10. FRENCH CONNECTION II
24 LISTS | 0 TOP SPOTS John Frankenheimer | 119 mins | Action/Crime/Drama Gene Hackman | Fernando Rey | Bernard Fresson | Philippe Léotard
“French Connection II continues the saga of Popeye Doyle, the New York cop bent on destroying his nemesis Charnier, the dope-dealing French Connection of the title. An old fashioned, straightforward tale of pursuit and revenge, the film gives Gene Hackman the opportunity to humanize the supercop Popeye. Hackman’s scenes as an unwilling junkie undergoing heroin withdrawal are brilliantly, imaginatively conceived and performed amply illustrating the prodigious skills of this often underrated actor.” – George De Stefano
9. SWEPT AWAY BY AN UNUSUAL DESTINY IN THE BLUE SEA OF AUGUST
30 LISTS | 1 TOP SPOT Lina Wertmüller | 114 mins | Adventure/Comedy/Drama Giancarlo Giannini | Mariangela Melato | Riccardo Salvino | Isa Danieli
“Fairy-tale combat on a battlefield of social disorder staged by audacious, spirited Lina Wertmuller with liberal sprinkling of Marxism and sexism. A rich, shrewish capitalist bitch and a macho Communist sailor who suffers helplessly under the socio-economic imbalance of his position as man and servant find their roles reversed when they are shipwrecked by an ironic stroke of fate. The camerawork was gorgeous, the performance by Mariangela Melato and Giancarlo Ciannini were volcanic, the direction and script full of passion and wit, and audience left battered and bettered by the experience.” – Rex Reed, New York Daily News
8. THE PASSENGER
36 LISTS | 3 TOP SPOTS Michelangelo Antonioni | 126 mins | Drama/Thriller Jack Nicholson | Maria Schneider | Jenny Runacre | Ian Hendry
“Michelangelo Antonioni’s intriguing, beautifully crafted psychological thriller about a man at the end of his rope trying to escape into a new life. Jack Nicholson plays the drained and driven protagonist in this haunting, highly individualistic work.” – Stanley Eichelbaum, San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle
7. LOVE AND DEATH
44 LISTS | 1 TOP SPOT Woody Allen | 85 mins | Comedy/War Woody Allen | Diane Keaton | Georges Adet | Robinson Frank Adu
“Love and Death is Woody Allen’s version of “War and Peace,” and in many ways his most satisfying comedy yet, certainly his most skillfully crafted one. Woody wades into 19th century Russia armed to his carrot-colored cowlick with a slashing wit that of course cuts two ways, scoring as many self-inflicted wounds on our hero Boris (Woody) as on his riotous adversaries.” – John Koch, Boston Herald
6. SHAMPOO
49 LISTS | 1 TOP SPOT Hal Ashby | 109 mins | Comedy/Drama Warren Beatty | Julie Christie | Goldie Hawn | Lee Grant
“To convolute an old expression, headfellow makes strange politics. George the Beverly Hills hairdresser (Warren Beatty) and his self-serving band of clients, lovers, friends and enemies play out the Nixon-era immoral code with deadly accuracy. Some people find “Shampoo” offensive and unbelievable but they really may be reacting to the desperate believability of this shocking farce.
I keep thinking about Goldie Hawn, sitting all hunched over and worrying that an undefined someone is going to “get” her, and I keep thinking about Beatty as that handsome dummy George, buying off everybody with a reassuring word or a sexual favor.
The more upsetting moments in this film simply portray more pronounced symptoms of the same diseases.
I’ll never forget those perpetual hedonists, the Beach Boys, closing “Shampoo” with the perfect anthem for its characters, speculating on the deep and abiding commitment of marriage – ‘Wouldn’t it be Nice?’” – Christine Nieland, Chicago Daily News
5. BARRY LYNDON
49 LISTS | 4 TOP SPOTS Stanley Kubrick | 185 mins | Adventure/Drama/History Ryan O'Neal | Marisa Berenson | Patrick Magee | Hardy Krüger
“The source material is Thackerary’s first novel, which Kubrick has transformed into a dispassionate comedy of 18th Century manners, breathtakingly beautiful but almost maliciously cool. As he did in “2001” and “A Clockwork Orange,” Kubrick stands apart from his characters, forcing us to make connections not to individuals but to an entire society. The cast is excellent (Ryan O’Neal in the title role) but the actors are primarily objects to be contemplated in Kubrick’s extraordinary panorama. John Alcott’s photography is Kubrick’s principal collaborator.” – Vincent Canby, New York Times
4. JAWS
64 LISTS | 8 TOP SPOTS Steven Spielberg | 124 mins | Adventure/Drama/Thriller Roy Scheider | Robert Shaw | Richard Dreyfuss | Lorraine Gary
“The movie has withstood the blows which accompany Croesus-like success. Director Stephen Spielberg deserves principal credit for making a suspenseful masterpiece of Peter Benchley’s book. As in all team victories, there were more people blocking for Spielberg than were blocking his way. Robert Shaw gave another memorable character performance as the picture’s peppery old salt.” – James Meade, San Diego Union
3. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
64 LISTS | 13 TOP SPOTS Milos Forman | 133 mins | Drama Jack Nicholson | Louise Fletcher | Will Sampson | Michael Berryman
“Jack Nicholson, who had been stumbling towards movie greatness for the last couple of years, finally achieved it as the iconoclastic free spirit who battles the inexorable forces of discipline and ritual in a mental hospital, in Milos Forman’s splendid variation of the Ken Kesey novel.” – Bernard Drew, Gannett News Services
2. DOG DAY AFTERNOON
67 LISTS | 2 TOP SPOTS Sidney Lumet | 125 mins | Biography/Crime/Drama Al Pacino | John Cazale | Penelope Allen | Sully Boyar
“Truth is stranger than fiction in a bizarre film that, like “Bonnie and Clyde,” is based on fact and mixes hilarity with horror. Sad little waif (Al Pacino) tries to raise money for male lover’s sex change operation. Ensuing bank robbery plays like a Keystone Kop escapade. The star brings Chaplinesque qualities to a performance that more than anything else places this film in the winner’s circle.” – Bill Morrison, The News and Observer
1. NASHVILLE
95 LISTS | 23 TOP SPOTS Robert Altman | 160 mins | Comedy/Drama/Music Keith Carradine | Karen Black | Ronee Blakley | Shelley Duvall
“Some viewers expressed displeasure at finding, despite the overwhelming critical buildup, that the earth failed to move as they watched Robert Altman’s dense, rambling masterpiece, but Altman’s structural innovations are none the less brilliant for being only quietly spectacular. Far and away the most original and groundbreaking film of the year.” – Janet Maslin, Boston Phoenix
Full List:
| R | Film | L | #1 | AR | L% | #1% | TCL | TCL1 | TCL% | TCL1% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nashville | 95 | 23 | 2.90 | 81% | 32% | 33 | 10 | 89% | 38% |
| 2 | Dog Day Afternoon | 67 | 2 | 4.57 | 57% | 3% | 21 | 2 | 57% | 8% |
| 3 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | 64 | 13 | 3.49 | 55% | 18% | 18 | 2 | 49% | 8% |
| 4 | Jaws | 64 | 8 | 3.82 | 54% | 11% | 21 | 2 | 57% | 8% |
| 5 | Barry Lyndon | 49 | 4 | 4.80 | 42% | 6% | 19 | 2 | 51% | 8% |
| 6 | Shampoo | 49 | 1 | 5.67 | 42% | 1% | 12 | 0 | 32% | 0% |
| 7 | Love and Death | 44 | 1 | 6.30 | 37% | 1% | 16 | 1 | 43% | 4% |
| 8 | The Passenger | 36 | 3 | 4.23 | 31% | 4% | 13 | 1 | 35% | 4% |
| 9 | Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August | 30 | 1 | 5.43 | 26% | 1% | 11 | 0 | 30% | 0% |
| 10 | French Connection II | 24 | 0 | 7.62 | 20% | 0% | 8 | 0 | 22% | 0% |
| 11 | A Brief Vacation | 24 | 1 | 5.36 | 20% | 1% | 7 | 1 | 19% | 4% |
| 12 | The Man Who Would Be King | 22 | 1 | 6.82 | 19% | 1% | 8 | 1 | 22% | 4% |
| 13 | The Magic Flute | 22 | 1 | 5.36 | 19% | 1% | 10 | 0 | 27% | 0% |
| 14 | The Day of the Locust | 22 | 2 | 5.30 | 19% | 3% | 6 | 0 | 16% | 0% |
| 15 | Smile | 22 | 1 | 6.44 | 19% | 1% | 7 | 0 | 19% | 0% |
| 16 | Hearts of the West | 21 | 0 | 6.80 | 18% | 0% | 6 | 0 | 16% | 0% |
| 17 | The Story of Adele H | 17 | 0 | 6.90 | 15% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 14% | 0% |
| 18 | Night Moves (1975) | 17 | 0 | 5.55 | 14% | 0% | 11 | 0 | 30% | 0% |
| 19 | Hester Street | 16 | 1 | 4.38 | 14% | 1% | 4 | 0 | 11% | 0% |
| 20 | The Sunshine Boys | 16 | 0 | 4.83 | 14% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 11% | 0% |
| 21 | Tommy | 16 | 0 | 6.13 | 14% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 14% | 0% |
| 22 | The Return of the Pink Panther | 14 | 0 | 5.83 | 12% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 8% | 0% |
| 23 | The Wind and the Lion | 14 | 1 | 6.00 | 12% | 1% | 5 | 1 | 14% | 4% |
| 24 | Farewell, My Lovely | 14 | 0 | 7.50 | 12% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 14% | 0% |
| 25 | Monty Python and the Holy Grail | 12 | 0 | 7.00 | 10% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 8% | 0% |
| 26 | Give 'Em Hell, Harry! | 11 | 1 | 6.67 | 9% | 1% | 3 | 0 | 8% | 0% |
| 27 | And Now My Love | 10 | 2 | 4.43 | 8% | 3% | 6 | 1 | 16% | 4% |
| 28 | Three Days of the Condor | 10 | 0 | 5.75 | 8% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 3% | 0% |
Lists Included 118 | Top Critics’ Lists Included 37
R Rank
L Total number of lists where the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year
AR Average position on ranked top 10 lists
#1 Total number of lists where the film was selected as the best film of the year
L% Percentage of total lists where the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year
#1% Percentage of mentions where the film was selected as the best film of the year
TCL Number of times that the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL1 Number of times that the film was selected as the best film of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL% Percentage of times that the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL1% Percentage of lists where the film was selected as the best film of the year on top critics’ lists
You must be logged in to post a comment.