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Best Crime Movies of the 1970s
#1 The Godfather (1972) · ★ 8.7 · 23,659 votes · 2h 55m · drama, crimeSpanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attemp…
#2 The Godfather Part II (1974) · ★ 8.6 · 14,393 votes · 3h 22m · drama, crimeIn the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family bu…
#3 A Clockwork Orange (1971) · ★ 8.2 · 14,099 votes · 2h 17m · science-fiction, crimeIn a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the mu…
#4 Taxi Driver (1976) · ★ 8.1 · 13,827 votes · 1h 54m · drama, crimeSuffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams…
#5 The Sting (1973) · ★ 8.0 · 3,115 votes · 2h 9m · comedy, drama, crimeA novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.…
#6 Chinatown (1974) · ★ 7.9 · 4,427 votes · 2h 10m · thriller, drama, crimePrivate eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-ma…
#7 Dog Day Afternoon (1975) · ★ 7.9 · 3,516 votes · 2h 4m · thriller, drama, crimeBased on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turns sour and escalates into a ho…
#8 Paper Moon (1973) · ★ 7.9 · 874 votes · 1h 42m · comedy, drama, crimeDuring 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.…
#9 Papillon (1973) · ★ 7.8 · 2,197 votes · 2h 31m · drama, crimeA man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.…
#10 Sleuth (1972) · ★ 7.7 · 749 votes · 2h 18m · comedy, thriller, crimeA man who loves games and theatre invites his wife's lover to meet, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.…
#11 Le Cercle Rouge (1970) · ★ 7.6 · 755 votes · 2h 20m · thriller, drama, crimeWhen French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped mur…
#12 Dirty Harry (1971) · ★ 7.5 · 2,850 votes · 1h 42m · action, thriller, crimeWhen a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down…
#13 Serpico (1973) · ★ 7.5 · 2,288 votes · 2h 9m · drama, history, crimeNew York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.…
#14 The French Connection (1971) · ★ 7.5 · 2,220 votes · 1h 44m · action, thriller, crimeTough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.…
#15 The Conversation (1974) · ★ 7.5 · 2,122 votes · 1h 55m · drama, crime, mysteryA paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.…
#16 Badlands (1973) · ★ 7.5 · 1,395 votes · 1h 34m · romance, drama, crimeAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.…
#17 The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) · ★ 7.5 · 1,163 votes · 1h 42m · comedy, adventure, animationAfter a successful robbery leaves famed thief Lupin the Third and his partner Jigen with nothing but a large amount of expertly crafted counterfeit bills, he decides to track down…
#18 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) · ★ 7.5 · 632 votes · 1h 45m · action, comedy, thrillerIn New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers while the authorities question about the method of their escape.…
#19 Midnight Express (1978) · ★ 7.4 · 1,951 votes · 2h 1m · drama, crimeBilly Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two oppor…
#20 The Way of the Dragon (1972) · ★ 7.4 · 1,343 votes · 1h 40m · action, crimeAfter a Chinese restaurant in Rome is threatened by the mafia, who will stop at nothing to acquire the property, the owner recruits a family friend in Hong Kong, kung fu expert Tan…
#21 The Long Goodbye (1973) · ★ 7.4 · 776 votes · 1h 52m · comedy, thriller, dramaIn 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.…
#22 Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) · ★ 7.3 · 1,260 votes · 1h 31m · action, thriller, crimeA highway patrol officer, two criminals, and a station secretary form an unlikely alliance to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.…
#23 Marathon Man (1976) · ★ 7.2 · 1,279 votes · 2h 6m · thriller, drama, crimeA graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.…
#24 Straw Dogs (1971) · ★ 7.2 · 1,124 votes · 1h 56m · thriller, drama, crimeDavid Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the sma…
#25 The Getaway (1972) · ★ 7.2 · 694 votes · 2h 3m · action, thriller, dramaA recently released ex-convict and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes wrong.…
#26 The Driver (1978) · ★ 7.2 · 526 votes · 1h 31m · action, thriller, crimeThe Driver specializes in driving getaway cars for robberies. His exceptional talent has prevented him from being caught yet. After another successful flight from the police a self…
#27 Magnum Force (1973) · ★ 7.1 · 1,257 votes · 2h 4m · action, drama, crime"Dirty" Harry Callahan is a San Francisco Police Inspector on the trail of a group of rogue cops who have taken justice into their own hands. When shady characters are murdered one…
#28 Frenzy (1972) · ★ 7.1 · 1,061 votes · 1h 56m · thriller, horror, crimeLondon is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police…
#29 Murder by Death (1976) · ★ 7.1 · 934 votes · 1h 34m · comedy, thriller, crimeLionel Twain invites the world's five greatest detectives to a 'dinner and murder'. Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning rooms, secret passages, false i…
#30 Vanishing Point (1971) · ★ 7.1 · 547 votes · 1h 45m · action, thriller, dramaKowalski works for a car delivery service, and takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to drive from Colorado to San Francisco. Shortly after pickup, he takes a bet to get the ca…
#31 Mean Streets (1973) · ★ 7.0 · 2,373 votes · 1h 52m · drama, crimeA small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.…
#32 Black Christmas (1974) · ★ 7.0 · 983 votes · 1h 38m · thriller, horror, crimeAs the residents of the Pi Kappa Sigma sorority house prepare for the festive season, a stranger begins to harass them with a series of obscene phone calls.…
#33 Get Carter (1971) · ★ 7.0 · 590 votes · 1h 52m · thriller, crimeJack Carter is a small-time hood working in London. When word reaches him of his brother's death, he travels to Newcastle to attend the funeral. Refusing to accept the police repor…
#34 Soylent Green (1973) · ★ 6.9 · 1,477 votes · 1h 37m · thriller, science-fiction, crimeIn the year 2022, overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion have reduced society’s leaders to finding food for the teeming masses. The answer is Soylent Green.…
#35 Death Wish (1974) · ★ 6.9 · 991 votes · 1h 33m · action, drama, crimeAfter his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.…
#36 The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) · ★ 6.9 · 651 votes · 1h 43m · comedy, crimeCharles Dreyfus, who has finally cracked over inspector Clouseau's antics, escapes from a mental institution and launches an elaborate plan to get rid of Clouseau once and for all.…
#37 The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) · ★ 6.8 · 715 votes · 1h 53m · comedy, crime, mysteryThe famous Pink Panther jewel has once again been stolen and Inspector Clouseau is called in to catch the thief. The Inspector is convinced that 'The Phantom' has returned and util…
#38 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) · ★ 6.8 · 673 votes · 1h 56m · action, comedy, adventureWith the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.…
#39 Klute (1971) · ★ 6.8 · 541 votes · 1h 54m · thriller, drama, crimeA high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.…
#40 Family Plot (1976) · ★ 6.8 · 524 votes · 2h 0m · comedy, thriller, crimeSpiritualist Blanche Tyler and her cab-driving boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.…