1978 in film

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The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California.
• March 1 - Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery three months after burial. After recovery a few weeks later, the casket is sealed in a concrete vault buried in the same grave.
• March - Leigh Brackett completes the first draft for The Empire Strikes Back.
• June 4 - Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, has its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
• September - George Lucas purchases Bulltail Ranch, on Lucas Valley Road, for the development of Skywalker Ranch.
• November 17 - The Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS. The special gives fans their first glimpse of Boba Fett, a character from the upcoming sequel.
• The first Sundance Film Festival is held.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Rank	Title	Studio	Actors	Gross
1.	Grease	Paramount	John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John	$159,978,870
2.	Superman	Warner Bros.	Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder	$134,218,018
3.	Animal House	Universal	John Belushi, Tim Matheson	$120,091,123
4.	Every Which Way but Loose	Warner Bros.	Clint Eastwood	$104,268,727
5.	Heaven Can Wait	Paramount	Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Jack Warden	$98,800,000
6.	Hooper	Warner Bros.	Burt Reynolds, Sally Field	$78,000,000
7.	Jaws 2	Universal	Roy Scheider	$77,737,272
8.	Halloween	Compass	Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis	$70,000,000
9.	Dawn of the Dead	United Film Distribution Company	David Emge, Ken Foree	$55,000,000
10.	The Deer Hunter	Universal	Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep	$50,000,000
11.	Revenge of the Pink Panther	MGM/United Artists	Peter Sellers	$49,579,269
12.	Convoy	United Artists	Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw	$45,000,000
13.	Foul Play	Paramount	Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Burgess Meredith	$44,999,621
14.	The End	United Artists	Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise	$44,917,151
15.	Up in Smoke	Paramount	Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong	$44,364,244
16.	California Suite	Columbia	Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Michael Caine	$42,913,571
17.	Midnight Express	Columbia	Brad Davis, Randy Quaid	$35,000,000
18.	Coming Home	United Artists	Jon Voight, Jane Fonda	$32,653,905
19.	The Lord of the Rings	United Artists	Christopher Guard, John Hurt	$30,471,420
20.	House Calls	Universal	Walter Matthau, Art Carney	$29,000,000
21.	The Cheap Detective	Columbia	Peter Falk, Madeline Kahn	$28,221,552
22.	Damien: Omen II	20th Century Fox	William Holden, Lee Grant	$26,518,355
23.	Invasion of the Body Snatchers	United Artists	Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy	$24,946,533
24.	An Unmarried Woman	20th Century Fox	Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates	$24,000,000

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: The Deer Hunter - EMI Films/Cimino, Universal

Best Director: Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter

Best Actor: Jon Voight - Coming Home

Best Actress: Jane Fonda - Coming Home

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter

Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith - California Suite

Best Foreign Language Film: Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Preparez vos mouchoirs), directed by Bertrand Blier, France

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: Midnight Express

Best Actor: Jon Voight - Coming Home

Best Actress: Jane Fonda - Coming Home

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: Heaven Can Wait

Best Actor: Warren Beatty - Heaven Can Wait

Best Actress (tie): Ellen Burstyn - Same Time, Next Year

Best Actress (tie): Maggie Smith - California Suite

Other

Best Director: Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter

Best Foreign Language Film: Autumn Sonata, Sweden

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

The Tree of Wooden Clogs (L'Albero degli zoccoli), directed by Ermanno Olmi, Italy

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Trout (Las Truchas), directed by José Luis García Sánchez, Spain

What Max Said (Las Palabras de Max), directed by Emilio Martínez Lázaro, Spain

Films released in 1978

U.S.A. unless stated #

• The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, starring Gordon Liu - (Hong Kong)

A

• The Adventures of Jody Shanan
• Almost Summer
• American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince - directed by Martin Scorsese (documentary)
• American Hot Wax, a biopic of Alan Freed, starring Tim McIntire, Fran Drescher, Laraine Newman, Jay Leno
• L'Argent des autres (Other People's Money), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Catherine Deneuve - (France)
• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
• Autumn Sonata - directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullman - (Sweden)

B

• The Bad News Bears Go to Japan, starring Tony Curtis and Jackie Earle Haley
• Barracuda directed by Harry Kerwin and Wayne Crawford
• Battlestar Galactica (Canada and most European countries only; released in U.S. theatres the following year)
• The Betsy, starring Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Katharine Ross, Kathleen Beller, Lesley-Anne Down
• The Big Fix, starring Richard Dreyfuss
• The Big Sleep, starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Oliver Reed, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, James Stewart
• Big Wednesday
• Blue Collar, directed by Paul Schrader, starring Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto, Harvey Keitel
• The Boys from Brazil, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason
• The Boys in Company C
• Bread and Chocolate - (U.S. release of a 1974 film)
• The Brink's Job, directed by William Friedkin, starring Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Peter Boyle, Paul Sorvino, Warren Oates
• The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey
• Bye Bye Monkey (Rêve de singe) or (Ciao maschio), starring Gérard Depardieu and Marcello Mastroianni - (France/Italy)

C

• La Cage aux Folles, directed by Edouard Molinaro, starring Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault - (France/Italy)
• California Suite, starring Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Walter Matthau, Elaine May
• Capricorn One, directed by Peter Hyams, starring Elliott Gould, James Brolin, O.J. Simpson, Sam Waterston, Brenda Vaccaro
• The Cat from Outer Space
• La chambre verte (The Green Room), directed by and starring François Truffaut - (France)
• The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, directed by Fred Schepisi - (Australia)
• The Cheap Detective, starring Peter Falk, Ann-Margret, Marsha Mason, Sid Caesar
• China 9, Liberty 37 (Amore, piombo e furore) - (Italy/Spain)
• Closed Circuit (Circuito chiuso) - (Italy)
• Coma, directed by Michael Crichton, starring Geneviève Bujold and Michael Douglas
• Comes a Horseman, directed by Alan J. Pakula, starring Jane Fonda, James Caan, Jason Robards
• Coming Home, directed by Hal Ashby, starring Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford
• Convoy, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali MacGraw
• Corvette Summer, starring Mark Hamill
• Cosi' come sei (aka Stay as you are) starring Marcello Mastoianni and Nastassja Kinski - (Italy)

D

• The Dain Curse, mini-series for TV, starring James Coburn and Jean Simmons
• Damien: Omen II, starring William Holden and Lee Grant
• Dawn of the Dead, directed by George A. Romero - (U.S.A./Italy)
• Days of Heaven, directed by Terrence Malick, starring Richard Gere and Brooke Adams
• Death on the Nile, directed by John Guillermin, starring Peter Ustinov, David Niven, Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Olivia Hussey - (U.K.)
• Debbie Does Dallas, iconic adult comedy
• The Deer Hunter, directed by Michael Cimino, starring Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep
• The Demon (Kichiku) - (Japan)
• Don - (India)
• The Driver, directed by Walter Hill, starring Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani
• Drunken Master, starring Jackie Chan - (Hong Kong)

E

• Empire of Passion (Ai no Bōrei), directed by Nagisa Oshima - (Japan)
• The End - directed by and starring Burt Reynolds with Dom DeLuise, Joanne Woodward, Pat O'Brien, Sally Field
• Enter the Fat Dragon - starring Sammo Hung - (Hong Kong)
• Every Which Way but Loose - directed by James Fargo, starring Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis
• Eyes of Laura Mars - directed by Irvin Kershner, starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones

F

• F.I.S.T., directed by Norman Jewison, starring Sylvester Stallone, Melinda Dillon, Rod Steiger
• FM, starring Cleavon Little and Eileen Brennan
• Fedora, directed by Billy Wilder, starring William Holden and Marthe Keller
• Fingers, starring Harvey Keitel
• Force 10 from Navarone, starring Robert Shaw, Edward Fox, Harrison Ford - (U.K.)
• Foul Play, directed by Colin Higgins, starring Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Dudley Moore and Billy Barty
• The Fury, directed by Brian De Palma, starring Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Andrew Stevens, Amy Irving

G

• Gates of Heaven, a documentary film
• Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Preparez vos mouchoirs) - (France)
• Girlfriends, Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner
• Go Tell the Spartans, starring Burt Lancaster
• Gray Lady Down, starring Charlton Heston and David Carradine
• Grease - directed by Randal Kleiser, starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Jeff Conaway, Stockard Channing, Eve Arden, Edd Byrnes

H

• Halloween, directed by John Carpenter, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence
• Harper Valley PTA, starring Barbara Eden
• Heaven Can Wait, starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Jack Warden, James Mason
• The Herd (Sürü) - (Turkey)
• Holocaust, a TV miniseries starring Meryl Streep and James Woods
• Hooper, starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jan-Michael Vincent, Robert Klein, Brian Keith
• Hot Lead and Cold Feet, starring Karen Valentine
• House Calls, directed by Howard Zieff, starring Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Richard Benjamin, Art Carney

I-J

• I Wanna Hold Your Hand, directed by Robert Zemeckis
• Ice Castles, starring Lynn-Holly Johnson
• L'important c'est d'aimer (That Most Important Thing: Love), starring Romy Schneider - (France)
• In a Year with 13 Moons (In einem Jahr mit 13 Monden), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder - (West Germany)
• In Praise of Older Women, starring Tom Berenger, Karen Black, Helen Shaver - (Canada)
• Interiors, directed by Woody Allen, starring Geraldine Page, Diane Keaton, E.G. Marshall, Mary Beth Hurt, Maureen Stapleton
• International Velvet, starring Tatum O'Neal, Nanette Newman, Anthony Hopkins
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers, remake of 1956 movie starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum
• Jaws 2, starring Roy Scheider

K-L

• Kondura, directed by Shyam Benegal - (India) (India)
• Lady on the Bus (A Dama do Lotação), starring Sônia Braga - (Brazil)
• The Left-Handed Woman (Die linkshändige Frau) - (West Germany)
• The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese, featuring The Band
• Law of the Sixgun
• The Lord of the Rings - animated film by Ralph Bakshi

M

• Magic, directed by Richard Attenborough, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret
• Max's Words Golden Bear winner -(not found in searches under this title)
• Midnight Express, directed by Alan Parker, starring Brad Davis, Randy Quaid, John Hurt
• Movie Movie, starring George C. Scott, Harry Hamlin, Barry Bostwick, Trish Van Devere, Red Buttons, Art Carney
• Muqaddar Ka Sikandar - (India)

N-O

• National Lampoon's Animal House - directed by John Landis, starring John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, Tom Hulce, Karen Allen, John Vernon
• A Night Full of Rain (Una notte piena di pioggia), directed by Lina Wertmuller, starring Giancarlo Giannini and Candice Bergen - (Italy/U.S.A.)
• The Night the Prowler, directed by Jim Sharman - (Australia)
• Occupation in 26 Pictures - (Yugoslavia)
• The One and Only, directed by Carl Reiner, starring Henry Winkler and Kim Darby
• Orchestra Rehearsal (Prova d'orchestra), directed by Federico Fellini - (Italy)

P-Q

• Paradise Alley, starring Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Anne Archer
• Passion Flower Hotel (Leidenschaftliche Blümchen), starring Nastassja Kinski - (West Germany)
• Perceval le Gallois (Percival the Gaul), directed by Éric Rohmer - (France)
• Piranha, directed by Joe Dante
• Pretty Baby - directed by Louis Malle, starring Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields

R

• Rabbit Test - directed by Joan Rivers, starring Billy Crystal
• Remember My Name, starring Geraldine Chaplin and Anthony Perkins
• Renaldo and Clara - directed by and starring Bob Dylan
• Return from Witch Mountain - starring Bette Davis and Christopher Lee
• Revenge of the Pink Panther - starring Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom and Dyan Cannon - (U.K./U.S.A.)
• Ringing Bell (Chirin no Suzu), an anime film - (Japan)
• Rockers, starring Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs, Big Youth and others - (Jamaica)

S

• The Sailor's Return - (U.K.)
• Same Time Next Year, starring Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn
• Sextette, starring Mae West, Timothy Dalton, Dom DeLuise, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, George Hamilton and Alice Cooper
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring Peter Frampton and The Bee Gees with music by The Beatles
• Shogun's Samurai (Yagu ichizoku no inbō), starring Sonny Chiba - (Japan)
• The Shout, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, starring Alan Bates, John Hurt, Susannah York - (U.K.)
• The Silent Partner, starring Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York
• The Small One
• Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (Shé xíng diāo shǒu), starring Jackie Chan - (Hong Kong)
• So Much Warm
• Somebody Killed Her Husband, starring Farrah Fawcett and Jeff Bridges
• Stevie, starring Glenda Jackson and Trevor Howard - (U.K.)
• Straight Time, directed by Ulu Grosbard, starring Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Busey
• Superman, directed by Richard Donner, starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Valerie Perrine, Susannah York
• The Swarm, starring Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, Patty Duke, Richard Chamberlain, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman and Jose Ferrer

T

• Thank God It's Friday, starring Debra Winger, Donna Summer, Jeff Goldblum
• The Tree of Wooden Clogs (L'Albero degli zoccoli), directed by Ermanno Olmi - (Italy) - Palme d'Or winner
• Las Truchas (The Trout) - (Spain) - Golden Bear winner
• Two Solitudes

U-V

• An Unmarried Woman - directed by Paul Mazursky, starring Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy
• Up In Smoke, starring Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong
• Violette Nozière, directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Isabelle Huppert and Stéphane Audran - (France)

W

• The Water Babies - directed by Lionel Jeffries, starring James Mason, Bernard Cribbins, Billie Whitelaw - (U.K./Poland)
• Watership Down - animated film directed by Martin Rosen, with voices of John Hurt and Richard Briers - (U.K.)
• A Wedding - directed by Robert Altman, starring Desi Arnaz Jr., Carol Burnett, Geraldine Chaplin, Paul Dooley, Mia Farrow
• Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, starring George Segal and Jacqueline Bisset - (West Germany/U.S.A.)
• Who'll Stop the Rain, directed by Karel Reisz, starring Nick Nolte
• The Wild Geese, starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris - (U.K.)
• Without Anesthesia (Bez znieczulenia), directed by Andrzej Wajda - (Poland)
• The Wiz - directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson

XYZ

• You Are Not Alone (Du er ikke alene) - (Denmark)
• Zero to Sixty

Births

• January 24 - Mark Hildreth, Canadian actor/voice actor
• February 7 - Ashton Kutcher, actor
• February 20 - Julia Jentsch, German actress
• March 1 - Jensen Ackles, actor
• March 21 - Rani Mukherji, Indian actress
• March 23 - Nicholle Tom, actress
• April 3 - Matthew Goode, English actor
• April 16 - Lara Dutta, Indian actress
• April 19 - James Franco, actor
• April 20 - Matt Austin, Canadian actor
• May 10 - Kenan Thompson, actor-comedian
• May 12 - Jason Biggs, actor
• May 15
  • Caroline Dhavernas, Canadian actress
  • David Krumholtz, actor
• June 2 - Nikki Cox, actress
• June 6 - Judith Barsi, child actress (d. 1988)
• June 7 - Bill Hader, actor-comedian
• June 8 - Maria Menounos, actress
• June 10 - Shane West, actor
• June 11 - Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor
• June 15 - Anna Torv, Australian actress
• June 19 - Zoe Saldana, actress
• June 21 - Erica Durance, Canadian actress
• July 4 - Becki Newton, actress
• July 6 - Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry, actresses
• July 8 - Rachael Lillis, voice actress
• July 12
  • Topher Grace, actor
  • Michelle Rodriguez, actress
• July 19 - R.J. Williams, actor, television host, CEO of Young Hollywood
• July 20 - Charlie Korsmo, former child actor
• July 21
  • [[Justin Bartha], actor
  • Josh Hartnett, actor
• August 8 - Countess Vaughn, actress
• August 18 - Andy Samberg, actor-comedian
• August 25 - Kel Mitchell, actor-comedian
• September 4 - Wes Bentley, actor
• September 7 - Devon Sawa, Canadian actor
• October 3 - Shannyn Sossamon, actress
• October 14 - Usher, singer and actor
• October 30 - Matthew Morrison, singer and actor
• November 9 - Sisqó, singer/actor/songwriter
• November 17 - Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress
• November 24 - Katherine Heigl, actress
• December 7 - Shiri Appleby, actress
• December 8 - Ian Somerhalder, actor
• December 9 - Jesse Metcalfe, actor
• December 16 - Joe Absolom, English actor
• December 18 - Katie Holmes, actress

Deaths

• January 5 - Sally Eilers, actress
• January 29 - Tim McCoy, cowboy actor, soldier
• March 25 - Hanna Ralph, actress
• March 24 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction writer and screenwriter (The Big Sleep)
• August 24 - Louis Prima, bandleader, voice actor ("King Louie of the Apes" in The Jungle Book)
• August 26 - Charles Boyer, actor
• August 28 - Robert Shaw, actor
• September 3 - Karin Molander, actress
• September 9 - Jack Warner, Hollywood studio founder
• September 30 - Edgar Bergen, actor
• October 16 - Dan Dailey, actor
• October 19 - Gig Young, actor

Film debuts

• Karen Allen - National Lampoon's Animal House
• Kevin Bacon - National Lampoon's Animal House
• Jim Broadbent - The Shout
• Jake Busey - Straight Time
• Billy Crystal - Rabbit Test
• Jamie Lee Curtis - Halloween
• Daryl Hannah - The Fury
• Mark Harmon - Comes a Horseman
• Ed Harris - Coma
• Cheech Marin - Up in Smoke
• Steve Martin - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Liam Neeson
• Mary Steenburgen - Goin' South
• Alfre Woodard - Remember My Name