This work offers a critical and contextual examination of 130 commercially released film comedies of the 1970s. Arranged chronologically, it considers the socio-political circumstances of each year of the decade, then critiques each film released that year with a focus on each title's effect on the film industry and the art of big-screen comedy, as well as the emergence of talents whose work influenced (or was influenced by) the zeitgeist of the decade. Covering popular titles like M*A*S*H, Blazing Saddles, American Graffiti, The Bad News Bears, Smokey and the Bandit and many more, it argues...