Ryan's Daughter (released in 1970) - Starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, John Mills, Christopher Jones, and Leo McKern

The screenplays of this movie - Ryan’s Daughter is by legendary author and screenwriter Robert Bolt, he collaborates once more with director David Lean - the duo who gave cinema classics like Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago. Bolt pens a captivating war romance, which was the highest earning movie at the box office in 1970 despite having almost no critical acclaim; it also won two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (John Mills) and Best Cinematography (Freddie Young), winning nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Sarah Miles, who was married to Bolt at the time) and Best Sound. The year is 1916, in Ireland. The Irish Republicans want to end British rule and launch an offensive that history would refer to as the Easter Rising, for the festive week in which it took place.
Elsewhere in an imaginary village called Kirrary (on the Dinge Peninsula, in a real part of Ireland) during WWI. Rosy Ryan is the youthful, pretty and somewhat rose-tinted daughter of the local pub owner Tom Ryan (Leo McKern); she reads Byron, is in love with the chivalrous Peter Blood and believes in happily ever after; shielded and kept eons away from the reality of the War, secluded in her part of the picturesque village, where a modest British garrison is about the only reminder of the troubled history of the times. Her father, however is an informer of the British, although he puts up an act of  regret that ‘our boys’ couldn’t hold the uprising against the suppressors.
The charming yet somewhat petulant Rosy is above the attentions of the local lads and would much rather set her eyes on someone with a ‘standing’ in society, a fact that Father Hugh Collins (Trevor Howard) is well aware of when she marries the staid, calm and much older than her school master - Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum). The elders of the village including the priest are disapproving of Rosy, yet can do precious little to change her from being a spit fire to a docile housewife!




Soon enough, Rosy is disillusioned and loses sight of the charm she associated married life with; Major Randolph Doryan, a British army officer, arrives to take charge of the garrison and as a result - with Rosy. Randolph was awarded the Victoria Cross for his contribution to the WWI, which left him crippled, and reeling from what we know today as post traumatic stress, then called ‘shell shock’ - for the helplessness soldiers felt when unprotected in the wake of shelling. His physical shortcomings seem lost to Rosy, who finds herself falling in love with the Major. What ensues is a riotous, torrid love affair, rendezvouses in the nights and hush toned sweet nothings. Although he suspects it, yet Charles decides against confrontation, even if the evidence of the affair is glaring and enormous.
All seems well, until the ubiquitous village buffoon Michael (John Mills) unintentionally discloses the secret affair to the villagers - who at once label her indiscretions with choicest epithets. Things take a turn for the worse when Rosy’s father Tom – rats on the plans of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, represented by Tim O’Leary (Barry Foster) to bully the pub owner into helping them recover a cache of  arms that belongs to the Germans. Loyalty gets the better of him as Tom immediately alerts the British. Maj. Doryan confronts the IRB comrades, a gun fight ensues leaving in its wake a wounded O’Leary.
On the family front, Charles decides to let Rosy know that he is aware of her affair, and hopes that she would ‘come to’ - that night Rosy returns to her lover the Major, only to be seen by Charles, who wanders away, hurt and dismayed. He is discovered on the beach by Father Collins. The villagers, meanwhile get a whiff of the fact that their cause has been betrayed by one of their town - and the obvious choice is Rosy, given the palpable evidence there is of her affair with the British Major. In vigilante-style justice, the mob bears down on the couple, almost killing them, whist lynching and shearing Rosy’s hair - she however realizes it’s her father who is responsible for the deception all along, but does not give his secret up - bearing all the humiliation.
Doryan is dejected and feels responsible for her misery, he is led to the cache of yet undiscovered arms on the beach, and in a fit of guilt charged hopelessness, detonates the dynamite - committing suicide. Rosy leaves the village for Dublin, with her husband, Charles, who has decided he’d leave her, although the priest asks him to reconsider. Not a very well acclaimed film by critics, yet it grossed almost $31 million - a number to reckon with in the ’70s. Audiences liked the star crossed lover - meets - patriot ism-meets a whole jumble of human emotions - perhaps more the kind that suit normal movie buffs, as opposed to intellect seeking critics!

There was a crooked man (released in 1970) - starring Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, a comedy western film

This black comedy western is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and star Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda. Paris Pitman Jr is a bespectacled smooth talking con man and a murderer. He is a very evil man with no morals and soft feelings within him. But being a cool operator he is able to charm his way out of difficult situations and win the trust of those around him.
Pitman and his gang loot the house of a wealthy rancher, Lomax and make away with half a million dollars. But one by one the gang members are shot by the police and the surviving lone marauder is killed by Pitman himself to prevent him from claiming a share on the booty. Pitman escapes and enters a brothel. He ties the money up and drops it in a rattlers pit.
He enters the brothel, is recognized by Lomax and is subsequently arrested and sentenced to a prison Arizona. The prison is in the middle of a desert and a hard life awaits Pitman. But he tries to bribe Warden LeGoff to help him escape. His plans go awry when the warden is killed by one of the inmates and his place is taken up by an upright officer called Lopeman. Lopeman is an idealist who is in favor of prison and judicial reform. He believes in reforming the criminals and presents a slew of measures to improve the conditions in the prison.



Pitman is enraged at first at his failure, but soon wins the trust of Lopeman. Lopeman puts him in charge of the building of a new prison dining room. Soon he starts manipulating others to formulate a plan for escaping from the prison. He forms a gang of his own which includes Missouri Kid, Whinner and Macnutt (a gay con artist couple), Floyd moon, Michael Blodgett, a kid on death row and Ah Ping, a silent Chinese. All of them slowly feel the power of Pitman Jr and plot an escape. They plan to start a riot during the inspection day by the governor.
Soon the plot is successful, with full scale rioting taking place, and as a result, all of them escape from prison. But Pitman the backstabber that he is, kills every one. Lopeman sheds all his idealisms and vow to bring back Pitman dead or alive. But fate has another things in store for the outlaw. As Pitman takes out the loot from the Rattlers nest he is bitten by one of them.
This is the most cynical movie I have ever seen. There is no good vs evil fights with good triumphant over the bad. This is the story of a bad man who corrupts and manipulates his way out to meet the just desserts by the quirk of fate. Tough movie to watch on.

Too Late the Hero (released in 1970) - A war movie, starring Michael Caine, and Henry Fonda

Too Late the Hero is a 1970 Anglo-American war film directed by Robert Aldrich, and starring Michael Caine, Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Ken Takakura, Denholm Elliott, Ian Bannen, Lance Percival, Ronald Fraser, Harry Andrews and Percy Herbert.
Sam Lawson is an American Lieutenant who works as a Japanese language expert during the world war two. He has always avoided direct combat duty. But as luck could have it he is assigned to the British Infantry unit in the New Hebrides for combat duty
The unit is commanded by Colonel Thompson, with a duty of observing the movements of the Japanese for the Allied forces. The British unit is situated in the middle of a large field near a jungle and the other side of the jungle the Japanese keep watch. The observation and communications post of the Japanese give information about the movements of the ships in the Pacific. The Japanese radio operator gives an “All is well” signal every evening and the Allies need the help of Lawson to fake this signal. An American Naval convoy is attempting for a passage and it needs to buy 24 hours time to sail undetected to reach the war zone with supplies. The British commando unit of Lawson is assigned to destroy this observation post and emit a fake signal to confuse the Japanese.



Captain Hornsby an uppity British officer leads a patrol to destroy the Japanese observation post. They ambush a Japanese patrol and three of them, Currie, Connelly and Riddle are killed. Tosh, a cynical medic and others blames Hornsby's poor leadership for the killings. Campbell cuts a Japanese officers finger and steals his ring. One of the sergeant majors, Johnstone, is fatally wounded, is left behind by Hornsby and is then killed by the Japanese.
Scott the radio operator ruins the radio and this forces Hornsby to personally enter the Japanese post and capture the radio to sent in the signal. But Lawson feels that it is a suicidal attempt and try to stop them from doing it. In the resulting melee the Japanese men attack and kill Hornsby and Scott. Lawson being the senior ranking officer, leads the men to the jungle to safety. Japanese Major Yamaguchi tries to stop them from getting back to the camp and reporting about the airfield and arsenal present. They put up loud speakers and try to terrorize them to surrender. But Lawson and Tosh see through heir plan and ask the men to march forward to camp. But Campbell who is scared is in favor of surrender,manipulates the others to run away. But they are caught and Campbell is executed as the stolen ring is found on him. The Japanese use other soldiers as bargaining chips and ask for Lawson and Tosh to surrender. But both of them do not trust Yamaguchi's surrender plans and plan to make run for the camp. As they run zig zag through the fire of bullets both of them are hit. Tosh is wounded but drags him-selves to the camp and gives information about the Japanese arsenal. He also informs the others about the brave deeds of Lawson and walks back to claim back his body.
This movie is a little slow paced, but is heavily loaded with emotions which brings the viewer to realize the worth of soldiers who die for others.

The Cheyenne Social club (released in 1970) - Starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Shirley Jones, and directed by Gene Kelly

The Cheyenne Social club is a western comedy directed by Gene Kelley who is famous for his role in “Singing in the Rain”. It stars real world friends Henry Fonda and James Stewart along with the beautiful Shirley Jones.
Two lonely cowboys in the 1870's John Hanlan and Harley Sullivan have been riding together for almost ten years. They have nothing to call their own and do odd jobs and sleep under the stars. Hanlan's secret wish is to acquire some property. One day he gets the message from a lawyer that his estranged brother has passed away presenting him with a legacy. The legacy is Cheyenne Social club.
Hanlan is mighty pleased as he has become a “man of property”. He resolves to go to Wyoming to claim his property. Harley rides along with him as he always has in the past. When they reach Cheyenne they are welcomed with most love and affection. The towns men treat them with respect and the bar offers them free drinks.



Hanlan goes to inspect his inheritance and to his dismay discovers that it is a bordello. The business is run by Jenny who is the loveliest of all madams. The rest of the girls are, Opal Ann (Sue Ann Langdon), Pauline (Elaine Divry), Carrie Virginia (Jackie Russell), Annie Jo (Jackie Joseph) and Sara Jean (Sharon DeBord).The girls all hand picked by DJ are the best of the women available. The prudish uptight Hanlan is horrified and says that this business against his religion and convictions. Soon he decided to close down the brothel and build a boarding house in its place. But this upsets the towns people who petition him to rethink his decision.
In the mean time Harley charms his way in to the rooms of all the girls and makes his conquests. Hanlan is disgusted by this. But matters go to his head when one of the girls Jenny is beaten by a sinister Corey Bannister who is the local thug. Hanlan shoots him in a duel and soon has the blood thirsty Bannister clan baying for his blood. A gun battle ensues and the friends have to defend themselves and the girls. The shooting of Corey Bannister is one of the funniest scenes in the movie. While Hanlan is trying to shoot him Harley makes a shooting sound with some pecans which distracts Corey. Hanlan shoots him becomes a hero.
A wonderful movie with the best of humor in place. The dialogues are very witty and there is nothing bawdy about them. Sex is not in your face but is shown as a gentle romance. There is romance, action, and above all healthy fun. James Stewart and Henry Fonda are real life friends who bring the crackling chemistry to the fore and make you laugh and smile with their performances. This movie was James Stewart's last western. Watch the movie for their performances and the most witty dialogues you can quote.