Looking For Some Action?

Well, Steve McQueen is ready to deliver…and so is Clint Eastwood, who saw what McQueen was packing and decided to upsize it a bit!

A Gritty Action Explosion From The 70’s!

Here are five films that ooze grit, grime and action from the 70’s – a special time in movies – BEFORE SPECIAL EFFECTS – when cars ACTUALLY flew!

Enjoy “The Seven Ups!”

Here’s a movie starring Roy Scheider that flew down the streets of New York with one of the best car chases ever captured on film!

The Seven Ups!

Here is the gritty trailer:

This movie isn’t well known, but has been released on DVD, so you can take a tour along New York’s seedy west side highway for an incredible car chase…

This is just one of the great 70’s action films that uses New York as a “set”…check out more here:

https://johnrieber.com/2012/09/07/new-yorks-gritty-movie-streets-taxi-drivers-subway-hijackings-cop-chases/

Clint Eastwood had a string of big action hits in the 70’s, but this is my favorite:

Thunderbolt And Lightfoot!

This 1974 action film is a classic, criminally overlooked Clint Eastwood heist movie – Jeff Bridges was Oscar-nominated for his role here – and it is directed by Michael Cimino, who would go on next to do the Oscar-winning best picture of 1978, “The Deer Hunter!”

Check out the trailer:

Jeff Bridges Flirts With Oscar!

That’s right, Jeff Bridges was Oscar-nominated for this film, and he is terrific as always! Clint Eastwood plays a bank robber par excellence with a flair for explosives who is being hunted by his former partners, who think he has their loot from their last job.

Bridges is his eager apprentice and sidekick, who helps him escape; when Eastwood finally makes peace with his hunters, Bridges convinces them to try a daring robbery–but things inevitably go awry.

Now, if this whet your appetite for “Big guns”, then look no further than here:

Eastwood’s most iconic role from the 70’s was a Detective Harry Callahan- AKA “Dirty Harry”:

This is a great film, one of the best films of all time…read more about it here:

https://johnrieber.com/2014/01/24/the-greatest-70s-action-films-ever-biggest-stars-with-the-biggest-guns/

Some of the classic early 70’s films were all about the war in Vietnam, and the impact back here at home:

Electra Glide In Blue

This obscure classic starred Robert Blake as a “good cop on a bad road”…

Here is the trailer, which begins with a great instrumental from members of the band Chicago:

There are so many interesting things about this film, including the fact it was directed by the Producer of the band Chicago! Read more here:

https://johnrieber.com/2013/04/19/electra-glide-in-blue-forgotten-masterpiece-robert-blakes-best-role/

One of the 70’s more unusual action stars is none other than iconic Comic Actor Walter Matthau:

The Laughing Policeman

Matthau made several gritty action films in the 70’s including this one, where he plays a weary San Francisco detective trying to solve a vicious crime…check out the trailer:

Bruce Dern stars in this as well…obscure but worth finding…see more here:

https://johnrieber.com/2014/02/07/bank-robbers-and-bus-massacres-charley-varrick-the-laughing-policeman-walter-matthau-action-star/

The other huge action star of the 70’s was also one of Hollywood’s “coolest” Actors:

The Getaway!

In 1972, Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw blew the doors off movie screens around the world in Sam Peckinpah’s action masterpiece “The Getaway.”

Here is the original trailer:

McGraw and McQueen had an affair while making this film, and Sam Peckinpah was his normal “out of control” self when directing…see more on this legendary Director here:

https://johnrieber.com/2014/08/05/the-wild-bunch-billy-the-kid-sam-packinpahs-soup-tossing/

Let me know what your favorite 70’s action film is!

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