Most Popular Movies 1971
This chart shows the 1971 movie releases that have attracted the most interest on The Numbers web site over the past 24 hours. A share of 100 corresponds to 1 percent of the total views for all 1971 releases.
See also: Domestic Release Schedule for 1971 - Top 1971 Worldwide
| Most Popular Overall | 1972 → |
1
| Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory |
| Director: Mel Stuart |
| Lead Roles: Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe, Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 30, 1971 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Spoiled Child, Food, Poverty, Rags to Riches, Remade, Family Musical, Novel or Other Work Adapted by Author |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Musical, Live Action, Kids Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $4,000,000 |
|
International BO: $65,345 |
2
| Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song |
| Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1971 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Black Urban, African Americans, Blaxploitation |
|
Domestic BO: $15,200,000 |
3
| Diamonds Are Forever |
| Director: Guy Hamilton |
| Initial Theatrical Release: November 26, 1971 (Wide) (Australia) |
| Keywords: Secret Agent |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Action, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $43,800,000 |
|
International BO: $72,199,985 |
4
| Big Jake |
| Director: John Wayne |
| Initial Theatrical Release: 1971 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Prologue, Voiceover/Narration, Gangs, Kidnap, Dysfunctional Family, Rescue, Revisionist Western, Family Affair, Directing Yourself |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Western, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $7,500,000 |
5
| The French Connection |
| Director: William Friedkin |
| Initial Theatrical Release: October 9, 1971 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Film Noir, Narcotics, Organized Crime, Car Chase, Hitmen, Bigotry, Epilogue, Police Procedural, Intertitle, Crime Thriller, 1972 Oscars Best Picture Nominee, Oscars Best Picture Winner |
| Classification: Based on Factual Book/Article, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $41,158,757 |
|
International BO: $2,757 |
6
-Thumbnail.jpg)
| Le chagrin et la pitié |
| Director: Marcel Ophuls |
| Initial Theatrical Release: April 14, 1971 (Limited) (France) |
| Classification: Based on Real Life Events, Documentary, Live Action, Factual |
|
Domestic BO: $13,082 |
Synopsis
From its first release at an underground theater in Paris, this account of France's occupation under Nazi regime has been acclaimed as one of the most moving and influential films ever made. Director Marcel Ophüls interviewed the residents of Clermont-Ferrand who remembered the occupation, as well as government officials, writers, farmers, artists, and German veterans. Here, in their own words, is the story of how ordinary citizens and leaders alike behaved under military siege. Originally refused by French TV, the film garnered international success and acclaim – including an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary – while shattering the myth of an undivided and universally resistant France under the Vichy government.
7
| Wake in Fright |
| Director: Ted Kotcheff |
| Lead Roles: Gary Bond as John Grant |
| Initial Theatrical Release: July 21, 1971 (Wide) (France) |
| Keywords: Life in a Small Town, Addiction, Gambling, Hicksploitation, Black Out Drunk |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $49,458 |
|
International BO: $65 |
Synopsis
John Grant is a bonded teacher who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundanyabba, planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But, as his one night stretches to five, he plunges headlong toward his own destruction. When the alcohol-induced mist lifts, the educated John Grant is no more. Instead there is a self-loathing man in a desolate wasteland, dirty, red-eyed, sitting against a tree and looking at a rifle with one bullet left...
8
| Fiddler on the Roof |
| Director: Norman Jewison |
| Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1971 (Wide) by United Artists |
| Keywords: Religious, 1972 Oscars Best Picture Nominee, Epic Musical, Jewish, 1900s, Set in Russia, Revolution, Bigotry, Novel or Other Work Adapted by Author, Romance |
| Classification: Based on Musical or Opera, Musical, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $80,500,000 |
|
International BO: $1,127 |
9
| Morte a Venezia |
| Director: Luchino Visconti |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 17, 1971 (Limited) by Warner Bros., released as Death in Venice |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
International BO: $69,233 |
10
| The Beguiled |
| Director: Don Siegel |
| Lead Roles: Clint Eastwood as Corporal John McBurney |
| Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1971 (Wide) by Universal |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Drama, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $1,100,000 |
11
| Il gatto a nove code |
| Director: Dario Argento |
| Lead Roles: James Franciscus as Carlo Giordani, Karl Malden as Franco “Cookie” Arnò, Catherine Spaak as Anna Terzi |
| Initial Theatrical Release: May 21, 1971 (Limited) by National General Pictures, released as The Cat O’Nine Tails |
| Keywords: Blindness, Blackmail, Surprise Twist, Voiceover/Narration, Character POV shot, Investigative Journalist, Murder Mystery, Adopted Family, Orphan, Kidnap, Car Chase |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
12
| Yukinojo Henge |
| Director: Kon Ichikawa |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 24, 1971 (Limited) by New Yorker, released as An Actor’s Revenge |
13
| The Million Dollar Duck |
| Initial Theatrical Release: 1971 (Wide) |
|
Domestic BO: $4,000,000 |
14
| Doctor’s Wives |
| Director: George Schaefer |
| Lead Roles: Dyan Cannon as Lorrie |
| Initial Theatrical Release: February 3, 1971 (Limited) by Columbia |
15
| A Town Called Hell |
| Director: Robert Parrish |
| Lead Roles: Robert Shaw, Stella Stevens, Martin Landau as The Colonel, Telly Savalas |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 27, 1971 (Wide), released as A Town Called Bastard (United Kingdom) |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Western, Live Action, Historical Fiction |
16
| Klute |
| Director: Alan J. Pakula |
| Lead Roles: Jane Fonda as Bree Daniel, Donald Sutherland as John Klute |
| Initial Theatrical Release: January 1, 1971 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Film Noir, Crime Thriller |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
|
Domestic BO: $12,512,637 |
17
| È tornato Sabata hai chiuso un'altra volta! |
| Director: Gianfranco Parolini |
| Initial Theatrical Release: September 3, 1971 (Wide) (Italy) |
| Classification: Western |
18
| The Hospital |
| Initial Theatrical Release: December 17, 1971 (Wide) by MGM |
|
Domestic BO: $14,142,409 |
19
| Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate |
| Director: Duccio Tessari |
| Lead Roles: Helmut Berger as Giorgio, Giancarlo Sbragia as Alessandro Marchi, Silvano Tranquilli as Inspector Berardi |
| Initial Theatrical Release: September 10, 1971 (Limited) (Italy) |
| Keywords: Police Procedural, Intertitle, Non-Chronological, Infidelity, Courtroom / Legal Drama, Lawyers, Relationships Gone Wrong, Surprise Twist, Wrongfully Convicted, Revenge |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Thriller/Suspense, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
20
| Murders in the Rue Morgue |
| Director: Gordon Hessler |
| Initial Theatrical Release: September, 1971 (Limited) by American International Pictures |
| Classification: Remake, Horror, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
21
| Summer of '42 |
| Initial Theatrical Release: April 30, 1971 (Wide) |
| Keywords: Coming of Age |
|
Domestic BO: $32,063,634 |
22
| Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? |
| Director: Curtis Harrington |
| Initial Theatrical Release: February 11, 1971 (Limited) (United Kingdom) |
| Classification: Original Screenplay, Horror, Live Action, Contemporary Fiction |
23
| King Lear |
| Director: Peter Brook |
| Initial Theatrical Release: November 22, 1971 (Limited) |
24
-Thumbnail.jpg)
| Horror of Frankenstein |
| Director: Jimmy Sangster |
| Lead Roles: Ralph Bates as Victor Frankenstein |
| Initial Theatrical Release: June 17, 1971 (Limited) by American Continental Films, Inc. |
| Classification: Based on Fiction Book/Short Story, Horror, Live Action, Science Fiction |