Jane Sloan Media Librarian jsloan@rci.rutgers.edu June 2006

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Media Collections:
Feature Films U.S. 1970s

This guide is a browsing aid to selected titles in the video/DVD collections at Rutgers Libraries. The most up-to-date, accurate, and complete information regarding the libraries' holdings is available only through IRIS, our online catalog.

Alien 1992

Seven astronauts on a routine mission encounter an awesome galactic horror.

1 videocassette (116 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2433

...And justice for all 1989

A young, ethical attorney battles injustice in the judicial system in this courtroom drama with satirical overtones.

1 videocassette (120 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2134

Apocalypse now 1999

A United States Army officer/trained assassin is sent into the depths of a southeast Asian jungle to seek out a renegade colonel and terminate his command during the Vietnam War.

1 videodisc (ca. 153 min.) :

MEDIA 10-73

The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz 1993

A comedy-drama of an ambitious young Jewish man in 1948 Montreal. He's determined to be "somebody" and in the process, he cheats, lies, schemes, and uses people to reach his end. He is proud of himself--those around him are disgusted.

1 videocassette (121 min.) ;

MEDIA 2-2876

The autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman 1994

Presents the story of the long life of Miss Jane Pittman, who began her life as a slave in the South and who marched for her civil rights in the 20th century at the age of 110.

1 videocassette (106 min.) :

DANA 1033

Badlands 1973

Set in South Dakota in 1959, this is the story of Kit and his girlfriend Holly, two people alienated from everyday life, who go on a killing spree.

1 videodisc (95 min.) :

MEDIA 10-39

Being there 1979

Circumstances propel a feeble-minded gardener, whose entire knowledge of life comes from watching television, into becoming adviser to a powerful but dying tycoon.

1 videodisc (130 min.) :

MEDIA 10-189

Big night 1997

The story of two brothers whose Italian restaurant is on the brink of bankruptcy. Their only chance for success is to risk everything they own on an extravagant feast for bandleader Louis Prima. But their big night is complicated by a lovers' triangle, a sneaky restaurant rival, and the hilarious perfection of chef Primo.

1 videocassette (109 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3477

The Candidate 1988

A young, liberal lawyer, son of a former California governor, runs for the U.S. Senate and learns the nitty-gritty, behind-the-scenes realities of political campaigning. Robert Redford is the idealistic candidate; his father is played by Melvyn Douglas, and Peter Boyle portrays the campaign manager. Academy Award to Jeremy Larner for best story and screenplay.

1 videocassette (110 min.) :

MEDIA 2-598

Carnal knowledge 1985

This trend-setting film examines the sexual triumphs and disasters of two American men as it traces their lives from college days to middle age.

1 videocassette (96 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3197

Chinatown 1974

Kinks complicate mystery, lies compound complexity, and passion clouds detection as what begins as a seemingly routine matrimonial snoop job mushrooms into a murderous regional and personal scandal.

1 videocassette (131 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 2-486 2-2085

Cleopatra Jones 1990

A beautiful, tough drug enforcement agent intercedes when a menacing drug ring attempts to stage a retaliatory raid on a Los Angeles drug rehabilitation center.

1 videocassette (89 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5153

Close encounters of the third kind widescrean presentation 1998

Humans make contact with aliens after witnessing the arrival of flying saucers from another world.

1 videocassette (152 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3747

Coffy 1998

Pam Grier plays a nurse by day, avenging angel by night in order to retaliate against a greedy drug pusher who has corrupted her younger sister. She carries out her mission of vengeance to the very top.

1 videocassette (90 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5178

The conversation 2000

A provoking mystery-suspense drama exploring the morality of privacy. The story focuses on Harry Caul (Hackman), a surveillance expert, who conducts a routine surveillance job only to later find himself suspicious that he has become an unwitting player in a murder scheme.

1 videocassette (113 min.) :

MEDIA 2-37

Cotton comes to Harlem 1999

St. Jacques is Coffin Ed Johnson and Cambridge is Gravedigger Jones, black cops who suspect preacher Lockhart's back-to-Africa campaign is a swindle. Neatly combines action and comedy.

1 videocassette (ca. 96 min.) :

MEDIA DANA 2-5179 133

The deer hunter 1978

Tracks a group of steelworker pals from a Pennsylvania blast furnace to the cool hunting grounds of the Alleghenies to the lethal cauldron of Vietnam. It is a drama of friendship and courage and of what happens to these qualities under stress.

1 videodisc (183 min.) :

MEDIA 10-41

Dog day afternoon 1975

On a hot Brooklyn afternoon, two optimistic losers set out to rob a bank. Sonny (Al Pacino) is the mastermind, Sal (John Cazale) is the follower. Disaster is the result because the cops, crowds, TV cameras and even the pizza man have arrived and the well-planned heist is now a circus.

1 videocassette (135 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3793

Dog day afternoon 1991

A film based on the true story of a botched bank robbery that occured on an oppressively hot August 22, 1972 in Brooklyn, New York which turned into a bizarre hostage situation lasting all day.

2 videodiscs (125 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 7-151 disc 1 7-152 disc 2

Farewell my lovely 1992

Robert Mitchum, as private eye Philip Marlowe, in a mystery filled with action, suspense and humor.

1 videocassette (98 min.) :

DANA 802

Five easy pieces 1995

Character study of a talented pianist who has given up a promising career and now works on oil rigs. After 20 years he returns home to his father's deathbed perhaps to reconcile himself with his fear of failure and desire for greatness.

1 videocassette (98 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3787

Frenzy 1991

A sex criminal known as the necktie murderer is on the loose in modernday London. His murders are blamed on an innocent man who has to elude the police and find out who the real murderer is.

1 videocassette (116 min.) :

DANA 535

Ganja and Hess 1994

A black anthropologist is studying the ancient culture of Myrthia which disappeared when it was destroyed by a transmittable amoebic parasite that was addicted to blood. In the course of his research, he is stabbed with a Myrthian dagger by his assistant who then kills himself.

1 videocassette (85 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3524

Gimme shelter 2000

Jumping Jack flash, (I can't get no) satisfaction, You gotta move, Wild horses, Brown sugar, Love in vain / The Rolling Stones -- I've been loving you too long / Tina Turner -- Honky tonk woman, Street fighting man / The Rolling Stones -- Six days on the road / The Flying Burrito Bros. -- The other side of this life / Jefferson Airplane -- Sympathy for the devil, Under my thumb, Street fighting man, Gimme shelter / The Rolling Stones. The making of Little Queenie, Little Queenie, Oh Carol, Prodigal son / The Rolling Stones. Backstage with Mick, Ike and TinaA documentary on the Rolling Stones' 1969 tour of the United States, including a performance at Madison Square Garden and a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in California where violence broke out between fans and Hell's Angels who were providing security. Includes performances by Ike and Tina Turner, the Jefferson Airplane and the Flying Burrito Brothers.

1 videodisc (91 min.) :

MUSIC 2

A Good dissonance like a man 1988?

A dramatization of the life of American composer Charles Ives (1874-1954). Remarkably rich portrait of the man and his music.

1 videocassette (60 min.) :

MUSIC 399

The Great Gatsby 1974

About a mysterious American millionaire whose efforts to recapture the sweetheart of his youth result in tragedy.

1 videocassette (146 min.) :

DANA 1544

The great smokey roadblock/ Last of the Cowboys 1977

John Howard is a sixty year old truck driver. While in the hospital his truck is repossessed by the finance company. Deciding that it's time to make one last perfect cross country run, John escapes from the hospital, steals his truck and heads off into the night. In the hills of Utah, John picks up a cat-house madame and her five girls. Overnight the travellers are turned into modern-day folk heroes. The police are still in hot pursuit and as a last resort, they place an enormous roadblock across Pollatchi Bridge.

1 videocassette (VHS) (104 min.) :

MEDIA 2-305

Hair 1993

Young Oklahoman and Vietnam draftee Claude Bukowski walks into a "happening" in New York Central park - an undulating mass of hippies singing, dancing and cavorting to the music of the age of Aquarius. Enter the beautiful debutante Sheila and instantly Claude and Sheila are smitten.

1 videocassette (122 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3184

The Harder they come 1991

A young man from the country travels to Kingston and becomes a popular reggae singer. He is exploited by his producers, who cheat him of his profits, until in desperation, he becomes a criminal.

1 videocassette (93 min.) :

MEDIA DANA 2-2017 1508

Harold and Maude 1994

A young man obsessed with death falls in love with a 79-year-old woman.

1 videocassette (91 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3591

Hester Street 199

Russian Jewish immigrants, Jake and Gitl, encounter trials and tribulations as they discard their old world traditions and adjust to life in America in 1896.

1 videocassette (89 min.) :

MEDIA DANA 2-39 456

I know why the caged bird sings 1998

Young Maya leads a precarious existence in racist, Depression-era Arkansas, where she is shunted between her grandmother's house and mother's--where she is raped--and withdraws into total silence. She endures to share her realization in her valedictory address: "In order to lift your voice, you have to lift your head.".

1 videocassette (96 min.) :

DANA. MEDIA 1008 2-3799

Jeremiah Johnson 1972

The Rocky Mountains star in this visually beautiful "western" about a loner who learns the skills of a mountain man in the wilds of Utah after the Mexican-American war.

1 videocassette (108 min.) :

MEDIA 2-1206

Klute 1971

When detective John Klute comes to New York to investigate the disappearance of a friend, the trail leads to Bree Daniels, a call girl. Together they face the menace of a psychotic murderer.

1 videocassette (125 min.) ;

MEDIA 2-3786

The Last picture show 1999

A bitter-sweet story of teenagers who come of age in Anarene, a fictional one-horse town in Texas. In 1951, high school seniors, Sonny and Duane, play footbball, go to the movies at the Royal Theater, hang out at the pool hall and lust after rich tease, Jacy Farrow. Following two tragic deaths and with Duane gone to Korea and Jacy to college in Dallas, Sonny is left behind but is determined to carry on, despite a telling sign of incipient communal disintegration, the closing of the Royal Theater.

1 videocassette (126 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5209

Little Big Man 1972

An intense drama centering on the systematic extermination of a people, and a cutting satire of the Old West.

1 videocassette (149 min.) :

MEDIA 2-852

Manhattan 1979

Allen portrays Isaac Davis, a successful comedy writer whose wife, having left him for another woman, is now embarking on a book about their failed marriage. Isaac happily consoles himself in the arms of an adoring 17 year-old schoolgirl until he meets someone closer to his own age, who happens to be his best friend's mistress.

1 videodisc (96 min.) :

MEDIA 10-15

Mean streets 1973

A small-time hood with ambitions of moving up the ladder of organized crime is stymied by his own inadequacies and the company he keeps. The milieu of Little Italy is depicted as the director himself experienced it.

1 videocassette (112 min.) DVD

MEDIA MEDIA 2-1957 10-71

Murder on the Orient Express 1990

This Agatha Christie whodunit boasts an incredible international cast of wonderfully excentric characters.

2 videocassettes (128 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 2-2852 cassette 1 2-2853 cassette 2

Next stop, Greenwich Village 1992

Set in the 50's, this is the story of a young man's struggle for independence. Larry Lapinsky leaves his home in Brooklyn for the freedom and excitement of Greenwich Village. There he starts his acting career, falls in with a group of free spirits and learns to cope with his overbearing mother.

1 videocassette (109 min.) :

MEDIA 2-1958

One flew over the cuckoo's nest 1999

Randall P. McMurphy, a feisty misfit, leads his fellow mental patients to do battle for their rights against a repressive ward nurse.

1 videodisc (134 min.) :

MEDIA 10-14

Orphan train 199?

This is a fictionalized story of the Children's Rescue Mission in N.Y. in the 1850's. A young social worker, a newspaper photographer, and a group of slum kids travel from Manhattan to new lives out west.

1 videocassette (138 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5498

The outlaw Josey Wales 1976

A peaceful farmer turns Confederate renegade to avenge the deaths of his wife and child at the hands of bandits-turned-Union sympathizers.

1 videodisc (135 min.)

DANA 112

Particular men 1999?

Written by Emmy Award-winning playwright Loring Mandel, "Particular men" recalls what might be considered the most significant event not only of the 1940's, but of man's entire history-- the introduction of nuclear weaponry.

1 videocassette (117 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5673

Pink Flamingos an exercise in poor taste 1972

The story of a gang living in a trailer outside Baltimore holding the title of the world's filthiest people. Their main competition are Connie and Raymond Marble, who are out to out-filthy Divine and take the title for themselves. In a series of hilarious and disgusting adventures, Divine and her family finally capture the Marbles and execute them in front of the Tabloid Press.

1 videocassette (95 min.) :

MEDIA 2-261

Play it again, Sam 1972

Allen plays Allen, a fanatical movie buff with an outrageous recurring hallucination: Humphrey Bogart offering tips on how to make it with the ladies. His married friends Dick and Linda fix him up with several elgible young ladies, but his self-confidence is so weak that he's a total failure with them all. Eventually Allen discovers that there is one woman he's himself with: Linda, his best friend's wife.

1 videocassette (85 min.) :

DANA. MEDIA 796 2-1436

Rabid 1992

The story of a city being terrorized by victims of a rabid-like disease. It begins when an accident victim undergoes an experimental operation, and ends in a nightmare epidemic that threatens an entire city.

1 videocassette (90 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3474

Rocky 1990

An unknown boxer gets a chance at a fight that will win him fame and the heavy-weight title.

1 videocassette (125 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3636

The Rose 1990

The triumphs and lonely restlessness of the current rock scene provide background to the film which is loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin. Bette Midler stars as a multi-talented but self-destructive singer.

1 videocassette (134 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2630

Serpico 1991

An honest New York policeman endures scorn and mistreatment from his fellow cops. Based on a true story.

1 videocassette (130 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3010

Shaft 1971

Shaft is hired by a Harlem mobster to find his kidnapped teenage daughter and finds himself up against some Mafia chieftains who want to take over a chunk of the Black Underworld's uptown territory.

1 videocassette (ca. 1 hr., 38 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3899

Shampoo 1975

George, a Beverly Hills hairdresser, promises his impatient steady, Jill, that they'll settle down once he gets his own salon. During the next frantic 48 hours, George tries to borrow the cash he needs from Lester, a shady businessman. But Lester doesn't know that George is sleeping with his mistress, his shrewish wife, and his teenage daughter.

1 videodisc (109 min.) :

MEDIA 10-163

The shootist 1976

A terminally ill gunfighter seeks to retire quietly but is embroiled in one last battle.

1 videodisc (98 min.)

DANA 99

Sleeper 1973

Allen stars as Miles Monroe, who checks into the hospital for a minor operation and awakens two hundred years later. This very different world only Woody could create is a wonderful mix of bizarre sight gags and clever one lines that never quit.

1 videocassette (88 min.) :

MEDIA 2-591

Sounder 1996

The story of a black sharecropper family's struggle in Louisiana during the depession. When the father in desperation steals food for his family and goes to prison, the mother keeps the family together with love, security and strength while he away.

1 videocassette (105 min.) :

DANA 1010

Soylent green 1991

In the 21st century, a hard-boiled police detective investigates a murder and discovers what soylent green, the people's principal food, is made of.

1 videocassette (97 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3699

Sparkle 1990

Three sisters from a ghetto in Harlem bercome a phenomenally popular singing group, but find that success takes its toll on their lives.

1 videocassette (98 min.) ;

MEDIA 2-3734

The sting 1990

Set in 1930's Chicago, story of two con men who stage an elaborate revenge on a big-time gangster who was responsible for the murder of their friend.

1 videocassette (129 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3448

The strawberry statement 1985

Student rebels occupy a university administration building. One of a short-lived group of student anti-discipline films of the early seventies.

1 videocassette (109 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3582

Super fly 1992

Tale of a Harlem drug dealer, Priest, who wants out of cocaine-dealing but a drug kingpin does not want Priest to stop. He sets up one last big drug deal before he retires, but is thwarted by double-crossers, murder and revenge.

1 videocassette (93 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3185

Sybil 1985

A story based on fact, of a woman who develops sixteen separate personalities as a result of severe abuse in her childhood, and the psychiatrist who helps her.

1 videocassette (122 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3447

Taxi driver 1990

A psychotic New York City cab driver goes on a violent rampage in an effort to rid the city of undesirables.

2 videodiscs (113 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 7-75 disc 1 7-76 disc 2

Three days of the condor 1991

CIA agent code name Condor discovers a possibility of a separate CIA acting within the organization. When he reports his findings to his superior, he becomes the target of his employers and the unknown killer of his associates.

1 videocassette (118 min.) :

MEDIA 2-1728

The tragedy of King Richard the Second 1982

A study of a weak, self-centered man who becomes so out of touch with reality that his only defense of his kingdom is the hope that God can save him.

2 videocassettes (172 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 2-3569 cassette 1 2-3570 cassette 2

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine 1983

The year is 1968--America is at war in Vietnam. Far from the combat zone, in Baltimore federal court, nine anti-war activists, including two priests, are on trial. In an act of civil disobedience, they have burned hundreds of draft records. The Catonsville Nine use the proceedings as a forum to denounce the war. Father Daniel Berrigan, one of the defendants, has shaped the transcripts of that historic trial into a riveting political drama.

1 videocassette (ca. 90 min.) :

MEDIA 2-1557

Two-lane blacktop 1971

In this controversial and acclaimed story of drag-racing drifters, the drivers of a Pontiac GTO and a 'tt Chevy battle across the backroads of America for possession of each other's "pinks" and the affections of a mysterious young hitchhiker. Featuring top hits by The Doors and Kris Kristofferson, the film roars across a landscape of unexpected turns and startling twists.

1 videodisc (103 min.) :

MEDIA 10-53

Ulzana's raid 1972

A scout is assigned to aid the cavalry in tracking down Ulzana and his band of Apache Indians who have left the San Carlos Reservation.

1 videocassette (103 min.) :

MEDIA 2-1626

Uptown Saturday night 1974

Working stiff Steve thinks he's hit the jackpot. He and pal Wardell are living it up at a posh after-hours club - until masked bandits steal all the patrons' loot. Safely home, Steve picks up the newspaper and reads he really has hit the jackpot... with a lottery ticket tucked in his stolen wallet.

1 videodisc (104 min.)

DANA 121

Who'll stop the rain 1988

Drug smugglers and thieves fight for the possession of heroin.

1 videocassette (127 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5106

Woodstock I 1983

Features performances by Canned Heat, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, The Who, Sha-na-na, and Joe Cocker in the first half of the 1969 rock concert. Shows stage and sound systems being set up, the audience arriving, being interviewed and enduring the rainstorm that occured during the concert. Won Oscar as Best Feature Documentary of 1970.

1 videocassette (VHS) (90 min.) :

MEDIA 2-224

Zabriskie Point 1993

Two young loners epitomize the rebellious counter-culture of the 1960s as they wander in the ominous desert terrain of the western United States.

1 videocassette (112 min.) :

DANA. MEDIA 1383 2-3735

Zachariah 1971

Two ranchers decide to pursue a roving band of robbers. They enjoy their adventures so much they decide to become gunslingers.

1 videodisc (93 min.)

JAZZ 02