The 46th National Board of Review Awards were announced on December 25, 1974.

Top Ten Films

1. The Conversation
2. Murder on the Orient Express
3. Chinatown
4. The Last Detail
5. Harry and Tonto
6. A Woman Under the Influence
7. Thieves Like Us
8. Lenny
9. Daisy Miller
10. The Three Musketeers

Top Foreign Films

1. Amarcord
2. Lacombe Lucien
3. Scenes from a Marriage
4. The Phantom of Liberty
5. The Pedestrian

Winners

• Best Film:
  • The Conversation
• Best Foreign Film:
  • Amarcord
• Best Actor:
  • Gene Hackman - The Conversation
• Best Actress:
  • Gena Rowlands - A Woman Under the Influence
• Best Supporting Actor:
  • Holger Löwenadler - Lacombe Lucien
• Best Supporting Actress:
  • Valerie Perrine - Lenny
• Best Director:
  • Francis Ford Coppola - The Conversation
• Special Citation:
  • The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Earthquake and The Towering Inferno, for outstanding special effects
  • Robert Youngson, for his 25-year work with tasteful and intelligent compilation of films
  • The Film Industry, for increasing care in subsidiary casting in many films