Movies of 1971 Bracket Game

https://lebeauleblog.com/2021/01/04/movies-of-1971-bracket-game/

It’s time for Le Blog’s annual bracket games. We’re going to kick things off with a look at 1971.

Last year, I expanded the bracket games to include the decade of the 70’s. But I’m an old guy and honestly I don’t remember a ton of movies released in 1971. According to the most recent data I have, most of my readers are quite a bit younger than I am (hello, Millennials!) So I’m guessing that a lot of you aren’t interested in voting on brackets like The Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight Vs. Support Your Local Gunfighter.

To that end, the 1971 game is going to be half the size of the usual bracket game with only 16 contestants. I did the same thing with the movies of 1970. It means making some difficult cuts up front and leaving out some movies I really would have liked to have included. But it also means we get to skip to the movies I think most readers will likely have a rooting interest in.

I managed to include most of the year’s top ten grossing movies in the game. That priority nudge Sean Connery’s final official outing as James Bond, Diamonds Are Forever, into the contest over something like Straw Dogs or The Omega Man. And I also included the big awards movies like The French Connection, Klute, The Last Picture Show and Carnal Knowledge.

By 1971, the Hollywood studio system was on its last legs. Despite the success of Fiddler on the Roof, auteurs were on the rise and what would come to be known as Blaxpoitation would officially kick off with the releases of Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and Shaft.

It was also a big year for actor-turned-director Clint Eastwood. Dirty Harry was a big hit which would spawn four sequels over seventeen years and more or less define Eastwood’s career for the next two decades. But he also made his directorial debut on Play Misty for Me which would change the course of his career forever.

I wanted to include cult hits like Harold and Maude and A Clockwork Orange. But couldn’t find room for post-apocalyptic fare like Escape from the Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man. The Andromeda Strain seemed more timely. I also could fit in Willard which probably would have made a nice companion for Harold and Maude. But Billy Jack was just huge in 1971.

One draft of the bracket game pitted Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory against Bedknobs and Broomsticks. But that seemed like a forgone conclusion. These and other movies would have been included in a full 32-contestant bracket, but it also would have included a lot of movies most readers either wouldn’t have seen or wouldn’t care about.

Admittedly, this approach is a compromise which probably won’t make everyone happy. But I think everyone will be able to find a movie or two to root for as we kick off this year’s games.