Which films are turning 50 in 2024?

Mel Brooks was the king of the spoof in the 1970s. This riff on the Western was co-written by Richard Pryor, though Cleavon Little ended up starring alongside Gene Wilder. “Blazing Saddles” is often discussed as a “film that couldn’t be made today,” an area of conversation we have no interest in indulging. It’s a silly, take-no-prisoners comedy that many still consider an all-time great.

The first Godzilla film made by Toho was a somewhat somber meditation on atomic weaponry. Then, Godzilla films became about him fighting other monsters. These kaiju films usually look a little shabby, but can be fun. “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla” is one of the best of the bunch. Godzilla fights a robot version of himself. What more could you want?

“The Sugarland Express” is fine. Goldie Hawn is in it. However, among films released in 1974 it is one of the most significant. The reason is simple, and it comes down to the director. This is Steven Spielberg’s first theatrical film, starting a glorious, iconic career.

The '70s teemed with movies about paranoia. “The Conversation” feels almost quaint, mostly due to the technology being used. Gene Hackman plays a man whose job is to spy on people and record their conversations, with equipment of the time that makes it a trickier occupation. However, Hackman’s character, a deeply paranoid man at his best, feels he may have uncovered something sinister. John Cazale co-stars in Francis Ford Coppola’s movie, so you know it was nominated for Best Picture.

Speaking of ‘70s paranoia! “The Parallax View” is the least of Alan J. Pakula’s “Paranoia Trilogy.” That’s not a condemnation, though, as it is up against “Klute” and “All the President’s Men,” two high-quality films. This one, which stars Warren Beatty, is quite good, and definitely worth watching to finish out the trilogy.

Yes, the director of “Chinatown” is not a figure anybody wants to talk about, but there is a reason why the movie is considered an all-time classic of the noir genre by many. It’s a sordid, nasty tale, but the movie is so well acted, led by Jack Nicholson in one of his breakthrough roles. The next year, Nicholson would win Best Actor for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Robert Altman made two movies in 1974, because the dude liked to stay busy. Of the two, “California Split” is definitely the better, and it’s one of his five best films. George Segal and Elliott Gould star together in this unsparing depiction of degenerate gambling, one that is neither condemning nor supporting. From what we’ve heard, it’s a subject that Altman had firsthand experience with.

Paul Mazursky was a good director, and “Harry and Tonto” is a perfectly fine film. It is destined to forever be remembered for another reason. Art Carney won Best Actor for his turn in the movie. The other nominees? Albert Finney, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino.

Burt Reynolds’ charisma was central to “The Longest Yard,” the foremost sports movie of 1974. He plays Paul Crewe, a former professional quarterback, who whips a team of his fellow convicts into shape to play a game of football against the prison guards. Of course, the guards have no interest in losing, no matter what it takes. “The Longest Yard” was later remade starring Adam Sandler.

Simply put, one of the most important horror movies ever made. It’s skeezy, it’s nasty, and it presaged the “found footage” era of horror films in some ways. Also, let’s be honest. “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is an amazing title for a horror movie, and the tagline “Who will survive and what will be left of them?” is a top-10 tagline of any genre.

One of the top crime thrillers of the 1970s, “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” is one of those clockwork stories that keep humming and rarely missteps. It’s the kind of ‘70s film where Walter Matthau is the lead and ostensible hero. He’s just a guy who works for the New York City transit police and then he finds himself dealing with robbers who have taken a train car, and its passengers, hostage.

“Black Christmas” comes up fairly often around these parts, so we’ll hit the highlights. The film predates “Halloween” when it comes to establishing the slasher genre in the United States (though it was produced in Canada). Also, it was directed by Bob Clark, who also directed “Porky’s” and “A Christmas Story” and has a bonkers filmography. If you care about horror, and specifically slashers, it’s a must see.

It feels like “Carrie” and “Phantom of the Paradise” should be flip flopped in Brian De Palma’s filmography. Wouldn’t it make sense if he directed the popular, critically-acclaimed Stephen King adaptation and then cashed that check to make this utterly bizarre musical horror comedy? Instead, De Palma made this swing and then kind of ended up directing “Carrie” to avoid a lengthy stint in movie jail. “Phantom of the Paradise” is now considered a cult classic by many.

Before Kenneth Branagh made donning Hercule Poirot’s mustache the center of his career, Agatha Christie adaptations already existed. Sidney Lumet’s take on “Murder on the Orient Express” is, if nothing else, the most successful critically. It has an incredible cast — key to a Christie adaptation — and Ingrid Bergman won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars.

It wasn’t Martin Scorsese’s first film, or even his first major movie. That would be 1973’s “Mean Streets,” which is a classic Scorsese film, built upon crime, gangsters, and Catholic guilt. What “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” did, though, was show that Scorsese was no one-trick pony. It’s a dramedy about a widowed mother of one who returns to her hometown to rebuild her life. Ellen Burstyn won Best Actress, and the film was adapted into the TV show “Alice.”

“F for Fake” was the last hurrah of Orson Welles as an interesting figure in culture. He still had the cache to take a big swing, and subtly this film — which Welles starred in, directed, and co-wrote — proved to be that. Something of a film essay in the style of Spalding Gray, but more dynamic, it turns itself on its head when Welles takes it from ostensibly a documentary about an art forger into something more.

Ahh, the all-star disaster film. They don’t make movies like this anymore, to use a well-worn phrase. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman shared the lead in this film about a new skyscraper that bursts into flame, trapping many people inside. The disaster film is about action, melodrama, and the triumph of the human spirit. “The Towering Inferno” is perhaps the finest version of that.

That’s right. Mel Brooks had two iconic comedies come out the same year. However, “Young Frankenstein” was as much a passion project for Gene Wilder, the star, as Brooks. In fact, Wilder only agreed to be in the film if Brooks didn’t play a role, or even cameo. He didn’t want it to be as silly as, say, “Blazing Saddles.” Two classic comedies, two different vibes.

Think Brooks had an impressive 1974? Francis Ford Coppola had “The Conversation” and “The Godfather Part II.” He beat himself for Best Picture with this sequel to “The Godfather,” which of course also won Best Picture. Coppola was on top of the world. Then he made “Apocalypse Now” and nearly died in the process. That’s ‘70s filmmaking at its finest!

Just in time for Christmas, the newest James Bond movie dropped. Roger Moore was in the role at the time, and thus “The Man with the Golden Gun” is on the sillier side. No, not as silly as “Moonraker,” but silly nevertheless. Bond finds himself on the private island of a high-priced hitman who likes to play lethal cat-and-mouse games in a weird funhouse. Hey, at least his gun is gold.