Finding box office information for movies made before 1980 is not an easy task. For somebody looking for box office information on 1970 it is very very frustrating. Over the years, we have researched and collected information on over 36,000 movies. So we figured we would show all the 1970 movies in our database.
To make this list a movie had to be made in 1970. This page will looks at 127 1970 Top Box Office Movies. The movies are listed in a massive table that lets you rank the movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. This only represents about 33% of the movies made in 1970….but should cover the top box office movies.
Our UMR Top 50 of 1970
1970 Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort 1970 Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1970 Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1970 Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1970 Movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each 1970 Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1970 Movies received.
- Sort 1970 Movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking Score (UMR). Our UMR score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Top earners in 1970 for Adjusted USA Box Office:
My Main Sources
Source 1: Variety – January 6th, 1971, January 5th, 1972
Source 2: Twentieth Century-Fox A Corporate and Financial History by Aubrey Solomon
Source 3: Wikipedia
Source 4: IMDb.com
Source 5: BoxOfficeMojo.com
I’ve seen 32 of the 128 films on the chart and looking at my files I have 54 movies from 1970 in my film collection, I haven’t watched them all.
Favorites include –
Airport
Aristocats ,The
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Chisum
Colossus the Forbin Project
Count Yorga Vampire
Cromwell
Cry of the Banshee
Elvis That’s The Way It Is
Kelly’s Heroes
Little Big Man
Patton
Private Life of Sherlock Holmes ,The
Rio Lobo
Ryan’s Daughter
Scars of Dracula
Scream and Scream Again
Taste the Blood of Dracula
Tora ! Tora ! Tora !
Vampire Lovers ,The
Waterloo
When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth
Woodstock beats Patton on the critics chart… hmmm… and whats this ‘Tristana’ thing hanging over all the other top rated movies? tip of the day – watch out for films that only a handful of people have seen, their scores are usually inflated.
Another top movie page Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve
1. Thanks for checking out our 1970 page.
2. 32…is slightly behind my 40 and just edges out Flora’s 30.
3. I have seen 12 of your favorite movies…with Tora, Tora, Tora, Kelly’s Heroes, Ryan’s Daughter and Patton being my favorites as well.
4. Tristana was a Best Foreign Film Oscar nominated movie….it has a decent amount of votes and reviews.
Good feedback as always.
I am not going to win any medals here…only 27 movies watched, and I don’t have the feeling I’ve been missing out on something great. Favourites are Love Story, a movie that works like an old Bette Davis movie with Bette (or in this case, Ali McGraw) using foul language…this film has a special meaning to me, because I had to write a paper on the novel for literary class at university in the early 80’s, and despite the fact that I knew it was considered a piece of trash fiction by critics, I somehow managed to convince my fellow students and, more importantly, my professor, that it was much more than that. It let to a job offer which brought in some money during my years as a student 😉
Connecting Rooms was hardly visible at cinemas in its time, but it offered touching performances by BD and Michael Redgrave in a study of lonelyness- though the attempt to make it acceptable to a younger audience by adding “swinging 60s” music and young actors playing sleazy characters almost ruined the film.
Barbra Streisand appeared in two totally different parts- in one movie. As a young student, she was certainly overdressed in the latest late 60’s fashion, lacking chemistry with costar Yves Montand, but as Lady Melinda Tentrees, she was beautifully dressed in exuisite gowns by Cecil Beaton, looked wonderful and delivered a good performance in On A Clear Day, under the expert guidance of Vincente Minnelli. What a difference to her second, more successful 1970 movie. In The Owl and the Pussycat, she played a hooker, not only using foul language but also, in the original concept of the movie, appeared topless! She didn’t allow that scene to appear in the end, but it was definetely filmed and stills appeared a decade later in some sleaze magazine. I prefer On A Clear Day, for I have the feeling that Owl hasn’t dated well.
I’ve only seen it once and that was years ago, but back then I really enjoyed The Only Game in Town. Little Big Man and Two Mules for Sister Sara are unlikely favourites for me, but I do like them both. Not a fav, but a film I like is Airport…which brings me to the real disaster movies of that year: Myra Breckinridge is the worst movie any of the movie’s many stars ever appeared in, and this is all the sadder knowing that Gore Vidal’s novel wasn’t half bad as a satire! Trog was such a sad swansong for the career of Joan Crawford, Flesh Feast could have killed anybody’s career, and so it was certainly not fit to revive the one of Veronica Lake. The Adventurers was one big bore, even with de Havilland showing some skin. And Roz Russell’s Mrs. Pollifax-Spy, is only a slight improvement over Rosie! and Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad. There are still great things to come, but the time when an actor’s or director’s name alone could generate enough interest in me to make my heart jump are sadly over with the advent of 1970 🙂
Hey Lupino
1. First of all…this is a great comment.
2. I like the breakdown throughout the comment.
3. As for the two Babs movies…..I have seen both pretty recently…and neither has aged very well. The Owl and The Pussycat was difficult to get through….seemed to be heavily influenced by Neil Simon…..the one joke just keeps going and going. On A Clear Day You Can See Forever benefits from a Jack performance…..but it is not enough to save this movie….in my humble opinion.
4. 27 1970 movies seen has you pretty close to my 40…..so yes..it puts you in the medal conversation…lol.
5. I agree with you about Love Story…if that had been made in either the 1930s or 1940s…..Bette Davis would have been the star for sure.
6. I think Hercules, Trog and Myra make a pretty frightful trilogy of movies.
7. I also enjoyed the two westerns you liked….Sister Sara and Little Big Man…….but I have not seen The Only Game In Town.
Good stuff.
Hey Bruce,
thank you for the kind words. I have to agree with you on Owl & Pussycat, though I do think at the time it was pretty bold and it DID make a lot of money. Besides, I think both Streisand and Segal gave strong performances…and who could resist a movie in which Barbra Streisand wore the most outrageous outfit (two hands and one heart placed upon…let’s say “strategic” parts of her body) and in which she starred in a movie called “Cycle Sluts”?
I really like On a Clear Day, but mostly for the flashback parts. I would really like to see the scenes that play in the future, at least some of those scenes were shot, but they all ended up on the cutting room floor. Poor Jack had such a small part, even his only song in this musical “Who Is There Among Us Who Knows” only survived as a bootleg. I had totally forgotten about Hercules…so actually I have seen 28 movies, and all of your mentioned real life disaster movies 😉
Hey Lupino
1. I agree that Streisand outfit was indeed memorable.
2. Sounds like On A Clear Day You Can See Forever….that they filmed lots of scenes….too bad they did not have director cuts like they do today.
3. See Jack in a musical number would be worth checking out.
4. Ah….there goes that pesky memory again….first issues with Mystery Street….now you are forgetting Arnold’s debut movie…..lol.
Good stuff.
Hey Bruce, don’t get too exited…just stills from the deleted scene of Jack singing and Barbra humming…but I think it makes clear why he never revolutionized the musical genre 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL1RC24Mp9Y
These are the 93 1970 films I have seen since December 1992 when I hit film 8000 that I saw. Key – film, studio, actors if listed, date seen and source (TV channel, DVD or tape).
ACT OF THE HEART (CAN.) 1970 UNI GENEVIEVE BUJOLD DONALD SUTHERLAND 4/19 1998 BRAVO
ADAM’S WOMAN 1970 WB BEAU BRIDGES 6/1 1999 MAX
AGE OF CONSENT (AUSTRALIAN) 1970 COL JAMES MASON HELEN MIRREN 3/15 1996 BRAVO
ALEX IN WONDERLAND 1970 MGM 12/13 2013 TCM
AND GOD SAID TO CAIN (IT.) 1970 Z.V. INTL XXX XXX 1/20 2010 DVD
ATTACK AT DAWN (ISRAELI) 1970 AA XXX XXX 3/22 2011 DVD
BLACK ROOTS (DOC) 1970 RUGUDIN FILMS 3/14 2013 TCM
BLOOD MANIA 1970 CROWN INTL PETER CARPENTER MARIA ARAGON 2/14 2011 DVD
BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN (CARTOON) 1970 NGP XXX XXX 1/2 1995 DIS
BULLET FOR SANDOVAL (IT-SP.) 1970 UMC ERNEST BORGNINE 12/9 2008 WEST
BURN (IT.) 1970 UA MARLON BRANDO 4/4 1996 TNT
C.C. AND COMPANY 1970 AVCO EMBASSY ANN-MARGRET 8/26 1996 55
CARRY ON LOVING (U.K.) 1970 RANK SIDNEY JAMES KENNETH WILLIAMS 7/31 1997 TAPE
CARRY ON UP THE JUNGLE (U.K.) 1970 RANK FRANKIE HOWERD SIDNEY JAMES 6/29 1997 TAPE
CINDY AND DONNA 1970 CROWN INTL XXX XXX 4/23 2009 DVD
COCKEYED COWBOYS OF CALICO COUNTY 1970 UNI DAN BLOCKER MICKEY ROONEY 2/21 2010 WSTN
COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE 1970 AIP ROBERT QUARRY ROGER PERRY 9/27 2014 EPIX DI
COVER ME BABE 1970 FOX ROBERT FORSTER SONDRA LOCKE 9/7 2005 FXM
CROMWELL (U.K.) 1970 COL RICHARD HARRIS ALEC GUINESS 5/4 1997 BRAVO
CROOKS AND CORONETS (U.K.) 1970 WB 9/18 2015 TCM
CRY BLOOD APACHE 1970 GOLDEN EAGLE INTL. XXX XXX 8/2 1996 TNT
CRY OF THE BANSHEE 1970 AIP VINCENT PRICE 12/22 2002 MYST
DEEP RED (U.K.) 1970 PAR ? ? 6/26 2010 TCM
DINAH EAST 1970 EMERSON XXX XXX 1/9 2008 DVD
DJANGO MEETS SARTANA (IT.) 1970 XXX XXX 8/1 2011 DVD
FLAP 1970 WB ANTHONY QUINN 5/27 2000 WEST
FOUR RODE OUT 1970 SAGITTARIUS PRODS. SUE LYON PERNELL ROBERTS 6/1 2011 DVD
FRAGMENT OF FEAR (U.K.) 1970 COL DAVID HEMMINGS GAYLE HUNNICUTT 6/19 2002 MYST
FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (U.K.) 1970 WB PETER CUSHING SIMON WARD 4/3 1994 TNT
GAMES, THE (U.K.) 1970 FOX STANLEY BAKER MICHAEL CRAWFORD 5/21 2012 FXM
GETTING STRAIGHT 1970 COL ELLIOTT GOULD CANDICE BERGEN 1/5 1998 ENC
GURU THE MAD MONK 1970 NOVA INTL. 10/27 2015 DVD
HATE THY NEIGHBOR (IT.) 1970 CINECIDI XXX XXX 6/16 2011 DVD
HAWAIIANS, THE 1970 UA CHARLTON HESTON GERALDINE CHAPLIN 3/2 2012 TCM
HEAD OF THE FAMILY (IT-FR.) 1970 AA 4/5 2013 DVD
HELL BOATS (U.K.) 1970 UA JAMES FRANCISCUS 5/28 1996 TNT
HELLO GOODBYE 1970 FOX MICHAEL CRAWFORD 1/19 2004 FXM
HERCULES IN NEW YORK 1970 RAF INDUSTRIES ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER 11/1 1994 TMC
HI, MOM 1970 SIGMA III ROBERT DE NIRO 3/4 1997 TMC
HOFFMAN (U.K.) 1970 LEVITT-PICKMAN PETER SELLERS 2/21 1998 21
HONEYMOON KILLERS 1970 CRC XXX XXX 10/5 2008 TCM
HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (U.K.) 1970 LEVITT PICKMAN XXX XXX 10/28 2004 AMC
HUSBANDS 1970 COL BEN GAZZARA PETER FALK 5/9 1996 BRAVO
I AM SARTANA, TRADE YOUR GUNS FOR A COFFIN (IT.) 1970 XXX XXX 8/9 2010 DVD
JULIUS CAESAR (U.K.) 1970 AIP CHARLTON HESTON JASON ROBARDS JR. 8/6 1997 13
KEMEK (KENNETE ?) 1970 GENESIS ALEXANDRA STEWART 7/22 1995 55
LAND RAIDERS 1970 COL TELLY SAVALAS GEORGE MAHARIS 12/8 1993 TNT
LAST ESCAPE 1970 UA STUART WHITMAN 2/7 1996 TNT
LAST OF THE MOBILE HOT SHOTS 1970 WB 11/19 2015 DVD
LIBERATION OF L.B. JONES 1970 COL LEE.J. COBB 2/15 1993 TNT
LIGHT THE FUSE…SANTANA IS COMING (IT-SP) 1970 9/9 2013 DVD
LITTLE BIG MAN 1970 NGP DUSTIN HOFFMAN FAYE DUNAWAY 1/18 1995 TBS
LITTLE FAUSS AND BIG HALSY 1970 PAR ROBERT REDFORD 4/20 1993 5
LOOKING GLASS WAR (U.K.) 1970 COL XXX XXX 1/17 1998 ENC
LOOT (U.K.) 1970 CINEVISION RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH LEE REMICK 8/25 2010 DVD
LOVE 600 (GER.) 1970 UA 11/11 1997 FLIX
LOVING 1970 COL GEORGE SEGAL EVA MARIE SAINT 8/24 2009 TCM
MACHO CALLAHAN 1970 AVCO EMB 5/14 2015 MOVIES
MCKENZIE BREAK (U.K.) 1970 UA BRIAN KEITH 11/11 1996 TNT
NED KELLY 1970 UA XXX XXX 7/26 1995 TNT
NO BLADE OF GRASS (U.K.) 1970 MGM NIGEL DAVENPORT JEAN WALLACE 1/20 1996 TNT
NOTORIOUS CLEOPATRA 1970 BOX OFFICE INTL. XXX XXX 1/29 1997 TAPE
ONLY GAME IN TOWN 1970 FOX ELIZABETH TAYLOR WARREN BEATTY 3/4 1998 ENC
PERFORMANCE (U.K.) 1970 WB 10/20 2017 TCM
PHYNX, THE 1970 WB 8/20 2016 TCM
PIECES OF DREAMS 1970 UA ROBERT FORSTER LAUREN HUTTON 1/14 2003 LOVE
PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 1970 UA XXX XXX 8/30 1994 TMC
QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY (IT-FR) 1970 UA FRANCO NERO VANESSA REDGRAVE 11/1 2010 TCM
RABBIT RUN 1970 WB JAMES CAAN 2/14 1997 55
RIDER ON THE RAIN (IT-FR) 1970 AVCO EMBASSY CHARLES BRONSON 3/2 1996 TNT
SANTA AND THE THREE BEARS 1970 R & S FILM 12/31 2017 NET
SARTANA KILLED THEM ALL (SP-IT.) 1970 12/2 2013 DVD
SCARS OF DRACULA (U.K.) 1970 LEVITT PITTMAN CHRISTOPHER LEE DENNIS WATERMAN 9/24 2002 AMC
SEVERED HEAD (U.K.) 1970 COL LEE REMICK RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH 9/1 2009 TCM
STRANGER THAT KNEELS BESIDE THE SHADOW OF A CORPSE (IT.) 1970 XXX XXX 10/25 2011 DVD
STUDENT NURSES 1970 NW 5/29 2014 EPIX DI
TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (U.K.) 1970 COL 12/9 2014 COZI
TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (U.K.) 1970 WB 10/25 2016 TCM
TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON 1970 PAR LIZA MINNELLI 2/19 1995 AMC
THE EXECUTIONER (U.K.) 1970 COL GEORGE PEPPARD 7/11 2001 MYST
THE MCMASTERS 1970 CHEVRON BURL IVES 2/17 1998 55
THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS 1970 UA SIDNEY POITIER 12/6 1994 TMC
TOO LATE THE HERO 1970 CRC MICHAEL CAINE CLIFF ROBERTSON 3/8 1999 HBO
TROG (U.K.) 1970 WB JOAN CRAWFORD 2/27 1994 TNT
UNHOLY FOUR (IT.) 1970 B.R.C. /PAC XXX XXX 6/6 2011 DVD
VENGEANCE (IT.) 1970 ARLINGTON INTL. XXX XXX 1/8 2006 WEST
WALKING STICK (U.K.) 1970 MGM 12/7 2017 TCM
WANDA 1970 BARDENE INTL. XXX XXX 6/20 1995 BRAVO
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO A NAKED LADY 1970 UA XXX XXX 9/2 1995 TNT
WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH (U.K.) 1970 WB XXX XXX 12/28 1994 TBS
WOODSTOCK (CONCERT FILM) 1970 WB XXX XXX 3/30 1993 A & E
ZABRISKIE POINT 1970 MGM 9/15 2017 TCM
ZIG ZAG 1970 MGM 5/12 2012 TCM
Hey Dan
1. Still a very solid total from you.
2. Almost triple digits for you.
3. I have not seen many of the movies on your list….and would venture only about a third of them made this 1970 page.
4. So Too Late The Hero was playing on HBO in 1999…..interesting….I would have thought by then it would have been on a channel with commericals….and lots of them too….lol.
Good feedback as always.
Without looking at your list I remember going to Airport, The Out-of-Towners, The Aristocats, The Boatniks, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and The Future Perils of Laurel and Hardy (that one being possibly the 2nd film I ever saw in Manhattan after The Love Bug) in theaters back in 70.
As I predicted, my viewing total has taken a steep decline.
I have seen only 29 movies from 1970.
The highest rated film I have seen is M*A*S*H.
The highest rated film I have NOT seen is Patton.
The lowest rated film I have seen is Mrs. Pollifax-Spy at 115.
From now on, I’m only going to give my totals for the top 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 as that is where most of viewed films will be.
I have seen only:
4 of the top 10! – M*A*S*H, Woodstock, Airport, and Five Easy Pieces
10 of the top 20
15 of the top 30
20 of the top 40
23 of the top 50
The Gregory Peck film from this year I Walk The Line is bizarre and disturbing. I have only seen it once.
My Favourite 8 Films of 1970 are:
Five Easy Pieces
M*A*S*H
Airport
Kelly’s Heroes
The Cheyenne Social Club
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The Aristocats
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Hey Flora…..as your total goes down mine is rising….as I have seen 40 of these movies. My first miss is #3 Woodstock……while lowest rated movie is #126 Hercules Goes To New York. Just added the trailer for that movie…..seeing Arnold dubbed is priceless.
I added 32 trailers to this page….I will have to see if I can find one for Walk The Line and see if trailer is bizarre as well.
23 or 46% of the Top 50 is pretty good. I have seen 7 of your favorites. Mash and Kelly’s Hereos are my favorites as well. Good feedback as always.
I Walk The Line trailer is now on the page…..https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/i-walk-the-line-1970/ Gotta admit that Southern accent is off putting for sure.
Thanks, Bruce for adding the trailer.
In looking over Steve’s new video on George Segal, I recognized an outfit Barbra Streisand wears in The Owl and the Pussycat and that I must have seen that movie and forgotten it. I’m not a fan of Segal and it slipped my mind. Therefore I have seen 5 of the top 10 and 30 movies total.
Five for Flora….so George Segal is Steve’s latest video subject….I will have to check that one out.
HI Bruce, some infos about Russian box office numbers (see our previous posts on your western page) :
1) The source of the information is the link i send you in the previous post ; if you enter the name of a movie ; even in english ; it will give you the number of admission it made in Russia (if it made some notable admission) and even in some other european countries (those other european admissions are in general included in the studios total figures).
2) The source is absolutely reliable and it’s the official website of russian box office ; in a way, it’s the Box Ofice Mojo of Russia if you want lol …
3) The Russian admissions aren’t included in their figures because a lot of old movies were released in Soviet Union with the control of the propaganda who select just some movies and mostly because they were released with a lag ; the magnificent seven was released in 1962 in Russia so it’s not the case for this movie but most came out with several years of gap and so the entries were not included because of that (Spartacus was released in 1968 in Soviet Union and made 63 million admission that aren’t included anywhere !! And there’s a lot of old movies in this case) ; on imdb; some films do not even have a release date known in Russia even though they have been broadcast ! Furthermore, I’m not going to teach you history, I think you know that better than me but I guess you know the relationship between Usa and Russia before the 90’s … I think they had something else to do than to send them the numbers of movie admissions….
So I can assure you that all these figures are official and to my knowledge none of the admission figures in Russia is included in the total figures of the studios ; you can do math if you want but in some cases the admissions in Russia are higher than the total worldwide of a whole film !!
exemple: Tarzan the Ape Man: 42.9 m admissions !! MacKennas Gold (1969) : 63 m admissions !!! …..And there’s many more !
Here’s a link i selected to you (on the bottom of this page) : it gives you a list of the UK/US movies that made the most admissions in Russia , you’ll be astonished because there’s a lot of unknown movies or B Movies that were selected and broadcast to the people under the control of Propaganda ; for example if a film was political or showcased American values; it was forbidden …
On the link i send you below , the number of admissions in Russia is the number in orange at the bottom right of the sheet of each film ; for example the Magnificent Seven made 67 million admissions …It’s the biggest American film in Soviet Union !! Want to see the others ?? Let’s go ! ?
https://www.kinopoisk.ru/top/lists/184/filtr/all/sort/order/country%5B11%5D/11/country%5B1%5D/1/