Best Crime Movies of 1977

A Vietnam veteran, Charles Rane, returns home after years in a POW camp and is treated as a hero. When thugs invade his home to steal the silver coins he received for his service, they mangle his hand and leave him and his family for dead. Rane survives and becomes obsessed with getting revenge. Aided by his loyal friend Johnny Vohden, Rane, now wielding a hook for a hand, sets out on his mission of vengeance.

When one of Regan's snouts complains that his girlfriend's recent suicide was murder, the flying squad detective feels compelled to investigate. He uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the heart of the government, and finds himself fitted up, suspended and under the scrutiny of Special Branch.

A rich housewife enlists her maid's help to murder her husband; they go on the lam and end up in Mortville, a homeless community built into a garbage dump.

Nicolai Dalchimski, a mad KGB agent steals a notebook full of names of "sleeping" undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950's. These agents got their assignments under hypnosis, so they can't remember their missions until they're told a line of a Robert Frost poem. Dalchimski flees to the U.S. and starts phoning these agents who perform sabotage acts against military targets.

Over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who had gotten himself involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.

When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.

A minister dispenses justice on three convicts who take his family hostage.

Financial wizard "Doc" Fletcher is sent by crime boss Joe Fiore to buy a bank in Switzerland in order to more easily launder their profits. When he arrives, Fletcher finds that the bank, acquired by his associate Prince di Siracusa, consists of some shabby offices above a restaurant. To make up for this, the Prince suggests that Fletcher invests in a silver mine owned by Shireen and Agha Firdausi. This solves one problem, but the mine also attracts the attention of some of the most powerful people in the silver business. Fletcher must pull out all his wheeler-dealing skills in order to keep hold of everything he's worked for, in the process romancing a banker's discontented wife.

The bizarre story behind the man accused of assassinating John F. Kennedy and what might have happened had he been brought to trial.

Three philosophy professors travel to Prague for a conference. One of them, Anderson, is forced to rethink his ideas on ethics when a former student is arrested by the Czech authorities for writing about individualist approaches to morality.

The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC. Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond spent three months in 1976 riding along with patrol officers in the 44th Precinct of the South Bronx, which had the highest crime rate in New York City at that time. They produced about 40 hours of videotape that they edited into a 90-minute documentary.

An undercover policewoman finds herself framed for murder. Forced to flee for her life, she determines to clear her name and bring the real killers to justice.

This is the story of Buford Pusser's final days; not only of his life, but also as Sheriff. It seems that times are changing, and the once adoring people of Pusser's town now fear him and feel like it's time to make a change. There are also some officials who feel the same way and are using every means to get rid of Pusser.

A group of Los Angeles cops decide to take off some of the pressures of their jobs by engaging in various forms of after-hours debauchery.

A communal drug family begins to dissolve from within while a University student watches and records it all.

An accomplished repo man from Vancouver takes a new hire under his wing, while their morals and limits are tested on the job.

Matt and Scott are two detectives trying to catch a crazy guy who has a beef with a country singer. Banks' problem with country singer, Wes Collins, is that Wes punched him in the face when he was a baby. Banks is now intent on getting revenge for this by killing Wes. Only Matt and Scott can stop him. Written by Josh Pasnak

A Native American travels around a resort town, murdering cops and rich people with a high-powered crossbow, while demanding that the town's richest residents pay him money to stop the killings.

A politician goes to a brothel and learns his daughter works there

A white female detective is partnered with a black male detective to find the person who is committing a series of particularly vicious murders. During the course of the investigation the two begin to develop an attraction to each other, but the situation is complicated by the fact that he is married.

A rich girl steals her dad's Rolls Royce and heads off to Las Vegas to get married. However, her angry parents, a jealous suitor, and a bunch of reward seekers are determined to stop her.

John Cleese is hilarious as the descendant of Sherlock Holmes in this modern detective drama of international power politics and intrigue. Unlike his illustrious grandfather however, he only succeeds in bungling every job he organizes. Also stars Arthur Lowe as the "bionic" grandson of Dr. Watson, Stratford Johns as the Commissioner of Police, and Connie Booth as Mrs. Hudson.

Duke Turnbeau (David Soul) has come to England, in the 1930s, as a way to improve his fortunes. For some reason, he believes that his larcenous ways will bring him prosperity in the country which at one time or another has had rulership over a large portion of the globe. While there, he meets Rosie McCratchit (Pamela McMyler), a lovely Irish gal who could do with some improvement in her fortunes as well. Together, they have a series of legal, quasi-legal and definitely illegal adventures, including Duke's cow-roping and Rosie's response to the mud-wrestling challenge of the Amazon Lady, as well as an attempted armored-car robbery.

An alcoholic London ex-cop becomes involved in a kidnapping drama and tries to free the daughter of a friend from a brutal gangster mob.

When a New York lawyer realizes that he is the latest in a long line of Holly's discarded lovers he decides to get even with her. In order to blackmail her, he gets a gangster to secretly film Holly with her new lover in their hotel room.

A gung-ho ex-military man pursues a secret life of crime, culminating in the kidnapping of a teenage heiress.

Decorated soldier Kyle Martin returns home after WW2 to discover his family farm is in foreclosure. With only a silver star to his name, Kyle is in dire straits until gambler Johnny O' offers to give him money in exchange for killing a gangster.

A private eye goes on the trail of the kidnappers of a rich man's daughter.

Hazel runs a beauty salon out of her house, but makes extra money by providing ruthless women the oppurtunity to perform hit jobs. L.T. is a parasite, and contacts Hazel looking for work after he runs out of money. She is reluctant to use him for a hit, since she prefers using women, but decides to try him on a trial basis. Meanwhile, the cop she pays off wants an arrest to make it look like he's doing his job, but Hazel doesn't want to sacrifice any of her "associates". The sleazy side of life is explored in this delightfully dark and deadpan film.

Truck driver searches for his brother, who has disappeared in a town run by a corrupt judge.

San Francisco detective Johnny Wadd searches for a stolen Oriental cat figure made from a priceless jade and comes up against both crime syndicate thugs also after the stature, and a lot of sex obsessed women wanting some action.

The film tells the story of a family whose uncle is murdered. The son gets everything because he's in the will. The detective is trying to find out who murdered the uncle, while trying to avoid ending up dead as well.

A group of young people living a luxurious life in Istanbul go to a village for a rafting adventure on the Euphrates.

A quartet of dangerous femme fatals try to recover a priceless jade statue that private detective, Johnny Wadd, unknowingly has in his possession.

Burt is a bugged out freak, who after witnessing an enema procedure at the local sex-club, decides that it's his duty to clean out all the whores he cums across - starting with one of his neighbors that he often peeps on. Armed with a backpack full of enema supplies, Burt goes on an ass-douching rampage of twisted hilarity - including the aforementioned neighbor, a pair of sisters (who are a little too "close" for comfort), and finally a female undercover cop who is out to bust him...

When the daughter of the royal family is held hostage, an agent for "D.R.A.G.O.N." will stop at nothing to destroy the evil organisation which abducted her.

The three surviving daughters of a murdered moonshiner band together with a racecar driver to run high-test shine behind the corpulent backs of the local likker syndicate.

Tony Franciosa plays a detective who's on the trail of a murderer whose mutilated and predominantly male victims are found encased in silken cocoons...

Criminals hijack an airplane carrying five beauty contest finalists, but unknowingly they've also kidnapped a government agent carrying a dangerous virus that is to be used in bacterial warfare.

After a wave of unsolved car thefts, an insurance company calls in a private investigator to solve the case. While the chief of police isn't thrilled about having an outsider come and show up his men, one of the officers is a former girlfriend who's more than willing to help him out in any way she can.

Scott, John and Suzie quit their boring jobs and depart L.A. for Alaska to pursue their dream of their own salmon fishing business. They soon find that life in Alaska is more difficult than expected as they are forced to abandon their plans and make desperate choices just to survive.

Action-packed suspense thriller finds innocuous-looking purser Carter (Harris) the unlikely hero when the floating casino on which he works is hijacked by a heavily armed group of mercenaries, led by John Vernon. Complicating matters, a nuclear warhead has been smuggled aboard as collateral for a rendezvous with another ocean liner, loaded with gold bullion. A cast full of supernovas, dazzling set & stunt work, and a catchy theme tune by Jeff Wayne create a pleasing audio-visual experience light on logic but fast paced and entertaining nonetheless.

Former DEA Agent Quinlan, removed from the force some years earlier for stealing confiscated drug money, is hired by Chung Wei, a leader in the Amsterdam drug cartel, who wants out of the business. Quinlan's job is to use Chung's information to tip DEA agents to drug busts, thereby destroying the cartel. But when the first two "tips" go awry, resulting in murdered DEA officers, the feds must decide whether to trust Quinlan further...

An apartment dweller goes on a search-and-destroy mission to kill the ruthless landlords who murdered his father.

Five camping youths see at night a ghostly woman, which leads them to the castle of Count Kaunitz, in what will reveal itself to be a gruesome trap. Schlingensief was 15 years old when making this film.

Howard is mild-mannered and slightly simple-minded, with a habit of picking up teenage hitchhikers while driving his delivery routes. Sometimes the girls admit to being runaways, and if they claim to hate their mothers it drives Howard into a violent frenzy; his sister ran away from home years ago and was never heard from again, causing his desperate, addled mother to tighten her hold on him. Howard never remembers raping his victims or strangling them with wire coat hangers, though his boss does notice missed deliveries and late arrivals.

A psycho stalks and violates women at gunpoint. One woman is determined to stop him.

Teenage friends Cindy and Leah have decided to leave their abusive homelives behind, stealing Cindy's father's car and setting out on the road to freedom. On the way, they meet up with a sleazy guy named Tank who invites them up to his place. As Tank showers, the two girls decide to take off, stealing Tank's wallet and his car. His car, however, happens to contain $2 million from a bank job he just pulled off, and Tank is now rather intent on tracking the pair down and reclaiming what's his.