Greatest Movies of the 1970s

The 1970s were the beginning of what I like to call, "The Second Golden Age of Film." Future film-makers may look back on the time from 1970 to 2000 as a period of great inspiration in times to come.

If disco-dancing was not your thing, you might have gotten the urge to go to the movie theater and see John Travolta dance instead in his classic, Saturday Night Fever.

If you were busy trying to hook up with a girl or a guy, you might have gone to the drive-in movies for a chance to get scared by the Great White Shark in Jaws

The 1970s were a phenomenal era. Not only was the country recovering from Vietnam and the Watergate scandal, America was also booming with music and movies. On your 8-Track, you might have been listening to Elton John or the Bee Gees. At the theater, you might have experienced such great films as The Godfather or Star Wars.

The decade brought about many changes to American culture, including the Feminist Movement, and the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans. The 1970s were also the years for certain disasters; such as, tragic airline crashes and earthquakes. Hollywood tried to cash-in on society's awareness of these events by releasing popular disaster films like Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. Studios also thought they could score homeruns with the female demographic with such 1970's classics as An Unmarried Woman and Annie Hall.

Great actors like Dustin Hoffman, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, all had great starring roles in some of the most influential films of the 1970s. The decade also introduced us to such future icons as Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver), Harrison Ford (Star Wars), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter), and Michael Douglas (The China Syndrome).

The 1970s was also the decade for future icons of film-making. Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Woody Allen would all become the most sought after and influential directors of the era.

10 (1979)
Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)
Alien (1979)
All the President's Men (1976)
Amarcord (1973)
American Graffiti (1973)
Animal House (1978)
Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Badlands (1973)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Battles Without Honour and Humanity (The Yakuza Papers) (1973)
Being There (1979)
Blow-Out (1973)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Cabaret (1972)
Carrie (1976)
Catch-22 (1970)
Chinatown (1974)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Coming Home (1978)
The Conformist (1970)
The Conversation (1974)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Day for Night (1973)
Days of Heaven (1978)
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
Deep Red (1975)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Deliverance (1972)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
The French Connection (1971)
Frenzy (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
Grease (1978)
Halloween (1978)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
I as in Icarus (1979)
Jaws (1975)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
The Last Detail (1973)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Little Big Man (1970)
Love Story (1970)
Mad Max (1979)
Manhattan (1979)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Marathon Man (1976)
Martin (1977)
MASH (1970)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Mean Streets (1973)
Midnight Express (1978)
Midway (1976)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Nashville (1975)
Network (1976)
Norma Rae (1979)
The Omen (1976)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
Patton (1970)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Rocky (1976)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Serpico (1973)
Solyaris (1972)
Stalker (1979)
Star Wars (1977)
The Sting (1973)
Straight Time (1978)
Superman (1978)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
THX 1138 (1971)
El Topo (1970)
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)
Up In Smoke (1978)
The Warriors (1979)
The Way We Were (1973)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Woodstock (1970)
The Yakuza (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)