Best B&W Films of the 70s
by galenhoward82 | created - 25 Jun 2017 | updated - 25 Jun 2017 | PublicFrom the 70s onward, with the vast majority of films being shot in color, it has become an artistic and/or stylistic choice to present a film in black and white. More often today it is used to pay homage to films of a bygone era and invoke a sense of nostalgia, but it can also be used to help create a stark, emotionless, unforgiving world onscreen. Which of these films made most effective use of its black and white presentation?
Discuss here.
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1. Young Frankenstein (1974)
PG | 106 min | Comedy
An American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle
Votes: 139,614 | Gross: $86.30M
2. Manhattan (1979)
18A | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Murphy
Votes: 128,378 | Gross: $45.70M
3. The Last Picture Show (1971)
18+ | 118 min | Drama, Romance
In 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson
Votes: 40,843 | Gross: $29.13M
4. Eraserhead (1977)
R | 89 min | Fantasy, Horror
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 98,347 | Gross: $7.00M
5. Paper Moon (1973)
13+ | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, John Hillerman
Votes: 40,897 | Gross: $30.93M
6. Lenny (1974)
18A | 111 min | Biography, Drama
The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine, Jan Miner, Stanley Beck
Votes: 14,082
7. The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
107 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An obese, embittered nurse doesn't mind if her toupee-wearing boyfriend romances and fleeces other women, as long as he takes her along on his con jobs.
Directors: Leonard Kastle, Donald Volkman | Stars: Shirley Stoler, Tony Lo Bianco, Mary Jane Higby, Doris Roberts
Votes: 4,264 | Gross: $0.46M
8. Multiple Maniacs (1970)
18A | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
Lady Divine becomes enraged when her boyfriend cheats on her, and descends into a life of murder and mayhem.
Director: John Waters | Stars: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole
Votes: 2,838 | Gross: $0.03M
9. Hester Street (1975)
89 min | Drama, Romance
It's 1896. Yankel Bogovnik, a Russian Jew, emigrated to the United States three years earlier and has settled where many of his background have, namely on Hester Street on the Lower East ... See full summary »
Director: Joan Micklin Silver | Stars: Steven Keats, Carol Kane, Mel Howard, Dorrie Kavanaugh
Votes: 1,200 | Gross: $5.00M
10. Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (1970)
96 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of dwarfs at a correctional facility erupt in anarchy.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Helmut Döring, Paul Glauer, Gisela Hertwig, Hertel Minkner
Votes: 5,266
11. Alice in den Städten (1974)
110 min | Drama
A German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Yella Rottländer, Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Köchl
Votes: 9,522
12. Killer of Sheep (1978)
80 min | Drama
Set in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.
Director: Charles Burnett | Stars: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett
Votes: 5,869 | Gross: $0.40M
13. Overlord (1975)
83 min | Drama, History, War
During the Second World War a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.
Director: Stuart Cooper | Stars: Brian Stirner, Davyd Harries, Nicholas Ball, Julie Neesam
Votes: 2,540
14. Im Lauf der Zeit (1976)
175 min | Drama
A traveling projection-equipment mechanic works in Western Germany along the East-German border, visiting worn-out theatres. He meets with a depressed young man whose marriage has just broken up, and the two decide to travel together.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Rüdiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer, Rudolf Schündler
Votes: 4,841
15. Radio On (1979)
104 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
Set in 1970's Britain, a man drives from London to Bristol to investigate his brother's death. The purpose of his trip is offset by his encounters with a series of odd people.
Director: Christopher Petit | Stars: David Beames, Lisa Kreuzer, Sandy Ratcliff, Andrew Byatt
Votes: 692
16. Northern Lights (1978)
95 min | Drama, History
NORTHERN LIGHTS has the feel of an old black and white photograph discovered in an attic. The bitter-sweet story of young lovers caught up in an political struggle waged by farmers against ... See full summary »
Directors: John Hanson, Rob Nilsson | Stars: Robert Behling, Susan Lynch, Joe Spano, Ray Ness
Votes: 160 | Gross: $0.01M
17. The Whole Shootin' Match (1978)
109 min | Comedy, Drama
Lloyd (Lou Perry) and Frank (Sonny Davis), two lifelong friends and self-styled entrepreneurs in Austin, try to find the get-rich-quick scheme that will actually get them rich. Lloyd has ... See full summary »
Director: Eagle Pennell | Stars: Lou Perryman, Sonny Carl Davis, Doris Hargrave, Eric Henshaw
Votes: 200
18. L'hypothèse du tableau volé (1978)
66 min | Drama, Mystery
Two narrators, one seen and one unseen, discuss possible connections between a series of paintings. The on-screen narrator walks through three-dimensional reproductions of each painting, ... See full summary »
Director: Raoul Ruiz | Stars: Jean Rougeul, Chantal Paley, Jean Raynaud, Daniel Grimm
Votes: 945
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