12 Sleazy 1970s Movies That Don’t Care About Your Respect

These 1970s movies are proudly sleazy. The '70s were a great movie decade in general, but they excelled at sleazy movies.

We aren't talking about movies with an X rating, which are their own category. And we aren't talking about movies like Serpico, The French Connection and Mean Streets that depict sleaze but aren't sleazy themselves.

We're talking about 1970s movies that ruthlessly shock and pander to audiences for the sake of shock and titillation, often with delightful results.

So here we go with our list of 12 sleazy 1970s movies that don't care about your respect.

Caligula (1979)

When Penthouse founder Bob Guccione set out to make a mainstream movie, the result was Caligula — a story of the indulgent Roman emperor with big names attached.

Led by rather fearless Clockwork Orange veteran Malcolm McDowell, the film stars Teresa Ann Savoy (above), as well as Helen Mirren and Peter O'Toole. But what it's best known for is its over-the-top sex scenes.

It was written by the very respected Gore Vidal, who disavowed it after director Tinto Brass substantially altered his script.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

A brilliant and extremely influential 1970s movie that uses sleaze to its great advantage — starting with the unforgettable title.

It's one of the most effective and captivating horror movies ever made thanks to its hardcore atmosphere, oozing with sex and violence.

Filled with the sounds of animals and buzzing flies, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre makes clear from the start that it has no limits, even before we hear the first rev of Leatherface's chainsaw. It's one of the all-time most effective sleazy movies.

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975)

Among the sleaziest of sleazy movies, Ilsa, She Wolf of the S.S. affects high-minded ideals with a ridiculous opening card (see above), but it's all just an excuse to tell the story of Ilsa, an evil Nazi warden who wants to prove women are better at suffering than men, and should therefore be allowed to fight for Hitler.

Of course, she proves this through a series of "experiments" on women who are scantily clad, at best. Let's all say it together now: "They couldn't make this today."

A Canadian film by director Don Edmonds, it managed to get reviewed by Gene Siskel, who called it ""the most degenerate picture I have seen to play downtown." We can't tell if that's a thumbs up or thumbs down.

The Driller Killer (1979)

Abel Ferrara has made some straight-up classics — including King of New York and Bad Lieutenant — but the Bronx-born director cut his teeth with The Driller Killer. (His debut was an adult movie in which he also performed.)

Ferrara also appeared in The Driller Killer (above) about a New York City artist who deals with his urban angst by going on a killing spree with a power tool.

The film made it onto the United Kingdom's list of "video nasties" criticized as sleazy movies for their extreme content.

Dolemite (1975)

Look, we love Dolemite, but when the hero of the movie is a pimp, you're watching a sleazy movie.

One of the most 1970s of all 1970s movies, Rudy Ray Moore's endlessly entertaining Blaxploitation epic sprang from his filthy standup comedy routines: He passed on stories of a streetwise hustler named Dolemite who explained, "Dolemite is my name and f---ing up motherf---ers is my game."

Dolemite was also a triumph of DIY, indie moviemaking — as spelled out in the recent Dolemite Is My Name, starring Eddie Murphy.

Big congratulations to Dolemite for also making our list of movies that make sex work seem fun and exciting.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

Widely regarded as one of the best exploitation movies ever made, this Swedish film by director Bo Arne Vibenius stars Christina Lindberg as as a mute woman who endures a series of unbelievable traumas — which Vibenius isn't shy about showing onscreen.

She eventually finds herself a double-barrel shotgun and goes on a revenge mission that she — and her targets — very much deserve.

The film got a recent 4K Ultra HD restoration from the good people at Vinegar Syndrome, which does a masterful job of resurrecting cult classic movies.

The Last House on the Left (1972)

We hate this movie, because it's so incredible effective. One of the sleaziest sleazy movies ever made, it has a handmade quality that makes it violence and cruelty feel all the more real. It's an incredible 1970s movie in part for how deeply it buries the idealism of the late '60s.

Director Wes Craven made his debut with Last House on the Left — a story of abduction, brutality and vengeance, scored by eerie hippie music — before going on to create the classic Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream horror franchises. With all due respect to those films, they aren't remotely as scary as Last House on the Left.

Maybe we should say we hate this movie, but respect it.

Salo (1975)

Another movie we hate, because it haunts us.

Inspired by the writings of Marquis de Sade, this film by Pier Paolo Pasolini is about a group of fascists who round up a group of adolescents and do horrible things to them for 120 days. Just make a list of things that gross you out, and we promise they're in Salo.

Interestingly, Abel Ferrara, who you may remember from our Driller Killer entry, made a movie about Pasolini in 2014 about his life around the time he was making Salo. It stars the great Willem Dafoe, a good friend and frequent collaborator of Ferrara's. They've made plenty of terrific not at all sleazy movies.

Taxi Driver (1976)

Taxi Driver didn't care about respectability — but got it anyway.

It separates itself from all the 1970s films that merely depict sleaze without being sleazy by taking the side of the second-sleaziest character in the film: Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle is a dirtbag who takes a clean-cut woman (Cybil Shepherd) to an adult movie on a first-date and practices firing his gun in the mirror.

Though director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader allow us to keep an observational distance from Bickle for most of the movie, we can't help but take his side at the end of the movie as he takes on its No. 1 sleaze, the monstrous Sport (Harvey Keitel), who is disgustingly exploiting Iris (Jodie Foster, above). Because it takes a sleaze to beat a sleaze.

So Taxi Driver is a sleazy movie — and one of the all-time great movies.

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

You've probably seen and heard a lot of disco, but this movie captures desperation.

Saturday Night Fever is a nuanced and gritty character study of Tony Manero (John Travolta, above) that unflinchingly depicts racism and sexual violence. Tony is deeply flawed, and no hero by today's standards, but the movie tries to win back our affection for him by the end.

For such a successful film, it's a very sleazy movie and a rough watch — but the dancing is fantastic.

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

A movie we both love and respect, The Kentucky Fried Movie is a sendup of grindhouse and sleaze that is also, itself, pretty sleazy — but in a good way. It leaves no offensive joke unturned, and parody-movie sendups like Catholic High School Girls in trouble go waaay further than necessary to satirize the things they're satirizing. Countless 1970s teenagers didn't seem to mind.

The Kentucky Fried Movie is one of funniest sleazy movies, and it led to more mainstream, less sleazy success for director John Landis and writers David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, who would later go on to make Airplane.

Caged Heat (1974)

Yes, this low-budget Roger Corman production, also known as Renegade Girls, is a sleazy women in prison movie. But it's also the debut of a very great filmmaker.

Writer-director Jonathan Demme would go on to make Silence of the Lambs, one of the best films of all time, and to repay Corman for his confidence by casting him in the role of FBI Director Hayden Burke.

Silence of the Lambs was also shot but Demme's go-to cinematographer, Tak Fujimoto, who also shot Caged Heat.

Caged Heat is a cheap exploitation flick, sure, but it contains some Demme hallmarks: strong female protagonists, a strong sense of empathy for the characters, and social consciousness.

What Are Your Favorite Sleazy 1970s Movies?

Let us know in the comments.

Main image: The Kentucky Fried Movie. United Film Distribution Company.

Editor's Note: Corrects main image and credit.