Seven Reasons The Seven-Ups is a Deeply 70s Film

Never mind the fact that Philip D'Antoni's The Seven-Ups was made in 1973 which automatically makes it a 70s film, there are certain aspects of this movie about a secret special forces group of police officers (nicknamed the Seven-Ups for the maximum sentences they get for the criminals they capture) working undercover in New York City that are unapologetically 70s.  Here's seven of them:

Roy Scheider doing his 70s thing.

1. There are scarcely any ladies in it. This is a movie by for and about men. They do manly things. They smoke cigars, they chase each other in cars. They meet at piers, they drink beers. This movie is all about men meeting, plotting and occasionally killing, all while wearing smart leather jackets and trench coats.  The scenes in which women do appear are brief and these women are either wives, waitresses or nurses. They include a wife who says little and brings her husband some mixed drinks. She appears later as a whimpering crying mess when her husband's criminal activities bring the police bursting into her home brandishing weapons. The waitresses and nurses say nothing at all.

2. Roy Scheider is in it. Studies have shown that Schieder's presence in a film ups the 70s quotient dramatically. Seriously, Scheider is the quintessential 70s male action hero. Made famous by his roles in Jaws and The French Connection, he's stoic, intense, lean and wears a suit well.

3. The background music rarely matches the scenes. The incongruity of the music actually works quite effectively during a scene in a car wash that is far more tense then might have been intended. The music   used here isn't action movie music at all, but rather the kind typically reserved for thrillers. Other times the music is far too jaunty or vaguely disco-ey. This is an entirely 70s film phenomenon. There are countless films from this era in which scenes are made jarring, dramatic and odd through bizarre selections of music. In an unusual way it makes the films more realistic. It's almost as if the music is coming from someone's radio nearby.

4. The bad guys are suited up and look like bankers. 70s era bad guys are the best. Suits, tweed coats and subtle bell bottoms are everywhere. These men are grey-haired, paunchy and look like they belong in an office or board meeting somewhere. The scenes in which they gather to discuss their nefarious business are made all the more interesting because these men manage to appear both sinister and totally on the up and up.

5. The car chase that lasts forever. Nearly every action film of every era has at least one car chase. But this scene is about fifteen minutes long. Roy Scheider weaves his car through the streets of New York in pursuit of some shadowy bad guys while the snappy soundtrack plays. Out of the city and onto the highway the car chase continues. It ends with Scheider looking believably dazed and bloody.

6. It requires an old-fashioned attention span. This is a film that reveals quite clearly the change in the attention span of viewing audiences over the years. Scenes are longer and the actions and motivations of the characters are not explained in depth or at all. The casual modern viewer of this film will get lost easily. Though the car chases and shoot outs and fighting abound, it is paced in a totally different way than modern films.

7. There aren't any heros here. Unlike 80s films, the police aren't really portrayed as great, noble men. They are shown instead as driven to do the job because they need the money or they are just driven and intense in general like Scheider's character. Moreover, the lack of heroism and heroics underscores the general grim tone of the film. Shot in winter in and around New York City, there is a grey heaviness over everything. Most scenes seem to take place in isolated places of subtle decay such as industrial settings, empty piers or lonely stretches of highway. Even the most populated places seem bleak, such as the bustling Midtown street of the film's opening scene. There is the ever present manic buzz of the city, but it is vaguely melancholic. The feeling produced is a kind of muted agitation which is in keeping with the tone of the film.

So those are just some of the reasons this film is very 70s. It's a quick gritty little film that makes for intense viewing if the viewer is willing to pay close attention.

Marathon Man: The Everyman Action Hero

While the action hero of the 1980s was often a police officer, military man and the like, a popular theme of the 1970s film was that of a regular man thrust into an extraordinary and dangerous situation. The 1976 John Schlesinger film, Marathon Man is one such example. In it, Dustin Hoffman plays a man named Thomas (often referred to by his nickname, Babe) who is a graduate student attending Columbia University and also training to run a marathon. Unfortunately, he becomes the target of a vicious, exiled Nazi named Szell (Laurence Olivier) because Szell assumes that he knows the whereabouts of some stolen jewels.  Szell comes to this conclusion because Babe's brother Doc (Roy Scheider) is a member of a mysterious U.S. government group known as "the Division" and he was the last person in possession of the diamonds. Once Doc, who refuses to give any information about them is murdered by Szell, Szell goes after Babe in a desperate attempt to recover the treasure.

A bad combination.

This film includes a scene that utilises dentistry as torture-- and that to great effect. Szell is both a Nazi and a dentist (a horrible combination) and uses his drill and a dental pick to rip through Babe's sensitive teeth and gums. "Is it safe?" he calmly asks over and over again to a bewildered and terrified Babe. The compelling aspect of this film is the way in which Babe evolves. Babe is a man who has his reality upended in that he realizes that he knows nothing about the real lives of the people he cares about and, as a result, is forced to deal with grave danger. Hoffman was the perfect choice for this role because of his everyman quality. He is rather average and unremarkable. He's short, not particularly strong or muscular, his voice has a meek and droning quality. It is exciting to watch him escape Szell and his awful dental tools and his marathon training comes to good use when he is pursued by Janeway (William Devane), a corrupt Division agent.

For the record, I don't like Dustin Hoffman at all. He's one of those regular guy actors that everyone loves (Jimmy Stewart is an example from another era) that really annoys me. I can't even really explain it, I'm just repelled by him. I think maybe it's the self-awareness he has vis-a-vis his regular guy status. Also, a movie star should have something remarkable about them. I don't mean great physical beauty or anything-- just something compelling. I don't see anything really compelling in Dustin Hoffman. Which is why I think this movie is so great. Despite my lukewarm feelings for Dustin Hoffman, I can watch this movie over and over again. It's just that good. I don't mind that he's in it because the point is that it's the story of an average guy in an above average situation. In fact, it is his averageness that makes the movie work.

Hoffman's presence in Marathon Man makes clear that this is a film concerned with the survival instinct. Babe is an intellectual, a man seemingly uncomfortable with asserting himself or dealing with confrontation who is forced to fight for his life. In many ways, this sort of action film is much more challenging than later films as it maintains a realistic tone all while showing scenes of incredible violence and danger. More to the point, the protagonist is shown  to be greatly affected by these incidents. The action hero of the 80s is unfazed by all that occurs around him. He dodges bullets and explosions without expression or makes a joke of them. Babe is clearly shaken by the events he has experienced and it is his emotional transformation that makes this film.