You Like Me! (Actresses of the 1970s)

You just won't give me a decent script...

Extension of some discussion on the Gene Hackman thread:

I Want My Liberace Record Back! The Gene Hackman Poll

Who were the decade's key actresses, the Pacino and Nicholson heavyweights? Or were they of a completely different magnitude through no fault of their own?

Faye Dunaway, obv

The discussion has had a strong American slant so far, but does not need to--Liv Ullmann for sure.

I had forgotten that Glenda Jackson won two Best Actress Oscars in the 70s.

I guess Helen Mirren didn't really hit her stride till the 80s.

Catherine Deneuve made like two movies a year in the 70s but I don't think I've ever heard of one of them.

In terms of box office and overall cultural impact, Pam Grier belongs in this conversation for sure.

I'll just repost what I wrote on the other thread here --

Faye Dunaway has to be in the running if we're talking about female actors in The 1970s. But that was a decade when the new era of Hollywood really pushed male actors to the extreme forefront, maybe it was the auteurism from male directors that did this but you wound up with a lotta one-sided male gaze going on. When you look at it from that point of view, it feels like a step back from what was going on in the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s.

Knowing full well of course that Hollywood was definitely not an ideal place for women in those decades either.

That does change a bit if we're talking international films, though I'm not sure how much

Diane Keaton, obvs.

Jane Fonda had a pretty busy decade

Some of the most deserved performances came out during this period: Jane Fonda in Klute, Liv Ullmann in The Emigrants and Cries and Whispers, a lot of wonderful things from Ellen Burstyn, Lee Grant, Glenda Jackson, and Cicey Tyson.

Faye Dunaway is SO much of this decade yet essentially not a part of it. Joan Crawford called her the last movie star or something, which, I guess, means the only one with Crawfordesque ambitions to become THE star. And like a '30s star the iconic performances aren't many, right?

xp Gena Rowlands as well, though nobody became a heavyweight star in a Cassavetes film

Rowlands for sure! I can't believe I forgot her (include Ullmann too).

Wanted to add Vanessa Redgrave, but it looks like she only did a handful of pictures in the 70's

The Devils (1971)
Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Julia (1977)
Agatha (1979)
Yanks (1979)

Karen Black

I've always crushed hard on Jenny Agutter, not sure whether her body of work is sufficient for this conversation.

Meiko Kaji is one of the most compelling presences in '70s cinema.

In terms of action/genre, Pam Grier is probably as obvious a #1 as Eastwood. (Sybill Danning is more '80s, right?)

One category that really interests me are the actresses--like Gould, like John Cazale--who were inseparable from the decade: Karen Black, Margot Kidder, Gwen Welles, Susan Anspach, a few others.

Delphine Seyrig had Daughters of the Darkness, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Day of the Jackal, India Song, and the one with the long title.

Charlotte Rampling?

Jennifer Warren was excellent in a few films, esp Night Moves and Slap Shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrVoJgQ7u8w

Put her at the top of that only-in-the-'70s list along with Karen Black (The Shining is technically 1980, I know).

Julie Christie, Sandy Dennis. Lee Grant is one of my faves tho she wasn't given the opportunity to do a whole lot.

Sissy Spacek

Talia Shire

Jill Clayburgh, Carol Kane

Romy Schneider! That run with Sautet is amazing, and then there's the bonkers Zulawski one.

Meiko Kaji seconded.

Cybill Shepherd for Taxi Driver, The Heartbreak Kid, and The Last Picture Show, plus one of the decade's great flops, At Long Last Love; Hanna Schygulla for numerous Fassbinder films.

In settling on the decade's upper, most iconic echelon, I think I'd go with Fonda, Dunaway, and Ullman.

Just to get all the names in here, Dominique Sanda and Mariangela Melato each had a moment in the '70s.

Lots of French actresses.

Katharine ross? She worked more in the 70’s on lesser films than she did in the late 60’s so idk if she counts

Anne Bancroft, although the 70s was not her best period.

In settling on the decade's upper, most iconic echelon, I think I'd go with Fonda, Dunaway, and Ullman.

lol, it was only a matter of seconds but I still spent way too long trying to remember the iconic '70s films of Tracy Ullman.