51 articles
...And Justice for All (film)
And Justice for All (film) is a 1979 comedy-drama directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Al Pacino as a defense attorney who challenges a corrupt legal system in Baltimore.
3 Women
3 Women (1977) is Robert Altman's dream-inspired drama starring Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Janice Rule, in which identities blur and merge in a California desert town; Duvall won Best Actress at Cannes 1977.
A Special Day
A Special Day (Una giornata particolare) is Ettore Scola's 1977 Italian-Canadian drama starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni as two outsiders who meet in Rome on the day of Hitler's 1938 visit; Cannes competitor, Golden Globe and Cesar winner, double Oscar nominee.
Alexandria... Why?
Alexandria... Why? (Iskandariyya lih?, إسكندرية .. ليه؟) is Youssef Chahine's 1978 semi-autobiographical Egyptian drama set in 1942 wartime Alexandria; it won the 1979 Berlin Silver Bear and opened his autobiographical quartet.
Autumn Sonata
Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten) is Ingmar Bergman's 1978 chamber drama starring Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann, shot in Norway during his Swedish exile, about a concert pianist's reunion with her neglected daughter.
Bound for Glory (1976 film)
Bound for Glory (1976) is Hal Ashby's biopic of folk singer Woody Guthrie, starring David Carradine, from Guthrie's 1943 autobiography. First feature to use the Steadicam; Haskell Wexler won the cinematography Oscar among six nominations and two wins.
Camera Buff
Camera Buff (Amator, 1979) is Krzysztof Kieślowski's Polish drama about factory clerk Filip Mosz (Jerzy Stuhr), whose 8 mm camera obsession costs him his family; a key cinema of moral concern film with Gdańsk, Moscow, Berlin, and Chicago awards.
Cornbread, Earl and Me
Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975), also released as Hit the Open Man, is a Joe Manduke drama adapted from Ronald Fair's novel Hog Butcher, in which police mistakenly shoot a star basketball player; it marked Laurence Fishburne's film debut.
Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven is Terrence Malick's 1978 drama about Chicago lovers Bill and Abby and Linda Manz on a Texas wheat farm, starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, and Sam Shepard, shot in Alberta with Oscar-winning cinematography by Néstor Almendros.
Dersu Uzala (1975 film)
Dersu Uzala (Дерсу Узала, デルス・ウザーラ), 1975 Mosfilm Soviet-Japanese drama directed by Akira Kurosawa, adapted from Arsenyev's 1923 memoirs, starring Maksim Munzuk and Yuriy Solomin; his only non-Japanese-language film, 70mm, Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film 1976.
Escape from Alcatraz (film)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) is Don Siegel's prison drama starring Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris, dramatizing the real 1962 Alcatraz breakout by Morris and the Anglin brothers; Siegel and Eastwood's fifth and final collaboration, filmed on location.
F.I.S.T. (film)
F.I.S.T. is a 1978 Norman Jewison drama starring Sylvester Stallone as Johnny Kovak, a labor leader of the fictional Federation of Interstate Truckers, loosely based on Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters; budget $8.1 million, domestic gross $20,388,920.
Face to Face (1976 film)
Face to Face (Ansikte mot ansikte) is a 1976 Swedish psychological drama written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Liv Ullmann as a psychiatrist suffering a breakdown.
Fox and His Friends
Fox and His Friends (Faustrecht der Freiheit) is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1975 West German melodrama in which an unemployed fairground worker, played by Fassbinder, wins the lottery and is exploited by middle-class gay friends.
Harlan County, USA
Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) is Barbara Kopple's Oscar-winning documentary about the 13-month Brookside coal miners' strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, against Duke Power's Eastover Mining Company for UMWA recognition; National Film Registry 1990.
He Never Gives Up (汪洋中的一条船)
He Never Gives Up (汪洋中的一條船) is Lee Hsing's 1978 Central Pictures biographical drama adapted from Zheng Fengxi's autobiography, starring Chin Han and Joan Lin; it won five 1978 Golden Horse Awards including Best Picture.
Hester Street
Hester Street (1975), Joan Micklin Silver's directorial debut, adapts Abraham Cahan's novella Yekl about Jewish immigrant assimilation on the 1896 Lower East Side; Carol Kane earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination, and the film joined the National Film Registry in 2011.
Killer of Sheep
Killer of Sheep (1977) is Charles Burnett's UCLA thesis film, a black-and-white 16mm drama about slaughterhouse worker Stan in Watts, Los Angeles; a National Film Registry title (1990) released commercially only in 2007 after music rights were cleared.
Kings of the Road
Kings of the Road (Im Lauf der Zeit) is Wim Wenders' 1976 West German black-and-white road film starring Rüdiger Vogler and Hanns Zischler, the final entry in his Road Trilogy, FIPRESCI winner at Cannes 1976.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Robert Benton's Columbia Pictures drama from Avery Corman's novel, stars Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in a divorce custody battle; it won five Oscars including Best Picture.
Maladolescenza
Maladolescenza (Spielen wir Liebe, Playing with Love) is a 1977 Italian–West German drama by Pier Giuseppe Murgia starring Martin Loeb, Lara Wendel, and Eva Ionesco; notorious for underage nudity, it was cut, banned, and outlawed in Germany since 2006 under §184b StGB.
Man of Marble
Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru) is Andrzej Wajda's 1976 Polish drama, premiered 25 February 1977, in which student filmmaker Agnieszka investigates Stalinist model worker Mateusz Birkut; it won Cannes FIPRESCI 1978 and prefigured Solidarity.
Midnight Express (film)
Midnight Express is a 1978 Alan Parker prison drama, scripted by Oliver Stone from Billy Hayes's book, about an American jailed in Turkey for hash smuggling; it won Oscars for Stone's screenplay and Giorgio Moroder's score and remains controversial in Turkey.
Network (1976 film)
Network (1976) is Sidney Lumet's satire, written by Paddy Chayefsky, about a TV network exploiting anchor Howard Beale's breakdown; it won four Oscars, including Peter Finch's first posthumous acting Oscar.
Newsfront
Newsfront (1978) is Phillip Noyce's feature debut, an Australian drama about rival newsreel cameramen brothers Len and Frank Maguire as television ends the newsreel era; it won a then-record 8 AFI awards.
Norma Rae
Norma Rae: 1979 American drama directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sally Field as a textile worker who unionizes her mill; based on Crystal Lee Sutton and the J.P. Stevens campaign; won Best Actress and Best Original Song Oscars.
North Dallas Forty
North Dallas Forty: 1979 American sports comedy-drama directed by Ted Kotcheff, starring Nick Nolte, based on Peter Gent's semi-autobiographical 1973 novel about the Dallas Cowboys; the NFL refused cooperation with the film.
Ode to Billy Joe (film)
Ode to Billy Joe is a 1976 American drama film directed by Max Baer Jr., adapted from Bobbie Gentry's 1967 song, starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Miloš Forman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, swept the five major 1976 Oscars and was the second-highest-grossing film of 1975.
Over the Edge (film)
Over the Edge is a 1979 American teen drama directed by Jonathan Kaplan, written by Charles S. Haas and Tim Hunter, based on Foster City incidents, starring Matt Dillon in his debut; limited release, later a cult classic.