1. Blow up. (1967) Many people went to see this film because it was the first mainstream English language film to show a topless woman. Vanessa Redgrave was a bit of eye candy in those days.The film is in itself a work of art. 2.The Wild Bunch.(1969) Shot to pieces by the critics on its initial release, it is today an enduring classic. The part played by William Holden was Pike Bishop. Maybe a reference to Bishop James Pike who was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam war and helped turn public opinion against the war. 3. Sunday Bloody Sunday. (1971) A young bi-sexual designer shares himself with a Jewish doctor and divorced middle age female executive.Early on the film two men have a big wet sloppy kiss.
"Birth of a nation" pretty much a kkk propaganda film tat is considered one of the best silent movies ever made. "Blackboard Jungle" about a teacher who doesn't care about racial boundaries
For horror I would submit I Spit on Your Grave, and Last House on the Left - the originals, not the remakes of course.
Taxi Driver. The level of violence shown seemed to shock movie goers and opened the door for more of it. The Graduate. Seems tame now. Hard to remember how shocked people could get back then over seduction. Or at least the censors were shocked.
THE DEVILS by Ken Russel (in my signature) came out in 1971 and Warner brothers are TO THIS DAY refusing to make available the complete, unedited version. the original was considered obscene and blasphemous. the most complete version (still not full) was the british x rated cut which was what played in british cinemas when it was released, that was only released after loooooong years of campaigning for it to be put out, was only made available for home release 2 months ago (i had it pre-ordered for aaaages) theres a scene in it called "the rape of christ" which warner brothers are still stubbornly refusing to make available as part of the whole film. 40 years on, still controversial. oh, plus its one of the best movies of all time, and my personal favourite. also, by the same director, "women in love" was the controversial for being one of the first British film to show full frontal male nudity (two dudes wrestling)
also,its easy now to forget how shocking psycho was when it first came out. it seems comparatively tame now, but when you consider that a nude woman is stabbed to death in it, and its the first mainstream hollywood film which dared to show A TOILET (gasp)
Exorcist (1973) : To my understanding when it was released it caused individuals to vomit, some were forced to leave the theater and there was much controversy based on how scary/ psychologically unnerving the subject matter is. The concept of a little girl becoming possessed by a demon and completely changing from a innoncent well behaved child, to foul mouth, masochistic and evil still is psychologically powerful today. Avatar 3D (2009) : While there was nothing pushing the envelope in terms of subject matter, the worlds created in this movie were unlike anything seen before. 3d had only worked in strictly animated films prior to this, Avatar was able to make 3D seamlessly blend in computer graphic and real world scenes alike to the point where the sights, sounds, smells of the enviornments felt as if they jumped off the screen and immersed the viewer in them.
