It's been a running joke with my mom of her talking about how much she hated growing up watching 70s movies. Basically every 70s movie, it's the most depressing ending possible, and then bam, the TV goes to the star spangled banner and then static, left alone to feel miserable.
Now I don't get depressed with movies so I've always half joked with her about it because I enjoy watching old movies that she couldn't be paid to watch, including depressing ones. And while the 70s is a decade I haven't seen as many movies proportionally to the 80s and 90s, I've seen enough to see ones with that standard 1970s ending where you think things will be ok and then the main character dies or whatever.
See this Family Guy clip for reference: Hilarious clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyGPlo8Rc5E
But let me tell you, I have seen a lot of movies, a lot of horror movies, weird cult movies, and everything in between, and Magic (1978) starring Anthony Hopkins is by far the most depressing movie I ever seen. I actually felt the way my mom describes when it was over, because I was too tired to watch anything else so I was just left with my thoughts.
It's not the ending, if it was the ending, it would be among all the other 70s movies, it's just the concept and how it's done in general. I don't want to say too much, that's why I'm being vague, but watch it and tell me I'm wrong. It's got to be one of the most tragic feeling films I've seen.
If you've seen the movie, let me know if you agree or if I was just being influenced by unknown depressing feelings, because it could be that, but I feel like my sense that this was beyond the normal level of depressing was genuine and not my mood.
So in conclusion the movie is a 10/10. If your Prozac is working too well, it's a good way to bring you back down a bit.
In all seriousness I did enjoy the movie, just wanted to hammer on the main point.
in retrospect, the 70s felt like the first attempt at social controlling of the US. Nihilistic and anti-american film making and TV. Anti-vietnam and anti-war movies were everywhere along with sexual revolution movies like Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (a movie about 2 couples talking about having an orgy, planning on having an orgy and then have it... off screen... and life is good... all very intellectual, y'know) PBS had just formed in the late 60s and was leading crops of "artistic" films. CBS dropped all of its family friendly hits for "counter culture" series like Maude and All in the Family that attacked American values. I was a youngster at the time but they were attacking there, too. One of the big releases at the time towards kids was "Free to be you and me" with cartoons and catchy music numbers to get kids to understand that boys and girls are exactly the same and boys can want dolls. Ramrodded that to us through school and the local public library. (I was a budding 5 year old intellectual and ate it up at the time because these topics were "important") I'm still not sure where blaxploitation movies fall into all this...
You had some highlights there - Jaws, Halloween, Three Musketeers, etc but mainly then, like today, you went to movies to get preached at.
Star Wars, literally, smashed it all apart and suddenly the entertainment industry... wanted to entertain again. Animal House and Porky's brought back plain ol sex and girlwatching to the mainstream. Alien, Superman
Technically it started in the late 60s with media like Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner? and In The Heat of the Night.
One of the more obvious and egregious examples is Billion Dollar Brain, which basically had American White nationalists painted as the villains because they wanted to -- I kid you not -- assassinate Communist agents.