"To celebrate the cinematic heyday of the 1970s, this list was compiled to rank the best movies of the decade. Stacker compiled data on all 1970s movies to come up with a Stacker score—a weighted index split evenly between IMDb and Metacritic scores. To qualify, the film had to have a premiere date between 1970 and 1979, have a Metascore, and have at least 1,000 votes. Ties were broken by Metascore and further ties were broken by IMDb user rating and votes. All data updated as of Jan. 12, 2020.
This decade, part of the "New Hollywood" era of movies, was led by the film school generation. These filmmakers challenged the traditional, stagnant perspective of Hollywood while also encouraging the academic study of film and distribution of international films. These latter initiatives really gave birth to the field of film criticism as we know it today. Which, in turn, has changed how films are crafted and made and led to the demise of the New Hollywood age at the end of the '70s."
