(0030) Shaft

July 4, 1971 | 5 weeks at #1

Seen by Martin before? Yes

What did I expect? The baddest blaxploitation pic of them all.

What did I get? Well, not that. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is probably that. The odd thing is that I held this expectation even though I had already seen Shaft many years ago and found it wanting. I think I was hoping I would “get” it this time.

(0029) Klute

June 27, 1971 | 1 week at #1

Seen by Martin before? Yes

What did I expect? A sinewy, bracingly intelligent thriller.

What did I get? A masterpiece. It’s difficult to think of a Hollywood product as pervasively acute and well executed as Klute. By sheer alchemy it manages to be a thoroughly mesmerizing document of its time (without ever feeling limited by it) as well as a compelling study on the nature of intimacy, the movie’s real subject. It’s “just” a thriller, but Klute gives genre movies a good name.