Maybe it has something to do with the fact that that was the decade in which I grew up, so on some level I hold it in semi-nostalgic esteem. But I think it mostly has to do with the character of American films during that decade, particularly in the first half of the decade. Yes, they have the reputation for being a bit bleak and "depressing." Granted, a good many of them were -- it seemed to be an underlying mood (or malaise) of the time. But mainly I like the character-driven drama in a lot of those films, which I suppose comes down to a variety of Raymond Carver-esque "dirty realism." Whatever the case, it was (albeit briefly) an interesting and distinctive era in American cinema, with there not having been much like it issuing out of Hollywood before or since.
So, I posted a piece over at the '70s blog for the first in ages. It's a lengthy appraisal of one of my favorite films of that time, one that (I feel) has unjustly received short shrift over the years -- Bob Rafelson's 1972 film The King of Marvin Gardens.
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