Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with 70s

70s movie help

An Infinity Of Monkeys — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:25:55 -0800

Help me find a movie - It might have been a made-for-TV movie, probably in the early 70s. I thought the lead actress was Maureen McCormick but I've checked all her IMDB credits and it wasn't her so it must have been someone who resembled her. The main character was put into a girls' school (reform school, maybe?) and the final scene involved a big fight in the recreation area and the main character ended up being killed by another girl stabbing her in the throat with a big knife which actually pinned her to the ground; the stabbing wasn't actually shown as far as I remember but the sound gave me nightmares for weeks afterward.

70's and 80's songs to play in a business.

ptsampras14 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:15:49 -0800

What are some good 70's and 80's songs suitable for playing in a pharmacy? My father owns a family pharmacy and we have an iPod with nice 70's and 80's songs set to play for the customers. Can you tell me some that I can add to the playlist? Remember nice calm easy listening ones are best, and no dirty or bad songs about dying etc.. To get an idea of some of the songs I have here's a link to the playlist so far. Specific songs are great, but I will also take artists. Try not to give duplicates. If 10 people give 10 songs that's 100 new songs! Thanks!

NYPL/Pylon font match?

activitystory — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:56:00 -0800

What is the font used by Pylon on all their records and singles and everything else? You know, this one. It looks similar to the font used for the word "Police" on some 1970s NYPD squad cars-- is it the same one?

What is it?

Mitheral — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:52:03 -0800

What is this machine glimpsed in the 1978 movie "Up in Smoke"? It is seen for a split second about 30 minutes in during a street scene in Southern California. The man pictured next to the machine is not one of the characters.

How to set a 70s car radio

yetanother — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:47:03 -0800

How do I set the memory on a 70's mechanical tuner car radio? Just got a 70's radio to match a recently acquired 70's vehicle, and it works great in glorious 70s AM/FM. It has one of the old mechanical tuners with 5 preset buttons that make the tuner jump. Someone as old as me should remember how to set the presets, but I cant work it out. I thought it had something to do with turning the tuner with a preset pushed in, but that doesnt seem to work.

It's a Blaupunkt Bavaria S if it makes a difference.

Help me remember this detective comedy film from my childhood!

jspierre — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:18:37 -0800

I am trying to find the title of this film I remember scantily from my childhood. I do remember belly-laughing at this film when I was a kid, but can't remember for the life of me more than just a few details. Here's what I know (or think I remember)... I don't know the year, but probably the film I remember is from the very late 70s through perhaps the first couple of years of the 90s. It was a movie about a guy who was enrolling in some sort of "detective school" which was actually a scam being run by what I think was a con artist in a run down building. I think in the end it led to the main character actually solving a crime or mystery of some sort and, of course, figuring out that the detective training he attended was a scam.

I'm not very sure about any of the details except that I remember that it was really funny to me (at the time), oh and I remember a scene toward the beginning where the Lead is first brought into the detective training program and he is offered "hor douvres" of peanut butter on crackers by a very intimidating black woman who then charges him for the one he takes - something like six dollars. Then, she offers him a soft drink for which she demands additional money.

I think the word "Tourist" may have been in the title, but I'm just grabbing at straws there from what my fragmented mind remembers.

Any help anyone could give me on indentifying this childhood favorite would be greatly appreciated!

Everybody was kung fu fighting

Astro Zombie — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:31:02 -0800

If I was a teenager in the 70s, what style of martial art would have seemed the most badass to me? And why?

Someday we'll find it, the film grain connection.

eschatfische — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:24:15 -0800

Why are films from the 70s so grainy? Watching The Muppet Movie with the family this afternoon, I commented on how grainy I remember the film being from my childhood -- and how most films from my childhood seemed to look similarly grainy. On the other hand, color films from the 30s through to the 60s often don't have similar problems, nor do films from the mid-80s on (unless a filmmaker is going for a 70s look, like Tarantino or Gallo).

So, I know it has something to do with the Eastman color stock used during that era... but that's all I can find, no specifics. Was there a conscious effort by filmmakers to attain that look, a known flaw in the film that filmmakers felt they could live with for a price cut, or something that just sort of happened along the way?

Help me identify 70s animated movie?

robotdog — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:36:14 -0800

Trying to remember an animated film from late 70s, early 80s. I saw it in 5th grade classroom 1983. All I can remember is a musical song sequence where kids are in a forest (or bog) and are being chased/haunted by the spirits of the forest (or maybe one particular spirit?) the song is catchy and I think the chorus has the word "Who?" sung as if it was the sound a ghost makes. I think the movie might have had a slight pro-environment message as well.

Baby, lets groove?

aleahey — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:53:02 -0800

Song goes something like "babbbyyy letsss groooveee" Name that song. It sounds very 70s-ish, like the Staples Singers, but not them.

Lyrics are something like "baby lets groooveee, awayyyy" or "baby lets mooveee, awayyyy".

Anybody?

70s aliens hate sous chefs

Tacodog — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:32:35 -0800

What's the name of this late 70s/early 80s low budget scifi movie? I don't remember much of it except for this scene where a woman is in the kitchen cutting vegetables then, for whatever reason, the aliens make her either cut her wrists or cut off her fingers. She looked very calm, walked outside with her bloody hands and joined the neighbors looking up at a glowing white UFO.

I was just a kid and remember being freaked out at the wrist cutting scene and I guess I blanked out everything else that happened. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Have a Nice Decade?

kirkaracha — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:17:13 -0800

Should I get Rhino's Have a Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box or the individual Have a Nice Day CDs? I have some reservations about the box set because of some Amazon customer reviews. Apparently some of the songs are edited for space, and there are a bunch of '70s soundbites mixed in with the songs as part of the same track.

Also, Wikipedia says:

While covering much of the same ground as Rhino's Have a Nice Day series, it includes more R&B, funk, soul and disco from the period. It also has several tracks from best-selling artists of the era, making this set less of an obscure semi-hits collection than the Have a Nice Day series.

The "obscure semi-hits collection" part is more appealing to me, because I'd get best-of collections for more well-known artists.

What movie am I thinking of?

kisch mokusch — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 06:02:33 -0800

So there's this movie that I saw when I was a kid, but don't know what it was called... I saw it on late-night TV in 1991/1992 (which makes it a pre-90s movie), and I can only remember a couple of scenes.

The first one was at the beginning of the movie. The main character was running away from a couple of cops and eventually gets onto the back off a train. He then looked back at his pursuers and gave them the finger.

Later, he finds himself hiding out in a country town, enrolled as a student at a high school. The scene I remember best is when the teacher in one of his classes starts talking (favourably) about Nixon, and he proceeds to berate her about how he was the worst president the country had ever had. To this, the (female) teacher tells him he's not to say anything bad about the government (or something like that), and sends him off to detention.

I get the impression he was a politically active uni student who got into trouble with the authorities, but was young enough to pass himself off as a high-school student in a small country town. I think it was made in the late 70s/early 80s. I also remember the movie being pretty funny - for some reason Jason Lee (of "My name is Earl" fame) always reminds me of the main character from this movie. Other than that, I can't remember anything.

This has been bugging me for ages, and I would be grateful to anybody who can remember this movie.

Aww Yeah, Girl...

phrontist — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:18:53 -0800

SongIdentificationFilter: This song would be well suited to a slow motion lovers-into-each-others-arms scene. It has a very 70's feel, and is centered around a swooning and syrupy string section. I'm quite set on finding it, because in addition to it's campy sappiness, it's got a distinctly danceable groove as well. I heard it in a bar in Maryland last week, which was quite unexpected, as prior to this I've only heard this in film/television. There were, iirc, no or very minimal lyrics.

Pretty sure it wasn't Pilgrim's Progress ...

jbickers — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:21:55 -0800

Help me find yet another vaguely remembered horror movie from the 70s. This was back in the day when our local NBC affiliate would show movies every afternoon at 3, and it seemed to this then-pre-teenage kid that they were scary more often than not.

Anyway, one that has stuck with me for some reason involved a woman who was having visions of being pursued/stalked by people in pilgrim outfits. I seem to think it took place somewhere in the country, but maybe not. The one scene I recall had her on the ground in a field, and they were pressing a board down on her (or something like that).

This movie contributed to a lifelong distrust of people in pilgrim costumes, which, as you might imagine, is an impediment to succeeding in today's workforce. Can you please help me find this movie so I can watch it and exorcise my brown-hat-wearing demons?

Don't call pretty Peggy

Mocata — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 06:36:05 -0800

Neil nerds: does anyone know if there's a live performance of The Old Laughing Lady out there (and available on CD or MP3) with banjo rather than guitar, as in this clip?

Dressy Bessy's little brother?

dial-tone — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 09:09:45 -0800

Please help me find dressy bessy's little brother. I'm looking for a doll that my parents gave me when they brought me home from the hospital.

The known knowns: It was made by playskool and looks like Dressy Bessy's younger brother. The doll wore a diaper and a bib. It had red hair coloring for hair with a sprig of yarn on the top left coming out like one of the little rascals. It's eyes were blue. The face really looks like Dressy Bessy from the 70's but with a more "boy" part. It may have also included a rattle. According to its tag, it was made in 1978, and was either item number 37, 57, or 87 (right now I may be remembering this wrong). My parents referred to the doll as "Baby Doll" which makes me think that might be part of the name, as they called my brother's Dapper Dan by it's original name.

The Known Unknowns: The toys actual name, what to search for on ebay (I tried scouring last night to no avail).

I'm looking to get one to put on the side for when I have children.

HeeBees 70s Show?

wavejumper — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:07:48 -0800

Okay, yet another guy looking for the name of a TV show from the 70s. It was kinda like the Muppets, had a laugh track and musical sequences, set in a woodsy town. There was an owl who brewed up potions, a teenage band of bees who fly in the title sequence, an antagonistic, aristocratic lady with a pointy nose, lots of psychedelic sequences, etc. The title was something like "Dr. _____ present HeeBeesomething"
What's the name and where can I find the episodes?

I KNOW this has been asked before IN THIS FORUM even, but locating it without the title is the hard bit. Thanks!

The Last V8?

tomierna — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 11:52:01 -0800

In the late 70s or early 80s, I watched a movie, probably on network television, which was called something like, "The Last V8" or "The Last of the V8s". Help me find it! The premise of the movie was that all of the oil had run out, and cars were illegal. A Real American™ had entombed his V8, in pieces, under the floor of his garage.

Some prompting causes him to want to re-build the vehicle, and drive cross-country, using the dregs of gasoline pumped from the bottom of abandoned gas station tanks.

The movie is a grand chase.

One memorable scene involved a decrepit Coca-Cola truck being hauled across the road to block his way, and the Coke (still carbonated, natch) fizzing all over the highway when the blockade was breached.

This movie had nothing to do with the vehicle in the Mad Max movies, as far as I can remember. There appears to be a C=64 game that may have been related to the movie, but I can't verify that.

I've combed Google and IMDB, but not found this movie. Can ask.mefi find more information on this movie? Can ask.mefi tell me where to get a copy of it?

What was this show called?

rjt — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 13:27:48 -0800

I'm trying to help my brother remember the name of a late '70s or early '80s detective(?) TV show. "Main character looked like James Coburn (but wasn’t) he had a side kick – large black guy with a metal hand that had gadgets in it - electric screwdriver etc. I think it was based on an exotic island."

I definitely remember watching this and loved it, but can't remember what it was called and don't seem to have enough to Google it. Can any MeFites help out?

Two sided jigsaw puzzle with numbered code

unceman — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:12:10 -0800

Puzzle Filter: Looking for any information about a puzzle I saw in the late 70's (?). As a kid I saw an explanation of a jigsaw puzzle that was distributed in a velvet bag, on a TV show (That's Incredible! maybe, or 60 Minutes). The jigsaw pieces had a code written with numbers on both sides of the puzzle pieces (white numbers on black background?). I seem to recall that there was a hefty reward for anyone who could solve this puzzle. I always considered this one of the toughest puzzles I had ever seen (I was elementary school aged at the time).

1UP 4:3

Mr. Six — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 21:54:28 -0800

How did "classic" arcade displays evolve? After playing Ms Pac-Man on an emulator through an Xbox, the 4:3 CRT aspect ratio made me wonder if there was an evolution of arcade displays over the 70s, 80s and 90s for "classic" games — and specifically if there was any particular marketing or technological reasoning for the resolutions and aspect ratios chosen for games developed over the years. (For example, were "portait"-style displays chosen to minimize the arcade enclosure width and maximize the number of people that would spend money in an arcade?)

Anyone remember this toy from the 80s?

Wild_Eep — Sat, 27 May 2006 06:37:54 -0800

Help a geek find a long-lost favorite childhood storybook/gadget. Fisher-Price made a series of storybooks and upon every page were small (yellow?) discs. There was a battery-operated device you'd place over the discs, and the device (through a kinematic inversion, the head would spin around and around over the stationary disc/page) would play the discs like a record. The pages were laminated (I think) and bound with a 'comb binding'. IIRC, it was called the 'Read-To-Me player'. I must've had 3 or 4 of these books (and the player) and I'd love to find some pictures, or better yet, one for sale. This would've been in the early 80's, or at least, that's when I played with it. I think one of the books was a Disney story of some kind.

L'il help?

ScifiBookFilter: My uncle has been trying to figure out this novel he read around the 70s.

Lockeownzj00 — Mon, 22 May 2006 17:54:13 -0800

ScifiBookFilter: My uncle has been trying to figure out this novel he read around the 70s. It's a sci-fi book that centers around this brilliant guy whose intelligence is being used for some goal (apparently evil), and somehow by the end of the book he figures out that he's just a disembodied head. Ring any bells?

Recommendations for great dance music.

deafmute — Tue, 09 May 2006 19:55:20 -0800

My friends and I are throwing a large, time-travel themed dance party. I need recommendations for funk, soul, and R&B to play during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, as I'm deeply asea in this area. The basic concept is that we play 1-2 songs a year from 1955 to the present in an attempt to keep people DANCING. the 80s, 90s, and aughts are well covered, but 1955 to 1980 needs to be padded out well, and NOT with cute novelty songs.

I need some recommendations, mainly for great, upbeat, dancy soul, funk, motown, and R&B songs, but really for anything else that would keep people moving.

So far we're talking about Rock Around the Clock, ABC, Dance to the Music, Shake Senora, Give Up the Funk, Apache, and other various and sundry songs. We would love some more.