60 free 70s Movies trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
51 free 70s Movies trivia questions with answers. The 1970s gave Hollywood the blockbuster, the New Hollywood auteurs and the disaster movie all at once. This quiz covers the decade's films from Airport and Love Story to Alien and Kramer vs. Kramer: The Godfather and Brando's refused Oscar, Jaws and its broken shark, Star Wars and the merchandising deal, Rocky's million-dollar budget, The Exorcist's Best Picture nomination, Cuckoo's Nest's Big Five, Annie Hall beating Star Wars, Grease and Saturday Night Fever, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, Network, Dog Day Afternoon, Apocalypse Now's nightmare shoot, Halloween's $1.98 mask, Monty Python's rock-star financiers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Willy Wonka, Animal House, Enter the Dragon, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Carrie, Superman, Mad Max, Cabaret, Deliverance, Patton and Barry Lyndon. Easy questions ask who directed Jaws and who played Rocky. Medium ones cover Oscars, sequels and famous lines. Hard ones want the film that first sold the 70s disaster genre, the bands who bankrolled the Holy Grail, the budget of American Graffiti and which 1972 musical holds the record for most Oscars without Best Picture. Every answer has been checked against reference articles on each film, and each question shows its citation once you have answered. Built for movie nights, retro parties and anyone who grew up in a cinema in the seventies.
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Q 01Who directed The Godfather (1972)?
Francis Ford Coppola
Bogdanovich was among the directors who turned the job down; Coppola co-wrote the script with novelist Mario Puzo.
Q 02Marlon Brando declined his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather and sent whom to the podium instead?
Sacheen Littlefeather
The activist read his objection to Hollywood's depiction of Native Americans; Brando was the second actor to refuse the award after George C. Scott.
Q 03The Godfather Part II (1974) made Academy Awards history how?
It was the earliest sequel to win Best Picture
Robert De Niro played the young Vito Corleone, the role that had won Brando his Oscar two years earlier.
Q 04Who directed Jaws (1975)?
Steven Spielberg
It was the first major film shot on the ocean and ran badly over budget and schedule off Martha's Vineyard.
Q 05Why does the shark appear so little in Jaws?
The mechanical sharks kept malfunctioning
He suggested its presence instead, helped by John Williams's two-note theme.
Q 06Which 1973 hit gave George Lucas the leverage to secure the merchandising and sequel rights to Star Wars?
American Graffiti
Made for $777,000, American Graffiti became one of the most profitable films ever.
Q 07Star Wars was distributed in 1977 by which studio?
Twentieth Century-Fox
Only Kenner accepted the licensing offers at first, so little merchandise existed for months after release.
Q 08Who wrote and starred in Rocky (1976)?
Sylvester Stallone
Avildsen directed; the film cost about $1 million and won Best Picture.
Q 09The Exorcist (1973) was the first film of its genre to do what?
Be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar
It received ten nominations in all; William Friedkin directed from William Peter Blatty's own novel.
Q 10One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) was only the second film ever to do what at the Oscars?
Win the 'Big Five'
Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Adapted Screenplay; It Happened One Night did it first and The Silence of the Lambs later.
Q 11Which film beat Star Wars to the Best Picture Oscar for 1977?
Annie Hall
Woody Allen's film won four of the Big Five, including Best Actress for Diane Keaton in a role written for her.
Q 12Who plays Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)?
Robert De Niro
The film won the Palme d'Or and later gained notoriety for inspiring John Hinckley Jr.'s attack on Ronald Reagan.
Q 13Chinatown (1974) is loosely inspired by which real-life conflict?
The California water wars
Roman Polanski directed Robert Towne's script, and himself plays the thug who slits Jack Nicholson's nose.
Q 21In The French Connection (1971), Gene Hackman plays a detective with what nickname?
Popeye
Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle was based on real narcotics detective Eddie Egan.
Q 22Which French director acts in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) as scientist Claude Lacombe?
François Truffaut
Richard Dreyfuss plays Roy Neary, the Indiana lineman obsessed with a mountain shape.
Q 23Who directed Superman (1978), starring Christopher Reeve?
Richard Donner
Godfather novelist Mario Puzo was among the screenwriters, and Marlon Brando played Jor-El.
Q 14In Grease (1978), Olivia Newton-John's Sandy is a transfer student from which country?
Australia
It was the highest-grossing film of 1978 and the biggest musical ever at the time.
Q 15Saturday Night Fever (1977) was based on a magazine article that turned out to be what?
Mostly fictional
Nik Cohn's 'Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night' ran in New York magazine in 1976.
Q 16Who plays Ripley in Alien (1979)?
Sigourney Weaver
The chestburster design was inspired by a Francis Bacon painting, and the cast were not warned about the blood pumps.
Q 17Apocalypse Now (1979) is loosely based on which novella?
Heart of Darkness
Coppola moved Conrad's Congo to Vietnam; the shoot in the Philippines stretched past a year and Martin Sheen had a heart attack.
Q 18Which star suffered a near-fatal heart attack during the Apocalypse Now shoot?
Martin Sheen
Brando, meanwhile, arrived overweight and unprepared, and typhoons destroyed the sets.
Q 19The Sting (1973) reunited which two stars of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
Paul Newman and Robert Redford
George Roy Hill directed both; Robert Shaw plays the mob boss they con.
Q 20A Clockwork Orange (1971) was adapted from a novel by which author?
Anthony Burgess
Stanley Kubrick wrote, produced and directed the film about youth gangs in a near-future Britain.
Q 24Michael Myers's mask in Halloween (1978) was made from a $1.98 mask of which TV character?
Captain Kirk
The film cost $300,000 and grossed $70 million, making it one of the most profitable independent films ever.
Q 25Who plays Willy Wonka in the 1971 film?
Gene Wilder
Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay from his own novel; five Golden Tickets are hidden in Wonka Bars.
Q 26Who was Mel Brooks's original choice to play Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles (1974)?
Richard Pryor
Pryor co-wrote the script but the studio reportedly refused to insure him; Cleavon Little took the role.
Q 27Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) was partly financed by which rock bands?
Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd
No studio would fund it; Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and several record labels also chipped in.
Q 28In The Deer Hunter (1978), the steelworkers are from a town near which city?
Pittsburgh
Clairton, Pennsylvania; the film won five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken.
Q 29Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) won Best Picture and acting Oscars for Dustin Hoffman and whom?
Meryl Streep
Nine-year-old Justin Henry was also nominated, making him one of the youngest nominees ever.
Q 30Dirty Harry (1971) drew on the real case of which unidentified murderer?
The Zodiac Killer
Clint Eastwood's Inspector Callahan hunts the Scorpio killer through San Francisco.