20 Greatest Movies of Each Year 1970s

Criteria: The movies are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.

20 Greatest Movies of 1979

  #. Movie Title - (Directors Name)

  1. Apocalypse Now - (Francis Ford Coppola)
  2. Alien - (Ridley Scott)
  3. Stalker - (Andrei Tarkovsky)
  4. Manhattan - (Woody Allen)
  5. Monty Python's Life of Brian - (Terry Jones)
  6. Kramer vs. Kramer - (Robert Benton)
  7. Mad Max - (George Miller)
  8. Being There - (Hal Ashby)
  9. All That Jazz - (Bob Fosse)
10. The Tin Drum - (Volker Schlöndorff)
11. Breaking Away - (Peter Yates)
12. Nosferatu the Vampyre - (Werner Herzog)
13. The Warriors - (Walter Hill)
14. Tale of Tales - (Yuriy Norshteyn)
15. The Jerk - (Carl Reiner)
16. The Muppet Movie - (James Frawley)
17. Lupin lll: The Castle of Cagliostro - (Hayao Miyazaki)
18. Hair - (Miloš Forman)
19. Escape from Alcatraz - (Don Siegel)
20. The China Syndrome - (James Bridges)

20 Greatest Movies of 1978

  1. The Deer Hunter - (Michael Cimino)
  2. Halloween - (John Carpenter)
  3. Superman - (Richard Donner)
  4. Dawn of the Dead - (George A. Romero)
  5. Days of Heaven - (Terrence Malick)
  6. National Lampoon's Animal House - (John Landis)
  7. Grease - (Randal Kleiser)
  8. Killer of Sheep - (Charles Burnett)
  9. Midnight Express - (Alan Parker)
10. Drunken Master - (Yuen Woo-ping)
11. The Marriage of Maria Braun - (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
12. The Last Waltz - (Martin Scorsese)
13. The Tree of Wooden Clogs - (Ermanno Olmi)
14. Autumn Sonata - (Ingmar Bergman)
15. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - (Philip Kaufman)
16. Coming Home - (Hal Ashby)
17. Heaven Can Wait - (Warren Beatty and Buck Henry)
18. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - (Liu Chia-liang)
19. La Cage aux Folles - (Édouard Molinaro)
20. Up in Smoke - (Lou Adler)

20 Greatest Movies of 1977

  1. Star Wars - (George Lucas)
  2. Annie Hall - (Woody Allen)
  3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - (Steven Spielberg)
  4. Saturday Night Fever - (John Badham)
  5. Eraserhead - (David Lynch)
  6. Suspiria - (Dario Argento)
  7. That Obscure Object of Desire - (Luis Buñuel)
  8. 3 Women - (Robert Altman)
  9. The American Friend - (Wim Wenders)
10. The Ascent - (Larisa Shepitko)
11. The Goodbye Girl - (Herbert Ross)
12. Opening Night - (John Cassavetes)
13. Stroszek - (Werner Herzog)
14. A Special Day - (Ettore Scola)
15. Man of Marble - (Andrzej Wajda)
16. Providence - (Alain Resnais)
17. The Spy Who Loved Me - (Lewis Gilbert)
18. New York, New York - (Martin Scorsese)
19. Pumping Iron - (George Butler and Robert Fiore)
20. A Bridge Too Far - (Richard Attenborough)

20 Greatest Movies of 1976

  1. Taxi Driver - (Martin Scorsese)
  2. Rocky - (John G. Avildsen)
  3. Network - (Sidney Lumet)
  4. Carrie - (Brian De Palma)
  5. All the President's Men - (Alan J. Pakula)
  6. The Outlaw Josey Wales - (Clint Eastwood)
  7. In the Realm of the Senses - (Nagisa Ôshima)
  8. Assault on Precinct 13 - (John Carpenter)
  9. 1900 - (Bernardo Bertolucci)
10. The Omen - (Richard Donner)
11. Cría Cuervos - (Carlos Saura)
12. The Tenant - (Roman Polanski)
13. Kings of the Road - (Wim Wenders)
14. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie - (John Cassavetes)
15. Marathon Man - (John Schlesinger)
16. Harlan County, U.S.A. - (Barbara Kopple)
17. The Shootist - (Don Siegel)
18. The Man Who Fell to Earth - (Nicolas Roeg)
19. The Bad News Bears - (Michael Ritchie)
20. Bound for Glory - (Hal Ashby)

20 Greatest Movies of 1975

  1. Jaws - (Steven Spielberg)
  2. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest - (Milos Forman)
  3. Barry Lyndon - (Stanley Kubrick)
  4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones)
  5. Nashville - (Robert Altman)
  6. Dog Day Afternoon - (Sidney Lumet)
  7. The Rocky Horror Picture Show - (Jim Sharman)
  8. The Mirror - (Andrei Tarkovsky)
  9. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles - (Chantal Akerman)
10. Picnic at Hanging Rock - (Peter Weir)
12. Salò or 120 Days of Sodom - (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
13. Sholay - (Ramesh Sippy)
13. Dersu Uzala - (Akira Kurosawa)
14. The Man Who Would be King - (John Huston)
15. The Passenger - (Michelangelo Antonioni)
16. Deep Red - (Dario Argento)
17. The Travelling Players - (Theodoros Angelopoulos)
18. Love and Death - (Woody Allen)
19. Deewaar - (Yash Chopra)
20. Grey Gardens - (Albert & David Maysles, Ellen Hovde & Muffie Meyer)

20 Greatest Movies of 1974

  1. The Godfather Part II - (Francis Ford Coppola)
  2. Chinatown - (Roman Polanski)
  3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - (Tobe Hooper)
  4. A Woman Under the Influence - (John Cassavetes)
  5. Young Frankenstein - (Mel Brooks)
  6. The Conversation - (Francis Ford Coppola)
  7. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
  8. Blazing Saddles - (Mel Brooks)
  9. Scenes from a Marriage - (Ingmar Bergman)
10. Celine and Julie Go Boating - (Jacques Rivette)
11. Black Christmas - (Bob Clark)
12. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - (Werner Herzog)
13. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - (Joseph Sargent)
14. The Phantom of Liberty - (Luis Buñuel)
15. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - (Sam Peckinpah)
16. Alice in the Cities - (Wim Wenders)
17. We All Loved Each Other So Much - (Ettore Scola)
18. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - (Martin Scorsese)
19. Lenny - (Bob Fosse)
20. The Towering Inferno - (John Guillermin)

20 Greatest Movies of 1973

  1. The Exorcist - (William Friedkin)
  2. Enter the Dragon - (Robert Clouse)
  3. American Graffiti - (George Lucas)
  4. Mean Streets - (Martin Scorsese)
  5. The Sting - (George Roy Hill)
  6. Badlands - (Terrence Malick)
  7. Amarcord - (Federico Fellini)
  8. Don't Look Now - (Nicolas Roeg)
  9. The Spirit of the Beehive - (Víctor Erice)
10. The Mother and the Whore - (Jean Eustache)
11. Day for Night - (François Truffaut)
12. Paper Moon - (Peter Bogdanovich)
13. Serpico - (Sidney Lumet)
14. The Long Goodbye - (Robert Altman)
15. The Wicker Man - (Robin Hardy)
16. The Holy Mountain - (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
17. The Day of the Jackal - (Fred Zinnemann)
18. Papillon - (Franklin J. Schaffner)
19. The Last Detail - (Hal Ashby)
20. Fantastic Planet - (René Laloux)

20 Greatest Movies of 1972

  1. The Godfather - (Francis Ford Coppola)
  2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God - (Werner Herzog)
  3. Cabaret - (Bob Fosse)
  4. Last Tango in Paris - (Bernardo Bertolucci)
  5. Solaris - (Andrei Tarkovsky)
  6. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - (Luis Buñuel)
  7. Cries and Whispers - (Ingmar Bergman)
  8. Deliverance - (John Boorman)
  9. Fist of Fury - (Lo Wei)
10. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant - (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
11. What's Up, Doc? - (Peter Bogdanovich)
12. Pink Flamingos - (John Waters)
13. The Way of the Dragon - (Bruce Lee)
14. The Poseidon Adventure - (Ronald Neame)
15. Sleuth - (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
16. Frenzy - (Alfred Hitchcock)
17. Deep Throat - (Gerard Damiano)
18. Fritz the Cat - (Ralph Bakshi)
19. The Getaway - (Sam Peckinpah)
12. Fat City - (John Huston)

20 Greatest Movies of 1971

  1. A Clockwork Orange - (Stanley Kubrick)
  2. The French Connection - (William Friedkin)
  3. Dirty Harry - (Don Siegel)
  4. The Last Picture Show - (Peter Bogdanovich)
  5. McCabe & Mrs. Miller - (Robert Altman)
  6. Harold and Maude - (Hal Ashby)
  7. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - (Mel Stuart)
  8. Shaft - (Gordon Parks)
  9. Death in Venice - (Luchino Visconti)
10. Walkabout - (Nicolas Roeg)
11. Duel - (Steven Spielberg)
12. Straw Dogs - (Sam Peckinpah)
13. Fiddler on the Roof - (Norman Jewison)
14. The Devils - (Ken Russell)
15. Get Carter - (Mike Hodges)
16. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song - (Melvin Van Peebles)
17. A Touch of Zen - (King Hu)
18. Klute - (Alan J. Pakula)
19. Two-Lane Blacktop - (Monte Hellman)
20. The Big Boss - (Lo Wei)

20 Greatest Movies of 1970

  1. M*A*S*H - (Robert Altman)
  2. The Conformist - (Bernardo Bertolucci)
  3. Patton - (Franklin J. Schaffner)
  4. Five Easy Pieces - (Bob Rafelson)
  5. Le cercle rouge - (Jean-Pierre Melville)
  6. Tristana - (Luis Buñuel)
  7. Little Big Man - (Arthur Penn)
  8. El Topo - (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
  9. Woodstock - (Michael Wadleigh)
10. Airport - (George Seaton)
11. Performance - (Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg)
12. Claire's Knee - (Éric Rohmer)
13. Gimme Shelter - (Albert & David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin)
14. Le boucher - (Claude Chabrol)
15. Love Story - (Arthur Hiller)
16. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage - (Dario Argento)
17. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion - (Elio Petri)
18. Husbands - (John Cassavetes)
19. Deep End - (Jerzy Skolimowski)
20. The Boys in the Band - (William Friedkin)

Last Updated: 2021-11-02