Sure it is the decade of The Godfather, Taxidriver, Jaws. Close encounters, Star Wars... All very pumped up testosterone/let's slam the face in poor Diane Keaton's face type of movies. But the seventies also brought so many juicy women's roles. Chick flicks didn't exist, films were still aimed at grown-ups, (that is why they still feel so modern now) and girls and women on screen were refreshing, ambiguous, and courageous, while wearing the best wardrobes ever!
Scroll down for the movies to put on your to watch list!
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Badlands is one of the best crime movies of all time. Sissy plays Holly, the 14-year old girlfriend of a James Dean wannabee who goes on a killing spree. It is a gorgeous dreamy movie told in voice over by Holly. Sissy is at times innocent, at times creepy, her voice soft, her eyes piercing. She remains mysterious throughout, nowhere really showing what she thinks about the murders. Is she a psychopath, or just a girl?
Three women where Sissy Spacek plays Pinky Rose is another disturbing role for Spacek. This Altman is maybe a little hard to take, but it is makes for a compelling watch.
And then there is always Carrie, hooray for the creepy movie queen of the seventies!
I can't imagine somebody not having seen this movie, so no explanation. Let's just say that being a pink lady, that is the dream. What I really like about Grease, aside of everything, is the camaraderie of the ladies. Sure Sandy gets hazed by Rizzo, but in the end, the girls have each other's back.
Sometimes I think it is too bad that Diane Keaton's role has been reduced to way she looks so good wearing pants. Annie is such a great role, I love her vulnerability when she sings, her foolishness when she drives, her intelligence, paired with a certain silliness to match Woody Allen's. And yes she is and will always be a fashion icon.
We may forget this, but Jane Fonda was the best actress of the seventies, and her role in Klute, where she plays a high class call girl chased by a serial killer is a marvel. Tough, layered, confrontational. Searching. Funny. Brilliant.
Jodie has just a small role and the tomboyish delinquent she plays is such a great one! The whole movie is really great. Martin Scorsese follows Alice, a waitress, who keeps choosing bad men, and keeps leaving them, dragging her teenage son with her. Ellen Burnstein and Diane Ladd kill the scenes at the diner. But still little miss Foster stole my heart. ' You want to get high and ripple?'
Another movie another Oscar for Jane Fonda ( she also won for Klute). Hal Ashby made the most modern movies of the seventies, being the freewheeling hippie that he was, his stories, are shot and cut so the just flow by, as drifting in a daze. Coming Home was conceived by the then very political Fonda, and tells the story of a military wife who, when her husband is in Vietnam, falls for a paralysed vet. A subtle love story, with an uncertain ending, a great sex scene, and again standout performances.
Chinatown, one of the greatest movies of all time, and Faye need no introduction. 'She is my sister. She is my daughter. She is my sister and my daughter.' Amazing!