Criteria: These Greatest Movies of the 1970s are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.
Edited By: Tim, pauldrach, Bruno, Luuk
- The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
- Star Wars - George Lucas (1977)
- Jaws - Steven Spielberg (1975)
- Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
- The Godfather Part II - Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
- Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese (1976)
- The Exorcist - William Friedkin (1973)
- Alien - Ridley Scott (1979)
- A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick (1971)
- One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest - Miloš Forman (1975)
- Chinatown - Roman Polański (1974)
- The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino (1978)
- Rocky - John G. Avildsen (1976)
- Halloween - John Carpenter (1978)
- Annie Hall - Woody Allen (1977)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Steven Spielberg (1977)
- Superman - Richard Donner (1978)
- The French Connection - William Friedkin (1971)
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Tobe Hooper (1974)
- Enter the Dragon - Robert Clouse (1973)
- Dawn of the Dead - George A. Romero (1978)
- Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky (1979)
- Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick (1975)
- Aguirre: The Wrath of God - Werner Herzog (1972)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones (1975)
- M*A*S*H - Robert Altman (1970)
- American Graffiti - George Lucas (1973)
- Dirty Harry - Don Siegel (1971)
- Network - Sidney Lumet (1976)
- Cabaret - Bob Fosse (1972)
- Manhattan - Woody Allen (1979)
- Mean Streets - Martin Scorsese (1973)
- Carrie - Brian De Palma (1976)
- Nashville - Robert Altman (1975)
- A Woman Under the Influence - John Cassavetes (1974)
- Dog Day Afternoon - Sidney Lumet (1975)
- Days of Heaven - Terrence Malick (1978)
- All the President's Men - Alan J. Pakula (1976)
- The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci (1970)
- The Last Picture Show - Peter Bogdanovich (1971)
- The Sting - George Roy Hill (1973)
- Young Frankenstein - Mel Brooks (1974)
- The Conversation - Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
- Patton - Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
- Last Tango in Paris - Bernardo Bertolucci (1972)
- Monty Python's Life of Brian - Terry Jones (1979)
- Solaris - Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
- Badlands - Terrence Malick (1973)
- Kramer vs. Kramer - Robert Benton (1979)
- National Lampoon's Animal House - John Landis (1978)
- Saturday Night Fever - John Badham (1977)
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Jim Sharman (1975)
- The Mirror - Andrei Tarkovsky (1975)
- Amarcord - Federico Fellini (1973)
- Don't Look Now - Nicolas Roeg (1973)
- Grease - Randal Kleiser (1978)
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller - Robert Altman (1971)
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - Luis Buñuel (1972)
- Cries and Whispers - Ingmar Bergman (1972)
- Mad Max - George Miller (1979)
- Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles - Chantal Akerman (1975)
- Eraserhead - David Lynch (1977)
- Suspiria - Dario Argento (1977)
- Harold and Maude - Hal Ashby (1971)
- Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1974)
- Blazing Saddles - Mel Brooks (1974)
- Killer of Sheep - Charles Burnett (1978)
- The Spirit of the Beehive - Víctor Erice (1973)
- Being There - Hal Ashby (1979)
- Picnic at Hanging Rock - Peter Weir (1975)
- Five Easy Pieces - Bob Rafelson (1970)
- Deliverance - John Boorman (1972)
- The Outlaw Josey Wales - Clint Eastwood (1976)
- Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom - Pier Paolo Pasolini (1975)
- Sholay - Ramesh Sippy (1975)
- The Mother and the Whore - Jean Eustache (1973)
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - Mel Stuart (1971)
- Shaft - Gordon Parks (1971)
- Day for Night - François Truffaut (1973)
- Scenes from a Marriage - Ingmar Bergman (1974)
- Death in Venice - Luchino Visconti (1971)
- All That Jazz - Bob Fosse (1979)
- Midnight Express - Alan Parker (1978)
- Drunken Master - Yuen Woo-Ping (1978)
- In the Realm of the Senses - Nagisa Ōshima (1976)
- The Marriage of Maria Braun - Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1978)
- Fist of Fury - Lo Wei (1972)
- That Obscure Object of Desire - Luis Buñuel (1977)
- Assault on Precinct 13 - John Carpenter (1976)
- Céline and Julie Go Boating - Jacques Rivette (1974)
- Le cercle rouge - Jean-Pierre Melville (1970)
- Walkabout - Nicolas Roeg (1971)
- The Last Waltz - Martin Scorsese (1978)
- The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant - Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1972)
- 1900 - Bernardo Bertolucci (1976)
- The Omen - Richard Donner (1976)
- Paper Moon - Peter Bogdanovich (1973)
- Serpico - Sidney Lumet (1973)
- Black Christmas - Bob Clark (1974)
- Tristana - Luis Buñuel (1970)
- Duel - Steven Spielberg (1971)
- Little Big Man - Arthur Penn (1970)
- El Topo - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1970)
- Straw Dogs - Sam Peckinpah (1971)
- Woodstock - Michael Wadleigh (1970)
- Dersu Uzala - Akira Kurosawa (1975)
- The Man Who Would Be King - John Huston (1975)
- Fiddler on the Roof - Norman Jewison (1971)
- Airport - George Seaton (1970)
- The Passenger - Michelangelo Antonioni (1975)
- Deep Red - Dario Argento (1975)
- The Long Goodbye - Robert Altman (1973)
- The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy (1973)
- The Devils - Ken Russell (1971)
- Performance - Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg (1970)
- The Travelling Players - Theodoros Angelopoulos (1975)
- The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - Werner Herzog (1974)
- The Holy Mountain - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1973)
- What's Up, Doc? - Peter Bogdanovich (1972)
- Pink Flamingos - John Waters (1972)
- Get Carter - Mike Hodges (1971)
- Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song - Melvin Van Peebles (1971)
- The Day of the Jackal - Fred Zinnemann (1973)
- Papillon - Franklin J. Schaffner (1973)
- A Touch of Zen - King Hu (1971)
- The Tin Drum - Volker Schlöndorff (1979)
- The Tree of Wooden Clogs - Ermanno Olmi (1978)
- Autumn Sonata - Ingmar Bergman (1978)
- 3 Women - Robert Altman (1977)
- Breaking Away - Peter Yates (1979)
- Nosferatu the Vampyre - Werner Herzog (1979)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Philip Kaufman (1978)
- The Warriors - Walter Hill (1979)
- The American Friend - Wim Wenders (1977)
- The Ascent - Larisa Shepitko (1977)
- Tale of Tales - Yuri Norstein (1979)
- The Jerk - Carl Reiner (1979)
- The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - Joseph Sargent (1974)
- Claire's Knee - Éric Rohmer (1970)
- Gimme Shelter - Albert & David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin (1970)
- Cría cuervos - Carlos Saura (1976)
- The Tenant - Roman Polański (1976)
- The Way of the Dragon - Bruce Lee (1972)
- The Poseidon Adventure - Ronald Neame (1972)
- The Phantom of Liberty - Luis Buñuel (1974)
- Le boucher - Claude Chabrol (1970)
- Sleuth - Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1972)
- Frenzy - Alfred Hitchcock (1972)
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García - Sam Peckinpah (1974)
- Deep Throat - Gerard Damiano (1972)
- Fritz the Cat - Ralph Bakshi (1972)
- Alice in the Cities - Wim Wenders (1974)
- The Last Detail - Hal Ashby (1973)
- Love and Death - Woody Allen (1975)
- Kings of the Road - Wim Wenders (1976)
- The Killing of a Chinese Bookie - John Cassavetes (1976)
- Deewaar - Yash Chopra (1975)
- Marathon Man - John Schlesinger (1976)
- Coming Home - Hal Ashby (1978)
- The Muppet Movie - James Frawley (1979)
- The Castle of Cagliostro - Hayao Miyazaki (1979)
- Love Story - Arthur Hiller (1970)
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage - Dario Argento (1970)
- Heaven Can Wait - Warren Beatty & Buck Henry (1978)
- The Goodbye Girl - Herbert Ross (1977)
- Grey Gardens - Albert & David Maysles, Ellen Hovde & Muffie Meyer (1975)
- Klute - Alan J. Pakula (1971)
- Two-Lane Blacktop - Monte Hellman (1971)
- Opening Night - John Cassavetes (1977)
- Harlan County, USA - Barbara Kopple (1976)
- The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - Liu Chia-Liang (1978)
- We All Loved Each Other So Much - Ettore Scola (1974)
- Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion - Elio Petri (1970)
- The Getaway - Sam Peckinpah (1972)
- The Shootist - Don Siegel (1976)
- Stroszek - Werner Herzog (1977)
- A Special Day - Ettore Scola (1977)
- Man of Marble - Andrzej Wajda (1977)
- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Martin Scorsese (1974)
- Fantastic Planet - René Laloux (1973)
- Sleeper - Woody Allen (1973)
- Lenny - Bob Fosse (1974)
- The Towering Inferno - John Guillermin (1974)
- Murder on the Orient Express - Sidney Lumet (1974)
- High Plains Drifter - Clint Eastwood (1973)
- The Man Who Fell to Earth - Nicolas Roeg (1976)
- Hair - Miloš Forman (1979)
- Seven Beauties - Lina Wertmüller (1975)
- Providence - Alain Resnais (1977)
- La cage aux folles - Édouard Molinaro (1978)
- Escape from Alcatraz - Don Siegel (1979)
- Three Days of the Condor - Sydney Pollack (1975)
- The China Syndrome - James Bridges (1979)
- Up in Smoke - Lou Adler (1978)
- Watership Down - Martin Rosen (1978)
- The Spy Who Loved Me - Lewis Gilbert (1977)
- The Big Boss - Lo Wei & Wu Chia-Hsiang (1971)
- The Last House on the Left - Wes Craven (1972)
- Husbands - John Cassavetes (1970)
- Fat City - John Huston (1972)
- Deep End - Jerzy Skolimowski (1970)
- New York, New York - Martin Scorsese (1977)
- The Bad News Bears - Michael Ritchie (1976)
- The Boys in the Band - William Friedkin (1970)
- Pumping Iron - George Butler & Robert Fiore (1977)
- Vengeance Is Mine - Shōhei Imamura (1979)
- A Bridge Too Far - Richard Attenborough (1977)
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - Sam Peckinpah (1973)
- Westworld - Michael Crichton (1973)
- Death Wish - Michael Winner (1974)
- F for Fake - Orson Welles (1973)
- In a Year with 13 Moons - Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1978)
- Tess - Roman Polański (1979)
- The Driver - Walter Hill (1978)
- Jeremiah Johnson - Sydney Pollack (1972)
- Play It Again, Sam - Herbert Ross (1972)
- The Aristocats - Wolfgang Reitherman (1970)
- Wanda - Barbara Loden (1970)
- Beyond the Valley of the Dolls - Russ Meyer (1970)
- Murmur of the Heart - Louis Malle (1971)
- The Emigrants - Jan Troell (1971)
- Cross of Iron - Sam Peckinpah (1977)
- Sunday Bloody Sunday - John Schlesinger (1971)
- Lacombe, Lucien - Louis Malle (1974)
- The Parallax View - Alan J. Pakula (1974)
- The Devil Probably - Robert Bresson (1977)
- House - Nobuhiko Ōbayashi (1977)
- Norma Rae - Martin Ritt (1979)
- Wake in Fright - Ted Kotcheff (1971)
- Turkish Delight - Paul Verhoeven (1973)
- The Black Stallion - Carroll Ballard (1979)
- Bound for Glory - Hal Ashby (1976)
- Soldier of Orange - Paul Verhoeven (1977)
- Hearts and Minds - Peter Davis (1974)
- Edvard Munch - Peter Watkins (1974)
- Smokey and the Bandit - Hal Needham (1977)
- Rocky II - Sylvester Stallone (1979)
- Logan's Run - Michael Anderson (1976)
- Ryan's Daughter - David Lean (1970)
- Phantom of the Paradise - Brian De Palma (1974)
- Dark Star - John Carpenter (1974)
- Murder by Death - Robert Moore (1976)
- Touki Bouki - Djibril Diop Mambéty (1973)
- Xala - Ousmane Sembène (1975)
- Sorcerer - William Friedkin (1977)
- Tora! Tora! Tora! - Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku & Toshio Masuda (1970)
- The Duellists - Ridley Scott (1977)
- Interiors - Woody Allen (1978)
- The Harder They Come - Perry Henzell (1972)
- Gates of Heaven - Errol Morris (1978)
