10 High Impact: 70s Cinema

This 1975 documentary, following the reclusive Beales (mother and daughter), living in genteel squalor, this film, aside from being a cultural touchstone for a diverse range of artists, raises uncomfortable, relevant questions about ethics in documentary-making - castigated in the press on release for presenting its subjects as ‘a pair of grotesques’, with undeniable effects on the Beales’ later lives.

For those spoiler-averse: it suffices to say The Wicker Man remains a classic of the horror canon for its shock ending, but is also notable for its cult following. It's inspired a risible remake, numerous heavy-metal bands and one Burning Man festival. It also features two of horror's titans in memorable roles, Edward Woodward and the ever-imposing Christopher Lee.

Look out for a new official companion to the film, with behind the scenes artwork and never before published interviews with cast and crew.

Much loved for an open-hearted, charming turn from Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, this all-star picture, released in 1978, shines among the best comic-book adaptations of all time. The most expensive film ever made at the time, while its effects might not pass muster to modern audiences raised on CGI, Superman retains a timeless, nostalgic quality. Best of all, it brings an attribute all-too rare in contemporary comic adaptations: humour.

A confident directorial debut from Peter Weir, this influential classic of Australian New Wave cinema creates a languid, dreamlike atmosphere, where mood takes precedence over plot. It's replete with beautiful images, innocence lost and the horror of that unseen and unexpressed. With thematic similarities to The Beguiled, it brings a uniquely Australian sensibility, layering the central mystery with a sense of hearkening back and distancing from the motherland.

A fabulous, cynical, star-making vehicle for the talents of Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and the much imitated Bob Fosse, this adaptation of Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood still conveys a disquieting sense of impending doom. Set in Weimar-Era Germany, the loose plot follows nightclub singer Sally Bowles through a world whose seedy glitter barely masks a creeping menace.

Another Antipodean classic which I first saw at an impressionable age: director Nicholas Roeg brings a certain spare, beautiful strangeness to 'a simple story about life and being alive', open to a myriad of interpretations. Based on the novel by James Vance Marshall, but best enjoyed for lush, hallucinatory images of the Australian outback.

A triumphant crowd-pleaser that saw Sally Field transition from TV roles into movie-stardom, as the titular heroine taking on corporate malfeasance and the fight for workers' rights. Norma Rae is also the natural ancestor of fist-pumping films of plucky, earthy working-class heroines like Erin Brockovich, as well slightly less earthy fare, like An Officer and a Gentleman.

This camp, unashamedly queer and lubriciously fun rock musical skewers Hammer Horror and B-movie tropes to hilarious and undeniably weird effect. Though it lacks the riotous audience participation of live productions and late night screenings through the decades, it gains much from Tim Curry's mesmeric central performance as Frank'N'Furter and legs for days...

Spare, violent and bleakly beautiful, this film might be best viewed as a stern rebuttal to the decade's high spirited crime capers like Bonnie and Clyde. Starring an utterly convincing Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as doomed teenage lovers who embark on a killing spree, Bandlands is another auteur-led film in which plot is secondary to overarching themes or grand moments of visual sweep and scale.

Rare is the film that can leverage compelling drama and suspense from little more than scenes of two men talking, All The President's Men is rightly hailed as a passionate hymn to freedom of the press. It conveys with total conviction the fear and courage roiling in its leads as they take on the Nixon administration and uncover the far-reaching Watergate Scandal.