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

Badlands

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

1000pts

2

Sorcerer

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

660pts

3

Coma

Michael Crichton's 1978 medical thriller debut — a paranoid hospital mystery with strong feminist undertones.

629pts

4

THX 1138

George Lucas's 1971 debut — a stark sci-fi dystopia predating Star Wars with uncompromising vision.

617pts

5

American Graffiti

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

566pts

6

Hard Times

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

503pts

7

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

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

485pts

8

Eraserhead

David Lynch's 1977 midnight-movie debut — a surrealist industrial nightmare of parenthood and anxiety.

424pts

9

Dark Star

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

323pts

10

Sisters

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

323pts

11

Assault on Precinct 13

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

323pts

12

The Duellists

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

188pts