The most notable movies turning 50 in 2025

It’s not hyperbole to say that 50 years ago the American movie landscape changed. Not only did “Jaws” mint Steven Spielberg as a big-time director. Not only did it become the highest-grossing movie in history (not adjusted for inflation) at the time. Not only did it make people afraid to go in the water. “Jaws” effectively invented the idea of the “summer blockbuster,” which is a concept that has continued for five decades now.

“Jaws” is the defining movie of 1975, but infamously Spielberg did not get a Best Director nomination, and “Jaws” did not win Best Picture. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is one of three films to ever win the Big Five. That is to say it won Oscars for screenplay, director, lead actor, lead actress, and picture. Also, it still holds up as a movie.

“Funny Girl” launched Barbara Streisand as an actor. “Funny Lady” is the sequel to that 1968 hit. This one was also a hit, as Streisand’s second turn as Fanny Brice was the eighth-highest-grossing movie of 1975. Now, critics didn’t like it as much, and it ended up more of a “Let’s nominate famous people for Golden Globes” success, it’s a big Babs movie and it is certainly notable.

The 1970s was the decade for politically-minded conspiracy thrillers. Robert Redford often found himself in the mix. While conspiracy virtuoso Alan J. Pakula did not direct “Three Days of the Condor,” director Sydney Pollock was no slouch. This is considered one of the venerated, totemic conspiracy thrillers, which is to say it’s gripping even when you have no clue what is going on.

When a band decides to make a movie musical about a deaf, dumb, and blind kid who can sure play a mean pinball, it’s going to get weird. And yet, “Tommy” is even stranger than you might think. Ken Russell directed it and, well, Ken Russell is one of the more-bananas directors to ever do it. If you haven’t seen it, you can’t fully grasp “Tommy.”

When people wax poetic on 1970s film, they will point out things like the fact a movie like “Dog Day Afternoon” could finish fourth in the year-end box office. Indeed, an R-rated crime drama about a small-time bank robbery turned media circus is not blockbuster fodder any longer. For many, outside of the “Godfather” movies this is Al Pacino’s best film. We also want to shout out Charles Durning, who is great in “Dog Day Afternoon.”

Perhaps the quintessential “cult classic.” Sure, the whole thing is too much now. Going to see “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and having to deal with years’ worth of self-satisfied bits and jokes sounds exhausting. On the flip side, you can count on one hand the number of movies who have cultivated such a devoted following. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has gone from a cult movie to defining what a cult movie is, and that’s remarkable.

Okay, so maybe the ‘70s were pretty cool. “Shampoo” was the third-highest-grossing movie of 1975 and it’s just, “What if Warren Beatty played a hairdresser who was the dumbest man alive but nobody really noticed because all he did was have sex and do hair?” Beatty, Robert Towne, and Hal Ashby envisioned “Shampoo” as a satire, but it’s subtle. The 1968 election is background noise but everybody is too hung up on their nonsense. Lee Grant won Best Supporting Actress for this film.

Because it became a talked-about movie and got a remake, you might not be aware that “The Stepford Wives” pretty much flopped in theaters. It would be rediscovered and built up after the fact. The movie is not unlike “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” but with a bit of a squishy feminist bent to it. It’s still 10 times the movie “Don’t Worry, Darling” is, though.

Disney used to churn out live-action movies that have lacked the cultural stickiness of the animation. “Escape to Witch Mountain” did click, though, and has remained in the movie landscape. It got sequels and remakes and such. While a few adult character actors got top billing (Donald Pleasance wasn’t going to get out of bed for anything below third on the call sheet), the story focuses on two supernatural siblings who realize there is more going on then they realized.

When Eddie Murphy stars in a biopic about you, then you’ve made a notable movie. Murphy had something of a comeback with “Dolemite is My Name,” a film about comedian and filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore, specifically the making of “Dolemite.” “Dolemite” is the kind of blaxploitation film that “Black Dynamite” lovingly lampoons. It barely makes sense and the acting is subpar, but a cult figure in film was born, and Dolemite was his name.

Speaking of the wonderful world of ‘70s “B” movies, we must shout out Roger Corman. “Death Race 2000” knows exactly what it is. Paul Bartel, a cult movie staple, directed it. Of course Mary Woronov has a role in it. The movie is so dumb and over the top, and that is exactly what it wanted to be. You get what you want from “Death Race 2000.”

By 1975, Clint Eastwood was already directing movies he was also starring in. He had found success on both fronts. The gimmick of “The Eiger Sanction” basically set the table for “Cliffhanger.” Eastwood plays an art history professor (sure) who is also an avid mountain climber (that works) and, of course, he used to be a highly-paid black ops assassin (no notes). It’s not Eastwood’s best work, but it’s entertaining and from the days of Eastwood’s professional peak.

“Shampoo” has a real Robert Altman feel to it, but “Nashville” is the Robert Altman feel. While we like some Altman movies better (and we consider “The Long Goodbye” his best work), “Nashville” is probably the movie most people think of first. All the characters coming and going, all the overlapping dialog, it’s a well-appointed slice of life done in the way Altman did best.

The hard-boiled film noirs of the Production Code era could only get boiled so hard. “Night Moves” did not have to equivocate in terms of being a nasty, nihilistic noir. Gene Hackman plays a former football player turned private investigator and the femme fatale is a 16-year-old girl. “Night Moves” has zero chill, as they say, but it delivers a strong noir story.

Look, blaxploitation movies were often a lot of fun (though a lot of them are also quite bad), but that was not the alpha and omega of “Black Cinema.” Which is a good thing! “Cooley High” is a period-piece dramedy about high school with Glynn Turman and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as the leads. John Singleton and Spike Lee are among the filmmakers who were inspired and influenced by “Cooley High.”

“Rollerball” inspired, well, nothing other than that terrible remake. It’s a just-north-of-stupid slice of dystopian sci-fi about a world run by corporations where the uber-violent sport Rollerball is the most-popular attraction. James Caan plays Jonathan, Rollerball’s biggest star, but the powers that be have different ideas about the future of the sport. The movie was a hit, and sometimes what you want is a B-minus film with an interesting premise.

Wow, “The Apple Dumpling Gang” and “Escape to Witch Mountain” came out the same year. Good times for live-action Disney. This light comedy focuses on a gambler who ends up taking care of three orphans and then complications and (hopeful) hilarity ensues. Having Don Knotts and Tim Conway around helped. Sure, “The Apple Dumpling Gang” is broad, but it was a successful crowd pleaser, and it earned a sequel as well.

Given that “Mad Max” didn’t come out until 1979, “Picnic at Hanging Rock” may be the earliest Australian film to make a big enough splash as to cross over to America. All it took for that to happen was for Peter Weir to direct what many consider the best Australian movie ever made. Some girls and their teacher go for, well, a picnic at Hanging Rock. They never return, and the fallout starts there.

Joe Don Baker was a movie star in the 1970s. It’s true! “Mitchell” is very much in the Baker milieu. It’s also a bad movie. Why is it notable and memorable? “Mitchell” became famed due to appearing on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” In fact, it was the last movie screened during Joel Hodgson’s run as the host of the show.

John Wayne won his only Oscar for “True Grit,” a film in which he played Rooster Cogburn. Years later, Wayne starred in a sequel wherein clearly he was the star of the show. Now, Cogburn was the titular character. It helps that Charles Portis wrote a follow-up book to “True Grit.” Wayne starred alongside Katharine Hepburn, so the film had quite the cache from a headliner perspective.

Rounding out the major Oscar winners for 1975, Best Supporting Actor went to George Burns. The aged vaudeville veteran won for “The Sunshine Boys” wherein he played…an aged vaudeville veteran. Many posit this award was given to Burns in the quasi-lifetime achievement vein, with the idea he was nearing the end of his career and his life. He was 79, after all. Instead, Burns would appear in nine more movies and live another 20 years.

Stanley Kubrick is a venerated director, and he has a fairly-limited filmography. As such, basically every film after his first couple is now considered an esteemed classic, even the ones that weren’t viewed as such at first. A rising tide lifts all boats or what have you. “Barry Lyndon” probably has seen its reputation lifted the most among Kubrick’s movies. Well, we felt obligated to include this movie because it’s a Kubrick, so maybe it all makes sense.

We end with one of the iconic comedies of the 1970s. Monty Python were as defining to 1970s comedy as “Saturday Night Live.” The Python crew was able to make movies together, though, and they made their debut as feature-length, narrative filmmakers with “Holy Grail.” It was beloved then and it remains beloved now. It’s one of the most-quoted movies ever. They turned it into a musical, which is better than turning it into a newt. “Holy Grail” is silly, slapdash, and as entertaining as any movie from 1975. It doesn’t really have an ending, but now we do.