The 27 best '70s movies

In the first decade totally free of parochial content restrictions yet plagued by nightmares of the Vietnam War, movies changed forever in the 1970s. But which of them are actually the best?

After foreign filmmakers ruled the 1960s, a new movement of “New Hollywood” was in full swing with home-grown Hollywood directors exerting more creative control over their work than before. At the same time the world, and specifically America, was feeling bleak if one were to judge through the news communicated by the ever-increasing presence of television. Amid political scandals, corrupt administrations, rising crime, and increasing cynicism, movies reflected a similarly melancholic and/or nihilistic mood. Even the miracle of the 1969 Moon landing failed to inspire lasting wonderment in the stars, as filmmakers turned space into a very scary place.

Evil spirits, alien visitors, Shaolin monks, vigilantes, killer sharks, and more define a complicated decade still reeling from the sins of Vietnam and a resurgence in Cold War tensions. But what movies entertained audiences during these disturbing times? Here are the best movies of the 1970s.