1971 in film

Events

• February 8 – Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music. The film includes footage from Dylan's 1966 UK tour
• The first permanent IMAX projection system is installed at Ontario Place's "Cinesphere" in Toronto.

Top grossing films

North America

1. Love Story
2. Little Big Man
3. Summer of '42
4. Ryan's Daughter
5. The Owl and the Pussycat
6. The Aristocats
7. Carnal Knowledge
8. Willard
9. The Andromeda Strain
10. Big Jake

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The French Connection – D'Antoni-Schine-Moore, 20th Century-Fox
• Best Director: William Friedkin – The French Connection
• Best Actor: Gene Hackman – The French Connection
• Best Actress: Jane Fonda – Klute
• Best Supporting Actor: Ben Johnson – The Last Picture Show
• Best Supporting Actress: – Cloris Leachman – The Last Picture Show

Births

• February 17 – Denise Richards,actress
• March 31 – Ewan McGregor
• May 14 – Sofia Coppola
• August 31 – Chris Tucker, actor
• September 29 – Emily Lloyd, English actress.
• October 29 – Winona Ryder, American actress.
• November 25 – Christina Applegate

Deaths

• January 5 – Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer
• January 15 – John Dall, actor
• February 26 – Fernandel, actor
• March 8 – Harold Lloyd, silent screen comedian
• March 15 – Bebe Daniels, actor
• May 1 – Glenda Farrell, actress
• May 27 – Chips Rafferty, Australian actor
• May 28 – Audie Murphy, World War II hero became film actor after the war
• July 6 – Louis Armstrong, musician, actor
• July 23 – Van Heflin, actor
• August 15 – Paul Lukas, actor
• September 7 – Spring Byington, actress
• September 10 – Pier Angeli, actress
• September 11 – Bella Darvi, actress
• October 11 – Chester Conklin, actor
• November 17 – Gladys Cooper, actress
• December 13 – Dita Parlo, actress
• December 18 – Diana Lynn, actress
• December 28 – Max Steiner, film composer
• December 30 – Dorothy Comingore, actress best known as Susan Kane in Citizen Kane
• December 31 – Pete Duel 31, actor (suicide)

Other movies released

• Bedknobs and Broomsticks
• The Devils
• Dirty Harry starring Clint Eastwood
• The Music Lovers
• Something Big
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Diamonds Are Forever
• Carnal Knowledge
• A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick
• Straw Dogs
• Macbeth
• Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
• Escape from the Planet of the Apes
• The Big Doll House
• Shaft
• Billy Jack
• Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
• The Conformist
• The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Golden Bear winner
• The Go-Between Palme d'Or winner
• The Last Picture Show
• Countess Dracula