Continuing the analysis and rundown of every Best Picture in Oscar history, Jeffery and I reach the pinnacle, the 1970s.

JL is Jeffery L., Last Blog is LB.

OVERVIEW

LB: The first thing I want to say, before anything, is that I think this was the best decade for film.

JL: And I absolutely agree. The only reason I didn't give my "worst" Best Pictures of the '70s three and a half stars is just because I had to pull back somewhere.

LB: There was a maturing quality to all the subject matter in films, dare I say Hollywood finally grew up?

JL: I will go one further. I think in the '70s we see a genesis of the independent film spirit. Studios were backing the type of films that in another generation would become the independent movement.

"BEST" BEST PICTURES, 1970-79

LB: Number 5 for me is 'The French Connection' (1971)

JL: It's 'The Godfather' (1972) for me.

LB: I will say right out that The Godfather is number 9 for me. I'm not a fan of it. But I can't give it less than 3 stars, it is too epic, too American.

JL: What don't you like about it?

LB: The power aspect bothers me. Power through intimidation and cruelty, which to me exemplifies the American capitalistic system. I'm not interested in that type of power.

JL: I don't see the power part, but I do see it as a family story. The French Connection is my number 4.

LB: Great movie. What about it do you like?

JL: Well, first and foremost, that car chase. Amazing editing that probably can never be duplicated in a non-computer generated sense. The film's overall pacing makes it like a joy ride.

LB: Of course, Gene Hackman, is unbelievable. He creates a character that is the law, as politically incorrect as you can possibly be. When you look at the scene at the African American bar, where he is liberally using the n-word, speaks to that contemporary nature of the film as a raw, unblinking representation of "law" at the time.

Number 4 for me is Rocky, a sentimental choice, which I'm sure for you is your 10.

JL: It is my 10! But I still gave it 3 stars. I didn't see it until a couple months ago.

LB: Wow, given its position as an American icon, you did hold out long.

JL: I was expecting to think it was just stupid, typical Sly Stallone stuff, but what most impressed me was the delicate nature of the relationship between Rocky and Adrian. You needed that in the film to counterbalance the brutal fight sequence.

LB: You need something to fight for. It is in the position it is on my list because I saw it as a contemporary and I still remember the feeling I had seeing it for the first time, how thrilled I was. It hasn't faded even though Stallone made 50 sequels and tried to dilute it.

Your number 3 is?

JL: 'Kramer vs. Kramer' (1979).

LB (Laughing): I don't feel so bad about Rocky anymore.

JL: It was the first Best Picture I saw in the theater at release, so that might have something to do with it, but really I just liked it. I liked that it was set in New York City, the urban element.

LB: It was real, and about divorce and family, which was just starting to become a timely issue. I gave it 3-1/2 stars, but in this decade it ends up number 7.

JL: Number 3?

LB: 'The Godfather, Part II' (1974). Now this may be surprising given my reaction to Godfather, Part 1.

JL: It's called The Godfather, it's not Part 1.

LB: Regardless. I didn't see Part II until about the early 1990s, and I thought THIS was the Godfather epic that makes sense to me, because it is the history of an immigrant family applying the American Dream.

JL: It was my number 9. I liked the first one much better, because I didn't really care about Michael Corleone in this one.

JL: My number 2 is 'The Deer Hunter' (1978).

LB: It's my 6, but still, 3-1/2 stars. It's a great film. It is due a revisit, because I am sure I haven't seen it since it was released in 1978.

JL: I would revisit it. It's a long film, and slow in the beginning, but I loved the set up of ritual and heritage, in contrast to going to war and facing death.

LB: I didn't fully understand the alienation concept when I first saw it and only in retrospect do I now.

My number 2 is 'Annie Hall' (1977). Which used to be my favorite film, but I saw it too many times to make an impact anymore.

So what has risen to number 1 for me is 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975).

JL: That was my number 7.

LB: There was something about the larceny of being mental in this society that resonates with me everytime I see it.

JL: To me it seemed almost amateur, it had an amateur quality. The boat sequence, for example, didn't fit in the context of bonding those men to me, I would have edited it out. It just didn't flow. What does it say to you?

LB: The real mental evil is authority, that putting enough money or power around you, despite a mental illness, is somehow "better" than the people we put into an asylum.

JL: Well, going back to Annie Hall, that is my number 1.

LB: "We need the eggs."

JL: I think that is one of the great last lines in movie history. We all need the eggs, love it, Annie Hall is number 1.

"WORST" BEST PICTURES, 1970-79

LB: Your number 8?

JL: 'The Sting' (1973). It's fun, but fluffy. It's all about the con, which in such a socially conscious decade, doesn't seem to fit.

LB: Ding, ding, ding, it was my 8 as well (high fives). It was the first Best Picture, though, I saw as a contemporary in the theater. Amazing that I was able to comprehend it as a infant. :o)

JL: We talked about our number 9s, The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II, and Rocky which was my number 10.

LB: Patton was my number 10, even though I think it's an enjoyable film, but it is very cheap. It was a cheap bio.

JL: It was 6 for me. I thought it would be boring and it wasn't.

LB: In essence, it was a very great decade for American film.

THEY GOT ROBBED

JL: I would give this to 1974's Chinatown over The Godfather, Part II.

LB: I can only disagree based on my rankings, but Chinatown is a classic. Mine was 'M*A*S*H' (1970) over Patton, two war pictures that couldn't have been more opposite.

JL: Well, again everyone talks about The Godfather, The Godfather, The Godfather in 1972, but everyone forgets that 'Cabaret' swept just about every other major award and I think is a superior film. It should have won.

LB: That's the amazing thing about the 1970s for films, you can literally find over 20 films or so that are CLASSICS among the ones who didn't win. Incredible.

JL: God bless the '70s in film history.

TOMORROW: The power of the movies is well documented by Jeffery as we double down again. It's the Best Pictures for the 1980s and 1990s getting the treatment during Oscar Week on The Last Blog in Cyberspace.