ILX Best Films of the 1970s

Patton
The Deer Hunter
The French Connection
Jaws
Taxi Driver
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Apocalypse Now

Nashville
The Long Goodbye
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
M*A*S*H

xpost Yes!

And please put loads of suggestions on this page as I'm positive I will forget many brilliant films.

Have we had a 1960s one yet?

Wrong Huston up there. The Man Who Would Be King.

ali: fear eats the soul is soooo good.

Robert Aldrich's Vietnam western "Ulzana's Raid"

Jeanne Dielman

Bresson's "The Devil Probably"

Mikey & Nicky

Day for Night

Five Easy Pieces

Animal House

The Conversation

Manhattan

Millhouse (Emile de Antonio)
*The power of montage!

Shaft

The Grande Bouffe (Marco Ferreri)
*A much better (and less literal) interpretation of The 120 Days of Sodom than Pasolini's crappy version. Four bored bourgeiose men decide to eat themselves to death!

Phantom of the Paradise

Don't Touch the White Woman! (Ferreri)
*What if general Custer had fought against Indians in modern Paris? Great surrealist fun.

Barry Lyndon
*Definitely underrated.

The Man Who Would Be King

Small Change (Truffaut)
*The best film about childhood ever?

The Tenant
*The weirdest, most disturbing film Polanski has ever made.

Silent Movie (Mel Brooks)

Cross of Iron (Peckinpah)

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

The Lord of the Rings (Ralph Bakshi)
*Loved it as a kid, too bad Bakshi didn't get the chance to make the second half.

The Adventures of Picasso (Tage Danielsson)
*The best post-sound silent film I've ever seen.

Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo

1941 (Spielberg)
*Spielberg's best film, also his response to Dr. Strangelove.

Life of Brian

Manhattan
*Woody Allen's best, probably, though there's plenty to choose from.

Stalker
*In my book, the best movie of the decade.

oops. some of these have alrady been mentioned. oh well.

Xala (Sembene) (now on DVD)
Killer of Sheep
The Go-Between
Blume In Love
Dog Day Afternoon
The Twelve Chairs
Wattstax
The Last Waltz
New York, New York
Real Life

(out on DVD Tuesday or today if you're me)

I don't actually know if these will make my 20, but worth mentioning:

In the Realm of the Senses
Over the Edge
The Sugarland Express
Across 110th Street

20. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
19. Fantasy Mission Force
18. Smokey and the Bandit
17. Apocalypse Now
16. Star Wars
15. Walkabout
14. Young Frankenstein
13. The Woman With Red Boots
12. National Lampoon's Animal House
11. The Story of Adele H.
10. That Obscure Object of Desire
9. Monty Python's Life of Brian
8. The Offence
7. Eraserhead
6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
5. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
4. The Wicker Man
3. Network
2. The Harder They Come
1. Two-Lane Blacktop

That's it. I think that's all I can name now.

(god my list is boring)

but add:
the spirit of the beehive
lucifer rising
sweet movie
valentin de las sierras

i'm having trouble coming up with my own list; i'm a bit bored of the usual crop of classics from this decade (coppola, scorsese, altman blah blah blah) but i can't exactly dismiss them either. a few i like:

f for fake
duel
taxi driver
alien
being there
quadrophenia

I'm a bit bored of them in theory, but whenever I actually see most of them I get unbored again.

Oh come on. If you're bored watching Patton you need to check your pulse.

If I'm bored with any of these, it's only from overviewing. Like Apocalypse Now.

7% solution
fire sale
catch-22
deadhead miles (for you malick fans)
last of the red hot lovers
freebie & the bean
rafferty & the gold dust twins
the in-laws
hearts of the west
little murders

Not forgetting A Boy and His Dog, the only good thing Don Johnson has ever done.

Did we say Cabaret yet? I didn't see it.

If you had asked me in 1980, when I was ten, what my favourite films of the seventies were, I would have said The Bad News Bears, The Rescuers, Watership Down, and Breaking Away.

aguirre
even dwarfs started small
kasper hauser
heart of glass
Stroszek

Apologies for any dupes.

the out-of-towners
three days of the condor
a new leaf
an unmarried woman

Good good.

http://www.panix.com/~dangelo/top.html

some good lists here.

Master Of The Flying Guillotine (1974, Jimmy Wang Yu)
36th Chamber Of Shaolin (1978, Lau Kar-Leung)
Magnificent Butcher (1979, Yuen Woo-ping)

Also -

The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith (1978, Fred Schepisi)

It provided the template for later '60s documentaries, from Eyes on the Prize to Berkley in the Sixties, in how it used news footage and vintage popular music (especially "For What It's Worth" and "We Should Be Together"). It was also very good in its tone--sympathetic but also ironic and objective. If there's a better video history of the anti-Vietnam War movement, I'd love to see it. This one was nominated for an Academy Award.

Though it was a TV series, not a movie, the documentary that Real Life was satirizing is also worth seeing if you can: 1973's An American Family. Reality TV starts here.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0211195/

sheesh, they would have anyway

One of the greatest documentaries ever...

harlan county

I might start the nominations process concurrently with this one but wait until this is over and done with completely to get the voting started.

I think that decade is more unpredictable, which is why I'd find it interesting to do.

Oooo! Thanks for reminding me. Now I have to figure out where to rank it on the list.

I've recieved a whopping 0 submissions so far. 3 weeks and 4 days till poll closes.

Sure, but no more so than any other such endeavor. The Sight and Sound poll only allows 10 picks, across the entirety of cinema history. Of course it's a ridiculous exercise. But it's fun. People like making lists and arguing about them. And you like arguing about them too, Dr.M., or you wouldn't always show up on these threads. I respect your taste and your thoughts on film, but your principled disdain is a little comical.

Or maybe Lucas would make more sense there

I dare you to find a principle in my disdain!

Sure I like throwing out lists of great movies, but since no two of my own from week to week would match, locking them into a ballot is just too labor-intensive to me.

Alec Guinness on Star Wars in new bio: "fairy-tale rubbish"

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Annie Hall
Network
Love and Death
Papillon
Taxi Driver
The Concert for Bangladesh
Up in Smoke
Manhattan
Woodstock
The Godfather: Part II
Master of the Flying Guillotine v. One Armed Boxer
Aguirre, Wrath of God
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Young Frankenstein
Get Carter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Invincible Armour

Manhattan
The Last Picture Show
Annie Hall
Solaris
Don't Look Now
The Godfather
The Godfather part II
Taxi Driver
Harold & Maude
Stalker
The Harder They Come
Deep End
Catch-22
In the Realm of the Senses
Day For Night
Play It Again Sam
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Mean Streets
Walkabout
The Shout (not seen this mentioned - another oddity by Skolimowski, who made Deep End above)
That Obscure Object of Desire
Phantasm
M*A*S*H
Young Frankenstein
Sleeper
The Man Who Fell to Earth

1941
3 Women
36th Chamber Of Shaolin
7% solution
A Boy and His Dog
A Clockwork Orange
A Fistful of Dynamite
a new leaf
a woman under the influence
Across 110th Street
Aguirre the Wrath of God
Airport
ali: fear eats the soul
Alien
Amarcord
American Graffiti
an unmarried woman
Animal House
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Bad News Bears
Badlands
Barry Lyndon
Bed & Board
being there
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Black Christmas
Blazing Saddles
Blue Collar
Blume In Love
Breaking Away
brewster mccloud
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Cabaret
California Spilt
Carrie
catch-22
Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke
chinatown
Chloe in the Afternoon
Claire's Knee
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Cries and Whispers
Cross of Iron
Dawn of the Dead
Day for Night
Days of Heaven
deadhead miles (for you malick fans)
Deathrace 2000
Deep End
Deep Red
Dersu Uzala
Dirty Harry
Dog Day Afternoon
Don't Look Now
Don't Touch the White Woman!
duel
Enter the Dragon
Eraserhead
Even Dwarfs Started Small
f for fake
Fantasy Mission Force
female trouble
fire sale
Five Easy Pieces
freebie & the bean
Freebie and the Bean
Gates of Heaven
Get Carter
Grease
Halloween
harlan county
Harold & Maude
harold and maude
harry and tonto
heart of glass
Hearts & Minds
hearts of the west
High Plains Drifter
In the Realm of the Senses
Invincible Armour
Jaws
Jeanne Dielman
Jonah, Who Will Be 25 In The Year 2000
Junior Bonner
kasper hauser
Kentucky Fried Movie
Killer of Sheep
killing of a chinese bookie
Klute
La Maman et La Putain
Lancelot Du Lac
Last House on the Left
last of the red hot lovers
last picture show
Last Tango In Paris
Lenny
Letter To Jane
Life of Brian
Little Big Man
little murders
Love and Death
lucifer rising
Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo
M*A*S*H
Mad Max
Magnificent Butcher
Manhattan
Marathon Man
Master Of The Flying Guillotine
Master of the Flying Guillotine v. One Armed Boxer
McCabe & Mrs Miller
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Mean Streets
Mikey & Nicky
Millhouse
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Nashville
National Lampoon's Animal House
Network
New York, New York
Night Moves
Night of the Lepus
O Lucky Man!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Over the Edge
Papillon
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Patton
Performance
Phantasm
Phantom of the Paradise
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Play It Again Sam
Pumping Iron
quadrophenia
rafferty & the gold dust twins
Real Life
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Saint Jack
Shaft
Silent Movie
Sleeper
Small Change
Smile
Smokey & The Bandit
Smokey and the Bandit
Solaris
Sounder
spirit of the beehive
Stalker
STAR WARS
Straw Dogs
Stroszek
Susperia
sweet movie
Sweet Sweetback's Badassssss Song
Taxi Driver
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
That Obscure Object of Desire
the act of seeing with one's own eyes
The Adventures of Picasso
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
The Brood
The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith
The China Syndrome
The Concert for Bangladesh
The Conformist
The Conversation
The Deer Hunter
The Devil Probably
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The Exorcist
The French Connection
The Fury
The Getaway
The Go-Between
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather: Part II
The Grande Bouffe
The Green Room
The Harder They Come
The Heartbreak Kid
The Holy Grail
The Hospital
the hot rock
the in-laws
The Iron Cross
The Jerk
The Last Detail
The Last Picture Show
The Last Waltz
The Long Goodbye
The Lord of the Rings
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Man Who Would Be King
The Mirror
The Mouth Agape
The Muppet Movie
The Offence
The Omen
The Outlaw Josey Wales
the out-of-towners
The Red Circle
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Sentinel
The Shout
The Sorrow and the Pity
the spirit of the beehive
the sting
The Story of Adele H.
The Sugarland Express
the sunshine boys
the tenant
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Three Musketeers
The Twelve Chairs
The War At Home
The Warriors
The Wicker Man
The Wizards
The Woman With Red Boots
Theatre of Blood
They Might Be Giants
three days of the condor
Thunderbolt & Lightfoot
THX 1138
tout va bien
Two English Girls
Two-Lane Blacktop
Ulzana's Raid
Up in Smoke
valentin de las sierras
Vanishing Point
Walkabout
Wattstax
weekend
What's Up Doc?
Who Is Harry Kellerman And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
Willard
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Wise Blood
Woodstock
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music
Xala
Young Frankenstein

Dritte Generation, Die (1979)
... aka The Third Generation
Ehe der Maria Braun, Die (1979)
... aka The Marriage of Maria Braun (USA)
In einem Jahr mit 13 Monden (1978)
... aka In a Year of 13 Moons
Despair (1978)
Deutschland im Herbst (1978)
... aka Germany in Autumn
Bolwieser (1977) (TV)
... aka The Stationmaster's Wife
Frauen in New York (1977) (TV)
... aka Women in New York
Chinesisches Roulette (1976)
... aka Chinese Roulette (USA)
Satansbraten (1976)
... aka Satan's Brew (USA)
Ich will doch nur, daß ihr mich liebt (1976) (TV)
... aka I Only Want You to Love Me
Angst vor der Angst (1975) (TV)
... aka Fear of Fear (USA)
Mutter Küsters Fahrt zum Himmel (1975)
... aka Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (USA)
... aka Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven (UK)
Faustrecht der Freiheit (1975)
... aka Fox and His Friends (USA)
... aka Fist-Fight of Freedom (International: English title: incorrect title)
... aka Fist-Right of Freedom (International: English title)
... aka Fox (UK)
Wie ein Vogel auf dem Draht (1975) (TV)
... aka Like a Bird on a Wire
Effi Briest (1974)
... aka Effi Briest (USA)
... aka Fontane Effi Briest
Martha (1974) (TV)
Angst essen Seele auf (1974)
... aka Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (USA)
... aka Fear Eats the Soul
Nora Helmer (1974) (TV)
... aka Nora Helmer (USA)
Welt am Draht (1973) (TV)
... aka World on Wires
... aka World on a Wire
Wildwechsel (1973) (TV)
... aka Jail Bait (USA)
... aka Wild Game (UK)
Bremer Freiheit (1972) (TV)
... aka Bremen Coffee
... aka Bremen Freedom
"Acht Stunden sind kein Tag" (1972) (mini) TV Series
... aka Eight Hours Are Not a Day
Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant, Die (1972)
... aka The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (USA)
Händler der vier Jahreszeiten, Der (1972)
... aka The Merchant of Four Seasons
Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte (1971)
... aka Beware of a Holy Whore (USA)
Whity (1971)
Pioniere in Ingolstadt (1971) (TV)
... aka Pioneers in Ingolstadt
... aka Recruits in Ingolstadt
Rio das Mortes (1971) (TV)
Niklashauser Fart, Die (1970) (TV)
... aka The Niklashausen Journey
Amerikanische Soldat, Der (1970)
... aka The American Soldier (USA)
Warum läuft Herr R. Amok? (1970)
... aka Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?
Kaffeehaus, Das (1970) (TV)
... aka The Coffeehouse
Götter der Pest (1970)
... aka Gods of the Plague (USA)

I've seen about 25 of those and the only one that sucks is "Satan's Brew" (farce was not his forte). I'd put 4 or 5 of them in a Seventies Top 20.

Murmur of The Heart
Prime Cut

My shortlist:

The Godfather
Star Wars
Jaws
The War at Home
The Bad News Bears
The Godfather Part II
Apocalypse Now
Taxi Driver
Mean Streets
The Sorrow and the Pity
Manhattan
Annie Hall
Saturday Night Fever
Blazing Saddles
National Lampoon's Animal House
The Harder They Come
Breaking Away
The China Syndrome
Dog Day Afternoon

And then it's a toss-up (based mostly on my poor memory):

The Warriors
Norma Rae
Walkabout
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Chinatown
Grease
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The Conversation
Carrie
Real Life
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Ha ha, that was my favorite of his as well as being the source of my login name.

Still at 6 ballots

18 more days of voting left!!!!

"They're breaking wind at 90!"

The voting period is half over, you have 2 weeks remaining to case your ballots.

I am still doing a drawing for a Amazon gift certificate for all ballots received.

Results are interesting so far.

I'm still working on mine, I'd like to watch a few more films that I feel like I should see.

The Conformist
Annie Hall
The Third Generation
End of the Road
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
Lucifer Rising
Dawn of the Dead
The Harder They Come
Tout Va Bien
The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes
Ganja and Hess
Thriller: A Cruel Picture
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Razor 2: The Snare
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun
Sisters
11 x 14
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
It's Alive

Murmur of The Heart
Prime Cut
California Spilt
Who Is Harry Kellerman And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
Smile
Jonah, Who Will Be 25 In The Year 2000
Night Moves
The Heartbreak Kid
Little Murders
Blue Collar
GATES OF HEAVEN
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

I know my list is ultra-conventional, but I think most of these films are famous for good reason. I've counted the two Godfathers together, as Sight and Sound did in their last poll--there are arguments against doing so, but it makes sense to me. I'll get this e-mailed...

It's actually one of his best films.

Well that's good, since Brando does what he can to wreck the first one.

I prefer him in The Freshman, and Harry Belafonte in Uptown Saturday Night.

Fist of Fury (1972)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Juggernaut (1974)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)
Mr. Majestyk (1974)
New One-Armed Swordsman (1971)
Turkish Delight (1973)

Yes, vote early, vote often.

Like the deleted scene after the door closes on Kay at the end of the movie, which shows her throwing a glass at the door, shattering it, and screaming, "Noooooooooooo!" It ends with a freeze frame of her face with her mouth open, and the credits roll over that.

9 MORE DAYS LEFT TO VOTE

'mazing how one person's opinion is indicted for 'sweeping authority' when it's phrased like 5000 others. Ah, the $ of challenging Conventional Wisdom.

it also seems kind of snide and condescending, like altman wanted to make a renoir-style ensemble film but completely lacked renoir's wit and generosity.

>The President's Analyst

late '60s.

(Network is my #6.)

Yeah, this is one of my favorite movies.

The speculative fiction line i totally agree w/ also, though it's brilliant (to me) b/c it never verges on impossibility or the territory that sci-fi works with...honestly, i am again and again hard-pressed to come up with a smarter screenplay ever written (hyperbole, but you get the idea).

Yes, all the women in the first "Godfather" -- Kay, Mama, the topless Sicilian bride -- are pretty much stick figures, which is one reason men love the movie so much.

Because ppl were just so damn shallow til Reagan was elected?

>long before we had a disdain for TV news<

Sorry, TV news was held in contempt by many literate folk loooong before Network.

Jonathan Rosenbaum hits about the right median, I think, esp re its misogyny:

Good campy fun from the combined talents of Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet; Chayefsky was apparently serious about much of this shrill, self-important 1976 satire about television, interlaced with bile about radicals and pushy career women, and so were some critics at the time.

1970
M*A*S*H
Tristana
Walkabout

1971
Death in Venice
The Last Picture Show

1972
Aguirre, Wrath of God
Cabaret
Deliverance
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The Godfather
Solaris
Viskningar och Rop

1973
Badlands
Day for Night
Don’t Look Now
Mean Streets

1974
Chinatown
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
The Godfather Part II
Lacombe, Lucien

1975
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Picnic at Hanging Rock

1976
All the President’s Men
Network
Taxi Driver

1977
Annie Hall
Star Wars

1978
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Days of Heaven
The Driver
The Marriage of Maria Braun

1979
Alien
Being There
Manhattan
The Tin Drum

Quite an idiosyncratic list there -- the only Altman being MASH? (which is a dumb football comedy for most of its last third)

i don't want to privilege the CW too much, but when you're contrarian about the most C of the CW and without any attendant explanatory content, you appear to disrespect criticism and audience.

I think Rosenbaum is usually otm (though I'm not quite in the same place as him politically or aesthetically), and I don't completely discount the criticisms of Network - an adolescent favorite that I never regarded as taking itself more seriously than it does on its face (hello? "sybil the soothsayer"?) - but those who are quick to criticize its misogyny I think are missing that 1) Faye Dunaway's gender is not the second or even the third most important element of her character (but what, they should add another man to the cast? and write out the love interest?), and 2) the movie spends a fair amount of time viewing her through the eyes of an older man with whom it does not entirely sympathize

he's the most annoying film critic in america. i can't think of anyone else who's so utterly humorless about the movies he doesn't like.

Basically, Kay is just The Girl. All the women get more spine in II (FFC even turns 'his' sister into a Borgia by III), but Molly Haskell remarked on the movie's chavinist appeal at the time.

Critics who are offended by films that are mistaken for good / great impress me. (Another disser of The Godfather: Stanley Kauffmann.)

"When The Godfather measured its grand finale of murder against the liturgy of baptism, Coppola seemed mesmerized by the trick, and its nihilism. A Bunuel, by contrast, might have made that sequence ironic and hilarious. But Coppola is not long on those qualities and he could not extricate himself from the engineering of scenes. The identiication with Michael was complete and stricken."

The baptism/slaughter sequence is sledgehammer-obvious, but brilliantly edited. If you're looking for irony (tho not Bunuelian), that's where "Goodfellas" comes in.

Kauffmann was particularly dismissive of Brando tho ("pudding in his cheeks... moves stiffly... hailed as great acting").

Anyway, I don't think of multi-Oscared movies like these when I think of '70s cinema (Godfather II aside).

1. The Creeping Flesh (dir. Freddie Francis, 1973)
2. The Optimists of Nine Elms (dir. Anthony Simmons, 1974)
3. Chinatown (dir. Roman Polanski, 1974)
4. House of Mortal Sin (dir. Pete Walker, 1975)
5. Radio On (dir. Christopher Petit, 1979)
6. The Shout (dir. Jerzy Skolimowski, 1978)
7. The Wicker Man (dir. Robin Hardy, 1973)
8. Breaking Away (dir. Peter Yates, 1979)
9. Death Line (dir. Gary Sherman, 1972)
10. Get Carter (dir. Mike Hodges, 1971)
11. Picnic at Hanging Rock (dir. Peter Weir, 1975)
12. O Lucky Man! (dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1973)
13. Eskimo Nell (dir. Martin Campbell, 1974)
14. Sweeney! (dir. David Wickes, 1976)
15. Jubilee (dir. Derek Jarman, 1977)
16. 10 Rillington Place (dir. Richard Fleischer, 1970)
17. Walkabout (dir. Nicolas Roeg, 1971)
18. House of Whipcord (dir. Pete Walker, 1974)
19. The Conversation (dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
20. Eraserhead (dir. David Lynch, 1977)

You will note something of an anglocentric bias (I am at the moment working on a dissertation on British cinema of the seventies), and an attempt to broaden the sort of films getting in. It's more of a favourite than necessarily a 'best' list, but certainly strongly felt. There are some very underrated films, awaiting rediscovery, in this decade... and plenty of emphasis in the twenty above upon corruption and collapse. The 'devil's decade', indeed. Something of an Indian Summer for British horror, I would argue... which very sadly petered out mid-way through the 1970s.

"Network"... good film, certainly, but rather flawed. I mainly remember it for Peter Finch, who is marvellous; reminds me, I need to see "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

1. Andrei Tarkovsky: Stalker
2. Marco Ferreri: La Grande bouffe (aka The Grande Bouffe)
3. Woody Allen: Annie Hall
4. François Truffaut: L'Argent de poche (aka Pocket Money)
5. Sam Peckinpah: Cross of Iron
6. Emile de Antonio: Millhouse
7. Tage Danielsson: Picassos äventyr (aka The Adventures of Picasso)
8. Stanley Kubrick: A Clockwork Orange
9. Woody Allen: Manhattan
10. Roman Polanski: Le Locataire (aka The Tenant)
11. Robert Altman: MASH
12. Milos Forman: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
13. Stanley Kubrick: Barry Lyndon
14. Roman Polanski: Chinatown
15. Steven Spielberg: 1941
16. Jean-Pierre Melville: Le Cercle rouge (aka The Red Circle)
17. Robert Benton: Kramer vs. Kramer
18. John Huston: The Man Who Would Be King
19. Terry Jones: Life of Brian
20. Francis Ford Coppola: Apocalypse Now

The seventies is a kinda difficult decade for me: having been born in 1979, I haven't really seen enough of the classics (especially those made outside the States) to give a comprehensive vote. Also, a lot of the classics, like Godfather, simply don't move me... Like Morbius said, the Godfathers are men's films, with lots of style and violence and honour and paternal/fraternal drama, but personally I find their world so removed from my own that there's simply nothing for me to root for. Admittedly, I did vote for The Red Circle, but that film is about pure style only, and it doesn't claim to be anything more. I also had lots of trouble deciding whether or not I should include Apocalypse Now, but in the end I thought that Brando's mumblings at the end don't ruin an otherwise good film.

1. The Godfather Part II
2. Aguirre the Wrath of God
3. Taxi Driver
4. Eraserhead
5. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
6. Cabaret
7. Badlands
8. Hearts & Minds
9. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
10. Annie Hall
11. Little Big Man
12. Star Wars
13. Walkabout
14. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
15. The Last Picture Show
16. In the Realm of the Senses
17. The Spirit of the Beehive
18. Alien
19. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
20. Over the Edge

4 films have received over 200 points
17 have received over 100 points
The most first place votes for any one film is 2
29 films have received first place votes

(1) Annie Hall
(2) The Warriors
(3) Chinatown
(4) Harold & Maude
(5) All The President's Men
(6) The Conversation
(7) The French Connection
(8) Five Easy Pieces
(9) Capricorn One
(10) Save The Tiger
(11) The Sting
(12) Dog Day Afternoon
(13) The Godfather Part Two
(14) Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
(15) Barry Lyndon
(16) Sleeper
(17) High Plains Drifter
(18) Time After Time
(19) The Man Who Fell To Earth
(20) M*A*S*H

I've received 6 this morning, for a whopping 42 overall.

1. Amarcord
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather Part II
4. Annie Hall
5. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
6. Cries and Whispers
7. Le Cercle Rouge
8. Play It Again Sam
9. That Obscure Object of Desire
10. Manhattan
11. Chinatown
12. The Conversation
13. Apocalypse Now
14. A Clockwork Orange
15. Taxi Driver
16. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
17. Marathon Man
18. Being There
19. Straw Dogs
20. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I'd say it's pretty useless to vote for any foreign films, notwithstanding the tokenish-feeling votes for Fellini, Fassbinder, Herzog etc. That can't compete with all-English-lang ballots that include Capricorn One.

xpost Dr Morbius, you'd be surprised, several foreign films are doing extremely well.

I somehow think there's a '70s film poll somewhere on Earth that included Seven Beauties, Harlan County USA, or any by Ousmane Sembene, Elaine May, or Margarethe von Trotta in the top 100 of the decade.

Since the '70s are considered an off-decade for Kurosawa, I can't see any Asian directors, or black Americans besides Van Peebles or maybe Gordon Parks, being mentioned either.

Then it doesn't make sense to vote. I'm not a huge fiction reader so I'd never partcipate in a "best novels of all time" poll.

Ally C/RJG, just one foreign-language film would be a jump in ambition. (no Towering Inferno?)

why such a fanny?

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
3. Aguirre the Wrath of God
4. El Topo
5. Phantom of the Paradise
6. Shampoo
7. Weekend
8. Performance
9. Up in Smoke
10. Harold & Maude
11. Satan's Brew
12. Solaris
13. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
14. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
15. The Brood
16. The Long Goodbye
17. Susperia
18. Killing of a Chinese Bookie
19. The Muppet Movie
20. Dawn of the Dead

wk, which "Weekend"? cuz the Godard film is '67.

Point being, you're making an awful lot of assumptions about people's range of curiosity and exposure based on what they put on a message-board film-poll ballot. While refusing, of course, to submit your own list for similar assessment (admiration or derision). I'd personally like to see your list, because there are probably things on it I'd like to see. Your mention of Sembene has already prompted me to add Xala to my Netflix queue. If you're actually enthusiastic about the art form rather than scoring some kind of imagined intellectual superiority points, you've got an audience here of people interested in movies who'd probably like to hear your recommendations. But that doesn't seem to be your aim. Being condescending about other people's taste and/or level of expertise is cheap and easy.

ONCE AGAIN THIS IS NOT THE FUCKING "SIGHT AND SOUND" POLL. WE'RE JUST PEOPLE ON A MESSAGE BOARD WHO LIKE MOVIES AND WANT TO SEE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE'S FAVORITE MOVIES ARE, TOO.

And just for damage control, I voted.
(on any given day I could replace 8 or 10 of these 20)

(1) Chinatown (Polanski)
(2) The Mirror (Tarkovsky)
(3) Barry Lyndon (Kubrick)
(4) Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog)
(5) Fox and His Friends (Fassbinder)
(6) The Magic Flute (Bergman)
(7) Nashville (Altman)
(8) Xala (Sembene)
(9) Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder)
(10) The Long Goodbye (Altman)
(11) Amarcord (Fellini)
(12) Tristana (Bunuel)
(13) The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
(14) Annie Hall (Allen)
(15) Female Trouble (Waters)
(16) Cabaret (Fosse)
(17) In a Year of 13 Moons (Fassbinder)
(18) Five Easy Pieces (Rafelson)
(19) Ulzana's Raid (Aldrich)
(20) Two-Lane Blacktop (Hellman)

And Paunchy, you need to be sitting on those hands. After you wash them.

1. f for fake (welles)
2. the long goodbye (altman)
3. gates of heaven (morris)
4. news from home (akerman)
5. female trouble (waters)
6. aguirre: the wrath of god (herzog)
7. in a year of 13 moons (fassbinder)
8. texas chainsaw massacre (hooper)
9. that obscure object of desire (bunuel)
10. claire's knee (rohmer)
11. the last detail (ashby)
12. up! (meyer)
13. the devil, probably (bresson)
14. nashville (altman)
15. the conformist (bertolucci)
16. in the realm of the senses (oshima)
17. pink flamingos (waters)
18. dawn of the dead (romero)
19. shampoo (ashby)
20. animal house (landis)

1. Last Tango In Paris
2. A Woman Under the Influence
3. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
4. Network
5. Manhattan
6. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
7. Cries and Whispers
8. Badlands
9. Day for Night
10. Jaws
11. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
12. Five Easy Pieces
13. The Last Detail
14. Alien
15. Patton
16. Annie Hall
17. The Godfather, part II
18. Taxi Driver
19. Mean Streets
20. Chinatown

Aw shit. Like I said, I took that big huge list posted upthread as the nominee list. Oops.

Come to think of it, why isn't Little Big Man on more of these lists? What's the matter with you people?!?

I like the movie fine -- it probly works on me better than any other of AP's, including Bonnie & Clyde -- but there are sequences where the picaresque shtick works less well than others (the gay stay-at-home brave, Richard Mulligan as Custer). It's just not in serious contention for best 20 of the decade. Chief Dan George (in this and Josey W) is certainly one of the supporting actors of the '70s.

btw I spent maybe 15 minutes on my ballot. And am already rueing the absence of Maurice Pialat, "The Day of the Locust," etc.

haha, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is probably the first film I saw of all mentioned.

What does an ILXor think of Joe? I watched this a couple of days ago -- it certainly wasn't fun, and by the end of it I thought it was a bad movie, but it's stuck with me pretty well, and I think maybe it's a decent film without any sympathetic characters.

Man I've wanted to see that movie for so long. I was under the impression that the characters weren't meant to be unsympathetic tho?

i.e. isn't it a "fuck these lousy hippies" rant?

Nobody's cast in a very good light. Even big-eyed baby Susan Sarandon is a fairly whiny weakling with her boyfriend.

My picks!.

Cool, I've bought like five of those (which I have yet to see) in the past month, good to see my taste is in fact impeccable.

I don't think I will ever see what other people see in Suspiria, sadly.

88. Illustrious Corpses (Francesco Rosi)

OTM; I'm slightly disappointed cadaveri eccellenti didn't do as well as possession (1982)

Maybe it's a measure of how hard it is to make a comedy that stays funny, but I note a distinct dominance of serious films in your list.

it's OK, OL, Suspiria is giallos are shit

The Driver and Apocalypse Now are both pretty funny.

Giallo directors doing poliziotteschi are the best though.

And since Morbz is here, where is The Night Porter?

ONE of Bunuel's '70s films? And it's not Tristana? Away with thee...