The Conformist, Italy, 1970, 115 min. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Dominique Sanda. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The title protagonist lives in 1930's fascist Italy and is so determined to fit in he marries a woman he doesn’t really like and agrees to carry out a mission that is dangerous both in its execution and its implications. Bertolucci, with the help of Vittorio Storaro’s masterful cinematography, examines what an obsessive need for acceptance could do to a man's soul.

Tristana, France, 1970, 98 min. Starring Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero. Directed by Luis Buñuel. Denueve plays the title character, who must go live with her appointed guardian Rey after her mother dies. When she takes up with a bohemian artist, Rey is none too pleased, especially because his interest in her is something other than fatherly. Buñuel focuses his camera on class distinctions, religion and perversity – three of his favorite subjects – but this film is a lot more subdued than most of his later work and, in a way, almost feels like a final return to the sort of melodrama he concentrated on during his Mexican period.

The Go-Between, UK, 1970, 116 min. Starring Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Dominic Guard. Directed by Joseph Losey. Lavish film about a young boy in Edwardian times who finds himself ferrying love letters between an upper class woman and a simple farmer. Losey uses the love story to construct an incisive examination of class differences.

The French Connection, USA, 1971, 104 min. Starring Gene Hackman, Roy Schieder, Fernando Rey. Directed by William Friedkin. Taut crime drama about two narcotics officers attempting to bring down an international drug ring. Hackman's performance as the tightly-wound, profane cop Popeye Doyle apparently gave him pause (he wasn't comfortable with the violent, abusive nature of the character), but you would never guess it from what ended up on screen. And we would be remiss if we didn't mention that the film includes one of the finest car chases of all time.

The Last Picture Show, USA, 1971, 118 min. Starring Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepard, Timothy Bottoms, Cloris Leachman. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Bogdanovich broke out into the limelight with this slice of life drama about the denizens of a small Texas town in the '50s and their reactions to the changing times. Larry McMurtry co-scripted with the director from his own novel.