"The 15 Greatest Rebel Movies of the Seventies"

by Peter Travers

1971
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A Clockwork Orange. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. - Kubrick's futuristic
satire features a career performance from Malcolm McDowell as a raping,
murdering thug who fights for his moral right to be bad.

The Last Picture Show. Directed by Peter Bogdonavich. - Restless Texas youth
boils over in a 1950s period piece of rare emotion and rigorous daring.

1972
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The Godfather. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. - Marlon Brando and Al
Pacino soar in the great American crime epic that included Part II, in 1974,
but not the misguided Part III, in 1990. Proof positive that popular
entertainment can rise to the level of art.

Pink Flamingos. Directed by John Waters. - Bad taste at its funniest.
Waters, on a $10,000 budget, defies the censors with the help of a
cross-dressing Divine.

1973
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American Graffiti. Directed by George Lucas. - High school, circa 1962,
allows Lucas to capture the romance and terror of adolescence.

Badlands. Directed by Terrence Malick. - A neglected gem with Martin Sheen
and Sissy Spacek in peak form as a couple on a killing spree. The gifted
Malick did Days of Heaven, in 1978, then disappeared.

1974
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Chinatown. Directed by Roman Polanski. - Faye Dunaway hires Jack Nicholson
to find her missing husband and sparks a Watergate-inspired tale of
political cover-ups. The last scene ("Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown") is a
chilling image of desolation.

1975
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Nashville. Directed by Robert Altman. - Altman uses a political rally in the
capital of country music to create a brilliant mosaic of American life.

Jaws. Directed by Steven Spielberg. - Spielberg, then 27, turned the scare
genre on its ear with a shark tale that blended fright and fun with
startling skill.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Directed by Milos Forman. - The insurgent
spirit of Ken Kesey's novel lives as mental patient Jack Nicholson fights
the institutional crush of conformity.

1976
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Taxi Driver. Directed by Martin Scorsese. - Following Mean Streets, Scorsese
became America's poet of violence with this tale of a cabbie (Robert De Niro)
and a teen hooker (Jodie Foster) headed for hell.

1977
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Star Wars. Directed by George Lucas. - For good or ill, the most influential
sci-fi epic ever. Just revived to beat E.T. as the all-time box-office champ.

Annie Hall. Directed by Woody Allen. - The Woodman's witty take on love
still hasn't lost its bite -- nor has Diane Keaton's la-di-da WASP princess.

Saturday Night Fever. Directed by John Badham. - More than a disco time
capsule thanks to John Travolta's bold and timeless physical grace.

1979
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Apocalypse Now. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. - Coppola's visionary
journey into the heart of darkness as soldier Martin Sheen heads upriver to
Cambodia to kill Marlon Brando's rogue colonel.


- Rolling Stone, 3/20/97.

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