Top 83 Ranked

Best 1970 Movies

War Epics Rock Documentaries and New Hollywood Classics

Explore the best films of a landmark year in cinema featuring award winning war dramas musical documentaries and groundbreaking independent masterpieces.

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About Movies in 1970

The year 1970 feels like a long, uneasy exhale following the cultural explosions of the late sixties. While 1967 gave us the birth of New Hollywood and 1969 provided its bloody climax, 1970 was the year the industry truly began to live in the wreckage. It was a period of profound transition. The old studio system was dying, the Production Code was buried, and a new generation of filmmakers was wandering through the ruins, camera in hand, trying to figure out what the new world looked like.

If you want to understand why 1970 matters, you have to look at the dissonance on the marquee. On one hand, you had Airport, a massive, star-studded disaster epic that felt like a relic of a previous era. It was a huge hit, proving that the old guard still had some life left. On the other hand, you had Robert Altman’s MASH. Altman took the concept of a war comedy and turned it into a bloody, cynical, and deeply subversive satire that mirrored the growing national exhaustion over Vietnam. It was messy and irreverent, and it signaled that the rules of storytelling had fundamentally changed.

This was also the year that gave us Five Easy Pieces, a film that arguably defined the new American loner. Jack Nicholson followed up his breakout in Easy Rider with a performance that was quiet, frustrated, and deeply alienated. It captured a specific sense of post-sixties malaise, the feeling of being talented but having nowhere to go. Meanwhile, George Pal and the traditionalists were being pushed aside by the raw intensity of films like Patton. While Patton might seem like a traditional biopic, its script by Francis Ford Coppola was actually a complex character study that refused to offer easy answers about the nature of American heroism.

The international scene was arguably even more restless. In Italy, Bernardo Bertolucci released The Conformist, a film so visually stunning it changed the way cinematographers approached light and shadow forever. It was a searing look at the psychology of fascism, arriving at a moment when political tensions were simmering globally. In France, Jean Pierre Melville was perfecting the existential crime thriller with Le Cercle Rouge. These films weren't just entertainment; they were intellectual inquiries into the human condition.

What fans remember most about 1970 is the sheer range of voices. It was the year of Love Story, a weepie that saved Paramount Pictures from financial ruin, but it was also the year of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo, which essentially invented the midnight movie phenomenon. You could see a documentary like Woodstock, which immortalized the hippie dream just as it was beginning to fade, or you could watch Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, which kickstarted the Giallo craze.

Ultimately, 1970 was significant because it proved that the revolution of the sixties wasn't a fluke. The doors had been kicked open, and even as the flowers wilted, the grit remained. The film industry was no longer a dream factory producing polished fantasies. It had become a mirror, reflecting a society that was confused, divided, and searching for a new identity. It was a year of mourning for the past and a nervous, exciting embrace of an uncertain future. For any true film lover, it remains the moment when the movies finally grew up.

The Complete Rankings

Based on the top picks in drafts on SnakeDrafts

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83
1970 in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
1970

Daisy Gamble, an unusual woman who hears phones before they ring, and does wonders with her flowers, wants to quit smoking to please her fiancé, Warren. She goes to a doctor of hypnosis to do it. But once she's under, her doctor finds out that she can regress into past lives and different personalities, and he finds himself falling in love with one of them.

Fantasy
Romance
2h 9m
Vincente Minnelli
Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand, Bob Newhart, Larry Blyden
82
Che Che Che
1970

Javier Aguirre
Henri Chopin, Adolfo Marsillach
81
1970 in Adam's Woman (1970)
Adam's Woman
1970

Adam is a young American wrongly accused of being an accomplice to murder while on shore leave in Liverpool. He is sentenced to death by hanging but the sentence is commuted to twenty years in a convict settlement in Australia.

Drama
1h 56m
Philip Leacock
Beau Bridges, Jane Merrow, John Mills, James Booth

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80
1970 in The McKenzie Break (1970)
The McKenzie Break
1970

A German U-Boat commander plans a daring escape from a PoW camp in Scotland.

Action
War
1h 48m
Lamont Johnson
Brian Keith, Helmut Griem, Ian Hendry, Jack Watson
79
1970 in The Angel Levine (1970)
The Angel Levine
1970

Morris Mishkin is a elderly religious Jew in New York. His wife Fanny is very ill. He's a tailor, but he can't work because his back has given out. He doesn't even have enough money for Fanny's medicine. Finally, a black fellow appears from nowhere in the Mishkin kitchen. He says he's an angel from God, sent to help Mishkin. The black angel is even Jewish, named Alex Levine? But will Morris believe in the angel? And can the angel perform the miracle that he promises?

Drama
1h 46m
Ján Kadár
Zero Mostel, Harry Belafonte, Ida Kamińska, Milo O'Shea
78
1970 in The Adventurers (1970)
The Adventurers
1970

The wealthy playboy son of an assassinated South American diplomat discovers that his father was murdered on orders of the corrupt president of the country- a man who was his father's friend and who, in fact, his father had helped put into power. He returns from living a jet-set life in Europe to lead a revolution against the government, only to find out that things aren't quite as black and white as he'd assumed.

Drama
Action
2h 57m
Lewis Gilbert
Charles Aznavour, Alan Badel, Candice Bergen, Thommy Berggren
77
1970 in The Buttercup Chain (1970)
The Buttercup Chain
1970

Born to twin sisters on the same day in London, France and Margaret are more like brother and sister than cousins. The close relationship between the cousins is suspended when Margaret is sent abroad for schooling. Now a young woman, Margaret returns to London and resumes her intimate connection with France.

Drama
Romance
1h 35m
Robert Ellis Miller
Jane Asher, Hywel Bennett, Sven-Bertil Taube, Leigh Taylor-Young
76
1970 in The Games (1970)
The Games
1970

From Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Australia and behind the Iron Curtain. They are the most superbly conditioned animals in the world. They are also the pawns of powerful nations, the victims of dangerous drugs and the object of many men's ambitions. Once every four years they come together... for the Olympic Games.

Drama
1h 40m
Michael Winner
Michael Crawford, Ryan O'Neal, Charles Aznavour, Jeremy Kemp
75
1970 in The Invincible Six (1970)
The Invincible Six
1970

Based on the story "The Heroes of Yucca," The Invincible Six features a ragtag group of jewel thieves who become the unofficial guardians of a small Iranian village. When bandits attack the village, looking for the body of their former leader and his treasure map, the Invincible Six are there to save the day, wooing the local females and frustrating the new leader of the bandits.

1h 43m
Jean Negulesco
Stuart Whitman, Elke Sommer, Curd Jürgens, Ian Ogilvy
74
1970 in The Looking Glass War (1970)
The Looking Glass War
1970

When a Polish sailor jumps ship in Britain, a couple of local intelligence operatives keep him under surveillance. Soon, he’s recruited to infiltrate a missile installation outside of East Berlin and bring back photos of the new rockets.

Action
Drama
1h 48m
Frank Pierson
Christopher Jones, Pia Degermark, Ralph Richardson, Anthony Hopkins
73
1970 in The Moonshine War (1970)
The Moonshine War
1970

A federal agent attempts to make some real money before the alcohol ban is lifted so he sets his sights on the whiskey cache of an old army buddy.

Comedy
Crime
1h 40m
Richard Quine
Patrick McGoohan, Richard Widmark, Alan Alda, Melodie Johnson
72
1970 in The Things of Life (1970)
The Things of Life
1970

The mind of Pierre Bérard, a successful middle-aged architect, is torn between his unstable present with Hélène, his younger lover, and his happy memories of the past with Catherine, his ex-wife; but his true destiny awaits him at a crossroads on his way to Rennes…

Drama
Romance
1h 29m
Claude Sautet
Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider, Lea Massari, Gérard Lartigau
71
1970 in Tropic of Cancer (1970)
Tropic of Cancer
1970

Expat American writer Henry Miller hustles his way through Paris in a series of amorous encounters while trying to find his literary voice.

Drama
Romance
1h 27m
Joseph Strick
Rip Torn, James T. Callahan, David Baur, Laurence Lignières
70
1970 in The Walking Stick (1970)
The Walking Stick
1970

A young woman's highly ordered and structured life is turned upside-down when she meets a handsome stranger at a party. Friendship soon develops into romance and for the first time in her life she is truly happy. This happiness is short lived, however, as little by little she discovers her partner has been lying to her about his past. It is soon revealed that he and his friends have been planning to rob the auction house that she works for and they require her inside knowledge in order to pull off the crime.

Crime
Drama
1h 41m
Eric Till
David Hemmings, Samantha Eggar, Emlyn Williams, Phyllis Calvert
69
1970 in The Out-of-Towners (1970)
The Out-of-Towners
1970

A trip to New York for a job interview turns into a trip to hell for a small town couple.

Comedy
1h 38m
Arthur Hiller
Jack Lemmon, Sandy Dennis, Sandy Baron, Anne Meara
68
1970 in Hi, Mom! (1970)
Hi, Mom!
1970

Vietnam vet Jon Rubin returns to New York and rents a rundown flat in Greenwich Village. It is in this flat that he begins to film, 'Peeping Tom' style, the people in the apartment across the street. His obsession with making films leads him to fall in with a radical 'Black Power' group, which in turn leads him to carry out a bizarre act of urban terrorism.

Comedy
Crime
Robert De Niro, Jennifer Salt, Allen Garfield, Charles Durning
67
1970 in Monte Walsh (1970)
Monte Walsh
1970

Monte Walsh is an aging cowboy facing the ending days of the Wild West era. As barbed wire and railways steadily eliminate the need for the cowboy, Monte and his friends are left with fewer and fewer options. New work opportunities are available to them, but the freedom of the open prarie is what they long for. Eventually, they all must say goodbye to the lives they knew, and try to make a new start.

Western
1h 39m
William A. Fraker
Lee Marvin, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Palance, Mitchell Ryan
66
1970 in The Hawaiians (1970)
The Hawaiians
1970

A wanderer returns home only to find political turmoil, disease and romantic difficulties.

Drama
Adventure
2h 14m
Tom Gries
Charlton Heston, Tina Chen, Geraldine Chaplin, Mako
65
1970 in The Boatniks (1970)
The Boatniks
1970

Young and awkward, The Coast-Guard's ensign Thomas Garland suffers from the comparison with his late father, a war hero. Which does not prevent him from falling for pretty Kate Fairchild, a young woman who runs a sailing school. Of course the way he expresses his deep sympathy for the lady leaves to be desired. And the situation does not improve when a trio of bumbling jewel thieves interferes.

Comedy
Family
1h 39m
Norman Tokar
Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers, Phil Silvers, Norman Fell
64
1970 in Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
Cotton Comes to Harlem
1970

Harlem's African-American population is being ripped off by the Rev. Deke O'Malley, who dishonestly claims that small donations will secure parcels of land in Africa. When New York City police officers Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson look into O'Malley's scam, they learn that the cash is being smuggled inside a bale of cotton. However, the police, O'Malley, and lots of others find themselves scrambling when the money goes missing.

Action
Comedy
1h 37m
Ossie Davis
Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, Calvin Lockhart, Judy Pace
63
1970 in C.C. and Company (1970)
C.C. and Company
1970

A motorcycle rebel rescues a woman from his gang and fights an outlaw guru for supremacy.

Action
Comedy
1h 34m
Seymour Robbie
Joe Namath, Ann-Margret, William Smith, Jennifer Billingsley
62
1970 in Donkey Skin (1970)
Donkey Skin
1970

A fairy godmother helps a princess disguise herself so she won't have to marry her father.

Fantasy
Comedy
1h 30m
Jacques Demy
Catherine Deneuve, Jacques Perrin, Jean Marais, Delphine Seyrig
61
1970 in Alex in Wonderland (1970)
Alex in Wonderland
1970

Bohemian Alex Morrison has just finished directing his first feature length movie. In its previews, the movie is considered a critical, artistic and surefire commercial success. As such, Alex seemingly has his choice of what his next project will be. As he makes the rounds both in the Hollywood community and European movie centers for ideas, he fantasizes about movie scenarios of those everyday situations he is in.

Comedy
Drama
1h 50m
Paul Mazursky
Donald Sutherland, Ellen Burstyn, Meg Mazursky, Glenna Sargent
60
1970 in A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970)
A Walk in the Spring Rain
1970

A sophisticated, middle-aged grandmother, wed to a New York law professor, falls in love with a down-to-earth Tennessee farmer.

Romance
Drama
1h 38m
Guy Green
Anthony Quinn, Ingrid Bergman, Fritz Weaver, Katherine Crawford
59
1970 in The Boys in the Band (1970)
The Boys in the Band
1970

A witty, perceptive and devastating look at the personal agendas and suppressed revelations swirling among a group of gay men in Manhattan. Harold is celebrating a birthday, and his friend Michael has drafted some other friends to help commemorate the event. As the evening progresses, the alcohol flows, the knives come out, and Michael's demand that the group participate in a devious telephone game, unleashing dormant and unspoken emotions.

Drama
1h 58m
William Friedkin
Kenneth Nelson, Leonard Frey, Peter White, Cliff Gorman
58
1970 in The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
1970

A successful African American businessman has a quarrel with a white policeman, suspecting that he is having an affair with his wife. The policeman's colleagues are seeking to avoid publicity.

Drama
Crime
Lee J. Cobb, Anthony Zerbe, Roscoe Lee Browne, Lola Falana
57
1970 in A Man Called Horse (1970)
A Man Called Horse
1970

In 1825, English peer Lord John Morgan is cast adrift in the American West. Captured by Sioux Indians, Morgan is at first targeted for quick extinction, but the tribesmen sense that he is worthy of survival. He eventually passes the many necessary tests that will permit him to become a member of the tribe.

Western
Drama
1h 54m
Elliot Silverstein
Richard Harris, Jean Gascon, Judith Anderson, Corinna Tsopei
56
1970 in Move (1970)
Move
1970

A young playwright who writes porno novels to overcome a writer's block, lives the fantasies of one of his books, while trying to move with his wife from one apartment into a larger one.

Comedy
Fantasy
1h 30m
Stuart Rosenberg
Elliott Gould, Paula Prentiss, Geneviève Waïte, John Larch
55
1970 in The Vampire Lovers (1970)
The Vampire Lovers
1970

In the heart of Styria the Karnstein Family, even after their mortal deaths, rise from their tombs spreading evil in the countryside in their lust for fresh blood. Baron Hartog whose family are all victims of Karnstein vampirism, opens their graves and drives a stake through their diabolical hearts. One grave he cannot locate is that of the legendary beautiful Mircalla Karnstein. Years of peace follow that grisly night until Mircalla reappears to avenge her family's decimation and satisfy her desire for blood.

Horror
1h 31m
Roy Ward Baker
Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, George Cole, Kate O'Mara
54
1970 in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
The Cheyenne Social Club
1970

Two cowboys inherit a "social club" specializing in satisfying men.

Western
Comedy
1h 43m
Gene Kelly
James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Shirley Jones, Sue Ane Langdon
53
1970 in Scrooge (1970)
Scrooge
1970

A musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic ghost tale starring Albert Finney.

Fantasy
Drama
1h 54m
Ronald Neame
Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Edith Evans, Kenneth More
52
1970 in Julius Caesar (1970)
Julius Caesar
1970

All-star cast glamorizes this lavish 1970 remake of the classic William Shakespeare play, which portrays the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, and the resulting war between the faction led by the assassins and the faction led by Mark Anthony.

War
Drama
1h 57m
Stuart Burge
Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud, Robert Vaughn
51
1970 in Cromwell (1970)
Cromwell
1970

Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religion and politics that will result in the English Civil War.

Drama
History
2h 20m
Ken Hughes
Richard Harris, Alec Guinness, Robert Morley, Dorothy Tutin
50
1970 in Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
1970

Tina Balser is a bored New York housewife-mother married to Jonathan, a pompous, social-climbing lawyer who ridicules her in front of their children, criticizing everything she does or wears. She begins an affair with George Prager, a dashing, successful, and blatantly sadistic writer.

Comedy
Drama
1h 35m
Frank Perry
Carrie Snodgress, Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella, Lorraine Cullen
49
1970 in The Molly Maguires (1970)
The Molly Maguires
1970

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1876. A secret society of Irish coal miners, bond by a sacred oath, put pressure on the greedy and ruthless company they work for by sabotaging mining facilities in the hope of improving their working conditions and the lives of their families.

Drama
History
2h 0m
Martin Ritt
Sean Connery, Richard Harris, Samantha Eggar, Frank Finlay
48
1970 in Chisum (1970)
Chisum
1970

Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.

Western
1h 51m
Andrew V. McLaglen
John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson
47
1970 in WUSA (1970)
WUSA
1970

Rheinhardt, a cynical drifter, gets a job as an announcer for right-wing radio station WUSA in New Orleans. Rheinhardt is content to parrot WUSA's reactionary editorial stance on the air, even if he doesn't agree with it. Rheinhardt finds his cynical detachment challenged by a lady friend, Geraldine, and by Rainey, a neighbour and troubled idealist who becomes aware of WUSA's sinister, hidden purpose. And when events start spinning out of control, even Rheinhardt finds he must take a stand.

Drama
1h 55m
Stuart Rosenberg
Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Perkins, Laurence Harvey
46
1970 in The Cross and the Switchblade (1970)
The Cross and the Switchblade
1970

David Wilkerson's first five years in New York City, where he ministered to disillusioned youth, encouraging them to turn away from the drugs and gang violence they were involved with.

Drama
1h 46m
Don Murray
Pat Boone, Erik Estrada, Jacqueline Giroux, Don Blakely
45
1970 in Bloody Mama (1970)
Bloody Mama
1970

Sexually abused as a young girl, Kate "Ma" Barker grows into a violent and powerful woman by the 1930s. She lovingly dominates her grown sons and grooms them into a pack of tough crooks. The boys include the cruel Herman, who still shares a bed with Ma; Fred, an ex-con who fell in love with a fellow prisoner; and Lloyd, who gets high on whatever's handy. Together they form a deadly, bizarre family of Depression-era bandits.

Crime
Drama
1h 30m
Roger Corman
Shelley Winters, Pat Hingle, Don Stroud, Diane Varsi
44
1970 in Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970)
Little Fauss and Big Halsy
1970

The friendship between two Arizona dirt bike racers is tested when they both lust for an attractive runaway young woman who joins them on the racing circuit.

Drama
Comedy
1h 39m
Sidney J. Furie
Robert Redford, Michael J. Pollard, Lauren Hutton, Noah Beery Jr.
43
1970 in They Call Me Trinity (1970)
They Call Me Trinity
1970

The simple story has the pair coming to the rescue of peace-loving Mormons when land-hungry Major Harriman sends his bullies to harass them into giving up their fertile valley. Trinity and Bambino manage to save the Mormons and send the bad guys packing with slapstick humor instead of excessive violence, saving the day.

Action
Comedy
1h 55m
Enzo Barboni
Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Steffen Zacharias, Dan Sturkie
42
1970 in I Walk the Line (1970)
I Walk the Line
1970

Henry 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 seductress Alma, who is the daughter of local criminal and moonshiner Carl McCain. Henry's moral character comes further into question when he is tempted to conceal Carl's crimes in order to prolong his relationship with Alma.

Drama
Gregory Peck, Tuesday Weld, Estelle Parsons, Ralph Meeker
41
1970 in Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970)
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
1970

War is brewing between the soldiers at an otherwise quiet army base and the civilians of a nearby Southern town. Brian Keith is an officer who tries to keep the peace. However, peace is hard to come by with Ernest Borgnine as a stereotypical dumb hick sheriff who's quick to call in the local militia. Tony Curtis plays a skirt-chasing sergeant who can't stay out of trouble and soon lands in jail. Brian Keith borrows a tank to release his friend from jail. Things get more chaotic after that.

Drama
Comedy
1h 53m
Hy Averback
Brian Keith, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Ivan Dixon
40
1970 in The Kremlin Letter (1970)
The Kremlin Letter
1970

After an unauthorized letter suggesting U.S. support for a Russian attack on China is sent to Moscow, a former naval officer and his team go undercover to retrieve it. Their plans are disrupted when a cunning politician raids their hideout.

Thriller
Action
Bibi Andersson, Patrick O'Neal, Richard Boone, Nigel Green
39
1970 in The Landlord (1970)
The Landlord
1970

At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially, his intention is to evict the black tenants and convert the building into a posh flat. But Elgar is not one to be bound by yesterday's urges, and soon he has other thoughts on his mind.

Comedy
Drama
1h 52m
Hal Ashby
Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey
38
1970 in Joe (1970)
Joe
1970

After murdering his daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend, a wealthy ad executive stumbles into a bar and strikes up an uneasy alliance with Joe Curran, a drunken bigot with a bloodlust who works at a local factory.

Drama
Crime
1h 47m
John G. Avildsen
Peter Boyle, Dennis Patrick, Susan Sarandon, Patrick McDermott
37
1970 in Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970)
Puzzle of a Downfall Child
1970

Lou Andreas Sand, a once famous model, recalls her past as she tries to make success in the modeling world of New York, her stressful workdays, her affair with Mark, an advertising executive, her friendship with photographer Aaron, and her downward spiral into ruin.

Drama
1h 45m
Jerry Schatzberg
Faye Dunaway, Barry Primus, Viveca Lindfors, Barry Morse
36
1970 in Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Myra Breckinridge
1970

Myron Breckinridge flies to Europe to get a sex-change operation and is transformed into the beautiful Myra. She travels to Hollywood, meets up with her rich Uncle Buck and, claiming to be Myron's widow, demands money. Instead, Buck gives Myra a job in his acting school. There, Myra meets aspiring actor Rusty and his girlfriend, Mary Ann. With Myra as catalyst, the trio begin to outrageously expand their sexual horizons.

Comedy
Drama
1h 34m
Michael Sarne
Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Mae West, John Huston
35
1970 in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
Two Mules for Sister Sara
1970

When a wandering mercenary named Hogan rescues a nun called Sister Sara from the unwanted attentions of a band of rogues on the Mexican plains, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. Their chance encounter results in the blowing up of a train and a French garrison, as well as igniting a spark between them that survives a shocking discovery.

Western
Adventure
1h 54m
Don Siegel
Shirley MacLaine, Clint Eastwood, Manolo Fábregas, Alberto Morin
34
1970 in Airport (1970)
Airport
1970

An airport manager tries to keep his terminals open during a snowstorm, while a suicide bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 airliner in flight.

Action
Drama
2h 17m
George Seaton
Burt Lancaster, Dana Wynter, Dean Martin, Barbara Hale
33
1970 in Love Story (1970)
Love Story
1970

Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.

Romance
Drama
1h 40m
Arthur Hiller
Ali MacGraw, Ryan O'Neal, John Marley, Ray Milland
32
1970 in The Wild Child (1970)
The Wild Child
1970

In a French forest circa 1798, a child–who cannot walk, speak, read or write–is found. A doctor becomes interested in the case and patiently attempts to civilise the boy.

Drama
History
1h 23m
François Truffaut
Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner, Jean Dasté
31
1970 in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
1970

The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission lands on the planet of the apes, and uncovers a horrible secret beneath the surface.

Adventure
Science Fiction
1h 35m
Ted Post
James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Charlton Heston
30
1970 in Watermelon Man (1970)
Watermelon Man
1970

A racist insurance agent lives in a typical suburban neighborhood, but his bigoted world of taunting and harassing black people on and off the job is turned upside down when his skin inexplicably turns dark overnight.

Comedy
1h 40m
Melvin Van Peebles
Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Caine, D'Urville Martin
29
1970 in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
Start the Revolution Without Me
1970

Two sets of identical twins are accidentally switched at birth. One pair, Phillipe and Pierre DeSisi, are aristocratic and haughty, while the other, Charles and Claude Coupé, are poor and dim-witted. On the eve of the French Revolution, both sets find themselves entangled in palace intrigue.

Comedy
History
1h 30m
Bud Yorkin
Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Jack MacGowran
28
1970 in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
1970

Double-crossed and left without water in the desert, Cable Hogue is saved when he finds a spring. It is in just the right spot for a much needed rest stop on the local stagecoach line, and Hogue uses this to his advantage. He builds a house and makes money off the stagecoach passengers. Hildy, a prostitute from the nearest town, moves in with him. Hogue has everything going his way until the advent of the automobile ends the era of the stagecoach.

Comedy
Western
Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, Slim Pickens, David Warner
27
1970 in The Twelve Chairs (1970)
The Twelve Chairs
1970

In 1920s Soviet Russia, a fallen aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a treasure of jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs, lost during the revolution.

Comedy
Drama
Ron Moody, Frank Langella, Dom DeLuise, Andréas Voutsinas
26
1970 in Husbands (1970)
Husbands
1970

A common friend's sudden death brings three men, married with children, to reconsider their lives and ultimately leave the country together. But mindless enthusiasm for regained freedom will be short-lived.

Comedy
Drama
2h 11m
John Cassavetes
Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Jenny Runacre
25
1970 in The Great White Hope (1970)
The Great White Hope
1970

A black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive while the white boxing establishment looks for ways to knock him down.

Drama
1h 43m
Martin Ritt
James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Lou Gilbert, Joel Fluellen
24
1970 in Ryan's Daughter (1970)
Ryan's Daughter
1970

In the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, a married schoolteacher in a small Irish village has an affair with a troubled British officer.

Romance
History
Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Christopher Jones, John Mills
23
1970 in I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
1970

A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.

Drama
1h 32m
Gilbert Cates
Gene Hackman, Melvyn Douglas, Dorothy Stickney, Estelle Parsons
22
1970 in Where’s Poppa? (1970)
Where’s Poppa?
1970

When New York attorney Gordon Hocheiser meets Louise Callan, the girl of his dreams, he schemes to eliminate his aging, senile mother, even though he promised his late father that he'd always take care of her. He fears that his batty mom's eccentricities will shortly lead to Louise's departure.

Comedy
1h 22m
Carl Reiner
George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Ron Leibman, Trish Van Devere
21
1970 in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)
The Owl and the Pussycat
1970

Meek, owlish Felix and strident, catty Doris live in the same apartment building. His incessant typing bothers her; her gentlemen callers bother him. Felix informs the landlord of her activities, so Doris moves in on Felix. When they both get thrown out, they move in with Barney... until they drive him out! That's when Felix and Doris finally decide to put theory into practice. But do opposites attract?

Comedy
Romance
1h 35m
Herbert Ross
Barbra Streisand, George Segal, Robert Klein, Allen Garfield
20
1970 in The Aristocats (1970)
The Aristocats
1970

When Madame Adelaide Bonfamille leaves her fortune to Duchess and her children—Bonfamille’s beloved family of cats—the butler plots to steal the money and kidnaps the legatees, leaving them out on a country road. All seems lost until the wily Thomas O’Malley Cat and his jazz-playing alley cats come to the aristocats’ rescue.

Animation
Comedy
1h 18m
Wolfgang Reitherman
Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers
19
1970 in Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Kelly's Heroes
1970

A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.

Adventure
Comedy
2h 24m
Brian G. Hutton
18
1970 in Let It Be (1970)
Let It Be
1970

A documentary chronicling the Beatles' rehearsal sessions in January 1969 for their proposed "back to basics" album, "Get Back," later re-envisioned and released as "Let It Be."

Documentary
Music
1h 21m
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
17
1970 in El Topo (1970)
El Topo
1970

El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man.

Adventure
Drama
2h 5m
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, David Silva
16
1970 in The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
The Honeymoon Killers
1970

Martha Beck, an obese nurse who is desperately lonely, joins a "correspondence club" and finds a romantic pen pal in Ray Fernandez. Martha falls hard for Ray, and is intent on sticking with him even when she discovers he's a con man who seduces lonely single women, kills them and then takes their money. She poses as Ray's sister and joins Ray on a wild killing spree, fueled by her lingering concern that Ray will leave her for one of his marks.

Crime
Drama
1h 48m
Leonard Kastle
Shirley Stoler, Tony Lo Bianco, Mary Jane Higby, Doris Roberts
15
1970 in Performance (1970)
Performance
1970

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.

Crime
Drama
1h 46m
Nicolas Roeg
James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, Michèle Breton
14
1970 in Little Big Man (1970)
Little Big Man
1970

Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.

Western
Comedy
2h 19m
Arthur Penn
Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam
13
1970 in Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Le Cercle Rouge
1970

When 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 murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.

Crime
Thriller
2h 20m
Jean-Pierre Melville
Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté, Yves Montand
12
1970 in Tristana (1970)
Tristana
1970

As a young woman, Tristana is orphaned and taken under the guardianship of Don Lope, a respected member of the community, who takes advantage of his innocent charge. When Tristana falls in love with artist Horacio, she must learn to be more assertive in order to achieve independence from her nefarious guardian, or her blossoming relationship with Horatio is doomed.

Drama
1h 38m
Luis Buñuel
Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero, Lola Gaos
11
1970 in Catch-22 (1970)
Catch-22
1970

A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions. But there's a catch.

War
Comedy
Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel
10
1970 in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
1970

In 1930s Italy, a wealthy Jewish family tries to maintain their privileged lifestyle, hosting friends for tennis and parties at their villa. As anti-Semitism intensifies under Fascism, they must ultimately face the horrors of the Holocaust.

Drama
History
Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Fabio Testi, Romolo Valli
Why it ranks

Vittorio De Sica returns to peak form with this elegiac, visually lush examination of aristocratic insulation amidst the rise of fascism. It is a devastatingly graceful tragedy that finds profound power in the juxtaposition of tennis courts and looming political catastrophe.

9
1970 in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
1970

An American writer living in Rome witnesses an attempted murder that is connected to an ongoing killing spree in the city and conducts his own investigation, despite he and his girlfriend being targeted by the killer.

Horror
Mystery
1h 36m
Dario Argento
Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi
Why it ranks

Dario Argento’s debut reconfigures the thriller into a stylized exercise in sensory overload and geometric terror. It effectively births the modern giallo aesthetic by prioritizing visual obsession and fetishistic camera work over traditional narrative logic.

8
1970 in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
1970

When a bored Sherlock eagerly takes the case of Gabrielle Valladon following an attempt on her life, the search for her missing husband leads to Loch Ness and the legendary monster.

Adventure
Mystery
Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Geneviève Page, Christopher Lee
Why it ranks

Billy Wilder strips away the mythic veneer of the detective to reveal a melancholy, deeply human portrait of loneliness. It is a sophisticated and bittersweet subversion of Victorian iconography that reveals more through silence than through deduction.

7
1970 in Zabriskie Point (1970)
Zabriskie Point
1970

Anthropology student Daria, who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert, and dropout Mark, who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot, accidentally encounter each other in Death Valley and soon begin an unrestrained romance.

Drama
1h 53m
Michelangelo Antonioni
Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin, Paul Fix, G.D. Spradlin
Why it ranks

Antonioni captures the American landscape with a visual radicalism that is both beautiful and deeply cynical. This film stands as a bold, hallucinatory dissection of consumerist rot and revolutionary desire.

6
1970 in Gimme Shelter (1970)
Gimme Shelter
1970

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Documentary
Music
1h 32m
Charlotte Zwerin
Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor
Why it ranks

The Maysles brothers offer a terrifying, unblinkered look at the death of the Sixties, capturing the exact moment when rock and roll idealism curdled into violence. It remains the most chillingly effective piece of direct cinema ever committed to celluloid.

5
1970 in Woodstock (1970)
Woodstock
1970

An intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival held in Bethel, NY in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.

Documentary
History
3h 4m
Michael Wadleigh
Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle
Why it ranks

Michael Wadleigh’s immersive documentary serves as a sprawling, multiscreen eulogy for the hippie dream. It transcends mere concert footage to become a vital sociological document of a generation searching for its identity in the mud.

4
1970 in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
Tora! Tora! Tora!
1970

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.

War
History
2h 24m
Toshio Masuda
Martin Balsam, So Yamamura, Jason Robards, Joseph Cotten
Why it ranks

This meticulously balanced domestic and international production offers a staggering technical achievement in historical reconstruction. By prioritizing tactical precision over melodrama, it provides a chillingly objective gaze at the machinery of military failure.

3
1970 in Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Five Easy Pieces
1970

Robert Dupea spends his days doing various odd jobs, drinking and womanizing until an encounter with his sister makes him revisit his past.

Drama
1h 38m
Bob Rafelson
Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Lois Smith
Why it ranks

Jack Nicholson embodies the restless alienation of a shifting America, anchoring a quiet masterpiece of character study that rejects easy resolutions. It is a haunting exploration of class friction and the suffocating weight of domestic expectation.

2
1970 in M*A*S*H (1970)
M*A*S*H
1970

One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly Corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse.

Comedy
Drama
Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman
Why it ranks

Robert Altman shatters the conventions of the war movie with a blood-soaked, anarchic wit that perfectly captures the countercultural skepticism of the new decade. Its overlapping dialogue and nihilistic humor redefine the limits of the ensemble comedy.

1
1970 in Patton (1970)
Patton
1970

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

War
Drama
2h 52m
Franklin J. Schaffner
George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong
Why it ranks

George C. Scott delivers a performance of volcanic authority, transforming a biographical epic into a complex interrogation of the American warrior archetype. Its grand scale and psychological depth make it the definitive cinematic statement on the burdens of institutional genius.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about this list and SnakeDrafts

The best films of 1970 span a range of genres including war dramas like "Patton" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!", comedies such as "M*A*S*H", groundbreaking documentaries like "Woodstock", as well as mystery and thriller titles such as "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage." This diverse genre selection reflects the transitional nature of cinema during this pivotal year.

Movies from 1970 showcase the industry's move away from traditional studio control toward more personal and experimental storytelling, exemplified by films like "Five Easy Pieces" and "Performance." The films capture the social upheavals of the time, blending classic narratives with the innovative spirit of New Hollywood and the fading influence of the Production Code.

"Woodstock" and "Gimme Shelter" are landmark documentaries from 1970 that provide raw, immersive portrayals of the rock music scene and counterculture movements. They stand out for their groundbreaking use of concert footage and candid depiction of iconic events, making them essential for understanding the cultural zeitgeist of the era.

Yes, the list includes internationally acclaimed films like "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" from Italy and French crime thriller "Le Cercle Rouge." These films highlight the global diversity of cinema in 1970, contributing to the year’s rich tapestry of storytelling and cinematic innovation.

The war films of 1970, such as "Patton" and "Catch-22," often blend drama with satirical or psychological elements, reflecting a more nuanced and sometimes critical view of warfare. This approach differs from earlier propagandistic or purely heroic depictions, offering audiences complex perspectives on conflict and leadership.

Both "M*A*S*H" and "Little Big Man" employ dark comedy to explore the absurdities and tragedies of war, using humor to critique military authority and societal norms. This mixing of comedy with serious themes was innovative for the time and has influenced numerous war comedies since.

Independent and avant-garde films such as "Zabriskie Point" and "Performance" pushed narrative and stylistic boundaries, challenging mainstream conventions and expressing countercultural themes. These films contributed to the year’s cinematic experimentation and helped pave the way for future creative freedom in filmmaking.
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