The 32 best '70s movies

2024-02-16

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(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Clint Eastwood stands under the sun in Dirty Harry

Underdog sports heroes, evil spirits, alien visitors, Shaolin monks, vigilantes, killer sharks, and more define a complicated decade still reeling from the sins of Vietnam and a resurgence in Cold War tensions. But what movies entertained audiences during these disturbing times? Here are the 32 best movies of the 1970s.

32. Slap Shot (1977)

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Hockey players watch from the sidelines in Slap Shot

31. Wanda (1970)

(Image credit: Bardene International Films)

Barbara Loden, as Wanda, in a car in a field

A landmark piece of independent filmmaking, Wanda follows a woman with no prospects who winds up in the company of a bank robber. The work of writer, director, and lead actress Barbara Loden, Wanda is a compassionate and tragic portrait of women who fall through the cracks of modern society, echoing Loden’s own feelings of aimlessness at the time. Loden was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years later and died in 1980 with Wanda ending up as Loden’s one and only directorial effort. But even through just one movie, Loden influenced generations of independent artists and permanently set in place the standards for iconoclast cinema.

30. Nashville (1975)

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

A man stands on stage in the movie Nashville

In Robert Altman’s epic musical comedy Nashville, a week-long political rally and music festival becomes a terrarium for 1970s America, its political and sociological vastness condensed into a microcosm of the country music industry. The movie famously features a large ensemble cast including David Arkin, Ned Beatty, Karen Black, Shelley Duvall, Jeff Goldblum, Lily Tomlin, and way too many more to name. Though marinated in the politics and social dynamics of the mid-’70s, Altman’s picture remains eerily relevant decades later.

29. Suspiria (1977)

(Image credit: Produzioni Atlas Consorziate)

Jessica Harper stands in front of a window in the movie Suspiria

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28. American Graffiti (1973)

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Two hot rod cars drive down the street in American Graffiti

George Lucas was just 29 years old when his coming-of-age classic American Graffiti opened in theaters to rave reviews. The future Star Wars director was hardly in his mid-life crisis when he exhibited wistful nostalgia for his teen years in 1962, as one of many rambunctious youths who got in souped-up hot rods and cruised for adventure in their own downtowns. While Lucas’ name is now synonymous with large-scale escapist blockbusters, his most down-to-Earth movie, which follows a bunch of rock-‘n-roll teenagers over one summer night in Lucas’ California hometown of Modesto, still feels alive with vigor as a semi-autobiographical period piece made through the eyes of someone not much older than his own characters.

27. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Dr. Frank N. Furter and Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Picture Show

26. The French Connection (1971)

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Gene Hackman plays a detective in The French Connection

25. Annie Hall (1977)

(Image credit: United Artists)

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen in Annie Hall

While admiration for Woody Allen has understandably soured over the years, Annie Hall is still deserving of celebration as an outrageously playful and deeply thoughtful scrutiny of modern romance. With writer/director Allen basically playing himself (shocker, I know), the picture follows a neurotic comedian interrogating why his relationship with his most recent girlfriend, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) fell apart. Detached from reality and told in nonlinear fashion that zips between the protagonist’s unusual childhood and his other failed marriages, Annie Hall has for so long held its domain as the king of romantic comedies, albeit with a happy ending that is still unlike most traditional rom-coms.

24. Halloween (1978)

(Image credit: Trancas International Films)

Laurie Strode cries in her room with Michael Myers stalking her from behind

23. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

(Image credit: Columbia Pictures)

Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep have dinner in Kramer vs. Kramer

22. Superman: The Movie (1978)

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Superman holds Lois Lane and a helicopter in Superman: The Movie

21. Enter the Dragon (1973)

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Bruce Lee swings nunchucks in Enter the Dragon

20. Saturday Night Fever (1977)

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

John Travolta boogies on the dance floor in Saturday Night Fever

19. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

An alien mothership lands over a military base in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Predating Steven Spielberg’s own seismic movie E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is his 1977 epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After a chance encounter with a UFO, an Indiana electrician (Richard Dreyfuss) finds his way into getting a front row seat with the first official meeting between Earth and an alien society. A dazzling spectacle with a particularly regal tone and atmosphere than most alien invasion movies before or since, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was the harbinger to a near future full of mature science fiction.

18. The Deer Hunter (1978)

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Robert De Niro sits bundled up in a bar in The Deer Hunter

17. The Sting (1973)

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Robert Redford and Paul Newman in tuxes in The Sting

16. Carrie (1976)

(Image credit: United Artists)

Sissy Spacek is crowned prom queen in Carrie

15. Network (1976)

(Image credit: United Artists)

Howard Beale loses his marbles and screams in national television in Network

For anyone who has felt mad as hell and can’t take it anymore, there is Network. A seminal piece of social commentary about the unsustainability in the media’s endless sensationalism, Sidney Lumet’s darkly comic drama is about a TV network on the verge of collapse until its respected anchor, Howard Beale (Peter Finch) threatens to kill himself on live TV. With his mania increasing to the tune of increased ratings, Network explores the callusing of taste against an avalanche of poisonous information. Network far predates the era of cable news and social media, but even after all these years, it has never lost its point.

14. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

(Image credit: United Artists)

Jack Nicholson plays Randle in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher co-star in Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a dark drama set in an Oregan mental institution in which a patient (Nicholson) is at the mercy of the tyrannical Nurse Ratched (Fletcher) and leads a rebellion of his fellow patients against her. Based on Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, the film exists as a celebrated anti-conformity metaphor; while Roger Ebert points out in a glowing 2003 re-review it over-simplifies the solutions to mental illnesses, that’s not really the point “because it has no interest in being about insanity,” Ebert wrote. “It is about a free spirit in a closed system.”

Amusing to note: The movie was filmed on location at the Oregon State Hospital, a legitimate working mental hospital. In exchange for letting the filmmakers use the location and the actors to shadow real patients for research, hospital patients had to be made part of the movie’s crew. In a 2017 article for The Guardian, actor Michael Douglas, who produced the film, commented: “We ended up with a number [of patients] working in different departments. I didn’t realize until later that many of them were criminally insane. We had an arsonist working in the art department.”

13. Solaris (1972)

(Image credit: Mosfilm)

A man walks around in a space ship in Solaris

12. Dirty Harry (1971)

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Clint Eastwood stands in a city block in Dirty Harry

11. Rocky (1976)

(Image credit: United Artists)

Rocky stands atop the steps in Philadelphia in Rocky

After years struggling to make it as an actor, Sylvester Stallone nearly gave up a career in acting until he slowly accrued work as a TV extra. Then, he stepped into the ring with Rocky, and he’s never been the same ever since. In John G. Avildsen’s emotional sports drama, Stallone plays aspiring boxer and debt collector Rocky Balboa who is thrust into the main event when heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) picks Rocky to fight in a professional exhibition. A stirring underdog sports drama that inspired countless movies like it, Rocky is still pound-for-pound one of the best sports films of all time. It predictably spawned a franchise, with Rocky III giving the world “Eye of the Tiger.”

10. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Alex and his gang friends drink milk in A Clockwork Orange

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A Clockwork Orange

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$36at Amazon

9. Chinatown (1974)

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

A detective and his client speak in Chinatown

8. Apocalypse Now (1979)

(Image credit: United Artists)

Martin Sheen hides in the swamp in an iconic scene from Apocalypse Now

7. The Exorcist (1973)

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Max von Sydow stands on the street in an iconic image from The Exorcist

6. All the President’s Men (1976)

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Robert Redford talks on the phone in All the President’s Men

5. Alien (1979)

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Ellen Ripley looks outside the window in Alien

4. Taxi Driver (1976)

(Image credit: Columbia Pictures)

Robert De Niro talks to the camera in an iconic scene from Taxi Driver

3. The Godfather (1972)

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Don Vito Corleone in his office on the day of his daughter’s wedding in The Godfather

Francis Ford Coppola could have stopped at The Godfather, and he’d still be a revered cinematic artist. Based on Mario Puzo’s 1969 bestseller about a fictional Italian mob dynasty, Coppola’s immortal picture stars Al Pacino and Marlon Brando (plus James Cann, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton) as the heads of the Corleone crime family. Set between the years 1945 and 1955, Coppola’s sprawling epic sees Michael Corleone (Pacino) grow from the youngest son reluctant to even think about his family’s business to succeeding his father’s role. A bonafide American classic, The Godfather is truly one of the greatest movies of all time in its dramatic study of family dynamics whilst capturing the atmospheric worlds of the Italian mafia in postwar America.

2. Star Wars (1977)

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Luke and Han Solo are crowned at the end of Star Wars

It spawned one of the most lucrative and most recognized media franchises in the world. But even if it never did, George Lucas’ 1977 film Star Wars (since retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) is an artistic achievement of pure imagination. Originating from Lucas’ own inability to make a Flash Gordon movie, Star Wars is, above all else, a classic story of good versus evil, where scrappy underdogs armed with progressive ideals can still eke out a win over superior forces. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, and the commanding voice of James Earl Jones populate the ultimate escapist adventure from a galaxy far, far away.

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Star Wars

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$14.99at Walmart

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$23.88at Amazon

1. Jaws (1975)

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Jaws, the shark, terrorizes a boat in Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece

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32. Slap Shot (1977)

31. Wanda (1970)

30. Nashville (1975)

29. Suspiria (1977)

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28. American Graffiti (1973)

27. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

26. The French Connection (1971)

25. Annie Hall (1977)

24. Halloween (1978)

23. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

22. Superman: The Movie (1978)

21. Enter the Dragon (1973)

20. Saturday Night Fever (1977)

19. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

18. The Deer Hunter (1978)

17. The Sting (1973)

16. Carrie (1976)

15. Network (1976)

14. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

13. Solaris (1972)

12. Dirty Harry (1971)

11. Rocky (1976)

10. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

9. Chinatown (1974)

8. Apocalypse Now (1979)

7. The Exorcist (1973)

6. All the President’s Men (1976)

5. Alien (1979)

4. Taxi Driver (1976)

3. The Godfather (1972)

2. Star Wars (1977)

1. Jaws (1975)

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