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The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.
Events
- February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music. The film includes footage from Dylan's 1966 UK tour
- The first permanent IMAX projection system is installed at Ontario Place's "Cinesphere" in Toronto.
- April 23 - The film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song becomes the highest-grossing independent film of 1971.
Top grossing films (U.S.)
| Rank |
Title |
Studio |
Actors |
Gross |
| 1. |
Fiddler on the Roof |
United Artists |
Topol |
$38,261,000 |
| 2. |
The French Connection |
20th Century Fox |
Gene Hackman |
$32,500,000 |
| 3. |
Summer of '42 |
Warner Bros |
Jennifer O'Neill |
$26,315,000 |
| 4. |
Diamonds Are Forever |
United Artists |
Sean Connery and Jill St. John |
$20,500,000 |
| 5. |
Dirty Harry |
Warner Brothers |
Clint Eastwood |
$19,727,000 |
| 6. |
Carnal Knowledge |
Embassy |
Jack Nicholson and Ann-Margret |
$18,000,000 |
| 7. |
A Clockwork Orange |
Warner Brothers |
Malcolm McDowell |
$17,000,000 |
| 8. |
Klute |
Warner Brothers |
Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland |
$14,075,000 |
| 9. |
The Last Picture Show |
Columbia |
Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd and Jeff Bridges |
$13,100,000 |
| 10. |
Bedknobs and Broomsticks* |
Disney |
Angela Lansbury |
$11,426,000 |
(*) After Theatrical re-issue(s)
Awards
Academy Awards:
- Best Picture: The French Connection - D'Antoni-Schine-Moore, 20th Century-Fox
- Best Director: William Friedkin - The French Connection
- Best Actor: Gene Hackman - The French Connection
- Best Actress: Jane Fonda - Klute
- Best Supporting Actor: Ben Johnson - The Last Picture Show
- Best Supporting Actress: - Cloris Leachman - The Last Picture Show
- Best Foreign Language Film: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini), directed by Vittorio De Sica, Italy / W. Germany
Golden Globe Awards:
- Drama:
- Best Picture: The French Connection
- Best Actor: Gene Hackman - The French Connection
- Best Actress: Jane Fonda - Klute
- Musical or comedy:
- Best Picture: Fiddler on the Roof
- Best Actor: Topol - Fiddler on the Roof
- Best Actress: Twiggy - The Boy Friend
- Other
- Best Director: William Friedkin - The French Connection
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
- The Go-Between, directed by Joseph Losey, United Kingdom
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
- The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini), directed by Vittorio De Sica, Italy / W. Germany
Films released in 1971
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes, starring Vincent Price
- A Clockwork Orange
- And Now For Something Completely Different
- The Andromeda Strain
- Bananas - Woody Allen
- The Barefoot Executive
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- The Big Doll House
- Big Jake
- Billy Jack Re-Released in 1973
- Born to Win
- The Boy Friend
- Brian's Song
- Carnal Knowledge
- Carry On at Your Convenience
- Carry On Henry
- Countess Dracula
- Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia)
- The Devils
- Diamonds Are Forever
- Dirty Harry
- Duel
- The Emigrants
- Escape from the Planet of the Apes
- The French Connection
- Fiddler on the Roof
- Gamera vs. Zigra
- The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini)
- Gas-s-s-s
- The Go-Between Palme d'Or winner
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah
- Guddi
- Harold and Maude
- The Hired Hand
- The Hospital
- I, Monster
- Julius Caesar (U.S. release)
- Just avant la nuit (aka Just Before Nightfall)
- Klute, starring Jane Fonda
- Kotch, starring Walter Matthau
- The Last Picture Show
- Love
- Macbeth
- Made for Each Other
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller
- Melody
- Mon oncle Antoine, considered by critics the greatest Canadian film of all time
- A New Leaf, starring Elaine May and Walter Matthau
- Nicholas and Alexandra
- The Omega Man
- On the Buses
- The Panic in Needle Park starring Al Pacino
- Play Misty For Me starring Clint Eastwood
- Plaza Suite, starring Walter Matthau
- Raid on Rommel, starring Richard Burton
- A Safe Place
- Shaft
- She Killed in Ecstasy
- Skin Game
- Something Big
- Straw Dogs
- Summer of '42
- Support Your Local Gunfighter
- Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
- The Tales of Beatrix Potter
- They Call Me Trinity, spaghetti western with Terence Hill
- THX 1138
- The Touch of Satan
- Trafic
- Twitch of the Death Nerve
- Two-Lane Blacktop
- Up Pompeii
- Valdez Is Coming
- Vanishing Point (1971 film)
- Von Richthofen and Brown (a.k.a. The Red Baron)
- Wake in Fright
- Walkabout, directed by Nicolas Roeg
- Waterloo (U.S. release)
- Le Wazzou polygame
- Werewolves on Wheels
- Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?
- Wild Riders
- Willard
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
- The Working Class Goes to Heaven, Palme d'Or winner
- W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism
Births
- January 2 - Taye Diggs, actor
- January 11 - Mary J. Blige, musician
- January 15 - Regina King, actor
- January 17 - Kid Rock, musician
- February 1 - Michael C. Hall, actor
- February 1 - Jill Kelly, adult actress
- February 11 - Damien Lewis, actor
- February 15 - Alex Borstein, actress
- February 17 - Denise Richards, actress
- February 24 - Stephen Petit, actor and musician
- March 7 - Peter Sarsgaard, actor
- March 10 - Jon Hamm, actor
- March 13 - Annabeth Gish, actress
- March 27 - Nathan Fillion, actor
- March 31 - Ewan McGregor actor
- April 1 - Method Man actor and musician
- April 12 - Shannon Doherty actress
- April 18 - David Tennant actor
- May 14 - Sofia Coppola, actress, writer, and director
- May 27 - Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez singer and actress
- May 27 - Paul Bettany actor
- June 4 - Noah Wyle actor
- June 5 - Mark Wahlberg actor and musician
- June 16 - Tupac Shakur actor and musician
- July 1 - Missy Elliott musician and actress
- July 16 - Corey Feldman actor
- July 21 - Charlotte Gainsbourg, actress
- August 10 - Justin Theroux, actor
- August 29 - Carla Gugino, actress.
- August 31 - Chris Tucker, actor
- September 16 - Amy Poehler, actress
- September 18 - Jada Pinkett-Smith, actress
- September 21 - Luke Wilson, actor
- October 20 - Snoop Dogg, musician and actor
- October 29 - Winona Ryder, actress
- November 25 - Christina Applegate actress
- December 1 - Emily Mortimer actress
- December 7 - Chasey Lain adult actress
- December 23 - Corey Haim, actor
- December 26 - Jared Leto, actor and musician
Deaths
- January 5 - Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer
- January 15 - John Dall, actor
- February 26 - Fernandel, actor
- March 8 – Harold Lloyd, silent screen comedian
- March 15 - Bebe Daniels, actress
- May 1 - Glenda Farrell, actress
- May 27 - Chips Rafferty, Australian actor
- May 28 - Audie Murphy, World War II hero became film actor after the war
- July 3 - Jim Morrison, songwriter, poet, musician
- July 6 - Louis Armstrong, musician, actor
- July 23 - Van Heflin, actor
- August 15 - Paul Lukas, actor
- September 7 - Spring Byington, actress
- September 10 - Pier Angeli, actress
- September 11 - Bella Darvi, actress
- October 11 - Chester Conklin, actor
- October 26 - Vincent Coleman, actor
- November 17 - Gladys Cooper, actress
- December 13 - Dita Parlo, actress
- December 18 - Diana Lynn, actress
- December 28 - Max Steiner, film composer
- December 30 - Dorothy Comingore, actress best known as Susan Kane in Citizen Kane
- December 31 - Pete Duel, 31, actor (suicide)
- December 31 - Marin Sais, actress
Film debuts
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