Hello! Welcome to the FREE Monday newsletter where I give you my unsolicited movie recommendations! This week, let’s dive into some 70s paranoid classics.
Mikey and Nicky
I’ve probably talked Mikey and Nicky to death at this point, but I can’t help it. It’s the pinnacle of the friendship breakup, a perfect encapsulation of what it feels like to realize you don’t know or like someone as well as you thought you did, but to still feel stuck to them in some inescapable way. The paranoia stems from Nicky and Mikey’s inability to trust each other. The tragedy, however, comes from the inevitability that maybe they’re both right.
The Conversation
I watched The Conversation for the first time last week, and it immediately shot to the top of my Coppola rankings. What strikes me, even more so than the commentary on surveillance (which feels more poignant than ever), is just achingly lonely Gene Hackman is in this movie. The scene with the woman at the party where he essentially asks her if she could ever love a man who could never allow her to know him is really tender, beautiful stuff.
Three Days of the Condor
I’m sure I’ve said the exact same thing I’m about to say about this movie before, but I don’t care – it’s genuinely all I can think about, so here we go. There are multiple moments in this movie where Robert Redford simply cannot figure out what’s going on while looking about as good as anyone has ever looked, and it’s the funniest shit I’ve ever seen. He will literally be scratching his gorgeous head of hair, staring at a piece of paper writing things like, “Who????” and, “Why???” like that will help him in any capacity. It makes me chuckle every time! Sydney Pollack really said, brain empty! But face? Pretty!
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Sammie, The Studios should pay you big bucks, you always make movies sound so good or interesting that I want to go immediately and watch or rewatch them! Thanks.
Hi, Sammie! I would second Godfather II and All the President's Men, then throw in another exploration of political paranoia, 1962's The Manchurian Candidate.