Bracket Challenge: Greatest American Film Of The '70's: Round One - Part Three

Round one is halfway complete as we head to another fascinating

In case you missed the first installment, here is the scoop on the Bracket Challenge.

Before we head to the ins and outs of the second set of round one matchups, let’s recap our contests from last weekend and more action from the opening round.

The Sting escaped the first round in a very tense matchup over The French Connection. In our second contest Being There was absolutely trounced by Apocalypse Now in a contest that was far more of a blowout than one might have thought it’d be.

The Conversation sailed comfortably past Smokey & The Bandit in the third matchup of the week, and our final pairing saw Blazing Saddles double up the vote count on A Clockwork Orange.

Be sure to check out the current state of things in the image below as we hit the second half of the opening round of contests.

In our third section of first round matchups, we feature some of the most iconic and memorable images of the turbulent decade of cinema that was the 1970’s in America. From Dirty Harry urgeing us to make his day to Travis Bickle aggressively inquiring if we’re talking to him, these eight films represent some of the most vivid moments of the era.

The first matchup out of the gate features heavyweight The Godfather II facing off against Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry. It seems hard to believe that Clint could pull off an upset here, but I suppose anything is possible. Nope, still not p[opssible. Godfather II rolls in a rout is my guess.

Matchup number two offers up the oddball pairing of Taxi Driver versus Bad News Bears. I love seeing these sorts of matchups where two very disparate types of film face off against each other. Full disclosure, I am rooting hard for the comedy to pull off the upset here.

Contest number three features the supernatural against the extraterrestrial as The Exorcist and Close Encounters duke it out for a spot in the second round. The Exorcist is one of very few critically acclaimed horror films of the decade, against perhaps the most underrated sci-fi flick of all time. This one should be fascinating.

The last contest of the weekend pits Chinatown against American Graffiti. This pair of period pieces takes two very different looks at America’s past. It seems probable that Chinatown will roll to victory here, but we’ll see if there is any gas left in American Graffiti’s tank.

Voting ends at 6:00 am on Tuesday morning, so get to those polling stations right away. And be sure to share with the cinephile and film lover in your life.

Cheers,
Matty C