GIST TV Movies Feature Story

http ://www. gist. com/tvlarticle

j sp?adf=s1042 5 00

FrFii"

pri E;

For ffiASH
FanfrlHhn

The'7Os: The Far-Out Facts Behind the Fiction

The'7Os NBC, Sunday, April 30, and Monday, May 1, 9 to 11 p.m. ET

By Frank Lovece
may make fun of it all, but the '70s was about more ..,,t3' We just polyester, disco and pet rocks. It was when the ',Fi , ,.. l than t ,.. ..,.,.= social, political and cultural upheavals of the previous t ,..'; ,.-.= decade became absorbed into the mainstream - from the l'llt::=i bushy sideburns and plaid bell-bottoms on staid network '.t,,,'i.'i:# newscasters to concern for the environment and interest fi...., ,-E@!I Urtts dlNdliIi Gi$t,,,.,,* in alternative medicine.
The four friends at the heart of The '70s traditionalist coed Eileen Wells (Vinessa Shaw), conservative scion Byron Shales (Brad Rowe), Byron's ex-homecom ing-queen sister Christie (Amy Smart' ), and African-American Johnson (Guy Torry) . b Deals:0n Music activist Dexter encounter some of the landmark events of the 20th century. But, as often happens with history, it all becomes = a bit of a slide show, both in the miniseries and in our ffiffiffiiiiiif;= minds: "Gas lines." "Watergate." "Three Mile Island."

--:.r:,: | :

,. :::r ::::::::::::::::-::::=: :

i: :.i:;

5 *
;;it?

:= F Stbft$ftli'u6$$lii

,r,v.;i'r.;-

..":

We f<nJw the captions, but forget the facts. Here's some of the real life behind a few of the names, places and events whizzing through The'70s.

National Guardsman Dexter has to report when Kent State students protest the Vietnam War.

I of

4128100 5:37

PM

May 4, 1970: After three days of political unrest at Kent State University, a contingent of 28 Ohio National Guardsmen in protective gear fire on unarmed students protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Four students are killed. Nine others are wounded, one perma nently pa ra lyzed.

The Guard, despite several student protests and similar conditions over the years, had never before gone onto a campus with live ammunition, and loaded guns. To this day, no one has acknowledged or taken responsibility for giving the command to fire,
,.=

Dexter attends a Huey Newton rally.

i::4

African-American political activists Huey ;' Newton and Bobby Seale founded the t" Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1'= Oakland, CA, in October 1966. u;- Advocating black self-sufficiency through :" both revolutionary and nonviolent ',.: means, the Panthers became the target of illegal actions and sabotage by the FBI and highly questionable killings by police. In 1974, Newton, charged with pistol-whipping his tailor and murdering a prostitute, fled to Cuba. He returned in 1977, spent 10 years fighting the charges until serving a short prison sentence, and, addicted to crack cocaine, was murdered by a drug dealer in 1989. A few former Panthers continue as social activists.
."

'I

I i

Eileen attends a feminist rally where Gloria Steinem (Peggy Lipton) speaks. Feminist leader Steinem L who was a contributing editor and political columnist for New York magazine, specializing in articles about the growing women's movement - founded.Ms. magazine with Dorothy Pitman Hughes in 1972. One cause was the Equal Rights '.=, Amendment to the constitution, first introduced in 1L"ilr'Congress in .L923. The National Organization of Women began fighting for the amendment, which would forbid i,ri''r' discrimination on the basis of gender, in L967. Both i-4 houses of Congress passed the ERA in 1972, but it fell '.,.. short of ratification by three states.

ii

ffi
,r1

;,,,;-i,;,,iL,i,.li'illB$

In the montage, the loud woman with the big hat is Bella Abzug, a colorful attorney and New York City Democrat elected to the House of Representatives in 1970 on a women's platform. She was reelected for three terms before being narrowly defeated for the Senate in 1976. She was a worldwide ambassador for women's rights until

Wa s h n gto n' s Wa te rg a te H ote l. =|--, til.i4 June 12, L972: James McCord : one of :,:.=1il=-:; ,","., .:., - the so-named White House "plumbers"
i
1111i=',

iil,liptriiiLriiiltuLiLLriuLliii:rrt:.:::!::::::::::::t::'"'!

d;firy!*=*,r,*"

: : T H'irxi::,i? DemOCfatiC NatiOnal COmmittee headqUaftefS at

il:"'

==.tii',"r.'',.1,.1',:,,,,r',;,illi--.:L:#,

assigned to pIug Nixon administration news leaks - sends an operative to l,a.i.-t-*;',='=#iiiiLitiF,it :l:.],ii;:;'i;;i=--'irii' volunteer with the DNC in order to , !:::,:, ll,' ,,,,,,,,,,,,;;,;=. i obtain the layout Of the office.
;1,=;1;r;r

ilrliirri

::::::::::::::::::::::':i:

''t','1,".,,;

Jun" 17, L972: Alerted by watergate guard Frank wills, li;j;*i;rUu't-@ police arrest McCord and four other men at 2:30 a.m. .=.=':".t;iii= ,1['iil1 insid DNC headquarters, charging them with burglary. il"g. ,;;;fr t Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward begin covering the story.

,'*=-l

l:1.

:::::-

lirr

i*i=t

An unraveling web of illegal activities, slush funds, destruction of evidence and other subversions of the Constitution by the White House led to Senate Watergate . r,,,: i ,,,.il i;i,.i;1, hearings beginning in February L973. Eventually, CREEP strategist G. Gordon Liddy, White House counsel John f::ll+;,;i t'l-i=3$|,'i|ffi '.fffi D.ean, and other administration officials, including Nixon iii,ff:r:.'=,,,1,=, aids H.R. "Bob" Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Charles ::;,1;;:i:;;,;;:,i"itjt:::::li:!,'t::!:1.ttt. ,r,, uolson, are convicted or plead guilty to a variety of iiil ii i;'i,,t'i,i;ii;'roi.; iLLi,' charges. With impeachment a certainty, President Richard M. Nixon resisns on Aus. B, 1974. ;#;ljmitl.i]; t
,,'=1=-',nil ;j=E".=,='= l,1;ffi ,.-n.,...,,, i:l . - , iLlr:i:rr:lr::::::::::-:r l.i:;ir'ri1rl'l!
,,',,1,'if'',i;
r'rlli:r

i::i::1:::::j:::::::::::=,:

::::

iffi Dexter's theater shows the "blaxploitation" hit

Cleopatra Jones.
',"

feature Cleopatra Jones, starring model Tamara Dobson as a karate-kicking, 6-foot-plus U.S. Special Agent, was one of a wave of action films starring blacks generally written and .W directed by whites. The term 'lexploitation film," long used to describe low-budget movies exploiting faddish cycles for horror and
1,ffiThe 1973

other genres, formed the basis of "blaxploitation." Others include the seminal Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song ',.:,:. ' and Shaft (both LgTI), by African-American directors ',i;,,',, Melvin Van Peebles and Gordon Parks, respectively; t:tit,ii:r,,Superfly (t972), from Gordon Parks Jr.; and a popular ,r . string starring iconic Amazon Pam Grier (Coffy, Foxy fiyg1tr1n, Ffiday FOSter, etC.)
:E-=
':tit,iti11,,

:l. .r.],l:::,,r!L!,,,.i

,1

ir,r

Christie's record-prod ucer boyfriend oversees the yielding the hit "Dancing in the Moonlight." ;;,;,'',,,';;,,l,ljlEffi session O n e h it wo n d e rs Ki n g H a rvest re ea sed th e eth e rea y ',ilrr'r',,",",:lr:j4 ,::irr,' jaunty "Dancing in the Moonlight" on the 1973 album by i,,,:.. ,, .ii,.iiiirLii,ii.i:;::.,;that title. The song reached only No. 13 on the Billboard .hutt, but remains a familiar soft-rock staple.
'.,
r,i.;,ii'

;i:'#

r'1

ii

iiiii'

Eileen and her friends watch Billie Jean King defeat 'lii,,iiilii',i' ;=r-1::= iLi,irii Bobby Riggs in an exhibition tennis match.

ill;=ffi

'''= #|lii'iiffi|
ii;: , r i::r:..:t.:i

='= nii

,tr:l::l:.'=:.,1

iiff f i:" ?"'Jlil J;ij,i? l;1"?1",0 [:T1".::frTlii?lfll';i:ilff*'fi:'

R",

-,1',lii=-=:':'..
:,

e, w t h H o wa rd r ,,,.1 Cosell announcing, it becomes, despite the hype and ri,,,"tr*=+::i:;-.$,;' ; ii ' inherent silliness, an inspirational milestone for young girls
;iii;;i;-;,t

th

Hou

sto n Ast ro d o m

tr.l:.t:ri::lt=;1.r=ilti r

r r

-,- -

------

^t^

^c

trt---

t-

_ h!--

i=-='#l
tiiili;li:i
:;

3'1'J'?lr::.3:+i;"?fl ff 'fl'J;

?l

ff ff;i :F +l?ff i'"f

the

r:,,i,,,,r r't:,1rr'1r:,lLr

.,# ,;'ili
'

jIi :L ,, ,,,,':':,,,;;:- funding from discriminating on the basis of sex, women's iiil iiiliitt:1;ti::== r sports begins its crimb to what it is today.

I t.

:. ::,:: :'

:::aj;:aaaaaaaaaaaa.aaaaaa:=

pounded by one of the nation's worst recessions and than 70,000 workers flocked ,,,,";,;;====-.-".1,,,:,"...";,, double-digit inflationr.more to build the 800-mile-long northward in the mid-'70s *-'...,=...t.ir',..., l:.:... :1;;;:;':"';;;;1|*,rr;.r,i ltuns-Alaska oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. h e CC constant high demand for workers proved Ironically, { f O n Ca l y' t the ::.,.t:':i:il!iii;i:itjt:::a:a::,:. 1, L :1,t.,i, herd a bout i',

;,i;:';7.' i[ ;:trjH 3iiftffi:,"#iklT ;: F:? J,'J,: I toffi nontraditional blue-collar work.

L

";..-------

.:ri,

t,.ii',::.:::i::E;:

' ,:.., 1,

iiii;*,n

=:,,,,,',,,,,

,,

,,r,,r,ii1,:i;i:::j:;;

1':,t;fi"|:'::ffi ,,.,;fi,i
,i:i...:j=:,,,,:,,:

i,,,,

Christie, in California, experiments with the Human Potenti a I Movement, rolfi n g, p ri ma l -screa m th e ra py and Othef NeW Age philOSOphieS befOfe jOining a Moonie-like cult.

i :: :::.::]i:J
:::::::::::::ll: ::::::::::::::::::::::i:::-

The 1960s' youth-culture interest in Eastern philosophies eventually hybridized with American marketing techniques and desire for instant gratification, culminating in an explosion of alternative New Age movements. This phenomenon especially took hold in California, where the Human Potential Movement co-founded by psychologist Carl Rogers had been developing since the,'60s.
I

::::::::::::::

:.,.r::::::::::i

One of the most widespread movements, and the seeming basis for Christie's fictional cult, The Path, was that of the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a South Korean evangelist with extensive American holdings, including The Washington Times. Critics say its followers, popularly called Moonies, are programmed to divorce ' ':| : I',.]':::::::=.::: themselves from families and friends, and to devote their ::::.:=, :r::r.:.rti:i .. 'i'r: t:N: t::.::. =.:a:..a:a:.a::a,i.... lives and assets solely to the movement. An industry of ilirii !t::::::i::r=::::::::::::::: :ri professional "deprogrammers" arose in response. ii itiiiLi r irrli.llj.|=:1 i=
:|
i,L Llirr i
iLN

::::=.,r::.t::.:::::::::::::::t

.:.:,:
'.

;ttrL'ruiur

ilr

tll{liirii i i iiiii::::=:::

..
,,:-+.,* r:ii
!J
"l
,

Photos courtesy of NBC

:::::=:r ,i.:i

ll iLl,

i:l::"-

Send this to a friend

.' :::::=:::::i:

,,,,,-..;-=.=',=;;;;i=,,,r,1t'i

i ri ii".',

.. :.
lirir:;..::::::::=1:r=

$ Tim Daly's Killer Role

*Tl #nl