Five '70s Movie Masterpieces That Keep Getting Better

Many consider the 1970s the high point of cinema, the peak of New Hollywood when auteur filmmakers prioritized artistic vision over commercial prospects. The decade turned darker and bleaker as audiences, shaken by Watergate and the Vietnam War, lost trust in institutions.

From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now it produced some of the most powerful and enduring statements in film, and a handful of titles have only grown in stature. Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's The Godfather remains cinematic scripture. Marlon Brando plays Vito Corleone while Al Pacino's Michael is drawn into a family business that erodes his humanity.

Few films capture the tragedy of corruption and the erosion of the soul with such operatic force; its game-changing legacy keeps growing. Sidney Lumet's Serpico features Al Pacino as an idealistic plainclothes cop fighting rot inside the NYPD. After going public with accusations of corruption he becomes a marked man, ending the film with his integrity intact despite violence.

United States, New York