Randy Lahey Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Why were there so many rape scenes in 70's movies? It was bizarre. I remember this one movie with Clint Eastwood where he rapes this lady and she sort of become his ol' lady. It was fucked up. I can't think of the name of the movie but it is the one where Clint paints the whole town red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Len B'stard Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 High Plains Drifter. Right before he does it he's like 'looks like your the one who could use a lesson in manners' She starts enjoying it midway if you recall. But you're right, from Death Wish to Straw Dogs they enjoyed a good rape in the 70s...hey, probably why Miser finds it so attractive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Lahey Posted August 5, 2013 Author Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave are another two that immediately come to mind. Even one of the Dirty Harry sequels is based around a rape scene. And who could forget Deliverance? Edited August 5, 2013 by Randy Lahey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Len B'stard Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Sudden Impact yeah although that was 1983, i remember reading a review that called it unsettling and that it was filmed in a way that made it seem like the director really enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Lahey Posted August 5, 2013 Author Share Posted August 5, 2013 I know it is not 70's, but I wonder if Rosemary's Baby was the movie that kicked off the whole rape phenomenon in 70's movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estrangedtwat Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 I guess like, it was like, symbolism for how after Viet Nam, the US Government was like figuratively raping the American people man. It's like a deeper subtext that you have to totally go to film school to understand. It's too hard for me to explain to the layman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Len B'stard Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Nah they were building up to it from the 60s really, if you watch certain like Oliver Reed movies and that sort of thing. I guess atitudes towards sex were changing and the boundaries were expanding and filmmakers kinda reflected the confusion of it through their work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Lahey Posted August 5, 2013 Author Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) Do you think they considered it pushing boundaries in an artistic sense or was it more about shock value? Obviously Death Wish was shock value. Edited August 5, 2013 by Randy Lahey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mao5 Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 maybe a consequence after the hippie, peace and love utopia ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Len B'stard Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Do you think they considered it pushing boundaries in an artistic sense or was it more about shock value? Obviously Death Wish was shock value.I don't even think it was necessarily shock value with Death Wish, you just needed something suitably extreme to justify Paul Kersey, the bleeding heart liberal architect to go out and do what he did the films. I think it was probably a mixture of the both though, particularly with Straw Dogs because Peckinpah adopted that slow frame Arthur Penn thing that he so loved and utilised for filming action sequences and applied it to a rape scene.And yeah Mao5 I guess I could see that point but if you look throughout cinema there were always films that presented the dark side of the hippie thing too, i mean it was just the glossy face value thing you were presented with, the whole peace and love thing, the reality was something that society was well aware of, this editorial thing that like, it took Watergate and the Manson Family and The Beatles breaking up or whatever bullshit to like, properly show people the dark side of the hippie dream is bullshit, there were films even then that showed the fucked up aspect of it, there was a darkness to even the key hippie films, Easy Rider etc Or movies like The System or The Partys Over, cinema had the dark side of the 60s well covered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsh327 Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 You had Two Women, Johnny Belinda and Virgin Spring before then, but a lot of rape was implied or attempted in a lot of movies in the first half of the 20th century. There's a lot of symbolism in Rosemary's Baby, but Guy turning his wife over to the coven is pretty straightforward. Was it actually about Hollywood and what people will do to be rich and famous? I think Cassavetes having been on various TV shows in the 50s and 60s knew what someone like Guy was like and what they'd resort to. In the 60s and 70s, I just think they felt they were allowed to just put it up there on the screen and did so, and "rape-revenge" flicks probably became fodder for drive in entertainment, which probably ruined a lot of first dates at the drive in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasted Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 generally it seems to be a way to establish who the bad guys are. from that point on it's basically only a matter of time before charlie bronson or Clint inpales they head on a spike. 70s movies were just realer. real crime, real revenge. Now it's two giant robots fighting for no reason and humans are just there to watch from the control room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITG Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Is Mao5 Miser and is Randy making threads on Miser's behalf? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselDaisy Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 A Clockwork Orange is another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Lahey Posted August 5, 2013 Author Share Posted August 5, 2013 is Randy making threads on Miser's behalf?No Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgy Zhukov Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Maybe that was why Polanski thought it was okay to rape that girl?Rape is a horrific crime but a lot of people find a way to justify it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelinrocksnexttognr Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 I think it was to help shock and sell the picture. Like someone said, to push boundaries in the movie industry. Times then were different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.