Comments on: Best of the Decades: 1970s

By: Rohit Ramachandran

Rohit Ramachandran — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:02:37 +0000

1. The Godfather & The Godfather Part II
2. Network
3. Five Easy Pieces
4. Dog Day Afternoon
5. Alice doesn’t live here anymore
6. The Last Detail
7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
8. Lenny
9. Apocalypse Now
10. And Justice for All/ Chinatown

By: Holden

Holden — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 04:54:15 +0000

Easily the best decade in film yet.

All of these are in my top 100 films of all time.
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
2. Taxi Driver
3. Barry Lyndon
4. Annie Hall
5. Chinatown
6. The Godfather
7. Star Wars
8. Blazing Saddles
9. Network
10. Apocalypse Now

By: jmlatinsir

jmlatinsir — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 04:58:45 +0000

The 1970s has never been one of my favorite decades. “I Remember”, it always seemed a little thin in quality in proportion to the number of films being made, but in looking back, the decade unfolded as the mother lode of many great personal films. It was the decade Hollywood finally sat up and realized that small, independent, socially conscious art films geared to a younger audience could make money “Easy Rider” being the “the turning point”. As a result the movies grew up. A lot of great new directors, writers and actors were hitting big strides. It was the time we discovered “The Flying Nun” was a revelation in “Sybil”; Ingmar Bergman made two great films, “Cries and Whispers”, “Autumn Sonata, and, alas one of his worse while in self-exile from his native Sweden, “The Serpent’s Egg”; a movie that was shaped and succeeded on its music, “Saturday Night Fever”; and two of the weirdest movies in filmdom were introduced and eventually developed a cult following: “Demon Seed” with Julie Christie, and David Lynch’s freshman effort, “Eraserhead”.

And so to the list (and this one was extremely difficult to do). These were the ones that stayed with me.

1. Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
2. Cabaret (Bob Fosse)
3. Close Encounters of The Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)
4. Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick)
5. The Go-Between (Joseph Losey)
6. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby)
7. The Exorcist (William Friedkin)
8. Nashville (Robert Altman)
9. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)
10. Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
11. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
12. Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
13. Star Wars (George Lucas)
14. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorcese)
15. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)

16. Honorable Mentions: Apocalypse Now (Coppola), Don’t Look Now (Nicholas Roeg)MASH (Altman), Midnight Express (Al Parker), What’s Up Doc? (Bogdonavich) Walkabout (Roeg), Sleeper (Allen), Picnic At Hanging Rock (Weir), Days of Heaven (Malick), Heaven Can Wait (Beatty), Frenzy (Hitchcock).

Guilty Pleasures: Hair, Grease, The Poseidon Adventure, Jesus Christ Superstar, Blazing Saddles, That’s Entertainment!, Tommy, Carrie, The Last Wave, Mad Max, The Goodbye Girl, Logan’s Run.

Foreign Films:
1. Seven Beauties (Wertmuller)
2. La Cage Aux Folles (Molinari)
3. Amarcord (Fellini)
4. That Obscure Object of Desire (Buñuel)
5. The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeosie (Buñuel)
6. Day for Night (Truffaut)
7. Cries and Whispers (Bergman)
8. The Story of Adele H. (Truffaut)
9. Autumn Sonata (Bergman)
10. The Marriage of Maria Braun

Thank you for doing these lists. It’s wonderful to look back and a lot of fun. Thank you for your indulging my lengthy entry.

By: Robert Hamer

Robert Hamer — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 02:37:39 +0000

I don’t know about that, Randall…if the seventies was Woody Allen’s decade, that what would you call the eighties? That decade gave us The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, Another Woman *and* Crimes and Misdemeanors.

By: randall g gerber

randall g gerber — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 02:14:26 +0000

1970′s was the “woody allen decade”

By: Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:35:37 +0000

Best decade for film ever. Ever.

1. The Godfather
2. Star Wars
3. The Godfather Part 2
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
5. Chinatown (all 5 in my top 20 films ever)
6. Apocalypse Now
7. Jaws
8. Taxi Driver
9. A Clockwork Orange
10. The Deer Hunter (all ten in my top 43 ever)

Just an incredible decade.

By: Inkdrone

Inkdrone — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:23:57 +0000

in no particular order;

THE EXORCIST
GODFATHER PART II
NASHVILLE
CARRIE
PAPER MOON
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
DON’T LOOK NOW
ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN
DOG DAY AFTERNOON
HAIR

By: Robert Hamer

Robert Hamer — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:52:48 +0000

John, the disagreement has nothing to do with whether or not Kael influenced the release of Nashville. I’m fairly aware of how my third-favorite movie of all time came to fruition, and it’s hardly unusual for a single critic or group of critics to spark widespread critical approval of an initially overlooked film.

Where I’m asking for clarification – in as accommodating a manner as I can – is your notion that she and she alone is responsible for its subsequent arthouse respect, which sounds on its face like a rather personal dismissal of the critical bonafides of other fans of Altman’s masterpiece, and I know you wouldn’t actually go there.

And while I do appreciate your offer to send me reading material, I’m a little bogged down in SWO literature at the moment and I don’t think I can make the time.

By: John H. Foote

John H. Foote — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:55:31 +0000

Robert, if you don’t get the point, you are never going to get it — as usual we agree to disagree — there is a great book about the history of the making of Nashville, send me your address and I will send it along to you — you should read it and perhaps then understand the staggering impact Kael had on this film.

By: Joe G

Joe G — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:55:18 +0000

It’s sad to think that although all 5 of his films received nominations for Best Picture (and 3 won), John Cazale wasn’t nominated one. I think he should have been nominated (and won) for Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II