1970 in film

List of years in film       (table)
… 1960 .  1961 .  1962 .  1963  . 1964  . 1965  . 1966 … 1967 1968 1969 -1970- 1971 1972 1973 … 1974 .  1975 .  1976 .  1977  . 1978  . 1979  . 1980 … In home video: 1967 1968 1969 -1970- 1971 1972 1973          In television: 1967 1968 1969 -1970- 1971 1972 1973
Related time period  or  subjects
… 1967 . 1968 . 1969 - 1970 - 1971 . 1972 . 1973 … … 1940s . 1950s . 1960s -1970s- 1980s . 1990s . 2000s … 19th century . 20th century . 21st century …
Art . Archaeology . Architecture . Literature . Music . Science +...

Years in film
1870s
1880s
1890s
1890 • 1891 • 1892 • 1893 • 1894 1895 • 1896 • 1897 • 1898 • 1899
1900s
1900 • 1901 • 1902 • 1903 • 1904 1905 • 1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909
1910s
1910 • 1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 1915 • 1916 • 1917 • 1918 • 1919
1920s
1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929
1930s
1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939
1940s
1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949
1950s
1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959
1960s
1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969
1970s
1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979
1980s
1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989
1990s
1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999
2000s
2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009
2010s
2010 • 2011 • 2012 2013 and beyond

The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career.
• February 11 - The film The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr premieres in New York City. The film's soundtrack album, including Badfinger's "Come and Get It", (which is written and produced by Paul McCartney), is also released on Apple Records.
• March 17 - The controversial film The Boys in the Band, directed by William Friedkin and based on Mart Crowley's hit off-Broadway play, opens in theaters.
• October 24 - Joan Crawford's final film, the low-budget horror picture Trog opens in theaters.
• The IMAX motion picture projection system premieres at the Fuji Pavilion, at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.
• In Culver City, California, MGM begins selling off its studio back lot property and movie props.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Rank	Title	Studio	Actors	Gross
1.	Love Story	Paramount	Ryan O'Neal, Ali MacGraw	$48,700,000
2.	Airport	Universal	Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset	$45,220,000
3.	MASH	20th Century Fox	Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould	$36,720,000
4.	Patton	20th Century Fox	George C. Scott, Karl Malden	$28,100,000
5.	The Aristocats*	Walt Disney Productions	Phil Harris, Eva Gabor	$26,462,000
6.	The Owl and the Pussycat	Rastar/Columbia	Barbra Streisand, George Segal	$23,681,338
7.	Woodstock	Warner Bros.	Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez	$16,400,000
8.	Little Big Man	Cinema Center	Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway	$14,500,000
9.	Ryan's Daughter	MGM	Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum	$14,661,000
10.	Tora! Tora! Tora!	20th Century Fox	Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten	$14,530,000

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Patton - 20th Century-Fox

Best Director: Franklin J. Schaffner - Patton

Best Actor: George C. Scott - Patton (declined)

Best Actress: Glenda Jackson - Women in Love

Best Supporting Actor: John Mills - Ryan's Daughter

Best Supporting Actress: Helen Hayes - Airport

Best Foreign Language Film: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto), directed by Elio Petri, Italy

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: Love Story

Best Actor: George C. Scott - Patton

Best Actress: Ali MacGraw - Love Story

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: MASH

Best Actor: Albert Finney - Scrooge

Best Actress: Carrie Snodgress - Diary of a Mad Housewife

Other

Best Director: Arthur Hiller, Love Story

Cannes Film Festival (Palme d'Or):

MASH, directed by Robert Altman, United States

Films released in 1970

U.S. unless stated

#

• 7 Plus Seven, a TV documentary directed by Michael Apted - (U.K.)

A

• The Adventurers, starring Candice Bergen, Bekim Fehmiu, Olivia de Havilland, Ernest Borgnine
• Airport - directed by George Seaton, starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, Van Heflin, Helen Hayes
• And Soon the Darkness - (U.K.)
• Anna and Eve (Ann och Eve - de erotiska) - (Sweden/Yugoslavia)
• The Aristocats - an animated Disney film
• Awakening of the Beast - (Brazil)

B

• The Ballad of Cable Hogue, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Jason Robards and Stella Stevens
• Bed and Board (Domicile Conjugal), directed by François Truffaut, starring Jean-Pierre Leaud - (France)
• The Beloved - (U.K.)
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes, starring James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, directed by Russ Meyer, starring Dolly Read
• The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo), directed by Dario Argento - (Italy)
• Bloody Mama, directed by Roger Corman, starring Shelley Winters
• The Boatniks
• The Body, a documentary narrated by Frank Finlay and Vanessa Redgrave - (U.K.)
• Borsalino, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon - (France)
• The Boys in the Band
• The Breach directed by Claude Chabrol - (France/Italy/Belgium)
• Brewster McCloud - directed by Robert Altman, starring Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, Shelley Duvall
• The Butcher (Le Boucher) - directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Stephane Audran and Jean Yanne - (France)

C

• Cannon for Cordoba, starring George Peppard
• Carry On Up the Jungle, starring Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Frankie Howerd - (U.K.)
• Catch-22 - directed by Mike Nichols, starring Alan Arkin, Jon Voight, Richard Benjamin, Bob Newhart, Charles Grodin, Orson Welles, Art Garfunkel
• Le Cercle rouge (The Red Circle) - directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Alain Delon, Bourvil, Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volonté - (France)
• Chariots of the Gods, documentary - (West Germany)
• The Cheyenne Social Club, directed by Gene Kelly, starring James Stewart and Henry Fonda
• Chisum, starring John Wayne
• Claire's Knee - directed by Éric Rohmer - (France)
• Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
• Colossus: The Forbin Project, starring Eric Braeden and Susan Clark
• The Confession (L'Aveu), directed by Costa-Gavras, starring Yves Montand and Simone Signoret - (France/Italy)
• The Conformist - directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli - (Italy/France)
• Connecting Rooms - (U.K.)
• Cotton Comes to Harlem, starring Godfrey Cambridge
• Crime and Punishment (Prestuplenie i nakazanie) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Crimes of the Future, directed by David Cronenberg - (Canada)
• Cromwell - directed by Ken Hughes, starring Richard Harris and Alec Guinness - (U.K.)

D

• Darker than Amber
• Darling Lili - directed by Blake Edwards, starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson
• Days and Nights in the Forest (Aranyer Din Ratri), directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• Deep End - directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, starring Jane Asher - (U.K./West Germany)
• Diary of a Mad Housewife - directed by Frank Perry, starring Carrie Snodgress (Golden Globe winner), Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella
• Dodesukaden, directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)

E

• Equinox

F

• Figures in a Landscape - (U.K.)
• Five Easy Pieces - directed by Bob Rafelson, starring Jack Nicholson and Karen Black
• Fragment of Fear, starring David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt - (U.K.)

G

• Gamera vs. Jiger - (Japan)
• The Games - directed by Michael Winner, starring Michael Crawford, Ryan O'Neal, Charles Aznavour - (U.K.)
• The Garden of the Finzi-Continis - directed by Vittorio de Sica - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1971 and Golden Bear winner - (Italy)
• The Go-Between, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Julie Christie, Edward Fox, Alan Bates - (U.K.)
• Goin' Down the Road - (Canada)
• The Great White Hope starring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander

H

• Hercules in New York
• Hey, Cinderella!
• Horton Hears a Who!, TV animated film
• Husbands, directed by and starring John Cassavetes with Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk

I

• I Never Sang for My Father, starring Gene Hackman and Melvyn Douglas
• Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion - directed by Elio Petri, starring Gian Maria Volonté - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1970 - (Italy)

J

• Joe - directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Peter Boyle
• Julius Caesar - directed by Stuart Burge, starring Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud - (U.K.)

K

• Kati Patang - (India)
• Kazoku - (Japan)
• Kelly's Heroes - starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Carroll O'Connor, Donald Sutherland, Don Rickles

L

• The Landlord - directed by Hal Ashby, starring Beau Bridges and Lee Grant
• Landscape After Battle (Krajobraz po bitwie), directed by Andrzej Wajda - (Poland)
• Leo the Last - directed by John Boorman, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Billie Whitelaw - (U.K.)
• Let It Be - documentary film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and featuring The Beatles - (U.K.)
• The Liberation of L.B. Jones, starring Roscoe Lee Browne, Anthony Zerbe, Lee J. Cobb, Lola Falana
• Little Big Man - directed by Arthur Penn, starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George
• Little Fauss and Big Halsy, starring Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard
• The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir, a TV film - (France/Italy/West Germany)
• Loot - directed by Silvio Narizzano, starring Richard Attenborough, Lee Remick, Hywel Bennett - (U.K.)
• Love Story - directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal - winner of 5 Golden Globes including best picture and best director
• Lovers and Other Strangers, starring Cloris Leachman, Beatrice Arthur, Richard Castellano, Diane Keaton
• Loving, starring George Segal and Eva Marie Saint

M

• Maidstone, written, directed by and starring Norman Mailer
• A Man Called Horse, starring Richard Harris
• MASH - directed by Robert Altman, starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Robert Duvall, Michael Murphy, Sally Kellerman
• Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul) - (Romania)
• The Molly Maguires, directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris
• Los Monstruos del Terror, starring Michael Rennie and Paul Naschy - (Spain/West Germany/Italy)
• Monte Walsh, starring Lee Marvin
• Move, starring Paula Prentiss and Elliott Gould
• The Music Lovers - directed by Ken Russell, starring Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson - (U.K.)
• Myra Breckinridge, starring Raquel Welch, Mae West, John Huston, Farrah Fawcett

N

• Ned Kelly, starring Mick Jagger - (U.K.)
• Never Give an Inch (aka Sometimes a Great Notion), directed by and starring Paul Newman with Henry Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Lee Remick
• Norwood, starring Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Joe Namath

O

• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, starring Tom Courtenay - (U.K./Norway)
• One More Time, directed by Jerry Lewis, starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford
• On a Clear Day You Can See Forever - directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand with songs by Alan Jay Lerner
• One Song a Day Takes Mischief Away (Tko pjeva zlo ne misli) - (Yugoslavia)
• The Out-of-Towners - directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis
• The Owl and the Pussycat - directed by Herbert Ross, starring Barbra Streisand and George Segal

P

• The Past-Master - (Bulgaria)
• Patton - directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring George C. Scott - winner of 7 Academy Awards for 1971 including best picture, director and actor
• Performance (released this year), directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, starring James Fox and Mick Jagger - (U.K.)
• The Phantom Tollbooth
• The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - directed by Billy Wilder, starring Robert Stephens, Genevieve Page, Colin Blakely - (U.K.)
• Puzzle of a Downfall Child, starring Faye Dunaway

Q

• Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx, starring Gene Wilder and Margot Kidder

R

• The Railway Children, directed by Lionel Jeffries, starring Jenny Agutter - (U.K.)
• The Revolutionary, starring Jon Voight
• Rio Lobo - directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne
• The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, starring Peter Cook, Denholm Elliott, Arthur Lowe - (U.K.)
• Ryan's Daughter - directed by David Lean, starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, John Mills (Oscar winner) - (U.K.)

S

• Scrooge - directed by Ronald Neame, with Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Edith Evans - (U.K.)
• Soldier Blue - starring Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss
• Something for Everyone - directed by Harold Prince and starring Angela Lansbury and Michael York
• Space Amoeba - (Japan)
• Spring and Port Wine, starring James Mason and Susan George - (U.K.)
• The Strawberry Statement, starring Bruce Davison, Kim Darby, Bud Cort
• Street Scenes, directed by Martin Scorsese (documentary)

T

• Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy - (China)
• Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon - directed by Otto Preminger, starring Liza Minnelli
• There's a Girl in My Soup, starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn - (U.K.)
• There Was a Crooked Man..., starring Kirk Douglas
• They Call Me Trinity
• The Things of Life (Les choses de la vie) - (France)
• Three Sisters (Messina film) - (U.K.)
• Three Sisters (Olivier film) - (U.K.)
• ...tick...tick...tick...
• Too Late the Hero - directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Michael Caine, Cliff Robertson, Henry Fonda
• Tora! Tora! Tora! - co-directed by Richard Fleischer and Kinji Fukasaku, starring Martin Balsam and Takahiro Tamura - (U.S./Japan)
• Tristana, directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero - (Spain/France/Italy)
• The Twelve Chairs, directed by Mel Brooks, starring Frank Langella and Dom DeLuise
• Two Mules for Sister Sara - directed by Don Siegel, starring Shirley MacLaine and Clint Eastwood

V

• The Vampire Lovers - (U.K.)

W

• A Walk in the Spring Rain
• Waterloo - directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, starring Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles - (U.S.S.R./Italy)
• Which Way to the Front? - directed by and starring Jerry Lewis
• Whale - (Bulgaria)
• White Sun of the Desert (Beloye solntse pustyni) - (U.S.S.R.) international release
• The Wild Child (L'Enfant sauvage), directed by François Truffaut - (France)
• Woodstock - musical documentary featuring Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Santana, Jefferson Airplane and others

Z

• Zabriskie Point - directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Short film series

• The Ant and the Aardvark (1969–71)
• Roland and Rattfink (1968–71)
• Tijuana Toads (1969–72)
• Woody Woodpecker (1941–49, 1951–72)
• Chilly Willy (1955–72)
• The Beary Family (1962–72)

Births

• January 29 - Heather Graham, actress
• February 24 - Jonathan Ward, actor
• March 7 - Rachel Weisz, actress
• March 18 - Queen Latifah, actress, rapper
• March 28 - Vince Vaughn, actor
• April 29 - Uma Thurman, actress
• May 9 - Helen Hill, animator
• May 17 - Jordan Knight, singer
• May 18 - Tina Fey - comedian
• May 22 - Naomi Campbell, model, actress
• May 26 - John Hamburg, writer and director
• May 27 - Joseph Fiennes, actor
• May 28 - Glenn Quinn, actor (d. 2002)
• June 26 - Chris O'Donnell, actor
• August 5 - James Gunn, film director, producer, writer
• August 6 - M. Night Shyamalan, film director, writer, producer, actor
• August 15 - Maddie Corman, actress
• August 18 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor
• August 23 - Jay Mohr, actor, comedian
• August 23 - River Phoenix, actor (died 1993)
• August 31 - Debbie Gibson, singer
• September 29 - Emily Lloyd, English actress
• October 2 - Kelly Ripa, actress, television host
• October 8 - Matt Damon, actor
• October 12 - Kirk Cameron, actor
• November 6 - Ethan Hawke, actor
• December 12 - Jennifer Connelly, actress

Deaths

• January 23 - Nell Shipman, actress, writer, producer
• January 25 - Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese film director and special effects designer
• February 24 - Conrad Nagel, American actor
• March 23 - Del Lord, pioneer Hollywood director
• April 11 - Cathy O'Donnell, actress
• April 25 - Anita Louise, actress
• April 26 - Gypsy Rose Lee, burlesque performer, actress, author
• April 28 - Ed Begley, American actor
• April 30 - Inger Stevens, actress
• May 14 - Billie Burke, American actress
• July 6 - Marjorie Rambeau, actress
• July 14 - Preston Foster, actor
• July 22 - Fritz Kortner, German director
• August 1 - Frances Farmer, American actress
• September 18 - Jimi Hendrix, Guitarist
• September 29 - Edward Everett Horton, actor
• October 4 - Janis Joplin, singer
• October 10 - Grethe Weiser, actress
• October 17 - Vola Vale, actress
• December 23 - Charles Ruggles, actor
• December 30 - Lenore Ulric, actress

Film Debuts

• Linda Blair
• Robert Downey, Jr.
• Shelley Duvall
• Tommy Lee Jones
• Diane Keaton
• Frank Langella
• Anne Meara
• Stephen Rea
• Susan Sarandon
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Tom Selleck
• Paul Sorvino
• Sylvester Stallone