having constructed this list and looked at everyone else's, I'm convinced this was a bad decade for movies compared to both the 80's and 90's. That was essentially my point all along. Hell, I did a quickie search of just '71-'74 and came up with: French Connection, Last Picture Show, Cabaret, Godfather, Deliverance, Jerimiah Johnson, American Graffiti, Mean Streets, Papillon, The Sting, Godfather Part II, Chinatown, The Conversation, ... and obviously a bunch more. I really hate to sound like one of those 'it was all better in the old days' types and I know the movie biz (and society) has changed and there are a bunch of reasons for the disparity between eras ... but Geez!