The Most Beloved Movies of the 1970s: Star Wars, Grease, Rocky and More Films From the Decade

Star Wars

“When I tested, I figured Harrison [Ford]’s the leading man. I’m like the annoying sidekick,” recalls Mark Hamill, who was 24 when he played Luke Skywalker, the farmboy turned rebellion hero.

The film, which bowed in 1977, was a sensation and spawned a still-growing universe.

The Sting

Four years after their first film together, Paul Newman and Robert Redford reunited for this 1930s-era caper. With a combination of humor, drama and suspense, The Sting changed crime films and won seven Oscars, including Best Picture. And who could forget its theme song, Scott Jopin’s “The Entertainer”?

American Graffiti

“I don’t think any of us thought it was destined to be a hit,” admits Ron Howard of the coming-of-age film that started a craze for all things 1950s.

It also introduced Harrison Ford, Mackenzie Phillips and Suzanne Somers to moviegoers.

The Muppet Movie

In 1979, Kermit the Frog and friends hit the big screen for the first time in an origin story that also brought fans the song “The Rainbow Connection.” The popular film would spawn seven sequels!

Rocky

“The ’70s were a very masculine time,” says Sylvester Stallone, who wrote and starred in this 1976 film about an underdog Philadelphia boxer who gets his moment to shine.

A Best Picture Oscar winner, it reimagined the sports drama and spawned 8 film sequels.

Grease

Movie musicals seemed dead when Grease shimmied onto the big screen in 1978.

“It was like going to a school I never attended,” Olivia Newton-John, who played new girl Sandy, told Closer, admitting that she “never dreamed” the film would become so beloved.

Smoke and the Bandit

The 1977 film featured a love story, fancy driving and outrageous stunts but also “action that wasn’t just stupid action,” said star Burt Reynolds, who cruised to the top of Hollywood’s A-list with this box-office favorite.

The Godather

The 1972 drama by director Francis Ford Coppola is often considered one of the best films of all time.

“I was young, I was unknown,” Al Pacino told The New York Times about playing the third son of Marlon Brando’s mafia chief in the three-time Oscar winner. “It’s the kind of movie when you start watching it, you keep watching it.”

A Star Is Born

“We tried to combine this modern documentary feeling with an old-fashioned, emotional love story,” Barbra Streisand, who costarred with Kris Kristofferson in this 1976 success, told Ladies Home Journal. “We hoped to move people, make them feel, give ’em a good cry.” “Evergreen,” a song she wrote for the film, also became a big hit.

Superman

“I was the temporary custodian of a part that is an essential piece of American mythology,” said Christopher Reeve, who was 24 when he donned the Man of Steel’s cape in 1978 for the first of four films. “I felt, in a way, that the torch had been passed from previous generations.”