Best Films of The 70s (V2) [Poll][Dead] - Movies & TV

cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir

Location: MA/FL

Awesome, I just saw a revival showing of Coffy recently so good to get in the seventies mood. I feel like talking about the 70s is really opposite to our last poll, where the 80s was the first "real" decade to feel similar to how we consume entertainment now, the 70s feel like an almost alien and unparalled time for movies- a certain type of moral & stylistic freedom and borderline reckless filmmaking spirit that certainly mirrored the aftermath of both post-Censorship code freedom and the first real culture wars of the 60's, a kind of overall spark of inspiration that went out for good when the Big Studios took back control the following decade. Delve more into that later but will be fun to catch up on flicks I've been meaning to get to for awhile, not quite as versed as the following decades (though again it's the first of these polls that are pre-birth decade).

BozoTyrannus

Gender: Male
Age: 32

1. Mirror
2. Autumn Sonata
3. Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
4. The Godfather Part II
5. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
6. Apocalypse Now
7. Stalker
8. Jeanne Dielman
9. Solaris
10. Days of Heaven
11. Eraserhead
12. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
13. Sleuth
14. Cries & Whispers
15. The Sting
16. The Story of Adele H
17. Harold & Maude
18. Badlands
19. Life of Brian
20. Cabaret
21. Being There
22. The Ruling Class
23. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
24. The Holy Mountain
25. The Sorrow and the Pity
26. The Hour-Glass Sanatorium
27. A Touch of Zen
28. The Pink Panther Strikes Again
29. The Emigrants
30. Picnic at Hanging Rock
31. Barry Lyndon
32. The Jerk
33. Dodes'ka-den
34. Tristana
35. Grey Gardens
36. Sorcerer
37. The Godfather
38. Amarcord
39. Alien
40. Duel
41. Sholay
42. The Hospital
43. Dersu Uzala
44. The Man Who Would Be King
45. Young Frankenstein
46. The New Land
47. The Spy Who Loved Me
48. Annie Hall
49. Killer of Sheep
50. Travelling Players

Top 10 Music
1. Eraserhead
2. Rocky Horror Picture Show
3. Woodstock (if that counts)
4. The Godfather Part II
5. Jaws
6. A Touch of Zen
7. Cabaret
8. Sholay
9. Live and Let Die
10. Badlands

and you didn't ask but here's my top 10 performances anyway:

ACTRESS
1. Isabelle Adjani (Story of Adele H)
2. Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata)
3. Diane Keaton (Godfather II)
4. Madeline Kahn (Blazing Saddles)
5. Diane Keaton (Annie Hall)
6. Hema Malini (Sholay)
7. Diana Rigg (The Hospital)
8. Catherine Deneuve (Tristana)
9. Sissy Spacek (Badlands)
10. Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude)

ACTOR
1. Peter O'Toole (The Ruling Class)
2. Al Pacino (Godfather II)
3. Klaus Kinski (Aguirre, the Wrath of God)
4. Fernando Rey (Discreet Charm)
5. Joel Grey (Cabaret)
6. Steve Martin (The Jerk)
7. Peter Sellers (Being There)
8. Michael Caine (Sleuth)
9. Robert De Niro (Godfather II)
10. Tim Curry (Rocky Horror)
_________________
I wanna take Sean Penn
And take Sean Bean
Put 'em in a blender
And make Sean Pean

Hayden

BozoTyrannus wrote:

3. Woodstock (if that counts)

Thanks Bozo, tallied Smile

— (but hoping you beef up your list just a smidge before the deadline Mr. Green

)

And Woodstock counts. There's actually a lot of fantastic options for 70s soundtracks— some are so good you forget they weren't just regular albums. I haven't quite finished it, but my soundtrack list will look (very very very close) to this—

1— The Muppet Movie
2— The Harder They Come
3— Les Stances A Sophie
4— Superfly
5— The Mack
6—Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
7— (A Tribute to) Jack Johnson
8— The Godfather
9— Fantastic Planet
10— Belladonna of Sadness
11— Fiddler on The Roof
12— Suspiria
13— Den'en ni shisu (Pastoral)
14— Last Tango In Paris
15— Amarcord
16— Taxi Driver
17— Giu La Testa
18— House
19— Apocalypse Now
20— Days of Heaven
21— Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
22— Geração Bendita
23— Stalker
24— Walkabout
25— Cabaret

(Just to remind people about the scope this category can cover).

EDIT: Should probably put Shaft on there too...
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BozoTyrannus

Gender: Male
Age: 32

Hayden wrote:

Thanks Bozo, tallied Smile

— (but hoping you beef up your list just a smidge before the deadline Mr. Green

)

It will most likely. I just had the standard 10 ready and so posted it right away. Fifteen more selections coming eventually.
_________________
I wanna take Sean Penn
And take Sean Bean
Put 'em in a blender
And make Sean Pean

Olli

Gender: Male
Age: 54

here my Top 100

1. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
2. Jaws (1975)
3. Carrie (1976)
4. The Godfather (1972)
5. Star Wars (1977)
6. Apocalypse Now (1979)
7. Serpico (1973)
8. The Driver (1978)
9. The Godfather Part II (1974)
10. Valerie a týden divu (1970)

11. Taxi Driver (1976)
12. Straw Dogs (1971)
13. The Wanderers (1979)
14. L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo (1970)
15. Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972)
16. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
17. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
18. The Wicker Man (1973)
19. Suspiria (1977)
20. Halloween (1978)

21. Duel (1971 TV Movie)
22. The Rescuers (1977)
23. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
24. The Getaway (1972)
25. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
26. The Medusa Touch (1978)
27. The Omen (1976)
28. Alien (1979)
29. High Plains Drifter (1973)
30. Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

31. Mad Max (1979)
32. The French Connection (1971)
33. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
34. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
35. Sleuth (1972)
36. The Sting (1973)
37. Young Frankenstein (1974)
38. Capricorn One (1977)
39. Logan's Run (1976)
40. Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (1970)

41. Rocky (1976)
42. Harold and Maude (1971)
43. Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)
44. Chinatown (1974)
45. Il mio nome è Nessuno (1973)
46. The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
47. Deliverance (1972)
48. French Connection II (1975)
49. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
50. Coma (1978)

51. Les 12 travaux d'Astérix (1976)
52. Life of Brian (1979)
53. Lo chiamavano Trinità... (1970)
54. Black Christmas (1974)
55. Annie Hall (1977)
56. Hard Times (1975)
57. Silent Running (1972)
58. Shao Lin san shi liu fang (1978)
59. Dirty Harry (1971)
60. Papillon (1973)

61. The Deer Hunter (1978)
62. Nya hyss av Emil i Lönneberga (1972)
63. Vanishing Point (1971)
64. Soylent Green (1973)
65. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
66. Rollerball (1975)
67. Die Vorstadtkrokodile (1977 TV Movie)
68. Vamos a matar, compañeros (1970)
69. Quadrophenia (1979)
70. Dark Star (1974)

71. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
72. Emil i Lönneberga (1971)
73. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
74. Carodejuv ucen (1978)
75. Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
76. Il profumo della signora in nero (1974)
77. The Duellists (1977)
78. Nordsee ist Mordsee (1976)
79. Deep End (1970)
80. Emil och griseknoen (1973)

81. Jaws 2 (1978)
82. The Warriors (1979)
83. Sette note in nero (1977)
84. Westworld (1973)
85. Frenzy (1972)
86. Night Moves (1975)
87. Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
88. Das Millionenspiel (1970 TV Movie)
89. The Conversation (1974)
90. Murder by Death (1976)

91. Burnt Offerings (1976)
92. På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump (1970)
93. Foxy Brown (1974)
94. Days of Heaven (1978)
95. THX 1138 (1971)
96. Sorcerer (1977)
97. Barry Lyndon (1975)
98. Coffy (1973)
99. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
100. Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

1. Nashville - Robert Altman (1975)
2. Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky (1979)
3. The Travelling Players - Theo Angelopoulos (1975)
4. Chinatown - Roman Polanski (1974)
5. Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese (1976)
6. The Conversation - Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
7. Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola (1979) [Original Theatrical Release, 153 minutes]
8. Holy Mountain - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1973)
9. Cries and Whispers - Ingmar Bergman (1973)
10. The Godfather, Part 2 - Francis Ford Coppola (1974)

11. Mirror - Andrei Tarkovsky (1975)
12. Zardoz - John Boorman (1972)
13. Walkabout - Nicolas Roeg (1971)
14. The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
15. Badlands - Terrence Malick (1973)
16. World on a Wire - Rainer Fassbinder (1973)
17. Straw Dogs - Sam Peckinpah (1971)
18. Mean Streets - Martin Scorsese (1973)
19. Days of Heaven - Terrence Malick (1978)
20. A Woman Under the Influence - John Cassavetes (1974)

21. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - Sam Peckinpah (1974)
22. The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino (1978)
23. Eraserhead - David Lynch (1978)
>>>>>Moved down<<<<< 24. Alien - Ridley Scott (1979)
>>>>>Moved down<<<<< 25. The Tenant - Roman Polanski (1976)
26. The Phantom of Liberty - Luis Bunuel (1974)
27. The Ballad of Cable Hogue - Sam Peckinpah (1970)
28. Manhattan - Woody Allen (1979)
29. Solaris - Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
30. The Devils - Ken Russell (1971)

31. The Last Picture Show - Peter Bogdanovich (1971)
32. The Getaway - Sam Peckinpah (1972)
33. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders - Jaromil Jires (1970)
34. Network - Sidney Lumet (1976)
35. Dirty Harry - Don Siegel (1971)
36. Annie Hall - Woody Allen (1976)
37. McCabe & Mrs. Miller - Robert Altman (1971)
38. Don't Look Now - Nicolas Roeg (1973)
39. Star Wars - George Lucas (1977)
40. El Topo - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1970)

41. The Shout - Jerzy Skolimowski (1979)
42. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Tobe Hooper (1974)
43. Mad Max - George Miller (1979)
44. Deliverance - John Boorman (1971)
45. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - Sam Peckinpah (1973)
46. A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick (1971)
47. Emperor of the North - Robert Aldrich (1973)
48. F for Fake - Orson Welles (1973)
49. Opening Night - John Cassavetes (1977)
50. Last Tango in Paris - Bernardo Bertolucci (1972)

51. Aguirre, the Wrath of God - Werner Herzog (1972)
>>>>Moved Up<<<<< 52. Dog Day Afternoon - Sidney Lumet (1975)
53. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles - Chantal Akerman (1975)
54. Brewster McCloud - Robert Altman (1970)
55. The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Jim Sharman (1975)
>>>>>Added<<<<< 56. The Phantom of the Paradise - Brian De Palma (1974)
57. The French Connection - William Friedkin (1971)
58. The Exorcist - William Friedkin (1973)
59. The Parallax View - Alan Pakula (1974)
60. Assault on Precinct 13 - John Carpenter - John Carpenter (1976)

61. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Milos Forman (1975)
62. Duel - Steven Spielberg (1971)
63. Suspiria - Dario Argento (1977)
64. Night Moves - Arthur Penn (1975)
65. Jaws - Steven Spielberg (1975)
66. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (1975)
67. American Graffiti - George Lucas (1973)
68. Twilight's Last Gleaming - Robert Aldrich (1976)
>>>>>Moved Up<<<<< 69. The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy (1973)
>>>>>Added<<<<< 70. The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci (1970) ... Should've already been here. I simply forgot about this when compiling...

71. Carrie - Brian De Palma (1976)
72. Halloween - John Carpenter (1978)
73. The Passenger - Michelangelo Antonioni (1975)
74. Escape From Alcatraz - Don Siegel (1979)
75. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Steven Spielberg (1977)
76. The Omen - Richard Donner (1976)
77. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Philip Kaufman (1978)
78. Soylent Green - Richard Fleischer (1973)
79. Cross of Iron - Sam Peckinpah (1977)
80. The Long Goodbye - Robert Altman (1973)

81. Logan's Run - Michael Anderson (1976)
82. Charley Varrick - Don Siegel (1973)
83. Blazing Saddles - Mel Brooks (1974)
84. The Garden of Finzi Contini - Vittorio De Sica (1971)
85. Cabaret - Bob Fosse (1972)
86. THX 1138 - George Lucas (1971)
87. Midnight Express - Alan Parker (1978)
88. Saturday Night Fever - John Badham (1977)
89. Picnic at Hanging Rock - Peter Weir (1975)
90. Being There - Hal Ashby (1979)

91. House - Nobuhiko Obayashi (1977)
>>>>>Moved Down<<<<< 92. Drunken Master - Woo-ping Yuen (1978)
>>>>>Added<<<<< 93. The Ascent - Larisa Shepitko (1977)
94. Death Wish - Michael Winner (1974)
95. Get Carter - Mike Hodges (1971)
96. Magnum Force - Ted Post (1973)
97. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Martin Scorsese (1974)
98. Scorpio - Michael Winner (1973)
99. Rollerball - Norman Jewison (1975)
100. Harold and Maude - Hal Ashby (1971)

>>>>>Removed<<<<< The Towering Inferno - John Guillermin (1974) ... May not have deserved to be removed but it is a film I haven't revisited in years so I am less confident of its rating/ranking (plus or minus) than the rest...
>>>>>Removed<<<<< Vanishing Point - Allen Smithee (1971) ... May not have deserved to be removed but it is a film I haven't revisited in years so I am less confident of its rating/ranking (plus or minus) than the rest...
>>>>>Removed<<<<<Fantastic Planet - Rene' Laloux (1973) ... ... I was confusing this with something else, I don't think I've ever seen this film...
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Best Classical
Best Films
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Last edited by AfterHours on 08/27/2023 00:12; edited 7 times in total

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

I would not have guessed AfterHours was such a big Peckinpah fan, but that's very cool. Duel as the top Spielberg film of the 70s...that is a hot take.

Anyway, I'm liking the lists so far. As per usual, I will hold off making a list until near the end, and just do little write-ups in the meantime.

Hayden wrote:

And I've never actually watched Carrie...

In that case, I'll give two cents worth of coverage on Brian De Palma in the 70s:

Hi, Mom! (1970) - The other De Niro film where he played a Vietnam vet returning to NY and re-integrating into a civilian life. This one was a wacky satire, where De Niro's love of photography and film-making leads to his involvement with a porno producer and the local Black Panthers. It's a bit too messy and absurdist for my liking but I can see why others appreciate it.

Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972) - A satire about a bored businessman, under the thumb of his annoying boss, who impulsively quits his 9-5 job to become a traveling tap dancer and magician, only to realize his new job also becomes mundane after a while. I like the premise and Orson Welles's character, though it fails to generate consistent humor.

Sisters (1973) - De Palma turned his attention away from comedy and into the thriller genre. Sisters has a clever script and some great suspense. This was also where we begin to see De Palma's Hitchcock influence. It's not perfect by any means, but it was a big step in the right direction.

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) - Love this movie. De Palma loosely adapted multiple literary works to create something wholly unique and his own, brilliantly mixing horror and musical. This movie doesn't seem like it should work, and yet somehow it does. A fun time indeed, and an easy choice for my list.

Obsession (1976) - De Palma's best movie of the 70s, hands down. Sisters and Phantom had a couple Hitchcock references, but Obsession is pure homage to Vertigo. But that is not a bad thing at all. De Palma was careful not to make it a Vertigo rip-off. Yes, he used similar shots and plot devices to the 1958 classic, but he used them in different ways to service a different script. The script was actually written by Paul Schrader, and we can see in this early film of his how he explored lonely middle-aged men dealing with trauma, something he would make a career out of. Anyway, Obsession may not be as brilliant as Vertigo, but that's a very tall order. And it is certainly a brilliant film in its own right, full of surprises and tension as any great thriller.

Carrie (1976) - An obvious rec for Mr. Hayden. I'm not sure what to add to what's already been said. It's a great Stephen King adaptation.

The Fury (1978) - Another book adaption about telekinetic children, but this one doesn't measure up to Carrie. It has a more complex plot, but unfortunately it was not nicely developed. Overall the film felt clunky and sluggish, but there were a few good payoffs.

Home Movies (1979) - De Palma wrapped up the 70s by returning to ideas he explored in his first film of the decade. Similar to Hi, Mom!, Home Movies is a comedy where the lead character films people in their private lives without their knowledge. Whereas in the former film De Niro's was filming his neighbors, in Home Movies the lead character secretly filmed his own family. There were a couple memorable moments with the older brother with his fiance, and his womanizing father. But I didn't like how staged the film looked, given it's supposed to be a POV from the lead character's camera. Furthermore, 80% of this movie is forgettable, and mostly unfunny.
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on such a winter's day

Bach

Gender: Male
Location: Italy

Is Welt am Draht [World on a Wire] eligible?
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"De gustibus non disputandum est"

Hayden

Bach wrote:

Is Welt am Draht [World on a Wire] eligible?

Ooof

— I... think we... should allow it? It's been released as a single film at somepoint, right? I remember watching it as a miniseries, but there's an alt theatrical cut... I think? Somewhere? Laughing

— Criterion?

BozoTyrannus wrote:

It will most likely. I just had the standard 10 ready and so posted it right away. Fifteen more selections coming eventually.

Was talking about the film list, but either or Razz

@AfterHours & Olli — thanks for submitting Smile

was hoping you'd both contribute lists this time around, and you don't disappoint. I should actually have a chance to tally them sometime tonight. It's great to see the poll beefing up so quickly. (sidenote— another film I should get around to is Nashville Anxious

...) — should we allow World on a Wire, I don't think there's any issues anywhere.

And I'll get back to you in one sec CA.

Meanwhile, lookin' like Blade Runner 2049 over here— anyone in NYC?
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MadhattanJack
I mean, metal is okay, but...

Gender: Male

Hayden wrote:

Ooof

— I... think we... should allow it? It's been released as a single film at somepoint, right? I remember watching it as a miniseries, but there's an alt theatrical cut... I think? Somewhere? Laughing

— Criterion?

Not Criterion, but there's an officially-released version from 2010 that combines the two parts into a single movie, and it's been on TCM a couple of times. That's where I saw it, anyway... You might be thinking of Until the End of the World (Wim Wenders 1991) — that's a Criterion movie, with a similar (hi)story behind it.