Old Hindi Movies List 1970 To 2 000
Stephaine Zitzow
My list of "101 Movies You Must See Before You Die" has generated some provocative e-mail. As I mentioned in my original posting, this was a list I came up with in 1999, providing what I'd consider to be the most important common cultural touchstones in films from the 20th century. It's not a list of the best films (some I don't even like much), or the most important films, or even my favorite films. (The latter list, circa 1998, is here -- and it needs some updating.) I could easily have listed 202 titles (or, perhaps, even 1001, as a certain book with a similar title does), but I limited myself to a short list. That wasn't enough for everybody, though...
As a supporting exhibit of the latter explanation, I cite the AFI's list of the top 100 American films of the 20th century. You have to go down to 15th before you find a film made after 1970. You have to go down (if memory serves) to 25th spot to find one made after 1980.
I find it interesting, Mr. Emerson, that your "101 movies you must see" list contains only 13 movies from the past 25 years. Only 6 from the past fifteen. Has no other worthwhile work been created in all this time? How depressing.
There is something tiring about these "100 most ____ movies of all time" lists - about the constant insistence that anyone who doesn't think "Citizen Kane" is the best film ever made (or *gasp*... hasn't seen it!) is somehow "movie-illiterate." Can we please try to shed the idea that movie-making peaked somewhere between the fifties and the seventies? That anyone who is age thirty-five or younger grew up during some kind of dark age of cinema?
Give me a list of "must see movies" that has the courage to admit that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is better than "North by Northwest." That "The Truman Show" is better than "Dr. Strangelove." That "The Silence of the Lambs" is better than "Psycho." And not only better examples of their genres, but more tightly paced, stronger narratives, better acting, improved color and film quality. Films which will give even the most pretentious intellectual just as much an appreciation of the art as movies from half a century ago.
As for acting styles having "improved" -- that, too, is hogwash. There are different styles of acting, but one is not inherently "better" than another. It all depends on how these styles are used to create the world of the film. As for your movie comparisons: I think "The Silence of the Lambs" is a magnificent film (and would easily include it on my list if there were more room), but it has nowhere near the revolutionary impact, or exquisite shot-by-shot precision of "Psycho." "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is a wonderful popcorn movie, a loving tribute to Saturday matinee serials, but no more substantial than the cheesy cliffhangers on which it's based (ditto "Star Wars" -- although I did include the best "Star Wars" movie, "The Empire Strikes Back," on my list because it deepened and extended the mythology). As for "The Truman Show" and "Dr. Strangelove"... you've got to be kidding. "The Truman Show" is a terrific idea for a movie (and Laura Linney and Ed Harris are fantastic in it), but in the end it plays it safe, whereas "Dr. Strangelove" is as outrageously funny and shocking today as it ever was. Of course, that's my opinion. But, hey, it's my list!
I guess my list would form the foundation of a good, basic film education. You might even be deemed the cinematic equivalent of "well read" if you'd seen 'em all. But these are only the beginning. Even considering that about 80 percent of movies are crap, and another 15 percent are somewhat worthwhile, that leaves hundreds and hundreds of terrific movies to be seen. (And, to re-address the previous letter: Far more movies were made under the studio system in the '20s-'50s than in the decades since then, so the odds of finding lasting achievements in those earlier, pioneering years are indeed likely to be greater.)
I thought your list served its purpose extraordinarily well. Of course, there are titles that I feel aren't that necessary to cinematic knowledge ("Mad Max 2"?). But overall, you did a fine job of hitting the essentials.
Except, and here's where the nagging film reader part comes in, you forgot one film that absolutely deserves the recognition ... "Apocalypse Now." It's the greatest war film, or anti-war film, or anti-war film posing as a metaphor of the subconscious; regardless, I feel "Apocalypse Now" belongs on your list.
So, in honor of the 10-year-period that made science-fiction filmmaking what it is today, we are counting down the 50 best sci-fi movies of the 1970s. Some of them belong in the greatest-of-all-time canon; others, we will fully admit, are the cinematic equivalent of a ripe Camembert. But each of these helped the decade redefine where science fiction could go on the big screen, whether it was in a grungy grindhouse or a state-of-the-art multiplex. This is where the genre genuinely started to boldly go where it had never gone before.
The 1970s was, to put it simply, a great decade for cinema. The end of the previous decade had been a time of change within Hollywood, which led to further radical films - and filmmakers - to shine in the 1970s. There was also something of a rise in international films, with more and more being appreciated worldwide throughout the 1950s and 1960s, which naturally continued into the 1970s, meaning it was a decade defined by far more than just New Hollywood.
There are too many great films to list them all here, but what follows is a shot at ranking many of the absolute greatest. As such, consider the following to be the best of the best; essential films of the decade that all film buffs should watch at some point in their movie-watching lives. The following titles aim to show just how good the 1970s were when it came to movies, and are ranked below starting with the great, and ending with the greatest.
Days of Heaven is one of Terrence Malick's very best feature films, and as only his second released film, ultimately proved how he was a near-instantly masterful filmmaker. It's a film that presents an experience more than it does a traditional narrative, with it being about several people who live/work on a farm in the 1910s, and a complex love triangle that unfolds.
There is still some story, but the things about Days of Heaven that leave the greatest impact end up being the spectacular visuals from cinematographer Nstor Almendros and the beautiful score by composer Ennio Morricone. It makes for an emotional, powerful, and unique viewing experience, with Days of Heaven easily standing as one of the decade's best.
It may have started a huge franchise, but the original Halloween from 1978 is a surprisingly small-scale and eerily intimate horror movie. It's about the famed Michael Myers escaping from a psychiatric hospital and going on a vengeful rampage around the town of Haddonfield, Illinois, all backed by an absolutely iconic horror movie score that ranks as one of the most memorable in the entire genre, courtesy of director John Carpenter.
He eventually comes across teenager Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), who proves to be far more resistant than most of his targets. Many movies followed, but the first Halloween movie (and the only one to be released in the 1970s) is easily the best, and also one of the most important films within the slasher sub-genre, which would explode in popularity during the 1980s.
While almost three hours of two people arguing as their marriage slowly breaks down might not sound riveting, it somehow is made compelling to watch within Scenes from a Marriage. It's a painfully honest and emotionally brutal movie, and ranks as one of Ingmar Bergman's greatest films.
It was also released as a miniseries in the 1970s, with a runtime approximately two hours longer. That miniseries cut also got its own remake in the early 2020s, with Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac playing the couple to great effect, arguably just as effectively as actors Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson did in the 1970s original(s). Those who don't mind watching movies about love (or the breakdown of it) that also happen to be surprisingly intense will find a lot to appreciate with Scenes from a Marriage.
I have added as many links as I could so that you can either watch the films online on Amazon Prime Video or if they are available as Blu-Ray or DVD. Of course, some of these are unavailable in all areas and may require subscriptions to other streaming services other than Amazon Prime.
So what do you think? How many of these Frankenstein movies have you seen? Do you have any others to add to the list? Let us know in the comments section and please consider joining our Facebook page, Scary Movies at the Fort. Each October we host the 31 Nights of Horror. Check us out.
Many film scholars have commented on how the decade of the 1970s has shaped up as a golden age of American film making. A lot of things did seem come into alignment during that period in order to produce a long list of important films. The list of factors can be speculated about, but among them would be social, political and cultural upheavals, the demise of the studio system, and the emergence of an educated generation of filmmakers who understood the history of cinema, both foreign and domestic.
It all percolated together to produce many films destined to become classics. In an embarrassment of riches, the bar of the American cinema would be raised to new heights. The decade would produce so many good films that for one reason or another some of them got lost in the shuffle. Here is a list of some films from that decade that deserve a second look and a higher place in the pantheon of 1970s film history.
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