Netflix Doc Tackles the Landmark Movie Year of 1975

Half a century on, 1975 feels like a moment of transition — the New Hollywood movement was in full bloom, but with the first hints of the blockbuster era creeping in. The studio system, still reeling from the upheaval of the late ’60s, had learned to bet on risky visions by young filmmakers, but a certain corporate instinct was starting to creep in. The auteur-driven grit of the early ’70s was at its peak, but then “Jaws” happened and, two years later, “Star Wars.”

But honestly? It’s hard to believe we’ll ever get another movie year as seismic as 1975 — and that’s with full acknowledgment that 1974 might actually be the stronger overall year. The ’70s were untouchable. Later, we’d see the genre heaven of 1982, the ’90s at their sharpest in 1994, the modern high of 1999, and the prestige peak of 2007.

To mark the 50th anniversary of 1975, Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (“Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and “Piece by Piece”) has concocted a secret doc titled “Breakdown: 1975,” and he got Jodie Foster to narrate it.

Neville’s film will feature interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Albert Brooks, Ellen Burstyn, Josh Brolin, Patton Oswalt, Peter Bart, Seth Rogen, and… Bill Gates?!

Per the film’s official logline: “In 1975, as America faced social and political upheaval, filmmakers turned chaos into art. This documentary explores how a turbulent era gave rise to iconic movies like ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ and ‘Network.’”

What a year this was. Has there ever been a better set of Best Picture nominees? “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Barry Lyndon,” “Nashville,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Jaws.” Yet Milos Forman’s “Cuckoo’s Nest” swept the “Big Five” Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay), the kind of consensus win the Academy rarely achieves.

The most seismic shift didn’t happen at the Oscars. Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” a lean, relentless thriller that dominated the summer, became the first true summer blockbuster, rewriting Hollywood’s business model overnight. What gets lost in the “shark movie” shorthand is how formally precise and patient it is — the kind of craftsmanship that today’s tentpoles rarely bother with.

The best film of this iconic year might very well be Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon,” which confounded some audiences upon release — too slow, too painterly, too cold, they said — but time has transformed it into one of the decade’s supreme achievements, a meticulously composed tragedy lit by candles and Kubrick’s legendary cynicism.

Now, it’s your turn — what film is the absolute masterpiece of 1975? The last Sight & Sound poll was, controversially, topped by a film from that very year (“Jeanne Dielman”), a choice that still sparks fierce debate among cinephiles. Does Akerman’s landmark film still reign supreme, or does another ’75 classic — “Barry Lyndon,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Nashville,” take your crown? Will “Jeanne Dielman” top the poll below as well, or will another title emerge as the year’s true giant?

“Breakdown: 1975” will start streaming on Netflix on Friday, December 19.