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1975 - The Oddball Movies

1975 - The Oddball Movies

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Devin & James are back in the Den one more time in 2025 for our final 50th Anniversary celebration of the films of 1975! This time we focus on the ODDBALL MOVIES of '75, those that are too wild or weird to easily fit into the other categories in our series. We begin with a couple of moody films written by Thomas McGuaine: Stoner cowboys Jeff Bridges & Sam Waterston rustle cattle in RANCHO DELUXE, and then Peter Fonda & Warren Oates have very violent conversations about fishing in 92 IN THE SHADE. Both films also feature amazing performances by Harry Dean Stanton and Joe Spinell. We lighten the mood a bit with Michael Ritchie's underrated slice-of-life beauty pageant comedy SMILE, with fantastic performances by Bruce Dern, Annette O'Toole, and many others. We finish up our celebration with a couple of very dark Los Angeles Depression-era period pieces: Mike Nichols' THE FORTUNE, a pitch-black screwball comedy featuring Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Stockard Channing in a murdurous love triangle, and John Schlesinger's brutal poison pen letter to old Hollywood, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, showcasing the never-better Karen Black, the never-creepier Donald Sutherland, and a rare major role by William Atherton. Throw in a lot more offbeat appearances by the likes of Slim Pickens, Burgess Meredith, William Hickey, Billy Barty, Margot Kidder, and Geoffrey Lewis, and you end up with one of the most interesting rosters of character actors we've ever discussed in one episode! These films don't all turn out to be masterpieces (most of them don't), but they are all huge creative swings that stand out from the crowd during an era known for big swings, and that's saying something. Join us to pay tribute to the films from 1975 that were too weird to be hits, but too rare to be forgotten.

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