Sunday, February 28, 2010

7 reasons why I love 70s films

Reading other people's posts for 70s week this week has reminded me just how great 70s Bollywood films are. So, here's my list of 7 reasons why I love 70s films:

1. They tend to revolve around ideas of family ties and societal responsibilities and other values I generally agree with.

2. Instead of trying to surprise you with emotionally unsatisfactory twist endings (I'm looking at you, Shahrukh's Don), they just surprise you with their creative ways of doing things. Even though I generally can anticipate the basic plot outline, I still find myself being surprised by, for instance, the sight of a purplish horse jumping over a castle wall, or Amitabh Bachchan in an Easter egg.

3. So many attractive and distinctive actors (and actresses). And they're attractive in a real way, rather than looking like they've come off an assembly line at a gym or plastic surgeon's office.

4. Also on a superficial note, have you seen the bellbottoms and other awesome clothes? Not to mention the amazing villains' lairs and other impressive locations. Sometimes I think I'd like to live in a 70s film, minus the kidnappings and lost children and other unfortunate circumstances.

5. The music. Many of my favorite film songs are from the 70s.

6. They've got action and romance and family melodrama and, well, pretty much everything you might want to see in a film, plus a lot of things you never realized you wanted to see until they happened.

7. They may not always be "good" by critical standards, but they're almost always entertaining. And that's what I watch films for.