---
title: 5 Recommendations for a ‘Bad’ Movie Night
date: 2021-10-28T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/5-recommendations-for-a-bad-movie-night"
section: Articles
---
# 5 Recommendations for a ‘Bad’ Movie Night

*October 28, 2021* — by [Liam Farrell](/author/liam-farrell)


> 1970s Filmmaking Left a Rebellious Legacy. A UMD Class Explains How.

*70sfilmstills 1920x1080 — From disco dancing heartthrobs to chainsaw-wielding maniacs and more, '70s film characters helped create "The Baddest Decade," the topic of a current UMD course.*

From high-waisted jeans to fears of inflation and challenges to democracy, the legacy of the 1970s has come back around 50 years later. And from the past’s long gas lines and Watergate scandal to the present’s COVID-19 supply shortages and Capitol riot, Saverio Giovacchini, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, sees an opportunity today for students to look how history is rhyming.

In his class this semester, “The Baddest Decade: The 1970s in American Film and American History,” Giovacchini delves into that decade’s landmark films to explore how an era’s anxieties get filtered through its culture, particularly as the old guard of Hollywood’s studio system temporarily lost its grip to more rebellious auteurs.

“You had crazy stuff coming out,” he says. “The 1970s was the cinema of students.”

Here are five classic films Giovacchini suggests for your own “bad” movie night, including one perfect for Halloween.


*Still from "Bonnie and Clyde"*



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*Still from “Killer of Sheep”*



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*Still from “Saturday Night Fever”*



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*Still from “Klute”*



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*Still from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”*




**Topics:** [Arts & Culture](https://today.umd.edu/tags/arts-culture)


**Tags:** [History](https://today.umd.edu/topic/history)


**Units:** [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)