The Year's Best Films

Catch-22. Alan Arkin was transcendent in Mike Nichols' perverse adaptation, which missed the comedy but captured the pure terror of the Joseph Heller novel.

Husbands. John Cassavetes' dynamic portrait of three middle-aged men on a desperate tear also featured some of the year's best acting by Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk and Cassavetes himself.

Joe. A fascinating -- but ultimately horrifying--attempt to get inside the hardhat skull, with an emphatic performance by Peter Boyle.

Little Big Man. Arthur Penn revitalized the classic myth of the western by alternately revering and reviling it. Dustin Hoffman was outstanding as a 121-year-old veteran of Little Bighorn.

A Married Couple. Allan King's stinging and remorseless cinema verite dissection of a modern marriage.

M*A*S*H. The demonic fray-for-all that only hurt you when you laughed established Elliott Gould as a star, and became the year's hottest comedy.

The Passion of Anna. Ingmar Bergman's relentless closeup of the artist in a world where screams of Angst are answered by the silence of God.

Patton. A two-faced script and a lusterless cast--except for George C. Scott, who delivered a five-star performance as Old Blood and Guts.

Fellini Satyr icon. Rome, Before Christ and After Fellini, with indelible images of surrealism and horror. The master was, once again, self-indulgent. But what indulgence! And what a self!

Woodstock. Michael Wadleigh's film re-creation of the historic three-day concert was part celebration and part sociology, an altogether epic feat of nonfiction film making.

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