MY TOP 50+ MOVIES FOR 1978 (in list order)
by DukeEman | created - 14 Jul 2012 | updated - 3 months ago | PublicCimino peaks and then no more; It could have been Malick's final movie; Altman continues to impress even with minor subjects; who would have thought Zombies in shopping malls would say a lot about society, and I have a soft spot for that musical. In list order...
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1. The Deer Hunter (1978)
R | 183 min | Drama, War
An in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.
Director: Michael Cimino | Stars: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage
Votes: 362,437 | Gross: $48.98M
Cimino could do no wrong with this cast....
2. Days of Heaven (1978)
PG | 94 min | Drama, Romance
A hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz
Votes: 62,797
Mallick's masterpiece before he vanished...
3. A Wedding (1978)
PG | 125 min | Comedy, Drama
The daughter of a Louisville truck driver marries the scion of a very wealthy family, but the reception at the family estate is boycotted by the invited guests.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Carol Burnett, Desi Arnaz Jr., Geraldine Chaplin, Howard Duff
Votes: 3,750
Pure Altman class...
4. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Unrated | 127 min | Horror, Thriller
During an escalating zombie epidemic, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and his TV executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross
Votes: 128,666 | Gross: $5.10M
The best ever Zombie film...
5. Grease (1978)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Good girl Sandy Olsson and greaser Danny Zuko fell in love over the summer. When they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance?
Director: Randal Kleiser | Stars: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway
Votes: 300,776 | Gross: $188.76M
My guilty pleasure as a child...
6. Midnight Express (1978)
R | 121 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli
Votes: 88,285 | Gross: $35.00M
The torture of life in a foreign prison...
7. Heaven Can Wait (1978)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
A Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire.
Directors: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry | Stars: Warren Beatty, James Mason, Julie Christie, Jack Warden
Votes: 23,531 | Gross: $81.64M
Wonderful...
8. Newsfront (1978)
PG | 110 min | Drama, History
In post-war Australia the men and women of Cinetone struggle to produce the weekly news reels for the movie-going public.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Bill Hunter, Gerard Kennedy, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood
Votes: 905
Perfect Aussie Newsreel...
9. The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
Not Rated | 186 min | Drama, History
Peasant life in a feudal farm in rural Italy at the end of the 19th century.
Director: Ermanno Olmi | Stars: Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi, Omar Brignoli, Antonio Ferrari
Votes: 6,896
Olmi's epic...
10. Coming Home (1978)
R | 127 min | Drama, Romance, War
In 1968 California, a woman whose husband is a Marine officer fighting in Vietnam falls in love with a former high school classmate who suffered a paralyzing combat injury in the war.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford
Votes: 14,815 | Gross: $32.65M
It was a movie for its time, but still relevant today and maybe for all time...
11. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A worried husband finds a lover for his depressed wife, but she falls in love with a bullied thirteen-year-old math prodigy and wants to have the boy's baby.
Director: Bertrand Blier | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Carole Laure, Patrick Dewaere, Michel Serrault
Votes: 4,290
There is love for all of us...
12. The Last Waltz (1978)
PG | 117 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
A film account and presentation of the final concert of The Band.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robbie Robertson, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Van Morrison
Votes: 20,185 | Gross: $0.32M
Scorsese's begins his musical journey...
13. Orchestra Rehearsal (1978)
R | 72 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
An orchestra assembles for a rehearsal in an ancient chapel under the inquisitive eyes of a TV documentary crew, but an uprising breaks out.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Balduin Baas, Clara Colosimo, Elizabeth Labi, Ronaldo Bonacchi
Votes: 5,108
Political Fellini...
14. The Driver (1978)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A getaway driver becomes the latest assignment for a tenacious detective.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani, Ronee Blakley
Votes: 19,440 | Gross: $4.91M
It all falls perfectly into place for Walter and cast...
15. Empire of Passion (1978)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well. After a while, his ghost comes to haunt them while the local gossip grows stronger.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Tatsuya Fuji, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Takahiro Tamura, Takuzô Kawatani
Votes: 4,938
Passion according to Nagisa...
16. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,960 | Gross: $47.00M
Carpenter creates the perfect slasher film...
17. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
R | 109 min | Comedy
At a 1962 college, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.
Director: John Landis | Stars: John Belushi, Karen Allen, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst
Votes: 129,395
My teenage pleasure film...
18. La Cage aux Folles (1978)
R | 97 min | Comedy
The manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and his star attraction, are a gay couple. Madness ensues when his straight son brings home a fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.
Director: Édouard Molinaro | Stars: Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault, Claire Maurier, Rémi Laurent
Votes: 11,915 | Gross: $20.42M
The perfect French farce...
19. The End (I) (1978)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
Slapstick black comedy about a man (Reynolds) who finds that he hasn't much longer to live and has bungled his attempts at suicide.
Director: Burt Reynolds | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Dom DeLuise, Strother Martin
Votes: 4,385
A very funny dark film from Burt...
20. Weekend of Shadows (1978)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama
In the 1930s, a farmer's wife in a small town is murdered. Suspicion falls on a Polish labourer and a posse is formed to catch him.
Director: Tom Jeffrey | Stars: John Waters, Wyn Roberts, Graham Rouse, Melissa Jaffer
Votes: 70
An underated Aussie gem...
21. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 69,917 | Gross: $24.95M
A darker version...
22. Watership Down (1978)
PG | 91 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Hoping to escape destruction by human developers and save their community, a colony of rabbits, led by Hazel and Fiver, seek out a safe place to set up a new warren.
Directors: Martin Rosen, John Hubley | Stars: John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson, Michael Graham Cox
Votes: 39,451
Loved the book, and the film tried...
23. The Silent Partner (1978)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A timid bank teller anticipates a bank robbery and steals the money himself before the crook arrives. When the sadistic crook realizes he's been fooled, he tracks down the teller and engages him in a cat-and-mouse chase for the cash.
Directors: Daryl Duke, Curtis Hanson | Stars: Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, Céline Lomez
Votes: 7,754
Clever little twists...
24. Pretty Baby (1978)
R | 110 min | Drama
A preteen girl lives as a prostitute in New Orleans in 1917.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, Frances Faye
Votes: 12,841 | Gross: $5.79M
Malle pushes the boundaries but for all the interesting reasons...
25. The Night, the Prowler (1978)
90 min | Drama, Comedy
From the Director of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' Jim Sharman and Nobel Prize winning author Patrick White A haunting tale of obsession and possession.
Director: Jim Sharman | Stars: Ruth Cracknell, John Frawley, Kerry Walker, John Derum
Votes: 237
A cheeky dark Aussie film...
26. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
108 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
After suffering racist abuse throughout his life - which intensifies following his marriage to a white woman - a half-Aboriginal farmhand finds himself driven to murder.
Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Tommy Lewis, Freddy Reynolds, Angela Punch McGregor, Ray Barrett
Votes: 2,534
A dark period in Aussie history...
27. An Unmarried Woman (1978)
R | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A wealthy woman from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sexuality after her husband of 16 years leaves her for a younger woman.
Director: Paul Mazursky | Stars: Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy, Cliff Gorman
Votes: 6,054 | Gross: $24.00M
Mazursky can give good drama with the right cast...
28. Despair (1978)
119 min | Drama, History
In early-1930s Berlin, an elegant Russian émigré and eccentric chocolatier convinces himself that he has seen his doppelgänger, and hatches a murderous plan to trade his existence for an entirely new one. Will he get over the deep despair?
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Andréa Ferréol, Klaus Löwitsch, Volker Spengler
Votes: 2,724
Fassbinder has a messy way of telling an intriguing story, but Dirk steals the show...
29. F.I.S.T. (1978)
PG | 145 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A rebellious Cleveland warehouse worker rises through the ranks of a trucking industry union to become union president but his organized crime links cause his eventual downfall.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle, Melinda Dillon
Votes: 8,748 | Gross: $20.39M
Before Stallone went to the "Right Side", he made interesting films...
30. Blue Collar (1978)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama
When three automotive factory workers who're struggling financially try to steal from their own labor union, they discover corruption, and reluctantly decide to use this information for blackmail.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, Ed Begley Jr.
Votes: 10,654
Schrader turns to direction with mixed results...
31. Fingers (1978)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A dysfunctional young man is pulled between loyalties to his Italian mob-connected loan-shark father and his mentally-disturbed Jewish concert-pianist mother.
Director: James Toback | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, Jim Brown, Michael V. Gazzo
Votes: 2,885
Toback showed promise, but I think it was Keitel's piece...
32. Patrick (1978)
Unrated | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A comatose hospital patient harasses and kills through his powers of telekinesis to claim his private nurse as his own.
Director: Richard Franklin | Stars: Susan Penhaligon, Robert Helpmann, Rod Mullinar, Bruce Barry
Votes: 3,973
One of the better Aussie horror films thanks to director Franklin...
33. Capricorn One (1977)
PG | 123 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
When the first manned flight to Mars is deemed unsafe and scrubbed on the launch pad, anxious authorities must scramble to save face and retain their funding - and so an unthinkable plot to fake the mission is hatched.
Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston
Votes: 24,742
Very clever...
34. In Search of Anna (1978)
91 min | Drama
Tony's out of jail. His mates think he's got the proceeds from the robbery and want it. Tony just wants to find Anna. He deals with one problem at a time. This is a road movie and a trip. A... See full synopsis »
Director: Esben Storm | Stars: Richard Moir, Judy Morris, Chris Haywood, Bill Hunter
Votes: 80
Worth tracking down...
35. The Cheap Detective (1978)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
San Francisco, 1940, detectives, dames, documents, Nazis, and a treasure.
Director: Robert Moore | Stars: Peter Falk, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Sid Caesar
Votes: 5,752
Falk is brilliant and funny...
36. Superman (1978)
PG | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest superhero.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando
Votes: 187,615 | Gross: $134.22M
Nice little set-up for the next one...
37. Big Wednesday (1978)
PG | 120 min | Drama, Sport
The lives of some California surfers from the early 1960s to the 1970s.
Director: John Milius | Stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt, Gary Busey, Patti D'Arbanville
Votes: 7,373
Catching the big one with this young gorgeous cast...
38. Interiors (1978)
PG | 92 min | Drama
Three sisters find their lives spinning out of control in the wake of their parents' sudden, unexpected divorce.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Diane Keaton, Geraldine Page, Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt
Votes: 20,944
The start of Woody's seriousness...
39. Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
PG | 114 min | Action, Comedy
The San Fernando Valley adventures of trucker turned prize-fighter Philo Beddoe and his pet orangutan Clyde.
Director: James Fargo | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Beverly D'Angelo
Votes: 30,063 | Gross: $106.00M
Perfect trash for Eastwood...
40. Autumn Sonata (1978)
PG | 99 min | Drama, Music
A devoted wife is visited by her mother, a successful concert pianist who had little time for her when she was young.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk
Votes: 37,820
The teaming of Bergman and Bergman make it interesting...
41. The Great Train Robbery (1978)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
England, 1850s. A master criminal aims to rob a train of a large sum of gold. Security is incredibly tight and the task seems an impossible one. However, he has a plan and just the right people to carry it out.
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, Lesley-Anne Down, Alan Webb
Votes: 19,565 | Gross: $13.03M
Not a bad effort from Crichton before he turned to writing...
42. The Boys from Brazil (1978)
R | 125 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A Nazi hunter in Paraguay discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Lilli Palmer
Votes: 30,589 | Gross: $19.00M
The madness of man...
43. Hooper (1978)
PG | 99 min | Action, Comedy
Aging Hollywood stuntman Sonny Hooper wants to prove that he's still got what it takes to be a great professional in this risky, under-recognized line of work.
Director: Hal Needham | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Jan-Michael Vincent, Sally Field, Brian Keith
Votes: 7,900 | Gross: $78.00M
Fun with the stunt guys...
44. I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
PG | 104 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
In 1964, six teenagers from New Jersey run off to see The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) in the hope of meeting their idols. However, they don't have tickets. Along the way, they learn new things about friendship and growing up.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure, Susan Kendall Newman
Votes: 5,624
A moment in time...
45. Thank God It's Friday (1978)
PG | 89 min | Comedy, Music
A Friday in the life of the disco club The Zoo, where the staff and clients meet and dance their lives away.
Director: Robert Klane | Stars: Donna Summer, Valerie Landsburg, Terri Nunn, Chick Vennera
Votes: 3,122 | Gross: $7.30M
I enjoyed this trashy disco mess...
46. The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
PG | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the life and career of the early rock and roll singer, from his meteoric rise to stardom, to his marriage and untimely death.
Director: Steve Rash | Stars: Gary Busey, Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith, Conrad Janis
Votes: 9,992 | Gross: $14.36M
Love the music...
47. The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 76 min | Comedy, Music
Charts the adventures of the prefab four, possibly the most famous band of all time.
Directors: Eric Idle, Gary Weis | Stars: Eric Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar, Neil Innes
Votes: 6,950
Fun Fun Funny...
48. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
R | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government.
Director: Chia-Liang Liu | Stars: Chia-Hui Liu, Lieh Lo, Yue Wong, Chia-Yung Liu
Votes: 18,381
It is the martial arts training that is the highlight in this standard Shaw Brothers production...
49. The Irishman (1978)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance
The Doolan family are trying to make a go in the freight-hauling business in Queensland, Australia. The problem is that it's the 1920s; the Doolans use horses, and motorized vehicles can do... See full summary »
Director: Donald Crombie | Stars: Michael Craig, Robyn Nevin, Simon Burke, Gerard Kennedy
Votes: 132
Interesting piece in Australian history...
50. Coma (1978)
PG | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
When a young female doctor notices an unnatural amount of comas occurring in her hospital she uncovers a horrible conspiracy.
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Michael Douglas, Rip Torn, Geneviève Bujold, Elizabeth Ashley
Votes: 21,164
Enjoyed the book, and the film did good...
51. Goin' South (1978)
PG | 108 min | Comedy, Romance, Western
Due to the lack of men after the Civil War, a western town allows a young bachelorette who lives alone to save a thief from hanging by marrying him. They must deal with his old gang, the Sheriff, the railroad, a gold mine, and each other.
Director: Jack Nicholson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi
Votes: 8,020
Cheeky western from cheeky Nicholson...
52. The Lord of the Rings (1978)
PG | 132 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
The Fellowship of the Ring embark on a journey to destroy the One Ring and end Sauron's reign over Middle-earth.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt
Votes: 35,893 | Gross: $0.92M
BAKSHI'S interesting animated version...
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