Favorite Performances of the 1970s

Favorite performances

Gena Rowlands - "A Woman Under The Influence"
Marlon Brando - "Last Tango in Paris" + "The Godfather"
Stacy Keach - "Fat City"
Jack Nicholson - "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
Malcolm McDowell - "A Clockwork Orange"
Robert De Niro - "Taxi Driver"
Art Carney - "Harry and Tonto"
John Cassavetes - "Mikey and Nicky"
George C. Scott - "Patton"
Peter Finch - "Network"
Steve McQueen - "Pappilon"
Ruth Gordon - "Harold and Maude"
Patrick Dewaere - "Serie Noire"

Stallone in "Rocky"

Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon
Jack Nicholson - The Shining
Topol - Fiddler on the Roof

Edited by Finnforest - June 02 2025 at 21:00

^
Indeed! Massive brain fart. Thank you.

Hi,

I also listed the director and year taken from my spreadsheet for all reviews I have written about.

Paul Scofield - King Lear (Peter Brook 1971)
Klaus Kinski - Aguirre, The Wrath of God (Werner Herzog 1972)
Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky 1970)
Alan Bates, Julie Christie - The Go-Between (Joseph Losey 1970)
James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson - Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid (Sam Peckinpah 1973)
Jack Nicholson - Five Easy Pieces (Lazlo Kovacs 1970)
James Fox, Mick Jaegger - Performance (Nicolas Roeg/Donald Cammell 1970)
Jenny Agutter, David Gumpilil - Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg 1971)
David Bowie, Rip Torn - The Man Who Fell To Earth (Nicolas Roeg 1976)
Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed - Women in Love (Ken Russell 1970)
Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed - The Devils (Ken Russell 1971)
Scott Anthony, Dorothy Tutin - Savage Messiah (Ken Russell 1972)
Robert Powell - Mahler (Ken Russell 1974)
Dominique Sanda - The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Vittorio de Sica 1970)
Anatoly Solonitsyn, Nikolai Grinko - The Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky 1979)
The whole cast - 200 Motels (Frank Zappa 1972)

Already mentioned:
George C. Scott - "Patton"
Peter Finch - "Network"
Jack Nicholson - "The Shining"
Topol - "Fiddler on the Roof"

Note: "Performance" was delayed a long time, before it ended up becoming one of the fave midnight shows for a while. It is a magnificent film.

Edited by moshkito - June 02 2025 at 20:20

If we are name checking rock stars in film roles then how about
Roger Daltrey - Tommy
Sting - Quadrophenia
Bowie - The Man Who Fell To Earth

So many good 70's movies to choose from, so here's just a few that spring to mind as outstanding performances (in no particular order).

Gene Wilder in 'Young Frankenstein'
Louise Fletcher in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'
Jenny Runacre in 'Jubilee'
Susan Sarandon in 'Pretty Baby' (well Susan Sarandon in just about anything)
Cleavon Little in 'Blazing Saddles'
Katharine Ross in 'The Stepford Wives'
James Caan in 'Rollerball'
Jenny Agutter in 'Walkabout'
Tatum O'Neil in 'Paper Moon'
Christopher Lee in 'The Wicker Man'
Graham Chapman in 'Monty Python's Life of Brian'
Jodie Foster in 'Bugsy Malone'
Liza Minelli in 'Cabaret'
Ellen Burnstyn in 'The Exorcist'
Linda Blair in 'The Exorcist'
Piper Laurie in 'Carrie'
Sissy Spacek in 'Carrie'
Eileen Brennan in 'The Last Picture Show'
Cybill Shepherd in 'The Last Picture Show'
(well pretty much the whole cast of 'The Last Picture Show' were outstanding)
Dirk Bogarde in 'The Night Porter'
Charlotte Rampling in 'The Night Porter'
Ingrid Thulin in 'Salon Kitty'

Edited by Floydoid - Yesterday at 11:44

I believe Louise Fletcher was something like the 4th or 5th choice to play the part as everyone else had turned it down... at the time she was an almost unknown jobbing actress playing bit parts. After Cuckoo's Nest everyone knew her, and she quite rightly won the Oscar that year.