This week, our family watched the classic Disney movies Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and Return from Witch Mountain (1978) in preparation for a viewing of the Rockfest Race to Witch Mountain which is in theaters now.

The original film, Escape to Witch Mountain, held up pretty well despite the 30+ year time lag since the movie’s release.  Laughable special effects notwithstanding, Tia and Tony are super cute kids with super cool powers and you can’t help but root for them in their escape from the evil Aristotle Bolt (played by Ray Milland) and his henchman Deranian (played by Donald Pleasance).  The children eventually join forces with a crotchety old man played by Eddie Albert, who helps them elude their pursuers and drives them to safety in his Winnebago.

In Return from Witch Mountain, Tia and Tony are adolescents who visit the big city of L.A. for a week.  The kids are separated and Tony is abducted by a pair of villains (played by Christopher Lee and Bette Davis).  Fortunately for Tia, she is befriended by a group of kids who help her find and rescue Tony.  Unfortunately for us, the kids are super annoying - they are in a “gang” called the Earthquakes and are vying for street cred with the other gangs of older kids.  With names like “Rocky”, “Crusher,” “Muscles,” and the unfortunate moniker “Dazzler,” the “gang” of kids had us rolling on the floor with laughter.  Definitely the worst movie of the three.

Race to Witch Mountain is supposed to be a re-imagining of the original film, although the plot bears hardly any resemblance to the first movie.  Gone are the cheesy one-dimensional villains and laughable special effects.  In this movie, our government plays the part of the villain and the special effects have been updated for the 21st century.  Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson takes up most of the screen time, but he manages to be both touching and funny and doesn’t take himself too seriously.  The movie included the occasional throwback to the original film, such as a few scenes in a Winnebago and cameos by the original Tony (Ike Eisenmann) and Tia (Kim Richards), but for the most part the movie was a completely different film.  We enjoyed the movie, however, not a bad way to spend a few hours at a Sunday matinee.

I was sad to learn that Ricardo Montalbán, who starred in films such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as well as the television show Fantasy Island, passed away yesterday.  He was also well known for a series of commercials from the 1970s for the Chrysler Cordoba, such as this one.

Farewell, Ricardo, you will be missed.

I am now the proud owner of the 1975 Bay City Rollers hit single, featuring the songs “Saturday Night” and “Marlina.”

As you can see the cover is a little worse for wear, but seeing as how it was only a dollar I can’t really complain.  Besides, with that much plaid on the cover, how could I possibly go wrong?

Remember Pop Rocks?

My brother and I used to get Pop Rocks in our Christmas stockings. We’d get other candy and nuts and fruit too but I have a clear association in my mind with Pop Rocks and Christmas. I do occasionally see Pop Rocks around at toy stores and other specialty shops so now I carry on the tradition and make a point to put Pop Rocks in RollerBoy’s stocking every Christmas.

For those of you deprived souls that have never had the pleasure of experiencing this taste sensation for yourself, Pop Rocks is a carbonated candy that produces a unique sensation after placed in one’s mouth. This candy doesn’t melt in your mouth, it explodes in your mouth - accompanied by popping sounds, fizzing, and a tingly tongue. I haven’t had Pop Rocks in years but I remember exactly what it tastes feels like.

First introduced in 1975, Pop Rocks used to be ubiquitous but I don’t see it around much these days. There is a Pop Rocks Urban Legend that claims Little Mikey (of Life Cereal fame) died in a freakish accident by mixing pop rocks and soda, causing his stomach to literally explode. The legend claims that is the true reason why Pop Rocks were taken off the market in the early eighties. Seeing as how Little Mikey is still alive the legend is obviously not true. Hmmm… maybe I’ll have to try it

Image from TVGuide.com

Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” like the 1975 Charlie Brown TV special “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.” Charlie pines for the little red-haired girl, to no avail. He watches with dismay as valentines come flooding in for his dog, Snoopy, while he does not receive a single one. At the end of the episode he does finally get his valentine - a used one given to him out of pity.

Poor Charlie.

I remember watching this special as a kid and relating to it - giving and receiving valentines at school was always an exciting but stressful experience. I would give valentines and candy hearts to everyone in my class, but for the boys I really liked I would carefully choose hearts that said “Hot Stuff” or “Call Me”. If I dared. And then I would wait expectantly in the hopes of receiving candy hearts with equally heartfelt expressions of love in return. Which of course never happened. My candy hearts always read “You’re Nice” or something lame like that. Sigh.

Thankfully I no longer have to worry about lame candy hearts or manufacturing 35 cards and cupcakes prior to the big day. This year, I got the best Valentine’s Day Card ever courtesy of Mr. RollerBlog.

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!

As I have noted previously, blogs that obsess about the seventies are sadly few and far between.

Therefore I have made it my mission to scour the blog-o-sphere and bring the best of the seventies love straight from the Internet to your eyeballs. Thus, the RollerBlog Sunday Surprise was born.

The third edition of the RollerBlog Sunday Surprise features the Project Absurd Blog.

Why do I like this web site?

The Project Absurd Blog not only appreciates the hairstyles of 1975 but also The Star Wars Holiday Special. Additionally, I discovered reviews of The Brazilian Star Wars Movie AND Kiss in Attack of the Phantoms(how is it that I have never even heard of either of these movies before?)

According to the web site, Project Absurd “celebrate(s) life in the good old USA. Whether it’s an offbeat & fun travel destination or a poorly-thought-out store (or anything else!), if it’s a little bit insane, clever, or retro…we love it!”

And I love this blog. My only complaint is that it doesn’t seem to be updated very frequently. When it is updated, however, it is worth the wait.

Tags Project Absurd Blog . RollerBlog Sunday Surprise . Hairstyles of 1975

As promised in my New Years Resolutions post, this year I am going to do the hustle. And by the hustle, I mean dancing to song of the same name by Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony (1975) and not to earn a living by illicit or unethical means. Although, who knows, maybe I’ll give that a try too.

Lucky for me, I found this video on YouTube with step-by-step directions on how to hustle my little heart out. Step backward, step forward, rolling grapevine, the John Travolta, the eggbeater, the chicken… it’s all there.

Tags 1975 . The Hustle . Van McCoy . disco

November 28, 1975. 32 years ago today, the Republic of East Timor proclaimed independence from Portugal. The Indonesian writer Eka Kurniawan was born. The journal science published an article about the origin of the feline leukemia virus. And, according to Super70s.com, the number one song on the charts was ‘That’s the Way I Like It’ by K.C. & the Sunshine Band.

Funky, danceable, groovy goodness. Uh huh uh huh.

Here is some live footage of K.C. & the Sunshine Band performing ‘That’s the Way I Like It’ in 1974:

Tags 1975 . That’s the Way I Like It . K.C. and the Sunshine Band

Nothing says welcome home after travelling internationally like an accordion solo. One day after I had returned from my trip, I was strangely compelled to watch an entire Lawrence Welk episode on my local PBS Station. The show, entitled “Musical Masterpieces,” aired in 1975 and featured a rapid succession of musical acts including big band tunes, sappy ballads, tap dancing, orchestral arrangements, romantic duets, and the afore-mentioned accordion solo.

I’ve never really watched the show before. I was expecting the worst - my husband Adam was traumatized by viewing the Lawrence Welk show as a child. His father loved the show and Adam, who was a skater kid in the Bay Area, was completely horrified by it. But I was happily surprised. I was amused by the dated costumes and the corny ballads and the rabid fan base of elderly ladies in the live audience. Who can’t love a show filled with powder blue leisure suits, enormous signet rings, feathered bangs, and ladies in matching pink dresses?

Here is a clip from a 1974 episode of the Lawrence Welk show, courtesy of You Tube:

Tags Lawrence Welk

One of my favorite things about being a parent is sharing beloved movies, books, and music with my child. As RollerBoy has grown older, we’ve introduced him favorites from my childhood such as They Might Be Giants, The White Mountains by John Christopher, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (my entire family, including my parents, have been obsessed with J.R.R. Tolkein’s books since as long as I can remember).

This past year we introduced Brendan, now 11, to another classic: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (released in 1975). When I was younger, this was my absolute second favorite move of all time (second only to The Princess Bride, but that movie is from the eighties so I won’t really elaborate here). Adam and I were somewhat shocked to discover that we did not own Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so in a fit of consumer-fueled frenzy we promptly purchased the movie. Brendan loved the movie and multiple viewings ensued.

What’s not to like about Monty Python and the Holy Grail? The cute killer rabbit, the knights who say “Ni”, the shrubberies, The Knights of the Round Table song at Camelot, the Black Night, Sir Robin bravely running away… I could go on and on. An eminently quotable film that we have viewed many, many times.

This morning, I quizzed my family around the breakfast table on exactly how many times each one of had seen this movie. Brendan claims to have already watched the movie 15 times. I’ve seen the movie at least 20 times. Adam reckons that he’s watched the movie in the neighborhood of 100 times.

And so, without further ado, I present the Monty Python and the Holy Grail poll. How many times have you seen this movie?