Christmas Movies of 1973

1973's Christmas selection included two blockbusters that would become two of the highest grossing films of all time up to that point. Both of these films would receive 10 Academy Award nominations each and both were the talk of December. The blaxploitation film was also represented as an unprecedented three films aimed at African American audiences would be released in the coveted release spot.

There were a few films that opened for one week runs in New York and Los Angeles over Christmas to qualify for the Academy Awards, such as Serpico and The Last Detail, but those are not included as they weren't true Christmas releases. After the one week they were pulled and then opened in 1974 on its regular engagement.

Here is a look at the Christmas movie releases from 35 years ago and, as usual, the list is alphabetical and I hope it brings back good memories or you just enjoy seeing the movies that were thought to be the top product of the studios that year.

ASH WEDNESDAY(Paramount; Director - Larry Peerce) The turkey of the Christmas season starred Elizabeth Taylor as an ignored wife who decides to get plastic surgery as a way of re-attracting her loutish husband (Henry Fonda) and goes to a ski resort to meet him. While there she notices young, handsome men noticing her and is soon pondering the possibility of an affair. This laughably movie wouldn't pass as good (or bad) television soap opera material and reportedly several of those few that saw the movie were sickened by the plastic surgery scenes which were real and apparently included to liven things up. It didn't work.

THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN (Avco Embassy; Director - Mike Nichols) After a smashing back to back directing debut on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate, Mike Nichols found himself in need of a hit after two high profiled flops with Catch 22and Carnal Knowledge. Unfortunately Nichols' star continued to fall with this thriller starring George C. Scott as an aquatic doctor who has trained dolphins to talk only to see them kidnapped so they may be used in an assassination attempt. Writer Buck Henry keeps things interesting and the film is not half as silly as it sounds but the film had sharply divided reviews and only took in $2 million at the box office. The film would receive 2 minor Academy Award nominations for its Score and Sound.

DON'T LOOK NOW (Paramount; Director - Nicolas Roeg) A stylish and erotic thriller that was one of the most talked about films of the season but not because of its box office gross. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star as a married couple living in Venice trying to get over the drowning death of their young daughter while dealing with an old woman who claims to see her ghost while the husband (a dis-believer) begins having visions of his own. Roeg directs the thriller with flash to help get past a difficult but rewarding script but the film may be best known for its sex scene between the two leads, so realistic that some claim the actors were not faking. Still the film stands on its own eerie merits and did mild business in limited release despite strong reviews.

THE EXORCIST (Warner Bros; Director - William Friedkin) The sensation of 1973. The film everyone talked about. The film people waited hours upon hours to see if only to confirm the rumors of people fainting and vomiting in the auditoriums. By now we all know the film and its story but for those that weren't there at the time this film's release was truly an event. Around the country restaurant, hotel and nightclub owners reported a sharp drop off in business on New Year's Eve because everyone lined up to see the movie. On its opening morning (December 26) in New York City it was reported that the few theaters showing it had lines for more then three city blocks waiting to get in despite below zero temperatures. It was further reported director Friedkin and writer/producer William Peter Blatty witnessed these lines and had hot coffee and donuts delivered to the freezing patrons. For months theaters were flooded with sell out crowds of people who saw a movie that truly frightened them, that truly kept them awake at night and that truly stayed with them for months to come. The film would win only 2 of its 10 Academy Award nominations (Best Sound and Adapted Screenplay) but in the end it would take in an incredible $89 million and would inspire 4 sequels as of now.

HELL UP IN HARLEM (American International; Director - Larry Cohen) Fred Williamson reprises his title role in the surprise hit Black Godfather as a tough leader who works with a woman to help violently wipe out his rivals. There's not much to the film other then the action and violence of which there is plenty of and the film, despite bad reviews, was a minor hit.

THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN (20^th Century Fox; Director - Stuart Rosenberg) Walter Matthau stars in this tough and gritty thriller about a cop trying to solve the murders of several people machine-gunned to death on a bus including his partner. Bruce Dern, Lou Gossett and Anthony Zerbe provide ample support in roles as other cops in a well written, taut thriller that keeps the audience more then interested in the solution. The film was a minor hit having likely fallen victim to the bigger hits it played concurrently with.

MAGNUM FORCE (Warner Bros; Director - Ted Post) One of the films that likely most hurt the box office chanced of The Laughing Policemanwas this wildly successful if less popular film sequel to Dirty Harry. Clint Eastwood returns in the role that he was most famous for this time investigating the shocking deaths of criminals not being prosecuted and soon coming to the realization that a group of rookie officers may be behind it. The story could have been about anything and people would have clamored to see it and although the reviews were mostly negative the film made an impressive $20 million.

PAPILLON (Columbia; Director - Franklin J. Schaffner) Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Christmas season was this very successful nearly three hour epic about the friendship between two prisoners on a French penal colony and the determination of Papillion (French for butterfly) to escape. Steve McQueen gave what many consider to be his best performance and Dustin Hoffman provides able support as his mate on the colony. The film was not particularly well received yet it went on to gross over $22 million, made all the more amazing because theaters had fewer showings due to its length. Nominated for only one Academy Award (Score), many cried "fowl" that McQueen was overlooked.

THE SEVEN-UPS (20^th Century Fox; Director - Phil D'Antoni) Sort of a poor man's French Connectionwith its producer serving as director and its co-star (Roy Scheider) starring here. Scheider heads an elite group of cops dedicated to ridding the streets of its hoods and drug dealers and soon gets in over his head when one of their own is killed. The film is nothing special but enjoyable at a glance with a terrific chase scene somewhat comparable to Connection's. The film was not well received by critics but was a minor hit.

SLEEPER (United Artists; Director - Woody Allen) Woody Allen's fifth film as director is considered his breakout film with audiences (at least until his work became more part of a specific fan base) and is one of his best comedies to date. In it Allen plays the proprietor of a health food store who goes into the hospital for minor surgery and awakens 200 years later to a totally different society from the one he left. Allen, much like Mel Brooks, throws everything in but the kitchen sink in this farcical sci-fi comedy co-starring Diane Keaton. In the course of 90 minutes we will see an attacking loaf of bread, giant vegetables and a giant chicken (to which Allen deadpans, "That's a big chicken"), sex in a machine, a flying space suit and a dictator whose only surviving body part is his nose. Allen's film is hysterically funny and critics proclaimed it the best comedy of 1973 and the film grossed an impressive $18.3 million. This is made even more impressive when you note that it seems only Allen's true fans still see his movies and they barely gross that much in today's dollars.

THE STING (Universal; Director - George Roy Hill) The Sting was the answer for those moviegoers who either didn't want to brave the long lines of The Exorcist or simply didn't want to deal with the horror experience of that film. The Sting was a welcome relief (having opened the same day) with two of Hollywood's top stars, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, playing it light as con men attempting to fleece Robert Shaw out of his not-so hard earned fortune. The film's cleverly written script by 27 year old David S. Ward blindsided the audience time and again with moments that may or may not be real to the other characters or to us. Water is substituted for gin. A poker hand of four 3's beats four 9's and placing a bet on a horse doesn't necessarily mean to bet on the horse to win. The films twists were well deserved and never made the audience feel cheated or as if they were so overwhelmed they couldn't trust anything they saw (which was the exact reaction in The Sting II). Audiences simply laughed and loved how much they got fooled as did the characters and turned The Sting into a rare case of rival blockbusters playing at the same time. The film, which took in $78 million at the box office, won seven Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Costumes, Editing, Score Adaptation) of the ten it was nominated for.

THAT MAN BOLT (Universal; Director - Henry Levin and David Lowell Rich) Fred "The Hammer" Williamson stars in the title role apparently hoping to drop the Hammer moniker for something more.... Who knows? In this low budget blaxploitation film Bolt protects a briefcase and its owners as they travel from Hong Kong to Mexico City. The film is cheap and seems to have no thematic direction which could explain the rare use of two credited directors. The fact that Universal allowed this to be released as it was shows how big the genre had become. But while you may be able to fool some of the people some of the time you couldn't this time. Large movie palaces playing this film were largely empty for the no doubt no more then two week engagement.

WILLIE DYNAMITE (Universal; Director - Gilbert Moses) So popular was the blaxploitation films of the era that major studio Universal decided to release two of them over the Christmas season. Willie Dynamite was the (slightly) better and more successful of the two. Roscoe Orman, best known to millions as Gordon on TV's Sesame Street stars in the title role as a pimp having a very bad week. The police are all over him, rival pimps are giving him a hard time, a social worker badgers him to change his ways and his prized purple Cadillac gets repeatedly stolen. The film is less violent and action packed then most of the genre but there is cleverer writing here then in any three other films of the genre too. Still critics panned it but the film was a minor hit.