The Golden Age of American Cinema: Best Films of the 1970s

[Rufus T. Firefly]

We've done the 90s and the 80s, so now it's time for the last moment when American films were truly great -- the 1970s. This was a frustrating list to compile; I had to leave so many great films off! So, choose or lose.

[Winston]

The 80's thread isn't even off page one yet. But ok...

[redbaron]

Apart from the director, what makes A Clockwork Orange an American film?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by redbaron
Apart from the director, what makes A Clockwork Orange an American film?

Nothing. I had that thought myself after I posted; shame, too, since I could have used the space for All the Presidents Men (or Being There, or Cabaret, or Manhattan, or All that Jazz, or Mean Streets, or...)

[Seneca]

Deliverance!

Squeal like a pig!

[Bkeela]

What the...? The golden age of cinema would be more like the 40's and 50's than the 70's, 80's and 90's!

[Seneca]

Nonsense! It only really achieved greatness when freed from the constraints of the Hayes code!

[Alex]

The Conversation, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Omen...

[Capt Dizle]

IMHO, best movie ever, the Godfather.

[molly bloom]

I have to second Alexnm on this one; 'The Conversation' along with 'All the President's Men', 'Klute' and 'The Parallax View' and the remake of 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers' and there you have the quintessential paranoia quintet of 70s American cinema.

I also enjoyed, for different reasons, 'Across 100th Street', 'Shaft' and 'French Connection II', one of the rare instances where the sequel is as good as, or better than the first film- other examples being 'Alien/s' and 'The Godfather I and II'.

It was a good decade for Altman, with 'M.A.SH.' and 'Nashville' and his assistant director Alan Rudolph, with 'Welcome to L.A.' and 'Remember My Name', with a stunning jazz/blues soundtrack by Alberta Hunter and early appearances by soon to be stars such as Dennis Frantz, Jeff Goldblum and Alfre Woodard.

Then there's the wonderful 'Chinatown' whose influence I would say reaches out to 'L.A. Confidential', and the noirish 'Night Moves' with I believe Melanie Griffith's first big screen appearance. And John Sayles's 'Return of the Secaucus Seven', which if I recall, was actually shot in 1978, but not released until 79-80.

And Milius's tale of surf, disillusion and friendship, 'Big Wednesday'....

[Kepler]

Um, if that's the best of the 70's, then gak. Only 4 or 5 films on that list are even above average.

I'll take any decade from the 30's through the 60's as a golden age over the 70's, thanks.

BTW, Apocalypse Now was easily the best film of that benighted decade.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by molly bloom
I have to second Alexnm on this one; 'The Conversation' along with 'All the President's Men', 'Klute' and 'The Parallax View' and the remake of 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers' and there you have the quintessential paranoia quintet of 70s American cinema.

I also enjoyed, for different reasons, 'Across 100th Street', 'Shaft' and 'French Connection II', one of the rare instances where the sequel is as good as, or better than the first film- other examples being 'Alien/s' and 'The Godfather I and II'.

It was a good decade for Altman, with 'M.A.SH.' and 'Nashville' and his assistant director Alan Rudolph, with 'Welcome to L.A.' and 'Remember My Name', with a stunning jazz/blues soundtrack by Alberta Hunter and early appearances by soon to be stars such as Dennis Frantz, Jeff Goldblum and Alfre Woodard.

Then there's the wonderful 'Chinatown' whose influence I would say reaches out to 'L.A. Confidential', and the noirish 'Night Moves' with I believe Melanie Griffith's first big screen appearance. And John Sayles's 'Return of the Secaucus Seven', which if I recall, was actually shot in 1978, but not released until 79-80.

And Milius's tale of surf, disillusion and friendship, 'Big Wednesday'....

An excellent rundown; The Coversation in particular is one of the great unsung films of that decade. To your festival of paranoia I would add Winter Kills, which I believe was released in 78 or 79 (but only found an audience after being re-released in the early 80s). As for Altman, I'm also very fond of The Long Goodbye and especiaally McCabe and Mrs. Miller, both films that have held up very well. On my personal list you'd also find Scorsese's New York New York, a film largely dismissed in its moment but which now seems like a masterpiece -- to me, anyway. I miss the 70s; it was the first and last decade in which the major studios made movies for grown-ups.

[Zkribbler]

Keep going. It was the 60's when social issues were dealt with (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; Butterflies are Free; In the Heat of the Night).

The 70's was a return to the comic-book mentality of the 30's serials (Star Wars, Indiana Jones). It may have been great pap, but it was still pap.

[Dinner]

The Rocky Horror Picture show is a great cult classic from the 70's.

[Guynemer]

What? No "Shaft"? No "Superfly"? No "Cleopatra Jones"?!




Cuckoo's Nest & Godfather I & II.