The 11 Best Directorial Debuts of the 1970s

Raw, daring first films from a decade that rewrote the rules of American and world cinema. Cast your vote!

1. 1
   Badlands

   Terrence Malick 1973 debut following a young couple on a murderous road trip through the American Midwest.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Halloween

   John Carpenter 1978 debut establishing the slasher genre template with Michael Myers stalking a babysitter.
   704pts
3. 3
   American Graffiti

   George Lucas 1973 debut capturing one night in the lives of California teenagers in 1962.
   487pts
4. 4
   Saturday Night Fever

   John Badham 1977 debut that made John Travolta a star and defined the disco era.
   228pts
5. 5
   The Duellists

   Ridley Scott 1977 debut about two officers obsessively dueling across 16 years of Napoleonic France.
   228pts
6. 6
   The Conversation

   Francis Ford Coppola 1974 paranoid thriller about a surveillance expert haunted by a conversation he recorded.
   228pts
7. 7
   Mean Streets

   Martin Scorsese 1973 debut following young Italian-American men navigating loyalty and violence in Little Italy.
   227pts
8. 8
   Eraserhead

   David Lynch 1977 surrealist debut following a man in an industrial wasteland caring for a monstrous infant.
   1pts
9. 9
   Duel

   Steven Spielberg 1971 TV-movie debut about a traveling salesman terrorized by a faceless truck driver.
   1pts
10. 10
    Straw Dogs

    Sam Peckinpah 1971 controversial debut about an American mathematician forced to defend his home in rural England.
    1pts
11. 11
    Dawn of the Dead

    George A. Romero 1978 sequel debut using a zombie-overrun shopping mall to satirize consumer culture.
    1pts