56 articles
A Woman Under the Influence
A Woman Under the Influence (1974) is John Cassavetes's independent drama starring Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk as Mabel and Nick Longhetti; self-financed, self-distributed, and nominated for two Academy Awards.
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen Seele auf) is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1974 West German melodrama about Emmi, a 60-year-old Munich cleaning woman, and Ali, a younger Moroccan guest worker, shot in 14 days, modeled on Sirk's All That Heaven Allows.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a 1974 Warner Bros. drama directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Robert Getchell, starring Ellen Burstyn as widowed singer-aspirant Alice Hyatt; it won Burstyn the 1975 Best Actress Oscar and spawned the CBS sitcom Alice.
Alice in the Cities
Alice in the Cities (Alice in den Städten) is Wim Wenders's 1974 black-and-white West German road movie, first of his Road Trilogy, starring Rüdiger Vogler and Yella Rottländer as a journalist and a girl searching the Ruhr for her grandmother.
Ana y los Lobos
Ana y los lobos (Anna and the Wolves) is a 1973 Spanish drama by Carlos Saura, written with Rafael Azcona and produced by Elías Querejeta, starring Geraldine Chaplin as an English governess in an allegorical household of the late Franco regime; it competed at Cannes 1973.
Bang the Drum Slowly
Bang the Drum Slowly: 1973 Paramount sports drama directed by John D. Hancock, adapted by Mark Harris from his 1956 novel, starring Robert De Niro as dying catcher Bruce Pearson and Michael Moriarty as pitcher Henry Wiggen of the fictional New York Mammoths; Vincent Gardenia earned a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
Behind the Green Door
Behind the Green Door is a 1972 hard-core feature by the Mitchell brothers, starring former Ivory Snow model Marilyn Chambers; the first widely distributed US pornographic film, it grossed $25–50 million and triggered obscenity cases reaching the Supreme Court.
Bleak Moments
Bleak Moments (1971) is Mike Leigh's debut feature film, adapted from his 1970 stage play, about secretary Sylvia caring for her disabled sister in South London; made for about £18,000 on 35mm.
Carnal Knowledge (film)
Carnal Knowledge is a 1971 Mike Nichols comedy-drama written by Jules Feiffer, starring Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen, and Ann-Margret; it traces two college friends' sexual lives over decades and survived a US Supreme Court obscenity case.
Confessions Among Actresses
Confessions Among Actresses (告白的女優論, Kokuhakuteki joyuron) is a 1971 Japanese drama by Yoshishige Yoshida, produced by Gendai Eigasha and distributed by Japan ATG, starring Ruriko Asaoka, Mariko Okada, and Ineko Arima as actresses facing private traumas two days before filming a movie of the same title.
Cries and Whispers
Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop), Ingmar Bergman's 1972 Swedish drama about sisters keeping vigil for the dying Agnes, famous for its red interiors, Sven Nykvist's Oscar-winning cinematography, and Cannes Technical Grand Prize.
Day for Night (1973 film)
Day for Night (La nuit américaine) is François Truffaut's 1973 France/Italy comedy-drama about making a film, starring Truffaut as director Ferrand; it won the 1973 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Dodes'ka-den (どですかでん)
Dodes'ka-den (どですかでん, Dodesukaden) is Akira Kurosawa's 1970 first color film, a vignette portrait of slum dwellers on a Tokyo dump, made by the Yonki-no-kai collective, Oscar-nominated, and a box-office failure followed by Kurosawa's suicide attempt.
Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces (1970) is Bob Rafelson's New Hollywood drama starring Jack Nicholson as pianist-turned-oil-rigger Bobby Dupea, with Karen Black; four Oscar nominations, NYFCC Best Film, National Film Registry 2000.
Fruit of Paradise
Fruit of Paradise (Ovoce stromů rajských jíme) is Věra Chytilová's 1970 Czechoslovak-Belgian allegorical film retelling Adam and Eve as a detective parable in a health spa, her last film before a seven-year normalization-era ban.
Heavenly Homecoming to the Stars
Heavenly Homecoming to the Stars (별들의 고향) is Lee Jang-ho's 1974 debut film, adapted from Choi In-ho's serialized novel, about Gyeong-a, a woman ruined in Seoul; it set a Korean box-office record with about 465,000 admissions.
Jacob the Liar
Jacob the Liar (Jakob der Lügner) is Frank Beyer's 1974 DEFA film adapted from Jurek Becker's novel, about a Jew in a 1944 Polish ghetto who invents a radio; the only East German film nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Le Mans (film)
Le Mans (film) is a 1971 American sports drama directed by Lee H. Katzin, starring Steve McQueen, focusing on the 24 Hours of Le Mans with minimal dialogue.
Love Story (1970 film)
Love Story (1970 film), also known by its tagline "Love means never having to say you're sorry," is an Arthur Hiller romantic drama starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal, adapted from Erich Segal's bestseller; it was 1970's top-grossing film and won an Oscar for Francis Lai's score.
Lovin' Molly
Lovin' Molly (1974) is a Sidney Lumet drama-romance adapted by Stephen J. Friedman from Larry McMurtry's novel Leaving Cheyenne, starring Blythe Danner, Anthony Perkins, and Beau Bridges in a forty-year Texas love triangle; shot in Bastrop, Texas, released by Columbia, and poorly received.
Out 1
Out 1 is a 1971 French drama directed by Jacques Rivette and starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, following a Paris street performer chasing a secret society of thirteen.
Papillon (1973 film)
Papillon (1973) is Franklin J. Schaffner's prison drama starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, adapted from Henri Charrière's memoir of the French Guiana penal colony; a box-office hit with an Oscar-nominated Jerry Goldsmith score.
Pastoral: To Die in the Country (田園に死す)
Pastoral: To Die in the Country (田園に死す, Den'en ni shisu) is Shūji Terayama's 1974 autobiographical avant-garde film, his second feature, adapted from his own tanka collection, produced by ATG, and entered at Cannes.
Ryan's Daughter
Ryan's Daughter is David Lean's 1970 MGM romantic drama, scripted by Robert Bolt and loosely based on Madame Bovary, about an Irishwoman's affair with a British officer in 1916; filmed in Kerry, it was panned, won two Oscars, and drove Lean into a 14-year hiatus.
Sambizanga
Sambizanga is Sarah Maldoror's 1972 Angola/France feature, adapted from José Luandino Vieira's novel A Vida Verdadeira de Domingos Xavier, about Maria searching for her MPLA activist husband arrested by Portuguese police; banned in colonial Angola, it won the 1972 Carthage Tanit d'Or and was restored in 2021.
Savage Messiah
Savage Messiah is Ken Russell's 1972 British biographical drama of sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Sophie Brzeska, written by Christopher Logue from H.S. Ede's 1931 biography, starring Dorothy Tutin, Scott Antony, and Helen Mirren.
Save the Tiger
Save the Tiger (1973) is an American drama directed by John G. Avildsen, written by Steve Shagan, starring Jack Lemmon as garment maker Harry Stoner, who commits arson for insurance; Lemmon won the Best Actor Oscar.
Scarecrow (1973 film)
Scarecrow (1973) is a Jerry Schatzberg road drama starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino as drifters heading east, written by Garry Michael White. It shared the 1973 Cannes Palme d'Or with The Hireling, was shot on location in fall 1972, and underperformed at the US box office despite admiring later reviews.
Sounder (film)
Sounder (1972) is Martin Ritt's drama, adapted by Lonne Elder III from William H. Armstrong's Newbery-winning novella, about a Louisiana sharecropper family; starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, and Kevin Hooks, it earned four Oscar nominations and joined the National Film Registry in 2021.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant) is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1972 West German drama, adapted from his 1971 play: an all-female chamber piece in which fashion designer Petra (Margit Carstensen) loves and loses Karin (Hanna Schygulla), shot by Michael Ballhaus in one apartment.