When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences looked back at 1974, it gave its Best Picture award to The Godfather Part 2. In another year that might have topped my list as well, but in 1974 it wasn't even the best Coppola movie:
1. Chinatown
Directed by Roman Polanski
Written by Robert Towne
The bridge between the film noir of the '40s and the conspiracy thrillers of the '70s.
2. The Conversation
Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola
The ultimate 1970s movie: It's got paranoia, guilt, a lone wolf locked into an uneasy relationship with the system, and Gene Hackman.
3. Lenny
Directed by Bob Fosse
Written by Julian Barry
Sometimes Dustin Hoffman did Lenny Bruce's routines better than Lenny Bruce did Lenny Bruce's routines.
4. California Split
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Joseph Walsh
The next time someone tries to tell you Hollywood always fucks things up, remind them that this one almost got directed by Spielberg instead.
5. The Godfather Part 2
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by Coppola and Mario Puzo, from a novel by Puzo
A short history of America.
6. Primate
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
The darkest comedy, most gruesome horror film, and least erotic sex flick of the year.
7. Swept Away...by an unusual destiny in the blue sea of August
Written and directed by Lina Wertmüller
A comedy about the complexities of love, lust, and power, and the difficulties in discerning who wields the third when the first two are in play.
8. Phantom of the Paradise
Written and directed by Brian De Palma
The Phantom of the Opera meets The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Faust meets The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
9. Young Frankenstein
Directed by Mel Brooks
Written by Brooks and Gene Wilder
Try to find a better version of "Puttin' on the Ritz." Just try.
10. Thieves Likes Us
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Altman, Joan Tewkesbury, and Calder Willingham
Extra credit for ending a bank-robbing movie with a Charles Coughlin broadcast.
Honorable mentions:
11. A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes)
12. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah)
13. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent)
14. Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks)
15. TV Buddha (Nam June Paik)
16. The Parallax View (Alan J. Pakula)
17. Céline and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
18. Every Man for Himself and God Against All (Werner Herzog)
19. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
20. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)
Of the films of 1974 that I haven't seen, I'm most interested in Harry and Tonto.
