Criterion Collection by Decade (1970s), a list by Adam McGready

7.7

/34501/

76

/1354/

74

/626/

4.3

/133656/

84

/56/

83

/322/

68

/13/

Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.

68

21

8.3

/738/

47

/21/

76

/19/

4.3

/2655/

Commissioned to make a working-class family drama for public television, up-and-coming director Rainer Werner Fassbinder took the assignment and ran, dodging expectations by depicting social realities in West Germany from a critical—yet far from cynical—perspective. Over the course of five episodes, the sprawling story tracks the everyday triumphs and travails of the young toolmaker Jochen and many of the people populating his world, including the woman he loves, his eccentric family, and his fellow workers, with whom he bands together to improve conditions on the factory floor.

60

5.7

/19152/

67

/639/

61

/279/

3.4

/42404/

38

/116/

66

/1443/

53

/11/

3.0

age 8+

Dorothy Gale, a shy kindergarten teacher, is swept away to the magic land of Oz where she embarks on a quest to return home.

80

73

7.7

/7283/

74

/227/

71

/70/

4.1

/16154/

98

/48/

Cybernetics engineer Fred Stiller uncovers a massive corporate conspiracy involving a virtual reality computer project.

67

6.9

/12714/

67

/282/

64

/207/

3.4

/5519/

75

/28/

74

/168/

70

/7/

2.0

age 11+

The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.

71

7.1

/21695/

71

/488/

67

/342/

3.4

/10757/

90

/20/

77

/306/

77

/11/

2.0

age 12+

In 17th century France, young D'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends three legendary musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—and together, they become embroiled in the political intrigue surrounding King Louis XIII and his adversaries, particularly the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.

83

7.2

/8403/

72

/177/

65

/134/

4.0

/25910/

98

/84/

84

/394/

96

/24/

4.0

An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.

76

7.1

/20845/

69

/573/

67

/337/

3.8

/46499/

78

/85/

72

/193/

82

/9/

4.0

Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.

70

6.7

/12083/

67

/244/

67

/194/

3.6

/18513/

81

/36/

78

/359/

69

/14/

2.5

In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.

85

7.7

/7574/

73

/155/

73

/192/

4.2

/19290/

94

/35/

91

/96/

89

/18/

4.0

Aimless young Alexandre juggles his relationships with his girlfriend, Marie, and a casual lover named Veronika. Marie becomes increasingly jealous of Alexandre's fling with Veronika and as the trio continues their unsustainable affair, the emotional stakes get higher, leading to conflict and unhappiness.

86

8.1

/56710/

79

/1062/

79

/789/

4.4

/96353/

91

/55/

94

/816/

77

/8/

4.0

age 12+

During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.

71

27

7.4

/626/

70

/14/

73

/18/

3.9

/2121/

60

/2/

An intense insider's portrait of New Orleans' street celebrations and unique cultural gumbo: Second-line parades, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest. Features live music from Professor Longhair, the Wild Tchoupitoulas, the Neville Brothers and more. This glorious, soul-satisfying film is among Blank's special masterworks. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.

66

38

7.0

/1144/

60

/29/

62

/32/

3.7

/6154/

When a lone traveler stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.

84

8.1

/21795/

80

/616/

76

/296/

4.2

/42320/

98

/58/

94

/927/

84

/16/

3.0

age 13+

Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.

71

52

7.3

/2135/

69

/52/

66

/42/

3.8

/6554/

70

/10/

72

/24/

Martin Scorsese spends an evening with larger-than-life raconteur Steven Prince—a former drug addict, road manager for Neil Diamond, and actor—as he recounts stories from his colorful life.

75

59

7.6

/4180/

71

/89/

67

/77/

4.0

/17839/

82

/24/

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese interviews his mother and father about their life in New York and family history back in Sicily.

67

53

6.6

/2762/

61

/28/

62

/58/

3.6

/5995/

84

/19/

62

/26/

Tensions between members of a film crew build while they wait for the arrival of the director and star to arrive on location.

64

42

6.5

/2050/

63

/21/

62

/22/

3.3

/2632/

79

/14/

55

/19/

Ricky returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer.

62

39

6.4

/1637/

61

/17/

55

/28/

3.3

/2366/

83

/6/

47

/10/

A man is released from prison and finds society on the outside less than appealing. With several women as well as the police on his tail, he sets out to find an old friend.

64

53

6.4

/3758/

65

/45/

61

/56/

3.3

/6511/

70

/10/

58

/41/

Small-time pimp Franz is torn between his mistress and Bruno, the gangster sent after him by a shady crime syndicate he has refused to join.

42

7

4.7

/303/

40

/10/

39

/11/

3.0

/505/

27

/2/

Over a booze-fueled, increasingly hectic five-day shoot in East Hampton, Norman Mailer and his cast and crew spontaneously unloaded onto film the lurid and loony chronicle of U.S. presidential candidate and filmmaker Norman T. Kingsley debating and attacking his hangers-on and enemies. This gonzo narrative, “an inkblot test of Mailer’s own subconscious” (Time), becomes something like a documentary on its own making when costar Rip Torn breaks the fourth wall in one of cinema’s most alarming on-screen outbursts.

48

7

5.4

/254/

44

/10/

40

/4/

3.3

/577/

Popcorn

38

/4/

A film without a beginning or an end, Moment to Moment is a rush of curious sketches, scenes, and shots that takes on a rhythmic life of its own.

59

9

6.7

/284/

50

/7/

58

/8/

3.5

/558/

50

/2/

Five boys and five girls ages 13 to 19 live on a farm for ten weeks, to be filmed, and to see what might emerge for each of them personally.

70

24

7.0

/687/

63

/14/

74

/13/

3.9

/1260/

65

/9/

In this evocative, atmospheric biography, Roberto Rossellini brings to life philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal, who, amid religious persecution and ignorance, believed in a harmony between God and science.

59

17

6.3

/492/

63

/15/

43

/18/

3.4

/677/

58

/13/

In 1977 France, the Ministry of the Future chooses two “normal,” white, middle-class citizens, Claudine and Jean-Michel, for a national experiment. They will be monitored and displayed on television for six months in a model apartment outfitted with state-of-the-art products and nonstop surveillance—the template for “a new city for the new man".

73

13

7.0

/479/

58

/7/

67

/11/

3.5

/566/

100

/2/

Louis Malle presents his entertaining snapshot of the comings and goings on one street corner in Paris.

55

13

6.4

/516/

53

/11/

57

/11/

3.3

/914/

38

/1/

Louis Malle’s meditative investigation of the inner workings of a French automotive plant.

81

54

7.6

/2241/

77

/62/

73

/50/

4.0

/14209/

100

/11/

83

/3/

An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.

65

27

6.7

/800/

62

/9/

65

/18/

3.4

/1513/

In 1969, with Sven Nykvist as cinematographer, Ingmar Bergman made The Fårö Document, a film that ended with a rather pessimist view of the island’s future. One of the scenes in the film is of a school-bus and its young passengers. To these and to the realities ten years later Bergman returns in the long documentary Fårö Document 1979.

59

6.6

/6825/

65

/85/

62

/123/

3.4

/6714/

56

/83/

1.5

In 1923 Berlin, following the suicide of his brother, an American acrobat struggles to survive while facing unemployment, depression, alcoholism, and the social decay of Germany during the Weimar Republic.

88

8.3

/10114/

82

/394/

81

/391/

4.4

/52170/

88

/24/

95

/472/

4.0

Johan and Marianne are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

59

6.3

/2490/

62

/24/

58

/53/

3.2

/4135/

64

/25/

39

/10/

2.5

A Swedish housewife begins an adulterous affair with an American archaeologist, unaware of his emotional scars as a Holocaust survivor; consequently, their relationship will be painfully difficult.

67

27

6.7

/608/

66

/9/

69

/18/

3.4

/1634/

Bergman interviews the locals of Fårö in this fascinating documentary. An expression of personal and political solidarity with the fellow inhabitants of his adopted home, the island of Fårö in the Baltic Sea, this documentary investigates the sometimes deleterious effects of the modern world on traditional farming and fishing communities. The young, especially, voice doubts about remaining in such a remote, quiet place.

49

10

6.0

/482/

47

/16/

59

/9/

3.2

/582/

18

/3/

Pierre Etaix’s most radical film, and perhaps unsurprisingly the one that effectively ended his career in cinema, Land of Milk and Honey is a fascinating investigative documentary about post–May ’68 French society.

66

7.0

/4559/

68

/163/

65

/88/

3.8

/16810/

84

/25/

82

/76/

64

/7/

1.0

A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".

78

44

7.2

/261/

65

/4/

76

/4/

4.0

/1791/

100

/5/

80

/4/

Mixing narrative and documentary, the film retells a 16 year old girl's experience of a date rape.

67

7.2

/22942/

73

/443/

72

/444/

3.9

/26976/

60

/65/

82

/463/

53

/7/

2.0

Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.

68

46

6.6

/1289/

62

/33/

67

/34/

3.6

/2521/

80

/10/

64

/5/

70

/6/

The Ceddo people try to preserve their traditional African culture against the onslaught of Islam, Christianity, and the slave trade. When King Demba War sides with the Muslims, the Ceddo kidnap his daughter, Princess Dior Yacine, to protest their forcible conversion to Islam.

72

6.7

/2151/

64

/32/

68

/42/

3.5

/5412/

91

/11/

63

/67/

80

/11/

3.0

A rich businessman in Senegal is cursed with crippling erectile dysfunction upon the day of his marriage to his third wife; the only cure is brutal public humiliation.

73

40

7.1

/644/

68

/22/

73

/15/

3.9

/2147/

78

/6/

As World War II rages in Europe, a conflict arises between the French and the Diola-speaking tribe of Africa, prompting the village women to organize their men to sit beneath a tree to pray.

75

54

7.3

/2597/

72

/52/

69

/61/

4.1

/13575/

71

/7/

84

/16/

On a trip across Western Europe to promote her newest release, filmmaker Anna encounters several individuals—familiar and otherwise—and attends to their discontents.

77

60

7.3

/3440/

73

/103/

70

/85/

4.1

/30147/

100

/8/

68

/12/

Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman lives in New York. Filmed images of the City accompany texts of Akerman's loving mother back home in Brussels. The City comes more and more to the front while the words of the mother, read by Akerman herself, gradually fade away.

73

60

6.6

/3771/

70

/96/

65

/103/

3.7

/30637/

100

/9/

63

/22/

A woman suffers a subdued psychological breakdown in the wake of a devastating breakup.

53

17

6.2

/205/

37

/9/

48

/6/

3.4

/1532/

Mid-August in Paris (the title is a date: August 15) in a sunny, quiet apartment a young woman talks, thinks, reflects about herself, everyday life and little events in a long, uninterrupted monologue. The camera pictures her and her gestures in long, fixed shots moving around the rooms, the space, the light and shadows of a summer day.

59

37

6.1

/1104/

55

/22/

60

/27/

3.6

/4605/

50

/72/

Hotel Monterey is a cheap hotel in New York reserved for the outcasts of American society. Chantal Akerman invites viewers to visit this unusual place as well as the people who live there, from the reception up to the last story.

57

30

6.0

/1148/

62

/37/

53

/37/

3.5

/6340/