{"id":7698,"date":"2016-09-16T20:39:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T20:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/?p=7698"},"modified":"2026-05-05T04:09:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T04:09:03","slug":"when-america-was-still-a-young-200-a-look-back-at-the-films-of-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/?p=7698","title":{"rendered":"When America was a young 200: A look back at 1976"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1976,<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Flyers played a hockey game\u00a0against the Red Army team of the Soviet Union;<\/p>\n

Apple Computer Company\u00a0was formed;<\/p>\n

The Seychelles\u00a0were granted independence from the United Kingdom;<\/p>\n

The United States celebrated its bicentennial;<\/p>\n

The Summer Olympics\u00a0took place in Montreal;<\/p>\n

The “Son of Sam”\u00a0terrorized New York City;<\/p>\n

Frank Sinatra brought Dean Martin onstage at the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon, reuniting the former comedy team;<\/p>\n

The Muppet Show<\/em>\u00a0premiered;<\/p>\n

U2\u00a0formed;<\/p>\n

Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the US Presidential election;<\/p>\n

Eric Gagne, Alfonso Soriano, Paul Scheer, Isla Fisher, Charlie Day, Lance Berkman, Rashida Jones, Ali Larter, Ja Rule, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Corey Stoll, Reese Witherspoon, Keri Russell, Aaron Brooks, Peyton Manning, Candace Cameron, Glenn Howerton, Melissa Joan Hart, Sean Maguire, Joey Lawrence, Tim Duncan, Ryan Leaf, Kevin Garnett, Miguel Tejada, Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell, Blake Shelton, Chad Pennington, Fred Savage, Diane Kruger, Luke Bryan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Hertzfeldt, Sam Worthington, Soleil Moon Frye, Drew Lacey, JC Chasez, Audrey Tautou, Antoine Walker, Sarah Chalke, Alison Sweeney, Ronaldo, Stephanie McMahon, Alicia Silverstone, Taylor Hicks, Nick Swardson, Emily Deschanel, Ryan Reynolds, Pat Tillman, Jaleel White, Ana Faris, Matthew Shepherd, Mark Duplass, Dominic Monaghan, Takeo Spikes, Joe Manganiello, and Danny McBride were born;<\/p>\n

While Agatha Christie, Howlin’ Wolf, Paul Robeson, Ernesto Miranda, Werner Heisenberg, Percy Faith, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo, Florence Ballard, Busby Berkeley, Luchino Visconti, Bernard Montgomery, E.H. Shepard, Howard Hughes, Carol Reed, Martin Heidegger, J. Paul Getty, Bobby Hackett, Adolph Zukor, James Wong Howe, Mickey Cohen, Fritz Lang, Dalton Trumbo, Jean Gabin, Rosalind Russell, Benjamin Britten, and Richard Daley died.<\/p>\n

The following is a list of my ten favorite films released in 1976:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bernice<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10)\u00a0Bernice Bobs Her Hair<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

While visiting her cousin for the summer, socially awkward Bernice (Shelley Duvall) is mistreated and ridiculed (partially because of her mixed-race heritage).<\/p>\n

Her cousin (Veronica Cartwright) manipulates Bernice into bobbing her hair for popularity. Berniece makes a show of getting it done and the boys in town are initially intrigued by her bold decision, but lose interest after the deed is done.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald’s treatise on the fleeting fickleness of popularity is as relevant today as a century ago.<\/p>\n

This adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story is a wonderful showcase for under-appreciated Duvall. It’s always great to see her in action, especially during the height of her early meteoric rise to unlikely stardom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bugsy<\/p>\n

9) Bugsy Malone<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

While Fat Sam and his chief rival Dandy Dan fight over control of a speakeasy, boxing promoter Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio) begins a relationship with Blousey Brown, but has to fend off the advances of Fat Sam’s girlfriend, Tallulah (Jodie Foster).<\/p>\n

In the end, after all the characters are splurged by custard shooting guns, they put aside their difference and join in a rousing musical number.<\/p>\n

It’s surreal to think this playful performance from Foster was in theaters the same year as her legendary performance as a child prostitute in Taxi Driver; while Scott Baio, best remembered for his bland work as the titular Charles in Charge, is surprisingly funny and engaging.<\/p>\n

Alan Parker’s gangster musical featuring a cast of children is a bold subversion of the genre and you can see him developing the techniques he’d later use in his masterpiece Pink Floyd’s The Wall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Face<\/p>\n

8) Face to Face<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Psychiatrist Dr. Jenny Isaksson (Liv Ullmann) has a nervous breakdown, pushing her relationship with her husband, Dr. Tomas Jacobi (Erland Josephson), to the breaking point.<\/p>\n

It’s not as wonderful as his earlier film\u00a0Scenes from a Marriage<\/em> (also featuring Ulmann and Josephson), but this middle period film from Ingmar Bergman is full of the existential angst and personal reflection we’ve come to expect from him.<\/p>\n

Ullman’s role is flashier and her tortured love affair with Bergman has been mythologized ad nauseam, but Josephson’s subtle work is the glue which holds everything together. In a vacuum, her performance might be overpowering, but Josephson’s subtle, nuanced performance keeps it grounded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"That's<\/p>\n

7) That’s Entertainment, Part II<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The greatest hits compilation of the golden days of MGM features clips from such stars as Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Greta Garbo, Abbott and Costello, Debbie Reynolds, Spencer Tracy, and Katherine Hepburn, but the highlight is a dancing duet between legendary hoofers Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly (only the second collaboration in their long, storied careers).<\/p>\n

Sadly, Astaire never danced on camera again.<\/p>\n

This is a loving reminder of why we continue to love classic Hollywood films.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Cr\u00eda<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6) Cria Cuervos<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

After Ana’s mother dies, her childhood is one horrible experience after another. Constantly thwarted in her attempts at self-determination, she escapes her misery by fantasizing about her deceased mother, imagining conversations with her future self, and attempting to poison her father.<\/p>\n

Most films mythologize childhood as a period of perfect innocence, fixing it as an idyllic time before the worries of adulthood make life more difficult and shallow. Carlos\u00a0Saura’s film sees childhood as a time of frustration and impotence, when you cannot decide anything for yourself.<\/p>\n

It’s refreshing to see a movie dealing with childhood unsentimentally and rebelling against all too familiar tropes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Everybody<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5)\u00a0Everybody Rides the Carousel<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

This animated exploration of Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development is a fascinating look at the human experience.<\/p>\n

It’s a helpful reminder to get out of our heads<\/p>\n

Plus a young Meryl Streep has a cameo.<\/p>\n

Really cool, underseen gem.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fred<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4)\u00a0The Devil’s Playground<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

This Australian film from Fred Schepisi explores life inside a boy’s Catholic school led by the De La Salle Brothers.<\/p>\n

While he seems to argue for a more permissive sexual expression as a requisite to growing up in a healthy way, Schepisi does not condemn the organization behind the school or argue against religious instruction, instead he rings a clarion bell about the potential dangers of stigmatizing and \/ or ignoring worldly realities.<\/p>\n

This film presciently lays bare the conditions which led to so much abuse perpetrated by clergy in the late twentieth century. Schepisi’s film valiantly tried to sound the warning, but like so much else, it was ignored.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rocky<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3)\u00a0Rocky<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Before Rocky had defeated the USSR, come back from retirement to defeat a young up and comer, and trained the son of his one time bitter rival, the original film was a quirky low-key character study.<\/p>\n

This film has a distinctly 70s charm with believable working class types facing insurmountable odds. Stallone is brilliant, and Shire is wonderful as a lower class version of Annie Hall (which debuted the following year).<\/p>\n

The film illustrates an important, but little recognized fact: most underdogs do not win. Here, the point is not winning, but in proving you belong in the arena.<\/p>\n

The popular sequels\u00a0ensure the series will remain a part of popular culture for years to come, but they pale in comparison to the energy and vibrancy of this film, which was unafraid to be odd and weird.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Marathon<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2)\u00a0Marathon Man<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Living abroad in South America, Nazi war criminal Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) helps government agencies track down other former Nazis in exchange for protection and help in smuggling diamonds stolen from Jews during the war.<\/p>\n

After Szell’s brother dies, he travels to New York to make sure there isn’t a mole in his organization. When he kills one of his lieutenants, Henry Levy (Roy Schieder), Henry’s brother Babe (Dustin Hoffman) is inadvertently dragged into the world of international smuggling.<\/p>\n

Hoffman and Olivier are par excellence and William Devane is great as a double agent (how did he not have a more substantial career?).<\/p>\n

The infamous torque scene with Szell drilling into Babe’s teeth remains chilling forty years later.<\/p>\n

There have been numerous films about the Nazis and the unspeakable atrocities of the Holocaust. Fewer films about the ramifications of their actions. Even fewer about the exploits of escaped war criminals, perhaps because of the compromising and embarrassing circumstances of their post-war lives, often with tacit support from other governments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Networkmovie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1)\u00a0Network<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

After learning he’s been fired as anchor of the UBS Evening News<\/em>, Howard Beale (Peter Finch) stuns his audience by announcing he’ll commit suicide on air during next Tuesday’s program.<\/p>\n

Beale pledges to offer an apology the next evening, but instead launches into a tirade about the current state of America, declaring he’s “mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n