Can You ID These '70s Movies?

By: William J. Wright
Estimated Completion Time
6 min
Can You ID These '70s Movies?
Image: Robert Stigwood Organization

About This Quiz

One could argue that the 1970s was the most significant decade in the history of cinema. As film became a subject for serious study thanks to the efforts of French New Wave critics and filmmakers in the '60s, film studies courses entered the curriculum of colleges and universities across the United States. With UCLA and USC in Los Angeles and NYU in New York honing the skills of gifted young artists like Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, a new generation weaned on both old Hollywood style and avant-garde sensibilities and was ready to change the way the world saw the movies. 

For the first half of the decade, a gritty realism took hold in American cinema, reflecting the pessimism of the times. With Watergate and Vietnam grinding into another decade, jaded audiences made crime dramas like "Mean Streets" and "The Godfather" bonafide hits. Then, in 1975, Steven Spielberg gave moviegoers a glimpse of the shape of things to come with "Jaws," an old fashioned horror adventure filmed with Hitchcockian skill and a big studio budget. The age of the summer blockbuster had arrived. By the summer of 1977, movie fans were ready to have fun again, and George Lucas was ready for them. For better or worse, "Star Wars" changed how movies are filmed, released and promoted forever. 

The films of the '70s continue to resonate in the 21st century. We've gathered 40 of the best for this quiz.  So, to steal a line from "Dirty Harry," are you feeling lucky? We challenge you to ID these '70s movies!

Grease
Paramount Pictures/Allan Car Production/Robert Stigwood Organization/Polydor Records
Audiences were hopelessly devoted to this musical comedy in the summer of 1978. Can you name it?
"Grease"
"Fiddler on the Roof"
"Bugsy Malone"
"The Wiz"
The Godfather
Paramount Pictures / Alfran Productions
Can you name the mob movie that made audiences an offer they couldn't refuse in 1972?
"Mean Streets"
"The Godfather"
"Get Carter"
"The Mechanic"
Saturday Night Fever
Robert Stigwood Organization
The Bee Gees cemented their reputation as the kings of disco with the soundtrack to this 1977 film. Can you name this movie?
"Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
"Saturday Night Fever"
"Can't Stop the Music"
"Roller Boogie"

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The Exorcist
Hoya Productions
Can you name this 1973 horror film that pitted a young priest against a demon in a battle for a young girl's soul?
"The Omen"
"Rosemary's Baby"
"Beyond the Door"
"The Exorcist"
Smokey and the Bandit
Rastar
Can you name this '70s action comedy in which Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed have a long way to go and short time to get there?
"Smokey and the Bandit"
"Gator"
"Hot Stuff"
"Cannonball Run"
Animal House
Universal Pictures
John Belushi is no fan of folk music in this 1978 college comedy from John Landis. Can you name it?
"Used Cars"
"Animal House"
"The Kentucky Fried Movie"
"Schlock"

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Rocky
Chartoff-Winkler Productions
Sylvester Stallone wrote and starred in this 1976 Academy Award-winning drama. Can you name it?
"No Place to Hide"
"The Lords of Flatbush"
"Rocky"
"F.I.S.T."
Superman, The Movie
International Film Productions / Dovemead Ltd
Can you name the 1978 film that made audiences believe a man could fly?
"Superman, The Movie"
"Doc Savage"
"Supersonic Man"
"Infra-Man"
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
EMI Films
Richard Dreyfuss knows the truth is out there in this 1977 sci-fi hit. Can you name this film?
"Silent Running"
"Soylent Green"
"The Andromeda Strain"
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind"

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Young Frankenstein
Gruskoff/Venture Films / Crossbow Productions, Inc. / Jouer Limited
Gene Wilder is a brilliant scientist trying to live down his grandfather's notorious reputation in this comedic homage to classic horror films. Can you identify this movie?
"The Fearless Vampire Killers"
"Theatre of Blood"
"Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things"
"Young Frankenstein"
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Paramount Pictures
Can you name the science-fiction epic that brought a beloved '60s TV series to the silver screen in 1979?
"Lost in Space"
"Twilight Zone: The Movie"
"A Boy and His Dog"
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture"
32 One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Fantasy Films
Jack Nicholson upends the order of a mental institution in this 1975 dramatic comedy. Can you name this movie?
"The Last Detail"
"Five Easy Pieces"
"The King of Marvin Gardens"
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

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Shaft
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Richard Roundtree takes on the mob in this blaxploitation hit from 1971. Can you name this film?
"Super Fly"
"Coffy"
"Three the Hard Way"
"Shaft"
American Graffiti
Lucasfilm Ltd./American Zoetrope/The Coppola Company
Before "Star Wars," George Lucas wrote and directed this nostalgic look back at the early '60s. Can you name this film?
"American Graffiti"
"THX-1138"
"Look at Life"
"Finian's Rainbow"
Blazing Saddles
Warner Bros.
Cleavon Little is the new sheriff in town in this raunchy western satire from Mel Brooks. Can you name this classic comedy from 1974?
"Blazing Saddles"
"High Anxiety"
"The Villain"
"Support Your Local Sheriff"

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Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
David L. Wolper Productions
Can you name the 1971 family musical in which Gene Wilder invites a group of kids into his world of pure imagination?
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"
"Pete's Dragon"
"Bedknobs and Broomsticks"
"Escape to Witch Mountain"
MASH
Aspen Productions / Ingo Preminger Productions
Can you name the 1970 wartime comedy film that spawned a successful, long-running TV show?
"No Time For Sergeants"
"Kelly's Heroes"
"1941"
"M*A*S*H"
The French Connection
Philip D'Antoni Productions
Can you name the 1971 action movie that was the first R-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture?
"Dirty Harry"
"The Getaway"
"The French Connection"
"Death Wish"

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Enter the Dragon
Warner Bros. / Concord Production Inc.
Can you name the martial arts epic that was Bruce Lee's final completed film appearance before his death?
"The Big Boss"
"Game of Death"
"Enter the Dragon"
"Way of the Dragon"
23 A Clockwork Orange
Warner Bros., Polaris Productions, Hawk Films
This dystopian nightmare from Stanley Kubrick will change how you hear "Singing in the Rain" forever. Can you name this stylish and violent film?
"Alphaville"
"Silent Running"
"Barry Lyndon"
"A Clockwork Orange"
Love Story
Paramount Pictures / Love Story Company
Love means never having to say you're sorry in this tragic 1970 romantic drama. Can you name this tearjerker?
"Love Story"
"The Way We Were"
"The Goodbye Girl"
"Annie Hall"

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The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Michael White Productions
This campy homage to sci-fi and horror movies made audiences part of the show. Can you name this midnight movie sensation?
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show"
"Eraserhead"
"The Harder They Come"
"Pink Flamingos"
Every Which Way But Loose
The Malpaso Company
Can you name the 1978 action comedy in which Clint Eastwood could always rely on his simian best friend?
"Every Which Way But Loose"
"Bedtime for Bonzo"
"Play Misty For Me"
"Bronco Billy"
Jaws
Zanuck/Brown Company / Universal Pictures[
This movie frightened a generation out of the water. Can you name it?
"Orca"
"The Deep"
"Jaws"
"The Bermuda Depths"

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Sleeper
United Artists
Can you ID this 1973 sci-fi comedy about a health food store owner who's frozen and revived in the 22nd century?
"Dark Star"
"The Thing With Two Heads"
"The Cat From Outer Space"
"Sleeper"
Star Wars
Lucasfilm
Can you name this space fantasy from a galaxy far, far away?
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"
"Battlestar Galactica"
"Star Wars"
Shampoo
Rubeeker Films
Can you ID the 1975 film that stars Warren Beatty as a philandering hairdresser?
"Shampoo"
"Heaven Can Wait"
"The Fortune"
"McCabe and Mrs. Miller"

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Cabaret
ABC Pictures / Allied Artists
Money makes the world go around in this 1972 musical drama. Can you name this film?
"Fame"
"Chicago"
"Cabaret"
"Sweet Charity"
Halloween
Compass International Pictures / Falcon International Productions
No babysitter was safe on the night he came home. Can you name this horror masterpiece from 1978?
"Black Christmas"
"Terror Train"
"Friday the 13th"
"Halloween"
Little Big Man
Cinema Center Films
Dustin Hoffman is the oldest man in the world and a living witness to the Old West in this 1970 film. Can you name this Western?
"Little Big Man"
"High Plains Drifter"
"Two Mules For Sister Sara"
"The Shootist"

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The Wicker Man
YouTube
Edward Woodward is a policeman on the trail of a missing child in this 1973 horror film. Can you name this classic of British folk horror?
"The Blood on Satan's Claw"
"The Wicker Man"
"Witchfinder General"
"Curse of the Demon"
Apocalypse Now
Omni Zoetrope
Can you name the 1979 war epic based on Joseph Conrad's novel "The Heart of Darkness"?
"The Deer Hunter"
"The Green Berets"
"The Boys in Company C"
"Apocalypse Now"
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Vortex
Can you name the 1974 cult horror hit based on the same true crime story as Hitchcock's "Psycho"?
"The Hills Have Eyes"
"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"
"Helter Skelter"
"Madhouse"

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Taxi Driver
Bill/Phillips Productions and Italo/Judeo Productions
Robert De Niro poses the ominous question "Are you lookin' at me" in this bloody 1976 drama. Can you name this film?
"Taxi Driver"
"The French Connection"
"Serpico"
"Raging Bull"
Dracula A.D. 1972
Hammer Film Productions
The bloodthirsty prince of darkness descends on modern-day London in this horror film from Hammer Studios. Can you name it?
"Nosferatu"
"Vampire Circus"
"Dracula A.D. 1972"
"Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter"
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
American International Pictures
Can you name the film in which a disfigured organist takes his revenge on the doctors who failed to save his dying wife?
"Theatre of Blood"
"Madhouse"
"The House of Long Shadows"
"The Abominable Dr. Phibes"

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Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Michael White Productions / National Film Trustee Company
The legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are on a quest for a shrubbery in this comedy classic. Can you name it?
"Camelot"
"Excalibur"
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
"And Now For Something Completely Different"
F is for Fake
Planfilm / Specialty Films
This 1973 quasi-documentary from director Orson Welles focuses on art forger Elmyr de Hory. Can you name this film?
"Grey Gardens"
"Harlan County, USA"
"F for Fake"
"The Kids Are Alright"
The Phantom of the Paradise
Harbor Productions
Paul Williams is an evil record producer in this rock 'n' roll fantasy horror film from Brian De Palma. Can you name this cult favorite?
"Tommy"
"American Pop"
"The Phantom of the Paradise"
"Rock & Rule"

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Thank God It's Friday
Casablanca FilmWorks / Motown Productions
Can you name the 1978 flick that featured new wave band Berlin's Terri Nunn as a teen disco queen on a quest for KISS tickets?
"Roller Boogie"
"Thank God It's Friday"
"Disco Godfather"
"Disco Fever"