'70s Movie Masterpieces That Get Better With Every Single Rewatch

Image by 20th Century Studios Published Aug 15, 2026, 6:05 AM EDT Lisa Nordin is an actress, writer, and fan of all things performing arts. Her favorite genres are Sci-Fi and Fantasy. She is a self-published author and enjoys exploring how fictional stories help define and qualify the human experience. Sign in to your Collider account The 1970s were a fantastic era for movies. Film studios were still finding their voice within the medium, so they took chances on bold projects and unknown directors, colored a little outside the lines, and launched some of the most original and iconic IPs ever made. From a sci-fi epic that would change the genre forever to the first summer blockbuster that would be beloved by audiences for generations, the 1970s were a memorable and impactful era of cinema. Some movies age better than others, and then there are those that not only age well but seem to get even better with time. From the prophetic warnings of Network to the enduring entertainment value of Young Frankenstein, these 10 titles exemplify the era. More than simply being triumphs of their time, these films somehow get better each time you watch them. 1 'Jaws' (1975) Image via Universal Pictures In 1975, Steven Spielberg had already accumulated a successful roster of directorial projects that included several TV series, made-for-TV movies, and feature-length films. However, nothing put him on the map more than the horror adventure film Jaws. Based on the book by Peter Benchley, Jaws follows a small group of people who are trying to kill an enormous shark that is terrorizing beachgoers on Long Island. Jaws was an overwhelming sensation, and it changed cinema forever. It became the first summer blockbuster in history and has the Guinness World Record to prove it. Spielberg’s intentional restraint of waiting to reveal the shark until later in the runtime creates a crescendo of dread, and the movie is a masterclass in tension building. The famous score by John Williams played into the menacing presence of a lurking predator, and watching Jaws can still elicit goosebumps. In 2025, Jaws was re-released in theaters for its 50th anniversary, and the film once again dominated at the box office, proving the enduring quality of this perfect 1970s gem. 2 'Alien' (1979) Image via 20th Century Studios Few movies have had as great an impact on the sci-fi genre as Alien. Directed by Ridley Scott, it follows a team of space travelers as they encounter an extraterrestrial life form of significant prowess. Alien is a mix of classic horror and science fiction, and it still impacts projects to this day. Not only does Alien have a suspenseful premise, but its creature design is bar none. Before the xenomorphs, most aliens were humanoid in form or looked like a household appliance. The haunting, snarling, and intimidating presence of these creatures has left an indelible impact on screen and in the nightmares of viewers for generations. The brilliant use of practical effects makes Alien’s overall look hold up to this day, and it simply gets better each time you watch it. 3 'Rocky' (1976) Image via United Artists Everyone loves a good underdog story, and the best of the best is Rocky. Written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, it is widely hailed as one of the best sports movies of all time. In the film, Stallone plays the title character, an unknown boxer who gets the opportunity to fight the world heavyweight champion. Rocky has a lot of heart, and the universal themes of friendship, self-respect, and dedication are timeless. Now is the perfect time to revisit this 1970s masterpiece, as a new film about the making of the movie entitled I Play Rocky will hit theaters in November of this year. Even five decades later, your heart would have to be made out of stone not to be moved by this triumphant tale of obscurity and adversity. Rocky launched a successful film series, and the original remains as inspirational as ever. Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best PictureIs Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one. 🪜Parasite 🌀Everything Everywhere ☢️Oppenheimer 🐦Birdman 🪙No Country for Old Men FIND YOUR FILM → 01 What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don't just entertain — they leave something behind. ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I'm watching one kind of film and then reveals I'm watching another entirely. BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once. CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I'm watching. DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do. ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What's yours? AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity. BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart. CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back. DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you're still alive to watch it happen. EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does. NEXT QUESTION → 03 How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means. AGenre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different. BMaximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride. CEpic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence. DA single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I'm living it in real time, no cuts to safety. ESpare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you? AA system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face. BThe self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most. CHistory — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect. DThe industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance. EPure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical. NEXT QUESTION → 05 What do you want from a film's ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like? AShock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it. BEarned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess. CDevastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after. DAmbiguity — something that leaves enough open that I'm still thinking about it days later. EBleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what's even possible. AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation. BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person. CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades. DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap. EVast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable. AProduction design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface. BEditing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience. CScore and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you're watching. DCinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them. ESilence and restraint — what's left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you. ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure. BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary. CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other. DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing. EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense. NEXT QUESTION → 09 How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately. AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal. BGive me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end. CEpic runtime doesn't scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours. DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout. EDeliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action. NEXT QUESTION → 10 What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want? AUnsettled — like I've just seen something I can't fully explain but can't stop thinking about. BMoved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto. CHumbled — like I've been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming. DExhilarated — like I've just seen cinema doing something it's never quite done before. EHaunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days. REVEAL MY FILM → The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works. ParasiteYou are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it's ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image. Everything Everywhere All at OnceYou want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn't want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it's about. OppenheimerYou are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort. BirdmanYou are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it's about. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor's ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn't be possible. Michael Keaton's performance and Emmanuel Lubezki's restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all. No Country for Old MenYou are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 4 'Network' (1976) Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Like Mike Judge's Idiocracy, Paddy Chayefsky's Network begins as a satire and ends up being a prophetic documentary of current events. Directed by Sidney Lumet, Network dissects the world of broadcast television and mass media. Decades before AI and “fake news,” Network had its finger on the pulse of what was already happening behind the scenes, and many of its chilling observations ring all too true. Network is still shockingly relevant, and its unsettling insights about media, politics, and public manipulation are frighteningly accurate. Beyond the surface level, Network has grounded human elements, and it examines the nuances of the personal lives of those who pull the strings behind powerful corporations. Network continues to be one of the best movies ever made about the media, and it seems to reveal a new clandestine reality upon each rewatch. 5 'Carrie' (1976) Image via Everett Collection For horror fans, the 1976 version of Stephen King’s Carrie is considered a staple. It is an ever-increasing ramp-up of anguished tension. The title character, played superbly by Sissy Spacek, is a tragic figure who is bullied and mistreated by everyone, and she has no safe space. She is terrorized by an insane and abusive mother at home and ridiculed and ostracized by peers at school, leaving her no outlet for support. Finally, pushed too far, the culmination of events erupts in violence at the famous prom scene. Carrie is a potent vignette in psychological horror movies where humans are the monsters. Spacek and Piper Laurie, who played Carrie’s mom Margaret, deliver powerful performances, and both received an Oscar nomination for their portrayals. Carrie continues to be one of King’s most popular works, and a new series starring Summer H. Howell is set to premiere on Prime Video this October. 6 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' (1977) Image via Lucasfilm It is almost impossible to imagine the science fiction genre without Star Wars. George Lucas' sweeping saga is undoubtedly one of the best space epics ever made. Its ability to bring identifiable and captivating characters to the screen is unparalleled. Although the events take place in a galaxy far, far away, the plights of a young person feeling left behind in a small town, a smuggler trying to prove he is more than what he seems, and a veteran trying to find redemption and solace are remarkably relatable. Star Wars’ use of practical effects and groundbreaking filming techniques makes it as visually intriguing to watch today as it was upon its advent. Viewers can still get lost in the drama and find themselves being drawn into the rich world-building of the lore. Star Wars has it all: likable human characters, interesting alien species, and imaginative destinations. It is the OG, and watching it again just deepens the appreciation for how well done the filmmaking was. 7 'Robin Hood' (1973) Image via Disney One of the most adored folk heroes of all time gets an animal makeover in this 1973 Disney classic. Robin Hood retells the legendary tale of the dashing rogue who would rob the rich and give to the poor. The hand-drawn animation and character design are brilliant, and the music is spot-on. Although many are quick to dismiss Robin Hood because it was released several years before Disney hit its stride with more popular films, it is a winning achievement in storytelling, and its clear portrayals of good and evil are unmistakable. Robin Hood gets better every time you watch it because the themes of power, corruption, and the exploitation of the poor tragically still exist. The social commentaries woven into Robin Hood cannot be missed, and they give the movie a solid foundation that elevates it to being more than mere popcorn entertainment. Listening to songs like “Not in Nottingham” strikes a more resonant chord for adults who watch the movie, and Robin Hood can be viewed through several lenses. 8 'The Godfather' (1972) Image via Paramount The Godfather completely revolutionized what a mafia movie could be. Before it redefined the genre, mobsters in movies were wisecracking surface-level characters mostly used as background or a plot device. Francis Ford Coppola’s magnum opus told a story about people who had hopes, fears, ambitions, and difficult choices to make. The cast of The Godfather is exceptional and includes Hollywood legends Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton. Watching these actors and the rest of the phenomenal ensemble give some of their careers’ best performances is thrilling. The Godfather remains a cinematic time capsule. It is a thoughtful and artistic interpretation of a way of life that had previously been represented in movies in a singular shade of gray. 9 'Young Frankenstein' (1974) Image via 20th Century Fox No one does satire better than Mel Brooks. When he decided to take on classic Hollywood frights, the result was an iconic film that continues to be one of the best horror comedies ever made. In Young Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s legendary characters get a humorous update, and the perfectly cast ensemble includes Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, and Teri Garr. Young Frankenstein excels at hitting all the hallmarks of early cinematic terror while striking the perfect balance of oddity and amusement. The dedicated performances of the actors make Young Frankenstein a believable and excellent addition to the nuanced milieu. Even if you’ve seen it several times before, the jokes still land, and the comedic genius of the movie can be appreciated over and over again. 10 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) Image via United Artists So far, only three movies in history have been able to win The Big Five at the Oscars, and the movie that broke a 41-year gap in the achievement was Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The poignant, tragic, and subtly hopeful drama based on the book by Ken Kesey took home the Academy Award in the categories of Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest uses the setting of institutionalized mental healthcare to explore themes of sanity, power, control, understanding, and empathy. Although the 1970s were full of significant films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest could be considered its critical crowning achievement. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest remains a profoundly poetic examination of the human condition, and it is a timeless classic that gets better with every rewatch.