Critics Poll: ‘The Godfather’ Named Best Movie of the 1970s

Just six days after celebrating its 50th anniversary, Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” has been named the best movie of the 1970s by a panel of close to 150 critics, filmmakers and historians.

In fact, Coppola had four of his movies crack the top 10: “The Godfather” (#1), “The Godfather, Part II” (#4), “Apocalypse Now” (#6) and “The Conversation” (#10). His streak of films during this decade may constitute the greatest by any filmmaker in Hollywood history.

The highest-rated foreign-language film was Bernardo Bertolluci’s “The Conformist,” (#14) one of the most gorgeously photographed movies of all-time. Chantal Ackerman’s “Jeanne Dielman” (#18) was the highest rated film directed by a woman.

Meanwhile, the late Robert Altman had four of his films in the top 40.

Participants were asked to submit 15 films (unranked). The results are a top 100 filled to the brim with classic after classic. The ‘70s are known as the Golden era of American cinema for a reason, and that means that some masterful films such as “Five Easy Pieces,” “Last Tango in Paris,” “Marathon Man,” and “The Parallax View” couldn’t even sneak into the top 100.

In total, close to 300 films garnered at least one list mention. If this poll isn’t further proof of the vast richness of a decade well-known as the peak of American film, then I don’t what is.

A full list of the critics – with all of the individual lists – can be found here.

1) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
2) Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
3) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
4) The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
5) Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
6) Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
7) Nashville (Robert Altman)
8) The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
9) All The Presidents Men (Alan J. Pakula)
10) Network (Sidney Lumet)

11) Alien (Ridley Scott)
12) Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
13) Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick)
14) The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
15) Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)
16) Days Of Heaven (Terrence Malick)
17) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman)
18) Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (Chantal Akerman)
19) Badlands (Terrence Malick)
20) Star Wars (George Lucas)

21) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)
22) The Exorcist (William Friedkin)
23) A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)
24) One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (Milos Forman)
25) The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)
26) Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky)
27) Killer Of Sheep (Charles Burnett)
28) All That Jazz (Bob Fosse)
29) The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)
30) The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel)

31) The French Connection (William Friedkin)
32) A Woman Under The Influence (John Cassavetes)
33) Aguirre, Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
34) American Graffiti (George Lucas)
35) The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman)
36) Amarcord (Frederico Fellini)
37) Cries And Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
38) Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese)
39) Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
40) 3 Women (Robert Altman)

41) Celine And Julie Go Boating (Jacque Rivette)
42) Halloween (John Carpenter)
43) Dawn Of The Dead (George Romero)
44) Rocky (John G. Avildsen)
45) Cabaret (Bob Fosse)
46) Day For Night (Francois Truffault)
47) Shampoo (Hal Ashby)
48) Being There (Hal Ashby)
49) Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg)
50) Carrie (Brian De Palma)

Full Results

NOTE: Film schools, mainstream media outlets and, even, Wikipedia have cited our past “decade in film” polls. They are an integral part of this site and I will continue to conduct them as long as there is high interest from readers — the goal is to go all the way back to the silent era. We’ve already covered the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.