The1970swas a decade of financial difficulties, the disgrace of a U.S. president, and the close of the Vietnam War. And, like Nixon, there were movies released in the decade that also generated controversy. In some cases, e.g.Taxi DriverorThe Deer Hunter, these controversial movies either directly or indirectlydealtwith the hotly-debated war. The decade’s comedies didn’t go quite so far, but there were some movies that made folks of the time raise a brow.
Here are some of the most controversial comedy movies of the 1970s, the kinds of movies that sent parents to bed with nightmares and brought schools and libraries to take drastic action and enact bans.
10Hi, Mom! (1970)
In 1968,ScarfaceandThe Untouchablesdirector Brian De Palma directed Robert De Niro in his first ever major role inGreetings, a Vietnam War satire which initially received an X rating before ultimately receiving an R rating. Two years later, De Niro reprized his role of peeping tom amateur filmmaker Jon Rubin inHi, Mom!, which has him home from Vietnam and back to being a creeper.
When the film was first released, it required essentially one cut to receive an R rating. Specifically, a scene that showed a penis. But, now, the reason the film wouldn’t see release iswhythe body part was exposed. Specifically, a major plot point of the film has just about every white actor get in blackface and just about every Black actor get in whiteface. It’s all a satire of the time, but there’s absolutely no way it could be made in a shifted cultural landscape.
9Pink Flamingos (1972)
Pink Flamingosis the first in John Waters' “Trash Trilogy,” and one of two to feature iconic drag queen Divine. And, like much of the remainder of Waters' filmography (not to mention any movie that ends with a performer actually eating dog poop), it was met with a vitriolic reaction from many.
But it was also more or less a filmed counterculture movement. It played and played in Manhattan, where its growing fanbase would quote it the wayThe Rocky Horror Picture Show’s would quote that film’s entire screenplay to the screen itself. When the film was re-released on home media in 1997, it was given both an expanded runtime and an NC-17 rating, so one still must be of the age of 18 to buy or rent it in the U.S. But in some areas of the world there was a time when one couldn’t watch it regardless of age. For a while it was banned in Australia, some parts of Canada, Switzerland, and some parts of Norway, and remains very difficult to come by in Australia to this day.
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8Blazing Saddles (1974)
Just about universally deemed Mel Brooks' best film,Blazing Saddlesis regardless equally considered a problematic work. But as manypeople call it racist, there are even more who see it as the wry satire it is.
The film was selected by the Library of Congress in 2006 for preservation in the National Film Registry, but critical reaction wasn’t always so strong. In the age beforeAirplane!andNaked Gun!, reviewers found it to be a movie without a personality rather than one that’s pinpointing various elements of an entire genre to satirize. It also utilized a horrible racial epithet to do so, one that was a widely-used reality of the time in which the film takes place.
7The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
It’s often debated just what lenscult classic filmThe Rocky Horror Picture Showshould be viewed through. Intention is everything, and over time some have come to view the character Dr. Frank N. Furter (iconically played by Tim Curry) as a disrespectful look at homosexuality.
Dr. Frank N. Furter is a transsexual alien (from a planet called Transsexual) living in a castle now infiltrated by a couple with a broken down car. He and his cooky cohorts are having a festival, and the film invites the audience to join. At first, they didn’t. But, once it was discovered as a midnight favorite, it just kept getting screenings (which continue to this day) and kept seeing its audience expand. At the time, though, while audiences (surprisingly) didn’t picketThe Rocky Horror Picture Show, they did outright ignore its existence.
Looking at the film through an objective lens, it’s not but so surprising thatThe Bad News Bearshas gone on to generate a bit of controversy. It’s a movie that any number of kids in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s grew up watching on repeat, not unlikeThe Sandlot.
But then folks started to realize it’s actually pretty vulgar which, again, isn’t so surprising (especially given the presence of professional curmudgeon Walter Matthau).The Bad News Bearswasn’t controversial at the time, but it would certainly ruffle some parents' feathers if a substitute teacher popped it in for an unruly class.
5Slap Shot (1977)
One of the fewexcellent hockey movies,Slap Shotfeatures Paul Newman at his grumpy, hungover best. The film was a modest box office success and earned decent reviews, but most of the film’s praise and dollars have been generated over an extended period of time.
But there was one sticking point that set critics off:Slap Shot’s view toward violence in the sport. Does it think the players bashing each others' faces (whether they’re opponents or teammates) inherently humorous or is it saying the violence is something to be frowned upon? Many found that this focus on brutality diminished the film’s comedic value, with some going so far as to say it removed the comedic element entirely.
4National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
National Lampoon’s Animal Housedidn’t cause any protests back in ‘78, but it sure would now. The John Landis directed,Ivan Reitman produced comedic masterpiecewas a trendsetter and an important installment in comedy movie history, but there are scenes that very rightly couldn’t be shot today.
It’s a movie where a drunken, directionless way of life is not only shown, it’s exalted. The same goes for toxic masculinity and, to an extent, sexism. It’s not a movie with a cruel tone, but the adventures of Bluto (John Belushi), Otter (Tim Matheson), Boon (Peter Riegert), Pinto (Tom Hulce), Flounder (Stephen Furst), and D-Day (Bruce McGill) are a product of their counter cultural time. But, either way, it’s quotable as can be (“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no!” and “I’m a zit…get it?"), a massively important trendsetter for the comedy genre, and a must-watch film for any budding cinephile.
3Up in Smoke (1978)
Up in Smokemay be the first andbest Cheech and Chong movie, but it still found itself banned in Colombia and Apartheid-torn South Africa. The duo had been around for about a decade before the movie hit theaters, so people were as aware of their green focus then as they are now.
It’s not surprisingUp in Smokedid as well as it did, with $104 million on a price tag of just $2 million. It’s also not surprising the film generated negative reviews when initially released (so didThe ShiningandThe Thing). It doesn’t have a very cohesive narrative and one’s mileage with the film is entirely dependent upon their mileage with the duo. And fair enough if a viewer is put off by their hazy-eyed rambling, butUp in Smokeboth stands as a time piece and works incredibly well as a comedy today, especially if viewed in the way the filmmakers intended.
2Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979)
One of many comedians to have their standup work grace streamers’ screens courtesy of Netflix, Richard Pryor has a reputation that precedes him. Part of the reason for that isRichard Pryor: Live in Concertwhich, likeEddie Murphy Raw, was a stand-up set so popular it warranted theatrical screenings across the country.
It ended up generating over $15 million, which sits above 20 times its production budget, but Pryor was never immune to controversy. This was especially true of his stand-up, and naturally any set Eddie Murphy calls “the single greatest stand-up performance ever captured on film” (via an extra on theEddie Murphy DeliriousDVD) isn’t going to be an exploration in a tame nature.
1Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
Banned for nearly a decadein Ireland, a year in Norway, and even some US and UK towns,Monty Python’s Life of Brianwas always going to be a target of criticism from the religious right. Fortunately, the hilarious makers behind the film leaned into the controversy and added the tagline “So funny, it was banned in Norway!” to the posters.
Which is fitting, becauseLife of Brianis nothing if not self-aware. It doesn’t outright criticize organized religions, in fact its financing was facilitated by none other than the Beatles spiritual George Harrison, but it doesn’t look at organized religion as the end all be all to how to live life properly. Because it doesn’t view religion in that light, it was deemed something that shouldn’t be seen (which really means it’s absolutely something thatshouldbe seen).
