Contents
- 1 20. Halloween
- 2 19. Dirty Harry
- 3 18. Dog Day Afternoon
- 4 17. The Sting
- 5 16. The Deer Hunter
- 6 15. Chinatown
- 7 14. Annie Hall
- 8 13. Monty Python and Life of Brian
- 9 12. Suspiria
- 10 11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- 11 10. Rocky
- 12 9. Jaws
- 13 8. One Flew over Cuckoo’s Nest
- 14 7. Apocalypse Now
- 15 6. Alien
- 16 5. A Clockwork Orange
- 17 4. Taxi Driver
- 18 3. The Godfather II
- 19 2. The Godfather
- 20 1. Star Wars: A New Hope
20. Halloween
Director – John Carpenter
Cast – Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence
IMDB Rating – 7.8
Rotten Tomatoes – 95%
Release Date – 25 October 1978
Box Office – $60 Million
Genre – Horror
Awards – None
Plot – The film is a cult classic horror film You should watch it.
19. Dirty Harry
Director – Don Siegel
Cast – Clint Eastwood
IMDB Rating – 7.8
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Release Date – 23 December 1971
Box Office – $36 Million
Genre – Action, Adventure
Awards – None
Plot – NYPD Cop Harry is pitched againt a serial killer who calls himself the scorpio man.
18. Dog Day Afternoon
Director – Sidney Lumet
Cast – Al Pacino, John Cazale
IMDB Rating – 8
Rotten Tomatoes – 95%
Release Date – 21 September 1975
Box Office – $50 Million
Genre – Biography, Crime
Awards – Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Plot – A Man needs money to save his girlfriends life. He decides to rob a bank.
17. The Sting
Director – George Roy Hill
Cast – Robert Redford, Paul newman
IMDB Rating – 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Release Date – 25 December 1973
Box Office – $159.6 Million
Genre – Crime, Comedy
Awards – 7 Oscars Including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, Score. It Was nominated for 10 Oscars.
Plot – A Grifter joins hand with a famous con man to pull off the biggest heist of all time.
16. The Deer Hunter
Director – Michael Cimino
Cast – Robert DeNiro, John Cazale, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken
IMDB Rating – 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes – 94%
Release Date – 23 February 1979
Box Office – $49 Million
Genre – War
Awards – 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Sound
Plot – The film follows up life of Vietnam war veterans and how the war hollowed their life.
15. Chinatown
Director – Roman Polanski
Cast – Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway
IMDB Rating – 8.2
Rotten Tomatoes – 98%
Release Date – 20 June 1974
Box Office – $29.2 Million
Genre – Mystery, Thriller
Awards – Oscar for Best Screenplay
Plot – A Private detective learns about the dirty secrets of his city while on his spy mission.
14. Annie Hall
Director – Woody Allen
Cast – Woody Allen, DIane Keaton
IMDB Rating – 8
Rotten Tomatoes – 97%
Release Date – 20 April 1977
Box Office – $38.3 Million
Genre – Romance, Comedy
Awards – 4 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Screenplay
Plot – A Nerd comedian falls in love with a woman with charming personality.
13. Monty Python and Life of Brian
Director – Terry Jones
Cast – Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam
IMDB Rating – 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes – 95%
Release Date – 8 November 1979
Box Office – $20 Million
Genre – Comedy
Awards – None
Plot – A Man named Brian is born on the same day as christmas, just next door. People mistakenly take him as the messiah, the son of god who was promised.
12. Suspiria
Director – Dario Argento
Cast – Jessica Harper, Flavio Bucci
IMDB Rating – 7.5
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Release Date – 1 February 1977
Box Office – $1.8 Million
Genre – Horror
Awards – None
Plot – A Young woman who is enrolled in a prestigious music school in France soon learns that it is a university of murderers.
NOTE*- Suspiria is one of the best horror movies of all time and my personal favorite. Read more about it in our article of best horror movies ever.
11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Director – Terry Gilliam
Cast – Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle
IMDB Rating – 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Release Date – 3 April 1975
Box Office – $5 Million
Genre – Comedy
Awards – None
Plot – Based on the legend of King Arthur, the monty python group presents a comical take on the events.
10. Rocky
Director – John G Avildsen
Cast – Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
IMDB Rating – 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Release Date – 3 December 1976
Box Office – $225 Million
Genre – Sports, Drama
Awards – Rocky was nominated for 10 Oscars and won 3 including Best Picture, best Director, Best Film Editing.
Plot – A Local south paw boxer is given the oppurutnity of his life by world heavy weight champion to fight him.
9. Jaws
Director – Steven Spierlberg
Cast – Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw
IMDB Rating – 8
Rotten Tomatoes – 97%
Release Date – 20 June 1975
Box Office – $470.7 Million
Genre – Thriller, Horror
Awards – Won 3 Academy Awards including Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Sound
Plot – A sailing crew is given task to kill a shark that has killed several tourists who visited the coastal town in summer.
8. One Flew over Cuckoo’s Nest
Director – Milos Forman
Cast – Jack Nicholson, Kouise Fletcher
IMDB Rating – 8.7
Rotten Tomatoes – 94%
Release Date – 19 November 1975
Box Office – $109 Million
Genre – Drama
Awards – Out of 9 Oscar Nominations the film won 5 including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay.
Plot – A prisoner tries to save himself by pleading guilty. But he is sent to mental institution where his life only gets worse. H decide to rebel.
7. Apocalypse Now
Director – Francis For Coppola
Cast – Martin Sheen, Rovert Duvall, Marlon Brando
IMDB Rating – 8.5
Rotten Tomatoes – 96%
Release Date – 15 August 1979
Box Office – $150 Million
Genre – War, Drama
Awards – 2 Academy Awards Including Best Sound and Best Cinematography
Plot – A US Army office is given the task to kill a rebelious officer who has overtaken cambodian jungles.
6. Alien
Director – Ridley Scott
Cast – Sigourney Weaver
IMDB Rating – 8.5
Rotten Tomatoes – 94%
Release Date – 25 May 1979
Box Office – $110 Million
Genre – Horror, Sci Fi
Awards – Oscar for Best Visual Effects
Plot – A Space crew recieves a distress call from deep space. When they reach the source moon they are attacked one by one by a merciless alien life.
5. A Clockwork Orange
Director – Stanley Kubrick
Cast – Malcolm McDowell, Patrick magee
IMDB Rating – 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes – 90%
Release Date – 13 January 1972
Box Office – $26.6 Million
Genre – Crime, Sci Fi
Awards – None
Plot – A Sadistic man is caught by government for the crimes he commited. He is sent to a prison where scientists perform horrific experiments on him.
4. Taxi Driver
Director – Martin Scorsese
Cast – Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster
IMDB Rating – 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes – 98%
Release Date – 8 February 1976
Box Office – $28.3 Million
Genre – Crime, Drama
Awards – 4 Oscar Nominations including Best Actor, Actress, Music, picture
Plot – A War Veteran who has grown sick from the ways of society and is working as a taxi driver decides to clean the scum of the city and help an underage pr0stitute.
3. The Godfather II
Director – Francis Ford Coppola
Cast – Al pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Taila Shire
IMDB Rating – 9
Rotten Tomatoes – 97%
Release Date – 12 December 1974
Box Office – $50 Million
Genre – Crime, Drama
Awards – Out of 11 Oscar Nominations it won 6 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Score
Plot – The Rise of Don Vito Corleone runs parallel to the rise of his son Michael Corleone.
2. The Godfather
Director – Francis Ford Coppola
Cast – Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, James Caan
IMDB Rating – 9.2
Rotten Tomatoes – 98%
Release Date – 24 March 1972
Box Office – $245 Million
Genre – Crime, Drama
Awards – 8 oscar Nomiantions and won 3 including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay. Marlon brando refused to accept the best actor award.
Plot – The aging don Vito Corleone finds it hard to keep a control on the other gangs and on his syndicated crimes.
1. Star Wars: A New Hope
Director – George Lucas
Cast – Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness
IMDB Rating – 8.6
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Release Date – 25 May 1977
Box Office – $775.4 Million
Genre – Sci Fi, Action, Adventure
Awards – None
Plot – A Young Man living on a distant planet receives a holographic message from a princess who seeks help from the evil Darth Vader.
Honorable mention in the list was Sir Bruce Lee who starred in few of the finest martial arts movies of all time. The Legend died in 1973 but his movies had a huge impact on Hollywood and in later decades martial arts and kung fu were a major focus of action movies. Also, 70s was the decade which saw the rise of superhero ‘Superman’ on the big screen.
Among the list of best 70s movies which one was your favorite? Shout out loud below.
