My 20 Favourite Films of the 70s

One of De Niro's very best performances, this film has all the perfect elements to make a truly amazing film. Brilliant script from Paul Schrader, unforgettable score by Bernard Hermann (his last film score before he passed), top performances by De Niro, Keitel and Foster and amazing direction by Scorsese and cinematography from Chapman.

The film improves with every viewing and there are so many little details in this film that come to the fore when you pay close attention. Mesmerising stuff!

Kubrick is one of the few directors to have trouble wavering from delivering masterpieces. A Clockwork Orange is one of those indelible film experiences that seeps into your unconscious. "Singin in the Rain" will now always hold that sinister tone which Kubrick so cleverly created by juxtaposing the song's manic cheeriness with disturbing moving images.

Hypnotic, dark as hell and completely unique, Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange will stay with you always!

Francis Ford Coppola nearly killed himself bringing this one into creation and we should all be very grateful for his unwavering dedication towards the projection.

Apocalypse is easily my favourite film that depicts war. It's intensity doesn't let up at any moment. It opens with The Door's "The End" playing out to images of destruction, bringing the viewer straight into the chaos of the Vietnam war. It builds and builds, much in the same way that The Door's track does, like a head-trip, into an explosive encounter where it feels like everything is bursting at the seams.

The sound in this film is perhaps the finest piece of sound design in the history of cinema. To appreciate it fully it should be heard with a good pair of headphones or played with a nice soundsystem.

Robert Altman's 3 Women is a masterpiece. It's images are incredibly hypnotic and affective, and the performances of Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall are astonishing. It has strains of Ingmar Bergman's Persona (1966) and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001), and there is clearly a deep artistic connection between these three films.

David Lynch must surely have been influenced by Persona and 3 women. The dream sequences in 3 women have an amazing intensity and feeling to them. They gave me a real sense of a lucid waking dream.

McCabe & Mrs.Miller is another unforgettable masterpiece by Robert Altman. Altman was on top of his game in the 70's, and I'm very much looking forward to checking out his other films from this era.


It is beautifully photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond. The graininess of the images effectively transport the viewer to this particular period in American history. The story is told with such subtlety and at the same time it conveys so much depth beneath the surface. Hilarious at times and also melancholic. Great lead performances from Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. A poetic Western and love-story and a landmark of American cinema.