10 Cult Classic Movies From The ’70s That Aged Poorly

While plenty of movies from the 1970s have since built up cult followings, that does not mean they have not aged poorly in the subsequent decades. Whether due to outdated social and political content, poor special effects, or even outrageous concepts that don’t hold up in today’s modern cinema landscape, it’s interesting to notice how much time can ravage an audience’s perspective on a particular film. While these movies may have aged poorly, that does not necessarily make them bad, and it’s important to view them as products of the era in which they were made.

Some of the best films from the 1970s have their fair share of issues regarding being outdated, and this was especially the case for cult classics that already stood outside of normal cinematic expectations. From silly premises like an offbeat comedy casting Clint Eastwood opposite an ape to sci-fi classics whose special effects just didn’t hold up, poorly aged 1970s movies showcase just how far filmmaking has progressed in the years since. While all these movies boast devoted fan bases, it must be admitted that they have aged badly.

10 Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

Directed by James Fargo

As truly one of Clint Eastwood’s worst movies, the concept behind Every Which Way but Loose feels more like a strange fever dream than a genuine movie. This offbeat comedy paired Eastwood, fresh from the epic revenge Western The Outlaw Josey Wales, with an orangutan for a lighthearted movie that has not stood the test of time. Not only was Every Which Way but Loose a shockingly out-of-character movie for Eastwood, but it was also successful enough to get an even worse sequel in 1980 titled Any Which Way You Can.

While the novelty of seeing Eastwood in a monkey-filled comedy may have felt unique back in 1978, looking back, it’s an embarrassing anomaly in a career packed with iconic films. Today, viewers remember Eastwood as the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy or as the director and co-star of the Best Picture-winning films Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. With this in mind, Every Which Way but Loose has not aged well, and it’s clear Eastwood was mostly in it for the paycheck.

9 Pretty Baby (1978)

Directed by Louis Malle

While it’s clear social norms around acceptability have drastically changed over the past few decades, it still baffles the mind how a movie like Pretty Baby could be perceived as anything but creepy, no matter the era. As the story of a 12-year-old girl being raised in a New Orleans brothel, the over-sexualization of the child actress Brooke Shields meant that this film has aged very poorly. Featuring semi-nude and nude scenes with Shields, who was 11 years old at the time of filming, the moral and ethical issues of Pretty Baby’s production make it an unfortunate relic of times past.

When it was released, Pretty Baby was well-received by critics and even nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. However, despite its well-meaning intentions of deconstructing child exploitation and themes around the loss of innocence, having an actual child portray these scenes meant that the film could easily be accused of doing the very thing it was setting out to protest. More so than anything, Pretty Baby highlights how much times have changed, and the film’s impact on Sheilds was further explored in the 2024 documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.

8 Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Directed by John Badham

John Travolat’s acting career really took off during the late 1970s as he gained roles in Carrie, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease one after the other. While all these roles were highly acclaimed and remain cult classics to this day, the way that Saturday Night Fever addressed issues of sexual assault and abuse meant it has aged the worst out of them all. While Saturday Night Fever powerfully addressed race and identity amid the disco music movement, it also showcased the very real threat of sexual violence for women during this time.

In one scene, Tony (Travolta) tries to force himself sexually on his dance partner Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney), and in another, Tony’s sleazy group of friends rape fellow disco dancer Annette (Donna Pescow.) Although Saturday Night Fever has gained a reputation as a fun-filled movie with plenty of music and disco dancing, upon rewatching it, it’s shocking how much bigotry, misogyny, and sexual violence were on display. While these aspects add to the thematic depth of its story, it also means, in many ways, that Saturday Night Fever has aged poorly.

7 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Directed by Jim Sharman

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has earned its reputation as perhaps the definitive cult movie of the 1970s. With incredible music, subversive characters, and wild, campy, and outrageous energy, this Tim Curry film pushed social and political boundaries and showcased LGBTQ+ themes and issues in a way few movies had previously attempted. While all of this still holds true today, it must be admitted that The Rocky Horror Picture Show can feel a little bit outdated in many ways.

While Dr. Frank-N-Furter may have been a groundbreaking character in 1975, their self-characterization as a “sweet transvestite” feels out of step with modern language use around gender non-conforming people. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was also packed with scenes where consent was ambiguous or even outright ignored, which makes for uncomfortable viewing in the wake of movements like MeToo. Overall, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was well-meaning in its intentions and should be lauded as a trailblazing film, but some aspects of it just don’t hold up in the 21st century.

6 Love Story (1970)

Directed by Arthur Hiller

Love Story has been remembered as one of the most romantic movies of all time, as the story of Oliver (Ryan O’Neal) and Jennifer (Ali MacGraw) struck a chord with contemporary viewers. Love Story addresses important issues around class and romance by showcasing how a boy and girl from vastly different backgrounds cross paths and eventually fall for one another. As an overtly sentimental story that fully embraced its more melodramatic aspects when tragedy hit, Love Story struck a chord with audiences at the time, but today, it can feel emotionally manipulative.

One of the major aspects that made Love Story age poorly was the way it presented Oliver and Jennifer’s romance. The famous movie quote “love means never having to say you’re sorry” perfectly encapsulates Love Story’s unhealthy depiction of romance as the toxic dynamic between the couple was romanticized, as Oliver’s emotional distance, dismissive attitude, and occasionally controlling behavior were never fully confronted. While Love Story may have been a cult classic of its era, looking back, it was filled with outdated themes and ideas.

5 Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Directed by Hal Needham

Lame, cheesy jokes combined with poor production values meant that although Smokey and the Bandit achieved iconic cult status, it has still aged very poorly. While the imagery and ideas from this film have stood the test of time, and the characterization of Bo “The Bandit” Darville will always be one of Burt Reynolds’ definitive roles, it’s impossible not to be hyper-aware of this movie’s age. Production values for action movies have gone up so much in the past nearly five decades that the stunts in Smokey and the Bandit feel incredibly tame.

Adding to these issues were gender stereotypes, racial representation, and an insentive portrayal of Southern culture. The humor in Smokey and the Bandit was packed with casual sexism, and although the characterization of Carrie, CB handle “Frog,” made it one of Sally Field’s best movies, it’s hard to argue she was not one-dimensional. While rewatching Smokey and the Bandit can still be a lot of fun, and the film’s legacy is undeniable, it’s clear this movie has not aged well.

4 The Amityville Horror (1979)

Directed by Stuart Rosenberg

The Amityville Horror kicked off the long-running folk horror franchise that has included many sequels, direct-to-video releases, and even a 2005 reimagining. As the story of a young couple who purchase a haunted house, the movie addresses contemporary concerns about financial insecurity as its ‘credit-crunch horror’ themes have been subsequently repeated in later horror movies made during times of economic turmoil, such as The Conjuring. While the thematic ideas of The Amityville Horror held up very well, it was its practical and special effects that dated this cult favorite.

In the decades since The Amityville Horror was made, special effects have improved drastically, meaning that supernatural movies such as this can look painfully like products of their time. While more psychological-based films such as Psycho or slasher movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre hold up very well, ghost movies like The Amityville Horror unfortunately do not. Although this movie has earned its place in horror history, the presence of an immoral ghost did not stop The Amityville Horror from aging.

3 Deliverance (1972)

Directed by John Boorman

Deliverance was a groundbreaking thriller whose “Dueling Banjos” scene has become a touchstone of popular culture. While the film was a critical and commercial success at the time of its release, looking back on Deliverance, it’s impossible not to notice the jarring cultural insensitivities at the heart of its narrative. With a terrifying story about four Atlanta businessmen encountering the deranged resident of the remote northern Georgia wilderness, Deliverance leaned heavily into hillbilly stereotypes and longstanding stigma against marginalized rural people.

The depiction of the Southern characters in Deliverance as violent, backward, and predatory meant that the film aged poorly regarding contemporary depictions of rural populations. The shocking and brutal sexual assault shown in the film also made for highly uncomfortable viewing that further entrenched the movie’s backward depiction of its antagonists. While Deliverance is still remembered as a highly influential and powerful movie, it’s important to view it as a product of its time in its representation.

2 Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Directed by Don Taylor

The original Planet of the Apes from 1968, starring Charlton Heston, has become a touchstone of popular culture that featured one of the best movie twists of all time. The sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, cannot boast the same legacy. While the subsequent movies in the original franchise have gained a cult following, lackluster special effects and truly mind-boggling narratives mean they have aged quite badly.

Although Heston briefly reprised his role for this sequel, the main plot followed James Franciscus as Brent, an American astronaut sent to save Taylor (Heston.) This cult-favorite sequel then revealed that underneath the ape-run planet lay mutated humans who have since developed telepathic powers. While this was an interesting new direction for the franchise, it undermined much of the previous classic story’s narrative and was filled with lackluster special effects that badly dated Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

1 Foxy Brown (1974)

Directed by Jack Hill

The Blaxploitation genre emerged in the 1970s as a means for Black artists to reclaim their cultural identity with movies that focused more on an African-American outlook. Classics of the genre included movies like Shaft and Superfly, which associated this style of filmmaking with incredible soul and funk music. Another important release was Foxy Brown, starring Pam Grier, which showcased a more female-centric spin on these types of movies and was produced as an empowering representation of female autonomy.

While many aspects of Foxy Brown still hold up to this day, and it’s an incredible time capsule to a particular era in cinema, its female empowerment themes read more like objeectification when viewed through a modern lens. Foxy Brown was packed with highly sexualized imagery and was even seized and confiscated in the United Kingdom under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic (via Melon Farmers.) Although the themes and ideas explored in Foxy Brown still feel relevant, it’s important to view it out of the context in which it was produced.

Source: Melon Farmers