Underrated 70s
An evolving list of 70s films that I feel all deserve more love. Some of these movies make the list for having low average user ratings. Others are here for having very few user ratings. All of these are movies I like. (Though some are certainly better than others!) Here, then, is my list of the best unappreciated, misunderstood and/or unknown 70s films that I particularly enjoyed, films that surely deserve higher ratings and/or a bigger audience.
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- DirectorOssie DavisStarsGodfrey CambridgeRaymond St. JacquesCalvin LockhartTwo Harlem cops investigate a robbery, believing that a reverend has staged it in order to steal the money he's collected for a local fundraiser.
- DirectorJack WoodsDennis MurenMark Thomas McGeeStarsEdward ConnellBarbara HewittFrank BonnerFour friends are attacked by a demon while on a picnic, due to possession of a tome of mystic information. Told in flashbacks by the sole survivor.
- DirectorRichard RushStarsElliott GouldCandice BergenRobert F. LyonsA Vietnam vet and former social radical is conflicted by his desire to become a teacher and his sympathy with anti-establishment student protests.
- DirectorAlan GibsonStarsJudy GeesonMartin PotterMichael RedgraveUnnaturally-close jet-setting twins become enmeshed in the Swinging London scene, where their relationship is strained after they befriend a predatory hustler and his girlfriend.
- DirectorPaul BogartStarsCalvin LockhartJanet MacLachlanJeff BridgesAn all-black inner city school has to become an integrated school. Few dozen white kids are transferred there, but the black students are aggressively opposed to this. The school then approaches a tough black teacher for help.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsGregory PeckTuesday WeldEstelle ParsonsHenry Tawes, a middle-aged sheriff in a rural Tennessee town, is usually the first man to criticize others for their bad behavior. Miserable in his marriage, Henry falls in love with teenage Alma, who is the daughter of local criminal.
- DirectorRadley MetzgerStarsSilvana VenturelliFrank WolffErika RembergFilmed in the breathtaking Castle of Balsorano in Italy's Abruzzi Mountains, The Lickerish Quartet finds three people obsessed with an erotic film that features a striking young blonde woman.
- DirectorFrancesco MaselliStarsDaniele CostantiniNino Dal FabbroLaura De MarchiA rash letter of protest sparks a crisis for a group of affluent, Communist intellectuals in Italy who find themselves suddenly challenged to back up their incendiary rhetoric with action.
- DirectorRobert Downey Sr.StarsJoe MaddenJames GreenMariclare CostelloIn a pound, 18 dogs wait to be adopted.
- DirectorStuart HagmannStarsBruce DavisonKim DarbyBud CortAn apolitical college student joins a group of campus protesters to meet girls but gets swept up in their cause and involved in a violent confrontation with police.
- DirectorMelvin Van PeeblesStarsGodfrey CambridgeEstelle ParsonsHoward CaineJeff Gerber, a racist white man, wakes up one morning to discover that he has become black.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsWarren BeattyGoldie HawnGert FröbeA bank security expert plots with a call girl to rob three safety deposit boxes containing $1.5 million in cash belonging to three very different criminals from a high-tech security bank in Hamburg, Germany.
- DirectorHenry JaglomStarsTuesday WeldOrson WellesJack NicholsonA strange young woman lives in a fantasy world where she can never grow up.
- DirectorGualtiero JacopettiFranco ProsperiStarsStefano SibaldiSusan HampshireDick GregoryTwo documentary filmmakers go back in time to the pre-Civil War American South, to film the slave trade.
- DirectorPete WalkerStarsSusan GeorgeBarry EvansChristopher SandfordAfter their parents divorce, one daughter lives with her mother in England while the other lives with her father in Portugal. After the untimely death of her mother, the one daughter stands to inherit a large sum of money and also a number of documents containing information that will incriminate her father, who was a crooked judge. While her father wants the documents, her sister wants the money and they will each stop at nothing, even murder, to get what they want.
- DirectorGordon HesslerStarsJason RobardsHerbert LomChristine KaufmannParis...at the turn of the century. Inspector Vidocq investigates a series of unexplained murders at a Grand Guignol-type theatre...where the players have suddenly become real-life victims. Based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe.
- DirectorJohn 'Bud' CardosStarsJohn Davis ChandlerSteve EvansMark HopkinsVery rare and seldom-seen, youth-oriented racing movie. It is the story of a young man's dream to get a ride in a top-fuel dragster.
- DirectorJack NicholsonStarsWilliam TepperKaren BlackMichael MargottaThe star player of a college basketball team starts to go off the rails with an illicit love affair and his roommate going crazy to avoid the war draft.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsBrenda SykesJohn NeilsonMaia DanzigerSheila, an affluent black teenager, begins dating working class white teen Wayne, and asks him for help to sell a kilo of marijuana.
- DirectorJack LemmonStarsWalter MatthauDeborah WintersFelicia FarrWanting to avoid settling in a nursing home, Joseph Kotcher, a retired salesman, is obliged to leave his son's family. He embarks on a road trip during which he strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenager and begins to understand the true meaning of life as he helps the girl give birth to her child.
- DirectorE.W. SwackhamerStarsBill CosbyGloria FosterLeif EricksonAfter the Civil War, a black ex-union soldier, his wife, and his son settle in Arizona Territory to homestead and build their lives. At first, Caleb Revers race doesn't seem to matter, but then things change.
- DirectorWalon GreenEd SpiegelStarsLawrence PressmanConlan CarterIan McShaneA scientist explains how the savagery and efficiency of the insect world could result in their taking over the world.
- DirectorNicolas GessnerStarsCharles BronsonAnthony PerkinsJill IrelandA neurosurgeon with a cheating wife takes an amnesiac into his home and conditions him to believe that the cheating wife is his own and to take the "appropriate" action.
- DirectorRoger VadimStarsRock HudsonAngie DickinsonTelly SavalasCalifornia State Police Captain Sam Surcher investigates a string of teenage-girl murders at Oceanfront High School.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsMichael SarrazinBarbara HersheyArthur HillA young college student is sent to prison as much for killing a pedestrian with his car as for not paying his parking tickets. When the opportunity presents itself he escapes and is subsequently on the run with his girlfriend. But how long can this situation last?
- DirectorPaul BogartGordon DouglasStarsJames GarnerLouis Gossett Jr.Susan ClarkIn 1857, con man Quincy Drew and his black friend Jason O'Rourke swindle slave owners into buying Jason, who's a free man, and later share the profits when Jason escapes captivity.
- DirectorAlbert T. ViolaStarsAlbert T. ViolaIlene KristenAdam HessePhony backwoods preacher Amos T. Huxley stays in a small North Carolina town long enough to fleece his congregation, swindle the profits from a moonshine still, and seduce dumb blonde Mary Lou. Mary Lou's ex-boyfriend becomes suspicious of the preacher and gets the local police to investigate his actions.
- DirectorFernando ArrabalStarsAnouk FerjacNúria EspertMahdi ChaouchDuring Spanish Civil War, young Fando navigates parents' clashing ideologies after father's arrest. Explores his imagination, friendships, views on sex and death amid family upheaval. Questions mother, seeks father's fate.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsJohn Phillip LawDon StroudBarry PrimusThe story of Manfred von Richthofen, the German air ace during World War I and his struggle with the enemy aces and some jealous German officers.
- DirectorCurtis HarringtonStarsDebbie ReynoldsShelley WintersDennis WeaverTwo middle-aged women move to Hollywood, California after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.
- DirectorSidney PoitierJoseph SargentStarsSidney PoitierHarry BelafonteRuby DeeA wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.
- DirectorBarry PollackStarsThalmus RasulalaJudy PaceJulian ChristopherThalmus is the leader for a group of criminals who gather in L.A. to rob a bank. Their goal is to find a new bank.
- DirectorPaul WilliamsStarsHoward GardnerRobert F. LyonsEllen BarberA cocky Harvard graduate transports a load of marijuana from Berkeley to Boston. His girlfriend gets busted with the second load. He and a friend go against a dirty cop and a Cuban gangster to get the load and the girl back.
- DirectorTom GriesStarsVic MorrowAlan AldaClu GulagerA young guard and a college professor convicted of manslaughter both start their first day in prison.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsJack NicholsonBruce DernEllen BurstynA daydreamer convinces his radio personality brother to help fund one of his get-rich-quick schemes.
- DirectorCurtis HarringtonStarsShelley WintersMark LesterChloe FranksA demented widow lures unsuspecting children into her mansion in a bizarre "Hansel and Gretel" twist.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsCharlton HestonJames BrolinYvette MimieuxA crazed Vietnam vet bomber hijacks a Boeing 707 in this disaster film filled with the usual early '70s stereotypes, and demands to be taken to Russia.
- DirectorArnold PerlStarsJames Earl JonesOssie DavisJohn AliJames Earl Jones narrates this fascinating and moving documentary about the life of the assassinated black leader through various sources.
- DirectorSarah KernochanHoward SmithStarsAgnes BenjaminMarjoe GortnerVernon GortnerThis Oscar-winning documentary explores the life of one-time child evangelist and faith healer Marjoe Gortner. The son of professional evangelists, Gortner was preaching on the Southern tent-revival circuit by the age of 3.
- DirectorSilvio AmadioStarsFarley GrangerBarbara BouchetRosalba NeriThe secretary of a writer and his wife investigates the disappearance of her lover - their previous secretary - and finds herself the target of the couple's erotic desires and a murder plot.
- DirectorRobert FrankStarsTruman CapoteDick CavettMarshall ChessFollow the Rolling Stones on their 1972 North American Tour and their first return to the States since the tragedy at Altamont.
- DirectorFrancine ParkerStarsJane FondaDonald SutherlandPamela DoneganAvailable for the first time since it mysteriously disappeared in 1972 after only one week in theaters, this raucous film is a riveting slice of the Vietnam anti-war movement.
- DirectorVicente ArandaStarsSimón AndreuMaribel MartínAlexandra BastedoNewlywed Susan is haunted by visions of Mircalla Karnstein, a centuries-old bride who murdered her husband on their wedding night.
- DirectorPeter RobinsonStarsR.D. LaingLeon RedlerDavid BellA documentary crew lives with the schizophrenic residents of a group home based upon radical psychiatrist R. D. Laing's controversial approach to healing through compassion and freedom.
- DirectorWilliam A. FrakerStarsRobert ShawSally KellermanMary UreA disturbed young girl starts believing that there is something very sinister at work after her estranged father visits her at her mother and grandmother's house with the woman he plans to marry.
- DirectorLarry CohenStarsYaphet KottoAndrew DugganJoyce Van PattenWhen a criminal breaks into the Beverly Hills home of a wealthy couple having marital problems, he unwillingly provides the spouses with an unlikely resolution to their conflicts as well as a solution to his own secret problem.
- DirectorWalter R. CichyStarsJason WilliamsBill OscoDiane KellerTwo hippies on their way to a cocaine deal get stopped by the police at a roadblock, resulting in a shootout where they kill the cops. They then go on a crime spree of robbery and murder.
- DirectorRobert HendricksonLaurence MerrickStarsBobby BeausoleilMary BrunnerVincent BugliosiDocumentary on Charles Manson and his family. Has a number of insightful interviews with many family members most notably Squeaky and Sandy (Blue and Red). There is also a history of Manson from his birth to the family formation to the Tate/La Bianca murders. Plenty of footage of the family playing at Spahn Ranch.
- DirectorAram AvakianStarsCliff GormanJoseph BolognaCharlene DallasTwo disillusioned New York City policemen plan a ten million dollar robbery to fuel their low pensions, only to run into one debacle after another in the process.
- DirectorOssie DavisStarsPaul WinfieldCarl LeeDavid DowningFour Vietnam Vets go to war against the drug dealers and pimps of Harlem.
- DirectorTheodore GershunyStarsGeorge ShannonMary WoronovLynn LowryAfter an actress is murdered by a pornographer during an erotic "game" that is made to look like a suicide, her lesbian lover uses another aspiring starlet as a pawn to exact revenge.
- DirectorFernando Di LeoStarsHenry SilvaRichard ConteGianni GarkoA hitman finds himself embroiled in the middle of a Mafia war between the Sicilians and the Calabrians.
- DirectorDon ChaffeyStarsRichard RoundtreeRoy ThinnesNigel DavenportA black, Union Army deserter and his crippled American Indian hostage form a strained partnership in the interests of surviving the advancing threats of a racist bounty hunter and neighboring bandits.
- DirectorDenis SandersStarsWilliam SmithAnitra FordVictoria VetriA powerful cosmic force is turning Earth women into queen bees who kill men by wearing them out sexually.
- DirectorBob KelljanStarsWilliam MarshallDon MitchellPam GrierThe vampire Mamuwalde (a.k.a. Blacula) is resurrected by voodoo and forced to kill again.
- DirectorSergio SollimaStarsOliver ReedFabio TestiPaola PitagoraAn Italian prison warden is forced to exchange a French criminal for his kidnapped wife, but they soon find themselves on the trail of a larger conspiracy.
- DirectorLamont JohnsonStarsJeff BridgesValerie PerrineGeraldine FitzgeraldA young hellraiser quits his moonshine business to try to become the best NASCAR racer the south has ever seen.
- DirectorLamar CardPaul HuntStarsMichael GreeneGregory SierraOtis YoungA scientist discovers a plot to clone other scientists so the government can control the weather.
- DirectorHarvey HartStarsKaren BlackChristopher PlummerDonald PilonA police detective uncovers a sinister occult explanation behind the mysterious death of a heroin-addicted prostitute.
- DirectorRollin BinzerStarsMick JaggerKeith RichardsMick TaylorA concert film taken from two Rolling Stones concerts during their 1972 North American tour.
- DirectorTa HuangStarsMichael Wai-Man ChanFan ChiangYeh FangA martial arts fighter, haunted by his past, takes a job as a dock worker in a small village. His vow never to fight again is tested by the cruel owner of the pier.
- DirectorIvan PasserStarsCarroll O'ConnorErnest BorgnineAnn WedgeworthIn the crime-ridden '70s New York City, two cops have had enough. They, along with few other disgruntled people decide to take the things into their own hands only to realize too late that they're in over their heads.
- DirectorMassimo DallamanoStarsGiovanna RalliClaudio CassinelliMario AdorfPolice investigate apparent suicide of teen girl and uncover details of a teenage prostitution racket. They go on the hunt for a motorcycle riding killer.
- DirectorAlberto De MartinoStarsCarla GravinaMel FerrerArthur KennedyA paralyzed young woman becomes possessed by the Devil when a hypnosis session - intended to heal her disability - accidentally awakens memories of her past life as a witch.
- DirectorOvidio G. AssonitisRoberto D'Ettorre PiazzoliStarsJuliet MillsRichard JohnsonGabriele LaviaJuliet Mills plays a young pregnant woman in San Francisco who is going to have the devil's baby during her strange possession. Richard Johnson shows up to help her... but what does he really want?
- DirectorRichard T. HeffronStarsMartin SheenVic MorrowMichelle PhillipsA deranged desert town sheriff has a murderous habit of forcing speeders to their deaths, until a young man with a souped-up hotrod arrives to possibly end it.
- DirectorLeon CapetanosLewis TeagueStarsMorgan PaullArt MetranoPat AndersonA police officer has very little work as there is virtually no crime in his small California town...until three hoodlums appear and rape a young woman.
- DirectorRichard ComptonStarsAlan VintCheryl WatersMax Baer Jr.A vengeful Southern sheriff is out for blood after his wife is brutally killed by a pair of drifters.
- DirectorSandy HarbuttStarsDeryck BarnesSandy HarbuttHugh Keays-ByrneAfter one of its members witnesses a political assassination, a motorbike gang becomes the target of a string of murders, prompting a cop to join their ranks to determine who is responsible.
- DirectorPaul MaslanskyStarsMarki BeyRobert QuarryDon Pedro ColleyWhen her boyfriend is murdered by mobsters, Sugar Hill decides not to get mad, but BAD. She asks the voodoo priestess Mama Maitresse to summon Baron Samedi, the Lord of the Dead, to help her gain a gruesome revenge. In exchange for Sugar's soul, the Dark Master raises up a zombie army to do her bidding. The bad guys who think they got away clean are about to find out that they are DEAD wrong.
- DirectorGordon Parks Jr.StarsMax JulienVonetta McGeeGeorge MurdockThe exploits of 1910s bounty hunter Thomasine and bandit Bushrod who, after rekindling their old romance, take to robbing banks to survive, stealing from rich whites and sharing their loot with the poor on the harsh frontier.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsAhmad NurradinAnthony WilsonNelson SimsA group of ghetto kids try to find out who killed a popular police officer.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsSean ConneryCharlotte RamplingSara KestelmanIn the late 23rd century, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.
- DirectorJerry JamesonStarsKurt RussellRichard YniguezNed BeattyThe infamous story of Charles Whitman, "America's favourite sniper" (in Stephen King's words), is told here once again.
- DirectorRobert EmeneggerAllan SandlerStarsCameron MitchellGloria PrinceDon FelipeAn examination of reincarnation, regression, and other life-after-death subjects.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsBurt ReynoldsCybill ShepherdMadeline KahnFour socialite old friends unexpectedly clash, and switch partners during a party and attempt to make each other jealous.
- DirectorKeith CritchlowWalter F. ParkesStarsAllen VincentKen McAllisterPaul RaymondA documentary about the Nazi party in America.
- DirectorJohn ByrumStarsRichard DreyfussJessica HarperBob HoskinsA young, once-great Hollywood film director refuses to accept changing times during the early 1930s, and confines himself to his decaying mansion to make silent porn flicks.
- DirectorJuan López MoctezumaStarsCristina FerrareDavid YoungJohn CarradineAn American artist with a penchant for drinking blood begins seducing and dispatching residents of a small fishing town in Mexico.
- DirectorDavid WorthRichard RobinsonStarsLeslie UggamsShelley WintersMichael ChristianA wrong turn on a jazz singer's road trip results in her car breaking down near an isolated lodge run by a faded starlet and a young, homicidal Elvis impersonator.
- DirectorJoe WiezyckiStarsStephen WhiteEldon MechamJoyce MolloyRunaway teen Bobby is given shelter by a cult of Satanists, but his presence and questionable sexuality leads to conflicts within Satan's Children.
- DirectorJeannot SzwarcStarsBradford DillmanJoanna MilesRichard GillilandAn earthquake releases a strain of mutant cockroaches with the ability to start fires, which proceed to cause destructive chaos in a small town. The studies carried out by scientist James Parmiter, however, reveal an intent with much more far-reaching consequences.
- DirectorWalerian BorowczykStarsSirpa LaneLisbeth HummelElisabeth KazaIn order to inherit a fortune a young woman agrees to marry a young man. She soon discovers that his family harbours a dark past involving a monstrous beast.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsPaolo BonacelliGiorgio CataldiUberto Paolo QuintavalleIn World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental, and sexual torture.
- DirectorArthur MarksStarsFred WilliamsonPam GrierThalmus RasulalaAfter being hassled by The Man in a southern town, a cool operator asks some violent friends for help. After all, if you can't trust another brother, who can you trust?
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsJan-Michael VincentKay LenzSlim PickensIn 1970s Arizona, a young married man becomes an independent long-haul driver and he risks his life fighting the corruption in the local long-haul trucking industry.
- DirectorBrian Trenchard-SmithJimmy Wang YuStarsJimmy Wang YuGeorge LazenbyHugh Keays-ByrneWhile on dispatch in Australia to extradite a drug courier, a tough Hong Kong cop wages a one-man war against Sydney's most powerful kingpin.
- DirectorSidney PoitierStarsSidney PoitierBill CosbyCalvin LockhartTwo Atlanta men raise funds for their charity by rigging boxing matches in New Orleans, but their tricks attract the mob's attention.
- DirectorWilliam CrainStarsBernie CaseyRosalind CashMarie O'HenryWhen a black scientist develops a formula to regenerate dying liver cells and tests it on himself, it accidentally turns him into an albino monster with a lust for murdering prostitutes, pimps and drug dealers.
- DirectorVincent McEveetyStarsEdward AsnerDon KnottsGary GrimesThe inept 'California Atoms,' floundering in the cellar of the National Football League, welcome the team's newest member - a mule capable of place kicking a football 100 yards with deadly accuracy.
- DirectorMatt CimberStarsMillie PerkinsLonny ChapmanVanessa BrownA disturbed woman is haunted by memories of childhood abuse, which culminates in a murder spree.
- DirectorBurt BrinckerhoffStarsDavid McCallumSandra McCabeGeorge WynerA pack of dogs goes on a killing spree.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsTimothy BottomsSusan GeorgeBo HopkinsA crooked sheriff in a small Southern town frames an ex-convict in a drug bust and takes his girlfriend.
- DirectorMax Baer Jr.StarsRobby BensonGlynnis O'ConnorJoan HotchkisIn 1950s Mississippi, teenager Bobbie Lee Hartley navigates her blossoming hormones as she is courted by Billy Joe McAllister, who is headed for tragedy.
- DirectorNeal IsraelBradley R. SwirnoffStarsPhil ProctorHoward HessemanBeans MoroccoA committee investigating TV's first uncensored network examines a typical day's programming, which includes shows, commercials, news programs, you name it. What they discover will surely crack you up! This outrageous and irreverent spoof of television launched the careers of some of the greatest comedians of all time.
- DirectorCharles B. GriffithStarsRon HowardChristopher NorrisBrad DavidDarlene's into going fast, Hoover's into Darlene, but when they both get into a red-hot race car, the reckless fun accelerates into a trunk-full of hot pursuits.
- DirectorLamont JohnsonStarsMargaux HemingwayChris SarandonPerry KingA top fashion model seeks justice after she is brutally raped by her teenage sister's music teacher.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsJeff BridgesSally FieldArnold SchwarzeneggerSo-called 'special agent' infiltrates into the gym, which is targeted by a dirty business fraud.
- DirectorAllan ArkushJoe DanteStarsMary WoronovPaul BartelGeorge WagnerA young woman arrives in Hollywood to try her luck as an actress. An incompetent agent hooks her up with a production company which specializes in low budget B-movie fair, plagued by strange deadly accidents.
- DirectorGus TrikonisStarsWarren StevensJillian KesnerJanice HeidenThree female inmates are offered early parole if they become test subjects for a college class. The class professor, Dr. Blalock, is secretly testing an experimental drug on the girls on behalf of a pharmaceutical company.