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Best Action Movies of the 1970s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB

141 action films from the 1970s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Star Wars (1977), at 8.6 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.4. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Cowboys, 7.4 on IMDb against 52 on Metacritic.

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#MovieGenreIMDbTomatoMetaTMDBDirector
1 Star Wars '1977 Action / Sci-Fi 8.6 93% 90 8.2 George Lucas
2 Sholay '1975 Action 8.1 95% - 7.1 Ramesh Sippy
3 The Message '1976 Drama / Action 8.1 - - 7.1 Moustapha Akkad
4 Dirty Harry '1971 Action / Crime / Thriller 7.7 89% 87 7.5 Don Siegel
5 The Day of the Jackal '1973 Action / Thriller 7.8 91% 80 7.5 Fred Zinnemann
6 The French Connection '1971 Action / Crime / Thriller 7.6 97% 94 7.5 William Friedkin
7 Enter the Dragon '1973 Action 7.6 88% 83 7.4 Robert Clouse
8 Duel '1971 Action / Thriller 7.6 90% 81 7.4 Steven Spielberg
9 Sorcerer '1977 Thriller / Action 7.7 84% 68 7.5 William Friedkin
10 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three '1974 Crime / Thriller / Action / Comedy 7.6 98% 68 7.5 Joseph Sargent
11 The Warriors '1979 Action / Thriller 7.5 88% 65 7.7 Walter Hill
12 Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx '1972 Action / Drama / Thriller 7.9 100% - 7.4 Kenji Misumi
13 Lady Snowblood '1973 Action / Crime / Drama 7.6 100% 80 7.5 Toshiya Fujita
14 Superman '1978 Sci-Fi / Action 7.4 87% 82 7.2 Richard Donner
15 Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance '1972 Drama / Action / Thriller 7.7 86% - 7.4 Kenji Misumi
16 They Call Me Trinity '1970 Action / Comedy / Western 7.4 - - 7.5 Enzo Barboni
17 Rocky II '1979 Drama / Action 7.3 68% 61 7.3 Sylvester Stallone
18 The Cowboys '1972 Western / Drama / Action 7.4 75% 52 7.1 Mark Rydell
19 Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia '1974 Action / Crime / Drama 7.4 77% 80 7.1 Sam Peckinpah
20 Assault on Precinct 13 '1976 Thriller / Action / Crime 7.3 94% 89 7.3 John Carpenter
21 The Getaway '1972 Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller 7.3 84% 55 7.2 Sam Peckinpah
22 A Touch of Zen '1970 Action / Fantasy 7.5 97% - 7.6 King Hu
23 Cross of Iron '1977 Drama / Action / War 7.4 71% 64 7.1 Sam Peckinpah
24 Drunken Master '1978 Action / Comedy 7.4 81% 68 7.4 Yuen Woo-ping
25 Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons '1973 Action / Crime / Thriller 7.5 - - 7.2 Kenji Misumi
26 The 36th Chamber of Shaolin '1978 Action 7.6 83% - 7.5 Lau Kar-leung
27 Magnum Force '1973 Drama / Crime / Action 7.2 69% 58 7.1 Ted Post
28 Vanishing Point '1971 Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller 7.2 62% 61 7.1 Richard C. Sarafian
29 Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades '1972 Drama / Action / Thriller 7.5 - - 7.1 Kenji Misumi
30 Fist of Fury '1972 Drama / Action / Thriller 7.2 - 68 7.2 Lo Wei
31 Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril '1972 Action / Thriller 7.5 - - 7.3 Buichi Saitō
32 Emperor of the North '1973 Drama / Action / Thriller 7.2 67% - 6.9 Robert Aldrich
33 Watch Out, We're Mad '1974 Action / Comedy 7.3 - - 7.5 Marcello Fondato
34 The Magnificent One '1973 Comedy / Romance / Action 7.1 - - 7.0 Philippe de Broca
35 The Ballad of Cable Hogue '1970 Comedy / Western / Action 7.2 94% - 7.0 Sam Peckinpah
36 The Three Musketeers '1973 Action / Romance 7.1 90% 77 6.7 Richard Lester
37 The Way of the Dragon '1972 Action / Crime 7.1 88% 58 7.4 Bruce Lee
38 Walking Tall '1973 Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller 6.9 77% 60 6.6 Phil Karlson
39 Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion '1972 Action / Drama / Thriller 7.2 - - 7.0 Shunya Ito
40 The Knock Out Cop '1973 Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama 6.7 - - 6.5 Steno
41 Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell '1974 Action / Fantasy / Drama / Thriller 7.3 - - 7.1 Yoshiyuki Kuroda
42 The Burglars '1971 Action / Crime / Thriller 6.5 33% - 6.9 Henri Verneuil
43 The Towering Inferno '1974 Action / Drama / Thriller 7.0 69% 69 7.0 John Guillermin
44 The Golden Voyage of Sinbad '1973 Action / Drama / Fantasy 6.8 76% 69 6.7 Gordon Hessler
45 The Spy Who Loved Me '1977 Action / Thriller 7.0 82% 55 6.8 Lewis Gilbert
46 Smokey and the Bandit '1977 Action / Comedy 7.0 71% 50 7.0 Hal Needham
47 Crime Busters '1977 Action / Comedy 7.1 - - 7.0 Enzo Barboni
48 Snake in the Eagle's Shadow '1978 Action / Comedy 7.3 80% - 7.3 Yuen Woo-ping
49 The Big Boss '1971 Action 6.9 65% - 7.1 Lo Wei
50 Keoma '1976 Western / Action / Drama 7.0 - - 6.8 Enzo G. Castellari

Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.

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Other genres in the 1970s

Animation of the 1970s Comedy of the 1970s Crime of the 1970s Drama of the 1970s Fantasy of the 1970s Horror of the 1970s Mystery of the 1970s Romance of the 1970s Sci-Fi of the 1970s Thriller of the 1970s War of the 1970s Western of the 1970s

Directors on this list

George Lucas Don Siegel Fred Zinnemann William Friedkin Steven Spielberg Walter Hill Kenji Misumi Richard Donner Enzo Barboni Sylvester Stallone Sam Peckinpah John Carpenter

Actors on this list

Mark Hamill Harrison Ford Anthony Quinn Clint Eastwood Harry Guardino Gene Hackman Roy Scheider John Saxon Walter Matthau Robert Shaw James Remar Christopher Reeve