These Oscar winning best pictures from 1970 to 1974 included a war movie, a buddy-cops film, one featuring an elaborate scam, and the two best gangster movies ever made.
Often featuring larger than life characters, these five films are evidence that the decade was one of excellent filmmaking.
1970 Best Picture: Patton
- Despite its setting in World War II, this movie is not a war movie in the usual sense. Instead it is a character study of the flamboyant and controversial General George S. Patton, whose talents, flaws, and eccentricities both amazed and befuddled his superior officers and the Germans.
- George C. Scott, somewhat of an eccentric himself, won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of the title character, an award that he refused to accept. A young Francis Ford Coppola also won an Oscar for his intelligent script. Among the films competing with Patton that year was the fine anti-war movie, M*A*S*H.
1971 Best Picture: The French Connection
- This film became the prototype for the buddy-cop and action-filled chase sequence movies that have since followed. Gene Hackman, who won best actor for this picture, and Roy Scheider play two cynical, hard-nosed, New York detectives out to break up a large heroin ring.
- This movie has aged well, although the famous car chase seems mild today. It may also offend some for its strong racial language and the callousness of its two lead characters. Real life NYC detective, Eddie Egan, upon whose experiences this story is based, appears briefly as Hackman’s superior.
1972 Best Picture: The Godfather
- This film, based on the novel by Mario Puzo, spawned two highly successful sequels and was the inspiration for HBO’s long running series, The Sopranos. It is the story of a 1950s crime family led by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). Nearing death, the Don attempts to keep his “family business” together by attempting to groom his three sons, while at the same time warding off rival gangs.
- The Godfather is rated #3 in the American Film Institute’s list of "100 Best American Movies," a ranking it deserves. Although basically a soap opera, it is aided by a skillfully crafted script by Puzo and director Francis Ford Coppola, and superb acting by the entire cast. Brando, who had been in an acting slump, is particularly brilliant and won the Oscar as best actor for his role.
1973 Best Picture: The Sting
- Robert Redford and Paul Newman had teamed well together in the 1969 hit, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In this film, they reunite to play two likeable Chicago con-men who take revenge on a New York gambler involved in the murder of a friend. To do so, the pair set up an elaborate “sting.”
- The movie benefits from a script with numerous twists and turns that keeps the viewer off balance to the end. The clever use of title cards, ragtime music, and filtered color photography, help to create a 1930s feel to this comedy-drama.
- Although The Sting loses much of its impact on subsequent viewings, it is still enjoyable entertainment.
1974 Best Picture: The Godfather: Part II
- Although rated #32 in AFI’s list of 100 best movies, this movie is considered by some critics to be better than the original. Once again written and directed by Coppola and co-written by Mario Puzo, the film captured six Oscars as opposed to the original’s three.
- Part II is actually both a sequel and a prequel. Picking up where the original story left off, the film also uses flashbacks to show Vito Corleone’s youth in Sicily and his rise to power after arriving in America in the early 1900s.
- Many of the original actors reprise their roles in Part II, most notably Al Pacino as Vito’s son who now runs the “family business.” Robert De Niro won a best actor Oscar playing the young Vito. He and Marlon Brando are the only actors to date to have won Oscars for portraying the same character.
These five excellent films were nearly matched by those from the later 1970s.
The copyright of the article Oscar Winners from the Early 1970s in Classic Films is owned by John K. Davis. Permission to republish Oscar Winners from the Early 1970s in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
