A little about my favorite movies of 1974: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Dead-on portrait of an ambitious young sociopath. Richard Dreyfuss' finest acting job. Blazing Saddles: Remember when Mel Brooks was funny? Somehow he used to be so funny that this AND "Young Frankenstein" came out the same year! Chinatown: Roman Polanski tackles film noir, and wins. Plus he wrote himself in to the movie, so he gets to cut Jack Nicholson's nose with a knife. The Conversation: A movie for technical nerds, about a master of eavesdropping devices and what he overhears. Francis Ford Coppola directed this - the same year he did Godfather II! Godfather II: Not as good as the first one, but good. They still had plenty of plot left over from the original novel. Hearts and Minds: Documentary about how fun the Vietnam war was, or, at the time, is. Unforgettable. The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser: Werner Herzog's adaptation of one of the most unusual true stories I know, the boy who was raised in a cave. The Odessa File: A spy movie, but it was pretty good and 1974 was a slim year. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Tobe Hooper's classic tale of a misunderstood family, who make their own head cheese. Young Frankenstein: God bless Marty Feldman.