How many of these movies did you watch in theaters when they came out 50 years ago?
As 2022 draws to a close, many film enthusiasts are already looking ahead to their most
anticipated releases of 2023. However, it's also never too soon to start appreciating film
anniversaries in the new year, and 2023 is chock-full of them. In fact, many iconic films
are turning 50, marking half a century since some of the most exciting cinematic debuts
of the 1970s.
The year 1973 in film involved some highly notable events. The iconic and controversial
possession classic "The Exorcist" pushed the limits of what a horror film could be and
became the exceptional horror film to receive a Best Picture nomination. American auteurs
like Martin Scorsese and Terrence Malick announced themselves as exciting cinematic
storytellers with their breakout features "Mean Streets" and "Badlands," respectively.
Elsewhere, the year proved notable for Asian voices in cinema—"Enter the Dragon"
mainstreamed martial arts films in a new way, while "Lady Snowblood" laid out an
unbeatable template for samurai-driven revenge films.
Still, you might be wondering, which films turning 50 in 2023 are the best?
To find out, Stacker gathered data on all movies turning 50 in 2023 and ranked the top 50
by IMDb user ratings, with ties broken by the number of votes. In order to qualify,
each film had to have at least 1,000 user votes and be released theatrically in 1973.
Metascores are provided for critical context when available.