Best Films of the 70s

[wpqx]

A few German films did pop up on my list, but basically limited to the "major" directors from the period, at least the major ones who've gotten distribution here in the US. Alexander Kluge is still horribly underseen around here, and we've already discussed the Straub/Hulliet problems. I have found quite a few great Herzog films from this time, and was enormously impressed with The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner. At least in Herzog's case his films can be found relatively easy here.

[arsaib4]

It's a gem, indeed. I wonder if it can be ordered online.

[A]

I guess that's wishful thinking But if it should be possible, I have to be first in line

@wpqx
The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner was the film I rate the highest of all Herzog stuff I've seen so far

[Matalo Matango]

More than a half year since posting a 'best of 2006'-list here on the board, this 'best films of the 70s'-thread seems to be a good place for me to re-join this forum and, by the way, introduce myself as a friend of A and R6dw6C.

With the 70s probably being my favorite movie decade, my list grew bigger and bigger, and at one point I had to stop with adding more and more films to the list. Nonetheless, I decided to also include a few movies to my list that may appear as guilty pleasures (like "Blindman" or "Battle of the Godfathers") because I simply wanted to chose the films I love the most, which are not always necessarily the ones I consider to be the best.

As my list will show, there are two main reasons for me to love the 70s as a movie decade: first, the american films of the New Hollywood period with its drifters and loners, strangers and searchers, its road movies and late westerns, its melancholy and desillusion. And secondly, the italian genre cinema with its beautiful cinematography, incredible soundtracks, haunting atmospheres and fascinating psychological or social issues.

Enough talked, here's my list:

1970

Deadlock (West Germany Roland Klick)
Deep End (UK/West Germany - Jerzy Skolimowski)
El Topo / The Mole (Mexico Alejandro Jodorowsky)
L'Aveu / The Confession (France/Italy - Constantin Costa-Gavras)
Little Big Man (USA Arthur Penn)
Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh / The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Italy/Spain - Sergio Martino)
L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo / The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Italy/West Germany - Dario Argento)
Mtalo! / Kill him! (Italy/Spain - Cesare Canevari)
Rote Sonne / Red Sun (West Germany Rudolf Thome)
Viva la muerte / Long Live Death (France/Tunisia - Fernando Arrabal)
Zabriskie Point (USA Michelangelo Antonioni)

1971

A Clockwork Orange (UK - Stanley Kubrick)
Blindman (Italy/USA - Ferdinando Baldi)
Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica / Confessions of a Police Captain (Italy - Damiano Damiani)
Dirty Harry (USA - Don Siegel)
Get Carter (UK - Mike Hodges)
Gi la testa / Duck, You Sucker (Italy - Sergio Leone)
Harold and Maude (USA - Hal Ashby)
Johnny Got His Gun (USA - Dalton Trumbo)
Klute (USA - Alan J. Pakula)
Les lvres rouges / Daughters of Darkness (Belgium/France/West Germany - Harry Kmel)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (USA - Robert Altman)
Punishment Park (USA - Peter Watkins)
Shin du bei dao / New One-Armed Swordsman (Hong Kong - Chang Cheh)
Straw Dogs (UK/USA Sam Peckinpah)
The Devils (UK - Ken Russell)
The Hired Hand (USA - Peter Fonda)
The Last Picture Show (USA - Peter Bogdanovich)
Two-Lane Blacktop (USA - Monte Hellman)
Una lucertola con la pelle di donna / A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (Italy/France/Spain - Lucio Fulci)
Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate / The Bloodstained Butterfly (Italy - Duccio Tessari)
Vanishing Point (USA - Richard C. Sarafian)

1972

Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes / Aguirre, Wrath of God (West Germany - Werner Herzog)
Behind the Green Door (USA - Artie Mitchell, Jim Mitchell)
Cosa avete fatto a Solange? / What have they done to Solange? (Italy/West Germany - Massimo Dallamano)
Deliverance (USA - John Boorman)
Die Schlssel (East Germany - Egon Gnther)
Fat City (USA - John Huston)
Jeremiah Johnson (USA - Sidney Pollack)
Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-b / Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (Japan - Shunya Ito)
La mala ordina / Manhunt (Italy/West Germany - Fernando Di Leo)
Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie / The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Spain/France/Italy - Luis Bunuel)
Lisa e il diavolo / Lisa and the Devil (Italy/West Germany/Spain - Mario Bava)
Solyaris / Solaris (Soviet Union - Andrei Tarkovsky)
The Getaway (USA - Sam Peckinpah)
The Godfather (USA - Francis Ford Coppola)
Ultimo tango a Parigi / Last Tango in Paris (France/Italy - Bernardo Bertolucci)
Viskningar och rop / Cries and Whispers (Sweden - Ingmar Bergman)
What's Up, Doc? (USA - Peter Bogdanovich)

1973

American Graffiti (USA - George Lucas)
Badlands (USA - Terrence Malick)
Breezy (USA - Clint Eastwood)
Don't Look Now (UK/Italy - Nicolas Roeg)
La grande bouffe / The Grande Bouffe (France/Italy - Marco Ferreri)
La polizia incrimina la legge assolve / High Crime (Italy/Spain - Enzo G. Castellari)
La rose de fer / Rose of Iron (France - Jean Rollin)
Paper Moon (USA - Peter Bogdanovich)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (USA - Sam Peckinpah)
Revolver (Italy/France/West Germany - Sergio Sollima)
Shurayukihime / Lady Snowblood (Japan - Toshiya Fujita)
Sisters (USA - Brian De Palma)
The Holy Mountain (Mexico/USA - Alejandro Jodorowsky)
The Wicker Man (UK - Robin Hardy)
Turks fruit / Turkish Delight (Netherlands - Paul Verhoeven)
Zinksrge fr die Goldjungen / Battle of the Godfathers (West Germany/Italy - Jrgen Roland)

1974

Alice in den Stdten / Alice in the Cities (West Germany - Wim Wenders)
Angst essen Seele auf / Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (West Germany - Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (Mexico/USA - Sam Peckinpah)
Chinatown (USA - Roman Polanski)
Death Wish (USA - Michael Winner)
Il profumo della Signora in nero / The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Italy - Francesco Barilli)
La polizia chiede aiuto / What have they done to your Daughters? (Italy - Massimo Dallamano)
Mes petites amoureuses (France - Jean Eustache)
The Conversation (USA - Francis Ford Coppola)
The Godfather: Part II (USA - Francis Ford Coppola)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (USA - Tobe Hooper)
Thriller - En grym film / Thriller - A Cruel Picture (Sweden - Bo Arne Vibenius)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (USA - Michael Cimino)

1975

Barry Lyndon (USA - Stanley Kubrick)
Dog Day Afternoon (USA - Sidney Lumet)
Du bi quan wang da po xue di zi / Master of the Flying Guillotine (Taiwan - Wang Yu)
La Bte / The Beast (France - Walerian Borowczyk)
L'important c'est d'aimer / That Most Important Thing: Love (France/Italy/West Germany - Andrzej Zulawski)
Morte sospetta di una minorenne / Suspected Death of a Minor (Italy - Sergio Martino)
Night Moves (USA - Arthur Penn)
Peur sur la ville / Fear over the City (France/Italy - Henri Verneuil)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Australia - Peter Weir)
Professione: reporter / The Passenger (Italy/Spain/France - Michelangelo Antonioni)
Profondo rosso / Deep Red (Italy - Dario Argento)
Shivers (Canada - David Cronenberg)
Switchblade Sisters (USA - Jack Hill)

1976

Ai no corrida / In the Realm of the Senses (Japan/France - Nagisa Oshima)
Assault on Precinct 13 (USA - John Carpenter)
Keoma (Italy - Enzo G. Castellari)
La casa dalle finestre che ridono / The House with Laughing Windows (Italy - Pupi Avati)
Network (USA - Sidney Lumet)
Taxi Driver (USA - Martin Scorsese)
The Image (USA - Radley Metzger)
The Opening of Misty Beethoven (USA - Radley Metzger)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (USA - Clint Eastwood)

1977

Annie Hall (USA - Woody Allen)
Autostop rosso sangue / Hitch-Hike (Italy - Pasquale Festa Campanile)
Eraserhead (USA - David Lynch)
Fingers (USA - James Toback)
Martin (USA - George A. Romero)
Obsession (USA - Brian De Palma)
Opening Night (USA - John Cassavetes)
Sette note in nero / Seven Notes in Black (Italy - Lucio Fulci)
Soldaat van Oranje / Soldier of Orange (Netherlands/Belgium - Paul Verhoeven)
Suspiria (Italy/West Germany - Dario Argento)

1978

Big Wednesday (USA - John Milius)
Dawn of the Dead (USA/Italy - George A. Romero)
Halloween (USA - John Carpenter)
Shao Lin san shi liu fang / The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Hong Kong - Chia-Liang Liu)
The Deer Hunter (USA - Michael Cimino)
The Medusa Touch (France/UK - Jack Gold)

1979

Alien (UK/USA - Ridley Scott)
Apocalypse Now (USA - Francis Ford Coppola)
Being There (USA - Hal Ashby)
Fukush suruwa wareniari / Vengeance Is Mine (Japan - Shohei Imamura)
Mad Max (Australia - George Miller)
Manhattan (USA - Woody Allen)
Stalker (Soviet Union - Andrei Tarkovsky)
The Warriors (USA - Walter Hill)

.

[wpqx]

Glad to see someone else here appreciates Johnny Got His Gun, which made me realize I forgot to add it to my list, a mistake that has just been corrected.

Oh and welcome back.

[Matalo Matango]

Glad to see you added it to your list. I was heavily impressed by "Johnny Got His Gun", easily one of the best and most harrowing films about war and its consequences for the individual that I've ever seen.

[wpqx]

Certainly agreed, I just never remembered to add it to my list.

[arsaib4]

Nice list, Matalo Matango. Pleasantly surprised to see Fat City and Fingers making the cut. Looks like I need to delve into Italian genre cinema even further.

[wpqx]

It does seem to be the order of the day around here. I'm still yet to see Fingers and I just worry my expectations have gotten too high for it.

[A]

When I first saw it as a teenager (cropped, edited and synchronised version!) it immediately became one of my Top ten favorite films. But I guess this had more to do with my identification with Keitel's troubled protagonist. Luckily I have a more stable personality now, or at least I hope so

The film IS very good, but some rewatches have convinced me that it's not quite the masterpiece I once thought it to be. Still a must see, though, and one of the best debut pictures in my book.

I think you'll like it very much, very New Hollywood, and Godard said it's one of his favorite films

I can recommend the Region 1 DVD which has some nice extras.