Seven films from 1976 - #7FilmsFrom1976

It’s January 2024, and time to rewind back to 1976 as I watch seven films from that year that I’d never seen before. Alongside them, I revisited a long-standing favourite, Murder by Death, to see if anything new might challenge its place at the top.

The Seven Films:

The Bad News Bears (1976, Michael Ritchie) ★★★½ Walter Matthau is in fine grumpy form as a washed-up ex-player drafted in to coach the worst little league team in town. What starts as pure cynicism slowly softens into something warmer, without ever getting overly sentimental. Tatum O’Neal more than holds her own as the team’s star pitcher. Rousing use of Ravel’s Bolero. Funny, scrappy and a genuinely earned underdog story.

Time Travelers (1976, Alexander Singer) ★★½ A made-for-TV time travel adventure built around a solid hook: a deadly 1976 virus sends two earnest but dull scientists back to Victorian Chicago to retrieve a lost cure before the Great Fire. Written by Rod Serling, the ideas are stronger than the execution, with flat performances, obvious sets and a curious lack of urgency. There’s some period charm and a ticking-clock structure that briefly lifts it, but it never quite escapes its TV-movie limitations.

Futureworld (1976, Richard T. Heffron) ★★½ A slicker, colder sequel to Westworld that leans into conspiracy rather than shock. Journalists investigating Delos uncover a plot involving android duplicates and global power. Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner are likeable enough, but the film feels oddly cautious, more interested in plot mechanics than unsettling ideas. Efficiently made and mildly engaging, yet lacking the menace of its predecessor.

Logan’s Run (1976, Michael Anderson) ★★★½ A glossy, high-concept sci-fi adventure imagining a future where life ends at 30 in the name of social harmony. Michael York leads as Logan, with Jenny Agutter and Richard Jordan as fellow escapees, and Peter Ustinov providing late-film warmth and texture. The ideas are strong and the world-building striking, even if the execution sometimes feels thin and oddly weightless. Entertaining, curious and very much of its moment.

Hearts of Glass (1976, Werner Herzog) ★★★ Set in a Bavarian village thrown into crisis by the loss of a prized glassmaking formula, the film charts a slow social unravelling rather than a conventional plot. Herzog hypnotised much of the cast before filming, resulting in flattened speech and slowed movement that leaves the community feeling numbed and detached. Visually striking and formally rigorous, it’s an intriguing experiment, even if the emotional distance can make it heavy going.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976, Nicolas Roeg) ★★★ Roeg’s fragmented sci-fi drama follows an alien visitor (David Bowie) undone by human excess and corporate greed. The imagery is striking and the period aesthetics immaculate, with Roeg’s elliptical editing and Bowie’s otherworldly presence doing much of the heavy lifting. For all its ambition and atmosphere, it never quite coheres emotionally, feeling more fascinating in moments than as a whole.

A Real Young Girl (1976, Catherine Breillat) ★★★ An unsettling coming-of-age film that observes adolescent desire with an unflinching, confrontational gaze. Breillat refuses comfort, lingering on awkwardness, fantasy and physicality in ways that can feel deliberately provocative. More interesting than enjoyable, it’s a raw early statement of themes she would continue to explore.

Revisiting a Favourite:

Murder by Death (1976, Robert Moore) ★★★★ Eccentric Twain (Truman Capote) invites five legendary detectives to dinner and murder. A joyous spoof packed with performances from Peter Sellers, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester and James Coco, with Alec Guinness lurking as the butler. Fab fun, endlessly quotable and still my favourite film of 1976.

Also Revisited:

The Slipper and the Rose (1976, Bryan Forbes) ★★★★

With cracking Sherman Brothers tunes, a witty script and charming leads (Gemma Craven and Richard Chamberlain), this remains a delightfully British, gently comic take on Cinderella.

Robin and Marian (1976, Richard Lester) ★★★★ Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn reunite as ageing lovers in a reflective, elegiac take on the Robin Hood legend. More concerned with time, regret and reunion than heroics, it remains quietly moving and beautifully judged.

The Verdict:

None of the new-to-me films came close to unseating my long-standing favourites. Murder by Death, The Slipper and the Rose and Robin and Marian all retain a powerful pull, shaped by nostalgia, personal history and sheer rewatchability. If pressed, Murder by Death still takes it — just.

Bonus Shorts:

The Pleasure of Love in Iran / Plaisir d’amour en Iran (1976, Agnès Varda) ★★★½ A brief, beautiful film capturing fleeting romance and quiet observation in Tehran. Over almost as soon as it begins, it leaves you wanting more.

The Mathematician (1976, Stan Hayward) ★★ A slight, curious short that never quite develops beyond its central idea.