Name That Movie!

[Lord Jim]

Okay, I'm going to admit upfront that his is not a super easy one. The movie was made in the early 70s, and in my opinion is underrated; it stars a very well known actor (who is still with us) who I'm sure everyone here is familiar with. (He made this movie just a couple of years after another film which is far better known) The film has become something of a "cult" movie, but probably the most notable thing about it is that it has some really great music. (I have the musical numbers on both an album and a CD)

First quote (because this isn't a really famous movie, I'm going to give a longer quote than I usually start with):

A: What do you think is the most successful animal that's ever lived on this earth?

B: The ant?

A: The dinosaur. Uh, do you realize that the dinosaurs dominated this globe for 140 million years before they became extinct? Modern Man has been on this planet for only a fraction of just over 40,000 years and yet already he faces extinction. In fact, the species will be lucky to survive beyond the year 2010. Mankind has only one hope: science. Technology is a survival kit of the human race. Even the politicians realize this. What they don't, or won't realize is, that the technical solutions are already entirely within our power. The entire population of India could be rehoused on the moon within ten years. It's only a matter of learning to live in a new way.

[RayThom]

I may need some better hints but I'm going to throw this one at you for beginners. Hey, you never know, right?

[Lord Jim]

RayTom Disclaimer:

In order to save on time, keystrokes, and bandwidth, I'm posting this for you now:

"No Ray, that's incorrect"

You can just assume that as my standing reply to any of your "guesses" without my posting individual responses to them, until and unless you actually get it right....

[Big RR]

Took me a couple of minutes, but I have a pretty good idea what it is (although I'm not sure of the title). If it is the one I think it is, I liked its predecessor movie set in a boys school better; someone would need a bit of luck to come up with this one.

[Bicycle Bill]

I'm probably wrong, but here's my guess —


2001: A Space Odyssey
One cannot deny this film had some GREAT music.

-"BB"-

[Lord Jim]

ETA:

Actually there is a round-about connection between 2001 and this movie...

The director of 2001 also directed the well-known actor who starred in this film, (in a much better known movie...)

Another non-quote clue:

This film also featured a very well known actress who I'm sure everyone here has heard of...(and who is also still alive)

[Big RR]

And the well known actor starred in one of the few widely distributed X (I don't think they had NC 17 then) porn movies with a number of other well known actors, including the well known actress in this film.

[MGMcAnick]

I think it was called Lucky Man. I think I saw it as one of the two-bit-flicks in the student union when I was in college, so we're talking early '70s. It had a good looking young actress named Helen Mirren, still alive, in it. Was that why he was lucky?

[Econoline]

Okay, I looked it up...because I knew I hadn't seen it. Turns out I could only very vaguely recall hearing of the film, and seeing a review (by Roger Ebert, IIRC) that gave me the impression that it was rather...weird. I read the synopsis on IMDB and that impression was reinforced, but I think that now I might appreciate it.

Oddly enough when Big RR mentioned "its predecessor movie set in a boys school" I immediately guessed (correctly) the movie he meant. And of course I also know what movie he refers to in the post just above (I haven't seen it, but it's notorious enough that a lot of people who haven't seen it have heard of it...) and I thought "OMG! Was she in that?!? (BTW, according to IMDB that one was "UNRATED"; there were a few well-known movies from that era that went that route rather than getting an "X" rating, which would have made it unsalable to most movie theaters.)

[Lord Jim]

There were a number of movies that came out in the late 60s and early 70s that got X ratings that would probably be PG rated today...

I believe that when it first came out, Midnight Cowboy got an X rating...

[Bicycle Bill]

There were a number of movies that came out in the late 60s and early 70s that got X ratings that would probably be PG rated today...

I believe that when it first came out, Midnight Cowboy got an X rating...

It did.  It also got nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three of them, including Best Picture of 1969.

And the original version of M*A*S*H was rated 'R', mostly because we got a quick flash of Sally Kellerman's boobs and pubes in the shower tent scene.

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

Helen Mirren? Woo-hoo! Now there's a woman who has held up quite well. In her earlier movie career it was almost impossible for her to keep her clothes on. I easily recall her nude scenes in 'Caligula.' She had it and flaunted it... unabashedly. And now she's even a "dame." Way to go, Helen.

[Lord Jim]

I think it was called Lucky Man. I think I saw it as one of the two-bit-flicks in the student union when I was in college, so we're talking early '70s. It had a good looking young actress named Helen Mirren, still alive, in it. Was that why he was lucky?

Sorry MG, I missed your post, you got it (Actually it's O Lucky Man but close enough...)

[Big RR]

And I believe it's predecessor (at least involving the same character) was called "If" and involved the underclasses rebelling at a boys' school. If I'm not mistaken, I think this was meant to be a trilogy, but I never saw the third one.

eta: Jim, I thought the name of this was The Lucky Man--the O came as a surprise. As I recall, the first scene was pretty intense--it's stuck with me since I saw it.

[Big RR]

There were a number of movies that came out in the late 60s and early 70s that got X ratings that would probably be PG rated today...

Then again, that goes the other way as well--I recall Little Miss sunshine was released with an R rating (not sure why, very little violence, no sex or nudity I recall, but it did use the F bomb and show drug use, so it could be that), and I doubt it would have garnered a GP (or PG or M) rating in those days.

[MGMcAnick]

OK, let's try this one. It's a recent movie we saw on Amazon prime.

"What's a yellow pages"?

[RayThom]

[MGMcAnick]

Borrowed from above↑

"RayTom Disclaimer:

In order to save on time, keystrokes, and bandwidth, I'm posting this for you now:

"No Ray, that's incorrect"

You can just assume that as my standing reply to any of your "guesses" without my posting individual responses to them, until and unless you actually get it right....

Edit: Not that The Jerk wasn't the second funniest movie I ever saw, but Navin Johnson's listing was in the white pages.

#1? Airplane. The only movie I ever paid to see twice. I continued to chase the second girl I took, who at least had a sense of humor, until I met Mrs Mc 2-1/2 years later.

[MGMcAnick]

Is it too new?

[Econoline]

Maybe another quote? or some other sort of clue?