1971 in film

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The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music. The film includes footage from Dylan's 1966 UK tour.
• The first permanent IMAX projection system is installed at Ontario Place's "Cinesphere" in Toronto.
• April 23 - The film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song becomes the highest-grossing independent film of 1971.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Rank	Title	Studio	Actors	Gross
1.	Fiddler on the Roof	United Artists	Topol	$38,261,000
2.	The French Connection	20th Century Fox	Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider	$32,500,000
3.	Summer of '42	Warner Bros.	Jennifer O'Neill, Gary Grimes	$26,315,000
4.	Diamonds Are Forever	United Artists	Sean Connery, Jill St. John	$20,500,000
5.	Dirty Harry	Warner Bros.	Clint Eastwood, Andy Robinson	$19,727,000
6.	Carnal Knowledge	Embassy	Jack Nicholson, Ann-Margret, Candice Bergen, Art Garfunkel	$18,000,000
7.	A Clockwork Orange	Warner Bros.	Malcolm McDowell	$17,000,000
8.	Klute	Warner Bros.	Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland	$14,075,000
9.	The Last Picture Show	Columbia	Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Jeff Bridges	$13,100,000
10.	Bedknobs and Broomsticks*	Walt Disney	Angela Lansbury	$11,426,000

(*) After Theatrical re-issue(s)

Awards

Category/Organization	29th Golden Globe Awards February 6, 1972		26th BAFTA Awards February 26, 1973	44th Academy Awards April 10, 1972
	Drama	Musical or Comedy
Best Film	The French Connection	Fiddler on the Roof	Cabaret	The French Connection
Best Director	William Friedkin The French Connection		Bob Fosse Cabaret	William Friedkin The French Connection
Best Actor	Gene Hackman The French Connection	Chaim Topol Fiddler on the Roof	Gene Hackman The French Connection	Gene Hackman The French Connection
Best Actress	Jane Fonda Klute	Twiggy The Boy Friend	Liza Minnelli Cabaret	Jane Fonda Klute
Best Supporting Actor	Ben Johnson The Last Picture Show		Ben Johnson The Last Picture Show	Ben Johnson The Last Picture Show
Best Supporting Actress	Cloris Leachman The Last Picture Show		Cloris Leachman The Last Picture Show	Cloris Leachman The Last Picture Show
Best Screenplay, Original	The Hospital Paddy Chayefsky		The Hospital Paddy Chayefsky	The Hospital Paddy Chayefsky
Best Screenplay, Adapted			The Last Picture Show Peter Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry	The French Connection Ernest Tidyman
Best Score	Shaft Isaac Hayes		The Godfather Nino Rota	Shaft Isaac Hayes

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

The Go-Between, directed by Joseph Losey, United Kingdom

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini), directed by Vittorio De Sica, Italy / W. Germany

Films released in 1971

U.S. unless stated

• $ (aka The Heist), starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn
• 10 Rillington Place, starring Richard Attenborough - (U.K.)
• 200 Motels, featuring Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention

A

• The Abominable Dr. Phibes, starring Vincent Price - (U.K.)
• Adrift on the Nile, directed by Hussein Kamal - (Egypt)
• The Adversary, directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• The American Soldier (Der Amerikanische Soldat), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder - (West Germany)
• The Anderson Tapes, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Christopher Walken
• And Now For Something Completely Different, a Monty Python film - (U.K.)
• The Andromeda Strain, directed by Robert Wise, starring Arthur Hill, Kate Reid, David Wayne, James Olson

B

• Bananas, directed by and starring Woody Allen
• The Barefoot Executive
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks, starring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson
• The Beguiled, starring Clint Eastwood
• The Big Boss, starring Bruce Lee - (Hong Kong)
• The Big Doll House
• Big Jake, starring John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Hara
• Billy Jack, re-released in 1973
• Born to Win
• The Boy Friend, directed by Ken Russell, starring Twiggy - (U.K.)
• Brian's Song, starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams

C

• Carnal Knowledge, directed by Mike Nichols, starring Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret, Candice Bergen
• Carry On Henry, directed by Gerald Thomas, starring Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims - (U.K.)
• Le Chat, directed by Robert Bresson - (France)
• Cisco Pike, starring Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black, Gene Hackman
• A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Malcolm McDowell - (U.K.)
• Cold Turkey, starring Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart
• Countess Dracula, starring Ingrid Pitt - (U.K.)

D

• Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia), directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Dirk Bogarde and Silvana Mangano - (Italy/France)
• The Decameron, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini - (Italy)
• The Devils, directed by Ken Russell, starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave - (U.K.)
• Diamonds Are Forever, starring Sean Connery as James Bond with Jill St. John and Charles Gray - (U.K.)
• Dirty Harry, directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood and Andy Robinson
• Duel, the directorial debut of Steven Spielberg, starring Dennis Weaver
• Dulcima, starring John Mills and Carol White - (U.K.)

E

• The Emigrants, directed by Jan Troell, starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman - (Sweden)
• Escape from the Planet of the Apes, starring Roddy McDowall

F

• Family Life (Życie rodzinne) - (Poland)
• Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Norman Jewison, starring Chaim Topol
• A Fistful of Dynamite, directed by Sergio Leone, starring James Coburn and Rod Steiger
• Fools' Parade, starring James Stewart, George Kennedy, Kurt Russell
• Four Nights of a Dreamer (Quatre nuits d'un rêveur), directed by Robert Bresson - (France)
• The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin, starring Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider - 5 Academy Awards including best film, director and actor

G

• Gamera vs. Zigra - (Japan)
• Gas-s-s-s
• Get Carter, directed by Mike Hodges, starring Michael Caine - (U.K.)
• Godzilla vs. Hedorah - (Japan)
• The Grissom Gang
• Guddi - (India)
• Gumshoe, directed by Stephen Frears, starring Albert Finney and Billie Whitelaw - (U.K.)

H

• Hannie Caulder, starring Raquel Welch and Robert Culp
• Harold and Maude, directed by Hal Ashby, starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort
• Hare Raama Hare Krishna, directed by and starring Dev Anand - (India)
• The Hired Hand, starring Warren Oates
• The Hospital, directed by Arthur Hiller, starring George C. Scott and Diana Rigg
• How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês) - (Brazil)
• The Hunting Party, starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Oliver Reed

I

• I, Monster - (U.K.)

J

• Johnny Got His Gun, directed by Dalton Trumbo, starring Timothy Bottoms, Jason Robards, Donald Sutherland
• Julius Caesar (U.S. release), directed by Stuart Burge, starring Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud - (U.K.)
• Juste avant la nuit (aka Just Before Nightfall), directed by Claude Chabrol - (France)

K

• King Lear, directed by Peter Brook, starring Paul Scofield - (U.K.)
• King Lear, directed by Grigori Kozintsev - (U.S.S.R.)
• Klute, directed by Alan J. Pakula, starring Jane Fonda (Oscar winner) and Donald Sutherland
• Kotch, directed by Jack Lemmon, starring Walter Matthau

L

• The Last Picture Show, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn
• Lawman, starring Burt Lancaster, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Ryan, Robert Duvall
• Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen
• Little Murders, directed by Alan Arkin, starring Elliott Gould, Marcia Rodd, Vincent Gardenia, Elizabeth Wilson, Donald Sutherland
• Love - (Hungary)

M

• Macbeth, directed by Roman Polanski, starring Jon Finch and Francesca Annis - (U.K./U.S.)
• Made for Each Other, starring Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor
• Mary, Queen of Scots, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson - (U.K.)
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller, directed by Robert Altman, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie
• Melody - (U.K.)
• The Million Dollar Duck
• Minnie and Moskowitz, directed by John Cassavetes, starring Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel
• Mon oncle Antoine - considered by some critics the greatest Canadian film - (Canada)
• Murmur of the Heart, directed by Louis Malle - (France/Italy/West Germany)
• Murphy's War, starring Peter O'Toole

N

• A New Leaf, directed by and starring Elaine May, co-starring Walter Matthau
• Nicholas and Alexandra, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner - (U.K.)

O

• The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston and Anthony Zerbe
• On the Buses - (U.K.)
• Outback (a.k.a. Wake in Fright), directed by Ted Kotcheff - (Australia)

P

• The Panic in Needle Park, starring Al Pacino
• Play Misty For Me, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood with Jessica Walter and Donna Mills
• Plaza Suite, directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris, Lee Grant
• Pretty Maids All in a Row, directed by Roger Vadim, starring Rock Hudson and Angie Dickinson
• Punishment Park, directed by Peter Watkins

R

• Raid on Rommel, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Richard Burton
• Red Psalm (Még kér a nép), directed by Miklós Jancsó - (Hungary)
• Red Sun, starring Charles Bronson, Ursula Andress, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon - (France/Italy/Spain)

S

• Sacco e Vanzetti, starring Gian Maria Volonté - (Italy)
• A Safe Place, starring Jack Nicholson and Tuesday Weld
• Shaft, directed by Gordon Parks, starring Richard Roundtree
• She Killed in Ecstasy - (West Germany/Spain)
• Silence - (Japan)
• Skin Game, starring James Garner and Louis Gossett, Jr.
• Something Big, starring Dean Martin
• Straw Dogs, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George - (U.K./U.S.)
• Such Good Friends, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Dyan Cannon
• Summer of '42, directed by Robert Mulligan, starring Jennifer O'Neill and Gary Grimes
• Sunday, Bloody Sunday, directed by John Schlesinger, starring Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson - (U.K.)
• Support Your Local Gunfighter, starring James Garner and Suzanne Pleshette
• Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

T

• Taking Off, directed by Milos Forman, starring Lynn Carlin and Buck Henry
• The Tales of Beatrix Potter, a dance film featuring the Royal Ballet - (U.K.)
• They Call Me Trinity, spaghetti western with Terence Hill - (Italy)
• THX 1138, the directorial debut of George Lucas, starring Robert Duvall
• The Touch of Satan
• Trafic, directed by and starring Jacques Tati - (France)
• T.R. Baskin, starring Candice Bergen
• Twitch of the Death Nerve (Ecologia del delitto) - (Italy)
• Two English Girls, directed by François Truffaut - (France)
• Two-Lane Blacktop, starring James Taylor and Warren Oates

U

• Up Pompeii, starring Frankie Howerd and Michael Hordern - (U.K.)

V

• Valdez Is Coming, starring Burt Lancaster
• Vanishing Point, starring Barry Newman and Cleavon Little
• Villain, starring Richard Burton and Ian McShane - (U.K.)
• Von Richthofen and Brown (a.k.a. The Red Baron), directed by Roger Corman, starring John Phillip Law

W

• Walkabout, directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg and David Gulpilil - (Australia/U.K.)
• Waterloo (U.S. release), directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, starring Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles
• Le Wazzou polygame - (Niger/France)
• Werewolves on Wheels
• Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, starring Dustin Hoffman
• Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?
• Wild Riders
• Willard
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder
• The Working Class Goes to Heaven, Palme d'Or winner - (Italy)
• W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism - (Yugoslavia/West Germany)

X-Y-Z

• Zeppelin, starring Elke Sommer and Michael York - (U.K.)

Births

• January 2 - Taye Diggs, actor
• January 11 - Mary J. Blige, musician
• January 15 - Regina King, actor
• January 17 - Kid Rock, musician
• February 1 - Michael C. Hall, actor
• February 1 - Jill Kelly, adult actress
• February 11 - Damien Lewis, actor
• February 15 - Alex Borstein, actress
• February 17 - Denise Richards, actress
• February 24 - Stephen Petit, actor and musician
• March 7 - Peter Sarsgaard, actor
• March 10 - Jon Hamm, actor
• March 13 - Annabeth Gish, actress
• March 27 - Nathan Fillion, actor
• March 31 - Ewan McGregor actor
• April 1 - Method Man actor and musician
• April 12 - Shannon Doherty actress
• April 18 - David Tennant actor
• May 14 - Sofia Coppola, actress, writer, and director
• May 27 - Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez singer and actress (d.2002)
• May 27 - Paul Bettany actor
• June 4 - Noah Wyle actor
• June 5 - Mark Wahlberg actor and musician
• June 16 - Tupac Shakur actor and musician (d.1996)
• July 1 - Missy Elliott musician and actress
• July 16 - Corey Feldman actor
• July 21 - Charlotte Gainsbourg, actress
• August 10 - Justin Theroux, actor
• August 29 - Carla Gugino, actress.
• August 31 - Chris Tucker, actor
• September 16 - Amy Poehler, actress
• September 18 - Jada Pinkett-Smith, actress
• September 21 - Luke Wilson, actor
• October 20 - Snoop Dogg, musician and actor
• October 29 - Winona Ryder, actress
• November 25 - Christina Applegate actress
• December 1 - Emily Mortimer actress
• December 7 - Chasey Lain adult actress
• December 23 - Corey Haim, actor (d.2010)
• December 26 - Jared Leto, actor and musician

Deaths

• January 5 - Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer
• January 15 - John Dall, actor
• February 26 - Fernandel, actor
• March 8 – Harold Lloyd, silent screen comedian
• March 15 - Bebe Daniels, actress
• May 1 - Glenda Farrell, actress
• May 27 - Chips Rafferty, Australian actor
• May 28 - Audie Murphy, World War II hero became film actor after the war
• July 3 - Jim Morrison, songwriter, poet, musician
• July 6 - Louis Armstrong, musician, actor
• July 23 - Van Heflin, actor
• August 3 - Ernst Eklund, actor
• August 15 - Paul Lukas, actor
• September 7 - Spring Byington, actress
• September 10 - Pier Angeli, actress
• September 11 - Bella Darvi, actress
• October 11 - Chester Conklin, actor
• October 26 - Vincent Coleman, actor
• November 17 - Gladys Cooper, actress
• December 13 - Dita Parlo, actress
• December 18 - Diana Lynn, actress
• December 28 - Max Steiner, film composer
• December 30 - Dorothy Comingore, actress best known as Susan Kane in Citizen Kane
• December 31 - Pete Duel, 31, actor (suicide)
• December 31 - Marin Sais, actress

Film debuts

• Daniel Day-Lewis
• Danny DeVito
• Morgan Freeman
• George Lucas
• John Ritter
• Steven Spielberg
• Jack Thompson
• David Ogden Stiers
• Stockard Channing
• Gary Busey
• Kathy Bates