1970 in film

List of years in film (table)
... 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 ... 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 ... 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 ...
In home video 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 In television 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.

Highest-grossing films (U.S.)

See also: List of 1970 box office number-one films in the United States

The top ten 1970 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1970

Rank	Title	Studio	Domestic gross
1.	Love Story	Paramount Pictures	$106,397,186
2.	Airport	Universal Studios	$100,489,151
3.	MASH	20th Century Fox Film Corporation	$67,300,000
4.	Patton	20th Century-Fox Film Corporation	$61,749,765
5.	Woodstock	Warner Bros.	$50,000,000
6.	The Aristocats	Walt Disney Productions	$43,727,252
7.	Little Big Man	National General Pictures	$31,559,552
8.	Ryan's Daughter	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures	$30,846,306
9.	Tora! Tora! Tora!	20th Century-Fox Film Corporation	$29,548,291
10.	Chariots of the Gods	Constantin Film / Sunn Classic Pictures	$25,948,300

Events

• January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, effectively ending his career.
• February 11 - The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, premieres in New York City. The film's soundtrack album, including Badfinger's "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney), is released on Apple Records.
• March 12 - Film debut of Ornella Muti in La moglie più bella (The Most Beautiful Wife) 3 days after her 15th birthday.
• March 17 - The controversial film The Boys in the Band, directed by William Friedkin and based on Mart Crowley's hit off-Broadway play, opens in theaters.
• October 24 - Joan Crawford's final film, the low-budget horror picture Trog, opens in theaters.
• The IMAX motion picture projection system premieres at the Fuji Pavilion, at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.
• In Culver City, California, MGM begins selling off its studio back lot property and movie props.

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Patton - McCarthy-Schaffner, 20th Century Fox

Best Director: Franklin J. Schaffner - Patton

Best Actor: George C. Scott - Patton (declined)

Best Actress: Glenda Jackson - Women in Love

Best Supporting Actor: John Mills - Ryan's Daughter

Best Supporting Actress: Helen Hayes - Airport

Best Foreign Language Film: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto), directed by Elio Petri, Italy

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: Love Story

Best Actor: George C. Scott – Patton

Best Actress: Ali MacGraw – Love Story

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: MASH

Best Actor: Albert Finney – Scrooge

Best Actress: Carrie Snodgress – Diary of a Mad Housewife

Other

Best Director: Arthur Hiller, Love Story

Cannes Film Festival (Palme d'Or):

MASH, directed by Robert Altman, United States

Notable films released in 1970

U.S.A. unless stated

#

• 7 Plus Seven, a TV documentary directed by Michael Apted - (U.K.)

A

• The Act of the Heart, starring Geneviève Bujold and Donald Sutherland - (Canada)
• The Adventurers, starring Candice Bergen, Bekim Fehmiu, Olivia de Havilland, Ernest Borgnine
• The Adventures of Gerard, starring Peter McEnery, Claudia Cardinale, Eli Wallach, Jack Hawkins
• Airport, directed by George Seaton, starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, Van Heflin, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes
• Alex in Wonderland, directed by Paul Mazursky, starring Donald Sutherland
• The American Soldier (Der amerikanische Soldat), diredted by Rainer Werner Fassbinder - (West Germany)
• And Soon the Darkness, starring Pamela Franklin - (U.K.)
• The Angel Levine, starring Zero Mostel and Harry Belafonte
• The Aristocats - an animated Disney film featuring Phil Harris and Eva Gabor
• Awakening of the Beast (O Ritual dos Sádicos) - (Brazil)

B

• The Baby Maker, starring Barbara Hershey and Sam Groom
• The Ballad of Cable Hogue, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Jason Robards and Stella Stevens
• The Bear and the Doll (L'ours et la poupée), starring Brigitte Bardot and Jean-Pierre Cassel - (France)
• Bed and Board (Domicile Conjugal), directed by François Truffaut, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud - (France)
• Behold Homolka (Ecce homo Homolka) - (Czechoslovakia)
• The Beloved, starring Raquel Welch - (U.K.)
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes, starring James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, directed by Russ Meyer, starring Dolly Read
• The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo), directed by Dario Argento - (Italy)
• Black Brigade, starring Stephen Boyd and Richard Pryor
• Bloody Mama, directed by Roger Corman, starring Shelley Winters, Pat Hingle, Don Stroud, Robert De Niro
• The Boatniks, starring Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers and Phil Silvers
• The Body, a documentary narrated by Frank Finlay and Vanessa Redgrave - (U.K.)
• Borsalino, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon - (France)
• El bosque del lobo (a.k.a. The Ancines Woods) - (Spain)
• The Boys in the Band, directed by William Friedkin
• Brancaleone at the Crusades (Brancaleone alle Crociate), starring Vittorio Gassman and Adolfo Celi - (Italy)
• The Breach, directed by Claude Chabrol - (France/Italy/Belgium)
• Brewster McCloud, directed by Robert Altman, starring Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, Shelley Duvall
• The Brotherhood of the Bell, starring Glenn Ford, Rosemary Forsyth and Maurice Evans
• The Butcher (Le Boucher), directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Stéphane Audran and Jean Yanne - (France)

C

• Cannon for Cordoba, starring George Peppard
• Carry On Up the Jungle, starring Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Frankie Howerd - (U.K.)
• Case for a Rookie Hangman
• Catch-22, directed by Mike Nichols, starring Alan Arkin, Jon Voight, Richard Benjamin, Bob Newhart, Charles Grodin, Orson Welles, Art Garfunkel
• C.C. and Company, starring Joe Namath, Ann-Margret and William Smith
• Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Alain Delon, Bourvil, Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volontè - (France)
• Chariots of the Gods (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft), documentary - (West Germany)
• The Cheyenne Social Club, directed by Gene Kelly, starring James Stewart and Henry Fonda
• Chisum, starring John Wayne, Ben Johnson, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Glenn Corbett
• Claire's Knee (Le genou de Claire), directed by Éric Rohmer - (France)
• Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County, starring Dan Blocker and Nanette Fabray
• Colossus: The Forbin Project, starring Eric Braeden and Susan Clark
• Compañeros, starring Franco Nero and Jack Palance - (Italy)
• The Confession (L'Aveu), directed by Costa-Gavras, starring Yves Montand and Simone Signoret - (France/Italy)
• The Conformist (Il conformista), directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli - (Italy/France)
• Connecting Rooms, starring Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave - (U.K.)
• Cotton Comes to Harlem, starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, Calvin Lockhart, Redd Foxx
• Count Dracula, starring Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski and Herbert Lom- (Italy)
• Country Dance, starring Peter O'Toole
• Crescendo, starring Stefanie Powers
• Crime and Punishment (Prestuplenie i nakazanie) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Crimes of the Future, directed by David Cronenberg - (Canada)
• Cromwell, directed by Ken Hughes, starring Richard Harris and Alec Guinness - (U.K.)
• The Cross and the Switchblade, starring Pat Boone and Erik Estrada

D

• Darker than Amber, starring Rod Taylor and Jane Russell
• Darling Lili, directed by Blake Edwards, starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson
• Days and Nights in the Forest (Aranyer Din Ratri), directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• Deep End, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, starring Jane Asher - (U.K./West Germany)
• The Delta Factor, starring Yvette Mimieux and Christopher George
• Diary of a Mad Housewife, directed by Frank Perry, starring Carrie Snodgress (Golden Globe winner), Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella
• Dirty Dingus Magee, starring Frank Sinatra
• Dodes'ka-den, directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)
• The Dunwich Horror, starring Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee

E

• Eden and After (L'Eden et après / Eden a potom), directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet - (France/Czechoslovakia)
• El Condor, starring Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef
• El Topo (The Mole) - (Mexico)
• Elise, or Real Life (Élise ou la vraie vie) - (France)
• End of the Road, starring Stacy Keach, Harris Yulin, James Earl Jones
• Entertaining Mr Sloane, starring Beryl Reid and Harry Andrews - (U.K.)
• Equinox, starring Frank Bonner
• Eugenie the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion, starring Marie Liljedahl, Maria Rohm and Christopher Lee - (Spain)
• Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen), directed by Werner Herzog - (West Germany)

F

• Figures in a Landscape, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Robert Shaw - (U.K.)
• Five Easy Pieces, directed by Bob Rafelson, starring Jack Nicholson, Susan Anspach and Karen Black
• The Flight (Beg) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Four Murders Are Enough, Darling (Čtyři vraždy stačí, drahoušku) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Fragment of Fear, starring David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt - (U.K.)
• Fruit of Paradise (Ovoce stromů rajských jíme) - (Czechoslovakia)

G

• Gamera vs. Jiger - (Japan)
• The Games, directed by Michael Winner, starring Michael Crawford, Ryan O'Neal, Charles Aznavour - (U.K.)
• The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, directed by Vittorio De Sica - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1971 and Golden Bear winner - (Italy)
• Getting Straight, starring Elliott Gould and Candice Bergen
• Gimme Shelter, a documentary featuring The Rolling Stones
• Gods of the Plague (Götter der Pest), diredted by Rainer Werner Fassbinder - (West Germany)
• Goodbye Gemini, starring Judy Geeson, Martin Potter, Michael Redgrave and Alexis Kanner- (U.K.)
• Goin' Down the Road - (Canada)
• The Great White Hope, directed by Martin Ritt, starring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander
• The Green Wall (La muralla verde) - (Peru)

H

• Halls of Anger , starring Calvin Lockhart and Jeff Bridges
• The Hawaiians, starring Charlton Heston
• Hello-Goodbye, starring Michael Crawford
• Hercules in New York, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
• History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess (Nippon Sengoshi – Madamu onboro no Seikatsu), directed by Shohei Imamura - (Japan)
• Hoffman, starring Peter Sellers and Sinéad Cusack - (U.K.)
• Hornets’ Nest, starring Rock Hudson
• The Horror of Frankenstein, starring Ralph Bates, Kate O'Mara and Veronica Carlson- (U.K.)
• Horton Hears a Who!, TV animated film
• House of Dark Shadows, directed by Dan Curtis, starring Jonathan Frid and Grayson Hall
• How Do I Love Thee?, starring Jackie Gleason and Maureen O'Hara
• Husbands, directed by and starring John Cassavetes, with Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk

I

• I Love My Wife, directed by Mel Stuart, starring Elliott Gould, Brenda Vaccaro, Angel Tompkins
• I Never Sang for My Father, directed by Gilbert Cates, starring Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Melvyn Douglas
• The Intruders, starring Don Murray, John Saxon and Anne Francis
• Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, directed by Elio Petri, starring Gian Maria Volontè - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1970 - (Italy)
• The Invincible Six, directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Stuart Whitman and Elke Sommer
• I Walk the Line, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Gregory Peck and Tuesday Weld

J

• El jardín de las delicias (The Garden of Delights), directed by Carlos Saura - (Spain)
• Jenny, starring Marlo Thomas and Alan Alda
• Joe, directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Peter Boyle and Susan Sarandon
• Julius Caesar, directed by Stuart Burge, starring Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud - (U.K.)

K

• Kati Patang, starring Rajesh Khanna - (India)
• Kazoku - (Japan)
• Kelly's Heroes, starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Carroll O'Connor, Donald Sutherland, Don Rickles
• Khilona (Toy) - (India)
• King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, a documentary on Martin Luther King, Jr. directed by Sidney Lumet
• The Kremlin Letter, directed by John Huston, starring Patrick O'Neal, Barbara Parkins, Bibi Andersson, Nigel Green, Orson Welles

L

• The Landlord, directed by Hal Ashby, starring Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey, Louis Gossett, Jr.
• Landscape After the Battle (Krajobraz po bitwie), directed by Andrzej Wajda - (Poland)
• Last of the Mobile Hot Shots, starring James Coburn
• The Last Warrior, aka Flap, starring Anthony Quinn, Shelley Winters, Tony Bill
• Leo the Last, directed by John Boorman, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Billie Whitelaw - (U.K.)
• Let It Be - documentary film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and featuring The Beatles - (U.K.)
• The Liberation of L.B. Jones, directed by William Wyler, starring Roscoe Lee Browne, Anthony Zerbe, Lee J. Cobb, Lola Falana, Barbara Hershey
• Little Big Man, directed by Arthur Penn, starring Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George
• Little Fauss and Big Halsy, starring Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard
• The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir, a TV film - (France/Italy/West Germany)
• Loot, directed by Silvio Narizzano, starring Richard Attenborough, Lee Remick, Hywel Bennett - (U.K.)
• Lost in the Desert (a.k.a. Dirkie), directed by Jamie Uys - (South Africa)
• Love Story, directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal - winner of 5 Golden Globes including best picture and best director
• Lovers and Other Strangers, starring Cloris Leachman, Beatrice Arthur, Richard Castellano, Diane Keaton
• Loving, starring George Segal and Eva Marie Saint

M

• MASH, directed by Robert Altman, starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Robert Duvall, Michael Murphy, Sally Kellerman, Jo Ann Pflug
• Macho Callahan, starring Jean Seberg, David Janssen, Lee J. Cobb
• Maidstone, written, directed by and starring Norman Mailer
• A Man Called Horse, starring Richard Harris
• The Man Who Haunted Himself, starring Roger Moore, Anton Rodgers and Hildegarde Neil - (U.K.)
• Metello - (Italy)
• Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul) - (Romania)
• The Molly Maguires, directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris
• Monte Walsh, starring Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, Jeanne Moreau
• The Moonshine War, starring Alan Alda, Richard Widmark, Patrick McGoohan
• Move, starring Paula Prentiss and Elliott Gould
• The Music Lovers, directed by Ken Russell, starring Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson - (U.K.)
• Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly, starring Michael Bryant, Ursula Howells, Pat Heywood and Vanessa Howard- (U.K.)
• Myra Breckinridge, starring Raquel Welch, Mae West, John Huston, Farrah Fawcett, Rex Reed

N

• The Nameless Knight - (Turkey)
• Ned Kelly, starring Mick Jagger - (U.K.)
• Norwood, starring Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Joe Namath

O

• o.k., directed by Michael Verhoeven - (West Germany)
• Of Gods and the Undead (Os Deuses e os Mortos) - (Brazil)
• On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand, songs by Alan Jay Lerner
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, starring Tom Courtenay - (U.K./Norway)
• One More Time, directed by Jerry Lewis, starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford
• One Song a Day Takes Mischief Away (Tko pjeva zlo ne misli) - (Yugoslavia)
• On the Comet
• The Out-of-Towners, directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis
• The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again, starring Walter Brennan, Chill Wills, Fred Astaire
• The Owl and the Pussycat, directed by Herbert Ross, starring Barbra Streisand and George Segal

P

• The Palace of Angels (O Palácio dos Anjos) - (Brazil)
• The Past-Master (Bash Maystorat), directed by Petar B. Vasilev, starring Kiril Gospodinov and Yuriy Yakovlev - (Bulgaria)
• Patton, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring George C. Scott - winner of 7 Academy Awards for 1971 including best picture, director and actor
• Peace in the Fields (Paix sur les champs) - (Belgium)
• Peau d'Âne (Donkey Skin), directed by Jacques Demy, starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean Marais - (France)
• The People Next Door, starring Eli Wallach and Julie Harris
• Perfect Friday, starring Ursula Andress and Stanley Baker
• Performance (filmed in 1968), directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, starring James Fox and Mick Jagger - (U.K.)
• The Phantom Tollbooth
• The Pizza Triangle (Dramma della gelosia), directed by Ettore Scola, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Monica Vitti - (Italy)
• The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Robert Stephens, Geneviève Page, Colin Blakely - (U.K.)
• Purab Aur Paschim (East and West), starring Ashok Kumar - (India)
• Puzzle of a Downfall Child, starring Faye Dunaway

Q

• Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx, starring Gene Wilder and Margot Kidder - (Ireland)
• ¡Qué hacer! (What to Do?) - (Chile)

R

• Rabbit, Run, directed by Jack Smight, starring James Caan
• The Railway Children, directed by Lionel Jeffries, starring Jenny Agutter - (U.K.)
• The Rebel Rousers, starring Jack Nicholson
• The Revolutionary, starring Jon Voight
• Rio Lobo, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O'Neill, Jack Elam, Sherry Lansing
• The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, starring Peter Cook, Denholm Elliott, Arthur Lowe - (U.K.)
• R. P. M., directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Anthony Quinn and Ann-Margret
• Reza Motorcyclist (Reza Motori) (1970) - directed by Masoud Kimiai (Iran)
• Ryan's Daughter, directed by David Lean, starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, John Mills (Oscar winner) - (U.K.)

S

• Salt of the Black Earth (Sól ziemi czarnej) - (Poland)
• Scars of Dracula, starring Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman and Jenny Hanley - (U.K.)
• Scream and Scream Again, starring Vincent Price, Alfred Marks and Christopher Lee- (U.K.)
• Scrooge, directed by Ronald Neame, with Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Edith Evans - (U.K.)
• Skullduggery, starring Burt Reynolds and Susan Clark
• Soldier Blue, directed by Ralph Nelson, starring Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss
• Something for Everyone, directed by Harold Prince, starring Angela Lansbury and Michael York
• Space Amoeba, directed by Ishirō Honda - (Japan)
• The Spider's Stratagem (Strategia del ragno), directed by Bernardo Bertolucci - (Italy)
• Spring and Port Wine, starring James Mason and Susan George - (U.K.)
• Start the Revolution Without Me, directed by Bud Yorkin, starring Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith
• Strange Holiday
• The Strawberry Statement, starring Bruce Davison, Kim Darby, Bud Cort
• Street Scenes, directed by Martin Scorsese (documentary)
• Strogoff
• Sunflower (I girasoli), directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren - (Italy)
• Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came, starring Brian Keith, Don Ameche, Tony Curtis, Suzanne Pleshette
• A Swedish Love Story (En kärlekshistoria) - (Sweden)

T

• Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (Zhi qu wei hu shan) - (China)
• Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Liza Minnelli
• There's a Girl in My Soup, starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn - (U.K.)
• There Was a Crooked Man..., starring Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda
• They Call Me Trinity (Lo chiamavano Trinità), starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer - (Italy)
• The Things of Life (Les choses de la vie) - (France)
• Three Sisters, by Laurence Olivier, starring Joan Plowright and Olivier - (U.K.)
• ...tick...tick...tick..., starring Jim Brown and George Kennedy
• Too Late the Hero, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Michael Caine, Cliff Robertson, Henry Fonda - (U.K./U.S.A.)
• Tora! Tora! Tora!, co-directed by Richard Fleischer and Kinji Fukasaku, starring Martin Balsam and Takahiro Tamura - (U.S./Japan)
• The Traveling Executioner, starring Stacy Keach, Bud Cort
• Tristana, directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero - (Spain/France/Italy)
• The Twelve Chairs, directed by Mel Brooks, starring Frank Langella, Ron Moody, Dom DeLuise
• Two Mules for Sister Sara, directed by Don Siegel, starring Shirley MacLaine and Clint Eastwood

U

• Ucho (The Ear) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Up in the Cellar, starring Joan Collins and Larry Hagman

V

• Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Valerie a týden divů) - (Czechoslovakia)
• The Vampire Lovers, starring Peter Cushing - (U.K.)
• Vengeance (Bao chou) - (Hong Kong)

W

• A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman
• The Wandering Swordsman (You xia er), directed by Chang Cheh - (Hong Kong)
• Waterloo, directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, starring Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles - (U.S.S.R./Italy)
• Weekend With the Babysitter starring George E Carey and Susan Romen
• Where's Poppa?, directed by Carl Reiner, starring George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Ron Leibman
• Which Way to the Front?, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis
• White Sun of the Desert (Beloye solntse pustyni) - (USSR)
• Whale (Kit), directed by Petar B. Vasilev, starring Georgi Kaloyanchev, Dimitar Panov, Georgi Partsalev - (Bulgaria)
• The Window - starring Behrouz Vossoughi and Googoosh - Iran
• Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (Warum läuft Herr R. Amok?), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder - (West Germany)
• The Wild Child (L'Enfant sauvage), directed by François Truffaut - (France)
• Wood Pigeon (Toghi) - directed by Ali Hatami (Iran)
• Woodstock, a musical documentary featuring Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Santana, Jefferson Airplane and others
• WUSA, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

Z

• Zabriskie Point, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
• Zig Zag, starring George Kennedy, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson

1970 film releases

January–March

• January 1970
• Scream and Scream Again
  • 9 January
    • ...tick...tick...tick...
  • 14 January
    • Last of the Mobile Hot Shots
  • 21 January
    • The Only Game in Town
  • 25 January
    • MASH
  • 28 January
    • The Molly Maguires
• February 1970
  • 1 February
    • The Kremlin Letter
  • 9 February
    • Zabriskie Point
  • 11 February
    • King of the Grizzlies
• March 1970
  • 4 March
    • Loving
  • 5 March
    • Airport
  • 6 March
    • Skullduggery
  • 18 March
    • The Liberation of L.B. Jones
  • 21 March
    • Gamera vs. Jiger (Japan)
  • 31 March
    • Waterloo

April–June

• April 1970
  • 2 April
    • Patton
  • 7 April
    • I Love My Wife
  • 8 April
    • Colossus: The Forbin Project
    • The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County
  • 9 April
    • Halls of Anger
  • 28 April
    • A Man Called Horse
• May 1970
  • 1 May
    • Taste the Blood of Dracula
  • 13 May
    • My Lover, My Son
    • Getting Straight
  • 20 May
    • The Landlord
  • 26 May
    • The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart
    • Beneath the Planet of the Apes
    • Pufnstuf
  • 27 May
    • Watermelon Man
    • Zig Zag
• June 1970
  • 1 June
    • The Boatniks
  • 3 June
    • The Executioner
  • 10 June
    • The Invincible Six
  • 15 June
    • The Strawberry Statement
  • 16 June
    • Two Mules for Sister Sara
  • 17 June
    • Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
    • A Walk in the Spring Rain
    • The Hawaiians
  • 23 June
    • Kelly's Heroes
  • 24 June
    • Myra Breckinridge

July–September

• July 1970
  • 9 July
    • The Games
  • 12 July
    • Hello-Goodbye
    • Soldier Blue
  • 15 July
    • Joe
    • The Revolutionary
  • 16 July
    • R. P. M.
  • 31 July
    • Move
• August 1970
  • 10 August
    • Diary of a Mad Housewife
  • 12 August
    • Lovers and Other Strangers
• September 1970
  • 9 September
    • House of Dark Shadows
  • 12 September
    • Five Easy Pieces
  • 23 September
    • Tora! Tora! Tora!

October–December

• October 1970
  • 1 October
    • Cover Me Babe
    • The Great White Hope
    • How Do I Love Thee?
  • 21 October
    • Little Fauss and Big Halsy
  • 23 October
    • No Blade of Grass
  • 24 October
    • Trog
• November 1970
  • 5 November
    • Scrooge
  • 7 November
    • The Phantom Tollbooth
  • 8 November
    • Scars of Dracula
  • 9 November
    • Ryan's Daughter
• December 1970
  • 8 December
    • Husbands
    • The Horror of Frankenstein
  • 11 December
    • The Aristocats
  • 12 October
    • The Mind of Mr. Soames
  • 15 December
    • The Wild Country
  • 16 December
    • Puzzle of a Downfall Child
    • Love Story
  • 17 December
    • Rio Lobo
  • 18 December
    • I Walk the Line
  • 31 December
    • Sometimes A Great Notion

Short film series

• The Ant and the Aardvark (1969–71)
• Roland and Rattfink (1968–71)
• Tijuana Toads (1969–72)
• Woody Woodpecker (1941–49, 1951–72)
• Chilly Willy (1955–72)
• The Beary Family (1962–72)

Births

• January 29 - Heather Graham, American actress
• March 7 - Rachel Weisz, English actress
• March 18 - Queen Latifah, American actress, rapper
• March 20 - Linda Larkin, American cinema and television actress
• March 28 - Vince Vaughn, American actor
• April 25 - Jason Lee, American actor, comedian and professional skateborder
• April 29 - Uma Thurman, American actress
• May 9 - Helen Hill, American animator
• May 12 - Samantha Mathis, American actress
• May 18 - Tina Fey - American comedian
• May 22 - Naomi Campbell, English model, actress
• May 26 - John Hamburg, American writer and director
• May 27 - Joseph Fiennes, English actor
• May 28 - Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (d. 2002)
• June 26 - Chris O'Donnell, American actor
• July 14 - Mike McFarland, American voice actor
• July 16 - Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai film director
• July 30 - Christopher Nolan, English-American film director, producer, writer
• August 5 - James Gunn, American film director, producer, writer
• August 6 - M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-American film director, writer, producer, actor
• August 15 - Maddie Corman, American actress
• August 18 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor
• August 23
  • Jay Mohr, American actor, comedian
  • River Phoenix, American actor (died 1993)
• August 24 - Jonathan Ward, American actor
• September 29 - Emily Lloyd, English actress
• October 2 - Kelly Ripa, American actress, television host
• October 8 - Matt Damon, American actor
• October 12 - Kirk Cameron, American actor
• October 24 - Raul Esparza, American actor
• November 6 - Ethan Hawke, American actor
• December 12 - Jennifer Connelly, American actress
• December 17 - Sean Patrick Thomas, American actor

Deaths

• January 23 - Nell Shipman, 77, Canadian actress, writer, producer, The Girl from God's Country
• January 25 - Eiji Tsuburaya, 68, Japanese film director and special effects designer, Godzilla, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
• January 27 - Rocco D'Assunta, 65, Italian actor, comedian and playwright
• February 6 - Roscoe Karns, 76, American actor, It Happened One Night, Alibi Ike
• February 19 - Jules Munshin, 54, American actor, On the Town, Take Me Out to the Ball Game
• February 24 - Conrad Nagel, 72, American actor, All That Heaven Allows, The Divorcee
• March 6 - William Hopper, 55, American actor, Rebel without a Cause, Track of the Cat
• March 23 - Del Lord, 75, Canadian pioneer Hollywood director, A Plumbing We Will Go, All the World's a Stooge
• April 11 - Cathy O'Donnell, 46, American actress, Ben-Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives
• April 25 - Anita Louise, 55, American actress, The Little Princess, The Story of Louis Pasteur
• April 26 - Gypsy Rose Lee, 59, American burlesque performer, actress, author, Screaming Mimi, Belle of the Yukon
• April 28 - Ed Begley, 69, American actor, 12 Angry Men, Hang 'Em High
• April 30 - Inger Stevens, 35, Swedish actress, Hang 'Em High, A Guide for the Married Man
• May 10 - Mari Blanchard, 43, American actress, Destry, She-Devil
• May 14 - Billie Burke, 85, American actress, The Wizard of Oz, Father's Little Dividend
• June 4 - Sonny Tufts, 58, American actor, The Virginian, Government Girl
• July 6 - Marjorie Rambeau, 80, American actress, A Man Called Peter, Tobacco Road
• July 9 - Sigrid Holmquist, 71, Swedish actress, Just Around the Corner, Meddling Women
• July 14 - Preston Foster, 69, American actor, The Informer, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• July 22 - Fritz Kortner, 78, German director, Pandora's Box, The Razor's Edge
• July 24 - Frank Silvera, 55, Jamaican actor, Viva Zapata!, Hombre
• August 1 - Frances Farmer, 56, American actress, Come and Get It, The Toast of New York
• September 3 - Vasil Gendov, 78, Bulgarian film director, actor and acreenwriter, Bulgaran is Gallant
• September 11 - Chester Morris, 69, American actor, Meet Boston Blackie, Five Came Back
• September 18 - Jimi Hendrix, 27, American musician, Almost Famous, Wayne's World
• September 29 - Edward Everett Horton, 84, American actor, Arsenic and Old Lace, Top Hat
• October 4 - Janis Joplin, 27, American singer, Watchmen, Three Kings
• October 10 - Grethe Weiser, 67, German actress
• December 12 - George Terwilliger, 88, American director and screenwriter, The Fatal Hour, Bride's Play
• October 17 - Vola Vale, 73, American actress, The Phantom of the Opera
• December 23 - Charles Ruggles, 84, American actor, Bringing Up Baby, The Parent Trap
• December 30 - Lenore Ulric, 78, American actress, Notorious, Camille

Film debuts

• Linda Blair - The Way We Live Now
• Danny DeVito - Dreams of Glass
• Robert Downey, Jr. - Pound
• Shelley Duvall - Brewster McCloud
• Jeffrey Jones - The Revolutionary
• Tommy Lee Jones - Love Story
• Diane Keaton - Lovers and Other Strangers
• Frank Langella - Diary of a Mad Housewife
• Anne Meara - The Out-of-Towners
• Stephen Rea - Cry of the Banshee
• Susan Sarandon - Joe
• Tom Selleck - Myra Breckinridge
• Sissy Spacek - Trash
• Paul Sorvino - Where's Poppa?
• Sylvester Stallone - The Party at Kitty and Stud's
• Ornella Muti - The Most Beautiful Wife