Left-wing counter-culture & Revolution in the air; ah, the late ‘60s - early ‘70s political shift among the so-called youth generation. Old-school movie studios furious to find they’re out of the Zeitgeist; worse, missing their cut. EASY RIDER/’69 caught the wave, at least at the box-office. More typical was old Hollywood showing clueless response with duds like Stanley Kramer’s RPM/’70; those post M*A*S*H*/’70 Elliott Gould flops; or this inept Dostoevski wannabe that more justly could have been called THE HORNY ANARCHIST. Jon Voight (MIDNIGHT COWBOY behind; DELIVERANCE just ahead, so at his peak) 32 and already a decade too old (as is the whole cast) plays a college dropout subletting Raskolnikov’s hovel while putting out flyers for the university radical left. That is when he’s not propositioning any equally horny female in the cell. But a letter from the draft board offers a quick tour of duty and that leads to info on an upcoming raid. Going AWOL to pass on the word, he ends up joining an even more radical gang (Robert Duvall seems involved) and becomes the man of choice to play backup on an actual bomb attack against an unsympathetic judge. Director Paul Williams (not the singer/songwriter) shooting in England, can’t catch the spirit of the times (or anything else come to think of it*) then wimps out with a ‘Lady or the Tiger’ ending guaranteed to satisfy no one. Who was Voight’s agent at the time?
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Looking for a 1970 film on Revolution? How about subbing in The French Revolution and the knockabout silliness/delight of START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME. Still hilarious, sadly half forgotten. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/02/start-revolution-without-me-1970.html
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *One of those films where unpolished amateurism in acting & production is meant to be read as naturalism and ‘keeping it real.’
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