The Drop Dead Funny '70s

Dan Lalande is a screenwriter based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. For thirteen years, he served as an adjunct professor of screen-based storytelling at Algonquin College.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Prologue: The Graduate (1967)
1970
Brewster McCloud 8
­Catch-22 9
Cotton Comes to Harlem 12
Hi, Mom! 13
The Landlord 14
Little Big Man 16
Lovers and Other Strangers 18
M*A*S*H 19
The Out-of-Towners 22
The Owl and the Pussycat 24
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 26
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx 27
Start the Revolution Without Me 28
The Twelve Chairs 30
Watermelon Man 31
Where's Poppa? 32
1971
Bananas 35
Cold Turkey 37
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight 39
Harold and Maude 40
The Hospital 42
Kotch 43
Little Murders 44
Made for Each Other 45
A New Leaf 47
Plaza Suite 48
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? 50
1972
Avanti! 52
Butterflies Are Free 54
Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* *But Were Afraid to Ask 55
The Heartbreak Kid 56
Last of the Red Hot Lovers 59
Play It Again, Sam 60
The War Between Men and Women 62
What's Up, Doc? 63
1973
American Graffiti 67
Blume in Love 69
Cops and Robbers 71
Paper Moon 73
Sleeper 74
Slither 76
The Sting 77
A Touch of Class 78
1974
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz 80
Blazing Saddles 81
California Split 84
For Pete's Sake 86
Freebie and the Bean 88
The Front Page 90
Uptown Saturday Night 92
Young Frankenstein 94
1975
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother 97
Cooley High 98
Death Race 2000 99
The Fortune 100
Hearts of the West 101
Let's Do It Again 103
Love and Death 104
Lucky Lady 105
The Prisoner of Second Avenue 106
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins 108
The Return of the Pink Panther 109
Shampoo 111
Smile 113
The Sunshine Boys 115
1976
The Bad News Bears 118
The Big Bus 120
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings 121
Buffalo Bill and the Indians 123
Car Wash 124
The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox 125
The Gumball Rally 126
Mother, Jugs and Speed 127
Murder by Death 128
Network 129
Next Stop, Greenwich Village 131
Nickelodeon 133
The Pink Panther Strikes Again 134
The Ritz 135
Silent Movie 137
Silver Streak 138
1977
Annie Hall 140
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training 142
Citizens Band 143
Fun with Dick and Jane 145
The Goodbye Girl 146
High Anxiety 147
The Last Remake of Beau Geste 148
The Late Show 149
Oh, God! 150
A Piece of the Action 153
Semi-Tough 154
Slap Shot 156
Smokey and the Bandit 157
Which Way Is Up? 160
The World's Greatest Lover 161
1978
Animal House 162
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan 164
The Cheap Detective 165
The End 166
Every Which Way But Loose 167
FM 168
Foul Play 169
Heaven Can Wait 171
Hooper 172
House Calls 173
I Wanna Hold Your Hand 175
Movie Movie 177
The One and Only 178
Rabbit Test 179
Revenge of the Pink Panther 180
Same Time, Next Year 181
Up in Smoke 183
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? 185
1979
…And Justice for All 186
Being There 187
Breaking Away 189
California Suite 190
Chapter Two 191
The Frisco Kid 192
Hot Stuff 193
The ­In-Laws 194
The Jerk 196
Love at First Bite 199
The Main Event 200
Manhattan 201
More American Graffiti 203
The Muppet Movie 204
1941 206
A Perfect Couple 207
Real Life 209
Rock'n'Roll High School 210
Scavenger Hunt 212
Starting Over 213
10 214
The Villain 215
Conclusion: So… Drop Dead Funny?
Bibliography
Index