What is the best directorial debut film of the 1970s?

The 1970s New Hollywood era was defined by bold, visionary debut films. From Badlands to Eraserhead, which debut announced a major filmmaking talent most powerfully?

1. 1
   Badlands

   Terrence Malick's 1973 debut — a lyrical, operatic road-trip crime film inspired by the Starkweather killings.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Sorcerer

   William Friedkin's 1977 revisit to Wages of Fear — not a debut but his defining personal project of the era.
   738pts

   DI
3. 3
   THX 1138

   George Lucas's 1971 debut — a stark sci-fi dystopia predating Star Wars with uncompromising vision.
   624pts
4. 4
   The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

   Tobe Hooper's 1974 debut — a raw, sun-baked proto-slasher that redefined what horror could be.
   511pts
5. 5
   Coma

   Michael Crichton's 1978 medical thriller debut — a paranoid hospital mystery with strong feminist undertones.
   511pts
6. 6
   American Graffiti

   George Lucas's 1973 second film — a nostalgic ensemble coming-of-age classic and the genesis of Happy Days.
   511pts
7. 7
   Hard Times

   Walter Hill's 1975 debut — a Depression-era bare-knuckle fighting film with Charles Bronson at his stoic best.
   365pts
8. 8
   Eraserhead

   David Lynch's 1977 midnight-movie debut — a surrealist industrial nightmare of parenthood and anxiety.
   365pts
9. 9
   Assault on Precinct 13

   John Carpenter's 1976 second film — a lean, Hawksian siege thriller made for $100,000.
   365pts
10. 10
    Sisters

    Brian De Palma's 1972 psychological horror debut — a Hitchcockian twin-terror film with Bernard Herrmann score.
    275pts
11. 11
    Dark Star

    John Carpenter's 1974 debut — a low-budget sci-fi dark comedy about a bored crew on a deep-space mission.
    275pts
12. 12
    The Duellists

    Ridley Scott's 1977 debut — a Napoleonic epic of obsessive honor between two hussar officers.
    0pts

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