Im doing a school project on 1970's films. I need examples of films and how they relate to America in the 70's. Any themes would be helpful.

Here is a list of the top 50 films in 1970's for ideas

Top Rated "1970s" Titles
Rank Rating Title Votes
1. 9.1 The Godfather (1972) 123,148
2. 8.9 The Godfather: Part II (1974) 71,546
3. 8.7 Star Wars (1977) 135,128
4. 8.7 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 70,412
5. 8.5 Hababam sinifi (1975) 1,217
6. 8.5 Apocalypse Now (1979) 64,947
7. 8.4 Taxi Driver (1976) 48,010
8. 8.4 Chinatown (1974) 25,746
9. 8.3 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 60,728
10. 8.3 The Sting (1973) 23,754
11. 8.3 Alien (1979) 63,536
12. 8.3 A Clockwork Orange (1971) 65,462
13. 8.2 Annie Hall (1977) 21,528
14. 8.2 Jaws (1975) 47,077
15. 8.2 Patton (1970) 14,390
16. 8.2 Tosun Pasa (1976) 1,174
17. 8.1 Manhattan (1979) 12,422
18. 8.1 The Deer Hunter (1978) 28,305
19. 8.1 Dersu Uzala (1975) 2,575
20. 8.0 The Conversation (1974) 10,285
21. 8.0 Sleuth (1972) 4,816
22. 8.0 All the President's Men (1976) 12,755
23. 8.0 Life of Brian (1979) 33,410
24. 8.0 Young Frankenstein (1974) 22,329
25. 8.0 Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972) 3,942
26. 8.0 The Last Picture Show (1971) 5,350
27. 8.0 Network (1976) 9,527
28. 8.0 Dog Day Afternoon (1975) 15,008
29. 7.9 Shurayukihime (1973) 601
30. 7.9 Stroszek (1977) 511
31. 7.9 Being There (1979) 10,551
32. 7.9 Shao Lin san shi liu fang (1978) 618
33. 7.9 The Exorcist (1973) 34,267
34. 7.9 Barry Lyndon (1975) 12,321
35. 7.9 The Man Who Would Be King (1975) 8,055
36. 7.8 Cercle rouge, Le (1970) 1,064
37. 7.8 Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Le (1972) 2,924
38. 7.8 The French Connection (1971) 11,809
39. 7.8 Harold and Maude (1971) 9,191
40. 7.8 Amarcord (1973) 4,517
41. 7.8 Deliverance (1972) 14,446
42. 7.8 Papillon (1973) 9,577
43. 7.8 MASH (1970) 14,854
44. 7.8 Angst essen Seele auf (1974) 1,041
45. 7.7 Viskningar och rop (1972) 2,171
46. 7.7 Cabaret (1972) 7,193
47. 7.7 Rocky (1976) 22,968
48. 7.7 Nuit américaine, La (1973) 2,119
49. 7.7 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 26,347
50. 7.7 The Day of the Jackal (1973)

The following films are all about the post-Watergate paranoia/mistrust of government. All are excellent films:

All the President's Men
The Parallax View
Three Days of the Condor
The Conversation

Some more great 70s films about politics and society:

Network
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Taxi Driver
The China Syndrome

I didn't see it listed, but Norma Rae (1979)

I still find it so mindblowing that Paddy Chayevsky wrote Network in the early 1970s. So ahead of its time, I'm still in awe every time I watch it. Reality television? Multinational corp control of the news? Depravity as entertainment? It's all there. It's the emmess. I could just shit.

Well, I can think of no better movie that defines society in the late 70's than SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.

Don't overlook less popular material such as the "blacksploitation" movies like Sweet Sweetback, Superfly, Shaft, Foxy Brown. There were feminist movies like The Stepford Wives, and Norma Rea.

Dog Day Afternoon

All of the aforementioned films, plus:

Nashville (if you use one film, it should be this)
Being There
Stroszek
Chinatown

Let me also add Kramer vs Kramer (1979)

Pacino was all over it in the '70s. See also Serpico and ...And Justice for All.

Billy Jack
Walking Tall
Dirty Harry
Death Wish

There's an essay of Dog Day Afternoon and why it's political by Frederic Jameson in his book Signatures of the Visible.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thx 1138

Deep Throat?