Flashback 1975: My top 10 films from 40 years ago

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

As I've said repeatedly the '70s is my favorite era of filmmaking so it's easy for me to come up with a top 10 list from 1975 -- the year that marked the middle of the decade.

It was a bit of a turning point year in pop culture. Saturday Night Live debuted that fall, Jaws infamously ushered in the modern summer blockbuster and gradually the more cynical films of the '70s gave way to more optimistic stories.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, 1975 did provide its fair share of doom and gloom. This was one year after Watergate and the year that Saigon finally fell in Vietnam. So it was inevitable that some of that national discontent would color the cinematic landscape.

When I selected this top 10 I had to make some tough cuts, but ultimately I think this is a worthy list of eclectic and entertaining classics.

10) The Stepford Wives - This film can be appreciated for camp value and also as a genuinely chilling movie. Misunderstood upon its initial release, I think the film could actually be interpreted as supremely feminist. It is essentially about men who want to lobotomize their wives and turn them into living sex slaves. It's a fascinating time capsule that deserves rediscovery.

9) The Passenger - Michel Antonioni's slow, methodical thriller about identity theft really rewards repeated viewing. Jack Nicholson gives one of his most underrated performances as a journalist trying to escape his past who ends up getting embroiled in a plot that proves dangerous. Gorgeously photographed and thoughtfully pieced together -- this film features one of the great virtuoso final shots in movie history.

8) The Rocky Horror Picture Show - I enjoyed this movie on its own merits even before I experienced one of its legendary midnight screenings. Tim Curry is a force of nature in this bizarre rock n' roll musical that is almost impossible to pin down -- it's both a farce and an homage to creature features of the '50s. It's not so bad it's good -- it's actually very self aware and funny, and I especially like how up front it is with its sexuality. A real party of a movie.

Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in Shampoo

7) Dog Day Afternoon - Al Pacino is at his exasperated best in this phenomenal New York City-based true story. He gives a riveting performance as a bank robber who wants to finance his boyfriend's sex change operation (and who is also married to a woman with kids). The movie manages to never condescend to its characters nor get zany to the point that what you're watching isn't totally believable. Director Sidney Lumet's unique gift for capturing New York speech and attitudes is at its peak here.

6) Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick's sumptuous costume drama was a total change of pace for the auteur and something of an overlooked classic even among some of his fans. It's a massive film with a lot of immaculate period detail (some borrowed from Kubrick's aborted attempt to get a Napoleon biopic off the ground), but it has a dark, brooding heart at its center. Surrender to its elegiac storytelling and ever-so-sarcastic narration and you have one of best movies of its kind ever made.

5) Shampoo - Warren Beatty's best film of the decade was this hilarious self parody. It's both a sex comedy and a biting spoof of the 1960s. Beatty plays a sweet but naive hairdresser caught between several women who have far more on the ball than he does. The look and the feel of this film perfectly capture the look and feel of Southern California, as does the whip-smart dialogue which still holds up all these years later. Beatty was one of the greatest leading men of this era -- even though he didn't make many films, he brought an off-kilter sensibility to everything he did.

4) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Jack Nicholson won a much-deserved best actor Oscar for his work in this iconic adaptation of the Ken Kesey book. While ultimately a little more inspirational than that classic text, this amazing and moving movie doesn't shy away from the ugly and claustrophobic side of mental institutions. A phenomenally effective actor's piece -- with Nicholson brilliantly occupying the center of it all as our unpredictable and sympathetic hero. The film was a big box office hit which is hard to believe considering the dreary subject matter. They don't make movies like this anymore, and that's a shame. I saw this film at a time when my father would make me read a book version of a movie first before I watched it -- always a smart move to help gain perspective on material.

3) Monty Python and the Holy Grail - This movie really shaped my sense of humor at a particularly formative age. I saw it when I was 10, presuming I would hate it, and when the movie was over I found myself obsessively consuming everything Python. It's probably not their most cohesive film (that would probably by Life of Brian) or their most visually inventive (that would be Meaning of Life, hands down) but it's got the most unadulterated belly laughs of any of their work and arguably most comedies to come out the decade. A completely insane project which will continue to stand the test of time.

2) Jaws - This might actually be Steven Spielberg's greatest film. He turned a trashy page-turner into one of the most riveting adventure movies of all time, reinventing summer movies and Hollywood in the process. Audiences may have been afraid of sharks before, but this nasty thriller made people terrified of them. And besides packing on the pure shocks, Spielberg crafts a terrific character study featuring three truly engrossing men who couldn't be more different, played to perfection by Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider. The film still holds up and remains the gold standard for mainstream entertainment.

1) Nashville - One of Robert Altman's greatest masterpieces has been frequently emulated (even by him) but never surpassed. He miraculously weaves over a dozen major characters who have all converged on Nashville for concerts and political rallies. A stunning indictment of all that was wrong about 1970s values and perspectives, but also riotously funny and touching at times too. A dream cast including Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty, Jeff Goldblum and many other terrific characters elevates this wonderful portrait of American life to a level that is sublime.