9 – Midnight Cowboy (1969). Joe, A goofy, naïve hustler from Texas heads to New York to become a gigolo and forms an unlikely friendship with a degenerate street hustler Ratso. Both harbour big dreams and unrealistic expectations that ultimately will fail. The acting from John Voight as Joe and Dustin Hoffman as Ratso is superb and both were unlucky not to win Oscars. The film took home three Oscars including Best Picture. It’s a gut wrenching film at times and pulls at the heartstrings towards the end. In the 60’s it was common for films to catapult songs into major hits such as Sounds of Silence and Mrs Robinson for The Graduate and To Sir with Love in the movie of the same name. Harry Nilsson’s, Everybody’s Talkin’ is one of those and definitely fits beautifully as the opening to this fantastic film.

8 – Jackie Brown (1997). This underrated Quentin Tarantino film re-launched the careers of Pam Grier who was a siren of the ‘Blaxploitation’ movies in the 70’s and Robert Forster, a ‘B Grade’ actor in the same era. Both are excellent in this and were nominated for Oscars. Based on an Elmore Leonard crime novel, the dialogue is fast and the soundtrack is mostly black soul artists from the 70’s. The opening sees Pam Grier in her role as a flight steward, walking through LAX skipping the X-Ray machine accompanied by the legendary Bobby Womack’s, Across 110th Street.

7 – Saturday Night Fever (1977). For anyone of my generation, the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter was where we were first introduced to John Travolta as Vinny Barbarino. His transformation to Tony Manero as the disco dancing king of Brooklyn, wouldn’t have stretched his range all that much. The film itself is average but the Bee Gees soundtrack has sold over 40 million copies and kicked off disco fever around the world whether you liked it or not. The opening to the film is a classic with dirty 70’s Brooklyn, barely legible Italian/American accents and dodgy fashion backed by the Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive.

6 – Do the Right Thing (1989). Writer/actor/director Spike Lee has made some landmark films primarily focussed on African American stories but this is my favourite. Set in his home Borough of Brooklyn, it involves racial tension between African Americans and Italian Americans in and around a pizza shop owned by Sal, played superbly by Danny Aiello in a Oscar nominated role. The opening features Rosie Perez dancing to the mighty Public Enemy’s, Fight the Power.

In 2014 we spent three weeks in a tiny AirBnB in the Caribbean Quarter of Brooklyn, called Prospect Heights. It gave us a great insight into New York’s black culture and on Labor Day there was an enormous street parade that attracted approximately a million people in Brooklyn. Everyone was African American except us two and a dozen others :). It was an extraordinary outpouring of expression and colour we will never forget.
https://isowilson.com/live-blaxploitation-at-the-brooklyn-labor-day-parade/

5 – Trainspotting (1996). Director Danny Boyle’s second feature, Trainspotting (his first, Shallow Grave is a ripper) became one of those talked about ‘must see’ films upon it’s release. The story of a group of heroin addicts in the slums of Edinburgh had lots of pathos, drama and comedy backed by a high energy soundtrack. The young cast were brilliant and have gone on to have significant careers. You could have chosen a number of Iggy Pop/Stooges songs for an opener to this film such as No Fun, or I Wanna be Your Dog, but eventually it came down to Lust for Life.

Thanks for reading. I just wanted to mention that this blog is not for profit however if you would like to sponsor me for a small amount to cover maintenance I can have your business linked from each page of my blog. Pls email me at ian.wilson6344@gmail.com

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https://fightmnd.org.au