has an affair with a married woman in one of the small Irish villages. The epic film was beautiful to look at but Lean's story was thin and dull and the whole film was hampered by lead actor Christopher Jones' weak performance that virtually sinks the whole movie. Better performances come from Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, John Mills and Trevor Howard. The film received mostly negative reviews (a first for a David Lean epic) and while the film did make $14.6 million the budget was $15 million making this a notorious flop. The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress (Miles) and Best Sound and would win Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Mills) and Best Cinematography. The film's failure was so devastating to Lean that he wouldn't make another film for 14 years.

SCROOGE (National General Pictures; Director - Ronald Neame) Albert Finney took the reins of the classic Dickens character in a musical adaptation of the classic Dickens story. The film was aimed at children and audiences were delighted with the story and mixture of good songs and music. Critics were kind to the film and the film was a solid hit. It would be nominated for four Academy Awards (Art Direction/Set Decoration; Costume Design; Song; Song Score) but would not win any.

THE TWELVE CHAIRS (Universal; Director - Mel Brooks) Brooks' most under seen and underappreciated film is this comedy about a Russian nobleman and a local priest who both find out that there are hidden jewels in one of the twelve in a set that once belonged to the Czar of Russia. The race is on in this Brooks-style treasure hunt that is quite entertaining though not on caliber with his best work. The film received good reviews but was a flop at the box office.

WHERE'S POPPA? (United Artists; Director - Carl Reiner) A delicious black comedy about a New York lawyer who falls in love with the girl of his dreams and then plots to get his overbearing, elderly mother out of the way so he can lead a normal life with his new found love. Naturally mom is not as easy to eliminate as you would think. Reiner mixes farce with adult humor (Segal's brother is forever being mugged) to make a very entertaining comedy that the studio obviously didn't know how to market with some cities even seeing the film under a different title (Going Ape). Critical reaction was mixed but the film had no real chance at the box office with title changes and poor marketing and was a box office dud.