Best Movie Years Ever: 1974—The Auteur Era

1974 was a movie year that established filmmaking legends. It saw remarkable direction from the likes of Mel Brooks, Francis Ford Coppola, and John Cassavetes. Fantastic actors such as Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, and Jack Nicholson also provided iconic performances.

While it is true that those notable names had top talents for years prior, it was 1974 that solidified them as the most revered of creatives. These films made it clear that they weren’t flash-in-the-pan talent, but bound for many features in the future. Take a look at the best movies of 1974 that signaled the age of the auteur.

7

Lenny

The provocative and groundbreaking comedian Lenny Bruce received a thoughtful biography in Bob Fosse’s Lenny. Dustin Hoffman stepped into the role of Lenny, engaging audiences with his edgiest jokes that broke all the rules. Despite gaining a crowd and following, Lenny’s rise to fame also attracts the attention of authorities who attempt to shut him down and turn his career into a pit of vice that ultimately consumed him.

Based on a stage production, Lenny featured a mesmerizing performance by Hoffman, whose twitchy unease made him perfect for the role, playing beautifully next to Valerie Perrine as Honey Bruce, Lenny’s stripper wife. The film darkly explores the mountainous highs and deep lows of the comedian’s career, so intoxicating that it was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Despite this performer’s tragic end, highlighting the trailblazing with Bruce is essential for understanding the history of stand-up comedy, with Hoffman giving that figure an incredible immortality on the silver screen.

6

A Woman Under the Influence

John Cassavetes crafted one of the most intense and intoxicating dramas with A Woman Under the Influence. Life is an unstable mess for the mother/wife Mabel Longhetti (Gena Rowlands), who cannot manage her behavior around her children or construction worker husband Nick (Peter Falk). Fearful of his wife’s dangerous nature, Nick commits her to an institution and attempts to take care of the kids on his own.

Cassavetes had a string of acclaimed films in the 1970s (Husbands, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie), but A Woman Under the Influence remains his best of the decade and maybe best ever. Rowlands melts so well into her mental breakdowns, and it’s a real change of pace to see Falk switch gears from his casual tone of detective Columbo to a working-class man unable to handle problems at home. While the conversations are deeply uncomfortable for how physical and vicious they become, Cassavetes’ compelling writing and direction create such a believable drama that it’s almost frightening how much it makes you feel like a fly on the wall.

5

Young Frankenstein

Mel Brooks took a comedic stab at horror with the parody Young Frankenstein. Gene Wilder plays Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (or Fronkensteen as he prefers), the grandson of the famous Doctor Frankenstein, attempting to replicate his grandfather’s work at his old estate. He manages to recreate the monster (Peter Boyle) with the aid of the eccentric assistant Igor (Marty Feldman), but not so much with his fiancée, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn).

Filmed in black and white, Young Frankenstein found everything funny that could be done with the cinema classic Frankenstein. It works so well thanks to the capable cast, ranging from the straight-faced Gene Wilder to cross-eyed Marty Feldman to the goofily sexual Madeline Kahn to the grunting Peter Boyle. Brooks has composed many masterful comedies, but the hilarious mockery of classic Hollywood monster movies has made this an amusing classic to throw on every Halloween.

4

The Conversation

Gene Hackman is at his best in the gripping thriller The Conversation. He plays surveillance agent Harry Caul, who makes it his business to listen in on secret conversations for clients. What he thought was another job tracking down a cheater turns out to be a much bigger scheme involving a murder that Harry helplessly feels like he’s witnessing.

The Conversation is absolutely gripping in how Francis Ford Coppola creates anxious tension from merely listening to recorded audio. Hackman is at his best, but there are some surprising supporting performances from Harrison Ford, John Cazale, and Robert Duvall. The film proved that while Coppola could direct a sprawling historical epic like The Godfather, he could just as easily helm a tight and claustrophobic thriller as this one.

3

Blazing Saddles

Westerns were given a hilarious dose of racial satire in the Mel Brooks classic, Blazing Saddles. Bart (Cleavon Little) goes from being a railway slave to the sheriff of Rock Ridge, a town not keen on having a black man as their primary law enforcer. That’s what the conniving attorney general Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) is counting on, but he doesn’t count on Bart gaining ground with the aid of the washed-up gunslinger Jim the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) and the German seductress Lili Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn).

While culturally essential for challenging perceptions of the Western genre, Blazing Saddles is just a downright hilarious comedy beyond its satirical targets. Little and Wilder have such great chemistry together that a scene of Little cracking up made it into the picture because it worked so well. There’s a delightful Looney Tunes vibe to the whole film, including a cartoonish gag involving a bomb (with Looney Tunes music no less) and the absurd fourth-wall-breaking climax that takes place across the Warner Bros. studio lot. It’s easy to see why this is considered one of Mel Brooks’s best comedies.

2

Chinatown

J.J. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private investigator of the 1930s who is used to investigating cases of cheating spouses. His latest case, however, finds him hot on the trail of a major conspiracy in Los Angeles. Deceived by his client, Jake uncovers a dark plot involving California’s water supply.

Although producer Robert Evans was initially confused by the concept, Chinatown became a detective classic. Jack Nicholson’s performance was teeming with despair and grit, aided by a tight and thoughtful script from Robert Towne. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, it’s one of the most memorable detective movies for the vicious scene of Jake getting his nose sliced and the bleakest final lines: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”

1

The Godfather Part II

Following the events of the first film and based on the book by Mario Puzo, The Godfather Part II continues the story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) but also reveals the history of Vito Andolini (Robert De Niro). The sequel explores Vito’s rise in 1920s Italy and his successor, Michael, in the late 1950s. The Corleone can’t escape a life of violence, where their quest for power is a bloody one that leads to dangerous businesses in the world of organized crime.

Part II is just as good, if not better than the original Godfather film, for being helmed by returning director Francis Ford Coppola. The film presented a more complete picture of Italian gangsters while also posting unforgettable performances by Pacino and De Niro. Marking the first time a sequel has ever won the Academy Award for Best Picture, it’s fair to say that The Godfather Part II is not just one of the best mafia movies ever made, but one of the best movies in general.

The bell-bottoms and disco music might’ve aged poorly since the 1970s, but these films have stood the test of time as the best of the best. It’s amazing to go back and watch the ascension of figures like Hoffman and Hackman bringing their A-game, while directors like Brooks and Cassavetes flexed their talents for comedy and drama. If not for these iconic pictures gracing theaters, we likely wouldn’t have the cinematic auteurs of today.