While well-crafted action movies and horror movies will always be timeless, because the excitement of a car chase or the terror of a ghostly haunting will never get old, comedy movies are more hit-and-miss because their social norms and pop culture references can quickly become outdated.
There are plenty of comedies from the 1970s that have aged horribly – 50 years of changing social attitudes will do that – but that makes the timeless gems from Monty Python, Mel Brooks, and a pre-Star Wars George Lucas stand out even more.
American Graffiti (1973)
Before taking audiences to a galaxy far, far away in 1977’s Star Wars, George Lucas helmed a much more personal project. Set in Modesto, California in 1962 – the time and place in which Lucas grew up – American Graffiti follows a sprawling ensemble of freewheeling teenagers over the course of a wild night.
While Lucas’ most memorable contribution to cinema will always be his iconic space opera, his snapshot of ‘60s cruising culture still holds up as a timeless coming-of-age comedy.
Slap Shot (1977)
Paul Newman showed off his untapped comedic abilities in Slap Shot as the player-coach of a minor league hockey team who decides to resort to fighting the other team’s players to win games. The movie saw Newman reuniting with George Roy Hill, the director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.
Although it received mixed reviews on its theatrical release, Slap Shot has been re-evaluated as a cult classic in the decades since.
M*A*S*H (1970)
It’s not easy to make a war movie funny, but the prolific Robert Altman managed it with M*A*S*H, one of the biggest box office hits of the ‘70s. By depicting the Korean War through the eyes of medical personnel, Altman could focus squarely on the effects of war as opposed to the combat itself.
The fact that a sitcom based on this movie ran for 11 seasons is a clear indicator of the timelessness of its story. Altman used the Korean War setting as a subtextual stand-in for the then-ongoing Vietnam War. Today, audiences can view M*A*S*H as an incisive satire of the absurdity of warfare in general.
Smokey And The Bandit (1977)
Burt Reynolds stars in Smokey and the Bandit as the titular “Bandit,” who uses his impressive driving skills to distract local law enforcement – led by Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a.k.a. “Smokey,” played brilliantly by Jackie Gleason – while his buddy “Snowman” (Jerry Reed, who contributed “East Bound and Down” to the soundtrack) illegally trucks a beer shipment east of the Mississippi River.
In his directorial debut, legendary stunt driver Hal Needham staged some of the most impressive car chases ever put on film – and they’re all played for laughs.
A New Leaf (1971)
Much like her comedy partner Mike Nichols, Elaine May turned out to be a master filmmaker when she stepped behind the camera to make her directorial debut, A New Leaf. Walter Matthau stars as a spoiled rich kid whose family money finally runs out in his middle age. In a desperate bid to maintain his lifestyle, he plots to marry a wealthy woman, murder her, and collect the inheritance.
May herself co-stars as the woman he plans to kill, a scatterbrained botanist, and her chemistry with Matthau – oblivious to his sinister ulterior motive – ensures that the film’s darkly humorous premise (and deeply unconventional love story) work wonders.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Paying homage to classic B-movies of the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show tells the story of a young couple whose car breaks down outside a haunted mansion in Transylvania, where they seek refuge and encounter all kinds of spooky monsters.
Rocky Horror is the cult classic to end all cult classics. To this day, fans still show up to midnight screenings dressed as Dr. Frank-N-Furter and sing along with “Time Warp,” “Dammit Janet,” and “Sweet Transvestite.”
Harold And Maude (1971)
Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude stars Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon as a 20-year-old troublemaker and his 79-year-old friend, respectively, who form an unlikely bond over a shared obsession with death and eventually fall in love.
Ashby’s movie certainly has a morbid sense of humor, but its shock value still holds up half a century later. The emotions between Harold and Maude ring true, giving the movie a surprising dramatic depth, and Cat Stevens provides a beautifully lighthearted soundtrack.
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Arguably Mel Brooks’ most celebrated spoof, Blazing Saddles lampoons the well-worn tropes of western movies with a biting critique of the genre’s whitewashing. It tells the story of a corrupt politician hiring a Black sheriff in an attempt to sabotage a town, except the sheriff proves to be so capable that he not only saves the town; he takes down the corrupt politician and his cronies, too.
“They couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today” has become something of a mantra in the changing landscape of comedy, but Brooks’ movie is a timeless masterpiece that punches up at all the right satirical targets.
Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)
The Pythons’ first feature-length effort made up of original material, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, saw the sketch troupe making the transition to the big screen in hysterical fashion. Graham Chapman stars as King Arthur in search of the titular Grail, but that narrative framework is just there to facilitate a string of classic Python non-sequiturs and absurdist gags.
On top of satirizing Arthurian legend, Monty Python and the Holy Grail points out the artifice of cinema itself with jokey opening credits, constant fourth-wall breaks, and a hilariously anticlimactic ending.