IMDb Top Films of 1973
by Darth_Brett_78 | created - 28 May 2019 | updated - 28 Apr 2023 | PublicThis is a ranked list of the top 25 films from 1973 as voted by the IMDb Top 1000 Voters.
In order for a film to be included on this list, all of the following criteria had to be met: A film must be in the English language or produced/distributed by an American studio; a film had to have a wide release in the United States of America; and a film had to have at least 225 Top 1000 votes.
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1. The Sting (1973)
PG | 129 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning
Votes: 280,038 | Gross: $159.60M
(743) 67.69%
2. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 455,285 | Gross: $232.91M
(816) 66.13%
3. Paper Moon (1973)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, John Hillerman
Votes: 52,481 | Gross: $30.93M
(517) 62.87%
4. Papillon (1973)
R | 151 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon
Votes: 138,437 | Gross: $53.27M
(655) 60.34%
5. Serpico (1973)
R | 130 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire
Votes: 134,924 | Gross: $29.80M
(629) 55.08%
6. Badlands (1973)
PG | 94 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri
Votes: 78,439
(537) 52.88%
7. High Plains Drifter (1973)
R | 105 min | Drama, Mystery, Western
A gun-fighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago and is hired to bring the townsfolk together in an attempt to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan
Votes: 64,584 | Gross: $15.70M
(568) 45.47%
8. Charley Varrick (1973)
PG | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man, his wife and their friend stage a bloody bank robbery without realizing they are stealing from the Mob.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Felicia Farr, Andrew Robinson
Votes: 14,133
(370) 44.30%
9. The Long Goodbye (1973)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Private investigator Philip Marlowe helps a friend out of a jam, but in doing so gets implicated in his wife's murder.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell
Votes: 37,331 | Gross: $0.96M
(477) 42.93%
10. American Graffiti (1973)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 98,208 | Gross: $115.00M
(633) 41.86%
11. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama
After his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offenses, a low level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats
Votes: 12,211
(265) 40.00%
12. Enter the Dragon (1973)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A Shaolin martial artist travels to an island fortress to spy on an opium lord - who is also a former monk from his temple - under the guise of attending a fighting tournament.
Director: Robert Clouse | Stars: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Ahna Capri
Votes: 113,041 | Gross: $25.00M
(619) 39.93%
13. The Last Detail (1973)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young, Clifton James
Votes: 27,991 | Gross: $3.19M
(425) 39.11%
14. Mean Streets (1973)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In New York City's Little Italy, a devoutly Catholic mobster must reconcile his desire for power, his feelings for his epileptic lover, and his devotion to his troublesome friend.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson
Votes: 119,730 | Gross: $3.13M
(607) 35.45%
15. Magnum Force (1973)
R | 124 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan pursues a conspiracy of vigilante cops, who are not above going beyond the law to kill San Francisco's undesirables.
Director: Ted Post | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitchell Ryan, David Soul
Votes: 66,693 | Gross: $4.56M
(612) 35.09%
16. Robin Hood (1973)
G | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The story of the legendary British outlaw portrayed with the characters as anthropomorphic animals.
Directors: Wolfgang Reitherman, David Hand | Stars: Brian Bedford, Phil Harris, Roger Miller, Peter Ustinov
Votes: 138,995 | Gross: $32.06M
(599) 33.99%
17. Sleeper (1973)
PG | 89 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A nerdish store owner is revived out of cryostasis into a future world to fight an oppressive government.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory
Votes: 44,839 | Gross: $2.91M
(504) 33.61%
18. Emperor of the North (1973)
PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In 1933, during the Depression, Shack the brutal conductor of the number 19 train has a personal vendetta against the best train hopping hobo tramp in the Northwest, A No. 1.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, Charles Tyner
Votes: 7,075 | Gross: $0.09M
(290) 32.30%
19. O Lucky Man! (1973)
R | 178 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures that seem designed to challenge his naive idealism.
Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe
Votes: 8,794
(241) 31.30%
20. The Three Musketeers (1973)
PG | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York
Votes: 20,169 | Gross: $22.02M
(394) 29.69%
21. The Paper Chase (1973)
PG | 113 min | Comedy, Drama
A first-year law student at Harvard Law School struggles with balancing his coursework and a woman, unaware that she has a connection that affects their relationship.
Director: James Bridges | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, John Houseman, Graham Beckel
Votes: 8,696 | Gross: $1.85M
(241) 29.04%
22. Soylent Green (1973)
PG | 97 min | Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A nightmarish futuristic fantasy about the controlling power of big corporations and an innocent cop who stumbles on the truth.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors
Votes: 70,604 | Gross: $7.92M
(580) 28.52%
23. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Western
Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado
Votes: 21,097 | Gross: $0.95M
(423) 27.99%
24. Scarecrow (1973)
R | 112 min | Drama
An ex-con drifter with a penchant for brawling is amused by a homeless ex-sailor, so they partner up as they head east together.
Director: Jerry Schatzberg | Stars: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Dorothy Tristan, Ann Wedgeworth
Votes: 19,247 | Gross: $9.00M
(343) 27.98%
25. Westworld (1973)
PG | 88 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Norman Bartold
Votes: 62,995 | Gross: $16.06M
(591) 27.74%
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