A Decade of great music. And these are my picks for you.
PRESS PLAY
- My Sweet Lord – George Harrison (1971 Jan W17 P1_5)
- Mamma Mia – ABBA (1975 Dec W21 P1_2)
- Yes Sir, I Can Boogie – Baccara (1977 Sep W17 P1_1)
- Black is Black – La Belle Epoque (1977 Aug W14 P2)
- I Feel Love – Donna Summer (1977 Jul W11 1_4)
- Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty (1978 Feb W16 P3)
- Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick – Ian Dury and The Blockheads (1978 Dec W15 P1_1)
- Bang Bang – Ba Robertson (1979 Jul W12 P2)
- Making Plans For Nigel – XTC (1979 Sep W11 P17)
- The Logical Song – Supertramp (1979 Mar W11 P7)
- Union City Blue – Blondie (1979 Nov W10 P13)
MOVIES
The 1970s is widely considered a golden decade for cinema, marked by the rise of “New Hollywood” auteurs, gritty realism, and the birth of the modern summer blockbuster.
While “top” lists are subjective, these 10 films consistently rank at the peak of critical consensus, cultural impact, and filmmaking excellence:
1. The Godfather (1972)
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Why it’s a masterpiece: Often cited as one of the greatest films ever made, this operatic crime drama transformed the gangster genre into a tragic, sweeping epic about family, power, and the corruption of the American Dream. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino delivered career-defining performances.
2. The Godfather Part II (1974)
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Why it’s a masterpiece: Achieving the near-impossible feat of equaling (and some argue, surpassing) its predecessor, this film acts as both a prequel and a sequel. It brilliantly contrasts the rise of a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) with the moral descent of his son, Michael (Al Pacino).
3. Taxi Driver (1976)
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Why it’s a masterpiece: A masterclass in urban alienation and psychological tension. Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Travis Bickle—a lonely, unstable Vietnam veteran driving a cab through a gritty, pre-gentrified New York City—remains one of the most haunting character studies in film history.
4. Chinatown (1974)
- Director: Roman Polanski
- Why it’s a masterpiece: Boasting what many screenwriters consider the “perfect script” by Robert Towne, this neo-noir follows private investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) as he stumbles into a web of corruption, murder, and municipal greed over Los Angeles’s water supply.
5. Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Why it’s a masterpiece: A hallucinatory, sprawling descent into madness. Loosely adapting Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War, the film is visually stunning, deeply chaotic, and a monumental achievement in sound design and scale.
6. Jaws (1975)
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Why it’s a masterpiece: The film that single-handedly invented the concept of the “summer blockbuster.” Spielberg used production delays and a famously malfunctioning mechanical shark to his advantage, relying on a brilliant John Williams score and Hitchcockian suspense to terrify audiences out of the water.
7. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
- Director: George Lucas
- Why it’s a masterpiece: It changed the landscape of pop culture and the film industry forever. Lucas blended classic mythology, Flash Gordon serials, and revolutionary special effects to create a sci-fi phenomenon that shifted Hollywood’s focus toward high-concept, franchise-driven filmmaking.
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
- Director: Miloš Forman
- Why it’s a masterpiece: One of the few films to sweep all “Big Five” Academy Awards. Jack Nicholson gives an electric performance as Randle McMurphy, a rebellious criminal who fakes insanity to serve his time in a mental institution, locking horns with the chillingly authoritarian Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher).
9. Alien (1979)
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Why it’s a masterpiece: A flawless blend of sci-fi and haunted-house horror. With its industrial, lived-in aesthetic, H.R. Giger’s terrifying creature design, and Sigourney Weaver’s groundbreaking turn as Ripley, Alien built an agonizing sense of claustrophobia and dread that few films have ever matched.
10. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Why it’s a masterpiece: A visually striking, highly controversial dystopian satire that explores free will, state control, and behavioral conditioning. Kubrick’s uncompromising look at “ultra-violence” and human nature pushed the boundaries of what mainstream cinema could portray.
Honorable Mentions That Could Easily Slip Into the Top 10:
- The Exorcist (1973) – Redefined the horror genre and became a massive cultural phenomenon.
- Network (1976) – A chillingly prophetic satire about the media and television culture.
- Annie Hall (1977) – Revolutionized the modern romantic comedy with its formal experimentation.
- The French Connection (1971) – Gritty, documentary-style crime thriller featuring one of the greatest car chases of all time.
