Entertainment news and discussion on TalkFuse.
10 Best Epic Movies of the 1970s
This Collider article, written by Jeremy Urquhart and published in July 2026, presents a ranked countdown of what it considers the ten best epic films of the 1970s. It frames the decade as a particularly strong period for cinema, crediting the New Hollywood movement alongside notable films produced outside the United States, and defines an "epic" partly by its extended running time of roughly two and a half hours or more.
The piece opens by acknowledging earlier acclaimed epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, Seven Samurai and Ben-Hur, which fall outside its 1970s remit. The available text covers only the lower end of the list: number ten is the 1977 World War II film A Bridge Too Far, praised for its all-star ensemble cast and its dramatisation of Operation Market Garden, and number nine is Patton (1970), a near-three-hour portrait of the general anchored by George C. Scott's lead performance. Both are noted for their spectacle and lengthy runtimes, with the article observing that the ranking will extend beyond war films further up the list.
In short
- Collider ranks the ten best epic films of the 1970s.
- A Bridge Too Far (1977) takes tenth place.
- Patton (1970), led by George C. Scott, ranks ninth.
Explained simply
Epic films are characterised by their grand scale and extended running time, typically lasting two and a half hours or more. The 1970s proved to be a particularly fertile period for this form of cinema, with both American and international directors willing to invest in sprawling, ambitious narratives. The era built upon earlier celebrated epics such as Lawrence of Arabia and Ben-Hur whilst establishing its own distinctive approach to large-scale storytelling.
The period saw the emergence of the American New Hollywood movement, a transformative creative force in cinema. Combined with the work of major international filmmakers, this made the 1970s a particularly significant era for epic filmmaking. Exploring which films critics consider the greatest from this decade offers insight into the distinctive filmmaking that characterised the period.