Ask your average cinephile what the single best year for movies was, and there’s a good chance that 1974 will at least come up in the conversation. New Hollywood was in full swing by then, thanks to instant classics like Roman Polanski’s Chinatown and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II.
But the silver screen showcased more than just prestige dramas and neo-noirs that year. Comedy lovers had a chance to walk a new kind of way with the release of not one, but two Mel Brooks-helmed parodies: the horror movie sendup Young Frankenstein and the shoot-’em-up western spoof Blazing Saddles. And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg—or, should we say, The Towering Inferno? Below are 21 of the most influential movies to watch that were released 50 years ago.
- Blazing Saddles // Released February 7, 1974
- The Street Fighter // Released February 1974
- The Great Gatsby // Released March 29, 1974
- Foxy Brown // Released April 5, 1974
- The Conversation // Released April 7, 1974
- The Parallax View // Released June 14, 1974
- Chinatown // Released June 20, 1974
- Death Wish // Released July 24, 1974
- The Longest Yard // Released August 30, 1974
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre // Released October 1, 1974
- The Taking of Pelham One Two Three // Released October 2, 1974
- Phantom of the Paradise // Released October 31, 1974
- Lenny // Released November 10, 1974
- A Woman Under the Influence // Released November 18, 1974
- Murder on the Orient Express // November 24, 1974
- Space is the Place // Released November 1974
- Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore // Released December 9, 1974
- The Godfather Part II // Released December 12, 1974
- Young Frankenstein // Released December 15, 1974
- The Towering Inferno // December 16, 1974
- Black Christmas // December 20, 1974
