Avco-Embassy, Joseph E. Levine guilty pleasure movies

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Joseph E. Levine was a movie producer who founded Embassy Pictures. He once said that you can fool everybody if the advertising is right. And he was a master. He produced classy pictures like "The Graduate", "The Producers", "The Lion in Winter", "Carnal Knowledge" and the war epic "A Bridge Too Far"; but mostly they were trashy but fun movies.

Being a teenager and a young adult in the 70's and early 80's I watched a lot of schlocky Avco Embassy films. Here's my guilty pleasures for what they are worth:

"The Carpetbaggers" 1964 roughly based on Howard Hughes, trashy = sex+Hollywood+planes+power, this ain't Scorsese's "The Aviator".
"Robbery" 1967, based on the Great Train Robbery in 1963.
"The Day of the Dolphin" 1973 Mike Nicholls directed this George C. Scott movie about training cute sea mammals to blow up the US President.
"The Manitou" 1978, Tony Curtis does horror (to pay his debts obviously)
"Murder by Decree" 1979 Christopher Plummer and James Mason (as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson) meet Jack the Ripper in this nifty Canadian production. Directed by Bob Clark - a versatile director - from teen flick "Porky's" (1982) to the delightful "A Christmas Story" (1983). Now that's a big jump!
"The Fog" 1980, John Carpenter horror
"Escape from New York" 1980, John Carpenter sci fi with Kurt Russell kicking butt.
"Scanners" 1980, David Cronenberg horror sci fi
"The Howling" 1981, Ground breaking werewolf makeup, Joe Dante has a lot of fun in this, avoid sequels.
"Swamp Thing" 1982, Wes Craven directed.


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MGM Movies - my guilty pleasures

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I am starting at 1959 (I was around 4 years old, old enough to remember a movie, I reckon).

1959  The World, the Flesh and the Devil post apocalypse  New York - stunning street scenes
1960  The Time Machine George Pal triumph, creepy Morlocks, loads of fun; Village of the Damned you will never look at fair haired kids the same way
1961  Atlantis, the Lost Continent George Pal again
1962  How the West was Won incredible cast, MGM pulled all the stops out, James Stewart segment the best, Alfred Newman's kick ass score is perfect
1963  The V.I.P.s   glossy crap but compelling, a young Maggie Smith steals the picture from Liz and Dick; The Haunting (see my post "Films that scared the shit out of me"; The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (George Pal must have had a BIG office at MGM)
1964  The Seven Faces of Dr Lao Tony Randall has a field day so does William Tuttle (make-up chief)
1965  The Loved One (a brave try, crazy cast) ; The Hill (Sean Connery and Sidney Lumet - very tough movie)
1966  Mr Buddwing (You can't beat a good amnesiac plot.)
1967  The Dirty Dozen  Everything works in this action movie.
1968  Hot Millions (nifty caper movie with Maggie Smith and Peter Ustinov); The Legend of Lylah Clare (over the top Hollywood celebrities and secrets, campy fun)
1969  Where Eagles Dare (can be watched numerous times, much to enjoy); The Maltese Bippy (forgive me)
1970  Kelly's Heroes (I was desperate); Dark Shadows (It was released as House of Dark Shadows in Australia); Get Carter gritty Brit thriller, one of the first <R> movies I saw
1971  The Boy Friend (Ken Russell, Twiggy, Max Adrian, Glenda Jackson - an absolute delight); Shaft (blaxploitation goes mainstream); Pretty Maids All in a Row (delightfully sleazy Roger Vadim black comedy with Rock Hudson as the murderer)
1972  nil
1973  Westworld (Michael Crichton in top form, in 1973, this was so fresh and inventive - much copied - Yul Brynner as robot gunslinger, truly inspirational)
1974  nil
1975  The Wind and the Lion (John Milius's most consistent movie, knockout cast - Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, John Huston, love Brian Keith as Teddy Roosevelt) co-produced with Columbia
1976-1980  it's embarrassing, the Lion didn't roar much
1981  Clash of the Titans lots to like here, check out the Gods on Olympus (Larry, Maggy and Ursula), avoid the remake.
1982 Victor/Victoria - everything works in this film. Robert Preston, what a star. That voice!
1983 A Christmas Story Amazingly none of the studio wanted to touch this story about a kid wishing for a BB gun that is now a seasonal classic. Bob Clark had just directed teen sex comedy Porky's. Talk about a change in pace! Apparently Jack Nicholson was interested in the father part. Darren McGavin is incredible though - warm, grumpy and flawed (like most dads).