24 Popular 1970s Movies That Were Pretty Awful

Even today, most movie fans agree that the 1970s were the peak of American cinema. However, the decade wasn't all New Hollywood masterpieces and Spielberg blockbusters. Audiences lined up to see some real stinkers. 

All the movies on this list were among the top 20 moneymakers in their respective years. And yet, no one would put them among the 20 best of those same years. These movies may have been a good time at the theater forty years ago, but they don’t hold up well today, even to those who paid money to see them the first time around.

1. Tommy (1975)

As an album, The Who’s rock opera Tommy broke barriers and opened up new possibilities for bands. As a movie adaptation, Tommy confuses more than it dazzles. The music is always great, and there’s no denying the power of Tina Turner or Elton John. But when Ann-Margaret frolics among canned beans, viewers will be scratching their heads instead of tapping their feet.

2. The Great Gatsby (1974)

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is perhaps the great American novel. And putting Robert Redford in the role of Jay Gatsby may be a stroke of genius. But director Jack Clayton drains all the energy and romance out of the story, putting too much emphasis on Nick Carraway’s (Sam Waterston) removal from the story's events. As a result, Gatsby plods when it should sparkle, making one wonder why anyone cared about Jay Gatz in the first place.

3. Airport (1970)

Given the economic and political turmoil of the decade, it’s no surprise that disaster movies became all the rage in the 1970s. The trend started with Airport, the story of an airport trying to land all its planes in the middle of an airport. Mega-stars such as Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, and Jacqueline Bisset flew the movie to over $128 million at the box office but today’s viewers would struggle to stay awake across the 137-minute running time.

4. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

One would think that the social upheaval of the previous decade would have limited the interest in patriotic war movies, but the Pearl Harbor epic Tora! Tora! Tora! pulled in $37 million in sales. Part of that interest might have been the film’s similarities to the above-mentioned movie craze, especially with its look at the attack. The movie’s ambition still deserves praise, but now it’s hard to sit through what often feels like a dull 144 minutes.

5. Billy Jack (1971)

How do you explain Billy Jack to someone who wasn’t alive in the '70s? A movie about a cowboy/hippie/martial artist defies explanation, despite becoming such a big hit at the time, enough to spawn two more sequels. Writer/director/star Tom Laughlin deserves credit for his success with an indie movie about the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples, but the movie is best enjoyed as a well-remembered oddity rather than an actual movie-watching experience.

6. Diamonds are Forever (1971)

There’s a reason that Sean Connery remains the definitive James Bond in the eyes of many. But by the time 1971 rolled around, he had grown so tired of the role that he passed the role to Aussie George Lazenby for 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. A hefty payday may have brought Connery back for Diamonds are Forever but not his enthusiasm, as the Scottish actor’s disinterest drags down an otherwise solid 007 caper.

7. The Last House on the Left (1972)

Wes Craven would become one of the greatest horror filmmakers of all time, creating both the Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream franchises. Although you can see hints of greatness in The Last House on the Left, especially its inspiration in the Ingmar Bergman religious film The Virgin Spring, it is an uneven work. The film may have earned $2.273,000 on a budget of $90,000 but it’s hard for modern audiences to watch Last House fumble between slapstick humor and unflinching violence.

8. Love Story (1970)

“Love means never having to say ‘I’m sorry.'” In the same way that this famous line seems profound to a teenager and utter nonsense to anyone who’s actually been in a mature relationship, Love Story may have been a sweeping romance to its first audience, but now all we see is a sappy melodrama. Its stars, Ali MacGraw and the late Ryan O'Neal, are still fun to watch, but the movie is a drag.

9. Robin Hood (1973)

Some people have strong feelings about Disney’s animated take on the classic English folk hero. And to be sure, there’s much to love about Brian Bedford’s vocal performance as the famed outlaw, re-imagined as a dashing fox, and the great Peter Ustinov as the lion villain Prince John. But Robin Hood reuses animation from the far superior The Jungle Book, making it feel like a television rerun instead of a worthy entry in the Disney animation canon.

10. The Towering Inferno (1974)

In terms of box office receipts, The Towering Inferno was the height of the disaster movie boom of the 1980s. In terms of enjoyment… well, it’s not the genre's worst, but it’s not worth watching today. Yes, it is impressive to watch Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, and other stars share the screen. But the movie doesn’t give them that much to do, despite trapping them in a giant burning building.

11. The Other Side of the Mountain (1975)

Given the massive success of Love Story, it’s no surprise that studios would follow suit. But The Other Side of the Mountain is so insecure that its poster has the words “Not Since Love Story…” in a font much larger than the movie’s actual title. While the film does have the advantage of using the tragic and beautiful true story of would-be Olympian Jill Kinmont (Marilyn Hassett), its open sentimentality quickly becomes grating.

12. In Search of Noah’s Ark (1976)

Religious movies will always have an audience among believers, but it's shocking and impressive that the documentary In Search of Noah’s Ark would be the ninth-biggest money maker of 1976. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who wants to watch the movie today, and not just because the science doesn’t quite hold up. The movie’s low budget and poor production make it a boring watch, even for the most devoted believers.

13. Midway (1976)

The Battle of Midway is one of the most important fights in World War II, leading the way to the Allies’ victory in the Pacific. Unfortunately, while Midway thrilled viewers in 1976, it seems bloated with pomp and self-importance, ready to sink at any second. Most of the problem comes from the overstuffed cast, which includes big personalities like Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, and even Akira Kurosawa’s favorite leading man, Toshiro Mifune. The stars drew in the crowds, but the plodding film has few fans today.

14. The Omen (1976)

The Exorcist brought the devil to the theaters, and tons of imitators followed, none more successful than The Omen. With strong direction by Richard Donner and a great lead performance by Gregory Peck, it’s clear that The Omen wanted to follow in the footsteps of its possessed predecessor, making a classy picture out of pulpy material. Donner leans too hard on the latter goal, leaving room for one impressive sequence involving a maid’s last day, but too few scares otherwise.

15. King Kong (1976)

When King Kong climbed across movie screens in 1933, he was the Eighth Wonder of the World. The 1976 remake from Dino De Laurentiis updates the effects and downplays the hurtful racist elements of the original film, never capturing the same magic. Between a preachy environmentalist plot and Jessica Lange’s wooden performance as beast-killing beauty Dawn, King Kong sold tickets but offered no sustained spectacle.

16. Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

There’s no denying the pure rush of watching former stuntman Hal Needham smash together cars in his directorial debut Smokey and the Bandit. And there’s no denying Burt Reynolds' crude charisma. But after the first couple of sequences, Smokey and the Bandit quickly runs out of gas, running on the fumes of Reynolds and co-stars Sally Field and Jackie Gleason. Fast and Furious fans might want to watch the movie to see the origins of the franchise they love so much, but most people won’t feel the need to revisit this old model race movie.

17. The Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

I may have been a bit rough when I said that The Omen couldn’t match The Exorcist because not even The Exorcist could match The Exorcist. The sequel, directed by the legendary John Boorman, brings back Linda Blair as poor Regan MacNeil. But this time, all the restraint and spiritual longing of the original is gone, replaced by an overstuffed plot about dream machines, a locust tribe, and Richard Burton’s troubled priest.

18. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)

In many ways, National Lampoon’s Animal House was ahead of its time, initiating the “slobs vs. snobs” genre that would make huge hits in the 1980s. But while there’s no denying the manic energy that John Belushi brings, the movie itself doesn’t hold up. Delta House felt may have felt like rebels fighting against the stuffy rich kids of Faber College, but now they seem like a bunch of brats, wasting everyone else’s time and energy with unfunny pranks.

19. Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

Clint Eastwood is a true movie star, a man with presence and gravitas to spare. So why would you pair him with an orangutan called Clyde? And yet, that’s exactly what moviegoers wanted to see in 1978, as Every Which Way But Loose made over $100 million in ticket sales on a $5 million budget. That was enough to get a sequel in 1980, but there’s a reason no one talks about Every Which Way But Loose when recounting Eastwood’s remarkable career.

20. Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)

Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards struck comedy gold with 1964’s The Pink Panther and its even better sequel from that same year, A Shot in the Dark. Although Revenge of the Pink Panther still has Sellers in the lead role as Inspector Clouseau, something that the later sequels and remakes cannot say, it has none of the wacky energy of the first movies. Audiences still showed up for this sixth entry in the series, but few want to revisit it today.

21. Up in Smoke (1978)

To its first viewers, Cheech & Chong’s debut film Up in Smoke felt truly transgressive. How do you make a movie about two guys who just like indulging in hippie pastimes? So enticing was the concept that the duo regularly released movies through 1985. Today, Cheech & Chong’s favorite activity is popular and legal in most states, which means that Up in Smoke has to rely on its weakest elements: its actual gags.

22. 10 (1979)

Oof, the second Blake Edwards movie on this list. While Edwards certainly made some great comedies, many of his films also fell flat, and that’s certainly the case with 10. Nobody would disagree with the film’s central thesis that Bo Derek is attractive, but few people would put up with irritating Dudley Moore long enough to want to see them together. With its flat humor and uninteresting midlife crisis plot, 10 is at best a 3 to today’s viewers.

23. Moonraker (1979)

As exciting as the durable James Bond franchise certainly is, it’s no secret that 007 often finds himself playing catch-up, with each new entry copying trends popularized by movies that came out before. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Moonraker, which tried to capitalize on Star Wars mania by sending Roger Moore’s Bond to space. Despite the return of beloved henchman Jaws and a good villain in Hugo Drax, Moonraker is an embarrassing entry in an otherwise cool franchise.

24. The Amityville Horror (1979)

The story of the Lutz family at 112 Ocean Avenue has always captured the American imagination, and not just because of the involvement of controversial supernatural experts Ed and Lorraine Warren. But The Amityville Horror, adapted from the 1977 book by Jay Anson, does not take advantage of the story’s central premise. Not even strong performances by Margot Kidder and James Brolin can distract from a plodding story and poorly imagined scares.