Best Seventies movies

[thepaulo]

Lots of talk about how good movies are from the 70's.
I agree, in a lot of ways some of the best are from then.
It still is a matter of opinion, and if it's true, the reasons can be elusive.
I've just spent some major time with the extras on Taxi Driver and Carrie.
I'm sure there are lots of opinions on both sides of the fence.
(actually some of my favorites are the very late 60's)

[razorboy]

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[OGC]

The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2

[thepaulo]

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I did watch some movies from 1870.
I didn't really like them.

[razorboy]

I did watch some movies from 1870.
I didn't really like them.

Were you an extra in any of them?

[Crash]

Okay, OBVIOUSLY this is not a list of the BEST seventies movies. I didn't include "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". So Paulo I apologize in advance for not sticking to the theme.

But BEST is so subjective, I went to "1970's In Film" on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_film#List_of_films

and made a partial list of the films that I NEVER turn off when they're on TV.

Alien
All That Jazz
And Justice for All
Animal House
Apocalypse Now
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Electra Glide In Blue
Eraserhead
The Exorcist
The Killer Elite
Klute
MASH
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Network
Patton
Solaris
Straw Dogs
THX1138
Up In Smoke
Zardoz

Movies like The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon aren't on the list because frankly I've seen them too many times. Can a truly GREAT movie ever get played out?

[OneEyeJack]

House Of Dark Shadows.

[Chigworthy]

Jackie Brown

[TeeBone]

jaws

[realmenhatelife]

They Shoot Horses, Dont They? is one of my favorites that doesn't get brought up a lot.

[Liverspot]

Superfly
Dirty Harry
THX1138
Enter the Dragon

[StanUpshaw]

Deliverance
Midnight Express

[smiler grogan]

Chinatown

[furie]

most of the movies mentioned so far were fantastic. classics. So i'll just say Star Wars since it hasn't been mentioned yet. not the best movie of the seventies but look at the cult following it has.

[TripleSkeet]

Rocky and The Warriors are 2 of my favorite 70s movies.

[OGC]

Dawn of the Dead

[Manning, Esq.]

When I think about seventies films, it's the political thrillers that seem to highlight the decade. Pakula was one of many great film makers of the era, and his term says it all: Political Paranoia. I wonder what coulda happened back then to inspire this genre ...?

These flicks had terrific plotlines that demanded attention. Also, because I am a fan of quiet movies--think Gus Van Zant, and other atmospherists--the low-tech environment of the seventies helped to focus on the story-telling.

Some of my go-tos:
Parallex View
Marathon Man
French Connection
The Conversation
Boys From Brazil
The Day of the Jackal
Three Days of the Condor
China Syndrome
The Odessa File

The body of seventies movies wouldn't be the same without Dirty Harry, either. And, big ups to Car Wash.

[Gutter]

Serpico
American Graffiti
Mean Streets
Soylent Green

The list for 1973 alone is fantastic.

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?year=1973,1973&title_type=feature&sort=moviemeter,asc

[Dan G]

I'll try and name my favorites that haven't been mentioned yet.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Manhattan
Annie Hall
Black Belt Jones
Being There
North Dallas Forty
Slap Shot
Assault on Precinct 13
The Long Good Friday
Breakheart Pass
Saturday Night Fever
The Sting
Badlands
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Last Detail
Sleuth
Midnight Express
Kelly's Heroes

[Furtherman]

There are so many awesome movies in the Seventies that I wonder what happened in Hollywood to give us the mostly crap movies of the Eighties.

[disneyspy]

some movies not mentioned (and there have been alot of great ones mentioned) that i like are ONE FLEW OVER THE COOKOOS NEST,THE EXORCIST,BLAZING SADDLES(have the movie poster on my wall),YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN,HALLOWEEN,THE TOWERING INFERNO and SUPERMAN

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED! MOVIES SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN BETTER,NOT WORSE!!

[disneyspy]

There are so many awesome movies in the Seventies that I wonder what happened in Hollywood to give us the mostly crap movies of the Eighties.

and 90s and otts and teens,i blame paulo

[Jujubees2]

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTcyNjQwMTE1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMDIxMjA5._V1._ SY317_.jpg

[booster11373]

some movies not mentioned (and there have been alot of great ones mentioned) that i like are ONE FLEW OVER THE COOKOOS NEST,THE EXORCIST,BLAZING SADDLES(have the movie poster on my wall),YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN,HALLOWEEN,THE TOWERING INFERNO and SUPERMAN

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED! MOVIES SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN BETTER,NOT WORSE!!

Demographics! The didn't just make films for 15 year old boys

[disneyspy]

Demographics! The didn't just make films for 15 year old boys

and they sucked compared to the 70s because of it

[ZigZagBigBag]

Billy Jack!

[Crash]

There are so many awesome movies in the Seventies that I wonder what happened in Hollywood to give us the mostly crap movies of the Eighties.

Two words...

John Hughes

No, not Hughes himself, but the eternal line of cheap, subpar imitations he spawned.

[StanUpshaw]

Movies today don't have enough man rape.

[thepaulo]

Some of the titles suggested. There are more.
It was an interesting time. Old Hollywood was collappsing.
The young turks full of the ideas of the new wave were ready to go crazy
The whole world was changing but were still passionate and innocent in some ways.


Alien
All That Jazz
And Justice for All
Animal House
Apocalypse Now
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Electra Glide In Blue
Eraserhead
The Exorcist
The Killer Elite
Klute
MASH
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Network
Patton
Solaris
Straw Dogs
Up In Smoke
Zardoz
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Manhattan
Annie Hall
Black Belt Jones
Being There
North Dallas Forty
Slap Shot
Assault on Precinct 13
The Long Good Friday
Breakheart Pass
Saturday Night Fever
The Sting
Badlands
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Last Detail
Sleuth
Midnight Express
Kelly's Heroes
Serpico
American Graffiti
Mean Streets
Soylent Green
Parallex View
Marathon Man
French Connection
The Conversation
Boys From Brazil
The Day of the Jackal
Three Days of the Condor
China Syndrome
The Odessa File
Superfly
Dirty Harry
THX1138
Enter the Dragon
Deliverance
Midnight Express
Chinatown
Billy Jack
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
HALLOWEEN
THE TOWERING INFERNO
SUPERMAN
Dawn of the Dead
Rocky
The Warriors
They Shoot Horses, Dont They
jaws

[Recyclerz]

I may be going a little "Ronnie B" here but John Cassavetes made some nice & gritty little movies during the '70's: A Woman Under the Influence; Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Gloria are worth scounging around for. They are almost on par with Scorcese's '70's work.

And Dog Day Afternoon for more Al Pacino in his prime.
AT-TI-CA! AT-TI-CA!

[realmenhatelife]

Barry Lyndon is another one I really like that people dont bring up often.

[thepaulo]

The Graduate -1967
2001:A Space Odyessy 1968
Midnight Cowboy - 1969

are great 70's movies.

[Dude!]

Some of the titles suggested. There are more.
It was an interesting time. Old Hollywood was collappsing.
The young turks full of the ideas of the new wave were ready to go crazy
The whole world was changing but were still passionate and innocent in some ways.


Alien
All That Jazz
And Justice for All
Animal House
Apocalypse Now
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Electra Glide In Blue
Eraserhead
The Exorcist
The Killer Elite
Klute
MASH
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Network
Patton
Solaris
Straw Dogs
Up In Smoke
Zardoz
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Manhattan
Annie Hall
Black Belt Jones
Being There
North Dallas Forty
Slap Shot
Assault on Precinct 13
The Long Good Friday
Breakheart Pass
Saturday Night Fever
The Sting
Badlands
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Last Detail
Sleuth
Midnight Express
Kelly's Heroes
Serpico
American Graffiti
Mean Streets
Soylent Green
Parallex View
Marathon Man
French Connection
The Conversation
Boys From Brazil
The Day of the Jackal
Three Days of the Condor
China Syndrome
The Odessa File
Superfly
Dirty Harry
THX1138
Enter the Dragon
Deliverance
Midnight Express
Chinatown
Billy Jack
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
HALLOWEEN
THE TOWERING INFERNO
SUPERMAN
Dawn of the Dead
Rocky
The Warriors
They Shoot Horses, Dont They
jaws


why did you list these 4
in all CAPS:

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
HALLOWEEN
THE TOWERING INFERNO
SUPERMAN

[StanUpshaw]

why did you list these 4
in all CAPS:

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
HALLOWEEN
THE TOWERING INFERNO
SUPERMAN

Nancy Drew you aint.

[thepaulo]

why did you list these 4
in all CAPS:

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
HALLOWEEN
THE TOWERING INFERNO
SUPERMAN

I cut and paste all the contributers.
blame him.

by the way

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

[PapaBear]

Jackie Brown
I just noticed this one. You missed out by 18 years.

[thepaulo]

I just noticed this one. You missed out by 18 years.

His heart was in the right place.

[Manning, Esq.]

His heart was in the right place.

Heart? Perhaps. Typing thumbs ... not so much. I'd bet he was pointing to Foxy Brown , a terrible blaxploitation Pam Grier revenge flick from '74. Well, somehwat entertaining, I guess, but its appearance on a "Best" list is surprising, to say the least.

[Manning, Esq.]

...by the way

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

FWIW - I agreed with your nods to the films from the 1960s as 70s-esque. That is, they are good flicks, too. But, will you refrain from including them from any "Best of the Sixties" lists? And, on the other side of the spectrum, are you not including 80s releases that "feel" like they could have been from 70s? Admittedly, because including extra-Seventies movies in a 70s list seems very subjective, I can't follow.

[thepaulo]

FWIW - I agreed with your nods to the films from the 1960s as 70s-esque. That is, they are good flicks, too. But, will you refrain from including them from any "Best of the Sixties" lists? And, on the other side of the spectrum, are you not including 80s releases that "feel" like they could have been from 70s? Admittedly, because including extra-Seventies movies in a 70s list seems very subjective, I can't follow.

Caddyshack(1980)

[Furtherman]

I can't follow.

Ergo, a Paulo thread.

[thepaulo]

FWIW - I agreed with your nods to the films from the 1960s as 70s-esque. That is, they are good flicks, too. But, will you refrain from including them from any "Best of the Sixties" lists? And, on the other side of the spectrum, are you not including 80s releases that "feel" like they could have been from 70s? Admittedly, because including extra-Seventies movies in a 70s list seems very subjective, I can't follow.

I included them to suggest the crest of the wave as the movement coalesced.

But, as always, your points are well taken.

[KnoxHarrington]

Either IFC or Sundance did a great documentary series on '70s cinema called "A Decade Under the Influence". The thing that documentary went into was how a lot of the reason we had such great movies in the '70s was that the studio system had fallen apart, and so there weren't all these suits micromanaging everything that goes into a movie: they were just trying to keep the whole shithouse from burning down, so they let anything through. A producer like Robert Evans could get a movie like The Godfather or Chinatown made with very little interference in that environment.

And then came Jaws and Star Wars and everything got ruined. Corporations learned there's huge money in movies again, and the concept of the "summer blockbuster" was born, with tons of executives and producers determine to create such a movie based on exact formulas. And thus we end up with the flood of shit movies we have now.

[thepaulo]

Either IFC or Sundance did a great documentary series on '70s cinema called "A Decade Under the Influence". The thing that documentary went into was how a lot of the reason we had such great movies in the '70s was that the studio system had fallen apart, and so there weren't all these suits micromanaging everything that goes into a movie: they were just trying to keep the whole shithouse from burning down, so they let anything through. A producer like Robert Evans could get a movie like The Godfather or Chinatown made with very little interference in that environment.

And then came Jaws and Star Wars and everything got ruined. Corporations learned there's huge money in movies again, and the concept of the "summer blockbuster" was born, with tons of executives and producers determine to create such a movie based on exact formulas. And thus we end up with the flood of shit movies we have now.
Steven Speilberg is a sombitch.

(Which reminds me of
Smoky and the Bandit.)

[Manning, Esq.]

Caddyshack(1980)

http://rlv.zcache.com/touche_fencing_card-p137532783553090538tra8_210.jpg