Breakdown: 1975

Just FYI, this review does not have a personal ax to grind with the documentary, nor does it have a book to selfishly promote.

Breakdown 1975 looks at the diverse palette of movies released in that year and attempts to analyze the movie industry in the wider context of American culture. The documentary plausible posits that movies from that year were thematically different from movies made in prior years.

The interesting part was being reminded of how many 1975 movies became classics. The disturbing aspect was realizing how the USA is regressing back to the chaotic state of politics and culture that existed 50 years ago.

Good thing I have watched most of these movies being discussed here. Not all, but most of them. I do not think they're all great but some of them are. So I enjoyed this documentary, and I loved Jodie Foster's voice and I found out some new things or did a refresher on some others and damn why did the movie business change so much the next year?

Looking at it from a movie-buff's point of view it was pretty good. I had seen most of the movies represented, some were pretty good but most were just OK. It was strange having Seth Rogen and Patton Oswald commenting on this. It just reminded me of how long ago this was, my first year of college. If someone is going to pick a pivotal year in the 70's I would think that 1975 would be it. Jack Nicholson was certainly at the top of his game!

This film should have been called something like Mid-Seventies Culture as Seen Through the Lens of Independent Films or something like that. Many of the films profiled in detail were released in 1974 (e.g. Chinatown, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore) or 1976 (e.g. Network, All the President's Men, Taxi Driver). Even the Tom Petty Song Breakdown of the Title wasn't released until November 1976. It talks about Warren Beatty in 1974's The Parallax View with scant mention of Beatty in 1975's Shampoo. There are references to Shaft from 1971 and Devo whose first album wasn't released until August 1978. In short, it's a bit all over the place in terms of being a chronology of Seventies' culture and film.

Incredible insights into a pivot of American culture, including a few preceding years. Includes cultural context of films and reactions/reception.

Exposed is the massive censorship establishment has always imposed on America, and a well crafted fabric providing insight on why hippies never ruled the world.

This would seem like a strange film/documentary project (as opposed to a miniseries), but I understood it after watching, and feel it was done right.