In the realm of streaming services, Netflix has carved out a niche for itself, but its selection of classic movies from the 1970s is more of a 'only-ones-on-there' list than a 'best of' compilation. This is a shame, as the 1970s was a decade of cinematic innovation and cultural significance, marked by paranoid, racy, and unflinching movies that sent a shock through Hollywood. However, the films Netflix does have on offer are generally worthwhile, either for their sustained entertainment value or as historical artifacts that represent a bygone era of moviemaking. These films are a good jumping-off point for continuing your cinematic exploration of the world of 1970s cinema.
One such film is 'Airport', an all-star disaster movie that created the template for a decade of disaster-movie filmmaking. Despite its dated storytelling and tension, it's compelling as a genre artifact, delivering an impressive sense of workmanlike, practical moviemaking. Another notable film is 'Slap Shot', a sports comedy that distinguishes itself from its peers by its stubbornly held thread of melancholy. It's a sharper movie than its reputation as a hockey comedy may suggest, with a poignant sense of realism that recognizes the more true-to-life circumstances of living outside the sport.
'National Lampoon's Animal House' is another cult-favorite feature film that broke out despite Warner Bros.' insistence that the premise could never make for a successful movie. It spoke to a rowdy generation of young people who had grown up in a completely different America from that of their elders, one transformed by the turbulent countercultural years of the '60s and early '70s. 'Smokey and the Bandit' is a summer classic that became the second-highest-grossing film of the year, thanks to the star power of Burt Reynolds and some truly thrilling driving stunts.
'Rocky' is a classic sports movie that won Best Picture at the 1977 Academy Awards, despite an era of social cynicism toward the American government. It's a celebration of tenacity, hard work, and ambition, with a sobering sense of adrift yearning for an elusive American Dream. 'Rocky II' is a well-made sequel that continues the story of Rocky Balboa, but it can't consistently justify the continuation of the story, especially when the narrative trajectory puts Balboa on the exact same path as the first film.
'High Plains Drifter' is a meaner and sadistic Western film directed by Clint Eastwood, who entered the directing phase of his career with something to prove. It's a troubling veracity of life in an earlier time in our country, which wasn't defined by valiant heroism but by an apathy toward such moral blustering in a time when survival and goodness were nothing close to hand-in-hand. Finally, 'American Graffiti' is a coming-of-age movie that captures the blissed-out wave of early '60s California youth culture, with an elegiac quality that understands precisely what its characters don't: the future.
