Peter Yates and the Seventies (+ late sixties)

Mother, Jugs and Speed , The Friends of Eddie Coyle , Breaking Away and even The Hot Rock and for good measure Bullitt . Peter Yates had a time there when his movies seemed to capture the time and the mood.

From the ultra-cool late sixties vibe of Bullitt to the bleak, ragged worn out mood of the early post Vietnam United States in The Friends of Eddie Coyle to the cyncial, sarcastic, irreverent but still hopeful outlook of the mid-seventies in Mother, Jugs and Speed . And finally the ragged around the edges, but still optomistic Mid-Western outlook of the late seventies when Breaking Away was produced.

For a time there his movies seemed to be in step with the country. Interesting since he was from England.

I like MJS. Didn't care for it too much as a kid back in the 1970's. I guess the humor went over my head. Then as a teenager it was just an old movie and I had become very serious and found the anti-establishment, smart ass tone to be irritating. Ahh but lets jump to 2011. Hey I'm in my forties now! Wow. I find myself looking at the world through older eyes. Though things have changed in many ways they have also stayed the same.

Darn if we aren't back in the middle of an massive economic downturn, the political situation in the U.S. and across the globe is chaotic and bleak and the Energy Crisis has returned.Our old friend Stagflation is kicking us in the head again and once again we hear about how the United States is just months from total collapse. People are feeling scared, angry and bitter. Wheee.

Mother, Jugs and Speed is a brilliant movie. And it's funny.Who cares about the wide ties and the double-knit polyester.

How's that old saying go? Oh I remember now.

"Everything old is new again"

So true.