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Best Drama 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 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) · ★ 8.4 · 11,800 votes · 2h 15m · dramaA petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domine…
#4 Apocalypse Now (1979) · ★ 8.3 · 9,419 votes · 2h 27m · drama, warAt the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and el…
#5 We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974) · ★ 8.3 · 663 votes · 2h 5m · comedy, dramaThree partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.…
#6 Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) · ★ 8.2 · 900 votes · 1h 51m · thriller, dramaRome, Italy. After committing a heinous crime, a senior police officer exposes evidence incriminating him because his moral commitment prevents him from circumventing the law and t…
#7 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…
#8 Stalker (1979) · ★ 8.1 · 2,626 votes · 2h 42m · drama, science-fictionNear a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two m…
#9 A Special Day (1977) · ★ 8.1 · 770 votes · 1h 46m · romance, dramaTwo neighbours — a persecuted journalist and a resigned housewife — forge a strong bond on the day of Adolf Hitler's historic 1938 visit to Rome.…
#10 The Deer Hunter (1978) · ★ 8.0 · 4,404 votes · 3h 3m · drama, warThree steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their live…
#11 Barry Lyndon (1975) · ★ 8.0 · 3,284 votes · 3h 8m · romance, drama, historyAn Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndo…
#12 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.…
#13 Autumn Sonata (1978) · ★ 8.0 · 732 votes · 1h 33m · drama, musicAfter a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities…
#14 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…
#15 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…
#16 Amarcord (1973) · ★ 7.9 · 1,248 votes · 2h 3m · comedy, dramaIn an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with hi…
#17 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.…
#18 Cries and Whispers (1972) · ★ 7.9 · 805 votes · 1h 35m · dramaAs Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.…
#19 Dersu Uzala (1975) · ★ 7.9 · 658 votes · 2h 21m · action, adventure, dramaA military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other a…
#20 Rocky (1976) · ★ 7.8 · 8,923 votes · 2h 0m · dramaRocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's h…
#21 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.…
#22 Network (1976) · ★ 7.8 · 2,119 votes · 2h 2m · dramaWhen veteran anchorman Howard Beale is forced to retire his 25-year post because of his age, he announces to viewers that he will kill himself during his farewell broadcast. Networ…
#23 Solaris (1972) · ★ 7.8 · 1,894 votes · 2h 47m · drama, science-fiction, mysteryA psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discov…
#24 1900 (1976) · ★ 7.8 · 700 votes · 5h 17m · drama, historyThe epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.…
#25 Day for Night (1973) · ★ 7.8 · 674 votes · 1h 56m · comedy, dramaA committed filmmaker struggles to complete his latest project while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.…
#26 A Woman Under the Influence (1974) · ★ 7.8 · 575 votes · 2h 35m · romance, dramaMabel Longhetti, desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick. Increasingly unstable, especially in the company of others, she craves happi…
#27 The Exorcist (1973) · ★ 7.7 · 8,904 votes · 2h 2m · thriller, drama, horrorWhen a mysterious entity possesses a young girl, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.…
#28 Annie Hall (1977) · ★ 7.7 · 4,336 votes · 1h 33m · comedy, romance, dramaNew York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.…
#29 Manhattan (1979) · ★ 7.7 · 2,680 votes · 1h 36m · comedy, romance, dramaManhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.…
#30 All the President's Men (1976) · ★ 7.7 · 2,160 votes · 2h 18m · thriller, drama, historyDuring the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.…
#31 Fiddler on the Roof (1971) · ★ 7.7 · 670 votes · 3h 1m · romance, dramaIn a pre-revolutionary Russia, a poor Jewish milkman struggles with the challenges of a changing world as his daughters fall in love and antisemitism grows.…
#32 Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) · ★ 7.6 · 2,478 votes · 1h 45m · dramaTed Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of hous…
#33 The Tenant (1976) · ★ 7.6 · 1,265 votes · 2h 6m · thriller, drama, horrorA quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.…
#34 Harold and Maude (1971) · ★ 7.6 · 1,241 votes · 1h 32m · comedy, romance, dramaA deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.…
#35 Being There (1979) · ★ 7.6 · 1,166 votes · 2h 10m · comedy, dramaA simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the…
#36 The Last Picture Show (1971) · ★ 7.6 · 806 votes · 1h 59m · romance, dramaHigh school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wif…
#37 The Conformist (1971) · ★ 7.6 · 783 votes · 1h 48m · dramaA weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.…
#38 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…
#39 Escape from Alcatraz (1979) · ★ 7.5 · 3,288 votes · 1h 53m · thriller, dramaSan Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape fr…
#40 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.…