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Curated category

1970s English-language films

  • Moonwalk OneIn early 1969, Francis Thompson and his partner Alexander Hammid received a call from NASA. They were the creators of To Be Alive!, which won an Academy…
  • Alien (film)Dan O'Bannon sat on Ronald Shusett's couch in Los Angeles during the early 1970s, broke and homeless after a failed project.
  • The Outlaw Josey WalesForrest Carter was the name on the 1972 novel that inspired this film. That name belonged to Asa Earl Carter, a former Ku Klux Klan leader and speechwriter…
  • The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)Ralph Bakshi first encountered J.R.R. Tolkien's writing in the mid-1950s while working as an animator for Terrytoons. He began trying to convince people that…
  • Star Wars (film)George Lucas conceived a space opera in 1971, shortly after finishing his first feature film THX 1138. He initially planned to adapt the Flash Gordon serials…
  • Jaws (film)Principal photography began on the 2nd of May 1974, on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The production team faced immediate logistical…
  • A Clockwork Orange (film)Anthony Burgess sold the film rights to his 1962 novel for a modest sum shortly after its publication. The project initially targeted the rock band the…
  • Apocalypse NowJohn Milius wrote the first draft of Apocalypse Now in 1969, just months after being rejected from military service due to asthma.
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)Kirk Douglas announced his company Joel Productions had acquired the rights to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962. He intended to star as McMurphy and…
  • Let It Be (1970 film)The Beatles gathered at Twickenham Film Studios on the 2nd of January 1969 to begin rehearsals for what was intended as a live concert broadcast.
  • The Beguiled (1971 film)In 1863, a young student named Amy finds a seriously wounded Union soldier lying in the forest near her school. She carries him to the gates of the Miss…
  • Taxi DriverPaul Schrader wrote the screenplay for Taxi Driver in under a fortnight during 1974. He had spent weeks living in his car after a divorce and a breakup with…
  • Annie HallPrincipal photography for the film began on the 19th of May 1976, on the South Fork of Long Island. The project started as a murder mystery draft before…
  • The GodfatherIn 1967, a literary scout for Paramount Pictures contacted Peter Bart about an unfinished sixty-page manuscript titled Mafia.
  • Badlands (film)In 1959, Holly Sargis narrates the film as a fifteen-year-old living in Fort Dupree. This dead-end South Dakota town serves as the starting point for her…
  • American GraffitiGeorge Lucas sat in a Modesto, California diner during the early 1960s and watched teenagers cruise Main Street. He later explained that cruising was gone by…
  • Hardware WarsA household steam iron flies through space, fleeing a toaster that fires toast at it. The metal projectile disables the flying appliance instantly.
  • All This and World War IIProducer Russ Regan conceived the project after experiencing vivid dreams about Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden. He imagined these scenes set to the Beatles…
  • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)The Robert Stigwood Organization purchased rights to 29 Beatles songs in 1974 for a live Broadway show called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the…
  • Harold and MaudeColin Higgins wrote the script for Harold and Maude as his master's thesis at UCLA film school. While working as a pool boy for producer Edward Lewis…