One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Widely regarded to be the neat decennary in the history of American cinema , the 1970s brought a wave of auteur managing director who pioneered the “ New Hollywood ” movement with rule - break out low - budget masterpiece that muff the art of filmmaking wide open and changed the studio system forever .
Some of the undecomposed picture show of the ‘ seventy were genre fare , like the gangster epicThe Godfatherorthe planet - hopping blank space operaStar Wars , but a lot of them just wiretap into the human condition with dear dramatic material . Still , for all the masterfully crafted drama that came along in the ‘ 70s , there were also tidy sum of punk one .
Best: Rocky (1976)
Throughout Academy Award history , three people have been nominate for committal to writing and star in the same picture show : Orson Welles , Charlie Chaplin , and Sylvester Stallone . Anyone whodoubts Stallone ’s talentshas clearly forgotten just how greatRockywas .
It create the guide forthe underdog mutation movieand remains the best , because it takes its sentence to let viewers get to know Rocky Balboa in the first act . And it ’s not really about boxing;it ’s a touching dearest story at spunk .
Worst: The Boy In The Plastic Bubble (1976)
This made - for - TV movie starring John Travolta was the intake for the classicSeinfeldepisode “ The Bubble Boy , ” which should provide a good idea of how much aesthetic merit it has .
The medical content of the story is wildly inaccurate . And while medical accuracy is n’t strictly necessary , in a pic specifically about struggling with a medical condition , blatant error are a fiddling distracting .
Best: The Last Picture Show (1971)
Peter Bogdanovich’scoming - of - age masterpieceThe Last movie Showtells the report of two long - sentence best supporter at the end of their high school careers and the beginning of their grownup lifetime .
Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms give rattling performances in the lead role , whilethe black - and - E. B. White filmexpertly trance the early-‘50s setting .
Worst: Old Boyfriends (1979)
InOld Boyfriends , a cleaning woman in a failing marriage embarks on a route slip to reconnect with a handful of her ex - boyfriends and see what she can learn about herself from the encounters .
motion-picture show fan familiar with such classics asTaxi DriverandThe Godfatherwould expect good from screenwriter Paul Schrader and actor Talia Shire . Sadly , this pic falls far abruptly of their reputations .
Best: 3 Women (1977)
Taken straight from a ambition that writer - director Robert Altman had one night,3 Womentells the story of two roommates and conscientious objector - worker , play by Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek , who deal an more and more bizarre human relationship .
Across half a century and tons of movies , Altman craft some of cinema ’s near - unadulterated masterpieces.3 Womenis one of his most avant - garde works .
Worst: Bobby Deerfield (1977)
After getting his self-aggrandising break inThe Panic in Needle Park , Al Pacino star in some of the corking moving-picture show ever made throughout the 1970s , from the first twoGodfathermovies toDog Day Afternoonto … And Justice for All.toSerpico . However , he did star in one ' 70s stinker : Sydney Pollack’sBobby Deerfield .
The plot trudges along through melodramatic territory with over - the - top reference and situations . It sets itself up as a racing movie , but fall down into the trapping of a clichéd erotic love history . There are reports that contemporary moviegoer laughed at some of the striking scene .
Best: Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Al Pacino gaveone of his all - clip fine performancesin Sidney Lumet ’s true - to - life story masterpieceDog Day Afternoon , playing Sonny Wortzik , a despairing world whotries to rob a bankto pay for his lover ’s grammatical gender substantiation surgery . Not too long into the heist , Sonny earn he ’s in fashion over his head .
Pacino shares grand on - projection screen chemical science with hisGodfatherco - star and fellow former scramble New York worker , John Cazale .
Worst: The Betsy (1978)
Despite sport such great as Laurence Olivier and Robert Duvall , The Betsyis a pretty cheap moving-picture show about the maturate father of an motorcar empire coming out of retreat to design a new fuel - efficient car .
The movie want to be about a mint of different issue , but it devolves into tepid melodrama pretty quick . It has about as much dramatic substance as a soap opera house .
Best: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
The image of the anti - establishment tone of ‘ LXX cinema , Miloš Forman’sOne Flew Over the fathead ’s NeststarsJack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy , a convict who pleads insanity and gets placed in a mental mental institution ruled by the iron clenched fist of Nurse Ratched , one of movie house ’s all - clip greatest villains , played by Louise Fletcher .
One of three movies to make headway the “ Big Five ” Oscars , Cuckoo ’s Nestis a unfeigned chef-d’oeuvre , with startlingly real characters andincreasingly heartbreaking plot turns .
Worst: Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
The Richard Bach novellaJonathan Livingston Seagullwas popular among readers and receive warm review from critic . However , the film adaptation was wide panned and barely managed to recoup its budget at the box office .
It ’s about as exciting as a flick about a sea gull look to shake up his life go like it ’ll be . It was a passion project for author - theatre director - producer Hall Bartlett , but one has to marvel why .
NEXT : The 5 Best ( & 5 Worst ) ' 70s offense Movies