1. The Godfather: Part II
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.4 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Actors: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire
Plot: The sequel to "The Godfather," we are taken back to the begining of the Corleone family, and how it all began back in the early 1900's.
2. Chinatown
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Mystery/Crime
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Roman Polanski
Actors: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Diane Ladd, Perry Lopez, James Hong
Plot: A private detective, who is investigating an affair, finds himself in the middle of a water problem.
3. Young Frankenstein
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Mel Brooks
Actors: Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman
Plot: Young Dr. Frankenstein inherits his grandfather's (the famous Dr. Victor Von Frankenstein) castle - along with a few employees. Always trying to live down the family name, he changes his mind when he discovers his seemingly mad grandfather's notes on reanimation.
4. Blazing Saddles
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Western
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Mel Brooks
Actors: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, David Huddleston
Plot: A small town of Rock Ridge stands in the way of a railroad and nefarious businessman Hedley Lemarr is willing to do anything to make them leave.
5. The Conversation
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Mystery/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Actors: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Teri Garr, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford
Plot: A paranoid surveillance expert listens in on conversations in which he fears a couple may be killed only to find himself deeper in the mystery.
6. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Joseph Sargent
Actors: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, Jerry Stiller
Plot: In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers.
7. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul ( Angst essen Seele auf )
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Romance
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Actors: Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann, Karl Scheydt, Marquard Bohm
Plot: An aging woman falls for a Berber man ten years her junior - and all those around her oppose the relationship, especially when they decide to marry. Yet even as the date draws closer, each has their own personal doubts about how to continue.
8. Scenes from a Marriage ( Scener ur ett äktenskap )
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Swedish
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Actors: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson, Jan Malmsjö, Gunnel Lindblom, Anita Wall
Plot: We explore multiple decades in the lives of couple Johan and Marianne - one in which they share intimate moments, but also a certain detachment. As years go by, they grow apart and learn that a relationship can take many different forms.
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Horror
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Tobe Hooper
Actors: Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Teri McMinn, Jim Siedow
Plot: A group of five friends travel through rural Texas when they pick up a strange hitchhiker. Things go from bad to worse when they end up at an old farm house that is home to a cannibalistic family.
10. Amarcord
Year of Release: 1974
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: Italian
Genre: Drama/Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Federico Fellini
Actors: Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia, Magali Noël, Ciccio Ingrassia, Nando Orfei, Luigi Rossi
Plot: A year in the life of a small Italian town is during the 1930s is recast through Fellini's fantastical mind's eye, giving a carnivalesque slant to this charming coming of age story.
