I was driving to work this morning listening to a John Denver song. I know, don't judge. I grew up on that stuff. Looking back, 70s television drama and movies were sure depressing. There was a heck of a lot of doom and gloom - and I am not just talking about Vietnam and Nixon. The king of sadness in 70s television/movies - was, in my opinion, Robbie Benson (pictured above). He was cute, but he rarely acted in anything that was happy. Really, just think back on some of his 1970s acting credits: Ode to Billy Jode, Death Be Not Proud, One on One, Ice Castles, etc. Poor guy. He even auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars movie, but lost the part to Mark Hamill. I guess the role of Luke did not fit him; Luke only lost 2 relatives in the movie. That is just a mere pittance of sadness for Robbie Benson.
With that theme of 70s sadness in mind, I decided to offer some snippets of 1970s television movies that to me, represent "maudlin madness," as I like to call it. Enjoy:
