Best Movies of 1974
The 40 most popular movies released in 1974, most watched first, with a vote floor so obscure titles do not crowd out the ones people remember.
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40 titles · updated 3rd October 2026
1.The Godfather Part II(1974)
8.6DramaCrime
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
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2.The Texas Chain Saw Massacre(1974)
7.3Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
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3.Young Frankenstein(1974)
7.9Comedy
A young neurosurgeon inherits the castle of his grandfather, the famous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein. In the castle he finds a funny hunchback, a pretty lab assistant and the elderly housekeeper. Young Frankenstein believes that the work of his grandfather was delusional, but when he discovers the book where the mad…
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4.The Man with the Golden Gun(1974)
6.5AdventureActionThriller
Cool government operative James Bond searches for a stolen invention that can turn the sun's heat into a destructive weapon. He soon crosses paths with the menacing Francisco Scaramanga, a hitman so skilled he has a seven-figure working fee. Bond then joins forces with the swimsuit-clad Mary Goodnight, and together…
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5.Murder on the Orient Express(1974)
7.1DramaThrillerMystery
In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.
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6.Chinatown(1974)
7.9CrimeMysteryThriller
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals…
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7.Death Wish(1974)
6.9CrimeDramaAction
After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.
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8.Blazing Saddles(1974)
7.2WesternComedy
Crafty railroad worker Bart becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the citizens of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new protector. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk…
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9.The Conversation(1974)
7.5CrimeDramaMystery
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
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10.The Longest Yard(1974)
6.8ComedyDramaCrime
A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.
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11.The Towering Inferno(1974)
7.0ActionDramaThriller
At the opening party of a colossal—but poorly constructed—skyscraper, a massive fire breaks out, threatening to destroy the tower and everyone in it.
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12.A Woman Under the Influence(1974)
7.7DramaRomance
Mabel Longhetti, desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick. Increasingly unstable, especially in the company of others, she craves happiness, but her extremely volatile behavior convinces Nick that she poses a danger to their family and decides to commit her to an…
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13.Black Christmas(1974)
7.0HorrorMysteryCrime
As the residents of the Pi Kappa Sigma sorority house prepare for the festive season, a stranger begins to harass them with a series of obscene phone calls.
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14.Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore(1974)
7.0RomanceDrama
After her husband dies, Alice and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make a new life for herself as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as waitress in a small diner.
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15.Phantom of the Paradise(1974)
7.5ComedyDramaHorror
Singer-songwriter Winslow Leach seeks revenge on the nefarious music producer Swan, who steals both Winslow's music and his favorite singer for the grand opening of Swan's new rock palace, the Paradise.
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16.The Great Gatsby(1974)
6.3DramaRomance
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
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17.And Then There Were None(1974)
5.7CrimeDramaMystery
Ten people are invited to a hotel in the Iranian desert, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one. Could one of them be the killer?
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18.Herbie Rides Again(1974)
6.2RomanceComedyFamily
The living Volkswagen Beetle helps an old lady protect her home from a corrupt developer.
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19.Thunderbolt and Lightfoot(1974)
6.8ComedyAdventureCrime
With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.
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20.Dark Star(1974)
6.0ComedyScience Fiction
A group of scientists are sent on a mission to destroy unstable planets. Twenty years into their mission, they have to battle their alien mascot as well as a "sensitive" and intelligent bombing device that starts to question the meaning of its existence.
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21.Airport 1975(1974)
5.8DramaThrillerAction
When an in-flight collision incapacitates the pilots of an airplane bound for Los Angeles, stewardess Nancy Pryor is forced to take over the controls. From the ground, her boyfriend Alan Murdock, a retired test pilot, tries to talk her through piloting and landing the 747 aircraft. Worse yet, the anxious passengers —…
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22.The Parallax View(1974)
6.8CrimeDramaThriller
An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.
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23.The Taking of Pelham One Two Three(1974)
7.5CrimeThrillerAction
In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers while the authorities question about the method of their escape.
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24.The Odessa File(1974)
6.6Thriller
Following the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, investigative journalist Peter Miller sets out to hunt down an SS Captain and former concentration camp commander. In doing so he discovers that, despite allegations of war crimes, the former commander has become a man of importance in industry in post-war Germany,…
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25.The Front Page(1974)
7.3Comedy
Ruthless Chicago newspaper editor Walter Burns resorts to dubious motives in order to get top reporter Hildy Johnson to cover one more big crime story before retirement.
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26.Foxy Brown(1974)
6.3ActionCrimeThriller
A voluptuous black woman takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.
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27.Earthquake(1974)
6.2ActionDramaThriller
Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.
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28.The Four Musketeers(1974)
6.5ActionAdventureComedy
The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.
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29.The Yakuza(1974)
7.1CrimeDramaThriller
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.
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30.Sweet Movie(1974)
5.3Comedy
The winner of the Miss World Virginity contest marries, escapes from her masochistic husband and ends up involved in a world of debauchery.
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31.Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(1974)
7.1ActionCrimeDrama
An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.
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32.The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires(1974)
5.9ActionHorror
Professor Van Helsing had been asked to help against the tyranny of skeletal creatures that are responsible for terror and death amongst the peasants in rural China. He is the only person qualified to deal with the cause of these phenomena, for the undead are controlled by the most diabolical force of all.... Count…
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33.The Sugarland Express(1974)
6.6CrimeDrama
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue…
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34.Mr. Majestyk(1974)
6.8ActionCrime
A melon farmer battles organized crime and a hit man who wants to kill him.
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36.Flesh Gordon(1974)
4.8ComedyScience Fiction
Emperor Wang (the Perverted) is leader of the planet Porno and sends his mighty "Sex Ray" towards Earth, turning everyone into sex-mad fiends. Only one man can save the Earth, football player Flesh Gordon. Along with his girlfriend Dale Ardor and Professor Flexi-Jerkoff, they set off towards the source of the Sex…
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37.The Little Prince(1974)
6.9Science FictionFantasyFamily
After a pilot is forced to make an emergency landing in the Sahara Desert, he befriends a young prince from outer space; the friendship conjures up stories of journeys through the solar system for the stranded aviator.
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38.Gone in 60 Seconds(1974)
6.2ActionCrimeThriller
Insurance investigator Maindrian Pace and his team lead double-lives as unstoppable car thieves. When a South American drug lord pays Pace to steal 48 cars for him, all but one, a 1973 Ford Mustang, are in the bag. As Pace prepares to rip-off the fastback, codenamed "Eleanor", in Long Beach, he is unaware that his…
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39.California Split(1974)
6.5ComedyDrama
Carefree single guy Charlie Waters rooms with two lovely prostitutes, Barbara Miller and Susan Peters, and lives to gamble. Along with his glum betting buddy, Bill Denny, Charlie sets out on a gambling streak in search of the ever-elusive big payday. While Charlie and Bill have some lucky moments, they also have to…
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40.It's Alive(1974)
6.0HorrorScience Fiction
The Davises are expecting a baby, which turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing people whenever scared. And it's easily scared.
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