Best Director lineups of the 70s

1970:
1. Bernardo Bertolucci – The Conformist
2. Dario Argento - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
3. Jean-Pierre Melville – Le Cercle Rouge
4. Bob Rafelson – Five Easy Pieces
5. Sergei Bondarchuk – Waterloo

1971:
1. William Friedkin – French Connection
2. Peter Bogdanovich – Last Picture Show
3. Don Siegel – Dirty Harry
4. Mike Nichols – Carnal Knowledge
5. Alan Pakula - Klute

1972:
1. Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather
2. Luis Buñuel - The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
3. John Boorman - Deliverance
4. Robert Altman - Images
5. Ingmar Bergman – Cries and Whispers

1973:
1. William Friedkin – The Exorcist
2. Nicolas Roeg – Don’t Look Now
3. Martin Scorsese – Mean Streets
4. Peter Yates – Friends of Eddie Coyle
5. Brian De Palma - Sisters

1974:
1. Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather: Part II
2. Francis Ford Coppola - The Conversation
3. Sam Peckinpah - Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
4. Tobe Hooper – Texas Chain Saw Massacre
5. Terrence Malick - Badlands

1975:
1. Peter Weir – Picnic at Hanging Rock
2. Andrey Tarkovsky – Mirror
3. Miloš Forman - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
4. Sidney Lumet - Dog Day Afternoon
5. Walter Hill – Hard Times

1976:
1. Martin Scorsese – Taxi Driver
2. Brian De Palma - Carrie
3. Nicolas Roeg – The Man Who Fell to Earth
4. John Carpenter – Assault on Precinct 13
5. Roman Polanski – Le Locataire

1977:
1. William Friedkin – Sorcerer
2. Robert Altman – 3 Women
3. Larisa Shapitko – The Ascent
4. John Badham – Saturday Night Fever
5. Woody Allen – Annie Hall

1978:
1. Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter
2. John Carpenter - Halloween
3. Philip Kaufman – Invasion of the Body Snatchers
4. Paul Schrader – Blue Collar
5. Ingmar Bergman – Autumn Sonata

1979:
1. Francis Ford Coppola – Apocalypse Now
2. Ridley Scott – Alien
3. Paul Schrader - Hardcore
4. Norman Jewison - And Justice for All
5. Carl Reiner – The Jerk

1970
1. Bertolucci, The Conformist
2. Buñuel, Tristana
3. Truffaut, The Wild Child
4. Huston, The Kremlin Letter
5. De Palma, Hi Mom!

1971
1. Altman, McCabe & Mrs. Miller
2. Troell, The Emigrants
3. Roeg, Walkabout
4. Losey, The Go-Between
5. Visconti, Death in Venice

1972
1. Troell, The New Land
2. Coppola, The Godfather
3. Bertolucci, Last Tango in Paris
4. Boorman, Deliverance
5. Costa-Gavras, State of Siege

1973
1. Roeg, Don't Look Now
2. Scorsese, Mean Streets
3. Altman, The Long Goodbye
4. Bergman, Cries and Whispers
5. Erice, The Spirit of the Beehive

1974
1. Buñuel, The Phantom of Liberty
2. Coppola, The Conversation
3. Coppola, The Godfather Part II
4. Polanski, Chinatown
5. Malle, Lacombe Lucien

1975
1. Weir, Picnic at Hanging Rock
2. Altman, Nashville
3. Kubrick, Barry Lyndon
4. Ashby, Shampoo
5, Truffaut, The Story of Adele H.

1976
1. De Palma, Carrie
2. Polanski, The Tenant
3. Scorsese, Taxi Driver
4. Herzog, Heart of Glass
5. Penn, The Missouri Breaks

1977
1. Lynch, Eraserhead
2. Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
3. Buñuel, That Obscure Object of Desire
4. Herzog, Stroszek
5. Altman, 3 Women

1978
1. Schepisi, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
2. Attenborough, Magic
3. Blier, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
4. Cimino, The Deer Hunter
5. Chabrol, Violette

1979
1. Coppola, Apocalypse Now
2. Scott, Alien
3. Herzog, Nosferatu
4. Anderson, My Brilliant Career
5. Bertolucci, La Luna

1970:
Bernardo Bertolucci – The Conformist ****
Bob Rafelson – Five Easy Pieces
John Huston - The Kremlin Letter
Robert Altman – MASH
Eric Rohmer - My Night at Maud's

1971:
William Friedkin – French Connection
Peter Bogdanovich – Last Picture Show
Don Siegel – Dirty Harry
Stanley Kubrick - A Clockwork Orange ****
Alan Pakula - Klute

1972:
Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather ****
Luis Buñuel - The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Ingmar Bergman – Cries and Whispers
Bob Fosse - Cabaret
Alfred Hitchcock - Frenzy

1973:
William Friedkin – The Exorcist
Martin Scorsese – Mean Streets ****
Sam Peckinpah - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
George Roy Hill - The Sting
Jerry Schatzberg - Scarecrow

1974:
Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather: Part II ****
Francis Ford Coppola - The Conversation
Roman Polanski - Chinatown
Tobe Hooper – Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Terrence Malick - Badlands

1975:
Peter Weir – Picnic at Hanging Rock
Stanley Kubrick - Barry Lyndon
Miloš Forman - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ****
Sidney Lumet - Dog Day Afternoon
Steven Spielberg - Jaws

1976:
Martin Scorsese – Taxi Driver
Brian De Palma - Carrie
John Schlesinger - Marathon Man
Alan J. Pakula - All the President's Men
Sidney Lumet - Network ****

1977:
David Lynch - Eraserhead
Steven Spielberg - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
George Lucas - Star Wars ****
John Badham – Saturday Night Fever
Woody Allen – Annie Hall

1978:
Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter ****
John Carpenter - Halloween
Ingmar Bergman – Autumn Sonata
Terrence Malick - Days of Heaven
Alan Parker - Midnight Express

1979:
Francis Ford Coppola – Apocalypse Now ****
Ridley Scott – Alien
Woody Allen - Manhattan
Bob Fosse - All That Jazz
Robert Benton - Kramer vs. Kramer

Yeah the thing about the 70s is that I see most of us gravitating to the same films or at least filmmakers, with just a few outliers. Unlike the 80s which is generally less beloved by cinephiles so there's a lot more room to find overlooked gems, I haven't seen many films mentioned here that I hadn't already seen or heard of (in the 80s thread I probably added 15+ things to my watchlist). A couple exceptions: Electra My Love, Adelheid, La Luna (how had I never heard of this?), Canoa: A Shameful Memory, and La Grande Bouffe.

Only 9 responses and already 35 mentions for Coppola. There are some pretty universal standouts in the 70s, you got your Polanskis, your Lumets (nothing for Serpico yet though, interesting... he comes close for me), your Kubricks, your Bergmans and Fellinis, but no one, NO ONE, dominated this decade like Coppola. Four unparalleled masterpieces, and eight out of nine responses have mentioned all of them. Incredible.

Happy to see so many #1 mentions for my beloved Picnic at Hanging Rock and finally some mentions for Argento. Also nice seeing some mentions for Nosferatu which doesn't get much ink in contrast to his other stuff but is probably my favorite Herzog next to Grizzly Man. (Of his early stuff I find it the most accessible/enjoyable, call me a pleb). Surprising lack of Cassavetes...