Films of the 1970s

See also: Early Films, Films of the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s

Notable Film Franchises, 1970-1979

 * Airport -- A Disaster Movie from a peak in the genre's popularity, crystallizing the standard story arc. Later, it inspired parodies.
 * Airport (1970)
 * Airport 1975 (1974)
 * Airport '77 (1977)
 * The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979)
 * Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973-79)
 * Boggy Creek
 * The Legend of Boggy Creek (1973)
 * The Return to Boggy Creek (1977)
 * Carry On -- Twelve films in the seventies alone.
 * Carry On Up the Jungle (1970)
 * Carry On Loving (1970)
 * Carry On Henry (1971)
 * Carry On at Your Convenience (1971)
 * Carry On Matron (1972)
 * Carry On Abroad (1972)
 * Carry On Girls (1973)
 * Carry On Dick (1974)
 * Carry On Behind (1975)
 * Carry On England (1976)
 * That's Carry On! (1977) -- Compilation film
 * Carry On Emmanuelle (1978)
 * Count Yorga
 * Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)
 * The Return of Count Yorga (1971)
 * Dirty Harry
 * Dirty Harry (1971) -- The film that spawned a generation of Cowboy Cops. Clint Eastwood stars.
 * Magnum Force (1973)
 * The Enforcer (1976)
 * Hammer's Dracula
 * Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
 * The Scars of Dracula (1971)
 * Dracula AD 1972
 * The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
 * The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
 * Fritz the Cat
 * Fritz the Cat (1972)
 * The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)
 * Gamera
 * Gamera VS Jiger (1970)
 * Gamera vs. Zigra (1971)
 * The Godfather (1974)
 * The Godfather (1972)
 * The Godfather Part II (1974)
 * Godzilla
 * Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
 * Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
 * Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
 * Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
 * Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
 * Its Alive
 * It's Alive (1974)
 * It Lives Again (1978)
 * James Bond films -- Five installment for the seventies.
 * Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
 * Live and Let Die (1973)
 * The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
 * The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
 * Moonraker (1979)
 * Jaws -- Introduced the "animals on a rampage" movie, pushed Steven Spielberg into the limelight, and effectively created the Summer Blockbuster.
 * Jaws (1975)
 * Jaws 2 (1978)
 * Lone Wolf and Cub -- Classic samurai film series Bowdlerised as Shogun Assassin in the United States.
 * Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
 * Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)
 * Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972)
 * Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972)
 * Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973)
 * Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (1974)
 * The Omen
 * The Omen (1976)
 * Damien: The Omen 2 (1978)
 * Rocky -- The film series that made Sylvester Stallone famous.
 * Rocky (1976)
 * Rocky II (1979)
 * The Street Fighter -- The martial arts film series that established Sonny Chiba as an emerging martial arts star.
 * The Streetfighter (1974)
 * Return of the Streetfighter (1976)
 * Sister Streetfighter (1976)
 * The Streetfighter's Last Revenge (1979)

1970

 * And Soon the Darkness
 * The Aristocats
 * The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
 * The Blood Waters of Dr. Z
 * The Boys in the Band -- First mainstream gay film.
 * Beyond the Valley of The Dolls -- A Russ Meyer, Roger Ebert collaboration parody. An all-female band of hippies go to LA where they make it big and fall headfirst into a pit of drugs, sin, infidelity, and deceit, ending with a transvestite killing spree.
 * Catch-22 -- You'd be insane to watch it. Then again, trying to avoid it is a sign of rational thought and so you have no excuse not to watch it.
 * Colossus the Forbin Project
 * The Conformist
 * Even Dwarfs Started Small -- Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Surprisingly enough, not exploitative.
 * El Topo
 * Five Easy Pieces
 * Have A Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay
 * I Drink Your Blood
 * Kellys Heroes -- World War II comedy about soldiers who try to rob a bank.
 * Let It Be -- The classic, lost Beatles documentary.
 * Little Big Man
 * Love Story -- The seminal 70's Tear Jerker.
 * Mash -- Before the television series, there was the movie.
 * The Molly Maguires
 * Nams Angels
 * Patton
 * The Phantom Tollbooth
 * The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
 * San Francisco International Airport
 * Tora Tora Tora -- Everything that Pearl Harbor should have been, but wasn't.
 * Start the Revolution Without Me
 * The Vampire Lovers
 * Waterloo
 * The Wizard of Gore -- Technically made in 1968, but unreleased until 1970.
 * Woodstock

1971

 * Two Hundred Motels
 * The Abominable Dr. Phibes
 * The Andromeda Strain
 * Bananas
 * Bedknobs and Broomsticks
 * The Big Boss -- Bruce Lee's first film.
 * Big Jake
 * Billy Jack -- Was actually a sequel to a movie Born Losers
 * Bless the Beasts And Children
 * The Cat O Nine Tails
 * A Clockwork Orange --Stanley Kubrick's controversial dystopian vision of the future.
 * Day of the Wolves
 * The Devils
 * Duel -- Launched Steven Spielberg's movie career.
 * Fiddler On the Roof
 * A Fistful of Dynamite
 * Four Flies on Grey Velvet
 * The French Connection -- One of the greatest chase films of all time.
 * Get Carter
 * Goodbye Uncle Tom
 * Harold and Maude
 * Le Mans
 * Light The Fuse... Sartana Is Coming
 * McCabe and Mrs. Miller
 * The Omega Man
 * Play Misty for Me -- Clint Eastwood's directorial debut.
 * The Point
 * Santo vs. La Hija De Frankestein (Santo versus Frankenstein's Daughter)
 * Shaft -- Can ya dig it?
 * Straw Dogs -- Sam Peckinpah's story of an ordinary man who is pushed too far.
 * Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song -- Trope Maker / Ur Example of Blaxploitation.
 * THX 1138
 * Touch of Satan
 * They Call Me Trinity
 * They Might Be Giants - not the band, the George C. Scott/Joanne Woodward production.
 * Twitch of the Death Nerve
 * Vanishing Point
 * Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -- It wasn't a hit at the time, but became the era's closest analogue to The Wizard of Oz for 1970s-80s kids.
 * W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism

1972

 * Aguirre, the Wrath of God
 * Black Mama White Mama
 * Blacula
 * The Cowboys
 * The Day the Clown Cried -- Made in `72 but never released publicly.
 * Deliverance --The movie that kept people from going canoeing in the South.
 * Emma - miniseries starring Doran Godwin.
 * Evil Roy Slade -- A made-for-television film.
 * Gentlemen of Fortune
 * Fist Of Fury
 * Frenzy
 * Fritz the Cat
 * Gentlement Of Fortune
 * Hopelessly Lost
 * The Hot Rock
 * Jeremiah Johnson
 * The Last House on the Left
 * Last Tango in Paris
 * Mary Queen of Scots
 * The Mechanic
 * Night of the Lepus
 * Pink Flamingos
 * The Poseidon Adventure
 * The Ruling Class
 * Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny/Thumbelina/Jack and the Beanstalk
 * Santo Y Blue Demon Contra Dracula Y El Hombre Lobo
 * Silent Running
 * Solaris -- Tarkovsky version
 * Snoopy Come Home
 * Superfly
 * Tales from the Crypt
 * Way of the Dragon -- Bruce Lee versus Chuck Norris.
 * What's Up Doc
 * ZPG (Zero Population Growth)

1973

 * Amarcord -- a Federico Fellini classic.
 * American Graffiti -- "Where were you in '62?"
 * Black Caesar/Hell Up In Harlem
 * Coffy
 * Day for Night
 * Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
 * Don't Look Now
 * Enter the Dragon -- Bruce Lee takes America by storm.
 * The Exorcist
 * Fantastic Planet -- bizarre and trippy Dali-esque animated fable.
 * Emperor of the North aka Emperor of the North Pole
 * Godspell
 * High Plains Drifter
 * The Holy Mountain
 * The Horror At 37000 Feet
 * Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession
 * Jesus Christ Superstar
 * Lady Snowblood
 * The Long Goodbye
 * Moscow Cassiopeia
 * My Name Is Nobody
 * Paper Moon
 * Papillon
 * Robin Hood
 * Sannikov Land - Russian adventurers go to the far north in search of a legendary island.
 * Scream Bloody Murder
 * Serpico
 * The Sinful Dwarf
 * Sleeper - Woody Allen in a sci-fi comedy spoof
 * Soylent Green
 * The Sting -- Everything about The Con that other films have since attempted to capture.
 * Stranded in Space
 * Theater of Blood
 * The Three Musketeers 1973
 * Three Big Men
 * Thriller - A Cruel Picture
 * The Vault of Horror
 * Westworld
 * The Wicker Man

1974

 * Auntie Mame
 * The Beast Must Die
 * Black Christmas
 * Blazing Saddles -- Spoof of The Western genre.
 * Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
 * California Split
 * Celine and Julie Go Boating
 * Chinatown -- A classic modern noir, with one of the bleakest endings ever to grace film. "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
 * The Conversation
 * Dark Star
 * The Day of the Jackal -- Famous thriller, race to stop mysterious assassin from killing Charles de Gaulle.
 * Death Wish -- A revenge movie classic, quite shocking for its time.
 * Diamonds on Wheels
 * Down and Dirty Duck
 * Earthquake
 * The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
 * F for Fake (Vérités et mensonges)
 * The Front Page
 * Foxy Brown
 * Gator Bait
 * Jack and the Beanstalk -- a somewhat trippy animated retelling from Japan.
 * ''Killdozer
 * The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
 * Herbie Rides Again
 * It Lives by Night (aka The Bat People)
 * The Longest Yard
 * The Maids
 * Murder on the Orient Express
 * The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
 * The Parallax View
 * Phantom of the Paradise
 * Phase IV
 * The Street Fighter
 * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
 * The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
 * The Towering Inferno -- The prototypical disaster-in-a-high-rise movie.
 * Three the Hard Way
 * Young Frankenstein -- Mel Brooks does to Universal Horror what he did to the Western with Blazing Saddles.
 * Zardoz

1975

 * The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother
 * The Apple Dumpling Gang -- Page includes details on sequel as well.
 * At Long Last Love
 * Barry Lyndon
 * Blutsbrüder -- Tenth and last of the DEFA Westerns.
 * Boss Nigger
 * A Boy and His Dog
 * Coonskin
 * Criminally Insane
 * Deafula
 * Death Race 2000
 * Deep Red
 * Dersu Uzala
 * Doc Savage
 * Dog Day Afternoon -- A classic "bank heist gone straight to hell" movie.
 * Dolemite
 * Farewell My Lovely
 * The Giant Spider Invasion
 * Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS -- Trope Codifier of the Nazisploitation subgenre.
 * Lisztomania
 * Love and Death
 * The Man in the Glass Booth
 * The Man Who Would Be King
 * Master of the Flying Guillotine -- A kung fu grindhouse classic about a blind evil kung fu master with the coolest weapon ever made.
 * The Mirror
 * Mitchell
 * Monty Python and The Holy Grail
 * Nashville
 * One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
 * One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing
 * Picnic at Hanging Rock -- A classic Australian mystery which helped to revive the Australian film industry.
 * Pinchcliffe Grand Prix -- (Flåklypa Grand Prix) A Norwegian puppet animation.
 * Race with the Devil
 * Return of the Pink Panther -- The Clouseau comeback show.
 * The Rocky Horror Picture Show -- A Cult Classic musical with an undying and crossdressing fanbase.
 * Rollerball
 * The Stepford Wives
 * The Story of O -- 70's film adaption based on the novel of the same name.
 * Switchblade Sisters
 * Three Days of the Condor
 * Trilogy of Terror
 * Tommy
 * The Wind and The Lion
 * The Yakuza -- Directed by Sydney Pollack

1976

 * 1900
 * Allegro Non Troppo -- Italian Affectionate Parody of Fantasia
 * All the Presidents Men
 * Assault on Precinct 13
 * The Bad News Bears
 * Bloodsucking Freaks
 * The Blue Bird
 * The Boy in the Plastic Bubble
 * Burnt Offerings
 * Carrie -- Cinematic adaptation of the Stephen King classic.
 * Family Plot
 * The Food of the Gods
 * Freaky Friday -- The first adaptation of the book.
 * The Front
 * Futureworld
 * Grizzly
 * The Gumball Rally
 * In the Realm of the Senses
 * King Kong -- Ill-regarded remake.
 * Logan's Run
 * The Man Who Fell to Earth
 * Marathon Man
 * Midway
 * Mohammad, Messenger of God AKA The Message
 * Mother, Jugs & Speed
 * Murder By Death
 * Network -- "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
 * No Deposit, No Return
 * The Outlaw Josey Wales -- Its Clint Eastwood's favourite film by him
 * The Pink Panther Strikes Again
 * Robot Taekwon V
 * The Shootist
 * Silent Movie -- Mel Brooks goes postmodern. With lots of slapstick.
 * Silver Streak
 * Slave of Love
 * The Slipper and The Rose
 * Squirm -- The film that almost made Sylvester Stallone famous.
 * Taxi Driver -- "Someday a real rain will come and wash the scum off the streets..."
 * The Tenant
 * Track of the Moon Beast
 * Who Can Kill a Child

1977

 * A Bridge Too Far
 * Alice, Sweet Alice
 * Annie Hall -- Woody Allen's most famous film. Sometimes derided by Star Wars fans for winning Best Picture.
 * Axe
 * The Beast in Heat -- a Nazisploitation Video Nasty.
 * Black Sunday -- Terrorists will explode the blimp over the Super Bowl.
 * The Brothers Lionheart
 * Candleshoe
 * The Car
 * Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- The other big sci-fi/fantasy of 1977.
 * Code Name Diamond Head
 * Damnation Alley -- Only remotely related to the novel. Not a critically successful film at the box office.
 * Death Bed the Bed That Eats
 * Drive in Massacre
 * The Duellists
 * Eaten Alive
 * Eraserhead -- David Lynch's first film. Very hard to describe.
 * Fight for Your Life
 * Fraulein Devil
 * Fun with Dick and Jane
 * The Gauntlet
 * Grand Theft Auto -- A movie Directed by Ron Howard which is unrelated to the video game series.
 * Hausu
 * Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
 * High Anxiety
 * The Hills Have Eyes
 * The Hobbit -- The Rankin-Bass adaptation.
 * Holocaust 2000
 * The Last Dinosaur
 * The Incredible Melting Man
 * Iron Monkey -- Also known as School Of Shaolin in the US or Bloody Monkey Master
 * Kingdom of the Spiders
 * The Kentucky Fried Movie -- First work of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team.
 * Last Orgy Of The Third Reich
 * The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
 * Mimino
 * Oh, God!
 * Orca the Killer Whale
 * Petes Dragon -- A live-action film with a cel-animated dragon.
 * Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure
 * Rolling Thunder
 * The Rescuers
 * Saturday Night Fever
 * The Sentinel
 * Shock Waves
 * Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
 * Sleeping Dogs
 * Slap Shot
 * Smokey and the Bandit
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (originally titled Star Wars) -- The epic Star Wars saga, and Cash Cow Franchise, all started here.
 * Stroszek -- Werner Herzog's last movie starring Bruno S.
 * Suspiria
 * The Turning Point
 * Wizards

1978

 * Animal House -- The quintessential "wacky college hijinks" comedy.
 * Attack of the Killer Tomatoes -- Exactly What It Says on the Tin
 * The Bermuda Depths
 * Blue Sunshine
 * The Boys from Brazil
 * Capricorn One
 * Coming Home
 * Convoy
 * D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers
 * Dawn of the Dead
 * Days of Heaven
 * The Deer Hunter -- A harrowing Vietnam movie that introduced popular culture to Russian Roulette.
 * Drunken Master
 * The Evil
 * F.I.S.T.
 * Five Deadly Venoms -- A Shaw Brothers kung fu classic.
 * Foul Play
 * The Fury
 * Game of Death -- Bruce Lee's final film.
 * Grease
 * Halloween -- The film that began the craze of 70s and 80s Slasher Films.
 * Heaven Can Wait
 * Hot Lead and Cold Feet
 * International Velvet
 * Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- A well-regarded update.
 * I Spit on Your Grave -- Also known as Day of the Woman, one of the most infamous Rape and Revenge films of all time.
 * Laserblast
 * Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings
 * The Magic of Lassie
 * Message from Space -- Japan's answer to Star Wars.
 * Midnight Express -- The Turkish Prison film.
 * The Mountain of the Cannibal God
 * Planet of the Dinosaurs
 * Revenge of the Pink Panther -- Last entry actually starring Peter Sellers.
 * Piranha
 * Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
 * Siberiade
 * The Small One
 * Superman -- "You'll believe a man can fly" with the first big comic book movie.
 * Thank God Its Friday
 * They Call Her Cleopatra Wong
 * The 36th Chamberof Shaolin
 * The Toolbox Murders
 * Up in Smoke
 * Watership Down
 * The Wild Geese
 * The Wiz

1979

 * Nineteen Forty One
 * Alien -- Combined horror and Sci Fi with one of the first Action Girl heroines. An early example of Used Future.
 * All That Jazz
 * Americathon
 * The Amityville Horror
 * And Justice for All
 * Angels Revenge
 * Apocalypse Now -- The most disturbing war movie ever. "The Horror...The Horror...The Horror..."
 * Autumn Marathon
 * Banjo the Woodpile Cat -- Forced into becoming a half-hour short due to budget restraints.
 * Being There
 * The Black Hole
 * The Black Stallion
 * The Brood
 * The Castleof Cagliostro -- Hayao Miyazaki does Lupin III.
 * The Cat and the Canary
 * The China Syndrome
 * City on Fire
 * Clonus
 * The Driller Killer
 * The Electric Horseman
 * Escape from Alcatraz -- Grants Truth in Television to the most unlikely tropes.
 * HG Wells' The Shape Of Things To Come -- In Name Only remake
 * The Jerk
 * J-Men Forever
 * Kramer vs. Kramer
 * Love at First Bite
 * Mad Max
 * Meatballs
 * Meteor
 * Monty Pythons Life of Brian
 * The Muppet Movie -- Film debut of everyone's favorite puppets from The Muppet Show, this family comedy shows how Kermit the Frog and his friends broke into showbiz.
 * North Sea Hijack
 * Phantasm
 * Prophecy
 * Quadrophenia
 * Rock and Roll High School
 * The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash
 * Scooby Goes Hollywood (aka Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood) -- TV movie
 * Scum: British film about life in the borstal; based off of a 1977 BBC teleplay.
 * Stalker
 * Starcrash
 * Star Trek the Motion Picture -- Brought back the entire original cast (plus two more), ten years after the series ended.
 * Time After Time: H. G. Wells battles Jack the Ripper in THE FUTURE (well, 1979).
 * The Tin Drum
 * The Villain
 * The Wanderers
 * The Warriors
 * When a Stranger Calls
 * Winter Kills
 * Woyzeck
 * Zombi 2