The 165 Best Films of 1970s Movies

Critics Consensus: Stalker is a complex, oblique parable that draws unforgettable images and philosophical musings from its sci-fi/thriller setting.

Synopsis: In an unnamed country at an unspecified time, there is a fiercely protected post-apocalyptic wasteland known as The Zone. An [More]

Critics Consensus: Regarded as one of the high-water marks in German New Wave cinema of the 1970s, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is at once an intense portrayal of a relationship and a tribute to one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film heroes, Douglas Sirk.

Synopsis: Emmi Kurowski (Brigitte Mira), a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her [More]

Critics Consensus: As bruised and cynical as the decade that produced it, this noir classic benefits from Robert Towne's brilliant screenplay, director Roman Polanski's steady hand, and wonderful performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.

Synopsis: When Los Angeles private eye J.J. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is hired by Evelyn Mulwray to investigate her husband's activities, [More]

Critics Consensus: Making excellent use of its period and setting, Peter Bogdanovich's small town coming-of-age story is a sad but moving classic filled with impressive performances.

Synopsis: High school seniors and best friends, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges), live in a dying Texas town. The [More]

Critics Consensus: By turns funny, sad, and profound, Killer of Sheep offers a sympathetic and humane glimpse into inner-city life.

Synopsis: In Watts, an urban and mostly African-American section of Los Angeles, Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) spends his days toiling away [More]

Critics Consensus: An intoxicating dose of the director's signature surrealist style, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie represents Buñuel at his most accessible.

Synopsis: The ambassador of the Latin American republic of Miranda (Fernando Rey), M. Thevenot (Paul Frankeur), his wife Simone (Delphine Seyrig) [More]

Critics Consensus: A commentary on fascism and beauty alike, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist is acclaimed for its sumptuous visuals and extravagant, artful cinematography.

Synopsis: In Mussolini's Italy, repressed Jean-Louis Trintignant, trying to purge memories of a youthful, homosexual episode -- and murder -- joins [More]

Critics Consensus: Breezy, thrilling, and quite funny, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three sees Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw pitted against each other in effortlessly high form.

Synopsis: In New York City, a criminal gang led by the ruthless Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw) hijacks a subway car and [More]

Critics Consensus: A sweet counterpoint to Godard's Contempt, Truffaut's Day for Night is a congenial tribute to the self-afflicted madness that is making a movie.

Synopsis: A film director (François Truffaut) tries to get his movie made while observing the real-life dramas in his actors' lives. [More]

Critics Consensus: Compelling, well-crafted storytelling and a judicious sense of terror ensure Steven Spielberg's Jaws has remained a benchmark in the art of delivering modern blockbuster thrills.

Synopsis: When a young woman is killed by a shark while skinny-dipping near the New England tourist town of Amity Island, [More]

Critics Consensus: One of Hollywood's greatest critical and commercial successes, The Godfather gets everything right; not only did the movie transcend expectations, it established new benchmarks for American cinema.

Synopsis: Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, this mob drama, based on Mario Puzo's novel of [More]

Critics Consensus: Filled with poignant performances and devastating humor, Annie Hall represents a quantum leap for Woody Allen and remains an American classic.

Synopsis: Comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) examines the rise and fall of his relationship with struggling nightclub singer Annie Hall (Diane [More]

Critics Consensus: Realistic, fast-paced and uncommonly smart, The French Connection is bolstered by stellar performances by Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider, not to mention William Friedkin's thrilling production.

Synopsis: New York Detective Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner (Roy Scheider) chase a French heroin smuggler. [More]

Critics Consensus: Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films.

Synopsis: On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and [More]

Critics Consensus: Terrence Malick's debut is a masterful slice of American cinema, rife with the visual poetry and measured performances that would characterize his work.

Synopsis: Inspired by real-life killers Charles Starkweather and Caril-Ann Fugate, this tale of crime and love begins in a dead-end town. [More]

Critics Consensus: Drawing on strong performances by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola's continuation of Mario Puzo's Mafia saga set new standards for sequels that have yet to be matched or broken.

Synopsis: The compelling sequel to "The Godfather," contrasting the life of Corleone father and son. Traces the problems of Michael Corleone [More]

Critics Consensus: Framed by great work from director Sidney Lumet and fueled by a gripping performance from Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon offers a finely detailed snapshot of people in crisis with tension-soaked drama shaded in black humor.

Synopsis: When inexperienced criminal Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) leads a bank robbery in Brooklyn, things quickly go wrong, and a hostage [More]

Critics Consensus: One of the more cutting-edge films of the 1970s, this religious farce from the classic comedy troupe is as poignant as it is funny and satirical.

Synopsis: Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman) is an average young Jewish man, but through a series of ridiculous events, he gains a [More]

Critics Consensus: Melville is at the top of his game, giving us his next-to-last entry into the world of deception, crime, and extreme suspense that made him a maestro of the French heist genre.

Synopsis: When French criminal Corey (Alain Delon) gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back [More]

Critics Consensus: A disquieting classic of Australian cinema, Wake in Fright surveys a landscape both sun-drenched and ruthlessly dark.

Synopsis: After finishing up the school term in a remote outback town, teacher John Grant (Gary Bond) looks forward to spending [More]

Critics Consensus: A haunting journey of natural wonder and tangible danger, Aguirre transcends epic genre trappings and becomes mythological by its own right.

Synopsis: Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), a ruthless Spanish conquistador, vies for power while part of an expedition in Peru [More]

Critics Consensus: Made with obvious affection for the original, Young Frankenstein is a riotously silly spoof featuring a fantastic performance by Gene Wilder.

Synopsis: Respected medical lecturer Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) learns that he has inherited his infamous grandfather's estate in Transylvania. Arriving [More]

Critics Consensus: Smart, sophisticated, and refreshingly subtle, Being There soars behind sensitive direction from Hal Ashby and a stellar Peter Sellers performance.

Synopsis: Simple-minded Chance (Peter Sellers), a gardener who has resided in the Washington, D.C., townhouse of his wealthy employer for his [More]

Critics Consensus: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles offers a lingering, unvarnished, and ultimately mesmerizing look at one woman's existence.

Synopsis: Jeanne Dielman (Delphine Seyrig), the widowed mother of a teenage son, Sylvain (Jan Decorte), ekes out a drab, repetitive existence [More]

Critics Consensus: One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence.

Synopsis: From director George Lucas (Star Wars) and producer Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather), American Graffiti is a classic coming-of-age story [More]

Critics Consensus: An ice-cold noir that retains Robert Altman's idiosyncratic sensibilities, The Long Goodbye ranks among the smartest and most satisfying Marlowe mysteries.

Synopsis: Private detective Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is asked by his old buddy Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) for a ride to [More]

Critics Consensus: At once a touching, funny coming-of-age story and a compelling sports film, Breaking Away is a delightful treat.

Synopsis: Dave (Dennis Christopher) and his working-class friends Cyril (Daniel Stern), Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley) and Mike (Dennis Quaid) spend their [More]

Critics Consensus: A legendarily expansive and ambitious start to the sci-fi saga, George Lucas opened our eyes to the possibilities of blockbuster filmmaking and things have never been the same.

Synopsis: The Imperial Forces -- under orders from cruel Darth Vader (David Prowse) -- hold Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) hostage, in [More]

Critics Consensus: This tense, paranoid thriller presents Francis Ford Coppola at his finest -- and makes some remarkably advanced arguments about technology's role in society that still resonate today.

Synopsis: Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is hired by a mysterious client's brusque aide (Harrison Ford) to tail a young [More]

Critics Consensus: Carrie is a horrifying look at supernatural powers, high school cruelty, and teen angst -- and it brings us one of the most memorable and disturbing prom scenes in history.

Synopsis: In this chilling adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel, withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from [More]

Critics Consensus: A taut, solidly acted paean to the benefits of a free press and the dangers of unchecked power, made all the more effective by its origins in real-life events.

Synopsis: Two green reporters and rivals working for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), research [More]

Critics Consensus: Elaine May is a comedic dynamo both behind and in front of the camera in this viciously funny screwball farce, with able support provided by Walter Matthau.

Synopsis: A spoiled and self-absorbed man who has squandered his inheritance, Henry Graham (Walter Matthau) is desperate to find a way [More]

Critics Consensus: The blood pours freely in Argento's classic Suspiria, a giallo horror as grandiose and glossy as it is gory.

Synopsis: Suzy (Jessica Harper) travels to Germany to attend ballet school. When she arrives, late on a stormy night, no one [More]

Critics Consensus: Lean, taut and compellingly gritty, John Carpenter's loose update of Rio Bravo ranks as a cult action classic and one of the filmmaker's best.

Synopsis: When the LAPD kills several members of the South Central gang Street Thunder, the remaining members avenge themselves by way [More]

Critics Consensus: Donald Sutherland is coolly commanding and Jane Fonda a force of nature in Klute, a cuttingly intelligent thriller that generates its most agonizing tension from its stars' repartee.

Synopsis: This acclaimed thriller stars Jane Fonda as Bree Daniel, a New York City call girl who becomes enmeshed in an [More]

Critics Consensus: A modern classic, Alien blends science fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.

Synopsis: In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey [More]

Critics Consensus: Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher are worthy adversaries in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with Miloš Forman's more grounded and morally ambiguous approach to Ken Kesey's surrealistic novel yielding a film of outsized power.

Synopsis: When Randle Patrick McMurphy gets transferred for evaluation from a prison farm to a mental institution, he assumes it will [More]

Critics Consensus: Illuminated by magic hour glow and wistful performances, Days of Heaven is a visual masterpiece that finds eloquent poetry in its spare scenario.

Synopsis: A screen poem about life in America at the turn of the century. A story of love and murder told [More]

Critics Consensus: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill prove that charm, humor, and a few slick twists can add up to a great film.

Synopsis: Following the murder of a mutual friend, aspiring con man Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) teams up with old pro Henry [More]

Critics Consensus: Don't Look Now patiently builds suspense with haunting imagery and a chilling score -- causing viewers to feel Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie's grief deep within.

Synopsis: Still grieving over the accidental death of their daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) [More]

Critics Consensus: Employing gritty camerawork and evocative sound effects, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a powerful remake that expands upon themes and ideas only lightly explored in the original.

Synopsis: This remake of the classic horror film is set in San Francisco. Matthew Bennell assumes that when a friend complains [More]

Critics Consensus: This story of a down-on-his-luck boxer is thoroughly predictable, but Sylvester Stallone's script and stunning performance in the title role brush aside complaints.

Synopsis: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a small-time boxer from working-class Philadelphia, is arbitrarily chosen to take on the reigning world heavyweight [More]

Critics Consensus: One of Woody Allen's early classics, Manhattan combines modern, bittersweet humor and timeless romanticism with unerring grace.

Synopsis: Director Woody Allen's love letter to New York City stars Allen as frustrated television writer Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced malcontent [More]

Critics Consensus: Intelligently written and beautifully acted, Girlfriends captures the rhythms of female friendship -- and late '70s New York -- with a deftly assured hand.

Synopsis: A New York City photographer feels an overwhelming sense of loneliness when her roommate moves out. [More]

Critics Consensus: An engrossing, immediate depiction of early '70s New York, Serpico is elevated by Al Pacino's ferocious performance.

Synopsis: Frank Serpico is an idealistic New York City cop who refuses to take bribes, unlike the rest of the force. [More]

Critics Consensus: Visually mesmerizing, Picnic at Hanging Rock is moody, unsettling, and enigmatic -- a masterpiece of Australian cinema and a major early triumph for director Peter Weir.

Synopsis: In the early 1900s, Miranda (Anne Lambert) attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically [More]

Critics Consensus: A cult classic as gut-bustingly hilarious as it is blithely ridiculous, Monty Python and the Holy Grail has lost none of its exceedingly silly charm.

Synopsis: A comedic send-up of the grim circumstances of the Middle Ages as told through the story of King Arthur and [More]

Critics Consensus: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore finds Martin Scorsese wielding a somewhat gentler palette than usual, with generally absorbing results.

Synopsis: After her husband dies, Alice (Ellen Burstyn) and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where [More]

Critics Consensus: Mean Streets is a powerful tale of urban sin and guilt that marks Scorsese's arrival as an important cinematic voice and features electrifying performances from Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro.

Synopsis: A slice of street life in Little Italy among lower echelon Mafiosos, unbalanced punks, and petty criminals. A small-time hood [More]

Critics Consensus: Solaris is a haunting, meditative film that uses sci-fi to raise complex questions about humanity and existence.

Synopsis: A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor [More]

Critics Consensus: An uproariously funny confluence of top-shelf talent, The Heartbreak Kid finds bittersweet humor in attitudes toward love and marriage in early '70s America.

Synopsis: Soon after Lenny (Charles Grodin) marries Lila (Jeannie Berlin), the needy and unrefined side of her personality begins to emerge, [More]

Critics Consensus: One of the most compelling and entertaining zombie films ever, Dawn of the Dead perfectly blends pure horror and gore with social commentary on material society.

Synopsis: As hordes of zombies swarm over the U.S., the terrified populace tries everything in their power to escape the attack [More]

Critics Consensus: George C. Scott's sympathetic, unflinching portrayal of the titular general in this sprawling epic is as definitive as any performance in the history of American biopics.

Synopsis: Biography of controversial World War II hero General George S. Patton. The film covers his wartime activities and accomplishments, beginning [More]

Critics Consensus: Great performances and evocative musical numbers help Cabaret secure its status as a stylish, socially conscious classic.

Synopsis: In Berlin in 1931, American cabaret singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) meets British academic Brian Roberts (Michael York), who is [More]

Critics Consensus: Beautifully directed and utterly unique, Two-Lane Blacktop captures the spirit of its era as smoothly as it evokes the feeling of the open road.

Synopsis: In this cult favorite road film, a mechanic (Dennis Wilson) and a driver (James Taylor) live only to race and [More]

Critics Consensus: A voyage to hell where the journey is more satisfying than the destination, Francis Ford Coppola's haunting, hallucinatory Vietnam War epic is cinema at its most audacious and visionary.

Synopsis: In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate [More]

Critics Consensus: Close Encounters of the Third Kind is deeply humane sci-fi exploring male obsession, cosmic mysticism, and music.

Synopsis: Science fiction adventure about a group of people who attempt to contact alien intelligence. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) witnesses an [More]

Critics Consensus: This intelligent horror film is subtle in its thrills and chills, with an ending that is both shocking and truly memorable.

Synopsis: Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives on the small Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate the report of a missing child. [More]

Critics Consensus: Expertly balancing tones, Paper Moon is a deft blend of film nostalgia and finely tuned performances -- especially from Tatum O'Neal, who won an Oscar for her debut.

Synopsis: Real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal team up as slick con-artists Moses Pray and Addie Loggins in 1930s [More]

Critics Consensus: The talents of director John Landis and Saturday Night Live's irrepressible John Belushi conspired to create a rambunctious, subversive college comedy that continues to resonate.

Synopsis: When they arrive at college, socially inept freshmen Larry (Thomas Hulce) and Kent (Stephen Furst) attempt to pledge the snooty [More]

Critics Consensus: Recreating the essence of his iconic Man With No Name in a post-Civil War Western, director Clint Eastwood delivered the first of his great revisionist works of the genre.

Synopsis: Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood) watches helplessly as his wife and child are murdered, by Union men led by Capt. Terrill [More]

Critics Consensus: The divorce subject isn't as shocking, but the film is still a thoughtful, well-acted drama that resists the urge to take sides or give easy answers.

Synopsis: On the same day Manhattan advertising executive Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) lands the biggest account of his career, he learns [More]

Critics Consensus: Driven by populist fury and elevated by strong direction, powerful acting, and an intelligent script, Network's searing satire of ratings-driven news remains sadly relevant more than four decades later.

Synopsis: In this lauded satire, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) discovers that he's being put out to pasture, and [More]

Critics Consensus: Given primal verve by John Boorman's unflinching direction and Burt Reynolds' star-making performance, Deliverance is a terrifying adventure.

Synopsis: Four city-dwelling friends (Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox) decide to get away from their jobs, wives and [More]

Critics Consensus: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is strange yet comforting, full of narrative detours that don't always work but express the film's uniqueness.

Synopsis: The last of five coveted "golden tickets" falls into the hands of a sweet but very poor boy. He and [More]

Critics Consensus: A powerful, unflinching exploration of the Vietnam War, with first-person stories from both sides of the conflict, Hearts and Minds still hits the mark decades after its release.

Synopsis: Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. [More]

Critics Consensus: House is a gleefully demented collage of grand guginol guffaws and bizarre sequences.

Synopsis: In an effort to avoid spending time with her father and his creepy new lover, young Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) resolves [More]

Critics Consensus: Belladonna of Sadness has more than enough brilliant visual artistry to keep audiences enraptured even as the film's narrative reach slightly exceeds its grasp.

Synopsis: A peasant woman is banished from her village and makes a deal with the devil to gain magical powers. [More]

Critics Consensus: A must-see film for movie lovers, this Martin Scorsese masterpiece is as hard-hitting as it is compelling, with Robert De Niro at his best.

Synopsis: Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting [More]

Critics Consensus: Robert Altman captures the bravado and cynicism of the American dream in Nashville, a sprawling epic bursting with vivid performances and an unforgettable soundtrack.

Synopsis: In this acclaimed Robert Altman drama, the lives of numerous people in the Tennessee capital intersect in unpredictable ways. Delbert [More]

Critics Consensus: Daring, provocative, and laugh-out-loud funny, Blazing Saddles is a gleefully vulgar spoof of Westerns that marks a high point in Mel Brooks' storied career.

Synopsis: In this satirical take on Westerns, crafty railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first black sheriff of Rock Ridge, [More]

Critics Consensus: Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.

Synopsis: In a not-too-distant dystopian future, when man's most precious resource -- oil -- has been depleted and the world plunged [More]

Critics Consensus: An important touchstone of the New Hollywood era, Five Easy Pieces is a haunting portrait of alienation that features one of Jack Nicholson's greatest performances.

Synopsis: Rejecting his cultured upper-class background as a classical pianist, Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson) opts for a blue-collar existence, working in [More]

Critics Consensus: As tough and taciturn as its no-nonsense hero, Dirty Harry delivers a deceptively layered message without sacrificing an ounce of its solid action impact.

Synopsis: Cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) attempts to track down a psychopathic rooftop killer before a kidnapped girl dies. When he [More]

Critics Consensus: The Muppet Movie, the big-screen debut of Jim Henson's plush creations, is smart, lighthearted, and fun for all ages.

Synopsis: After Kermit the Frog decides to pursue a movie career, he starts his cross-country trip from Florida to California. Along [More]

Critics Consensus: Badass to the max, Enter the Dragon is the ultimate kung-fu movie and a fitting (if untimely) Bruce Lee swan song.

Synopsis: Bruce Lee plays a martial-arts expert determined to help capture the narcotics dealer whose gang was responsible for the death [More]

Critics Consensus: This post-Watergate thriller captures the paranoid tenor of the times, thanks to Syndey Pollack's taut direction and excellent performances from Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway.

Synopsis: On a seemingly ordinary day, Joe Turner (Robert Redford), a quiet CIA codebreaker, walks into his workplace and finds that [More]

Critics Consensus: F for Fake playfully poses intriguing questions while proving that even Orson Welles' minor works contain their share of masterful moments.

Synopsis: Orson Welles' final film documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later [More]

Critics Consensus: As violent as it is stylish, The Warriors is a thrilling piece of pulp filmmaking.

Synopsis: A turf battle between New York City street gangs that rages from Coney Island to the Bronx. The Warriors are [More]

Critics Consensus: Ribald, sweet, and sentimental, Amarcord is a larger-than-life journey through a seaside village and its colorful citizens.

Synopsis: In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they [More]

Critics Consensus: Director Bob Fosse and star Roy Scheider are at the top of their games in this dazzling, self-aware stage drama about a death-obsessed director-choreographer.

Synopsis: When he is not planning for his upcoming stage musical or working on his Hollywood film, choreographer/director Joe Gideon (Roy [More]

Critics Consensus: This is the man that would risk his neck for his brother, man. Can you dig it?

Synopsis: John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is the ultimate in suave black detectives. He first finds himself up against Bumpy (Moses Gunn), [More]

Critics Consensus: Barbra Streisand was never more likable than in this energetic, often hilarious screwball farce from director Peter Bogdanovich.

Synopsis: Two researchers have come to San Francisco to compete for a research grant in music. The man seems a bit [More]

Critics Consensus: Superman: The Movie deftly blends humor and gravitas, taking advantage of the perfectly cast Christopher Reeve to craft a loving, nostalgic tribute to an American pop culture icon.

Synopsis: Just before the destruction of the planet Krypton, scientist Jor-El (Marlon Brando) sends his infant son Kal-El on a spaceship [More]

Critics Consensus: David Lynch's surreal Eraserhead uses detailed visuals and a creepy score to create a bizarre and disturbing look into a man's fear of parenthood.

Synopsis: Henry (John Nance) resides alone in a bleak apartment surrounded by industrial gloom. When he discovers that an earlier fling [More]

Critics Consensus: Its plot may ape the countercultural road movies of its era, but Steven Spielberg's feature debut displays many of the crowd-pleasing elements he'd refine in subsequent films.

Synopsis: Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean (Goldie Hawn) and Clovis Poplin (William Atherton) lose their baby to the state of Texas and [More]

Critics Consensus: The Parallax View blends deft direction from Alan J. Pakula and a charismatic Warren Beatty performance to create a paranoid political thriller that stands with the genre's best.

Synopsis: After a presidential candidate is assassinated, political reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) begins to suspect that the mysterious Parallax Corporation [More]

Critics Consensus: Its greatness is blunted by its length and one-sided point of view, but the film's weaknesses are overpowered by Michael Cimino's sympathetic direction and a series of heartbreaking performances from Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken.

Synopsis: In 1968, Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage), lifelong friends from a working-class Pennsylvania steel [More]

Critics Consensus: Disturbing and thought-provoking, A Clockwork Orange is a cold, dystopian nightmare with a very dark sense of humor.

Synopsis: In an England of the future, Alex and his "Droogs" spend their nights getting high at the Korova Milkbar before [More]

Critics Consensus: Bold, timely, subversive, and above all funny, M*A*S*H remains a high point in Robert Altman's distinguished filmography.

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Richard Hooker, M*A*S*H follows a group of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital officers at they perform [More]

Critics Consensus: Hal Ashby's comedy is too dark and twisted for some, and occasionally oversteps its bounds, but there's no denying the film's warm humor and big heart.

Synopsis: Cult classic pairs Cort as a dead-pan disillusioned 20-year-old obsessed with suicide and a lovable Gordon as a fun-loving 80-year-old [More]

Critics Consensus: With its harrowingly beautiful depiction of the Australian Outback and spare narrative of culture clash, Walkabout is a peculiar survival epic.

Synopsis: Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist (John Meillon) takes his teenage daughter (Jenny Agutter) and 6-year-old son [More]

Critics Consensus: McCabe & Mrs. Miller offers revisionist Western fans a landmark early addition to the genre while marking an early apogee for director Robert Altman.

Synopsis: Charismatic gambler John McCabe (Warren Beatty) arrives in a mining community and decides to open a brothel. The local residents [More]

Critics Consensus: Thanks to a smart script and documentary-style camerawork, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre achieves start-to-finish suspense, making it a classic in low-budget exploitation cinema.

Synopsis: Young adults encounter a house full of demented butchers who chase them with chain saws and other deadly tools. [More]

Critics Consensus: Sorcerer, which obstinately motors along on its unpredictable speed, features ambitious sequences of insane white-knuckle tension.

Synopsis: In the small South American town of Porvenir, four men on the run from the law are offered $10,000 and [More]

Critics Consensus: Uproarious and appalling, Pink Flamingos is transgressive camp that proves as entertaining as it does shocking.

Synopsis: A bizarre fat woman (Divine) and her misfit family compete with a Baltimore couple (David Lochary, Mink Stole) to be [More]

Critics Consensus: Boasting a smart, poignant story, a classic soundtrack, and a starmaking performance from John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever ranks among the finest dramas of the 1970s.

Synopsis: Tony Manero doesn't have much going for him during the weekdays. He still lives at home and works as a [More]

Critics Consensus: Marathon Man runs the gamut from patient mystery to pulse-pounding thriller, aided by Laurence Oliver's coldly terrifying performance and a brainy script by William Goldman.

Synopsis: Thomas "Babe" Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is a Columbia graduate student and long-distance runner who is oblivious to the fact that [More]

Critics Consensus: Crude, crass, and oh so quotable, The Jerk is nothing short of an all-out comedic showcase for Steve Martin.

Synopsis: Navin (Steve Martin) believes he was born a poor black child in Mississippi. He is, however, actually white. Upon figuring [More]

Critics Consensus: A violent, provocative meditation on manhood, Straw Dogs is viscerally impactful -- and decidedly not for the squeamish.

Synopsis: David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy (Susan George), an Englishwoman. In order to [More]

Critics Consensus: Rocky Horror Picture Show brings its quirky characters in tight, but it's the narrative thrust that really drives audiences insane and keeps 'em doing the time warp again.

Synopsis: In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), stuck with a flat tire during a storm, [More]

Critics Consensus: Naturalistic but evocative, Last Tango in Paris is a vivid exploration of pain, love, and sex featuring a typically towering Marlon Brando performance.

Synopsis: Distraught following his wife's suicide, American hotelier Paul (Marlon Brando) becomes transfixed by the beautiful younger Frenchwoman Jeanne (Maria Schneider) [More]

Critics Consensus: If its flights of fancy can grow wearisome over its lengthy runtime, Céline and Julie Go Boating often justifies its indulgence with wildly imaginative charm.

Synopsis: When Celine (Juliet Berto) goes traipsing across a Parisian park, unwittingly dropping first a scarf, then other objects, Julie (Dominique [More]

Critics Consensus: Filled with stunning imagery, The Man Who Fell to Earth is a calm, meditative film that profoundly explores our culture's values and desires.

Synopsis: Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie) is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his [More]

Critics Consensus: The Exorcist rides its supernatural theme to magical effect, with remarkable special effects and an eerie atmosphere, resulting in one of the scariest films of all time.

Synopsis: One of the most profitable horror movies ever made, this tale of an exorcism is based loosely on actual events. [More]

Critics Consensus: Visually astonishing and placid as a pond in the English countryside, Stanley Kubrick's maddening and masterful Barry Lyndon renders a hollow life with painterly poise.

Synopsis: How does an Irish lad without prospects become part of 18th-century English nobility? For Barry Lyndon (Ryan O'Neal) the answer [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Using a nonlinear structure interlaced with dreams and flashbacks, director Andrei Tarkovsky creates a stream-of-consciousness meditation on war, memory and [More]

Critics Consensus: Woody Allen plunks his neurotic persona into a Tolstoy pastiche and yields one of his funniest films, brimming with slapstick ingenuity and a literary inquiry into subjects as momentous as Love and Death.

Synopsis: In Woody Allen's comic take on 19th-century Russian philosophical novels and the Soviet-era epic films made from them, Boris (Woody [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In this documentary about labor tension in the coal-mining industry, director Barbara Kopple films a strike in rural Kentucky. After [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A highly regarded Italian police inspector (Gian Maria Volonte) murders his mistress, only to become part of the homicide investigation [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A girl is born, raised and trained to be an instrument of revenge. [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Sweeping scenes of New York City contrasted to the letters from the director's mother in Brussels. [More]

Critics Consensus: A brilliantly directed feast for the eyes with an epic story to match, A Touch of Zen marks a groundbreaking achievement in the wuxia genre.

Synopsis: Ku Shen Chai (Chun Shih), an unmotivated artist in his early 30s, still lives with his mother, but he is [More]

Critics Consensus: The Bad News Bears is rude, profane, and cynical, but shot through with honest, unforced humor, and held together by a deft, understated performance from Walter Matthau.

Synopsis: Hard-drinking, ex-minor-league hopeful Morris Buttermaker grumpily agrees to coach a Little League team at the behest of lawyer-councilman Bob Whitewood, [More]

Critics Consensus: Told through precise body language and sunny wit, Claire's Knee makes an unusual love story feel universal.

Synopsis: Jerome (Jean-Claude Brialy) decides to prepare for a lifetime of matrimony by enjoying one last vacation by himself. Upon arriving [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In this animated feature, Arsene Lupin III, the world's most daring thief, pulls off a heist at a Monte Carlo [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: On a northern Italian farm in the late 19th century, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In the village of Ramgarh, retired police chief Thakur Baldev Singh plots to bring down the notorious bandit Gabbar Singh [More]

Critics Consensus: Edith and Edie Beale are eccentric subjects who offer a generous amount of themselves in Grey Gardens, an inquisitive and nonjudgmental exploration of the isolated socialites' lifestyle.

Synopsis: This film explores the daily lives of two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Edie Bouvier Beale and her [More]

Critics Consensus: The Mother and the Whore (La Maman et la putain) finds writer-director Jean Eustache working at peak form to deliver a gripping statement on late 1960s French society.

Synopsis: In this sexually frank French drama, the aimless young Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Léaud) juggles his relationships with his girlfriend, Marie (Bernadette [More]

Critics Consensus: The kinetic camerawork and brutal over-the-top gore that made Dario Argento famous is on full display, but the addition of a compelling, complex story makes Deep Red a masterpiece.

Synopsis: A psychic medium (Macha Méril) is brutally murdered, and musician Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) feels a need to solve the [More]

Critics Consensus: El Espíritu de la Colmena uses a classic horror story's legacy as the thread for a singularly absorbing childhood fable woven with uncommon grace.

Synopsis: In an allegory of life after Gen. Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War, life in a remote village in [More]

Critics Consensus: Hanna Schygulla is a knockout in The Marriage of Maria Braun, an intimate epic that reaffirms Rainer Werner Fassbinder's mastery of examining multifaceted people and a complicated nation.

Synopsis: Near the end of World War II, Maria (Hanna Schygulla) marries Hermann (Klaus Lowitsch), who is immediately sent off to [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Wanda (Barbara Loden) is a wanderer in a dreary Rust Belt town, drifting from bars to motels, jobs to jobs [More]

Critics Consensus: Visually stunning and achingly performed, Ingmar Bergman's chamber piece is a visceral rumination on death and sisterhood.

Synopsis: As Agnes (Harriet Andersson) slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so deeply immersed in their own psychic pains that [More]

Critics Consensus: Grin Without a Cat is a 4-hour mash-up doc on civil disobedience and revolution that collides together with the same power of its recorded subjects.

Synopsis: From the young anti-war protesters in America to the death of Che Guevara and the rise of leaders like Fidel [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The rarely screened Four Nights of a Dreamer is Robert Bresson's great forgotten masterpiece, a stark yet haunting ode to [More]

Critics Consensus: Jeremiah Johnson's deliberate pace demands an investment from the viewer, but it's rewarded with a thoughtful drama anchored by a starring performance from Robert Redford.

Synopsis: A Mexican-American War veteran, Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford), heads to the mountains to live in isolation. Woefully unequipped for the [More]

Critics Consensus: Fantastic Planet is an animated epic that is by turns surreal and lovely, fantastic and graceful.

Synopsis: This animated tale follows the relationship between the small human-like Oms and their much larger blue-skinned oppressors, the Draags, who [More]

Critics Consensus: Spearheaded by a galvanizing Sally Field, Norma Rae is a heartening and politically powerful drama about an ordinary woman taking an extraordinary stand.

Synopsis: Like a lot of her family before her, Norma Rae (Sally Field) works at the local textile mill, where the [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Mike (John Moulder-Brown), a 15-year-old bathhouse worker, develops a crush on his older, attractive co-worker, Susan (Jane Asher). At first [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: This classic documentary by Errol Morris showcases workers in the animal burial industry while dealing with heavier existential questions regarding [More]

Critics Consensus: Jill Clayburgh is wondrous as a woman who loses her marriage -- only to find herself -- in this acutely observed and lived-in portrait of New York City life.

Synopsis: An attractive and well-to-do New Yorker, Erica Benton (Jill Clayburgh), finds her comfortable existence upended when her husband, Martin (Michael [More]

Critics Consensus: Fueled by inspired casting, The In-Laws is an odd couple comedy whose clever premise is ably supported by a very funny script.

Synopsis: Mild-mannered dentist Sheldon Kornpett is uncomfortable with his daughter's marriage after meeting her future father-in-law, Vincent Ricardo. Over dinner, Vince [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: One petty hoodlum's (Peter Falk) lifelong friendship with another (John Cassavetes) allows one to lead a hit man to the [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Johan (Erland Josephson) and Marianne (Liv Ullmann) are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Tired of poverty, a Senegalese cowherd and a university student steal money and clothing, then book passage to France to [More]

Critics Consensus: Very profane, very funny, very '70s: Director Hal Ashby lets Jack Nicholson and the cast run loose, creating a unique dramedy that's far out to sea.

Synopsis: When sailor Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) is sentenced to eight years in a New Hampshire prison, Navy lifers Billy Buddusky [More]

Critics Consensus: Raunchy, violent, and very funny, Slap Shot is ultimately set apart by a wonderful comic performance by Paul Newman.

Synopsis: In the small New England town of Charlestown, the local mill is about to lay off 10,000 workers. The town's [More]

Critics Consensus: Electrified by searing performances from Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, A Woman Under the Influence finds pioneering independent filmmaker John Cassavetes working at his artistic peak.

Synopsis: Mabel Longhetti (Gena Rowlands), desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick (Peter Falk). Increasingly [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Following the murder of Countess Federica Donati (Isa Miranda), an heiress possessing a beautiful piece of beachfront property, members of [More]

Critics Consensus: A rough-edged thriller that lacks the precision of Polanski's best work, but makes up for it with its skillful mounting of paranoia, dread, and dark themes.

Synopsis: In Paris, isolated Eastern European émigré Trelkovsky rents an apartment in a spooky old building whose inhabitants regard him with [More]

Critics Consensus: Pam Grier brings spunk and vinegar to Coffy, supported by director Jack Hill's combustible mixture of authentic grit and salacious thrills.

Synopsis: As a nurse, Coffy (Pam Grier) has seen the ill effects of drugs up close, but it isn't until her [More]

Critics Consensus: Sexual taboos are broken and boundaries crossed In the Realm of the Senses, a fearlessly provocative psychosexual tale.

Synopsis: A former prostitute (Eiko Matsuda), now working as a servant, begins a torrid affair with her married employer (Tatsuya Fuji). [More]

Critics Consensus: The Getaway sees Sam Peckinpah and Steve McQueen, the kings of violence and cool, working at full throttle.

Synopsis: When convict Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is refused parole, he enlists his wife, Carol (Ali MacGraw), to strike a deal [More]

Critics Consensus: A visual treat rich in symbolism, The Holy Mountain adds another defiantly idiosyncratic chapter to Jodorowsky's thoroughly unique filmography.

Synopsis: A Mexican master (Alexandro Jodorowsky) leads a Christ figure (Horacio Salinas) and other disciples to a mountain of immortal wise [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A tenacious young British man, Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) is determined to be successful. Starting off as a coffee salesman, [More]

Critics Consensus: Aimed at adults perhaps more than children, this is a respectful, beautifully animated adaptation of Richard Adams' beloved book.

Synopsis: When a young rabbit named Fiver (Richard Briers) has a prophetic vision that the end of his warren is near, [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), a Czechoslovakian teenager living with her grandmother, is blossoming into womanhood, but that transformation proves secondary to [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Unable to see eye to eye with his father, completely broke and with nowhere else to turn, young Wong Fei-Hung [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: One man makes a non-conformist stand against the persecution put on him by the proponents of Christianity and Islam. [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Sweet Sweetback (Melvin Van Peebles) is a black orphan who, having grown up in a brothel, now works there as [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Former Broadway hoofer Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason) and her young daughter, Lucy (Quinn Cummings), are outraged to find that Paula's [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: "Dersu Uzala" is epic in form yet intimate in scope. Set in the forests of Eastern Siberia at the turn [More]

Critics Consensus: Not much in the head but plenty beneath the hood, Smokey and the Bandit is infectious fun with plenty of car wrecks to keep your eyes glued.

Synopsis: Big Enos (Pat McCormick) wants to drink Coors at a truck show, but in 1977 it was illegal to sell [More]

Critics Consensus: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom will strike some viewers as irredeemably depraved, but its unflinching view of human cruelty makes it impossible to ignore.

Synopsis: Four fascists kidnap young men and women and subject them to torture and perversion. [More]

Critics Consensus: Grimly stylish, Ken Russell's baroque opus is both provocative and persuasive in its contention that the greatest blasphemy is the leveraging of faith for power.

Synopsis: In 17th-century France, Father Grandier (Oliver Reed) is a priest whose unorthodox views on sex and religion influence a passionate [More]

Critics Consensus: While admittedly melodramatic and uneven in spots, Soylent Green ultimately succeeds with its dark, plausible vision of a dystopian future.

Synopsis: In a densely overpopulated, starving New York City of the future, NYPD detective Robert Thorn investigates the murder of an [More]

Critics Consensus: Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice is one of his emptier meditations on beauty, but fans of the director will find his knack for sumptuous visuals remains intact.

Synopsis: Composer Gustave Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde) travels to a Venice resort to escape personal and artistic stress. However, peace eludes him [More]

Critics Consensus: Although it is not consistently engaging enough to fully justify its towering runtime, The Towering Inferno is a blustery spectacle that executes its disaster premise with flair.

Synopsis: Classic 1970s disaster movie about a fire that breaks out in a state-of-the-art San Francisco high-rise building during the opening [More]

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In 1930s Italy, Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), a low-level Sicilian thug, kills a man who disgraced his sister. Pasqualino pleads insanity [More]

Critics Consensus: Word is, Grease stars an electrifying John Travolta while serving up some '50s kitsch in a frenetic adaptation that isn't always the one that we want.

Synopsis: Experience the friendships, romances and adventures of a group of high school kids in the 1950s. Welcome to the singing [More]

Critics Consensus: Vanishing Point hurtles forward as a hypnotic chase film whose existential script, striking visuals, and raw velocity keep it gripping even as its indulgences and narrative gaps veer it toward the uneven.

Synopsis: Vietnam War hero Kowalski (Barry Newman) has become a pill-addicted driver for hire. Transporting a car from Colorado to California, [More]

Critics Consensus: Spanning over a decade, One Sings, The Other Doesn't is a thoughtfully radical tale of two friends that captures female solidarity with an honest beat set to the fight for women's rights.

Synopsis: Two Frenchwomen (Valérie Mairesse, Thérèse Liotard) have a close friendship through years of personal growth and social change. [More]

Critics Consensus: Its visceral brutality is more repulsive than engrossing, but The Last House on the Left nevertheless introduces director Wes Craven as a distinctive voice in horror.

Synopsis: Teenagers Mari and Phyllis head to the city for a concert, then afterward go looking for drugs. Instead, they find [More]