My Top 20 by Year - 1972
by miran_kor | created - 12 Dec 2013 | updated - 29 Nov 2016 | PublicUnder construction and always in progress.
The Best films from this year (according to IMDb) I've seen (so far).
Out of 161 films 'seen' (ie rated at IMDb).
(Nov 2016)
Notes:
- Features, shorts, docs and TV movies eligible ("A film is a film is a film.").
- TV mini-series are NOT (unless stated otherwise).
- My humble rates added (for films with the same rate just once or twice though).
- Films with the same rate are ordered arbitrarily. Feel free to re-order them at your will.
- When I saw more than 20 excellent films (9/10 or above in my book) from a certain year I'll try and list them ALL. That would make some lists much longer but all the excellentia deserves to be mentioned.
Cinema = cinema (big screen) viewing TV = TV viewing PC = download OL = online viewing VHS = VHS viewing
Yet to see (among many):
Ludwig (Visconti, 1972) Ludwig, Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König (Ludwig - Requiem for a Virgin King, Syberberg, 1972) Pakeezah (Pure Heart, Amrohi, 1972) Salomè (Bene, 1972) Diabel (The Devil, Zulawski, 1972) Obrazy starého sveta (Pictures of the Old World, Hanák, 1972) Ragbar (Downpour, Beizai, 1972) Cosa avete fatto a Solange? (What Have You Done to Solange?, Dallamano, 1972) Keby som mal pušku (If I Had a Gun, Uher, 1972) Morgiana (Herz, 1972) Hôtel Monterey (Akerman, 1972) ...a pozdravuji vlastovky (And Give My Love to the Swallows, Jireš, 1972) The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Newman, 1972) Bad Company (Benton, 1972) Os Inconfidentes (The Conspirators, de Andrade, 1972) Motforestilling (Løchen, 1972) São Bernardo (Hirszman, 1972) Pink Flamingos (Waters, 1972) The Harder They Come (Henzell, 1972) Non si sevizia un paperino (Don’t Torture a Duckling, Fulci, 1972) The Visitors (Kazan, 1972) Tout va bien (Everything's All Right, Godard/Gorin, 1972) Marjoe (Kernochan/Ho. Smith, 1972, doc) Uta (Poem, Jissoji, 1972) Gunki hatameku motoni (Under the Flag of the Rising Sun, Fukasaku, 1972) Lalie polné (Field Lillies, Havetta, 1972) Nathalie Granger (Duras, 1972)
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1. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Frankeur, Bulle Ogier
Votes: 46,809 | Gross: $0.20M
Cinema (twice). 11/10.
2. Cries & Whispers (1972)
R | 91 min | Drama
When a woman dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin
Votes: 36,960 | Gross: $1.74M
Cinema. 10/10.
3. Solaris (1972)
PG | 167 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Votes: 98,194
TV.
4. Cabaret (1972)
PG | 124 min | Drama, Music, Musical
A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey
Votes: 59,356 | Gross: $42.77M
Cinema.
5. Images (1972)
R | 104 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Whilst writing a children's book, a woman interrupted by images unsure if they may, or may not be real
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Susannah York, Rene Auberjonois, Marcel Bozzuffi, Hugh Millais
Votes: 7,742
Cinema.
6. Deliverance (1972)
R | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox
Votes: 119,200 | Gross: $7.06M
Cinema.
7. Savage Messiah (1972)
R | 97 min | Biography, Drama
Biographical movie of the French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Dorothy Tutin, Scott Antony, Helen Mirren, Lindsay Kemp
Votes: 1,665
Cinema.
8. The Death of Maria Malibran (1972)
104 min | Musical, Drama, Comedy
This is about the life and myths about famous opera singer Maria Malibran (1808-1836). She died on the stage.
Director: Werner Schroeter | Stars: Magdalena Montezuma, Christine Kaufmann, Candy Darling, Manuela Riva
Votes: 400
OL.
9. Four Seasons (1975)
29 min | Documentary, Short
The last collaboration of Artavazd Peleshian and cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov is a film-essay about Armenia's shepherds, about the contradiction and the harmony between man and nature, scored to Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Director: Artavazd Peleshian
Votes: 928
OL.
10. Play It Again, Sam (1972)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, Romance
A neurotic film critic obsessed with the movie Casablanca (1942) attempts to get over his wife leaving him by dating again with the help of a married couple and his illusory idol, Humphrey Bogart.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Jerry Lacy
Votes: 27,986 | Gross: $2.30M
TV.
11. Matrix III (1972)
11 min | Animation, Short
Psychedelic computer-animated film, to music by Terry Riley and Padre Antonio Soler, which consists of a group of triangles, squares and hexagon moving within an invisible matrix.
Director: John Whitney Sr.
Votes: 74
OL.
12. Liza with a Z (1972 TV Special)
55 min | Music
Liza Minnelli stars in a television concert directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. She performs such songs as "Liza with a Z" and "Son of a Preacher Man". The concert concludes with a medley from the film [lnk=tt0068327].
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett, Marisa Berenson, Candy Ann Brown
Votes: 943
OL.
13. Street Musique (1972)
G | 9 min | Animation, Short, Music
An animated short that mixes live-action black-and-white footage of typical street musicians in the city of Montreal with animation that's synchronized with the music.
Director: Ryan Larkin
Votes: 423
OL. 10/10.
14. Red Psalm (1972)
87 min | Drama, Musical, War
Set in the 1890s on the Hungarian plains, a group of farm workers go on strike in-which they face harsh reprisals and the reality of revolt, oppression, morality and violence.
Director: Miklós Jancsó | Stars: Andrea Drahota, Gyöngyi Bürös, Erzsi Cserhalmi, Mari Csomós
Votes: 1,946
PC. 9.5/10.
15. Pilatus und andere - Ein Film für Karfreitag (1972 TV Movie)
98 min | Drama
The trial of Yeshua Ha-Notsri is led by prosecutor Pontius Pilate who believes in the innocence of the accused but is forced to sentence him to death. This biblical story is set in present-day Germany.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Wojciech Pszoniak, Jan Kreczmar, Daniel Olbrychski, Andrzej Lapicki
Votes: 179
PC. 9.5/10 (pending).
Note: Seen under very bad conditions (no translation) so my rate is still 'pending'. Although made for TV this might be just another Cinematic masterpiece by Wajda.
16. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,010,968 | Gross: $134.97M
Cinema. 9/10.
17. Roma (1972)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
A fluid, unconnected and sometimes chaotic procession of scenes detailing the various people and events of life in Italy's capital, most of it based on director Federico Fellini's life.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Britta Barnes, Peter Gonzales Falcon, Fiona Florence, Pia De Doses
Votes: 13,797 | Gross: $0.73M
TV.
18. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)
PG | 121 min | Biography, Drama, History
Dramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli | Stars: Graham Faulkner, Judi Bowker, Leigh Lawson, Kenneth Cranham
Votes: 4,944
PC.
19. The Dupes (1972)
107 min | Drama
Set in Iraq (but shot in Syria), this is the story of three men who try to leave their impoverished and hopeless lives to get get work in Kuwait. They hire a water-truck driver to transport... See full summary »
Director: Tewfik Saleh | Stars: Mohamed Kheir-Halouani, Abdul Rahman Al Rashi, Bassan Lofti Abou-Ghazala, Bassam Lotfi
Votes: 399
OL.
20. Lucifer Rising (1972)
29 min | Animation, Short, Fantasy
Egyptian gods summons the angel Lucifer - in order to usher in a new occult age.
Director: Kenneth Anger | Stars: Kenneth Anger, Bobby Beausoleil, Donald Cammell, Haydn Couts
Votes: 3,416
OL.
21. La femme qui se poudre (1972)
18 min | Short, Fantasy, Horror
A study of human anxieties about beauty, youth and objectification.
Director: Patrick Bokanowski | Stars: Jean-Jacques Choul, Jacques Delbosc d'Auzon, Claus-Dieter Reents, Nadine Roussial
Votes: 383
PC.
22. Hapax Legomena II: Poetic Justice (1972)
31 min | Short
This Experiment is a Scenario who Have 4 Act titled (1-4) Tableau. Poetic Justice is story about lovers who holding camera, Third Tableau is have Middle Shot and other Tableau is on various camera shot.
Director: Hollis Frampton
Votes: 318
OL.
23. 14441 kvadrat (1972)
11 min | Documentary, Short
The director Karpo Godina was ordered to make a short film glorifying the army, but instead he made a film about making love, not war. The censors hacked it up, but he managed to save one complete copy.
Director: Karpo Acimovic-Godina
Votes: 76
PC.
24. Ballet Adagio (1972)
10 min | Musical, Short
Two ballet dancers perform a dance in ghostly slow motion.
Director: Norman McLaren | Stars: David Holmes, Anna Marie Holmes
Votes: 253
OL.
25. Sleuth (1972)
PG | 138 min | Mystery, Thriller
A man who loves games and theater invites his wife's lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine, Alec Cawthorne, John Matthews
Votes: 50,148 | Gross: $4.08M
PC.
26. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, Romance
A troubled fashion designer starts a relationship with a much younger woman.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Eva Mattes
Votes: 11,032
Cinema.
27. State of Siege (1972)
Not Rated | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Using the interrogation of a US counterinsurgency agent as a backdrop, the film explores the consequences of the struggle between Uruguay's government and the leftist Tupamaro guerrillas.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Yves Montand, Renato Salvatori, O.E. Hasse, Jacques Weber
Votes: 6,056 | Gross: $1.13M
Cinema.
28. Koziyat rog (1972)
R | 105 min | Drama
The film sends us to the 17th century when Bulgaria was a part of the Ottoman Empire. Four hoodlums break into the house of the shepherd Karaivan, raping and killing his wife in full view ... See full summary »
Director: Metodi Andonov | Stars: Katya Paskaleva, Anton Gorchev, Milen Penev, Todor Kolev
Votes: 2,841
OL.
29. The Master and Margaret (1972)
95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A writer and his assistant are working on a biblical story about Pontius Pilate who convicted Jesus of Nazereth, while the Satan (here called Woland) and his lieutenants are harassing the writer duo in various ways.
Director: Aleksandar Petrovic | Stars: Ugo Tognazzi, Mimsy Farmer, Alain Cuny, Velimir 'Bata' Zivojinovic
Votes: 791
Cinema.
30. My Childhood (1972)
Not Rated | 46 min | Biography, Drama
The First part of Bill Douglas' influential trilogy harks back to his impoverished upbringing in early-'40s Scotland. Cinema was his only escape - he paid for it with the money he made from... See full summary »
Director: Bill Douglas | Stars: Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor Smith, Karl Fieseler
Votes: 1,393
PC.
31. Winnie-the-Pooh and a Busy Day (1972)
21 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Vinni-Pukh is trying to help his friend donkey with huge depression which happened to be on his birthday
Directors: Fyodor Khitruk, Gennadiy Sokolskiy | Stars: Vladimir Osenev, Evgeniy Leonov, Iya Savvina, Erast Garin
Votes: 3,427
OL.
32. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
R | 88 min | Comedy
Seven stories are trying to answer the question: what is sex? Or maybe they are not trying.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Louise Lasser, John Carradine
Votes: 41,758
Cinema.
33. A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama
A couple uses extremely black comedy to survive taking care of a daughter who is nearly completely brain-dead. They take turns doing the daughter's voice and stare into the eyes of death ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Medak | Stars: Alan Bates, Janet Suzman, Peter Bowles, Sheila Gish
Votes: 585
TV.
34. Kwadrat (1972)
4 min | Short
Zbigniew Rybczynski's series of pictures to K. Serocki's music from the Polskie Nagran album.
Director: Zbigniew Rybczynski
Votes: 148
PC.
35. UFO's (1972)
Not Rated | 3 min | Animation, Short
A colorful abstract computer animated short film created by Ken Knowlton and Lillian F. Schwartz.
Directors: Ken Knowlton, Lillian Schwartz
Votes: 225
OL.
36. Butterfly (1972)
10 min | Animation, Short
How far can the confrontation between nature and civilization go? Metaphorical animation with music by Alfred Schnittke.
Director: Andrey Khrzhanovskiy
Votes: 266
OL.
37. The Hot Rock (1972)
PG | 101 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand
Votes: 6,943 | Gross: $2.54M
Cinema.
38. Kama Sutra Rides Again (1971)
9 min | Animation, Short
An animated short from British comedian Bob Godfrey.
Director: Bob Godfrey | Stars: Bob Godfrey, L.J. Dickens
Votes: 258
OL.
39. Meditation (1972)
7 min | Short
An experimental animated short from Jordan Belson which consists of various lights, colors, and images.
Director: Jordan Belson
Votes: 113
OL.
40. Film Portrait (1970)
81 min | Documentary, Biography
A diary film in which Jerome Hill presents his life and milieu through different scenes, many hand-colored and animated.
Director: Jerome Hill | Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Ernest Borgnine, Cyd Charisse, Jerome Hill
Votes: 99
OL.
41. Specijalni vlakovi (1972)
16 min | Documentary, Short
The story of a group of Yugoslavian "guest-workers" on their train journey to Germany. At Munich's main station, they land up in a basement. When they register, their names are replaced by numbers.
Director: Krsto Papic
Votes: 52
OL.
42. Zdrijelo (1972)
14 min | Documentary, Short
Zivko Nikolic portrays a Montenegrin village in the post-epic period, while at the same time presenting the sad reality in the form of poor, unfortunate and mentally handicapped people, whom the epics circumvents.
Director: Zivko Nikolic
Votes: 25
OL. 9/10.
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