The Drop Dead Funny ’70s

This work offers a critical examination of 130 commercially-released film comedies of the 1970s. It considers the socio-political circumstances of each year of the decade, then critiques each film released that year with a focus on its effect on the film industry and the art of big screen comedy, as well as the emergence of talents whose work influenced (or was influenced by) the zeitgeist of the decade. Covering popular titles like M*A*S*H, Blazing Saddles, American Graffiti, The Bad News Bears, Smokey and the Bandit and many more, it argues that the 1970s may rightly be considered the last golden age of film comedy.

Dan Lalande is a screenwriter based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. For thirteen years, he served as an adjunct instructor of screen-based storytelling at Algonquin College.

Dan Lalande
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 25 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9254-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4974-0
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction 1
Prologue: The Graduate (1967) 3
1970 7
Brewster McCloud 8  •  ­Catch-22 9  •  Cotton Comes to Harlem 12  •  Hi, Mom! 13  •  The Landlord 14  •  Little Big Man 16  •  Lovers and Other Strangers 18  •  M*A*S*H 19  •  The Out-of-Towners 22  •  The Owl and the Pussycat 24  •  The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 26  •  Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx 27  •  Start the Revolution Without Me 28  •  The Twelve Chairs 30  •  Watermelon Man 31  •  Where’s Poppa? 32
1971 34
Bananas 35  •  Cold Turkey 37  •  The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight 39  •  Harold and Maude 40  •  The Hospital 42  •  Kotch 43  •  Little Murders 44  •  Made for Each Other 45  •  A New Leaf 47  •  Plaza Suite 48  •  Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? 50
1972 52
Avanti! 52  •  Butterflies Are Free 54  •  Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* *But Were Afraid to Ask 55  •  The Heartbreak Kid 56  •  Last of the Red Hot Lovers 59  •  Play It Again, Sam 60  •  The War Between Men and Women 62  •  What’s Up, Doc? 63
1973 66
American Graffiti 67  •  Blume in Love 69  •  Cops and Robbers 71  •  Paper Moon 73  •  Sleeper 74  •  Slither 76  •  The Sting 77  •  A Touch of Class 78
1974 80
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz 80  •  Blazing Saddles 81  •  California Split 84  •  For Pete’s Sake 86  •  Freebie and the Bean 88  •  The Front Page 90  •  Uptown Saturday Night 92  •  Young Frankenstein 94
1975 95
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother 97  •  Cooley High 98  •  Death Race 2000 99  •  The Fortune 100  •  Hearts of the West 101  •  Let’s Do It Again 103  •  Love and Death 104  •  Lucky Lady 105  •  The Prisoner of Second Avenue 106  •  Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins 108  •  The Return of the Pink Panther 109  •  Shampoo 111  •  Smile 113  •  The Sunshine Boys 115
1976 117
The Bad News Bears 118  •  The Big Bus 120  •  The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings 121  •  Buffalo Bill and the Indians 123  •  Car Wash 124  •  The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox 125  •  The Gumball Rally 126  •  Mother, Jugs and Speed 127  •  Murder by Death 128  •  Network 129  •  Next Stop, Greenwich Village 131  •  Nickelodeon 133  •  The Pink Panther Strikes Again 134  •  The Ritz 135  •  Silent Movie 137  •  Silver Streak 138
1977 140
Annie Hall 140  •  The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training 142  •  Citizens Band 143  •  Fun with Dick and Jane 145  •  The Goodbye Girl 146  •  High Anxiety 147  •  The Last Remake of Beau Geste 148  •  The Late Show 149  •  Oh, God! 150  •  A Piece of the Action 153  •  Semi-Tough 154  •  Slap Shot 156  •  Smokey and the Bandit 157  •  Which Way Is Up? 160  •  The World’s Greatest Lover 161
1978 162
Animal House 162  •  The Bad News Bears Go to Japan 164  •  The Cheap Detective 165  •  The End 166  •  Every Which Way But Loose 167  •  FM 168  •  Foul Play 169  •  Heaven Can Wait 171  •  Hooper 172  •  House Calls 173  •  I Wanna Hold Your Hand 175  •  Movie Movie 177  •  The One and Only 178  •  Rabbit Test 179  •  Revenge of the Pink Panther 180  •  Same Time, Next Year 181  •  Up in Smoke 183  •  Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? 185
1979 186
…And Justice for All 186  •  Being There 187  •  Breaking Away 189  •  California Suite 190  •  Chapter Two 191  •  The Frisco Kid 192  •  Hot Stuff 193  •  The ­In-Laws 194  •  The Jerk 196  •  Love at First Bite 199  •  The Main Event 200  •  Manhattan 201  •  More American Graffiti 203  •  The Muppet Movie 204  •  1941 206  •  A Perfect Couple 207  •  Real Life 209  •  Rock’n’Roll High School 210  •  Scavenger Hunt 212  •  Starting Over 213  •  10 214  •  The Villain 215
Conclusion: So… Drop Dead Funny? 219
Bibliography 221
Index 223

• “Lalande is an astute and thoughtful critic, who offers tasty behind-the-scenes tales of how the films were made and weighs their merits… A knowledgeable, entertaining, and useful critical review of comedy films of the 1970s.”—Library Journal

• “An entertaining survey of American film comedies from that tumultuous decade in Hollywood history”—Booklist