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Best Thriller Movies of the 1970s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
181 thriller films from the 1970s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Jaws (1975), at 8.1 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.6. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The French Connection, 7.6 on IMDb against 94 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jaws '1975 | Horror / Thriller | 8.1 | 97% | 87 | 7.7 | Steven Spielberg |
| 2 | Chinatown '1974 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 8.1 | 98% | 92 | 7.9 | Roman Polanski |
| 3 | Dog Day Afternoon '1975 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 8.0 | 94% | 86 | 7.9 | Sidney Lumet |
| 4 | All the President's Men '1976 | Drama / Mystery / Thriller | 7.9 | 95% | 84 | 7.7 | Alan J. Pakula |
| 5 | Sleuth '1972 | Thriller / Mystery / Crime | 7.9 | 90% | - | 7.7 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| 6 | Le Cercle Rouge '1970 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 96% | 92 | 7.6 | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| 7 | Dirty Harry '1971 | Action / Crime / Thriller | 7.7 | 89% | 87 | 7.5 | Don Siegel |
| 8 | Halloween '1978 | Horror / Thriller | 7.7 | 97% | 91 | 7.6 | John Carpenter |
| 9 | The Day of the Jackal '1973 | Action / Thriller | 7.8 | 91% | 80 | 7.5 | Fred Zinnemann |
| 10 | Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion '1970 | Drama / Thriller | 8.0 | 100% | 89 | 8.2 | Elio Petri |
| 11 | Deliverance '1972 | Drama / Thriller | 7.6 | 90% | 80 | 7.3 | John Boorman |
| 12 | The French Connection '1971 | Action / Crime / Thriller | 7.6 | 97% | 94 | 7.5 | William Friedkin |
| 13 | Duel '1971 | Action / Thriller | 7.6 | 90% | 81 | 7.4 | Steven Spielberg |
| 14 | Sorcerer '1977 | Thriller / Action | 7.7 | 84% | 68 | 7.5 | William Friedkin |
| 15 | Escape from Alcatraz '1979 | Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 97% | 76 | 7.5 | Don Siegel |
| 16 | The Omen '1976 | Horror / Thriller | 7.5 | 76% | 63 | 7.4 | Richard Donner |
| 17 | The Taking of Pelham One Two Three '1974 | Crime / Thriller / Action / Comedy | 7.6 | 98% | 68 | 7.5 | Joseph Sargent |
| 18 | The Warriors '1979 | Action / Thriller | 7.5 | 88% | 65 | 7.7 | Walter Hill |
| 19 | Deep Red '1975 | Horror / Mystery / Thriller | 7.5 | 91% | 89 | 7.7 | Dario Argento |
| 20 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx '1972 | Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 100% | - | 7.4 | Kenji Misumi |
| 21 | The Tenant '1976 | Thriller / Mystery / Drama | 7.5 | 85% | 71 | 7.6 | Roman Polanski |
| 22 | Carrie '1976 | Horror / Thriller | 7.4 | 94% | 86 | 7.3 | Brian De Palma |
| 23 | Straw Dogs '1971 | Thriller / Drama / Crime | 7.4 | 82% | 75 | 7.1 | Sam Peckinpah |
| 24 | Three Days of the Condor '1975 | Thriller / Mystery | 7.4 | 88% | 63 | 7.3 | Sydney Pollack |
| 25 | Frenzy '1972 | Crime / Thriller / Horror | 7.4 | 89% | 92 | 7.1 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 26 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance '1972 | Drama / Action / Thriller | 7.7 | 86% | - | 7.4 | Kenji Misumi |
| 27 | Marathon Man '1976 | Thriller / Crime / Drama | 7.4 | 82% | 64 | 7.2 | John Schlesinger |
| 28 | Punishment Park '1971 | Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 92% | - | 7.3 | Peter Watkins |
| 29 | Wake in Fright '1971 | Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 97% | 85 | 7.2 | Ted Kotcheff |
| 30 | Charley Varrick '1973 | Crime / Thriller | 7.5 | 82% | 76 | 7.4 | Don Siegel |
| 31 | The Confession '1970 | Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Costa-Gavras |
| 32 | The Passenger '1975 | Drama / Mystery / Thriller | 7.4 | 88% | 90 | 7.2 | Michelangelo Antonioni |
| 33 | 10 Rillington Place '1971 | Crime / Thriller | 7.5 | 64% | - | 7.3 | Richard Fleischer |
| 34 | The China Syndrome '1979 | Drama / Thriller | 7.4 | 88% | 81 | 7.1 | James Bridges |
| 35 | The Friends of Eddie Coyle '1973 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.4 | 98% | 84 | 7.2 | Peter Yates |
| 36 | Get Carter '1971 | Crime / Thriller | 7.3 | 85% | 80 | 6.9 | Mike Hodges |
| 37 | Assault on Precinct 13 '1976 | Thriller / Action / Crime | 7.3 | 94% | 89 | 7.3 | John Carpenter |
| 38 | The Getaway '1972 | Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.3 | 84% | 55 | 7.2 | Sam Peckinpah |
| 39 | Soldier of Orange '1977 | Drama / Thriller / War | 7.6 | 92% | - | 7.1 | Paul Verhoeven |
| 40 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons '1973 | Action / Crime / Thriller | 7.5 | - | - | 7.2 | Kenji Misumi |
| 41 | Mr. Klein '1976 | Mystery / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | - | - | 7.2 | Joseph Losey |
| 42 | The Andromeda Strain '1971 | Sci-Fi / Thriller / Drama | 7.2 | 68% | 60 | 7.0 | Robert Wise |
| 43 | The American Friend '1977 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 7.4 | 88% | 79 | 7.1 | Wim Wenders |
| 44 | Vanishing Point '1971 | Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.2 | 62% | 61 | 7.1 | Richard C. Sarafian |
| 45 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades '1972 | Drama / Action / Thriller | 7.5 | - | - | 7.1 | Kenji Misumi |
| 46 | Murder on the Orient Express '1974 | Drama / Thriller / Mystery | 7.2 | 89% | 62 | 7.1 | Sidney Lumet |
| 47 | The Butcher '1970 | Thriller / Crime / Drama | 7.3 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Claude Chabrol |
| 48 | The Night Stalker '1972 | Mystery / Horror / Thriller | 7.4 | 88% | - | 6.9 | John Llewellyn Moxey |
| 49 | The Last of Sheila '1973 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | 90% | - | 7.0 | Herbert Ross |
| 50 | Fist of Fury '1972 | Drama / Action / Thriller | 7.2 | - | 68 | 7.2 | Lo Wei |
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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All movies of the 1970s
Thriller in other decades
Thriller of the 1930s Thriller of the 1940s Thriller of the 1950s Thriller of the 1960s Thriller of the 1980s Thriller of the 1990s Thriller of the 2000s Thriller of the 2010s Thriller of the 2020s
Other genres in the 1970s
Action of 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 War of the 1970s Western of the 1970s
Directors on this list
Steven Spielberg Roman Polanski Sidney Lumet Alan J. Pakula Joseph L. Mankiewicz Jean-Pierre Melville Don Siegel John Carpenter Fred Zinnemann Elio Petri John Boorman William Friedkin
Actors on this list
Roy Scheider Robert Shaw Jack Nicholson Faye Dunaway Al Pacino Dustin Hoffman Robert Redford Laurence Olivier Michael Caine Alain Delon Bourvil Clint Eastwood