The '70s was a great time for movies. Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg were making American classics like Taxi Driver and Jaws, while Italian director Dario Argento was challenging horror conventions with Suspiria. It was a new golden age for films in Hollywood and beyond.

While many can remember the classics of the '70s, there are countless numbers of great movies that people have forgotten about. There are plenty of underrated gems that are hidden in plain sight from directors that are commonly known. Everyone remembers Alfred Hitchcock for Psycho, but he made his final movies in the '70s and let himself free from the restraints of Hollywood.

Nashville Is an Underrated Ensemble Piece

Robert Altman's Movie Feels Like a Docu-Drama

A chronicle of twenty-four people living in Tennessee who crossover as they prepare for a big fundraising concert for a presidential candidate. The movie follows Country singers Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley) and Connie White (Karen Black), who share a strong rivalry as two of Nashville's best singers. As well as other characters like Ned Beatty's lawyer and Lily Tomlin's gospel vocalist.

Nashville's story is naturally less appealing than other Altman movies like M*A*S*H. Still, the execution is just as great and deserves to be recognized as one of the better movies of the '70s. Although Nashville was rated at the time by critics, time hasn't been too kind to the movie, as when '70s movies are brought up in discussions, Nashville is almost always forgotten.

The Long Goodbye Is a Defiant Detective Thriller

Elliott Gould's Take on Philip Marlowe Is Iconic

Author Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe is an icon of the crime genre; he's a sleek, wise-cracking detective who has appeared in many movies. The Long Goodbye follows Elliott Gould as Marlowe, a private eye, as he gets mixed up in a murder case that sees him implicated in the death of his friend's wife.

Humphrey Bogart's interpretation of Marlowe in The Big Sleep is the most well-known, but Gould's unconventional take on the character in The Long Goodbye is full of life. Robert Altman's movie was not well received at the time due to the sarcastic, rambling nature of his Marlowe, which was far different from what audiences expected from the iconic private eye. It deserves to be listed among the best detective movies despite going against Hollywood's usual formula.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller Reinvents the American Western

Warren Beatty and Julie Christie Star in This Unconventional Western

McCabe and Mrs. Miller starts as businessman and gambler John McCabe opens a brothel in a Washington mining community. Business booms for a while as the locals take to McCabe, but after a while, he needs help, which is when Mrs. Miller comes into the picture. They run the business together and everything runs smoothly for a while until they run into trouble as a big corporation arrives in town.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller doesn't have the finest filmmaking or the most dynamic story, but the movie's reinvention of the western genre is an impressive feat. Altman refuses to adhere to Western tropes as Warren Beatty's confident yet fragile protagonist lacks the heroics of classic Western heroes. It's a unique Western that's often neglected in conversations about the best Westerns of the '70s.

Robert Altman's 3 Women Is Completely Underrated

Shelley Duvall Leads Altman's 10th Movie in the '70s

3 Women is a relatively unknown movie with two major stars. The Shining actress Shelley Duvall leads as Millie, a confident young woman who takes in Pinkie, played by Carrie's Sissy Spacek, a strange teenager with a desire to be similar to her newfound friend.

3 Women is a mysterious project that came to Robert Altman in a dream. As Pinkie begins to emulate Mille's traits, the movie drifts deeper into a nightmarish reality that makes viewers question the images on screen. 3 Women marked Altman's tenth movie he directed during the '70s. Naturally, people have forgotten certain movies like this as the sheer volume of movies he made oversaturated his filmography.

Don’t Look Now Was Overshadowed by The Exorcist

A Different Side of '70s Horror

Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now stars Donald Sutherland as John Baxter, who suffers a terrible loss that kicks off this unnerving horror. John moves to Venice with his wife to escape the trauma to build a new life. But a serial killer in Venice threatens their newfound peace as everyone in the city is in danger.

Don't Look Now is known to British horror aficionados, but most of the general public has never heard of Roeg's horror movie. The Exorcist came out in the same year, which didn't help, but Don't Look Now's mysteries will have viewers hooked when watching or rewatching. It's a must-watch for horror buffs as it shows a different side of '70s horror.

High Plains Drifter Is Clint Eastwood's Most Personal Western

Clint Eastwood Directs Himself in This Mysterious Western

Directed by Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter follows a mysterious drifter with no name, played by Eastwood, who arrives in a small western town. The townspeople need someone like him as he proves his worth as a gunslinging vigilante. The drifter defends the town from a band of criminals but does so with a secret that is subtly revealed at the end of the movie.

Clint Eastwood is renowned for his work in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns during the '60s. But he took his love of Westerns to a more personal level with High Plains Drifter in the '70s. The movie plays out as a normal Western but ends on a mysterious, supernatural note that is unlike any movie prior. Although High Plains Drifter is respected by fans of westerns, it's rarely compared to Sergio Leone, Howard Hawks, or John Ford's movies.

Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy Is His Darkest Movie

The Second to Last Movie in Alfred Hitchcock's Career

Alfred Hitchcock returned to London after a long stint in Hollywood with this vicious thriller. London is plagued with Jack the Ripper-like murders by a killer who uses a necktie to strangle their victims. Frenzy follows Richard Blaney, an ex-RAF officer, who discovers his wife killed by the serial killer. The police make Blaney their prime suspect, but as seen in the movie, the necktie murderer hides in plain sight, waiting to kill their next victim.

Frenzy feels like the result of Hitchcock's pent-up hatred of censorship; it's the movie he was destined to make. It's crude, violent and holds nothing back with its kill scenes. It has the DNA of a Hitchcock thriller but with an added dose of '70s exploitation. Frenzy is very different from Hitchcock's classics like Vertigo, Psycho and Rear Window, but it holds up on its own and is, without a doubt, his most violent movie.

The Cat o’ Nine Tails Is a Suspenseful Must-Watch

Dario Argento's Sophomore Feature

Dario Argento's sophomore feature is a thrilling murder mystery that stars Karl Maden as a blind, retired journalist who discovers a mysterious connection between a murderer and a break-in at a medical institute. He teams up with a reporter to discover the identity of the killer but soon becomes targeted as they get close to the truth.

The Cat o’ Nine Tails is an enthralling, stylized horror that heeds to Giallo, an Italian horror subgenre, conventions that Argento mastered in his first feature. The story's mystery is endlessly suspenseful as the viewer waits for the next twist in Argento's tale. It's just as good as most of Argento's other movies, but it was overshadowed by '70s movies like Deep Red and Suspiria.

Phantom of the Paradise Is a Brian De Palma Cult Classic

Brian De Palma's Spoof on Phantom of the Opera

Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise is the epitome of kooky. It follows Winslow Leach, a talented composer, who is framed by Swan, a record producer, after catching him trying to steal back his music. Winslow ends up in prison but devises an escape plan with the ultimate goal of ruining Swan's life and terrorizing his new concert hall.

Sisters' William Finley dons a menacing mask after Winslow's face is crushed; he becomes a phantom who haunts Swan's every move. De Palma's movie is an enjoyable parody of the Phantom of the Opera that never takes itself too seriously. Phantom of the Paradise is more of a cult classic than a mainstream classic, as it's beloved by a section of De Palma fans but not by all.

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage Is a Pivotal Horror Movie

Dario Argento's Revolutionary Take on Italian Horror

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, an Italian horror movie, begins as Sam, played by The Mercenary's Tony Musante, witnesses the attempted murder of a red-haired woman in an art gallery. Trying to aid the police, Sam searches for clues, but as he gets closer to the truth, his life becomes endangered.

The Giallo subgenre of horror began with Italian director Mario Bava, director of 1960's Black Sunday, but was revolutionized by Dario Argento in The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. It's an effective genre exercise that is a great place to start for horror fans who have never watched a Giallo horror movie. It's underrated for its importance, as most people overlook it for more popular Giallo's like Suspiria.