Best Movies of 1972
The 40 highest rated movies released in 1972, ranked by viewer ratings on TMDB. Only titles with enough votes to count are included, so one-off five-star ratings can't skew the list.
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1
The Godfather (1972)
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take…
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2
Cries and Whispers (1972)
As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.
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3
Solaris (1972)
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which…
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4
Sleuth (1972)
A man who loves games and theatre invites his wife's lover to meet, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.
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5
The Adventures of Pinocchio (1972)
Mastro Geppetto is a poor carpenter with no wife and no children. The man is very lonely, and after trading a piece of wood with his colleague Mastro Ciliegia, decides to build himself a puppet to keep him company.
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6
Caliber 9 (1972)
Just out of prison, ex-con Ugo Piazza meets his former employer, a psychopathic gangster Rocco who enjoys sick violence and torture. Both the gangsters and the police believe Ugo has hidden $300,000 that should have gone to an American drug…
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7
Play It Again, Sam (1972)
A neurotic film critic obsessed with the movie Casablanca attempts to get over his wife leaving him by dating again with the help of a married couple and his illusory idol, Humphrey Bogart.
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8
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
An upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined.
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9
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise,…
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10
Cabaret (1972)
Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.
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11
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.
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12
The Way of the Dragon (1972)
After a Chinese restaurant in Rome is threatened by the mafia, who will stop at nothing to acquire the property, the owner recruits a family friend in Hong Kong, kung fu expert Tang Lung, to help them defend their business.
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13
What's Up, Doc? (1972)
The accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations.
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14
Deliverance (1972)
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
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15
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
While slowly adapting to the grueling life of a mountain man in the Rocky Mountains, Jeremiah Johnson encounters the Crow and Flathead tribes as well as hunters, trappers and settlers, all of whom call these mountains home.
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16
Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)
A reporter and a promiscuous young woman try to solve a series of child killings in a remote southern Italian town rife with superstition and a distrust of outsiders.
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17
Roma (1972)
A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens.
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18
Fist of Fury (1972)
During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, Chen Zhen, the star pupil of a recently-deceased martial arts teacher battles a Japanese dojo which seeks the demise of his fighting school.
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19
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape.
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20
The Getaway (1972)
A recently released ex-convict and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes wrong.
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21
Frenzy (1972)
London is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police of being the killer. He goes on the run, determined to prove…
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22
The Cowboys (1972)
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job…
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23
The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972)
A hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.
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24
Avanti! (1972)
A successful businessman travels to Italy to arrange for the return of his tycoon father's body, only to learn that dear old dad died with his longtime mistress.
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25
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.
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26
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
When a tourist group become lost within ancient catacombs, they meet the sinister Crypt Keeper, who tells them each their fate. The enigmatic figure's macabre stories involve a wife dabbling in murder, a retired sanitation worker targeted…
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27
All the Way Boys (1972)
The "Trinity" crew makes another modern era film. Plata and Salud are pilots ditching aircraft for insurance money. They wind up crashing for real in the jungles of South America. The plot involves "Mr. Big", who is buying the diamonds from…
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28
The Mechanic (1972)
Arthur Bishop is a veteran hit man who, owing to his penchant for making his targets' deaths seem like accidents, thinks himself an artist. It's made him very rich, but as he hits middle age, he's so depressed and lonely that he takes on…
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29
Un Flic (1972)
A Parisian police chief has an affair, but unbeknownst to him, the boyfriend of the woman he’s having an affair with is a bank robber planning a heist.
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30
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
A collection of seven vignettes, which each address a question concerning human sexuality. From aphrodisiacs to sexual perversion to the mystery of the male orgasm, characters like a court jester, a doctor, a queen and a journalist…
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31
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of the Second World War, finds himself mysteriously detached from time, so that he is able to travel, without being able to help it, from the days of his childhood to those of his peculiar life on a distant planet…
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32
Joe Kidd (1972)
A band of Mexicans find their U. S. land claims denied and all the records destroyed in a courthouse fire. Their leader, Louis Chama, encourages them to use force to regain their land. A wealthy landowner wanting the same decides to hire a…
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33
Silent Running (1972)
After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a…
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34
Horror Express (1972)
Mysterious and unearthly deaths start to occur while Professor Saxton is transporting the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature he found in Manchuria back to Europe.
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35
Return (1972)
The main character of the film is an outstanding physicist who was invited to Armenia from Russia to head a lab. He comes across many troubles in his homeland, but nevertheless finds his true love there.
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36
Fritz the Cat (1972)
In late 1960s New York City, fed up with monotonous college life and police repression, free-spirited Fritz, an impenitent seducer and unrestrained party-animal, decides to explore the world. And just like that, as he flees NYC, heading to…
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37
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, a chimpanzee named Caesar resurfaces after almost twenty years of hiding from the authorities, and prepares for a revolt against humanity.
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38
Pink Flamingos (1972)
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
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39
The Last House on the Left (1972)
On the eve of her 17th birthday, Mari and her friend Phyllis set off from the family home to attend a rock concert in the city. Attempting to score some drugs along the way, the pair run afoul of a group of vicious crooks, headed up by the…
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40
Boxcar Bertha (1972)
"Boxcar" Bertha Thompson, a transient woman in Arkansas during the violence-filled Depression of the early '30s, meets up with rabble-rousing union man "Big" Bill Shelly and the two team up to fight the corrupt railroad establishment.