The Year in Movies: 1976

  1976

Number of Movies I've Seen: 7

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  2

Oscar Winner:
Rocky - This is a classic example of "just because a movie is first doesn't mean it's the best". It isn't the best boxing movie (The Fighter), Stallone movie (Creed), underdog movie (Hoosiers), or even the best movie about competitive fighting directed by John G. Avildsen (The Karate Kid). However, it was first, and I think its pretty cool that an underdog movie like this about an underdog boxer was able to take down all of the heavyweights on Hollywood's biggest night.

Box Office Winner:
Rocky 

My Top Ten:
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2. Network - This pick was so close. The top two movies of this year were straining with all their might to warn the next generation of the coming problems with media and politics. Too bad we didn't listen very well. The climax of this movie ("I'm as mad as hell....") ranks among the most emotionally charged moments in cinema history. 

3. Silent Movie - Mid-tier Mel Brooks is still gold. Having Marcel Marceau speak the only words in an otherwise silent film is a stroke of brave genius.

4. Rocky 

5. Taxi Driver - I'll keep saying it because it keeps being true: Martin Scorcese makes perfect movies about people I don't care about. Maybe I need to revisit Travis Bickle as an almost-middle-aged man, but I got very little out of this one with one viewing a decade or so ago.

6. The Twelve Tasks of Asterix - Fun little French take on Looney Tunes-esque comic adventure. I can see why people dig this stuff.

6. Logan's Run - Great concept ruined by downright boring '70s era sci-fi "artsiness".