The 1970s was a highly influential and deeply formative era for culture, especially at the movies. The decade saw the beginning of the Star Wars movies, (arguably) the beginning of the slasher genre with John Carpenter’s Halloween, and the dawn of the modern superhero movie with Superman: The Movie. See how to watch these classics and more picks for the best ‘70s movies in the following guide.
American Graffiti (1973)
Director: George Lucas
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard
What it’s about: A group of Los Angeles teens spends the night cruising the streets, each with different goals in mind, in 1962.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Arguably George Lucas’ best movie outside the Star Wars franchise, American Graffiti, offers an electrifying, nostalgic inside look at the early 1960s teen culture, set to a totally “boss” soundtrack.
How to watch American Graffiti
Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
Director: Robert Benton
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep
What it’s about: An advertising executive struggles to be a single parent to his young son after his wife suddenly leaves him.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: One of the all-time most devastating movie break-ups is that of Ted and Joanne in Kramer vs. Kramer – an Oscar-winning exploration of divorce based on Avery Corman’s novel.
How to watch Kramer vs. Kramer
Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)
Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese
What it’s about: Led by King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table encounter a series of unusual and ridiculous obstacles while searching for a coveted artifact.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: One of the most beloved creations of influential British comedy troupe, Monty Python, is the hilarious and surreal Arthurian spoof movie classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
How to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Stream Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Netflix
- Rent or buy Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Amazon
- Buy Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Blu-ray on Amazon
Network (1976)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch
What it’s about: A struggling TV network exploits the cynical ramblings of one of its oldest and most troubled news anchors.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: The four-time Oscar-winning Network is a brilliant and shocking satire of the television industry.
How to watch Network
Superman: The Movie (1978)
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder
What it’s about: The sole survivor of an alien planet crash-lands on Earth as a child and grows up to become a powerful defender of the innocent.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Even decades later, few comic book movies remain as influential as Superman: The Movie, for its timeless special effects and even more timeless lead performance by Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent.
How to watch Superman: The Movie
- Stream Superman: The Movie on Amazon Prime
- Stream Superman: The Movie on Max
- Buy Superman: The Movie on Blu-ray on Amazon
Alien (1979)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver
What it’s about: The crew of an outer space freighter ship becomes trapped inside with a slimy, malevolent beast.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: One of the most perfect combinations of space movies with horror is Alien – a pulse-pounding exercise in suspense that turned Sigourney Weaver into a leading Scream Queen for generations to come.
How to watch Alien
All The President's Men (1976)
Director: Alan J. Paluka
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford
What it’s about: The Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward struggle to get to the bottom of the Watergate Scandal in 1972.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Based on Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s book, All the President’s Men is one of the best movies about news reporters for its inspirational retelling of a true, ambitious crusade for truth amidst a firewall of corruption.
How to watch All the President’s Men
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando
What it’s about: Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a secret mission to track down and assassinate a Green Beret colonel with a dangerous god complex.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and set during the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now is one of the best war movies of all time and a masterful epic from a masterful filmmaker.
How to watch Apocalypse Now
- Stream Apocalypse Now on Plex
- Rent or buy Apocalypse Now on Amazon
- Buy Apocalypse Now on Blu-ray on Amazon
Being There (1979)
Director: Hal Ashby
Starring: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine
What it’s about: For reasons even he does not understand, a simple-minded gardener unexpectedly becomes a close advisor to a powerful businessman and eventually an influential voice in Washington, D.C.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski, Being There is a fascinating and hilarious satire for which Peter Sellers earned an Academy Award nomination.
How to watch Being There
Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke (1978)
Director: Lou Adler, Tommy Chong
Starring: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong
What it’s about: With a bumbling police sergeant on their tail, a pair of pothead musicians unwittingly smuggle a van made of marijuana into L.A.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Whether or not Up in Smoke (also co-written by iconic movie potheads Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong) is the all-time greatest stoner movie is up for debate but few would disagree that it is the first great stoner movie.
How to watch Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke
- Rent or buy Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke on Amazon
- Buy Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke on Blu-ray on Amazon
Chinatown (1974)
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway
What it’s about: Small-time private investigator Jake Gittes looks into an increasingly complicated, life-threatening case in 1937 California.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Murder, corruption, and vile secrets are the central themes of Chinatown – a crime drama that borrows from classic noir thrillers of Hollywood’s golden age with twists that were shockingly unique for the time but still timelessly entertaining today.
How to watch Chinatown
- Stream Chinatown on Paramount+ with Showtime add-on
- Rent or buy Chinatown on Amazon
- Buy Chinatown on Blu-ray on Amazon
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut
What it’s about: A disparate group of ordinary people make contact with beings from another planet.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Steven Spielberg adapts self-funded, 1964 sci-fi flick Firelight into one of the most iconic alien “invasion” movies ever made, Close Encounters of Third Kind, which also features one of the top John Williams scores of his career.
How to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Rent or buy Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Amazon
- Buy Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Conversation (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Gene Hackman, John Cazale
What it’s about: A lonely, disillusioned surveillance expert begins to question the moral boundaries of his profession when he uncovers evidence that a young couple may be targeted for murder.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Francis Ford Coppola had two films up for Best Picture Oscar at the 1975 Academy Awards, including The Conversation, which still earns universal acclaim today as a striking cautionary tale way ahead of its time.
How to watch The Conversation
- Stream The Conversation on Paramount+ with Showtime add-on
- Rent or buy The Conversation on Amazon
- Buy The Conversation on Blu-ray on Amazon
Dawn Of The Dead (1978)
Director: George A. Romero
Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross
What it’s about: Four survivors of an ongoing uprising of flesh-eating, undead humans take refuge at an abandoned shopping mall.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Ten years after introducing the modern zombie with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero resurrected the genre with one of the all-time best zombie movies, the chilling, surprisingly thought-provoking economic satire Dawn of the Dead.
How to watch Dawn of the Dead
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Director: Michael Cimino
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage
What it’s about: Three close friends become separated after suffering traumatic circumstances while serving in Vietnam.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Winner of five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter is a heartbreaking, unforgettable meditation on the debilitating effects of war.
How to watch The Deer Hunter
- Stream The Deer Hunter on Netflix
- Rent or buy The Deer Hunter on Amazon
- Buy The Deer Hunter on Blu-ray on Amazon
Dirty Harry (1971)
Director: Don Siegel
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson
What it’s about: A rebellious San Francisco cop must rely on his instinct and his controversial methods to catch a ruthless murderer.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: After great Western movies made him a star, Clint Eastwood brought his signature outlaw persona to the title role of Dirty Harry – the first of five almost equally iconic movies that changed the crime thriller genre forever.
How to watch Dirty Harry
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale
What it’s about: A man’s plan to rob a bank in order to fund his lover’s transgender operation turns into a media circus.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: The most shocking aspect of the Oscar-winning, and even inspiring, masterpiece, Dog Day Afternoon, is that it is actually based on true crime.
How to watch Dog Day Afternoon
The Exorcist (1973)
Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max Von Sydow
What it’s about: An actor, desperate to cure her 12-year-old daughter of the sinister forces that have taken over her body, enlists the help of a priest experiencing a crisis of faith.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Curiously, William Friedkin never approached his adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist as horror but as a commentary on the mystery faith, which may be why it is considered one of the best horror movies based on a true story, let alone one of the best horror movies of all time.
How to watch The Exorcist
The French Connection (1971)
Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider
What it’s about: A streetwise New York detective and his partner uncover a European drug smuggling operation in the States.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Based on the book Robin Moore which is also inspired by a true story, The French Connection is a tightly-paced, gritty suspense drama with one of the most hypnotically intense car chases of all time.
How to watch The French Connection
- Stream The French Connection on Max
- Rent or buy The French Connection on Amazon
- Buy The French Connection on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Godfather (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino
What it’s about: After his father's life is threatened, a young man is lured into the violent lifestyle of the family business.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: No list of the best gangster movies is complete without mention of The Godfather, the first film based on Mario Puzo’s acclaimed novel.
How to watch The Godfather
- Stream The Godfather on Paramount+
- Rent or buy The Godfather on Amazon
- Buy The Godfather on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro
What it’s about: While Michael Corleone looks to expand the family business, flashbacks trace his father, Don Vito’s, rise to power.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Of course, you cannot refuse the offer to continue the story of the Corleone Family in The Godfather Part II, which also took home the Best Picture Oscar and also earned Robert De Niro his first Academy Award for playing a young Don Vito Corleone.
How to watch The Godfather Part II
- Stream The Godfather Part II on Paramount+
- Rent or buy The Godfather Part II on Amazon
- Buy The Godfather Part II on Blu-ray on Amazon
Grease (1978)
Director: Randal Kleiser
Starring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John
What it’s about: Two wildly different teens – one a rebellious greaser and the other a squeaky-clean Australian – each try to be more like the other after falling for each other in the 1950s.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Based on the hit romantic stage show, Grease cleverly funnels its relatively honest confessions of teen angst through upbeat show tunes.
How to watch Grease
Halloween (1978)
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Donald Pleasance, Jamie Lee Curtis
What it’s about: A violent escaped mental patient returns to his hometown and stalks three babysitters on All Hallows’ Eve.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: With the original Halloween movie, John Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill (arguably) invented the modern slasher movie, introduced one of the all-time greatest horror movie villains with Michael Myers, and made Jamie Lee Curtis the top Scream Queen.
How to watch Halloween
- Stream Halloween on AMC+
- Stream Halloween on Plex
- Rent or buy Halloween on Amazon
- Buy Halloween on Blu-ray on Amazon
Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw
What it’s about: A police chief, a marine biologist, and a veteran seafarer hunt a 25-foot great white shark putting local beach dwellers in a panic.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: With the heart-racing shark movie, Jaws, Steven Spielberg made a groundbreaking hit thriller that is widely credited as the very first “blockbuster.”
How to watch Jaws
Nashville (1975)
Director: Robert Altman
Starring: Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall
What it’s about: The misadventures of a group of popular musicians, aspiring musicians, and others in Tennessee.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Few filmmakers mastered the star-studded ensemble comedy like Robert Altman and few films represent that talent of his like Nashville - an inspired satirical examination of the cross-section of politics of country music.
How to watch Nashville
National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
Director: John Landis
Starring: John Belushi, Tim Matheson
What it’s about: The members of a maligned fraternity engaged in uproarious conflict with their own school in the 1950s.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Few filmmakers have mastered the raunchy, star-studded ensemble comedy quite like John Landis did with National Lampoon’s Animal House, which is still considered the best movie about college of all time.
How to watch National Lampoon’s Animal House
- Rent or buy National Lampoon’s Animal House on Amazon
- Buy National Lampoon’s Animal House on Blu-ray on Amazon
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Director: Miloš Forman
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher
What it’s about: A criminal’s plea of insanity lands him in a mental institution where he is subjected to a fate worse than prison: the cruel treatment of Nurse Ratched.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Jack Nicholson gives his first Academy Award-winning performance in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – an inspirational and often witty tale of rebelling against authority and a movie that gets real about mental health.
How to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Rent or buy One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest on Amazon
- Buy One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest on Blu-ray on Amazon
Rocky (1976)
Director: John G. Avildsen
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire
What it’s about: The story of an amateur, underdog boxer taking on an undefeated champion.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Sylvester Stallone channeled his experiences as a struggling actor into his screenplay for one of the all-time best sports movies, Rocky, which would go on to win the Oscar for Best Picture and spawn a franchise that still lives on through the Creed movies.
How to watch Rocky
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Director: John Badham
Starring: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney
What it’s about: A young Brooklynite escapes his harsh realities on the dance floor with the disco music of The Bee Gees as his guide.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: John Travolta earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination and skyrocketed to movie star status after leading the era-defining classic, Saturday Night Fever.
How to watch Saturday Night Fever
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Director: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, James Earl Jones
What it’s about: Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker teams up with rebellious pilot Han Solo to rescue Princess Leia from the tyrannical Darth Vader.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Cinema had never seen anything quite like one of the all-time best sci-fi movies, Star Wars (retroactively subtitled A New Hope – and the medium has never been the same since.
How to watch Star Wars: A New Hope
- Stream Star Wars: A New Hope on Disney+
- Rent or buy Star Wars: A New Hope on Amazon
- Buy Star Wars: A New Hope on Blu-ray on Amazon
Taxi Driver (1976)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster
What it’s about: A disturbed, sleepless Vietnam veteran’s hatred for urban nightlife begins to consume him after taking a job as a New York City cabbie.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: With stunning performances and subtle commentary on toxic masculinity, Taxi Driver, one of Martin Scorsese's best movies, is a captivating exploitation of cynicism and savagery at its darkest.
How to watch Taxi Driver
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Director: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen
What it’s about: Five young roadtrippers are stalked by the grotesque Leatherface and his cannibalistic family.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: Tobe Hooper's penchant for accurately capturing the feeling of a nightmare makes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre one of the most unsettling thrillers of all time.
How to watch The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
- Stream The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on Amazon Prime
- Stream The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on Tubi
- Buy The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on Blu-ray on Amazon
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
Director: Mel Stuart
Starring: Gene Wilder, Peter Ostrum
What it’s about: A poor boy becomes one of five children given the opportunity to tour the never-before-seen establishment of the most famous candy maker in the world.
Why it is one of the best ‘70s movies: From a screenplay by Roald Dahl (based on his novel), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a timelessly whimsical adventure, perfected by the late Gene Wilder’s truly magical performance as the titular chocolatier.
How to watch Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
- Rent or buy Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory on Amazon
- Buy Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory on Blu-ray on Amazon
Would you say we have covered all of the best movies that the 1970s had to offer? If so, which is your favorite?
