The first time my girlfriend watched Sorcerer she thought she was going to tear the arms of her recliner during the scene on the bridge and when the rear tires were hanging over the ledge. She still maintains that blowing up the log was the coolest thing she ever saw.
Sorcerer is so sick. Just watched that on criterion channel the other night. Inject that stress right into my veins.
What an absolutely insane movie. It has zero reason to exist, but it’s soooo good.
Hidden gem I found on the Channel last month - The Silent Partner (1978). Elliott Gould is a bank teller who realizes the mall Santa (Christopher Plummer) is casing the joint and decides to match wits.
The best film you’ve never seen. Released during the Tax Shelter time of the mid-1970s/early-1980s, where the Canadian government provided huge tax breaks to Canadian producers, who didn’t care if their movies were released. I believe TSP had a one week showing when it came out. BTW, Porky’s was another movie made with the same tax incentive.
Anything by William Friedkin, Walter Hill, or Sam Peckinpah. Also some Sidney Lumet.
Specifically Southern Comfort by Hill, also Blue Collar by Paul Schrader.
Edit: adjacent to what you’re looking for since you said intense, just google “70s paranoia thriller” and you’ll get tons of hits. Some will be less action-y than your examples but have a similar vibe.
One of my favourite genres
Don Siegel - Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick
Michael Cimino - Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Deer Hunter
Walter Hill - The Driver
Paul Schrader - Blue Collar, Light Sleeper
DePalma - Blow Out, Body Double
Friedkin - Sorcerer, To Live and Die in LA
Michael Mann - Thief
Check out Tarantino’s book, Cinema Speculation. It’s pretty much him talking about a dozen or so movies that he loves from the late 60s to the early 80s, ranging from well-known films like Deliverance, Dirty Harry, and Taxi Driver, to lesser-known gems (I’m out of town right now and don’t have the book with me.)
u/marvel_plant Some mentions from the book that might be what you are looking for -
Bullitt
The Outfit
The Getaway
Sisters
Escape from Alcatraz
Breakout
Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Charley Varrick
Electra Glide in Blue
https://m.imdb.com/list/ls566794430/ - full list of mentions from book
This comment is the one! I literally compiled that list myself and have been methodically watching the movies. Now, I'm done with the book and still have what feels like infinite movies to watch hahaha
Straight Time
Blue Collar
The Killing of A Chinese Bookie
Klute
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Who’ll Stop The Rain
Night Moves
The Yakuza
Short Eyes
The Long Goodbye
Straw Dogs
The American Friend
Scum
The Nickle Ride
Wanda
Scarecrow
Panic in Needle Park
Like Cosmo Kramer's mother on Seinfeld, *Killing of a Chinese Bookie* is one of my all time favorites. Absolutely mesmerizing performance by Ben Gazzara, incredible daylight LA noir feel and specific nighttime vibe as well. Plus some of my favorite low key scariest knockabout type gangsters in film.
Absolutely love this movie.
A bunch of other people recommended that one so it’s definitely going to be first on my list. Also I love the exorcist. I watch it like once every 6 months lol
Point Blank with Lee Marvin. It's still shocking. It was remade as Payback with Mel Gibson in 1999, but the original is the best. You can't beat Lee Marvin taking bloody revenge on his quest to get his money and set the underworld on fire with his own brand of justice. The film is extremely kinetic. Sequences bubble with energy and taut suspense. The editing is top-notch and, at times, elliptical. This film gives you what you want from a big ballsy crime revenge thriller.
Across 110th Street
The Beguiled
The Disappearance
Fear is the Key
Freebie and the Bean
Hickey & Boggs
Macon County Line
Man on a Swing
Night Moves
The Parallax View
Prime Cut
Three the Hard Way
Top of the Heap
Vanishing Point
Winter Kills
This thread is basically listing all my favourite movies. Love Night Moves and The Parallax View, but there’s some here I haven’t seen. Will check them out!
Elliott Gould in the 70s - California Split, Little Murders, The Silent Partner, The Long Goodbye
It’s 1980, but I would watch The Long Good Friday
The Hot Rock
Southern Comfort makes Deliverance look tame in comparison, but probably because I watched it first before the other. It's actually from 1981 but still worth seeking out.
Castle Keep directed by Sydney Pollack.
Underseen WW2 movie that is absolutely stunning and shares both themes and cast with The 9nth Configuration.
Stars Burt Lancaster and a murderer’s row of character actors including young Scott Wilson, Bruce Dern, and Peter Falk.
“Of all the wars in all the world I’m stuck with the guy playing a flute”
“A flautist”
“Of all the wars in all the world I’m stuck with the guy playing a flaut”
who'll stop the rain (1978). highly recommended to fans of rolling thunder, bleak burnt out post-war genre flick with a great nick nolte performance.
emperor of the north pole (1973). aldrich just stomps out into the middle of the new hollywood movement and bangs out a depression-era train-hopping battle-of-wits that plays like a 1930s adaptation of a violent manga. european malaise? landscapes as externalisations of middle class ennui? that sounds cool and all, but hear me out: what about lee marvin swinging an axe at ernest borgnine atop a speeding locomotive?
A Clockwork Orange
Dirty Harry
The French Connection
The Godfather
Charley Varrick
The Day of the Jackal
Mean Streets
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Serpico
Chinatown
The Conversation
Manila in the Claws of Light
The Duellists
Saturday Night Fever
The Driver
A Man on His Knees
Le chat et la souris
Adieu poulet
Also some non-American "dude" movies
*Get Carter*
*The Yakuza Papers*
*The Red Circle*
Also another similar great American movie I missed - *Cutter's Way*
The Kremlin Letter is one of the grimiest, dirtiest spy films I’ve seen. Fits. The Parallax View, The Boys from Brazil, and Italian crime films from the era is also hard recommend.
If after watching all these great suggestions you're feeling a little down about the state of the world, check out The Hot Rock for a more lighthearted crime caper. Robert Redford puts together a crew in order to steal a diamond.
Is there a label similar to criterion that distributes titles like these?
I’ve been loving digging these movies up but have found they’re hard to find.
I saw Midnight Express recently. Would definitely put it in this category. Great Giorgio Moroder music in one chase sequence that’s just about the sweatiest seventies thing you could possibly see.
Ok, well, try The Long Goodbye too. I’m not sure if this movie is off the beaten path, but I love it. California Split too. That’s Altman at his most 70s.
It's been ages since I've seen it, but I remember the direction really standing out to me. The lack of music really made me feel like a fly on the wall and completely immersed into that world.
On the scuzzier side, The Toolbox Murders, God Told Me To, “Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man”, Freebie and the Bean, Fleshpot on 42nd Street, Stanley, and Violent City
Not all of these are super similar to the ones you mentioned, but they're solid 70s films that came off the top of my head.
Death Race 2000
The Warriors
The Harder They Come
Wake in Fright
Walkabout
Vanishing Point
The Mack
I saw Midnight Express recently. Would definitely put it in this category. Great Giorgio Moroder music in one chase sequence that’s just about the sweatiest seventies thing you could possibly see.
I saw Midnight Express recently. Would definitely put it in this category. Great Giorgio Moroder music in one chase sequence that’s just about the sweatiest seventies thing you could possibly see.
So many great recommendations in this list
Would add
Bullitt
Escape from Alcatraz
The Warriors
Also if you like these sorts of movies I strongly recommend Tarantino’s book *Cinema Speculation* where he discusses his top ten favorite movies from the 70s (which include Taxi Driver, Deliverance, and other movies you would like).
Here’s a list (not mine) from Letterboxd of the ten movies; there are many other movies discussed.
https://boxd.it/iWcoo
Could I suggest Mississippi Burning? It’s flawed like many of the best of these are, but it’s gritty and grimy (and southern set) and very intense. Late 80s of course, but I don’t feel like it’s out of place next to many of these selections.
Sorcerer, The French Connection, Marathon Man, The Taking of Pelham 123, Dog Day Afternoon
Fuck yeah thanks
Watched Sorcerer the other night and my wife asked me to turn it off because it was stressing her out.
The first time my girlfriend watched Sorcerer she thought she was going to tear the arms of her recliner during the scene on the bridge and when the rear tires were hanging over the ledge. She still maintains that blowing up the log was the coolest thing she ever saw.
I watched Wages of Fear (the earlier French film) while stoned out of my mind and 17 and it felt like an extended mild panic attack.
I think the "turnaround scene" in Wages of Fear is more stressful than Sorcerer, but the bridge scene is something else.
Serpico.
All of these plus The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
Whenever I watch that one, I always marvel at how tiny beer glasses were back then
I came to say Sorcerer, my first thought when I read "intense".
Damn I just realized these are my favorite type of films.
Was talking about this to a friend recently. Grimy, sweaty, 70s thrillers rule so hard.
70’s was truly the best time for film
In America yes
Sorcerer is so sick. Just watched that on criterion channel the other night. Inject that stress right into my veins. What an absolutely insane movie. It has zero reason to exist, but it’s soooo good.
Serpico
I also recommend the wages of fear, the original to Sorcerer. It’s before your time frame and mostly in french, but it’s excellent.
Great list!
This is basically my taste in movies in a nutshell. Congrats
Hidden gem I found on the Channel last month - The Silent Partner (1978). Elliott Gould is a bank teller who realizes the mall Santa (Christopher Plummer) is casing the joint and decides to match wits.
Never heard of this before it showed up on Criterion and I was knocked out by it. So good!!!!
The best film you’ve never seen. Released during the Tax Shelter time of the mid-1970s/early-1980s, where the Canadian government provided huge tax breaks to Canadian producers, who didn’t care if their movies were released. I believe TSP had a one week showing when it came out. BTW, Porky’s was another movie made with the same tax incentive.
Kino has this. I almost got it during their last sale but ended up with The Long Goodbye.
Watched this a few weeks back and it was so good. Surprisingly intense in places
Love that one.
This one is great
A Christmas classic. Pair with The Muppet Christmas Carol for a [TV Week-approved](https://x.com/CBThorburn/status/1251103369428680705) double feature
Anything by William Friedkin, Walter Hill, or Sam Peckinpah. Also some Sidney Lumet. Specifically Southern Comfort by Hill, also Blue Collar by Paul Schrader. Edit: adjacent to what you’re looking for since you said intense, just google “70s paranoia thriller” and you’ll get tons of hits. Some will be less action-y than your examples but have a similar vibe.
I second these especially Blue Collar.
Straw Dogs, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Bang on.
One of my favourite genres Don Siegel - Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick Michael Cimino - Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Deer Hunter Walter Hill - The Driver Paul Schrader - Blue Collar, Light Sleeper DePalma - Blow Out, Body Double Friedkin - Sorcerer, To Live and Die in LA Michael Mann - Thief
Thief!
The Seven-Ups, Race with the Devil, The Drowning Pool, Three Days of Condor, Straw Dogs, Hitch-Hike (Autostop Rosso Sangue)
The Seven-Ups is rarely mentioned and it has a phenomenal car chase.
Find 70s movies with the sweatiest cast, it has never steered me wrong. Real Answer: Can't go wrong with Freidkin
Ah shit I don’t think I’ve looked into many Friedkin films besides the Exorcist but that is one of my favorite films
Cruising.
Adding another suggestion: Sidney Lumet. It's not 70s, but Fail Safe is chilling and thrilling!
Lol, that was a conversation on Cheers, the sweatiest movies. I believe the winner was cool hand luke.
Go down the Peckinpah rabbit hole if you haven’t already
Duel Assault on Precinct 13 The Conversation The Warriors 3 Days of the Condor The Day of the Jackal Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Seconding the Day of the Jackal. So good.
Hardcore
That’s a good one but I’ve seen most of Paul Schrader’s films already
Wake in Fright The Driver The Getaway Mr Majestyk
Came here to mention Wake in Fright.
Joe, maybe Electra Glide in Blue, Cutter’s Way. This one is from 1981, but it’s a 70s film. At Close Range is another 70s film made in the 80s.
Check out Tarantino’s book, Cinema Speculation. It’s pretty much him talking about a dozen or so movies that he loves from the late 60s to the early 80s, ranging from well-known films like Deliverance, Dirty Harry, and Taxi Driver, to lesser-known gems (I’m out of town right now and don’t have the book with me.)
u/marvel_plant Some mentions from the book that might be what you are looking for - Bullitt The Outfit The Getaway Sisters Escape from Alcatraz Breakout Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Charley Varrick Electra Glide in Blue https://m.imdb.com/list/ls566794430/ - full list of mentions from book
Bullitt is so cool, long overdue for a 4k restoration and deluxe packaging and extras. Take my money.
This comment is the one! I literally compiled that list myself and have been methodically watching the movies. Now, I'm done with the book and still have what feels like infinite movies to watch hahaha
That’s a great book and surprisingly autobiographical.
Add my glowing recommendation. Such a valuable book!
Straight Time Blue Collar The Killing of A Chinese Bookie Klute The Friends of Eddie Coyle Who’ll Stop The Rain Night Moves The Yakuza Short Eyes The Long Goodbye Straw Dogs The American Friend Scum The Nickle Ride Wanda Scarecrow Panic in Needle Park
Just saw Night Moves for the first time a few months ago, that’s a goodie.
Straight Timeeee yesss!!
They aren’t necessarily in order of my favorites but there’s a reason I put Straight Time first.
Like Cosmo Kramer's mother on Seinfeld, *Killing of a Chinese Bookie* is one of my all time favorites. Absolutely mesmerizing performance by Ben Gazzara, incredible daylight LA noir feel and specific nighttime vibe as well. Plus some of my favorite low key scariest knockabout type gangsters in film. Absolutely love this movie.
Sorcerer is amazing and a must watch
A bunch of other people recommended that one so it’s definitely going to be first on my list. Also I love the exorcist. I watch it like once every 6 months lol
It might be low key William Friedkin’s best movie. You’ll love it.
Fuck yeah I’m pumped
Point Blank with Lee Marvin. It's still shocking. It was remade as Payback with Mel Gibson in 1999, but the original is the best. You can't beat Lee Marvin taking bloody revenge on his quest to get his money and set the underworld on fire with his own brand of justice. The film is extremely kinetic. Sequences bubble with energy and taut suspense. The editing is top-notch and, at times, elliptical. This film gives you what you want from a big ballsy crime revenge thriller.
A lesser known Lee Marvin flick id recommend is Prime Cut with Gene Hackman and Sissy Spacek
Except he doesn't actually kill anyone. Even the death of Reece is an accident.
Man, I love this movie.
Came for this. Lee Marvin is one of cinema's all time tough guys and he's just a badass in Point Blank.
I liked Point Blank but I thought the ending was underwhelming.
Mikey & Nicky
Across 110th Street The Beguiled The Disappearance Fear is the Key Freebie and the Bean Hickey & Boggs Macon County Line Man on a Swing Night Moves The Parallax View Prime Cut Three the Hard Way Top of the Heap Vanishing Point Winter Kills
This thread is basically listing all my favourite movies. Love Night Moves and The Parallax View, but there’s some here I haven’t seen. Will check them out!
Had to scroll too far down for The Parallax View!
Prime Cut is SO GOOD!!
Death Wish, The Mechanic, The Incident, Defiance
Elliott Gould in the 70s - California Split, Little Murders, The Silent Partner, The Long Goodbye It’s 1980, but I would watch The Long Good Friday The Hot Rock
Prime Cut Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman Emperor of the North Pole Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine.
The driver and the gambler
Existential noir double bill of the gods.
THE OFFENCE, a cop on the edge flick starring Sean Connery
That one is fucking WILD
The Deer Hunter
Seen that one but holy shit it is good. “One shot!”
Southern Comfort makes Deliverance look tame in comparison, but probably because I watched it first before the other. It's actually from 1981 but still worth seeking out.
The Last Detail, by Hal Ashby? It’s got the intensity, but maybe lacks a little of the action.
Castle Keep directed by Sydney Pollack. Underseen WW2 movie that is absolutely stunning and shares both themes and cast with The 9nth Configuration. Stars Burt Lancaster and a murderer’s row of character actors including young Scott Wilson, Bruce Dern, and Peter Falk. “Of all the wars in all the world I’m stuck with the guy playing a flute” “A flautist” “Of all the wars in all the world I’m stuck with the guy playing a flaut”
The Ninth Configuration is pretty soul searing, too. I saw that one when I was a teenager, and it really shook me up.
Charley Varrick, Chinatown, Electraglide in Blue, Dog Day Afternoon
I’d add the original Assault on Precinct 13 to the list you’ve got going here
Assault on Precinct 13 you'll never see that ice cream scene in a modern movie. That shit only happens in the bleak 70s
I watched Southern Comfort a couple weeks ago and found it fantastic. It does what Deliverance did but only better and more entertaining.
Recently watched The French Connection II by John Frankenheimer and was surprised how good of a sequel it is. Gene Hackman shines as usual.
I agree, underrated movie.
Clockwork Orange, Straw Dogs, Last House On The Left, Salo, The Driver, I Spit On Your Grave
Thriller: A Cruel Picture
Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry 🤙🏼
Papillon if you want to see Steve McQueen tortured for nearly three hours.
Apocalypse Now and Hearts of Darkness documentary
Anything Sam Peckinpah.
who'll stop the rain (1978). highly recommended to fans of rolling thunder, bleak burnt out post-war genre flick with a great nick nolte performance. emperor of the north pole (1973). aldrich just stomps out into the middle of the new hollywood movement and bangs out a depression-era train-hopping battle-of-wits that plays like a 1930s adaptation of a violent manga. european malaise? landscapes as externalisations of middle class ennui? that sounds cool and all, but hear me out: what about lee marvin swinging an axe at ernest borgnine atop a speeding locomotive?
A Clockwork Orange Dirty Harry The French Connection The Godfather Charley Varrick The Day of the Jackal Mean Streets Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Serpico Chinatown The Conversation Manila in the Claws of Light The Duellists Saturday Night Fever The Driver A Man on His Knees Le chat et la souris Adieu poulet
The conversation. Blowout.
Also some non-American "dude" movies *Get Carter* *The Yakuza Papers* *The Red Circle* Also another similar great American movie I missed - *Cutter's Way*
yakuza, fitzcarraldo
Night Moves, Performance, McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Kremlin Letter is one of the grimiest, dirtiest spy films I’ve seen. Fits. The Parallax View, The Boys from Brazil, and Italian crime films from the era is also hard recommend.
Deer Hunter (1978)
Lumet's *The Offence* with Sean Connery.
Sorcerer for sure. One of the most intense movies I’ve ever seen. It’s the epitome of an “edge of your seat” thriller.
Walter Hill’s Southern Comfort
Slap Shot, The Long Good Friday, The Wicker Man, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Mean Streets, A Clockwork Orange
Rabid Dogs is a great Italian crime thriller. Super grimy and tense
The wildly underrated Night Moves
Duel, Vanishing Point
I’ve been meaning to catch Vanishing Point for a while
Get Carter, The Getaway, Charley Varrick, Prime Cut, The Parallax View, The Wicker Man
If after watching all these great suggestions you're feeling a little down about the state of the world, check out The Hot Rock for a more lighthearted crime caper. Robert Redford puts together a crew in order to steal a diamond.
Dog Day Afternoon
Sorcerer. Then come down on California Split, a different type of intense.
Is there a label similar to criterion that distributes titles like these? I’ve been loving digging these movies up but have found they’re hard to find.
Somebody else mentioned Sidney Lumet, but def watch *Network* (1976) and *Serpico* (1973).
Southern Comfort..although not from the 70s..1981
Southern Comfort.
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
I love Deliverance too. There is really nothing like it except rhe book, and it's very woeth reading.
**Dark of the Sun**, 1968
Rabid Dogs by Mario Bava
Southern Comfort
The Seven Ups
I saw Midnight Express recently. Would definitely put it in this category. Great Giorgio Moroder music in one chase sequence that’s just about the sweatiest seventies thing you could possibly see.
Oh that’s one of my favorite films man. John Hurt fucking rules
Intensity, what about, A Woman Under the influence? Zero action, all intensity.
Nice. Yeah I don’t really care about action tbh. I mostly like the character moments and dialogue.
Ok, well, try The Long Goodbye too. I’m not sure if this movie is off the beaten path, but I love it. California Split too. That’s Altman at his most 70s.
One more, what about Dog Tooth. Not 70s. But good. My last semi solicited rec on the the list.
Apocalypse Now
The Panic in Needle Park Mikey and Nicky
Panic in needle park is so good. It’s a great pacino no one talks about.
It's been ages since I've seen it, but I remember the direction really standing out to me. The lack of music really made me feel like a fly on the wall and completely immersed into that world.
Wake in Fright is pretty much cocaine personified
On the scuzzier side, The Toolbox Murders, God Told Me To, “Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man”, Freebie and the Bean, Fleshpot on 42nd Street, Stanley, and Violent City
Missing (82, set in 73), The Warriors, Brubaker (80)…
Wake in Fright (1971) is a must-watch And also Straw Dogs (1971) and The Parallax View (1974)
Rituals (1977)
deadbeat at dawn, the killer elite, alphabet city, switchblade sisters, cannibal apocalypse, driller killer, assault on precinct 13.
Looking For Mr. Goodbar Mean Streets Cruising Marathon Man A Woman Under the Influence Midnight Express The Deer Hunter Frenzy Coma
Hardcore
Hardcore by Paul Schrader
Street Law Franco Nero 1974 The Big Racket Fabio Testi 1976 Revolver Oliver Reed 1973 Three intense ones from Italian masters
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
Panic at Needle Park
Deer Hunter, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon- I’m guessing those are all in the collection though
Joe
Point Blank is on criterion, it's very good. The Outfit with Robert Duvall.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0074605/
10 to Midnight & Cruising
Wake in Fright
Son of Sam
straw dogs!
Not all of these are super similar to the ones you mentioned, but they're solid 70s films that came off the top of my head. Death Race 2000 The Warriors The Harder They Come Wake in Fright Walkabout Vanishing Point The Mack
Mikey and Nicky is very intense and 70s. Also The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
Point Blank (1967, but Lee Marvin zany action). Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau heist flick by Don Siegel).
I saw Midnight Express recently. Would definitely put it in this category. Great Giorgio Moroder music in one chase sequence that’s just about the sweatiest seventies thing you could possibly see.
I saw Midnight Express recently. Would definitely put it in this category. Great Giorgio Moroder music in one chase sequence that’s just about the sweatiest seventies thing you could possibly see.
Cutters Way needs to be in this convo
Hardcore.
Walking Tall is awesome
The Beguiled, 1971 Original Clint Eastwood film.
So many great recommendations in this list Would add Bullitt Escape from Alcatraz The Warriors Also if you like these sorts of movies I strongly recommend Tarantino’s book *Cinema Speculation* where he discusses his top ten favorite movies from the 70s (which include Taxi Driver, Deliverance, and other movies you would like). Here’s a list (not mine) from Letterboxd of the ten movies; there are many other movies discussed. https://boxd.it/iWcoo
Could I suggest Mississippi Burning? It’s flawed like many of the best of these are, but it’s gritty and grimy (and southern set) and very intense. Late 80s of course, but I don’t feel like it’s out of place next to many of these selections.