Badmovies.org Forum

Here's a thread dedicated to that bizarre decade in which I spent the bulk of my childhood. When you think about it, the 70's were wierder than the 60's, although much of that wierdness actually came from the 60's. But the wierdest of all were some of the paradoxes of the decade. Feel free to share your own. I'll start:

- Laugh tracks: These started in the 60's and made their way well into the 70's. The Brady Bunch, M*A*S*H, and other shows that had no possibility of having an audience viewing. In retrospect such a strange idea, but at the time, it was so commonplace and accepted that the original producer of M*A*S*H, who didn't want to have a laugh track, was pressured into having one because that's just what was done. Cartoons for crying out loud. CARTOONS. Hanna/Barbera cartoons were noted for using laugh tracks.

- The Cultural Shift: The decade started on dark and dismal, and ended up with disco and glitter. Looking back at the early to mid 70's, this was one depressed country, and it was reflected in the films and shows Americans watched. Dog Day Afternoon is a perfect example of a film portraying the mindset of mainstream America. Scores of other films from that era reflect that bleak and dismal landscape. Then, come 1977/78, this massive shift to this glittery disco culture, and the return of happy endings in movies. Star Wars was a notable film in how it reflected that shift away from dark, depressing backdrops and dismal endings. No other decade since WWII has, in my opinion, demonstrated such a dramatic cultural shift.

- The Loss of Innocence: This is related to the previous item. Since WWII, America had experienced a time of naivete and innocence, at least on the mainstream. The media culture reflected that. The 60's saw the beginnings of the shift into darkness that would permeate the early to mid 70's, but even most of that decade still held onto a feeling of innocence and naive wonderment. The Brady Bunch was just about the only television show that seemed able to penetrate the loss of innocence felt in the 70's with some of that naivete of decades past. This was the decade where dangerous drugs began to find their way into the public schools on a wide scale, and the first time the country started to see the casualties portrayed in film and television. Far more underage teens took to prostitution than in any decade before. These realities began to make their way into mainstream television and movies.

- Psychedelic and Just Plain Wierd Kids Shows: Anybody here watch Saturday morning kids programming in the 70's? Wow. H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, and scores of other shows reflected the fact that the college students of the 60's were now making the shows in the 70's.

There's a few for you consideration. It was a strange and fascinating decade.

Discuss.

Oh, The Love Boat and Eight is Enough. Those were two shows I missed that used laugh tracks exclusively  that were WELL into the 70's. I forgot to mention those.

Is this an unofficial "Welcome Back the '70s" thread?
If so:
(http://store.vintagepaperads.com/catalog/AZ0458.jpg)
(http://goldderby.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c2c4f53ef01156ecc74cd970c-800wi)
And the original Wheel hosts: Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford!
(http://game-shows.chris-place.com/shows/wheel-of-fortune/images/chuck-and-susan.gif)

Laugh tracks started in the 1950s (or perhaps in the very earliest days of TV, the '40s).  The earliest show I've seen multiple episodes of and can confirm it always used a laugh track is "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet".  No studio audience, but that was probably also the first TV program shot on film, and hence well preserved.

More:
(http://travisschario.com/images/games/ttd.jpg)
(http://stevelundeberg.mvourtown.com/files/2010/06/jokerboard.jpg)
Allen Ludden and Password Plus
(http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XtexMhxlx58/0.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Whewlogo.jpg)
(http://www.gameshowmuseum.com/HrSignAlex.bmp)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/3041699841_2647761141_z.jpg)
(http://www.gameshowmuseum.com/CardSharksPromo.bmp)
Though it came out in the '50s, this is the version we all remember..
(http://www.scandigital.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/price-is-right.jpg)
Break The Bank
(http://home.comcast.net/~studlight/A-F_files/image007.jpg)

That's true, and I thought about that after the fact. Still, it didn't really get going until the 60's, and in the 70's you started to see it used in shows to ridiculous lengths, like the aforementioned M*A*S*H or The Love Boat, and cartoons, where the idea of an audience was well beyond ludicrous at that point.

That having been said, perhaps because of those ludicrous lengths, the 70's were also the decade that saw the return to live audiences, and at the end of the decade and into the early 80's, it became a badge of pride to announce at the beginning of a show "this show was filmed before a live studio audience."

Absolutely. I thought of calling it that. Have at it.

(http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/morrisawilliams/smiley-1.jpg)

All fair, there are piles of '60s programs that used laugh tracks: "The Munsters" "The Addams Family" "Gilligan's Island" "Bewitched" "Family Affair" "The Patty Duke Show" and in the '70s I think there's a real return to form: "All In The Family" "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" "Three's Company" Not sure, relying on memory: "Welcome Back Kotter" "Taxi" "Soap" ...?

My most vivid impression of having actually lived through the 70s is that almost everything was brown, orange, and yellow.

(http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/morrisawilliams/brown.jpg)


People even had brown, orange, and yellow appliances in their kitchen. Anybody remember 'Harvest Gold'?

(http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/080705c.jpg)

Born in 73, I remember...

What's Happening!!
The Gong Show
Scooby-Doo
Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse
Star Blazers
Dynomutt - Dog Wonder
My dad's old console stereo with the brown speakers.
Record Player
Analog TV with turn dials.
Halloween... when it was COOL!

Yes, I remember the '70's quite well: I graduated High School in '76.



HA! I'll see your 'Harvest Gold' and raise you an 'Avocado Green'  (Which looked more like a sickly dull olive colour) That's what my Mom had.  Hideous, much?

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3370438001_7d1df9c1a9.jpg)

The 70s also gave us the summer blockbuster, with movies like Jaws and Star Wars. Star Wars also largely kicked off the rapid advancement of movie special effects.

Low-budget horror hits like Black Christmas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween laid the groundwork for slasher films to take off in the 80s.

Video games, which had existed in some form since the 50s, finally reached the public. The first commercial arcade video game, Computer Space, appeared in 1971. Built entirely from discrete components, it had no microprocessor and no software. Home gaming followed with the Magnavox Odyssey and the Atari 2600. By the end of the decade, arcade games such as Space Invaders and Galaxian were popular, and more were on the way.

Computers first started finding their way into homes. The 70s started with the first microcomputers, which went from using discrete logic to microprocessor chips, and eventually found their way into the hands of hobbyists by the middle of the decade, which led directly to the founding of Microsoft. In the late 70s, the home computer took its familiar form of a desktop-sized machine with a keyboard and monitor.

Culturally, the 70s was a decade of transition. Demographics had just started coming into use in entertainment, so there was a really interesting mix of music, TV shows and whatnot. Newer stuff was taking over, but the older generations continued to be represented. You saw a new crop of TV, movie and popular music stars, alongside veterans of early television, pre-television and even Vaudeville, who were still working and still household names. Rockers and crooners shared the Top 40. And it probably didn't hurt that TV stations had a lot of hours to fill, and did not have a whole lot of cheap programming to choose from. So kids who were getting more programming aimed at them than ever, still watched cartoons that were released in theatres as far back as the 30s, as well as a lot of old shows and movies.

And, of course, the home video revolution started to take off in the 70s as well.

Funny how the 60s gets the credit as the big decade of change, and the popular image of the 70s is all disco and leisure suits and Watergate. The 70s were pretty important years.

The PG rating made its debut in 1971.
Also in 1971, the first arcade game made its appearance.
COMPUTER SPACE
(http://games.softpedia.com/screenshots/Computer-Space-Simulator_1.jpg)
(http://printliberation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/computerspace-1.jpg)
Much more famous, this came out the following year:
(http://gizmofusion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/pong.jpg)
This guy and his Steelers dominated the NFL in the '70s:
(http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0809/nfl.best.teams.all.time/images/1979-steelers.jpg)
This guy melded sex and home video, as well as his Hogans Heroes status.  This was ended in 1978 when he was brutally murdered.
(http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/2006/21/7419_113797615270.jpg)

I remember Harvest Gold and Avocado Green (is that what they called it?)  Though we'd be more inclined towards sh!t brown (yer third option - you find the pic!)  
As tacky as the '80s got, I enjoyed them.  I could not wait to get out of the '70s... though now, I'm nostalgic.  

HURRICANE SMITH!!!  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJdkCs5RdQg  

My dad and I liked the Cowboys.  
(http://www.bonafidesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ROGER-STAUBACH-002.jpg) 

(http://www.thelaughline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/hollywood_squares.jpg)

And this place opened in 1977:
(http://www.localbozo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/studio54+Logo.jpg)
These guys really took off in the '70s..
(http://www.thegreat70s.com/images/Bands/bee-gees.jpg)
And these music shows were big:
(http://media.lunch.com/d/d7/211235.jpg?3)
DANCE FEVER!
And..
(http://www.betavideotapes.com/uploads/1/1/0/0/1100565/1986174.jpg?545)
And
(http://www.soulsummer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/soul-train-generation-soul.jpg)

Growing up in the 1970's, there is one horror that I am glad has not resurfaced: the safari suit!  :buggedout: :buggedout:

Here are some of my fond memories of the 1970s:

* Streaking - What a great concept: running around naked in public.
* Hairstyles - Especially afros and perms (even on white males!)
* C.B. radios - Who didn't have a C.B. radio?  I had one in my bedroom when I was about 12 years old!
* TV variety shows - Such as Carol Burnett, Donnie and Marie, The Captain and Tenille, and Tony Orlando and Dawn
* Movies released to theaters "unrated" - With the warning, "No one under 17 will be admitted" (even your parents couldn't get you in!)  DAWN OF THE DEAD is an example (although, I saw it in a theater that paid no attention to movie ratings and would let anyone in regardless of their age)
* Rollerskating - And even worse, DISCO roller skating
* Roller Derby - I used to watch it sometimes on Saturdays, right after wrestling!
* Bicentennial Minutes - In the months leading up to July 4, 1976, they would have "Bicentennial Minutes" on TV.  It would be about a 2 minute "filler" between programs where a famous person would summarize key events that occurred on that day in the U.S. in 1776.
* Mr. Coffee - Probably the most famous home coffee machine, and the pitchman was Joe DiMaggio!
* Space Food sticks - They probably really came out in the late 1960s.  They advertised them as being "what the astronauts eat" (yeah, sure).  They came in various flavors like chocolate and peanut butter.
* Crackfire Rifles - I loved mine.  It was a toy rifle.  You would cock it and then pull the trigger and an authentic rifle sound would come out of a speaker built into the rifle.
* Platform shoes - I had a pair.
* Leisure suits - I had two.  Both were denim.  One was navy blue, the other was off-white.
* Polyester shirts - I had several, with huge flowers on them.
* Wacky Packages - Chewing gum that came with trading cards/stickers that were parodies of actual products (such as "Coverghoul" make-up, which was a parody of Cover Girl make-up).

I may be back later with more!

Banana seat bikes, with ape hangers and a sissy bar. Metallic flake on everything.
(http://www.jmooneyham.com/red-1970s-banana-seat-bike.jpg)

Some outstanding input! I had polyester shirts too. I had a really wierd one in 1978 that had a sci-fi theme to it in that it had spaceships fighting each other all over it. The funny thing was that it was obviously a rip-off of Star Wars in that the fighting ships kind of resembled tie-fighters and x-wings, but not quite. Wierd shirt.

My Dad was a CB radio nut. Had one in his car.

My step-dad sported a perm in the 70's. He had wispy straight hair that was thinning and he admitted that he did the perm because it made him look like he had thicker hair. It actually looked extremely cheesy.

VARIETY SHOWS! Goodness, my family would gather around the tube to watch almost all of those shows you mentioned religiously. Don't forget Sonney and Cher!

Oh yeah, Sonny & Cher!  And let's not forget Dean Martin and Flip Wilson!

Here are some more.  Let's not forget:

* Mood Rings - My mom had one.
* Ginsu Knives - Mom had a set of these, too.
* "Keep on Truckin'" T-shirts
* Wide belts with huge buckles
* Pop Rocks - The world's most dangerous exploding candy!
* Marathon Bars - Candy bars that were long, thin, and braided.  "Marathon . . . lasts a good, long time."
* Sensurround - Recently covered in another thread
* Dynamite 8 - Portable 8-track tape player shaped like a detonator.  You pushed the plunger to change tracks.
* Silly string
* Count Chocula, Frankenberry, and Boo Berry Cereal
* Jerry Lewis games - Board games endorsed and advertised by Jerry Lewis!

More to come . . .

I had an orange bike with black trim.  The banana seat was black with gold, metallic stripes.

Big cars with big engines. In particular, the new more affordable high-performance cars that started appearing in the late 60s.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Plymouth_Duster_%28Orange_Julep%29.jpg/800px-Plymouth_Duster_%28Orange_Julep%29.jpg)
And almost a 70s fad in itself - the Firebird Trans Am, popularized by Smokey and the Bandit.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/1978_Trans-Am_bandit.jpg)

Mind you, the average family sedan had a big high-output V8 in it. Back in high school, a buddy of mine used to drive his dad's Buick Electra, which was maybe 12 years old at that time, but already totally different from just about everything on the road. It was a tank. Roomy interior, tons of leg space, bench seats like couches, wall-to-wall taillights, vast trunk space, and thick, heavy body panels. In a collision, its crumple zone would be the other car. Plus, it had a 455 big block in it. I was once riding along when he got into an impromptu back-road drag race with another friend who was attempting to pass him. Took the thing (a beat-up old family sedan) up to just about 120mph, no problem. That would be 200kph, or two and a half times the speed limit on that road. Left the other guy in the dust. Can't say I've gone that fast in any other vehicle that didn't have wings.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Buick_Electra_Limited_1975.jpg)

And, of course, that car became such a rarity on the road because of the shift to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in North America, thanks to oil prices in the mid-70s shooting up to just about the level they're at today, if you adjust for inflation, and not coming down again until well into the 80s. It always gets me when I see a picture from the 70s, or a display of restored cars from that time. It's as if I've forgotten the roads being full of those when I was a kid. We had a pair of 350-equipped boats at our house into the early 80s - a '73 Catalina and a '77 Suburban. It's become hard to imagine what used to be commonplace.

My mom used to drive us around in a car just like this one, only brown.
(http://www.theronnet.com/images/greencar2.jpg)
It was our smaller second car, for everyday errands and grocery shopping. :teddyr:

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP4N27kbMdk

LEVIS in colors like rust:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YZSG12-3Vg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfloPU6VpKc

Freaky TV commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2U-lP-SOSQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt-TE6JYC2s&feature=related

Allhallowsday almost made me cry.  What great memories. 

Don't forget-the X rated film went legit with DEEP THROAT. But you actually had to go to a theater to see it! (I couldn't I didn't turn 18 untill 1980  :bluesad:)
Certain theaters specialized in porn. And with the availability of vhs tapes in the late 70's and early 80's-thearical porn died.

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/3835453506_bfe49fd6e9.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/X-Rated201-thumb.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/prison20girls203d20x20rated20ad20mat3.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/4015241508_7965b12bff_o.png)

Here's MY 70's....

My sister Wendy....
 Dig the tv with legs...!
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/162665_10150378026010705_809960704_16521991_6297002_n.jpg)

Left to right-My Uncle Ronny (yes-I was named after him-he named his son Ronny too!),my Uncle Doug-he was a TV repair man,Grandpa Hammer (my Grandpa Merchant died before I was born-of alcholism),my Dad, and some kid-who has the only NORMAL looking pants of the bunch!

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/167477_10150378044590705_809960704_16522491_3230423_n.jpg)

My dog-Inky...the bone is bigger than him! Note the tractor seat welded to the shock spring welded to a tire rim!

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/inky.jpg)

Me-in the middle with the HORROR MOVIES book-with my brothers and sisters on my 11th birthday.
(note the sick yellow contact paper on the wall!)


(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/bday.jpg)

RC,

The pants in that picture are amazing!

Pet rocks!
(http://0.tqn.com/d/familycrafts/1/0/b/O/2/petrock4.jpg)
Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine!
(http://sweettater.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/snoopymachine.jpg)
Blip!
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Blip_game.jpg)
Gnip Gnop!
(http://www.greatwhatsit.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/gnip%20gnop.jpg)
Finger Pops!
(http://www.plaidstallions.com/kenner/fingerpops.jpg)
Digital Derby!
(http://www.aurete.com/images/graphics0052.jpg)
The Atari 2600!
(http://mtac.profusehost.net/atari2600/atari2600.gif)

Home movies and photographs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL1Udm8OSGY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAQpwwYCnpc&feature=related 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glns5nrznys&feature=related

Oh man...the things this thread brought back for me! 

I remember the banana seat bike my next-door neighbor Tommy had (that I wound up with when he moved.)   

And, just about anything else that was mentioned in this thread too!  I remember the declining availability of Aurora monster kits of which I had my share.

The rise of car model kits from Revell and Monogram...

The Atari VCS

The coin op games from Japan like Pacman and Space Invaders

The curly-perm hairdo that went unisex and made The Brady Bunch look like they were all copied from the same material

The 70's era car chase movies, like the original  Gone In 60 Seconds and the Black exploitation movies that were a dime a dozen, but entertaining as all get-out..

Bruce Lee and the movie that made him the household word he is today, as well as the legend he is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgCwyHr7Fzs

Late night horror movies!  One of the greatest things about the whole decade!  Every Saturday night in the Tri-State area was....Fright Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEvR9jZ5O6o

So many wonderful memories that made my early teen years so much fun, and a time I'm sure many of miss dearly.  The 70's were rockin', baby!

Radios small enough to wear.
(http://www.oldradiosrus.com/jpg/hr2-11.jpg)

Lightweight, portable video cameras, that connected to VCRs you could carry with a shoulder strap.
(http://www.mrmartinweb.com/images/camera/movie/rcacc001.jpg)

Electronic equipment that still came in wooden enclosures.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E4PcefqoRN0/TKZaJDhZLtI/AAAAAAAAAM0/gbhgLmH6q-I/s1600/PIONEER+SX+737+AM:FM+Stereo+Receiver+-+SILVER+FACED.jpg)

And a growing use of plastic... that frequently tried to look like wood.
(http://i43.tinypic.com/11lkief.jpg)

And other pecular blends of old and new technology, like rotary phone dials that could be made small enough to fit in the handset.
(http://www.britishtelephones.com/bt/pictures/tsr1002or1.jpg)

I remember some of the things mentioned but was sadly born in the last year of the 70's.  I remember my first TV being in a wooden cabinet not to mention several pieces of radio equipment.  I remember the old school top loading VCRS.  I remember the pong consoles and even the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 (I think they were actually like '79 - '80 but I am too lazy to check the years).  I remember lots of old electronics.  My grandfather was what you would now call an electrical engineer at AT&T and tech was always around.  However, I do feel a little out of place as he would buy lots of old electronics and you would be stuck wondering why things looked the way they did as a young kid.  Speaking of TVs: rotary dials. 

Otter Pops!  I hated 'em, personally..
(http://s3.amazonaws.com/hottopic_shockhound_production/images/70525/otter_pop.jpg)
Pay Day! (the board game)
(http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/386957650/Pay_Day_Board_Games.jpg)
This was a good candy bar (chewy chocolate and caramel):
(http://www.delish.com/cm/delish/images/marathon-bar-xl-58405811.jpg)
So was this:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/5187889706_a902054179_z.jpg)
Got this toy for Christmas in '79:
(http://www.skooldays.com/images/ty1047.jpg)
My neighbor down the street had this.. I played it often at his house.  It had the worst controllers though..
(http://www.1000bit.it/lista/m/mattel/intellivision.jpg)

And 34 years later, this cereal is still bad@$$..
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Cookie_Jarvis_on_the_Cookie_Crisp_box.jpg)

I have been looking at online calendars.  I think Saturday, October 31, 1970, Creature Feature was on channel 5 out of New York shortly after noon and they showed FRANKENSTEIN (1931).  This could be easily confirmed... but how? :question:  :wink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJe0iVo8y3A

As Flip Wilson once said -"The Devil made me do it!" The occult craze!
Anton LeVey and Rosemary's Baby kicked it off in the 60's...but it went all out in the 70's!

Movies like-
.The EXORCIST of course,and ABBY,the DEVIL in MISS JONES,ASYLUM OF SATAN,The OMEN,BLOOD on SATAN'S CLAW,BEYOND THE DOOR,and waaaay too many to list at his moment!

BEYOND THE DOOR tv ad-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bDdncqvtfQ

It was everywhere-magazines,books,comicbooks!

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/time-1.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/4394118296_de815edf1b-1.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/fm111.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/exorcism-1.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/look.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/confla.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/ms12con06.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/undergrndcultad.jpg)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/CoF17.jpg)

ASYLUM OF SATAN trailer-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN7YZwp_o58

My Dad had one of these back in the '70s:

(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/1976ChryslerCordobaSportCoupe.jpg?t=1300361042)

(That's not my Dad, that's Ricardo Montalbán.)  It probably had thicker sheetmetal than your average Light Armored Vehicle these days   :bouncegiggle:

I also had a CB radio.  I don't think I ever heard anyone say anything interesting on it, but oh boy was it ever exciting to have one!

I remember on our local TV station, they actually had a young couple demonstrating a disco dance move during commercial breaks.  So you could practice them at home during your evening TV viewing.

And the bicentennial - bicentennial quarters, all sorts of TV infomercials.  It started in earnest a good year before 1976.

And the Polaroid SX70

(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/Polaroid_SX70.jpg?t=1300361763)

It was like something straight out of the future!

I think every adult male in the United States around that time had the exact same outfit as Uncle Doug.  By the way, my dad was a TV repair man, too.  He's happily retired now.

A friend of mine owned an old Cordoba around 1990. We had a lot of fun with that Chrysler 360. We'd go on a road trip just about every weekend, to some place we picked at random, usually two to four hours away. Get that thing on a really hilly back road and step on the gas, and it would launch itself, Bullitt-style, over each crest. Lots of fun until one of the leaf springs punched through the bottom of the trunk. Bit rusty, that car. He replaced it with a Roadrunner, and the fun continued.

Here's a place I consider one of the authorities on WNEW 5 Creature Features:
http://www.dvddrive-in.com/TV%20Guide/creaturefeaturesarticle.htm

This page should definitely help. I've gone there for years now and enjoy reading the memories of the owner just for the heck of it. 

I too remember Creature Features and "The Creep" very fondly. It's one of the things I miss.  One movie CF always played was House On Haunted Hill. I could go on indefinitely about my Creature Features memories, but there's not enough bandwidth, lol



I was so in love with Sissy Spacek the way she looked in Carrie.

That beautiful and thick red hair, those frosty blue eyes, that cute little button nose,
and that down to earth, girl next door look. And that little smile she occasionally cracked...
She was so pretty  :smile:

OMG...this movie scared the living sh*t right out of me. I had nightmares about it for years after.  Not to mention the fact that as a younger kid before I'd seen it, that WPIX 11 and other stations would run this commercial just before bedtime during 10 o'clock news station breaks!   

You'd go to be with "whoooooo-arrrre-youuuuuuu"   and the image of Juliet Mill's face fresh in your mind before bed.... :buggedout:

Of the possession movies that played, this one got more TV spots than most.  Not so scary now considering the REAL horrors we wake up to everyday, but a very competent and horrifying film despite it's talkiness in some spots.

My dad bought a 1972 Mazda RX2 - complete with rotary engine. It sounded something like a big sewing machine when you gave it the gas.

I inherited it in 1979 as my 'first car'. I had it one week before it caught on fire and burned on the side of the road.

It had a very cool feature - it had a automatic electric radio antennae you could raise or lower with a flip of a switch.

K-Tel and Ronco, though they were originally started in the sixties, put out boatload after boatload of comp albums in the 70s.
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/37/77460508_2c5e7e5fcf.jpg)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LwSW6mUxDDU/TSHmb7QwO7I/AAAAAAAACDk/D4a0tzbciI4/s320/folder.jpg)
And those wonderful "Sessions Presents...!" albums.  :teddyr:
(http://www.bsnpubs.com/tvoffers/sess14623.jpg)

I loved the way the would advertise classica albums that only featured the main themes.
"Now you can listen to Beethoven and Mozart symphonies with no unwanted passages!"

KUNG FU!!!!

Seems like all my freinds (including my idiot brother Glenn!) had a pair of Nunchuks!

Most folks think the Bruce Lee films started the Kung Fu craze-actually FIVE FINGERS of DEATH was a hit first!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm-TgM0fAt4

It was everywhere!

TV....(Lee was actually up for the role-but it went to Carradine-Bruce was p**sED!)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/carradine.jpg)

Comics.....(I usta buy this title...)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/3541653066_0390756414.jpg)

TOYS! (I had 3 or 4 Kung Fu grip Joes.....)

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/AirAdventurer.jpg)

Music....!


(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/mody-vationghettokungfu.jpg)

Hey-you were waiting for this-right?  :teddyr:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTiSzFp4arg

Cartoons! (Scatman (the SHINING) Crothers sang the intro for Hong Kong Fooey!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW54W9y6-eU

I love this ad...

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/Kung_Fu_Halloween_Newspaper_Ad.jpg)

No one could top Bruce,though...!

I like this clip from an interview of the Master...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USlnfTGlhXc

What a great thread!

I was born in Dec. of 1963, so I was six years old when the 70's began and 16 when they ended.  Growing up in a series of small Texas towns (with the exception of one 14 month stint in a Dallas suburb), I had a happy enough childhood.  But my golden memories are of the 1980's.  As a historian, I see the 70's as a time of deep cultural disallusionment.  America had lost its anchor,  and seemed to drift through the decade, rudderless, confused, and exhausted.

  One thing that I point out to my history classes is that history's decade does not necessarily follow the calendar.  What we think of as "The 60's", at least from my perspective, began on that dreadful day in Dallas when President Kennedy's head exploded, and ended when the chopper carrying the just-resigned Richard Nixon took off from the White House lawn.  That stint of nearly 11 years was the most traumatic era in American history since the Civil War, and the divisions it created shape the American political, social, and cultural landscape to this day.

  The 70's, therefore, culturally speaking, stretch from the day Ford took office to the moment when Jimmy Carter returned to Plains, GA.  Only six years, but what a remarkable decade!  Things I remember from growing up then - riding my bicycle EVERYWHERE I went, sometimes five and six miles from home.  8 track tapes - I always hated when they changed tracks in the middle of a song!  Horizontally striped turtlenecks - I thought they actually look GOOD on me!  On TV, we watched ALL IN THE FAMILY, THE CAROL BURNET SHOW, and of course, my Dad loVed HEE HAW.  I loved WELCOME BACK KOTTER and MORK AND MINDY, and in my early school years I remember racing home to catch DARK SHADOWS every afternoon.  I really couldn't follow the story line very well, I just thought it was so cool because it had a vampire and a werewolf in it!

   I think that the cultural scars created by all the trauma of the sixties - Vietnam, Wategate, the riots and assassinations, and everything else - left a nation worn-out, jaded, and in quest of something new to believe in.  Remember the proliferation of various cults?  The Patty Hearst kidnapping?  Reverend Moon's followers begging for cash at the airports?  The birth of Christian Rock?  The death of Elvis?

  When I teach History 1302, I jokingly refer to the 70's as "the Decade without Taste."  I guess it could more accurately be called "The Decade of very, very BAD Taste!"  To each their own, but if I could live my whole life in one continuously looped decade, the 70's would not be it.  We would all be living in the 1980's FOREVER!

I don't think it's the 70's I miss so much...I just miss being a kid. I miss that sense of adventure. Of riding my bike for miles into the boonies on dirt roads with my Army canteen and some peanut butter sandwhiches....walking in the woods with my BB gun-shooting old cans and bottles-fishing at the creek-reading comic books and monster mags under the apple tree, Late nite Creature Feature during a summer thundrstorm-watching Hopalong Cassady reruns on winter mornings. Pushing my GI Joe in his Jeep down the hill in back of the barn. Pretending I was Thor-knocking down dried corn stalks out in the field with a stick. Believeing in ghosts. We were never gonna die.
And as long as we stay young at heart-we never will.  :wink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juJpyUkHPCA

Thanks to The Oil Crisis my first official solo driving experience was being the one to have to drive the cars to the gas station to wait in those looooong gas lines. I was making these runs to the local station a coule of years before I was old enought o have a license.

FYI: You could only go to the gas station on every other day, based on yout tag number.
If your tag ended in an odd number you could buy gas on odd numbered days, if your tag ended with an even number you bought gas on even numbered days.

The gas shortage was also the end of the full service gas station. There are still a few around, but then self-serve was an almost unheard of concept. For a while most stations had 'Self Serve' (cheap) and "Full Service" (expensive) pumps.

I remember taking the fiberglass pole that had once had my bike flag on it and using it as a lightsaber after seeing STAR WARS!!  There was a tree in my back yard that had a long, thin branch that ran parallel to the ground about 4 feet up - I fought ENDLESS duels with it!  (Not a lot of kids my age close by).
  I also became an amateur herpetologist in 1976, capturing hundreds of reptiles over the next couple of years and logging each one in a special notebook with its measurements, Latin name, and place and date of capture.  Then I started hunting arrowheads in 1977 and never stopped . . . .

My first car-I was 16 as well (1978)-I bought a 1964 F-10 Ford Pickup for $150...I had to clean the mice nests outta the bell housing...I worked on that dam truck all summer! I crusied it out in the field behind the house.  :cheers:

I was born in 1973 so I was pretty young in the 70s and honestly remember the 80s more fondly too but I do recall in my childhood watching Hanna Barbera cartoons - Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and the like. We had only two channels here in those days but I do recall the enormous popularity of The Incredible Hulk, the Dukes of Hazzard, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, the Jeffersons, The Price is Right, All in the Family, Three's Company, Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman and Solid Gold. I recall the popularity of Disco which unfortunatey tended to pop up at birthday parties (recall liking Donna Summer, Bee Gees and that Disco Duck tune). Also recall Journey being very popular. Remember owning Disney record/book tapes of The Black Hole and the Jungle Book. Never missed the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday or cartoons and wrestling every Saturday. Recall it being a big deal with the 70s King Kong debuted on TV and Salem's Lot being a big deal. I had an Atari 2600 which I repaired myself a few times after it broke down in my youth. It worked until I was in my teens. Spent most of my childhood though outdoors playing Cowboys and Indians, Hide and Seek, Softball, Ball Hockey and Snow sledding/toboggan riding in the winter. When it rained, we typically played Hangman or read comics (recall loving Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk from Marvel and Justice League of America, Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes from DC). Recall several Starlost episodes being edited into mind-boggling TV movies which for some bizarre reason I couldn't seem to take my eyes off although they may have actually played in the early 80s.

The second movie to revolutionize Car chases:
(http://www.pitstop.net.au/upload/products/12481.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/45/Original_1973_Ford_Mustang_Mach_1_Eleanor.jpg/800px-Original_1973_Ford_Mustang_Mach_1_Eleanor.jpg)
Duel:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/Duel_poster.jpg)

I'm surprised that with all the TV shows being named, I haven't seen Happy Days. Very popular show for most of its run, hitting #1 in the ratings for 1976-77, and staying in the top four for three seasons. The show was on TV for most of my childhood, premiering about a year and a half before I started kindergarten and ending the year before I started high school. It was one of the shows the whole family would sit down to watch, and in the days when viewing choices were few, it was one of the shows all my friends were watching.

That's something that started rapidly disappearing around the middle of the 80s - everyone watching the same shows. People still do. There are a few big hits people talk about today, but there is so much to choose from on TV, home video and online, people are watching lots of different things, and not watching lots of other things. I'm not saying that's bad, but there was something kind of nice about kids going to each other's houses and watching their favourite shows, and going to school the day after seeing something really cool, and everybody was talking about it.

Come to think of it, the network television "event" was really a 70s phenomenon, even if it did continue into the early 80s. Star-studded network variety specials and lavish miniseries. I still remember the whole family watching Roots and just being blown away by it.

My two favourite car chase movies are still:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/Vanishingpointmovieposter.jpg/395px-Vanishingpointmovieposter.jpg)
and
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Smokey_And_The_Bandit_Poster.jpg)
And it's actually pretty amazing how similar the two movies are. Both have a washed-up driver who takes a bet to make a delivery in a very short time, and through a series of events becomes the subject of an almost disproportionately large police response. One is more poignant, dramatic and philisophical, and the other is pure action and comedy. I would not be surprised if the essential plot of Smokey and the Bandit was lifted directly from Vanishing Point. In any case, they'd certainly make an interesting double feature.

Back in the day, we listened to the radio and there were songs you could not get away from... like, ANDREW GOLD "Lonely Boy":  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCOS2vOxuXE

Or, QUEEN "Bohemian Rhapsody"  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irp8CNj9qBI  

PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS "Listen To What The Man Said"   :thumbup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0v_DLkJmN0&feature=related

Some other artists the '70s brought us..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2W3t5u7cxs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-ifHo-IvC8&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-IXJLgRnvs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiUCE7w0_d4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrjoshaTSRo

Retro-Weird. When I first saw this topic-the Capt. and Tenille first came to mind! The had that variety show - and sang 'Muskrat Love' every dam time! AHHH!  :hot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1BEhL_avn8

What ever happened to the variety Show,anyway? The 70's was loaded with them!

My Dad usta watch the GLEN CAMPBELL show all the time....
I always kinda liked this song....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoymGCDYzU

FLIP WILSON!-Here's a hilarious bit with Lenord Nimoy.....!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2G9p5QjL60


My favorite was the CAROL BURNETT show!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7quWt3gHwc

Ah, the car movie   :thumbup:  My favorite was Eat my Dust

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldos-bzILXw

Detective shows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3g3TARlQfU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EExXoKg5xdU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGJ82yhdMqk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ON_YiJMPc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ReSTFDAHU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FepgxmNDuZ4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzaviQ6IG5c&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jonoCXm9sQM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C8EUrtEhfM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08cXyrDewlQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLax5kn8tF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaHDut6z8yg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F0wlfmxKdU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz76342wQTg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOjJohZfYiM

Now that we've fully embraced nostagia.

The Bad News Bears (1976). Not those ridiculous sequels. Those are good if you're looking for a so-bad-it's-good movie.

But the original was such an amazing snapshot of the mid-70's, and actually a very fine film. If you want to know what it was like playing little league baseball in suburban California as was the setting of this film, I lived it. I played little league in SoCal from 1976 to 1978, and I was always amazed at how closely that film mirrored my experience. The Bad News Bears is like a time capsule.

I actually miss the 70s.  A LOT.  Maybe to an unhealthy level.

I especially miss:

* The comic books.  I still buy 1960s and 1970s back issues on eBay and in local comic stores, but there was nothing like reading them when they were new.

* Mad Magazine.  Same as comic books.  In fact, Mad is a really great source of 70s pop culture.  If you read those old issues they have articles about hippies, Watergate, Vietnam, disco, women's lib, blaxploitation, and great satires of BILLY JACK, THE EXORCIST, THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, THE GODFATHER, BARETTA, PLANET OF THE APES, and other popular movies and TV shows.

* Aurora Monster Models.  I had the entire collection (all with glow in the dark pieces).  I had them lined up on the bureau in my bedroom.

* Drive-in theaters.  We've already had plenty of threads covering this topic!

* Rubber toy kits.  Remember these?  You'd get a series of metal molds shaped like dinosaurs, monsters, insects or whatever.  You'd pour colored liquid (they called it "goop") into the molds then set the molds into a special heating unit and the heat would cause the goop to solidify, creating rubbery toys.  I can't begin to imagine how many kids got sick from drinking the goop or burned from touching the heating unit (the hot surface was totally exposed . . . my little sister put her hand on it once).

* Saturday mornings with Sid & Marty Krofft.

* Masking my Christmas list by picking out toys and games from the Sears Christmas Wish Book.

Damn, I miss those days!

Same with me, the 70's was a great time for monsters, monster magazines, and in general, it was as if anything and everything could be found on TV. Not so much today as most everything is "paid for" advertising and certain movies are tailored to be shown over and over again in repeat, with little or no variety iN between repeated showings (hello AMC and the Rocky movies..)


I still have a LOT of my old comics, some originals, some re-purchased at local and out-of-state flea markets.  Most of the ones I have are the old  Weird,  Tales From The Tomb and Witches' Tales.


Oh yeah, Alfred E. Neumann  :smile:   Mad Magazine was no-holds-barred, and some of their stuff was politically incorrect at some points, but not to the point where it was downright offensive.


Same. Both the originals and the re-designed ones of the mid 70's. The box art for these kits was amazing,  and I have my own collection of original and Polar Lights re-issues, and this time I've saved the boxes.



The Creepy Crawlers monster kit! And GOOP!  Remember, "if it's from Mattel, you know it's swell!"  :bouncegiggle:


Land Of The Lost,  Sigmund The Sea Monster, The Lost Saucer, and a million other shows from the bizarre and perhaps chemically altered minds of the Krofts. Fun stuff.


* Saturday mornings with Sid & Marty Krofft.* Making my Christmas list by picking out toys and games from the Sears Christmas Wish Book.

Damn, I miss those days![/quote]

The old Sears catalog. That thing was like 1,000 pages long!

The Shaw Brothers!  They didn't make the Golden Age of martial arts, they were the Golden Age.  Let's not forget the 5 Deadliest men the world ever created:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ3agUcvlPQ

And, the Shaws also introduced us to a Kid With The Golden Arm  :thumbup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3HlOox7Ui4

It was a great time for these movies!

Some kids educational programming:
THE LETTER PEOPLE
Come and meet the letter people, come and be with the family..
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Letter_People_Logo.jpg)
FINGERMOUSE (and the FINGERBOBS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sBCJ7KQ7I0
HEY YOU GUYYYYYYYS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFYMijdQ_sA
NEW ZOO REVUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izXWyCEyoIg
BIG BLUE MARBLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1kkx2m-JSg
MULLIGAN STEW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=634-QuYgfMI
And a couple specials:
FREE TO BE.. YOU AND ME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_26FOHoaC78
REALLY ROSIE (starring Carole King)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOBsMssUg8M&feature=related

Oh man. Free to Be You and Me. Used to get that shown to us by teachers into the early 80s - the ones who went to college in the late 60s. That hippy influence gave an interesting folksy, artsy, occasionally surreal feeling to a lot of kids' entertainment well into the 80s, but some of the cartoons of the late 70s were particularly freaky. The Rankin-Bass animated Tolkien films, for example, and some crazy stuff from Nelvana before they settled into Care Bear mode, not to mention European imports like Barbapapa and Doctor Snuggles. And there were some freaky Canadian cartoons, such as The Secret Railroad, which was a veritable animated acid trip that was made originally in French and later dubbed in English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_e2d1ADR00

I didn't see it brought up, but does anybody who grew up in the 70's remember Wonderama? It was this kids show on Saturday mornings that had been around before that, but got very popular with the host Bob McAllister who ran the show from 1967 to 1977. The show had a kid audience with lots of segments thriving on audience participation. Every once in a while the "Exercise! Exercise!" song will creep into my head although I've not heard it since 1977.

I remember "Wonderama" and that song "Exercise!  Exercise! C'mon everybody do your exercise!  Hands on hips!  Hands on hips!  C'mon everybody put your hands on your hips!"  

I think you're referring to Creepy Crawlers which were made in Mattel's THINGMAKER...

(http://austinthompson.org/Thingmaker/Mattel/Packaging/4477-Thingmaker.jpg)

CREEPY CRAWLERS was one of them.  I also had the MOTORIZED MONSTER MAKER, which was really cool:

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3657/3604125636_25f0d57c33.jpg)

I had the set with the guy in the front with his hands on the sides of his head (he would take his head off and put it back on as he walked) and also the caveman with the black hair and bare chest.

As our old friend and host Bob McAllister would say, "Whoop-a-diddy"!  :smile: 

Hell yeah I remember Wonderama, Sunday mornings on WNEW 5.  Remember when they had the game where the kids would open the cans and the snakes would pop out?  You always won a prize no matter what was in the can!

Of course, let's not forget the song they ended he show with,  "Kids Are People Too!"

"they're really really people too....YEAH!"  Very good  post.  :smile:

Burgomaster-Mebbe I should have pharsed that as being a kid in the 70.s. We may be brothers by a different mother! Walk into my apartment is like walking into a antique shop. I too think it's become an obsession with me. Like you-I snatch up old SGT FURY,WHERE MONSTERS DWELL, and KID COLT comics for idiotic prices. I buy old Famous Monster and Castle of Frankensteins off ebay. I have the monster Old Maid cards,the Aurora Dracula kit,tons of old MAD magazines,paperback books on UFO's and Ghosts-all stuff I usta have as a kid. I even got a Johnny West Geronimo with all his stuff! My furniture is even old. I dont sit well with this age. I'm a relic.
I like my computer,though. And vhs tapes. I buy dvd's but they scratch too easy. Yet I have a huge record collection. Go figure,eh? Sure-I miss Double Creature Feature-but it's nice to see my favorites any time I want.

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/1967_classic_ad.jpg)

Somebody else had the MONSTER MAKER?  I had something much like that as a kid, and I have tried and tried to tell people about it, and no one else remembers.  I vaguely remember a rubbery cube that you put into a special incubation chamber, and it slowly popped up and changed into a little toy dinosaur!  Seems like you could make them turn back to a cube, but I don't remember how.

THRILLA IN MANILA (the last of three MUHAMMAD ALI vs. JOE FRAZIER fights).  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_y7FiCryb8  


(swine flu, legionnaire's disease...)  :bluesad:

ELVIS: ALOHA FROM HAWAII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idh-tkctXo8
  

THE BAND The Last Waltz  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMHyovwX7JM

Creature Double Feature..was it the one on old WKBS 48, aka Philly 48? In my area of the Tri-State, we also got many UHF stations because we lived high on a hill, and had a rotary antenna.  I have many memories of UHF thrills and chills back in the day.



Nice find, RC.  I remember many ads for the Aurora monster kits in Famous Monsters and other magazines when I was growing up in the 70's.  Some of the ads were old ones from the 60's magazines as well.  Aurora was truly the king of plastics.

Big screen tales of dystopian societies, technology run amok, and futures that were bleak but really cool to watch. This is another trend that started around the end of the 60s, with movies like Planet of the Apes, but really became a 70s phenomenon.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/56/THX1138.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/The-Omega-Man-Poster.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Logans_run_movie_poster.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/Demon_Seed_1977.jpg/398px-Demon_Seed_1977.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Colossus_the_forbin_project_movie_poster.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/Silent_running.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/13/Soylent_green.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/RollerballPoster.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1d/Westworld_ver2.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Saturn_three.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/Deathrace2000poster.jpg) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/AStrainposter.jpg)


In general, science fiction movies of the 70s got a little grittier. And the wondrous, shiny future of earlier movies gave way to the "lived-in future," particularly in Star Wars and Alien. Filmmakers started to realize that even stuff that seems shiny and new to us is going to eventually get old and broken down. In general, the future, even when viewed with optimism, started to look a little less idealized and more based on the society of the day, extrapolated and often exaggerated. Really, movies just caught up with science fiction literature, and seemed to turn more to literature for source material.

I had that, too!  It came with a little vise contraption that you could put the dinosaurs in and squeeze them back into cubes.  I also had a huge mountain/valley set that you could put the dinosaurs and cavemen in.  My sister and I used to put cookies in the incubation chamber ("oven") and heat them up.

I had that too! And the Creepy Crawler set-but that was about 1968. I was 6-my parents gave me an electric heating toy.  :bouncegiggle:


GI Joes were my favorite toy-GI joe was my buddy! I could throw him outta trees-roll him down the hill in back of the barn in his Jeep-where he would crash into the old barb wire fence,throw dirt bombs at him (dirt bombs were clumps of compacted dirt that-on impact-looked like they were blowing up-or something-hey-I was a kid! We didnt have video games!),make him swim in the creek on my fishing pole! Ah-good times!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLL67CN2hnw

More games:
Milton Bradley's Microvision!
(http://ryangenno.tripod.com/images/MicroVision.jpg)
Parker Brothers' Merlin!  6 games in one!
(http://www.handhelden.com/others/Merlin-front.jpg)
Electronic Battleship!
(http://www.cocoonzone.com/party/zoom/electronic_battleship_game.jpg)
He he he!  BABY ALIVE!
(http://www.catheroo.com/images/1600/babyalive.jpg)
In Oregon we had a local kids show called "Bumpity", hosted by a green cookie monster-type puppet where a human guest would read stories.
(http://www.platypuscomix.net/kidzone/bumpity2.jpg)

WOW! I didn't expect so much contribution when I started this thread. I just wanted to make some observations about what a peculiar decade the 70's was. Nice to know there are so many that not only know the 70's, but know it well.

CLACKERS!

(http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/morrisawilliams/clackers.jpg)

One of the best deadly toys of the 70's. They may look harmless but it was possible to crack your wrist and forearm hard enough with these the bring tears to your eyes. When you bored of making the things go 'CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK' you could go for the exciting up and down double clack 'CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK'. Then you could use 'em as bolas and aim for your friends' legs.

There were several pair of Clackers wrapped around the branches of the big oak tree in our front yard, just waiting for the string to rot and bean an unwary child.

In the bedroom I shared with my brother there is still a deep dent in the wall where he launched a pair at my head. I still remember they were purple, like the ones in the photo.

There were stories of kids getting broken bones and even getting killed by the bright shiny balls so they were ultimately banned.

A safe version came out in the 90s. You could never crack your ulna with these wimpy embarrassments.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/3831775352_61ea80bd82.jpg)

I had a set of these.  I remember hearing stories that chips would come flying off and go into peoples' eyes.  Before long, you couldn't buy them anymore.

More candies:
(http://www.kellys-expat-shopping.eu/WebRoot/StoreNL/Shops/61672582/499B/F549/9A6A/A712/4033/C0A8/28BD/76B9/Cadbury_Creme_Egg_single_2.jpg)
Charms Blow Pops!
(http://www.temptationcandy.com/store/images/Strawberry%20Blow%20Pops.jpg)
Freshen-Up gum! 
(http://img1.wantitall.co.za/images/ShowImage.aspx?ImageId=Cadbury-Adams-Freshen-Up-Gum-Bubble-Gum-6-Sticks-Each-X-12-Packs|41wbfyLND9L.jpg)

At our school 'Freshen Up' gum was dubbed 'Cum Gum'.  :teddyr:

Another great potentially dangerous toys: WIZZERS!

(http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/morrisawilliams/wizzer.jpg)

These were brighty colored gyro tops that you'd rev up and let 'em spin. If you revved 'em up on your mom's hardwood floors you'd leave a mark on the floor - and your mom would leave a mark on your head.

The danger from these little devils was a bit more subtle than the Clackers or the infamous Yard Darts. After you got tired of watching the things balance on their little orange plastic pylons, a fun alternative use was to rev one up and place it the hair of an unsuspecting buddy (or sister) - the longer the hair the better. The Wizzer would immediately twist up the hair and clonk the victim on the noggin. The only way to get the thing out of your hair was to cut it out.  :thumbup:

I can still hear the "Zunnnn zinnnnnnn ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" sound the things made when you revved them across the floor. I actually still have one packed away somewhere...

More junk food:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/Whatchamacallit-Wrapper-Small.jpg)
This came out just as the '70s were ending, and they remain one of my all-time faves:
(http://www.poundland.co.uk/images/565/original/twix-single.jpg)
And these are still great:
(http://randomesq.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/pan3toffifay.jpg)

Seven Up candy bars! (http://candyaddict.com/blog/2008/04/07/retro-candy-flashback-seven-up-bar/)

(http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/morrisawilliams/seven_up_wrapper.jpg)

This candy bar had nothing to do with the soft drink, but it had seven parts each with a different filling. The seven fillings were: Orange Jelly, Maple, Caramel, Brazil Nut, Fudge, Coconut, and Cherry, according to the Candy Addict site.

 

Yeah-those were all the rage at the playground!

I had some of these too-SSP Smash Up Derby cars!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0_EqlsH7bE

Remember digging into the ceral box to find the chezzy toy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cEOKS5-DcQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A4DLAGW3a0

Some catchy British/UK nonsense that made its way overseas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qswKeWhjaUc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBn2ux5vRHk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htZir_Taizg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mSZRCWWZEs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRVSSwJYqh0&feature=related

This gal is British, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op0upKxdvLs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8rkTi3wv90&feature=fvwrel

I like the Get Right Back Where We Started From song quite a bit.  :thumbup:

Oh man, we got some pretty horrid "love" songs from this era:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3LRyiFc3Ug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1ex78QeQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOuBy29hDgM
And some novelty, or just plain weird, songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS6ji5l-4SQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4iJkNCaZ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxf2KCSyvgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95qOOix0U0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJVA6pKWpw

The greatest of all disco records by ex-porn stars: ANDREA TRUE CONNECTION "More More More"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJGrIyt-X8  

And speaking of the 1970s, how 'bout the trend of really bad looks for men:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcLjbddIVPU

BLAXPLOITATION!!!  BLACULA!!  The BLACK Avenger!  BLACULA!! DRACULA's SOUL BROTHER!!  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN2a5zGmBPI

RAY MILLAND: "I want to transplant my head onto a healthy body." 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWHNA_j7h5A&feature=related

Infamous drive-in double bill!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7yjMOGtyI0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgRtha9Op2U
A kids show they remade a while back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3AzdiWHEuc&feature=related
This guy had several PSAs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3jgo5ea_zc
Exercise your choppers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuEOusBTYkE
Don't be a yuck mouth!  Right, Scatman?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gqeYPlVTCE&feature=related
This was conceived in 1971:
(http://www.uthscsa.edu/hscnews/archive/MrYuk_BODY.jpg)
And had a CREEPY ad (the point exactly):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLsONa3gKIQ
Woodsy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZB7gSQRIuM&feature=related
Don't make Iron Eyes Cody cry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R-FZsysQNw
One non-psa commercial: who didn't have this game?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyAhzDFyuXA&feature=related

You know, I don't recall ever seeing Ray Stevens without a beard before.

I don't know whether it's funny or just awkward that nobody in the crowd seems to be laughing. Probably not the right venue for that song, although Stevens' delivery also seems a little off in the interview parts. In later performances, and even on the record, he puts a little more feeling into his redneck character.

I used to have The Streak on a compilation LP (possibly K-Tel) in the late 70s, and for a while, I just played it constantly. That and my 45s of Convoy and CB Savage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWO_AIh8drk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK3SWTuY3FY

(http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2169/looneytunesgo5.jpg)

I still have that one, Andy.   :bouncegiggle:

Oh man, Warner Bros. HAD to have taken them to court over that, or at least threatened..

Actually, I had The Streak on a different compilation - a straight-up collection of recent hits, in fact. That's something you don't see anymore. Novelty songs side-by-side with pop hits.

As for silly song compilations, this was the one we had:
(http://991.com/newGallery/Various-60s--70s-Goofy-Greats-480409.jpg)

Got that one too!  :teddyr: