Top 18 Crime Films of the 1970s

The decade that reinvented the genre rolls out in full force — mob epics, paranoid thrillers, gritty cop sagas and lone-wolf vigilantes. From towering classics to cult favorites, where do you stand?

1

Taxi Driver

Martin Scorsese's 1976 portrait of an unhinged cabbie spiraling toward violence in a decaying New York.

1000pts

2

The Godfather Part II

Coppola's 1974 sequel weaving Michael Corleone's ruthless reign with Vito's rise as a young immigrant.

1000pts

3

Serpico

Lumet's 1973 true story of an honest cop battling rampant corruption in the NYPD.

929pts

4

The Godfather

Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 epic of the Corleone crime family that redefined the gangster genre.

750pts

5

Death Wish

Michael Winner's 1974 film about an architect turned vigilante after his family is attacked.

643pts

6

Chinatown

Roman Polanski's 1974 neo-noir following a private eye into a web of water, corruption, and dark secrets in L.A.

643pts

7

Get Carter

Mike Hodges's 1971 British noir with Michael Caine as a gangster avenging his brother's death.

500pts

8

The Long Goodbye

Robert Altman's 1973 revisionist take on detective Philip Marlowe adrift in 1970s Los Angeles.

500pts

9

Dog Day Afternoon

Sidney Lumet's 1975 film about a botched Brooklyn bank robbery that turns into a media circus.

500pts

10

The Getaway

Peckinpah's 1972 heist thriller following a just-released convict and his wife on the run.

500pts

11

Badlands

Terrence Malick's 1973 debut about a young couple on a haunting killing spree across the Midwest.

500pts

12

The Conversation

Coppola's 1974 thriller about a surveillance expert consumed by paranoia over a recording.

500pts

13

Klute

Alan J. Pakula's 1971 thriller pairing a detective with a call girl stalked by a killer.

300pts

14

The French Connection

William Friedkin's 1971 Best Picture winner famed for its gritty narcotics chase across New York.

1pts

15

A Clockwork Orange

Stanley Kubrick's 1971 dystopian crime saga of ultraviolence and a controversial reform experiment.

1pts

16

Mean Streets

Scorsese's 1973 breakthrough about small-time hoods and loyalty in New York's Little Italy.

1pts

17

The Sting

The 1973 Best Picture winner pairing two grifters in an elaborate Depression-era con.

1pts

18

Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah's 1971 siege thriller about a mild mathematician driven to brutal violence.

1pts