Best movies of 1971
by pauleta_mtr | created - 14 Jan 2017 | updated - 4 weeks ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 881,067 | Gross: $6.21M
9/10
2. Wake in Fright (1971)
R | 109 min | Drama, Thriller
After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.
Director: Ted Kotcheff | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay
Votes: 13,957 | Gross: $0.05M
8/10
3. Dirty Harry (1971)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When a man calling himself "the Scorpio Killer" menaces San Francisco, tough-as-nails Police Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is assigned to track down the crazed psychopath.
Directors: Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni
Votes: 168,250 | Gross: $35.90M
8/10
4. Summer of '42 (1971)
PG | 104 min | Drama, Romance
During his summer vacation on Nantucket Island in 1942, a youth eagerly awaiting his first sexual encounter finds himself developing an innocent love for a young woman awaiting news on her soldier husband's fate in WWII.
Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Jennifer O'Neill, Gary Grimes, Jerry Houser, Oliver Conant
Votes: 9,120 | Gross: $7.38M
8/10
5. Bananas (1971)
PG-13 | 82 min | Comedy
When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalbán, Nati Abascal
Votes: 37,783 | Gross: $11.80M
8/10
6. Duck, You Sucker! (1971)
PG | 138 min | Drama, War, Western
A low-life bandit and an I.R.A. explosives expert rebel against the government and become heroes of the Mexican Revolution.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Romolo Valli, Maria Monti
Votes: 37,488 | Gross: $0.70M
8/10
7. The French Connection (1971)
R | 104 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco
Votes: 135,627 | Gross: $15.63M
7.5/10
8. The Last Picture Show (1971)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
In 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson
Votes: 52,367 | Gross: $29.13M
7.5/10
9. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
R | 120 min | Drama, Western
A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, William Devane
Votes: 27,635 | Gross: $8.20M
7/10
10. The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
PG | 110 min | Drama
Follows the lives of heroin addicts who frequent "Needle Park" in New York City.
Director: Jerry Schatzberg | Stars: Al Pacino, Kitty Winn, Alan Vint, Richard Bright
Votes: 20,201
7/10
11. Harold and Maude (1971)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack
Votes: 81,829
7/10
12. Murmur of the Heart (1971)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama
As France is nearing the end of the first Indochina War, an open-minded teenage boy finds himself torn between a rebellious urge to discover love, and the ever-present, almost dominating affection of his beloved mother.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Lea Massari, Benoît Ferreux, Daniel Gélin, Michael Lonsdale
Votes: 10,843 | Gross: $0.35M
7/10
13. A New Leaf (1971)
G | 102 min | Comedy, Romance
Henry Graham lives the life of a playboy. When his lawyer tells him one day that his lifestyle has consumed all his funds, he needs an idea to avoid climbing down the social ladder. So he intends to marry a rich woman and - murder her.
Director: Elaine May | Stars: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose
Votes: 7,640
7/10
14. The Go-Between (1971)
GP | 116 min | Drama, Romance
A tale of torrid and forbidden love between a couple in the English countryside.
Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Dominic Guard, Margaret Leighton
Votes: 6,301 | Gross: $0.75M
7/10
15. Out 1 (1971)
Not Rated | 776 min | Drama, Mystery
Following the May 1968 civil unrest in France, a deaf-mute and a con artist simultaneously stumble upon the remnants of a secret society.
Directors: Jacques Rivette, Suzanne Schiffman | Stars: Michèle Moretti, Hermine Karagheuz, Karen Puig, Pierre Baillot
Votes: 1,553 | Gross: $0.03M
7/10
16. The Decameron (1971)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, History
An adaptation of nine stories from Boccaccio's "Decameron".
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli, Jovan Jovanovic, Vincenzo Amato
Votes: 12,077
7/10
17. Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
R | 111 min | Drama, War
During World War I, a patriotic young American is rendered blind, deaf, limbless, and mute by a horrific artillery shell attack. Trapped in what's left of his body, he desperately looks for a way to end his life.
Director: Dalton Trumbo | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Kathy Fields, Marsha Hunt, Jason Robards
Votes: 18,343 | Gross: $0.55M
7/10
18. Duel (1971 TV Movie)
PG | 90 min | Action, Thriller
A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell
Votes: 78,362
7/10
19. Straw Dogs (1971)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna
Votes: 64,484
7/10
20. 10 Rillington Place (1971)
GP | 111 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
What happened to the women at 10 Rillington Place? The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt, Pat Heywood
Votes: 9,775
7/10
21. Vanishing Point (1971)
R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
During the 1970s, car-delivery driver Kowalski delivers hot rods in record time, but always runs into trouble.
Director: Richard C. Sarafian | Stars: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Charlotte Rampling, Dean Jagger
Votes: 30,526
7/10
22. Walkabout (1971)
GP | 100 min | Adventure, Drama
Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg, John Meillon
Votes: 27,340 | Gross: $0.02M
7/10
23. The Devils (1971)
R | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier's protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun's accusation of witchcraft.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian
Votes: 18,656 | Gross: $1.13M
7/10
24. Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
GP | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A museum curator falls in love with a crazy parking attendant.
Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery, Timothy Carey
Votes: 5,285
7/10
25. The Beguiled (1971)
R | 105 min | Drama, Thriller, War
While recuperating in a Confederate girls' boarding school, a Union soldier cons his way into each of the lonely women's hearts, causing them to turn on each other, and eventually, on him.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Harris
Votes: 19,206
7/10
26. The Music Lovers (1971)
R | 123 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Piano teacher Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky struggles against his homosexuality by marrying, but unfortunately he chooses a nymphomaniac whom he cannot satisfy.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Glenda Jackson, Max Adrian, Christopher Gable
Votes: 3,019 | Gross: $0.20M
7/10
27. Perla w koronie (1972)
111 min | Drama
Film set during the Silesian Uprising in the 1920's. The German owners of a mine decide that it is unprofitable and want to close it by flooding it. The miners go on strike.
Director: Kazimierz Kutz | Stars: Lucja Kowolik, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Jan Englert, Franciszek Pieczka
Votes: 339
7/10. It was made in 1971.
28. The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)
GP | 112 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Two journalists try to solve a series of murders connected to a pharmaceutical company's secret experiments, becoming targets of the killer themselves.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi
Votes: 13,024
7/10
29. Carnal Knowledge (1971)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
Chronicling the lifelong sexual development of two men who meet and become friends in college.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret
Votes: 14,890 | Gross: $28.62M
7/10
30. Plaza Suite (1971)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Three vignettes, each set in room 719 of New York's Plaza Hotel, make up this comedy.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris, Lee Grant
Votes: 2,873 | Gross: $1.67M
7/10
31. Punishment Park (1971)
R | 91 min | Drama, Thriller
"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies, draft dodgers, and anti-establishment types ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Watkins | Stars: Patrick Boland, Kent Foreman, Carmen Argenziano, Luke Johnson
Votes: 7,625
7/10
32. The Hospital (1971)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A hospital's chief-of-staff struggles to find meaning in his life during a spate of staff deaths.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard Dysart
Votes: 7,325 | Gross: $19.71M
7/10
33. The Widow Couderc (1971)
TV-14 | 92 min | Action, Drama, Romance
John, an escaped convict, takes refuge on the farm of Widow Couderc. He becomes the older woman's lover and admits that he's on the run. The widow's in-laws, who despise her,
Director: Pierre Granier-Deferre | Stars: Alain Delon, Simone Signoret, Ottavia Piccolo, Jean Tissier
Votes: 2,021
7/10
34. A Touch of Zen (1971)
Not Rated | 200 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A lady fugitive on the run from corrupt government officials is joined in her endeavors by an unambitious painter and skilled Buddhist monks.
Director: King Hu | Stars: Feng Hsu, Chun Shih, Ying Bai, Peng Tien
Votes: 7,306
7/10
35. THX 1138 (1971)
R | 86 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In the 25th century, a time when people have designations instead of names, a man, THX 1138, and a woman, LUH 3417, rebel against their rigidly controlled society.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie
Votes: 54,605 | Gross: $2.44M
7/10
36. Red Sun (1971)
PG | 112 min | Action, Drama, Western
In 1870, a gang robs a train and steals a ceremonial Japanese sword meant as a gift for the U.S. President, prompting a manhunt to retrieve it.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Charles Bronson, Toshirô Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress
Votes: 10,709 | Gross: $4.84M
7/10
37. The Big Boss (1971)
R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A young man sworn to an oath of non-violence works with his cousins in an ice factory where they mysteriously begin to disappear.
Directors: Wei Lo, Chia-Hsiang Wu | Stars: Bruce Lee, Maria Yi, James Tien, Marilyn Bautista
Votes: 29,456 | Gross: $0.04M
7/10
38. Death in Venice (1971)
GP | 130 min | Drama, Romance
While recovering in Venice, sickly composer Gustav von Aschenbach becomes dangerously fixated with teenager Tadzio.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci
Votes: 23,031 | Gross: $0.15M
6.5/10
39. Man in the Wilderness (1971)
GP | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Left for dead after a bear attack, a fur-trapper recuperates and pursues his former companions through dangerous Indian territory.
Director: Richard C. Sarafian | Stars: Richard Harris, John Huston, Henry Wilcoxon, Percy Herbert
Votes: 3,477
6.5/10
40. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
G | 131 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what killed the citizens of a small town and how the deadly contagion can be stopped.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: James Olson, Arthur Hill, David Wayne, Kate Reid
Votes: 40,428 | Gross: $3.42M
6.5/10
41. Le Mans (1971)
G | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two car racing champions, an American and a German, face off on the world's hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France.
Directors: Lee H. Katzin, John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen, Ronald Leigh-Hunt
Votes: 11,861 | Gross: $0.71M
6,5/10
42. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
G | 181 min | Drama, Family, Musical
In pre-revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant with traditional values contends with marrying off three of his daughters with modern romantic ideals while growing anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon
Votes: 47,846 | Gross: $80.50M
6/10
43. Klute (1971)
R | 114 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A small-town detective searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Roy Scheider
Votes: 29,612 | Gross: $17.44M
6/10
44. Monty Python's and Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
An anthology of the best sketches from the first and second seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969).
Director: Ian MacNaughton | Stars: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 31,496
6/10
45. Play Misty for Me (1971)
R | 102 min | Drama, Thriller
The life of a disc jockey is turned upside down after a romantic encounter with an obsessed fan.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch
Votes: 31,889 | Gross: $11.80M
6/10
46. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
PG | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A diamond smuggling investigation leads James Bond to Las Vegas where he uncovers an evil plot involving a rich business tycoon.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood
Votes: 114,114 | Gross: $43.82M
6/10
47. Shaft (1971)
R | 100 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A crime lord hires black private eye, John Shaft, to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Director: Gordon Parks | Stars: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John
Votes: 21,015 | Gross: $16.69M
6/10
48. Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
GP | 183 min | Biography, Drama, History
Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Roderic Noble, Ania Marson
Votes: 5,561 | Gross: $3.96M
6/10
49. Max and the Junkmen (1971)
Not Rated | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A detective decides to go undercover and set up a group of robbers, but he may be getting too caught up in the task at hand.
Director: Claude Sautet | Stars: Danielle Durou, Alain Belart, Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider
Votes: 3,135 | Gross: $0.03M
6/10
50. Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
PG | 104 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A musician is stalked by an unknown homicidal maniac, who blackmails him for the accidental killing of another stalker.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Aldo Bufi Landi
Votes: 9,871
6/10
51. Sur un arbre perché (1971)
90 min | Comedy
A politician picks up a couple of hitch hikers on the road. After a scary driving accident the car ends up on a tree above the sea.
Director: Serge Korber | Stars: Louis de Funès, Geraldine Chaplin, Olivier De Funès, Alice Sapritch
Votes: 3,503
6/10
52. Lawman (1971)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A lawman from Bannock arrives in Sabbath to arrest all the cattlemen whose wild celebration the year before resulted in the accidental death of an old man.
Director: Michael Winner | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Duvall
Votes: 5,900 | Gross: $5.94M
6/10
53. Daughters of Darkness (1971)
R | 87 min | Horror
While passing through a vacation resort, a newlywed couple encounters a mysterious, strikingly beautiful countess and her aide.
Director: Harry Kümel | Stars: Delphine Seyrig, John Karlen, Danielle Ouimet, Andrea Rau
Votes: 7,047
6/10
54. The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
R | 97 min | Horror
In early 18th century England, the children of a village slowly convert into a coven of devil worshipers.
Director: Piers Haggard | Stars: Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, Barry Andrews, Michele Dotrice
Votes: 7,515
6/10
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