20 Box Office Hits You Won’t Believe are 50 Years Old

Whether a movie is old enough to be considered a classic is debatable. However, every year people celebrate the aging film industry, allowing them to look back fondly on the movies of the past and see how far the industry has come in film production techniques. It might be surprising to find out that there were over 100 movie releases in 1974, 50 years ago. Many recognizable movies turn 50 years old in 2024. Here are the top 20 highest-rated and most popular movies that are turning 50 years old this year.

To populate this list, we started by looking through IMDB’s database for movies that were released in 1974, making them 50 years old this year. Then, we sorted by the popularity category to determine which movies were most popular both in the year they were released but also in the modern day. While many of these movies did not receive the highest user rating, they did receive the best metascores, which is more reliable as a rating as user ratings for smaller movies can be skewed due to the lower number of ratings.

A dark comedy and thriller released in 1974, "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" follows four seemingly unrelated men as they board a New York subway car. Two of the men are heavily armed and the group hijacks the subway car. They set the back of the train free by releasing the train cars from the front car. Then, they demand $1 million to be paid within one hour or they will start shooting the hostages dead, including the train's conductor.

The snarky transit police lieutenant, Zach Garber, acts as the primary contact between the hijackers and the rescue team. However, unbeknownst to him, there is a plain-clothes police officer on­board the train, trying to figure out the mystery behind the hijacking. After all, the train's controls require a living person to operate them or they won't run, meaning if the hijackers kill all the hostages, including the conductor, they can't leave the tunnel the train is stopped in.

It might be surprising to find out that this classic James Bond blockbuster is turning 50 years old this year. That's right, the movie was released in 1974, 50 years ago. In this daring adventure, international super spy James Bond is the target of the world's most expensive and respected assassin, Fransisco Scaramanga. When Scaramanga becomes related to the death of a scientist working on secret solar cell technology.

The technology is stolen and set to be sold to the highest bidder and James Bond gets involved to rescue the information from falling into the wrong clutches. As he tracks down the location of the technology, he becomes more interwoven with Scaramanga and learns how skilled he is, trying to turn the information he gains about the assassin into a battlefield advantage as they move toward a final confrontation.

While not as popular with the general public as some of the other options on this list, the rockumentary “Paul McCartney and the Wings — One Hand Clapping” is one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the era. The movie followed the members of the Wings as they worked in the studio and played live, with overlayed audio commentary about the experiences they've had as professional musicians. Many songs were featured in the film, both live and studio versions, including, but not limited to, “Let Die,” “Maybe I'm Amazed,” and “Jet and Live.”

The movie “A Woman Under the Influence” is a dramatic romance film about a blue collar man named Peter Falk and his wife. His wife is struggling with her mental health and her instability is becoming increasingly tenuous for their marriage. However, when her issues begin to affect the well-being of their children, Peter has no choice but to have his wife committed to a hospital to get the help she so desperately needs. The movie follows their story of sacrifice, compromise, and healing as Peter and his wife navigate the process of recovery while balancing their existing lives.

In an attempt to enjoy their break, a group of sorority sisters make fun plans for a Christmas break vacation. As their break and vacation begin, they start receiving strange, anonymous phone calls that leave them feeling frightened and on edge. When one girl disappears, the drama surrounding the mysterious phone calls starts to come to a head. The police are little help to their situation, virtually ignoring the disappearance of their friend and leaving them high and dry.

However, a 13-year-old girl is found dead in the park and the police finally take notice of the issues at the sorority house. The cops wiretap the house to try and find the source of the phone calls, but the girls fear they might be too late to save them.

This movie might not be for everyone as it's made up of several layers of satire and irony, documenting race relations in the United States at the time. The film features live-action sequences documenting a prison break, interspersed with animated scenes detailing the adventures of Brother Bear, Brother Rabbit, and Preacher Fox. Brother Rabbit, a country-born trickster, takes over an organized crime gang in Harlem. The movie then follows his story as he deals with institutionalized racism from both the mafia which he now is a part of and the corrupt police forces trying to "bring him to justice."

The movie "Death Wish" is another one that might controversial with some modern viewers. It’s a product of its time and perhaps didn’t age as well politically as something more light-hearted. The film’s main character, Paul Kersey, is an open-minded and empathetic liberal architect who returns from a vacation with his wife. Back in New York City, a cynical coworker warns Paul of the rising crime rates in NYC. However, Paul doesn’t heed his warnings. Paul’s life does not remain unaffected by the rising levels of criminal behavior in the area, and his wife is murdered and his daughter raped in their New York City apartment. Feeling for Paul’s situation, his boss sends him on an assignment to Arizona to get him away from the situation for a little while. When he returns, Paul has a much more complex view on crime and criminals.

Paul Crewe used to be a football player until he was caught shaving points to gamble on games that he played. After being ousted from the football scene, a series of bad decisions lead to Paul being arrested and convicted. In prison, Crewe finds out that the warden has his eye on him to coach the jail's semi-pro football team. Crewe initially refuses, but soon finds himself at the bottom of the prison workforce in retaliation. The warden then changes tactics and allows Crewe to establish an inmate team to play against the prison guards. However, Crewe finds himself worrying about the mental health of his team and their self-esteem as they train to take on the prison guards.

When architect Doug Roberts returns from a vacation, he finds that work on a new skyscraper is almost complete. Upon visiting the building, Roberts finds some wiring that he believes to be constructed incorrectly, expressing concern about the fact that the building keeps developing short circuits. At the opening party of the skyscraper, a fire breaks out from the faulty wiring and quickly spreads through the massive building. The fire chief dispatches forces to fight the fire and perform daring rescues on the people trapped inside. However, they quickly find that the building and fire are too large to effectively solve the problem from the ground.

Swan, a diabolical record tycoon, has already sold his soul to the devil for unending youth and success 20 years ago. His current scheme is to steal the music from the composer, Winslow Leach, to celebrate the opening of his new rock palace, the Paradise. While trying to stop Swan from stealing his music, Leach is framed and convicted for dealing drugs. Then, he's the victim of a freak accident that leaves him disfigured. He hides his mangled face behind an eerie mask and begins to plan a gruesome revenge against Swan for his transgressions. However, despite his reservations, Leach ends up signing a contract with Swan to complete Swan's rock opera, which is based on the legend of Faust.

The film “Arabian Nights” is based on ancient, erotic fantasy stories from Mid-West Asia. The primary focus of the movie follows a young man who falls in love with a slave who chose him to be her master. A foolish error on his part causes them to be separated and the young man travels in search of his lost love. During his travels, the man meets several other travelers who regale their tragic stories of love and loss, including a young man who became obsessed with a woman on his wedding day and a man determined to free a young girl from the influence of a demon.

Through sheer willpower, a Brutal named Zed manages to make it to the Vortex without dying. The other Eternals—who make decisions through pure democracy—vote to keep Zed alive to study him before they kill him. As the Eternals interact with Zed, they discover that his appearance in the Vortex might not be a mistake and that it might cause their society to be exposed for what it truly is.

The year is 1935 and the first class compartment of the Orient Express from Istanbul is full, despite usually being quite sparsely seated in December. However, Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, needs to get back to London post-haste and manages to secure travel on the Orient Express to get there. Other passengers express reservations about Poirot's presence on the train, exacerbated by the fact that a passenger who asked Poirot to protect him due to receiving death threats is found murdered in his stateroom. Poirot takes on the case as a favor to his friend who helped him secure the ticket on the Orient Express. The train is stopped due to snow in Yugoslavia and Poirot's friend doesn't want to get the Yugoslav police force involved in the case and further delay the train.

This movie follows the story of a reporter, Joe Frady, who often finds himself defending his work to his colleagues. After a prominent senator is assassinated, Frady notices that the reporters who were present at the assassination have started mysteriously passing away. Frady gets more involved in the case and quickly discovers that the assassination and subsequent deaths are part of a wider conspiracy with the mysterious training company, the Parallax Corporation. He enrolls himself in the training program with the Parallax Corporation to investigate the company and uncover the truth behind the murders and conspiracy.

The story follows Harry Caul, a devout Catholic and lover of jazz music who enjoys listening to jazz records and playing his saxophone. Caul is also a surveillance expert who operates his own electronic surveillance company in San Fransisco. He's a renowned expert, hailed as one of the best in the area—known for designing and constructing his own surveillance equipment. Perhaps as a byproduct of his field expertise, Caul is a deeply private man who never lets anyone into his apartment and always conducts telephone communication with business clients from payphones, which bothers his business associate, Stan, making him feel left out of their dealings.

Their latest job involves recording a discussion between a young couple in the crowded and noisy Union Square, putting their skills and knowledge to the test in the most rigorous way possible. Based on what hears on the recording, Caul concludes that the lives of the young couple are in danger. After an incident with a previous recording that resulted in three deaths, Caul is more vigilant about his clientele and their motives.

Set in the year 1937, a Los Angeles-based private investigator, Jake 'J.J.' Gittes is a specialist in cases of cheating spouses. He's currently following Hollis Mulwray, an engineer whose wife believes he may be unfaithful. Gittes witnesses some typical business dealings between Mulwray and some partners on a dam construction project but eventually meets up with a young woman who isn't his wife. When news of Mulwray's affair with the young woman hits the press, Gittes starts to get the feeling that he doesn't have all the information he needs. He feels that Mulwray's wife, Evelyn, isn't being forthcoming about the situation and starts to dig deeper into the situation, uncovering secrets about the Mulwrays' professional and personal lives as he does.

When Sally finds out that the graveyard where her grandfather is buried has been vandalized, she recruits some friends to go and investigate the incident. En route to the location, they get into some antics, picking up (and dropping off) a suspicious hitchhiker, eating home-cured meat from a gas station, and driving past a slaughterhouse.

Upon getting to the family home, the group is thrust into a never-ending nightmare as they encounter a group of cannibals who hunt their visitors with power tools. The movie was said to be based on the real-life story of Ed Gein. However, modern evidence from the case indicates that the movie contains a lot of fantastical inaccuracies that were propagated during the peak of interest in the case.

As the grandson of the famous Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who performed experiments on reviving dead bodies, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein tries to disassociate himself from the image his grandfather created, instead working as a researcher and physician. He goes as far as to pronounce his surname differently to quell the connection between himself and his grandfather's legacy.

Despite his hesitance, Frederick is drawn to the town where his grandfather famously performed his experiments in Transylvania. He ends up immersed in the research his grandfather was doing and begins trying to recreate his experiments and further his research with the help of Igor and Inga. When the authorities find out, they set out to stop the research by any means necessary, leading to Frederick operating with increasing secrecy as he tries to hide his work from prying eyes.

Portraying the continuing saga of the Corleone family, The Godfather Part II tells several stories, including the early life of Vito Corleone as he grows up in Sicily and 1910s New York. It also portrays a modern (at the time) story of the Corleone family as they assume control of the mafia ecosystem in New York following the deaths of many other mafia family heads in the area. Finally, it follows the story of Michael Corleone in the 1950s as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas and Cuba while dealing with his failing marriage and degrading relationship with his brother.

Set in the town of Rock Ridge in 1874, a corrupt politician, Hedley Lamarr, is determined to run a railroad through the town, which would displace the residents. So, he hatches a plan to make the town unlivable for the residents by appointing the first black sheriff, an unassuming man named Bart, to the town. Lamarr hopes that the appointment of a black sheriff will cause disorder in the town and result in a hasty exodus of the residents, allowing him to steal their land without compensating them.

However, there’s no such thing as a foolproof plan and Bart assumes the position with the Waco kid, a gunslinger, as his deputy and right-hand man. He takes the job seriously, earning the respect of the townspeople and helping them make a stand against Lamarr’s money-making scheme.