What's the best year ever for a director? Victor Fleming co-directed Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz in 1939; Ingmar Bergman released Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal in 1957; and Steven Spielberg dropped both Jurassic Park and Schindler's List in 1993. They're all contenders, but 1974 may have them all beat: not only is this the year Francis Ford Coppola finished Godfather II and The Conversation, it's also the year Mel Brooks wrapped up both Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Some folks are just overachievers.
Join Rachel Schaevitz and Aaron Keck as they discuss the year in cinema, the greatest moments in comedy, mental illness, Germany's guestworker program, sisters, daughters, and the year's top headlines - and then we dig into the data and the numbers (and our expert panel votes) to identify the best film of 1974. (This time, we're also joined by historian Jennifer Miller - whose research focuses on that guestworker program, the backdrop of Fassbinder's "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.")
The nominees are Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Chinatown, The Godfather: Part II, A Woman Under the Influence, and Young Frankenstein. Who wins the Moonlight?