I know, I know, yet another best of list from a mainstream publication.
Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Movies of the 1970s is decently eclectic, they don’t skimp on the foreign titles and they even have “Blazing Saddles” at #2.
Mel Brooks’ provocative satire shouldn’t be anywhere near the top 10, but it has, thank God, not been cancelled, yet. Ditto Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” which sits comfortably at #6.
Here’s the top 20:
The Godfather Part 2.
Blazing Saddles.
Killer of Sheep.
Nashville.
The Godfather.
Chinatown.
Taxi Driver.
Jaws.
McCabe and Mrs Miller.
The Conversation.
Alien.
All the President’s Men.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Eraserhead.
Celine and Julie Go Boating.
Apocalypse Now.
The Exorcist.
The Long Goodbye.
All that Jazz.
Jeanne Dielman, 32 Quais des Commerce.
Does Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep” really deserve that #3 spot? Great movie, but it t did t define the ‘70s enough to warrant top 10 contention.
Burnett’s film finished 27th on our own ‘70s Critics Poll, which is much more definitive than the RS list given that we had close to 200 film journalists participating in it. RS just had 14 in-house writers.
In our poll, Francis Ford Coppola had four movies in the top 10. He has three in RS’ poll — his “Apocalypse Now,” absolutely deserving of higher placement, is ranked #16 on their list.
RS placed “The Godfather: Part II” at the top of the list, with the first film finishing fifth. Just don’t tell that to Al Pacino.
Some of the more peculiar RS entries include “The Heartbreak Kid” (#35), “Coffey” (#51), “The Harder They Fall” (#51), “Smokey and the Bandit” (#80) …
Missing from the RS top 100 are “A Clockwork Orange,” “3 Women,” “Sorcerer,” “The Last Picture Show,” “Mean Streets,” “Five Easy Pieces,” “Dirty Harry,” “Last Tango in Paris,” “Serpico,” “The American Friend” and “Carrie.” You could create an impressive top 10 with those omissions alone.