Best 1974 movies

Written by:
August 29, 2025
OMDb

Best 1974 movies

Stacker compiled a list of the best 1974 movies of all time based on our own Stacker score, a weighted index split evenly between IMDb user rating and Metascore. The top movie on this list has a Stacker score of 100; the remaining movies are ranked relative to it. To qualify, the film had at least 10,000 IMDb user votes and a Metascore. Any ties were broken by number of IMDb votes.
1 / 20
OMDb

#20. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

- Stacker score: 73.3
- IMDb user rating: 7.0 (votes: 31,000)
- Metascore: 62
- Director: Michael Cimino
- Actors: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy
- Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $21,700,000
2 / 20
OMDb

#19. Murder on the Orient Express

- Stacker score: 74.4
- IMDb user rating: 7.2 (votes: 73,000)
- Metascore: 62
- Director: Sidney Lumet
- Actors: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman
- Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $27,634,716
3 / 20
OMDb

#18. The Front Page

- Stacker score: 75.0
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 16,000)
- Metascore: 62
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Actors: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Susan Sarandon
- Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: N/A
4 / 20
OMDb

#17. Lenny

- Stacker score: 75.6
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (votes: 19,000)
- Metascore: 61
- Director: Bob Fosse
- Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine, Jan Miner
- Runtime: 1 hour 51 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $8,427,866
5 / 20
OMDb

#16. The Parallax View

- Stacker score: 75.6
- IMDb user rating: 7.1 (votes: 23,000)
- Metascore: 65
- Director: Alan J. Pakula
- Actors: Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels
- Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: N/A
6 / 20
OMDb

#15. Black Christmas

- Stacker score: 75.6
- IMDb user rating: 7.1 (votes: 53,000)
- Metascore: 65
- Director: Bob Clark
- Actors: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder
- Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: N/A
7 / 20
OMDb

#14. The Four Musketeers

- Stacker score: 77.2
- IMDb user rating: 6.9 (votes: 12,000)
- Metascore: 70
- Director: Richard Lester
- Actors: Michael York, Raquel Welch, Oliver Reed
- Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $19,096,800
8 / 20
OMDb

#13. The Towering Inferno

- Stacker score: 77.2
- IMDb user rating: 7.0 (votes: 51,000)
- Metascore: 69
- Director: John Guillermin
- Actors: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden
- Runtime: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $116,000,000
9 / 20
OMDb

#12. Phantom of the Paradise

- Stacker score: 77.8
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 25,000)
- Metascore: 67
- Director: Brian De Palma
- Actors: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper
- Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: N/A
10 / 20
OMDb

#11. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

- Stacker score: 80.0
- IMDb user rating: 7.6 (votes: 40,000)
- Metascore: 68
- Director: Joseph Sargent
- Actors: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam
- Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: N/A
11 / 20
OMDb

#10. Blazing Saddles

- Stacker score: 83.3
- IMDb user rating: 7.7 (votes: 160,000)
- Metascore: 73
- Director: Mel Brooks
- Actors: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens
- Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $119,616,663
12 / 20
OMDb

#9. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

- Stacker score: 83.9
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 29,000)
- Metascore: 78
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Mia Bendixsen
- Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $18,600,000
13 / 20
OMDb

#8. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

- Stacker score: 85.6
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 23,000)
- Metascore: 80
- Director: Sam Peckinpah
- Actors: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber
- Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: N/A
14 / 20
OMDb

#7. Alice in the Cities

- Stacker score: 86.7
- IMDb user rating: 7.8 (votes: 15,000)
- Metascore: 78
- Director: Wim Wenders
- Actors: Yella Rottländer, Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer
- Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes
- Rating: Not Rated
- Box office: N/A
15 / 20
OMDb

#6. Young Frankenstein

- Stacker score: 90.6
- IMDb user rating: 8.0 (votes: 177,000)
- Metascore: 83
- Director: Mel Brooks
- Actors: Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman
- Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $86,273,333
16 / 20
OMDb

#5. The Conversation

- Stacker score: 91.7
- IMDb user rating: 7.7 (votes: 133,000)
- Metascore: 88
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Actors: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield
- Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $4,852,199
17 / 20
OMDb

#4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

- Stacker score: 91.7
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 202,000)
- Metascore: 91
- Director: Tobe Hooper
- Actors: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger
- Runtime: 1 hour 23 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $30,859,000
18 / 20
OMDb

#3. A Woman Under the Influence

- Stacker score: 93.3
- IMDb user rating: 8.0 (votes: 32,000)
- Metascore: 88
- Director: John Cassavetes
- Actors: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper
- Runtime: 2 hours 35 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $13,336,830
19 / 20
OMDb

#2. Chinatown

- Stacker score: 96.1
- IMDb user rating: 8.1 (votes: 369,000)
- Metascore: 92
- Director: Roman Polanski
- Actors: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
- Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $29,200,000
20 / 20
OMDb

#1. The Godfather Part II

- Stacker score: 100.0
- IMDb user rating: 9.0 (votes: 1.4 million)
- Metascore: 90
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Actors: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall
- Runtime: 3 hours 22 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $47,834,595

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