# Funniest Movies of the 70s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911 "2009-07-31T20:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/21 "2009-08-01T00:58:48Z")
> [@meanoldman](#): > > Phantom of the Paradise seemed particularly funny to me…though from the box office, I was clearly in the minority. No, just misplaced. You obviously should have been in [Winnipeg](http://www.phantomoftheparadise.ca/why.html). My contributions: _Car Wash_ and _The Big Bus_. And another vote for _Silver Streak_. A great cast: Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Ned Beatty, Patrick McGoohan, Ray Walston, Scatman Crothers, and Jill Clayburgh–a great mix of serious and comic actors. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/22 "2009-08-01T01:02:36Z")
A lot of my faborites have been listed already, but I’d like to add that I thought the _first_ Monty Python movie, their most underrated, was the funniest of theirs **And Now for Something Completely Different**. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/23 "2009-08-01T01:16:14Z")
Not yet mentioned: [The Rutles](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077147/) (Made for TV, but _still_) [Meatballs](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079540/) [Kelly’s Heroes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065938/) [Two Mules for Sister Sara](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065134/) Lots of comic elements. [Return of the Pink Panther](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072081/) [The Pink Panther Strikes Again](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075066/) My personal favorites from the decade would be: The Jerk Monty Python and the Holy Grail The Life of Brian Sleeper Animal House ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/24 "2009-08-01T01:25:02Z")
[Oh God!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076489/) I forgot one! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/25 "2009-08-01T01:26:10Z")
Another vote for **What’s Up Doc**. I think it aged much better than **Annie Hall** , which would have topped my list 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/26 "2009-08-01T01:31:05Z")
**Movie Movie** , with George C. Scott, Harry Hamlin and Barry Bostwick. Totally forgotten now, but a damned brilliant comedy. **La Cage aux Folles** **Starting Over** and **The End** , Burt Reynolds’ finest work. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/27 "2009-08-01T01:37:06Z")
Not mentioned yet: _American Graffiti_ and _10_. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/28 "2009-08-01T05:33:24Z")
1979 - **Used Cars** , with Kurt Russell. In another thread a year ago somebody recommended I take it with me to Iraq. Damn good call ---
**Author:** ![Stubbies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@Stubbies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stubbies)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/29 "2009-08-01T09:20:04Z")
“They Call Me Bruce” “Meatballs” “Smokey & the Bandit” 3 moderately funny ones straight off the top… ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/30 "2009-08-01T13:41:03Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > Leaving aside Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and the Pythons, everything I think of is partly funny but colored with seriousness: _Being There, Shampoo, Network, Harold & Maude, M_A_S_H, Breaking Away.\* > > There’s the probably quite dated sketch movies _Kentucky Fried Movie_ and \* Groove Tube\* – I last saw those on a drive-in double bill in 1979 or thereabouts. And there’s always _Pink Flamingos_ if you don’t mind coprophagia… That’s a big IF. If you don’t mind coprophagia, Pink Flamingos is the greatest movie ever made. It’s the Citizen Kane of coprophagia movies! 😃 Being There, Harold & Maude and the like are fine movies. But when it comes to laugh-out-loud funny, I’ll pick Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, The Jerk and Monty/Grail. Even Brooks’s lesser efforts High Anxiety & Silent Movie are just damn funny & require no thought whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/31 "2009-08-01T13:52:41Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > **Starting Over** and **The End** , Burt Reynolds’ finest work. Speaking of Burt, I’m partial to [_Hooper_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077696/). The bar-fight scene with Terry Bradshaw & friends is priceless 😃 [paraphrasing] _Burt & his three buddies stand toe to toe with Bradshaw’s gang and assess whether the imminent bar fight will be a fair one:_ “So we got four and you all got 12. Guess you’ll have go back to Houston and get some more guys!” [/paraphrasing] ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/32 "2009-08-01T15:46:13Z")
**The Heartbreak Kid** ; Albert Brooks’ **Real Life** ; John Waters’ **Female Trouble** ; **The Fortune** ; and of course many an unintentionally funny disaster movie like **The Poseidon Adventure**. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/33 "2009-08-01T21:17:15Z")
So it’s me, not the 70s. I’ve actually seen most of these movies too. I think “The Jerk” is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/34 "2009-08-02T14:50:20Z")
Doug Bowe: > [@](#): > > That was the last comedy to get the Best Picture oscar. Shakespeare in Love was a bit more recent. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/35 "2009-08-02T19:51:48Z")
I’ve always thought that [The Ruling Class](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069198/) was about the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/36 "2009-08-02T19:58:18Z")
I’ll second **The Bad News Bears** and add **The Out-of-Towners**. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/37 "2009-08-02T20:36:38Z")
There are a lot of movies that I’m sure were hilarious back then, but comedy is very temporal. I just watched Annie Hall last year, and I really liked it, but I don’t think I laughed once. The ones that can still make me laugh are: -Blazing Saddles -Holy Grail -Life of Brian -Young Frankenstein -The Jerk _Airplane!_ was 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/38 "2009-08-03T05:25:51Z")
•Young Frankenstein •Blazing Saddles •Where’s Poppa •The Inlaws (“Serpentine Shelly!”) ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/39 "2009-08-03T14:17:57Z")
> [@Stubbies](#): > > “They Call Me Bruce” > “Meatballs” > “Smokey & the Bandit” > > 3 moderately funny ones straight off the top… “They Call Me Bruce” was from 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911/40 "2009-08-04T03:02:10Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > _Airplane!_ was 1980. > [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > “They Call Me Bruce” was from 1982. I once had a History prof who asserted the 1960s did not end until 1974, with Nixon’s resignation. Maybe the 1970s lasted a little longer, too. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-movies-of-the-70s/504911.md?page=3)