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.

999pts

3

Serpico

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

952pts

4

The Godfather

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

833pts

5

Chinatown

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

761pts

6

Death Wish

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

761pts

7

Dog Day Afternoon

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

666pts

8

The Conversation

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

666pts

9

Get Carter

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

666pts

10

Badlands

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

666pts

11

The Long Goodbye

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

666pts

12

The Getaway

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

666pts

13

Klute

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

533pts

14

The French Connection

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

333pts

15

Mean Streets

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

0pts

16

The Sting

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

0pts

17

A Clockwork Orange

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

0pts

18

Straw Dogs

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

0pts