The Most Underrated Movies of the 1970s

We’ve already tackled the underrated films of the 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s. It’s time to complete this series. I’ll maybe do the ‘60s next month, but with Cannes around the corner it’ll be a little too hectic around here to fully confirm that. Regardless, the ‘70s!

This was, and is well-regarded, as the best decade for American film.

The “artistic revolution” had begun to take root in the mid-’60s. The studio system broke down at the end of that decade and paved the way for “New Hollywood” directors who were allowed the freedom to do their best and riskiest work.

The movies of the ‘70s are so distinctive from what came before, and eventually after. Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, Altman, Allen, Bogdanovich, Carpenter, Friedkin, Fosse, Hopper, Malick, Lynch, Ashby, Schrader, Cimino, De Palma and Scott all came of age during this decade. There were also older directors making some of the best films of their career, they include Lumet, Brooks, Cassavetes, Kubrick, Peckinpah. Not to mention émigrés from Europe such as Polanski and Forman.

As far as critics go, a good blueprint would be the critics poll I conducted three years ago. None of the films in the top 50 from that list should be counted as “underrated” — they all clearly have enough support.

So, how about the underrated gems of the 1970s? The term “underrated,” for me, at least, means a film that slipped under the radar and isn’t talked about much today. I went through my archives and found these 20 titles that absolutely deserved a better fate.

Elaine May’s A New Leaf, Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy, Peter Yates’ The Friends of Eddie Coyle, John Houston’s Fat City, Alan Pakula’s The Parallax View, Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, Walter Hill’s Hard Times, Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Robert Altman’s 3 Women, Wim Wenders’ The American Friend, William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar, Dustin Hoffman’s Straight Time, Claudia Weill’s Girlfriends, George Romero’s Martin, Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout, Karel Reisz’s The Gambler, Robert Altman’s California Split, John Flynn’s The Outfit, Don Siegel’s Charlie Varrick, and Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise

Time for some recommendations. There are so many good ones. . What are your undervalued films of 1970s?