There were a lot of incredible and unforgettable films from 1975! The most popular films were of course "Jaws", "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", "Dog Day Afternoon", etc. The one I'm going to focus on, were a success of some sort, but grew in popularity and gained larger followers as the years went on! Perhaps you've seen or heard of these films, but either way a good starting point when discovering cinema!
"Picnic At Hanging Rock"- This was acclaimed Australian filmmaker Peter Weir's second full length feature (He could go on to direct: "Witness", Dead Poets Society", "The Truman Show", etc.), "Picnic At Hanging Rock"! A film part mystery, part horror, part drama. It was a huge success around a good chunk of the world, except here in the USA! Peter Weir mentioned in interviews that people literally threw food at the screen in disgust! Now, it's considered a cult classic and in my cinema world, an absolute masterpiece and one of the greatest films I've ever seen!
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"Mirror"-Another acclaimed film! This time from Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. It's a very non-linear, dreamlike and very personal film for Tarkovsky. Apparently critics and audiences at the time were baffled and some even argued! Like most of his films, Tarkovsky wanted the audience to feel the film before understanding it!
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"Race With The Devil"- This was one of those cult classic horror films that I could imagine being at drive-ins back in the day! Not a great movie, per-se but for me it was a lot of fun and there's a nostalgia factor for me as my parents introduced this film to me.
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Sonny Chiba Movies- Sonny Chiba has got to be my favorite action star! In 1975, he was in 8 films! 8!!! They're all decent and are endlessly re-watchable. Most of them are martial arts oriented, but if you're not a martial arts fan, I'd suggest, "The Bullet Train"! Not to be confused with the awful Brad Pitt film from a few years ago. "The Bullet Train" literally has Sonny Chiba in a non-martial arts role (which was rare) and some of the plot inspired the 1994 action classic, "Speed" with Keanu Reeves!
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"Barry Lyndon"-This Stanley Kubrick film was overlooked, misunderstood and was a box office disappointment in 1975. Very strange as it received several Academy Award nominations (winning four)! The film has gone from cult classic status to being universally praised as one of the greatest films ever made! It certainly hovers at the top of my list when people ask what my favorite film is!
