AllMovie

The Sensational 70's documentary series offers viewers a look at "the best and worst" moments of the decade -- presenting excerpts from film and television to review the politics, significant events, developments in science and technology, sports, and entertainment of the time. Memorable topics from 1976 include: Celebrations of the U.S. bicentennial; Georgian Jimmy Carter's victory in the presidential election; the rescue by Israeli commandos of all but one of 103 Air France passengers held hostage by pro-Palestinian extremists at Uganda's Entebbe airport; riots in Johannesburg, South Africa, that forced the government towards more serious consideration of an end to apartheid; the death of Chairman Mao Zedong and the post-Mao purge in China; the death of wealthy recluse Howard Hughes; the death of crime family leader Carlo Gambino; the landing of two "Viking" spacecrafts on Mars; President Carter's appointment of black congressman Andrew Young as U.N. ambassador; a mysterious illness that strikes 180 people at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia and is called "Legionnaire's disease"; Washington secretaries wearing "I Can Type" buttons after Representative Wayne Hayes is accused of having a "secretary" on his publicly funded payroll, although she has no office skills; Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci and American decathlon champion Bruce Jenner shining at the Montreal Olympics; and Japanese adventurer Yuichiro Miura skiing down Mt. Everest.