I present to you, the top ten films of what I consider the best era in film: the 1970’s.
10. “The Last Detail” – 1973 . Dir. Hal Ashby
With Jack Nicholson, Otis Young and Randy Quaid.
This film showcases Hal Ashby’s finest film and Jack Nicholson’s second best performance.
9. “The Man Who Would Be King” – 1975. Dir. John Huston.
With Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer
Putting “Wall Street” aside, this is the finest film that deals with greed and self consumption along with a great core cast.
8. “Badlands” – 1973. Dir. Terrence Malick
With Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek and Warren Oates.
I can’t say enough how wonderful this film is. It’s Malick’s finest as well as the smallest of his films.
7. “Network” – 1976. Dir Sidney Lumet.
With Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall and Ned Beatty.
Nothing can prepare you for this film. It’s as epic as epic gets.
6. “Taxi Driver” – 1976. Dir. Martin Scorsese
With Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, Albert Brooks, Martin Scorsese and Harvey Keitel
Gosh…which movie is Scorsese’s actual masterpiece? It’s insanely hard to tell. None the less – “Taxi Driver” is astounding.
5. “The Offense” – 1974. Dir. Sidney Lumet
With Sean Connery, Ian Bannen and Trevor Howard
This is Lumet’s masterpiece. It’s not on Blu-Ray or even DVD and its extremely hard to find; but worth it.
4. “The Godfather, Part II” – 1974. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
With Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Lee Strasberg, Diane Keaton, Harry Dean Stanton and James Caan (yes James Caan).
This is the best sequel ever made, along with being one of the few films ever made that is superior to its original, and that is say a lot.
3. “Five Easy Pieces” – 1970. Dir. Bob Raffelson
With Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach and Billy Green Bush.
This is Nicholson’s finest performance hands down, along with the finest character study ever filmed. Bob Raffelson is the most important filmmaker ever (not the best – there is a difference).
2. “Apocalypse Now” – 1979. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
With Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Lawrence Fishburn, Sam Bottoms, Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford, Albert Hall, Frederic Forrest, Dennis Hopper and Scott Glenn
The greatest accident of a film that ever, ever happened, this film is Coppola’s masterpiece and the greatest epic ever filmed.
1. “All That Jazz” – 1979. Dir. Bob Fosse
With Roy Scheider, Ann Renking, Leland Palmer, Cliff Gorman, Ben Vereen and Jessica Lange
This is the finest film ever made.
Pompous Film Snob 
Just saw Taxi Driver. So brilliant. Why can’t Robert DeNiro get off his ass with these Fockers movies?
I have seen 4 of those again. The Godfather II, Apocalypse Now, Taxi Driver and of course, Badlands. All truly excellent movies which makes want to see the other six even more! Where should I start Frank? 😉
I would rock out Five Easy Pieces first.
I’ve seen five of the above. The Last Detail has been in the $5 bin, but I never looked closely enough to see it was Jack Nicholson on the front. A rental for sure.
I’ve seen 6 of these.
You must be rubbing off on me because I’ve been watching a lot of films from this era lately… most recent viewings include Lenny, McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Three Days of the Condor.
I’m so glad you put Five Easy Pieces up there. Surely underrated, and it works so well, and that one scene where he’s playing the piano, just gets to me so much. Great list!
Star Wars was one of the best movies of the 70’s, you left it ouT!!!
I know…making these decades lists are so hard and I put in a lot of time and effort of making what I think is a fullproof list. But I did have “The Empire Strikes Back” in the top tier of my best of the 1980s list if that makes up for anything.
good choices…being from this era – sort of – i keep revisiting films of this decade and i recently figured out what they have in common..a sense of INTEGRITY.