Best Films of the 70s

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

The Greatest, the Best, your Fav film of the 70s?

If your pick isn't on the list, click Other and drop a Post on that film.

Along with those in the poll, Jaws ('75), Chinatown ('74) and Patton ('70) are really good too IMO.

[Montresor]

Why not just ask people which film they would pick as being the best/their favourite of the '70s? Selecting a handful of big-name films along with the broad "other" kind of prejudices the decisions people would make.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

The limit is eight options and those are the ones most people choose. Usually when someone picks a title not one of those seven they click Other and drop a post on the film they went with. I like polls, I'm sorry you don't.

[Montresor]

The limit is eight options and those are the ones most people choose. Usually when someone picks a title not one of those seven they click Other and drop a post on the film they went with. I like polls, I'm sorry you don't.

I didn't mean to sound snippy, honest...I'm just tryig to make a point about surveys in general. It's like asking: "Which is the best university in the world - Oxford, Cambridge, or one of those Other ones". Immediately people would start thinking whether Oxford or Cambridge was better, and not what was the best of all the conceivable options. People's responses are often dictated by the clearer options presented, not what they might actually think.

Polls are fine, but an eight limit is rather constricting for the question. I don't know what I'd say, though I'd probably pick either a Russian or a Japanese film from the seventies. If I went for an American one, I'd probably choose Taxi Driver.

[StevieG]

I'll choose The Deer Hunter, mainly because I just saw it again last week. I think that will change shortly though, it's just the one in my head right now.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Dude. You just watched a billion films in three days or whatever you posted (saw it in another thread)...you're probably a minority as far as number of films seen and preferences...so I'd gather the constriction of only seven main options is difficult for you. I used to be a film nut myself, I've seen a ton of films...and those seven, along with a couple others would be the ones I'd bet most would vote for...but I could be wrong.

Taxi Driver. Gotta say. I started watching it once, got ten minutes in...was just bored. Stopped watching. I'll probably go back and watch it at some point, but seriously though, what's so great about it? It seemed to be a film that hit the spot at the time but now it just doesn't have much?

[Montresor]

I actually don't get to see much in the way of films anymore and, if I miss them in the cinema, I usually completely miss them. I tend to see a lot at the Brisbane International Film Fest because it's my way of splurging on one of my favourite art forms for a short period of time. I guess you're right, though - I have possibly seen more than most and do find it hard for various reasons to constrict my choices (I taught American History through film at university for the first half of this year).

The thing is, though, you take this poll to Asia and they would be baffled by some of the choices. It's all a matter of preference and exposure, I guess.

As for Taxi Driver, I think it's great for too many reasons to list, but the ones most people rave about are the direction, editing, soundtrack, acting, script etc. De Niro turns in the performance of his life, as does Foster. It does seem to encapsulate New York of the '70s quite well, but I don't think that dates it. The film's themes of isolation, loneliness, insanity, and anonymity are always going to be timeless. But again, it's all preference.

[Savor Dam]

While I say so with full knowledge that the serious students of cinema will savage me for the choice...

My favorite film of the '70s is What's Up, Doc. No, it has virtually nothing to do with Bugs Bunny! Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn (her first full-length feature) in a classic screwball comedy set in San Franciso. Kenneth Mars, Austin Pendleton, Randy Quaid and John Hillerman are among the other players of note.

Liked it well enough back in '72 to see it several times (OK, an teen crush on Babs may have been a factor) and still enjoy it every time I see it.

[ItisWritten]

While I say so with full knowledge that the serious students of cinema will savage me for the choice...

My favorite film of the '70s is What's Up, Doc. No, it has virtually nothing to do with Bugs Bunny! Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn (her first full-length feature) in a classic screwball comedy set in San Franciso. Kenneth Mars, Austin Pendleton, Randy Quaid and John Hillerman are among the other players of note.

Liked it well enough back in '72 to see it several times (OK, an teen crush on Babs may have been a factor) and still enjoy it every time I see it.

Oh my. Whenever my wife and I want to watch something and we don't know what, What's Up Doc is in the mix. It's about the only movie that Striesand did that I'll watch. We like tracking the plaid overnight cases.

Jaws is still tops though.

[Worm of Despite]

70s was a great film decade, with my favorite being A Clockwork Orange: stumbled on it at age 15 while channel-flipping at midnight; quite a lode of art and imagery to just jump at you like that. Didn't move for two hours. Then Apocalypse Now, The Godfathers and Taxi Driver. Cuckoo's Nest is up there, too. Rock, Star Wars and Alien are a bit dispensable to me.

Not much into Russian or Japanese film in the 70s, especially since Kurosawa's best work was before that (and one after: Ran; though I'd be interested to see your picks, Montressor).

[Cail]

There were a lot of great films made in the '70s, but I gotta go with Rocky.

[Montresor]

Not much into Russian or Japanese film in the 70s, especially since Kurosawa's best work was before that (and one after: Ran; though I'd be interested to see your picks, Montressor).

Russian films were uaually pretty bad in any era (they seem to be getting quite good with the work of Balabanov and others these days), and Japanese cinema was definitely in the decline in the '70s. Even so, when I think of films of this era, I usually think of Russian and Japanese films. Tarkovsky did his stuff mostly in the '70s, and he's undoubtedly one of the greatest film-makers of all time. As for Kurosawa, most of his very best stuff was pre-1970, though he continued to make masterworks beyond this time. Dersu Uzala is at least as good as anything bar Seven Samurai he did.

American cinema was at its artistic height in the '70s (in my opinion), at least until Star Wars and Jaws ruined it for all the adults.

Come to think of it, I can't believe the Exorcist isn't in that list and Alien is...

[Worm of Despite]

Well, I see it as a natural evolution from arty films to blockbuster/event films, so a Jaws or Star Wars was bound to drop; the movement of more serious films just wound out its gears. Alien wasn't so bad, if you accept it's a dressed-up slasher film with some great atmosphere, lighting, and H.R. Giger touches (I much preferred Aliens; hell of an action film).

Seven Samurai, really, was an event/action film itself, though with every bit of touch and depth as an art-house piece (seeing as its director had done an art house movie to great effect in that decade: Rashomon).

I'm guessing you've seen it, Montressor: Oldboy. That's a great film from this decade out of Korea.

[Montresor]

Well, I see it as a natural evolution from arty films to blockbuster/event films, so a Jaws or Star Wars was bound to drop; the movement of more serious films just wound out its gears. Alien wasn't so bad, if you accept it's a dressed-up slasher film with some great atmosphere, lighting, and H.R. Giger touches (I much preferred Aliens; hell of an action film).

Don't get me wrong, I actually love Alien. One of my favourite films. It's just that I think Exorcist is hands-down the greatest horror film of all time.

I'm guessing you've seen it, Montressor: Oldboy. That's a great film from this decade out of Korea.

Yeah. Own a copy. Love it. Have you seen the other two parts of the Vengeance Trilogy? They are all very good, though Oldboy is something really special. Korean cinema would be my pick for the most interesting film industry at the moment, but only just ahead of Hong Kong.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

I wouldn't think it would get a vote for THE greatest of the 70s.

[Loredoctor]

The limit is eight options and those are the ones most people choose. Usually when someone picks a title not one of those seven they click Other and drop a post on the film they went with. I like polls, I'm sorry you don't.

He's not saying he doesn't likes polls, he's saying it's inaccurate to list what you think are the top films of the 70s and then to have an 'other' option. What does the other option mean? It's meaningless because it encapsulates so many movies. How can you compare, say, rocky to that option. You can't, and thus the poll is misleading.

[Worm of Despite]

I dunno. The Exorcist is almost like an archetype to me, but I do enjoy it when I'm in the mood. It's really exciting when I see good Asian cinema, though. There's just a lot of culture and a different pace there, and the best films really capture it. Hayao Miyazaki's films often do this (Whisper of the Heart is an immaculately-rendered 1995 Tokyo).

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

wth are you talking about? That is a standard Poll format when the options aren't set in stone. Crazy.

[Loredoctor]

wth are you talking about? That is a standard Poll format when the options aren't set in stone.

I get that. I'm just saying that the poll results cannot be used to indicate anything. I'm glad you encourage discussions about films and book - it's refreshing. I just think that some of your polls could be done differently.

[StevieG]

Perhaps for this sort of thing a question "What are your top 5/10 top films of the 1970s?" or "What is your all time favourite film of the 70s?" would be better than a poll. Just my opinion