ILX Best Films of the 1970s

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.