1. Raise Crows (1976)
Masterpiece by the Spanish director Carlos Saura, who indirectly refers to the violence of the Franco government with a moral fable starring a girl.
Little Ana (Ana Torrent, who had starred in The Spirit of the Hive in 1973) and her sisters are placed in the care of their severe and strict aunt in Madrid after the death of their mother and father, a soldier who died in the act with her lover. Ana has a melancholic character due to how she saw her mother suffer and her father dies, and that conflict in her also reflects the beginning of the transition to democracy in Spain.
2. Animal House (1978)
Sickening humor came of age in John Landis' college farce, though by today's standards that cafeteria food fight seems about as tame as Emily Bronte's living room tea time. It was the first film role for SNL star John Belushi (Bluto's best line: "Seven years of college thrown away!"), and also introduced actors who would become the '70s staples Kevin Bacon, Karen Allen, Tim Matheson, and Tom Hulce. It was the first film produced by National Lampoon, the sarcastic humor magazine that defined fun for much of the decade.
3. The Mole (1970)
The film by Chilean Alejandro Jodorowsky captures like a few others (in Spanish or another language) the spirit of the 70s. John Lennon considered it his favorite film. A rebellious youth, psychedelia, and the search for alternative routes found in El Topo his best vehicle. If Sergio Leone invented the spaghetti western (or European western), Jodorowsky used it for a mystical exploration, mixing allegorical images and philosophy. In the film filmed in Mexico, El Topo, the cowboy of the title played by the director himself, wanders through an arid spiritual landscape with his 6-year-old son. He has to face the Master Warriors, but first, he must bury the totems from his childhood. His journey is surreal and psychological. The New York Times called it "a rare masterpiece."
4. Chinatown (1974)
Faye Dunaway and director Roman Polanski notoriously clashed on set; at one point, Dunaway allegedly threw a glass of her own urine in the principal's face. But the film is still a masterpiece of 1970s golden-era cinema and may be the best performance of Dunaway's career. Screenwriter Robert Towne envisioned the neo-noir detective story, with Jack Nicholson as private detective Jake Gittes, as the first in a trilogy. But Polanski fled the United States for France after being accused of rape, and the only sequel came 16 years later (1990's The Two Jakes, which Nicholson ended up directing).
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Before Close Encounters, Hollywood's portrayal of aliens typically involved lizard costumes with visible zipper lines. But even though Steven Spielberg took the genre seriously, many actors didn't. Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Gene Hackman all turned down the role of electrical worker Roy Neary, which turned out to be a boon for Richard Dreyfuss, who had been pushing for the role ever since he heard Spielberg discuss the matter at the Jaw set. Declared the greatest science fiction film ever made by no less an authority than Ray Bradbury, the film was nominated for nine Oscars and helped make Dreyfuss one of the biggest stars of the decade.
