Arguably '70s cinema didn't really kick off in earnest until 1971, sure there were game-changers like M*A*S*H in 1970, but cinema certainly took on an even darker edge in the following year, where a series of nihilistic, violent movies made a tremendous splash both critically and commercially.
Even the year's Best Picture winner -- The French Connection -- was a nasty crime thriller where the hero was an unhinged bigot. Many of the movies on my list would certainly have been controversial then and now, and are deeply problematic -- but they're also powerful, which is why they're here.
Without any more yapping, here is my top 10 from 50 years ago:
Here are my top 10 from '71...
10) Harold & Maude - It took me a little longer to warm up to this movie than most people but once I got on its wavelength I came to appreciate it for the surprisingly touching romance it is. I think the movie works because of Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon, who give wonderful performances and really sell a concept that could have been gimmicky and give it genuine heart.
9) McCabe & Mrs. Miller - Robert Altman's bleak and moody take on the western provides Warren Beatty and Julie Christie with two of their best roles. An episodic, atmospheric revisionist work that like many great Altman films succeeds by doing the unexpected. And it has a devastating ending that makes everything that proceeded it more compelling.
8) The Last Picture Show - An interesting experiment in combining nostalgia for a certain kind of classic American small town drama with some pointed nods to explicit sexuality and modern reality. Director Peter Bogdanovich made several good movies over the years, but I still think this ranks as his best and least affected.
7) Straw Dogs - One of the most infamous and polarizing movies on this list because of its ambiguous treatment of sexual assault, but if you have a stomach for it, it's one director Sam Peckinpah's best and most provocative movies. Dustin Hoffman plays a nebbish professor who moves to a rural town on the English countryside with his bombshell wife (a brilliant Susan George), who quickly becomes a target for some local brutes. I won't spoil it but the ending is one of the most balls out ferocious ones you'll ever see.
6) Klute - My favorite Jane Fonda performance. Here she plays a complex call girl caught up in the hunt for a demented serial killer. She is totally credible and vulnerable in the role and has great chemistry with leading man Donald Sutherland, who plays a modest, more reserved police officer. The movie is named after his character but it really is Fonda's film. Her big scene opposite the killer is one of the most gut wrenching bits of acting I've ever seen.
5) Dirty Harry - The movie that started it all is a little more skeptical of its fascist hero Harry Callaghan. He's definitely from the shoot first, ask questions later school -- which is deeply problematic -- but his cat and mouse pursuit of a killer based on the Zodiac as pretty riveting and irresistible. This was the star turn that really solidified Eastwood's persona as a big screen superstar and is yet another impressive entry from genre film director Don Siegel.
4) Carnal Knowledge - This film about sexuality and male insecurity was such a scandalous project it literally led to a Supreme Court ruling on obscenity. Strangely overlooked and forgotten today, it contains one of Jack Nicholson's greatest roles and established Ann Margaret as so much more than just a sex symbol. Director Mike Nichols has a very hit and miss filmography but this should rank among his very best.
3) The French Connection - Based on a true story, virtually every buddy cop crime movie that followed owes it a debt. Today, it's best remembered for it's still badass centerpiece chase scene -- but it also features one of Gene Hackman's greatest performances as the dogged and ultimately deranged NYC detective Popeye Doyle. This film made him an unlikely movie star at 40 and turned William Friedkin into one of the decade's hottest directors.
2) A Clockwork Orange - Even Stanley Kubrick himself was concerned about the way this truly black comedy would be received since its portrayal of ultraviolence and toxic masculinity is so vivid that some people might take the film's intentions the wrong way. It is very much a satire and a bit of a horror film, too. Probably the most experimental of Kubrick's masterpiece period.
1) Get Carter - A sexy, stylish, funny and freewheeling British gangster movie, with arguably Michael Caine's coolest performance if not his best (although I think I'd say that, too). It's a pretty classic revenge movie with all sorts of interesting little flourishes, a great soundtrack and lots of swinging British 'tude. A personal favorite of mine that I revisit regularly.
PAST TOP 10 FAVORITE LISTS
1970 #1 movie - M*A*S*H
1974 #1 movie - The Godfather Part II
1975 #1 movie - Nashville
1976 #1 movie - Taxi Driver
1977 #1 movie - Star Wars
1978 #1 movie - The Deer Hunter
1979 #1 movie - The Jerk
1981 #1 movie - Thief
1980 #1 movie - The Shining
1984 #1 movie - Ghostbusters
1985 #1 movie - Fletch
1986 #1 movie - Blue Velvet
1987 #1 movie - The Untouchables
1988 #1 movie - Coming to America
1989 #1 movie - Batman
1990 #1 movie - The Grifters
1991 #1 movie - Cape Fear
1994 #1 movie - Pulp Fiction
1995 #1 movie - Heat
1996 #1 movie - Fargo
1997 #1 movie - Boogie Nights
1998 #1 movie - The Big Lebowski
1999 #1 movie - Eyes Wide Shut
2000 #1 movie - Nurse Betty
2001 #1 movie - The Royal Tenenbaums
2004 #1 movie - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 #1 movie - A History of Violence
2006 #1 movie - Casino Royale
2007 #1 movie - There Will Be Blood
2008 #1 movie - The Wrestler
2009 #1 movie - Inglourious Basterds
2010 #1 movie - The Social Network
2011 #1 movie - Drive
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