Top 25 Movies of the 1970s

All the President's Men
Annie Hall
Cet Obscur Objet du Désir
A Clockwork Orange
The Day of the Jackal
Deep End
Dirty Harry
Don't Look Now
Duel
The Exorcist
The French Connection
Get Carter
Glissements Progressifs du Plaisir
Macbeth
Marathon Man
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Silver Streak
The Spy Who Loved Me
Star Wars
The Sting
Straw Dogs
Superman
Taxi Driver
What's Up, Doc?
The Wicker Man

 

I forgot to include 'Animal House', 'Tommy'(have the DVD), 'The Wicker Man'(have the DVD) and all the James Bond Movies from the '70s(own the BluRay 50th Anniversary Box Set and used to watch when played the week between Christmas and New Years Day on a
Cable Network-think was Spike TV).

 

Watching Duel you can feel Dennis Weaver's tension & fear escalate.

 

wow, I realized I like the 70's more than I did...great titles listed. : )

 

Gonna take me a bit of thinking, as the 70s are when I began to become a cineaste, & it's still likely my favorite film era, but I'll give this a try.

 

1-The Godfather: Part II
2-Phantom Of The Paradise
3-The Godfather
4-Vanishing Point
5-Chinatown
6-M*A*S*H
7-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
8-Deliverance
9-Young Frankenstein
10-The Harder They Come
11-Night Moves
12-Assault On Precinct 13
13-The Seven Ups
14-High Plains Drifter
15-Framed
16-Mean Streets
17-All The President's Men
18-The Driver
19-All That Jazz
20-Dillinger
21-The Last American Hero
22-Le Mans
23-Shaft
24-American Graffiti
25-Martin

I could easily pick 25 more!

 

Jaws
Rocky
Taxi Driver
Apocalypse Now
Foul Play
Smokey and The Bandit
Over The Edge
Five Easy Pieces
The Conversation
One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest
Mad Max
Marathon Man
Bad News Bears
Poseidon Adventure
Superman The Movie
Dirty Harry
Taking of Pelham 123
Outlaw Josey Wales
Scrooge
Godfather II
Young Frankenstein
Animal House
Sisters
Saturday Night Fever
Grease

 

Me too.

 

As with my 60's list, these may not be the objective "best" films of this decade, but I find them mostly fairly re-watchable overall:

1. The French Connection (this deserved all the accolades it got, and has formed my not so great lasting impression of NYC)
2. Star Wars (the beginning of the end, possibly, but that original '77 film was certainly one helluva ride)
3. Harold and Maude (the ending has never sat well with me, but I still find this quirky flick to be quite enjoyable)
4. The Bad News Bears (an almost too accurate portrayal of what Little League, and those times in general, were really like)
5. The Day of the Jackal (a bit disturbing to root for an assassin, but this almost plays like a feature-length Roadrunner/Coyote cartoon)
6. Monty Python's Life of Brian (maybe best appreciated if you've seen stuff like King of Kings, The Greatest Story Ever Told, etc.)
7. Young Frankenstein (I could just as easily pick Blazing Saddles, but this maybe is more on my mind given it's currently mid-October)
8. Smokey and the Bandit (Burt Reynolds is certainly missed, but I identified mostly with the Snowman in that bar scene)
9. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (second only to A Shot in the Dark for me in the ongoing Pink Panther series of films)
10. The Black Stallion (the second half drags, but that first 45 minutes or so remains some of the finest cinema ever committed to film)
11. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (yeah, this is completely ridiculous, but it sure is fun to singalong with, especially in a live audience)
12. Halloween (skip the sequels/spin-offs/remake/whatever, and concentrate on this original creepy classic)
13. Jaws (another film which spawned a plethora of inferior sequels, but also a host of pop culture references -- my favorite is Chevy Chase's land shark)
14. Breaking Away (one of the best coming of age films, driven or perhaps cycled by Dennis Christopher, but Paul Dooley was also great as his father)
15. Enter the Dragon (the film that made Bruce Lee a legend, but the earlier Hong Kong features are worthwhile too, bad dubbing and all)
16. Grease (John Travolta is probably better remembered for Saturday Night Fever, but his pairing opposite Olivia Newton-John worked here)
17. The Man Who Fell To Earth (I regard Performance as a 60's film, which leaves this as my pick for greatest 70's film performance by a rock star)
18. Rocky (I only really started to appreciate this once I saw Stallone's surprisingly excellent commentary on the '06 DVD)
19. Really Rosie (technically made-for-TV, but I see this as an accompaniment to the fine Carole King album she recorded as its soundtrack)
20. Freaky Friday (my lasting impression of Jodie Foster with that fearsome hockey stick!)
21. Hardware Wars (excellent spoof of Star Wars, much better than Spaceballs years later, especially the Wookiee Monster )
22. Watership Down (the book is better, but this fine movie led me there, even though it scared my then 8-year old self)
23. Woodstock (the myth has been de-bunked many times over, but the film, and a fair amount of its music, mostly endures)
24. Up In Smoke (basically, an extension of Cheech and Chong's live act, but for the most part a successful one, and very funny)
25. Sooper Goop (a short film from '76 which hit close to home given all that sugary breakfast cereal we kids used to eat mainly on Saturday mornings, but actually pretty much all the time):

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xem0tb

 

Nobody' s mentioned ' Go Tell the Spartans ' starring Burt Lancaster in a fine understated role in this 1978 anti-war movie.
Very low-key but quite good.

 

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
American Graffiti
Robin Hood
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Rocky
Star Wars
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Annie Hall
Grease
Animal House
The Last Waltz
The Muppet Movie
Quadrophenia

I'm not really a 'film buff.' I like movies but tend to like comedy, adventure, musicals, fantasy, etc. I know the '70s are considered a golden age for film, but it was the auteur era and there were a lot of really hard R, super dark 'guy' films this decade, and that's just not my taste. I appreciate the talent in stuff like the Coppola films, but I'd much rather watch The Muppet Movie.

I hope this series is continuing with our favorites of the '80s, '90s and beyond-- I like a lot more from those decades.

 

'90s is the Best Decade for me. CNN covered Best Movies by Decade and the '90s is so good that they did not even talk about 'A Few Good Men'(although shown in the Closing Credits) and 'Sling Blade', which are 2 Great Movies-IMO.

 

This was a very hard list. So many great films came out in the 70's.

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. Vanishing Point
3. Dirty Harry
4. Play Misty for Me
5. Enter the Dragon
6. High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood)
7. Serpico
8. Paper Moon
9. Sisters
10. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
11. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
12. Dog Day Afternoon
13. Cooley High
14. Taxi Driver
15. Carrie
16. Assault on Precinct 13
17. Network
18. Smokey and the Bandit
19. Up in Smoke
20. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
21. Dawn of the Dead
22. Blue Collar
23. The Deer Hunter
24. Alien
25. Apocalypse Now

 

My best attempt tonight at a list -- I basically used a list I found online to jog my memory, and added a few titles. There are probably a few I've missed but it's hard to remember them all without looking at a reference! No particular order except first is first.

Days of Heaven
Badlands
Star Wars
Alien
Jaws
Chinatown
M*A*S*H
Nashville
Silent Partner
The Last Picture Show
Young Frankenstein
The Conversation
Aguirre
Mean Streets
Animal House
French Connection
Rocky
Apocalypse Now
Godfather
Mad Max
The Warriors
American Graffiti
Superman
Dirty Harry
Spirit of the Beehive

But for the last, this looks like Main Street, U.S.A.

Maybe more interesting: some stuff on the list I used for reference which I've seen and do not consider a favorite:

Cuckoo's Nest (remarkably unsubtle film)
Taxi Driver (good but not a favorite; always thought "Mean Streets" was tougher and rawer)
all the Woody Allen stuff (funny but not up there with those listed above)
Tarkovsky's Stalker and Solaris (quite good but not favorites)
Exorcist, Halloween, Tex. Chainsaw, Last House, etc. (I might have listed horror earlier in life but not now; only "Scream" would qualify and that's from a different decade)
Being There (phenomenally unfunny film)
Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico (when did Pacino ever not overact?)
Close Encounters (dull, overlong, the aliens are more credible than the humans)
and so on . . .

A couple of the giants I actually haven't seen, including "Godfather II"; I've actually only seen it in the reorganized TV release.

 

Sling Blade is superb!

 

Most of this list is exceptional.

 

Perhaps a little Main Street but I won't tell.

 

Get the Criterion Channel! Right now they have plenty of Fassbinder to watch! I watched Chinese Roulette recently. Loved it.

 

In no particular order:

Slapshot
The Sting
Foul Play
A New Leaf
Robin Hood (Disney Animated)
The Aristocats (Disney Animated)
Smokey & The Bandit
All The Presidents Men
The In-Laws
Rocky
Rocky II
Star Wars
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
The Muppet Movie
The Jerk
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
The Bad News Bears
Grease
Animal House
Jaws
American Graffiti
Annie Hall
Superman
Blazing Saddles

 

I posted my 60s list last night. I thought 70s would be harder to narrow down, but I had more trouble with the 60s. I love these threads. I never tried to narrow down favorites by decade before.

1. Godfather 1 and 2
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
3. Young Frankenstein
4. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
5. Dog Day Afternoon
6. Walkabout
7. Le Cercle Rouge
8. The Marriage of Maria Braun
9. Bananas
10. The Phantom of Liberty
11. Don't Look Now
12. The Omen
13. Chinatown
14. Taxi Driver
15. Annie Hall
16. Lenny
17. The Conversation
18. The Outlaw Josey Wales
19. Rocky
20. Spirit of the Beehive
21. Eraserhead
22. Star Wars
23. The Jerk
24. The Man Who Fell To Earth

 

Tried to order them right. And I included my rambling summaries...

1. Star Wars. My childhood!
2. The Godfather. Pacino never topped this. A perfectly constructed and acted character arc. That final camera shot!
3. A Clockwork Orange. As a kid I wanted to take a shower after watching this disturbing dystopian - and beautifully shot - masterpiece.
4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Ni!
5. Manhattan. Wonderful B&W look at NYC. I think a more mature film than Annie Hall.
6. Alien. Some of the best set and creature design ever. A master class in blending character, suspense and jump-scares.
7. Halloween. Despite a silly ending sequence, a truly scary suburbanite's nightmare. Even the piano gives me chills.
8. Taxi Driver. Other than Woody Allen, NYC got a pretty bad rap in 70s cinema . DeNiro manages to look intense and zoned out at the same time.
9. The Warriors. Cartoonish, yet conveys the dangers of gang life. I credit the kinetic direction and a group of actors who really bought into their characters.
10. Jaws. The ocean still scares me.
11. Breaking Away. This is how you make a feel-good underdog film without getting sappy. Wonderful.
12. Le Cercle Rougue. The wordless heist sequence alone puts this in the Top 25.
13. Rocky. Hey, there's a reason Rocky was the underdog. Great character study.
14. The Omen. Chilling, and does a credible job of convincing Gregory Peck's character his son really is Satan's spawn.
15. Days of Heaven. Beautifully shot, of course, with rich dialogue and heartbreaking performances.
16. Deliverance. Stark study of the force of nature, especially the scariest of nature's creations: man.
17. Apocalypse Now. Martin Sheen drunkenly dancing? A Playboy show floating down a Vietnamese river? Bizarro Brando? Overbudget? Greenlight this film!
18. Assault on Precinct 13. Criminally overlooked gritty suspense classic. (Remake is good, too.)
19. North Dallas Forty. Great look at how the NFL went from regular big guys having fun to a corporate machine. Funny, too.
20. Death Wish. One of the original revenge fantasy flicks. And one of the best.
21. I Never Sang for My Father. Don't let the schmaltzy title fool you. A very well-acted story of a man coming to terms with his father while starting a new life.
22. The In-laws. Great chemistry between Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. Serpentine!
23. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Ben Gazzara is awesome. A gangster flick only Cassavetes could make.
24. Animal House. Sometimes you just want dumb laughs. This delivers.
25. Enter the Dragon. Bruce. That cat was fast as lightning.

 

MASH
Catch 22
A Clockwork Orange
The Last picture Show
The French Connection
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
The Conformist
The Godfather
Cabaret
The Exorcist
American Graffiti
The Conversation
Chinatown
The Godfather Part II
Dog Day Afternoon
Nashville
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Barry Lyndon
All the President's Men
Taxi Driver
Annie Hall
Close Encounters of the third Kind
The Deer Hunter
Apocalypse Now
Manhattan
All That Jazz
Kramer vs Kramer

 

1. The Godfather Part II
2. Alien
3. Jaws
4. Star Wars
5. Harold and Maude
6. Picnic at Hanging Rock
7. Night Moves
8. Taxi Driver
9. Apocalypse Now
10. Frenzy
11. Annie Hall
12. The Exorcist
13. Sorcerer
14. Cutter's Way
15. Carrie
16. Young Frankenstein
17. Monty Python and The Holy Grail
18. A Clockwork Orange
19. Deliverance
20. Chinatown
21. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
22. Patton
23. Klute
24. Badlands
25. Being There

 

I can't watch the Criterion Channel over here, I've tried to sign up when they started.

 

No order

Aguirre, The Wrath Of God
Greaser’s Palace
The Telephone Book
Bring Me the Head Of Alfredo Garcia
Apocalypse Now
Stalker
Annie Hall
The Discrete Charm Of the Bourgeoisie
Le Cercle Rouge
Deliverance
The Conversation
Chinatown
The Killing Of a Chinese Bookie
The Driller Killer
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
And God Said To Cain
Friends Of Eddie Coyle
Stroszek
O Lucky Man
Real Life
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Solaris
Taxi Driver
A Woman Under the Influence
Investigation Of a Citizen Above Suspicion
The Hills Have Eyes