100 or 107 Best Movies of the 1970s Survey

[ophone]

I don't mind messages, the vast majority of films have messages. But I don't want them blatant like a lecture.
I think European movies do this better in most cases.

[Cpt. Feeney]

1.All the President’s Men - Alan J Pakula
2.Jaws - Steven Spielberg
3.Picnic at Hanging Rock - Peter Weir
4.McCabe and Mrs Miller - Robert Altman
5.The Conversation - Francis Coppola

6.The Exorcist - William Friedkin
7.Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind - Steven Spielberg
8.Alien - Ridley Scott
9.Dersu Uzala - Akira Kurosawa
10.The Man Who Would Be King - John Huston

11.One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Milos Forman
12.The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino
13.Apocalypse Now - Francis Coppola
14.Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky
15.Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Philip Kaufman

16.The Duellists - Ridley Scott
17.Lenny - Bob Fosse
18.The Godfather Part II - Francis Coppola
19.The Last Detail - Hal Ashby
20.Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick

21.Pat Garret and Billy the Kid - Sam Peckinpah
22.Tess - Roman Polanski
23.Legend of the Mountain - King Hu
24.Fat City - John Huston
25.Kes - Ken Loach

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by Cpt. Feeney

16.The Duellists - Ridley Scott
17.Lenny - Bob Fosse
18.The Godfather Part II - Francis Coppola
19.The Last Detail - Hal Ashby
20.Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick

It struck me funny that your "thumbnail movie" is so far down your list.

[Cpt. Feeney]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

It struck me funny that your "thumbnail movie" is so far down your list.

It placed higher once upon a time, plus I just like the image, and my namesake's character in the movie.

[stvn1974]

Star Wars (Not that A New Hope crap)
Apocalypse Now [Theatrical Cut)
Taxi Driver
Eraserhead
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Alien
Jaws
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Rocky
Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
THX-1138 (Theatrical Cut)
Dawn Of The Dead
Halloween
A Clockwork Orange
Chinatown
Suspiria
Superman The Movie
Black Christmas
The Exorcist
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
The Outlaw Josey Wales
High Plains Drifter
Live And Let Die

[stvn1974]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

1. Halloween
2. Alien
3. Phantasm
4. Dawn of the Dead
5. Eraserhead
6. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
7. Suspiria
8. The Conversation
9. The Exorcist
10. Assault on Precinct 13
11. Duel
12. Jaws
13. The Brood
14. Superman: The Movie
15. A Clockwork Orange
16. Sorcerer
17. The Warriors
18. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
19. Apocalypse Now
20. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
21. Black Christmas
22. The Spy Who Loved Me
23. THX 1138
24. Carrie
25. Star Wars

Looks like you and I have pretty close tastes, just that mine is the correct order.

[SelwynMcGinty]

note to self: need re-watches of New York New York, All That Jazz, Lenny, The Tin Drum, Superman and The Duellists.

[AKORIS]

Boy…. I don’t know, the 70’s are my favorite decade and it’s hard enough to make a top 10 list for a single year….. to narrow down this decade to a top 25 may be impossible…..

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

Boy…. I don’t know, the 70’s are my favorite decade and it’s hard enough to make a top 10 list for a single year….. to narrow down this decade to a top 25 may be impossible…..

A top 100 would be easier. Just a ridiculously packed decade.

[hasslein]

1. Star Wars
2. Sorcerer
3. Breaking Away
4. The Taking of Pelham 123
5. The Conversation
6. The French Connection
7. Logans Run
8. The Exorcist
9. Jaws
10. Slap Shot
11. Soylent Green
12. The Gumball Rally
13. Rocky
14. The Warriors
15. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
16. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
17. Alien
18. Blazing Saddles
19. Willy Wonka
20. Force Ten From Navarone
21. Silent Running
22. Bugsy Malone
23. The Muppet Movie
24. Phase IV
25. Melody

[qualsh]

1. Alien
2. The Godfather
3. Apocalypse Now
4. Jaws
5. Chinatown
6. A Clockwork Orange
7. Taxi Driver
8. Barry Lyndon
9. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
10. The Godfather Part II
11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
12. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
13. The Conversation
14. The Exorcist
15. The Conformist
16. Sorcerer
17. The Last Picture Show
18. The Long Goodbye
19. Carrie
20. Dawn of the Dead
21. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
22. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
23. Dog Day Afternoon
24. Days of Heaven
25. Star Wars

[RiotNarita]

1 The Godfather
2 All the President’s Men
3 Jaws
4 Murder on the Orient Express
5 Marathon Man
6 The Spy Who Loved Me
7 Escape from Alcatraz
8 Dirty Harry
9 Coma
10 Mannen på taket (Man on the Roof)
11 Foul Play
12 Paper Moon
13 Jeremiah Johnson
14 Chinatown
15 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
16 Kelly’s Heroes
17 The Omen
18 Alien
19 The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
20 The Sting
21 Across 110th Street
22 What Have They Done to Your Daughters?
23 The First Great Train Robbery
24 Silver Streak
25 The Last of Sheila
- The Beguiled
- Borsalino
- The Landlord
- Mort d’un pourri (Death of a Corrupt Man)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers

[CreasyBear]

1. Jaws
2. Taxi Driver
3. Superman: The Movie
4. Sorcerer
5. Apocalypse Now
6. Carrie
7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
8. Halloween
9. The Godfather Part II
10. Alien
11. Rocky
12. A Clockwork Orange
13. The Exorcist
14. All That Jazz
15. The Deer Hunter
16. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
17. The Conversation
18. Don't Look Now
19. Duel
20. Network
21. Assault on Precinct 13
22. Deliverance
23. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
24. High Plains Drifter
25. Dog Day Afternoon

[Streamingsux]

Real talk..

...the 70s has too much that's almost too good to trivialize with numbers and rankings. There's like a hundred movies from that decade....hell, from either half of the decade....that could be considered the "greatest of all time" in some form or fashion. Fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties were the peak of cinema so far.

And the 70s is dead in the middle of that..

[Damon1281]

1. Dirty Harry
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holme's Smarter Brother
4. The Outlaw Josey Wales
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. Blazing Saddles
7. Star Wars
8. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
9. Jaws
10. Carrie
11. Young Frankenstein
12. High Plains Drifter
13. Deliverance
14. Three Days of the Condor
15. M*A*S*H
16. Frenzy
17. Dawn of the Dead
18. The Jerk
19. Catch-22
20. The Godfather
21. The Exorcist
22. The Life of Brian
23. Revenge of the Pink Panther
24. National Lampoon's Animal House
25. Time after Time

[thedaydreamer]

1. Taxi Driver
2. The Deer Hunter
3. Eraserhead
4. Apocalypse Now
5. Network
6. The Conversation
7. Annie Hall
8. Opening Night
9. The American Friend
10. Manhattan
11. Alien
12. A Clockwork Orange
13. Duel
14. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
15. All the President's Men
16. Paper Moon
17. Rocky
18. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
19. Saturday Night Fever
20. Alice, Sweet Alice
21. Suspira
22. The Warriors
23. Star Wars
24. Mean Streets
25. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

[Grethiwha]

1. Heart of Glass
2. Stroszek
3. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
4. Star Wars
5. Eraserhead
6. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
7. House
8. Annie Hall
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
10. Dodes'ka-den
11. Message from Space
12. Network
13. Papillon
14. Alien
15. Empire of Passion
16. Five Easy Pieces
17. Blood for Dracula
18. Hair
19. Nosferatu the Vampyre
20. Pastoral: To Die in Country
21. The Outlaw Josey Wales
22. Dersu Uzala
23. The Holy Mountain
24. Flesh for Frankenstein
25. Being There

[Henrich]

Across 110th St 1972
Alien 1979
Assault on Prescient 13 1976
Barry Lyndon 1975
The Boys from Brazil 1978
Carrie 1976
A Clockwork Orange 1971
Escape from Alcatraz 1979
The French Connection 1971
The Godfather 1972
Halloween 1978
Hardcore 1979
Kramer vs Kramer 1979
The Omen 1976
Play Misty for Me 1971
Rocky 1976
Rolling Thunder 1977
Soldier of Orange 1977
Sorcerer 1977
Star Trek The Motion Picture 1979
Star Wars 1977
Superman 1978
Truck Turner 1974
Turkish Delight 1973
The Warriors 1979

[Hucksta G]

1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather Part Ii
3. Apocalypse Now
4. Taxi Driver
5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
6. The Exorcist
7. Star Wars
8. The Deer Hunter
9. The Conversation
10. The Devils
11. El Topo
12. Mean Streets
13. A Clockwork Orange
14. McCabe & Mrs Miller
15. A Woman Under the Influence
16. Chinatown
17. Carrie
18. All That Jazz
19. Welfare
20. The Long Goodbye
21. Dirty Harry
22. The Outlaw Josey Wales
23. Solaris
24. Barry Lyndon
25. Dog Day Afternoon

[SelwynMcGinty]

As befitting what is arguably the most celebrated decade in feature film history, this thread has seen the strongest and most thoughtful entries yet.

As always, the time and participation given by you, the selfless reader, is deeply appreciated.

In the spirit of warm camaraderie, here is a preliminary Top 50 or So Leaderboard:

1. Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg) 238 points
2. Alien (1979, Ridley Scott) 210
3. The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola) 193
4. Star Wars (1977, George Lucas) 173
5. Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola) 161
6. Halloween (1978, John Carpenter) 160
7. Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese) 140
8. The Godfather Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola) 125
9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, Steven Spielberg) 120
10. The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin) 117

11. A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick) 103
12. Dirty Harry (1971, Don Siegel) 101
13. The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola) 97
14. Sorcerer (1977, William Friedkin) 95
15. Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski) 92
16. Carrie (1976, Brian DePalma) 90
17. Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch) 88
18. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975, Milos Forman) 75
19. All the President's Men (1976, Alan J. Pakula) 70
20. Superman (1978, Richard Donner) 65

21. All That Jazz (1979, Bob Fosse) 62
22. Barry Lyndon (1975, Stanley Kubrick) 60
23. The Deer Hunter (1978, Michael Cimino) 59
24. Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky) 55
25. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper) 54
26. Annie Hall (1977, Woody Allen) 52
26. Dawn of the Dead (1978, George A. Romero) 52
27. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974, Joseph Sargent) 51
27. Autumn Sonata (1978, Ingmar Bergman) 51
27. Rocky (1976, John G. Avildsen) 51
28. Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet) 50
29. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones) 49
30. Stroszek (1977, Werner Herzog) 47

31. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman) 46
32. Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog) 44
33. Network (1976, Sidney Lumet) 43
33. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976, Clint Eastwood) 43
34. Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento) 42
35. The Long Goodbye (1973, Robert Altman) 40
36. The French Connection (1971, William Friedkin) 38
37. Fat City (1972, John Huston) 37
37. THX 1138 (1971, George Lucas) 37
38. The Warriors (1979, Walter Hill) 36
39. Across 110th Street (1972, Barry Shear) 35
39. Black Christmas (1974, Bob Clark) 35
39. Breaking Away (1979, Peter Yates) 35
39. Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese) 35
39. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979, Terry Jones) 35
40. Coma (1978, Michael Crichton) 34
40. The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci) 34
40. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman) 34
40. The Omen (1976, Richard Donner) 34
40. Paper Moon (1973, Peter Bogdanovich) 34
40. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, Jim Sharman) 34
40. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979, Robert Wise) 34

Eagerly awaiting more opinions and ballots. Thank You and Cheers!