More than any other decade, the 1970s laid the foundations of modern cinema.  The 1960s were no better a decade for film than the 1950s; its experimental excesses could not compensate for a shockingly meager output of quality work.  But something magical happened in the 1970s.  Perhaps it was the arrival on the scene of visionary directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, George Lucas, and many others.  Perhaps it was a unique moment in the industry when—as in the early 1990s—studios were not so risk-averse, and financing for daring new projects by unknown directors and writers was not so difficult to come by.