1973 — Year in Review
Fritz Golden Superlatives

1. Badlands (dir: Terrence Malick)

2. Paper Moon (dir: Peter Bogdanovich)

3. The Long Goodbye (dir: Robert Altman)

4. The Spirit of the Beehive (dir: Victor Erice)

5. Lady Snowblood (dir: Toshiya Fujita)

6. The Iron Rose (dir: Jean Rollin)

7. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (dir: Rainier Werner Fassbinder)

8. Torso (dir: Sergio Martino)

9. The Day of the Jackal (dir: Fred Zinnemann)

10. The Exorcist (dir: William Friedkin)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Amaracord (dir: Federico Fellini), American Graffiti (dir: George Lucas), Black Caesar (dir: Larry Cohen), Charley Varrick (dir: Don Siegel), Don’t Look Now (dir: Nicolas Roeg), F Is for Fake (dir: Orson Welles), Fantastic Planet (dir: René Laloux), Friends of Eddie Coyle (dir: Peter Yates), Ganja & Hess (dir: Bill Gunn), Heavy Traffic (dir: Ralph Bakshi), High Plains Drifter (dir: Clint Eastwood), Holy Mountain (dir: Alejandro Jodorowsky), The Last Detail (dir: Hal Ashby), Mean Streets (dir: Martin Scorsese), The Night Porter (dir: Liliana Cavani), O Lucky Man! (dir: Lindsay Anderson), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (dir: Sam Peckinpah; preview version, 122 mins), Scenes from a Marriage (dir: Ingmar Bergman), Serpico (dir: Sidney Lumet), Sisters (dir: Brian De Palma), Sleeper (dir: Woody Allen), and Turkish Delight (dir: Paul Verhoeven)

Best Picture: Badlands
Director: Terrence Malick Producer: Terrence Malick
US Distributor: Warner Brothers

Best Director:
Terrence Malick, Badlands
2. Robert Altman, The Long Goodbye
3. Peter Bogdanovich, Paper Moon
4. William Friedkin, The Exorcist
5. Jean Rollin, The Iron Rose

Best Actor:
Jack Nicholson, The Last Detail
2. James Coburn, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
3. Malcolm McDowell, O Lucky Man!
4. Donald Sutherland, Don't Look Now
5. Al Pacino, Serpico

Best Actress:
Liv Ullman, Scenes from a Marriage
2. Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon
3. Ellen Burstyn, The Exorcist
4. Ana Torrent, The Spirit of the Beehive
5. Sissy Spacek, Badlands

Best Supporting Actor:
Robert De Niro, Mean Streets
2. Jason Miller, The Exorcist
3. Max von Sydow, The Exorcist
4. Michael Lonsdale, The Day of the Jackal
5. Charles Martin Smith, American Graffiti

Best Supporting Actress:
Madeline Kahn, Paper Moon
2. Linda Blair and Mercedes McCambridge (possessed voice), The Exorcist
3. Valentina Cortese, Day for Night
4. Candy Clark, American Graffiti
5. Delphine Seyrig, The Day of the Jackal

Best Original Screenplay:
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant — Rainier Werner Fassbinder
2. Scenes from a Marriage — Ingmar Bergman
3. Badlands — Terrence Malick
4. Mean Streets — Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin
5. Heavy Traffic — Ralph Bakshi

Best Adapted Screenplay: 
Paper Moon — Alvin Sargent
2. The Long Goodbye — Leigh Brackett
3. The Exorcist — William Peter Blatty
4. Friends of Eddie Coyle — Paul Monash
5. The Day of the Jackal — Kenneth Ross

Best Cinematography:
Badlands — Tak Fujimoto
2. The Exorcist — Owen Roizman
3. Paper Moon – Laszlo Kovacs
4. Lady Snowblood — Masaki Tamura
5. Torso — Giancarlo Ferrando

Best Film Editing:
Torso — Eugenio Alabiso
2. Badlands — Robert Estrin and Billy Weber
3. Paper Moon — Verna Fields
4. Don’t Look Now — Graeme Clifford
5. The Spirit of the Beehive — Pablo G. del Amo

Best Original Score:
The Long Goodbye — John Williams
2. The Iron Rose — Pierre Raph
3. Lady Snowblood — Masaaki Hirao
4. Papillion — Jerry Goldsmith
5. Amaracord — Nina Rota

Best Production Design:
The Holy Mountain — Alejandro Jodoworsky
2. Paper Moon — Polly Platt
3. High Plains Drifter — Henry Bumstead and George Milo
4. Theatre of Blood – Michael Seymour and Ann Mollo
5. Amarcord — Danilo Donati and Giorgio Giovannini

Best Costume Design: 
Paper Moon — Polly Platt
2. The Holy Mountain – Alejandro Jodoworsky and Nicky Nichols
3. The Sting — Edith Head
4. Amarcord — Danilo Donati
5. The Spirit of the Beehive — Peris

Best Visual Effects:
The Exorcist

Best Sound:
The Exorcist

Best Documentary Feature: 
Orson Welles, F Is for Fake

Best Animated Feature: Rene Laloux, Fantastic Planet

Best Ensemble Cast:
O Lucky Man!

Orson Welles’ Best First Feature:
Terrence Malick, Badlands

Best Ensemble Cast:
O Lucky Man! (dir: Lindsay Anderson; in alphabetical order): Warren Clarke, Graham Crowden, Arthur Lowe, Malcolm McDowell (pictured), Helen Mirren, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts (pictured), Philip Stone and Mona Washbourne

Orson Welles' Best First Feature:
Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen in Terrence Malick’s Badlands

RECAP

W I N S :

Badlands — 4,
Paper Moon — 3, The Exorcist — 2, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant — 1, F Is for Fake — 1, Fantastic Planet — 1, Holy Mountain — 1, The Last Detail — 1, The Long Goodbye — 1, Mean Streets — 1, O Lucky Man — 1, Scenes from a Marriage — 1, Torso — 1

M U L T I P L E
N O M I N A T I O N S :

The Exorcist — 11,
Paper Moon — 8, Badlands — 7, Day of the Jackal — 6, The Long Goodbye – 4, The Spirit of the Beehive — 4, Amaracord — 3, The Iron Rose — 3, Lady Snowblood — 3, Torso — 3, American Graffiti — 2, The Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant — 3, Don’t Look Now — 2, Holy Mountain — 2, Mean Streets — 2, O Lucky Man — 2, Scenes from a Marriage — 2

the year-end project:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1940 - 1949, 1930 - 1939, 1920 - 1929 + Superlatives Index

Best of the Decade:
2010s, 2000s, 1990s, 1980s