DISCOVER--the very best of 1970s cinema
by jonabbott56 | created - 24 Dec 2012 | updated - 28 Jan 2016 | PublicThe economy was crap, the music was crap, the TV was crap... but the films were amazing. Just look what was coming out of American and European cinema before Speilberg and Lucas ruined everything...
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Across 110th Street (1972)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Two New York City cops go after amateur crooks who are trying to rip off the Mafia and start a gang war.
Director: Barry Shear | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa, Frank Adu
Votes: 7,155 | Gross: $3.60M
2. American Graffiti (1973)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 98,219 | Gross: $115.00M
3. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
R | 109 min | Comedy
At a 1962 college, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.
Director: John Landis | Stars: John Belushi, Karen Allen, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst
Votes: 129,405
4. Annie Hall (1977)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Romance
Alvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane
Votes: 278,554 | Gross: $39.20M
5. Badlands (1973)
PG | 94 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri
Votes: 78,448
6. The Beguiled (1971)
R | 105 min | Drama, Thriller, War
While recuperating in a Confederate girls' boarding school, a Union soldier cons his way into each of the lonely women's hearts, causing them to turn on each other, and eventually, on him.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Harris
Votes: 19,225
7. Bloody Mama (1970)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama
A psychologically disturbed matriarch presides over her damaged family of bank-robbing misfits.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Shelley Winters, Don Stroud, Pat Hingle, Diane Varsi
Votes: 3,730
8. Breezy (1973)
R | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A young girl runs away from home and meets a grouchy older man who reluctantly takes her in. Eventually they develop a romantic and affectionate relationship.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: William Holden, Kay Lenz, Roger C. Carmel, Marj Dusay
Votes: 5,754
9. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
R | 112 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An American barroom pianist and his prostitute girlfriend go on a trip through the Mexican underworld to collect the bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young
Votes: 21,539 | Gross: $0.58M
10. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,830 | Gross: $33.80M
11. Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Unrated | 193 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.
Director: Jacques Rivette | Stars: Juliet Berto, Dominique Labourier, Bulle Ogier, Marie-France Pisier
Votes: 6,370 | Gross: $0.03M
12. Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975)
R | 94 min | Action
When fellow operatives (and childhood friends) Matthew Johnson and Melvin Johnson disappear during an undercover mission in Hong Kong, Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) travels there to find ... See full summary »
Director: Charles Bail | Stars: Tamara Dobson, Stella Stevens, Ni Tien, Norman Fell
Votes: 1,215
13. Dillinger (1973)
R | 107 min | Action, Biography, Crime
John Dillinger and his gang go on a bank robbing spree across the midwest, but one G-Man is determined to bring him down.
Director: John Milius | Stars: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, Cloris Leachman
Votes: 5,857 | Gross: $2.00M
14. Dirty Harry (1971)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When a man calling himself "the Scorpio Killer" menaces San Francisco, tough-as-nails Police Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is assigned to track down the crazed psychopath.
Directors: Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni
Votes: 168,441 | Gross: $35.90M
15. Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974)
PG | 93 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Down-on-their-luck racers Larry and Deke steal from a supermarket manager to buy a car that will help them advance their racing chances. Their escape does not go as planned when Larry's one-night stand, Mary, tags along for the ride.
Director: John Hough | Stars: Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Kenneth Tobey
Votes: 7,832 | Gross: $0.62M
16. Don't Look Now (1973)
R | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania
Votes: 62,376 | Gross: $0.98M
17. The Driver (1978)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A getaway driver becomes the latest assignment for a tenacious detective.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani, Ronee Blakley
Votes: 19,441 | Gross: $4.91M
18. The Enforcer (1976)
R | 96 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan reluctantly teams up with rookie Inspector Kate Moore to foil a terrorist organization made up of disgruntled Vietnam veterans.
Director: James Fargo | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino, Bradford Dillman
Votes: 49,212 | Gross: $46.20M
19. Enter the Dragon (1973)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A Shaolin martial artist travels to an island fortress to spy on an opium lord - who is also a former monk from his temple - under the guise of attending a fighting tournament.
Director: Robert Clouse | Stars: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Ahna Capri
Votes: 113,050 | Gross: $25.00M
20. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
R | 98 min | Drama
A dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg
Votes: 40,581 | Gross: $19.40M
21. The Gauntlet (1977)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A hard but mediocre cop is assigned to escort a prostitute into custody from Las Vegas to Phoenix, so that she can testify in a mob trial. But a lot of people are literally betting that they won't make it into town alive.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince
Votes: 25,110 | Gross: $35.40M
22. Get Carter (1971)
R | 112 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When his brother dies under mysterious circumstances in a car accident, London gangster Jack Carter travels to Newcastle to investigate.
Director: Mike Hodges | Stars: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland, John Osborne
Votes: 36,806 | Gross: $0.39M
23. Il solco di pesca (1976)
92 min | Comedy, Drama
Director: Maurizio Liverani | Stars: Martine Brochard, Gloria Guida, Alberto Terracina, Diego Ghiglia
Votes: 186
24. Immoral Tales (1973)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Romance
An erotic collection of short stories, an anthology comprised of tantalizing tales about sexual desire and its diverse manifestations.
Director: Walerian Borowczyk | Stars: Lise Danvers, Fabrice Luchini, Charlotte Alexandra, Paloma Picasso
Votes: 5,457
25. Jackson County Jail (1976)
R | 84 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A wrongfully imprisoned young woman accused of murdering the guard who assaulted her escapes from jail and becomes a fugitive.
Director: Michael Miller | Stars: Yvette Mimieux, Tommy Lee Jones, Lisa Copeland, Cliff Emmich
Votes: 1,425
26. The Killer Elite (1975)
PG | 122 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Mike Locken, who works for a private security firm affiliated with the C.I.A., is betrayed by his partner and left apparently crippled for life.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Arthur Hill, Bo Hopkins
Votes: 7,228
27. Klute (1971)
R | 114 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A small-town detective searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Roy Scheider
Votes: 29,648 | Gross: $17.44M
28. Last Tango in Paris (1972)
NC-17 | 129 min | Drama, Romance
A young Parisian woman meets a middle-aged American businessman who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Maria Michi, Giovanna Galletti
Votes: 58,398 | Gross: $36.14M
29. Life of Brian (1979)
R | 94 min | Comedy
Born on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 421,975 | Gross: $20.05M
30. The Long Goodbye (1973)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Private investigator Philip Marlowe helps a friend out of a jam, but in doing so gets implicated in his wife's murder.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell
Votes: 37,337 | Gross: $0.96M
31. Love and Death (1975)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, War
In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Georges Adet, Frank Adu
Votes: 40,885
32. Magnum Force (1973)
R | 124 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan pursues a conspiracy of vigilante cops, who are not above going beyond the law to kill San Francisco's undesirables.
Director: Ted Post | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitchell Ryan, David Soul
Votes: 66,710 | Gross: $4.56M
33. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
R | 139 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
An alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Buck Henry
Votes: 28,687 | Gross: $0.10M
34. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
R | 120 min | Drama, Western
A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, William Devane
Votes: 27,670 | Gross: $8.20M
35. Mean Streets (1973)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In New York City's Little Italy, a devoutly Catholic mobster must reconcile his desire for power, his feelings for his epileptic lover, and his devotion to his troublesome friend.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson
Votes: 119,744 | Gross: $3.13M
36. Night Moves (1975)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Los Angeles private investigator Harry Moseby is hired by a client to find her runaway teenage daughter. Moseby tracks the daughter down, only to stumble upon something much more intriguing and sinister.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin
Votes: 17,733
37. The Omega Man (1971)
PG | 98 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Dr Robert Neville has developed an experimental vaccine which makes him the only immune survivor of a biological catastrophe. A gang of homicidal mutants blame science for their condition and attempt to kill him.
Director: Boris Sagal | Stars: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo
Votes: 34,088 | Gross: $8.72M
38. The Outfit (1973)
PG | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Earl Macklin robs a bank owned by the mob, serves his prison time and is released, only to start a private war against the crime outfit that owned the bank.
Director: John Flynn | Stars: Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker, Robert Ryan
Votes: 4,815
39. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Western
Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado
Votes: 21,102 | Gross: $0.95M
40. Prime Cut (1972)
R | 88 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A vicious Kansas City slaughterhouse owner and his hick family are having a bloody "beef" with the Chicago crime syndicate over profits from their joint illegal operations. Top enforcer Nick Devlin is sent to straighten things out.
Director: Michael Ritchie | Stars: Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, Sissy Spacek, Angel Tompkins
Votes: 5,868 | Gross: $0.52M
41. Private Vices, Public Virtues (1976)
104 min | Drama, History
Prince Rudolf, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, deliberately provokes his father, Kaiser Franz Joseph, by his dissolute and feckless behaviour. His defiance of the ... See full summary »
Director: Miklós Jancsó | Stars: Lajos Balázsovits, Pamela Villoresi, Franco Branciaroli, Teresa Ann Savoy
Votes: 877
42. That Malicious Age (1975)
TV-14 | 90 min | Drama, Romance
Gardener Napoleone takes a job in a southern-Italian villa and quickly finds himself embroiled in a menage-a-trois with Paola and her mother, which soon leads to sex, death and mayhem.
Director: Silvio Amadio | Stars: Gloria Guida, Nino Castelnuovo, Anita Sanders, Mimmo Palmara
Votes: 511
43. Sleeper (1973)
PG | 89 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A nerdish store owner is revived out of cryostasis into a future world to fight an oppressive government.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory
Votes: 44,840 | Gross: $2.91M
44. The Shootist (1976)
PG | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart
Votes: 26,846
45. Soylent Green (1973)
PG | 97 min | Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A nightmarish futuristic fantasy about the controlling power of big corporations and an innocent cop who stumbles on the truth.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors
Votes: 70,622 | Gross: $7.92M
46. Taxi Driver (1976)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama
A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Votes: 921,550 | Gross: $28.26M
47. Thieves Like Us (1974)
R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
When two men break out of prison, they join up with another and restart their criminal ways, robbing banks across the South.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, John Schuck, Bert Remsen
Votes: 5,146
48. Walkabout (1971)
GP | 100 min | Adventure, Drama
Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg, John Meillon
Votes: 27,361 | Gross: $0.02M
Jon is not on Facebook, but can reply to comments here, at the base of this list.
Thanks, Boris
Obsessed with the popular culture of the 1960s and surrounding decades, Jon Abbott has been writing about film and TV for over thirty years in around two dozen different publications, trade, populist, and specialist. He is the author of several books, including
Irwin Allen Television Productions 1964-1970,
Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots,
The Elvis Films,
Cool TV of the 1960s: Three Shows That Changed the World,
and Strange New World: Sex Films of the 1970s.
See his Amazon author's page, and his other lists on the IMDB, all under the pre-fix DISCOVER.
Tell Your Friends