Top 30: 1978
by Gardiner79 | created - 13 Dec 2015 | updated - 13 Dec 2015 | PublicTop 30 favorite films made in 1978.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. 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: 62,788
2. 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: 306,937 | Gross: $47.00M
3. 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: 69,905 | Gross: $24.95M
4. 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: 362,398 | Gross: $48.98M
5. 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: 35,889 | Gross: $0.92M
6. 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: 128,657 | Gross: $5.10M
7. Game of Death (1978)
R | 100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A martial arts movie star must fake his death to find the people who are trying to kill him.
Directors: Robert Clouse, Bruce Lee | Stars: Bruce Lee, Gig Young, Dean Jagger, Hugh O'Brian
Votes: 22,365 | Gross: $10.00M
8. 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: 21,161
9. Damien: Omen II (1978)
R | 107 min | Horror
Damien the Antichrist, now about to turn thirteen years old, finally learns of his destiny under the guidance of an unholy disciple of Satan. Meanwhile dark forces begin to eliminate all those who suspect the child's true identity.
Directors: Don Taylor, Mike Hodges | Stars: William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert Foxworth
Votes: 35,922 | Gross: $3.88M
10. 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: 30,586 | Gross: $19.00M
11. Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)
R | 104 min | Mystery, Thriller
A famous fashion photographer develops a disturbing ability to see through the eyes of a killer.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, Rene Auberjonois
Votes: 12,091 | Gross: $20.00M
12. The Fury (1978)
R | 118 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A former CIA agent uses the talents of a young psychic to help retrieve his telekinetic son from a shadowy secret government agency.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress, Charles Durning
Votes: 17,335
13. 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
14. Death on the Nile (1978)
PG | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey?
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Simon MacCorkindale, Jane Birkin
Votes: 39,860
15. 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: 129,387
16. Foul Play (1978)
PG | 116 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
A San Francisco librarian picks up a hitchhiker whose car has broken down, which leads to her being stalked and hunted by shady individuals. A cop she briefly met during a function eventually comes to her rescue.
Director: Colin Higgins | Stars: Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Burgess Meredith, Rachel Roberts
Votes: 16,945 | Gross: $45.00M
17. 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
18. Drunken Master (1978)
PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Comedy
Wong Fei-Hung is a mischievous yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents his frustrated father has him disciplined by a master of drunken martial arts.
Director: Woo-Ping Yuen | Stars: Jackie Chan, Siu-Tin Yuen, Jeong-lee Hwang, Dean Shek
Votes: 43,881
19. 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: 88,277 | Gross: $35.00M
20. Comes a Horseman (1978)
PG | 118 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A brave and proud woman struggles for her land, finding help and something more in unexpected way.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: James Caan, Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, George Grizzard
Votes: 3,362
21. Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
PG | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
To prove that he still is strong and powerful, Philippe Douvier decides to kill Clouseau. Once news of his "death" has been announced, Clouseau tries to take advantage of it and goes undercover with Cato to find out who tried to kill him.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk, Dyan Cannon
Votes: 23,263
22. Blue Sunshine (1977)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A bizarre series of murders begins in Los Angeles, where people start going bald and then become homicidal maniacs. But could the blame rest on a particularly dangerous form of LSD called Blue Sunshine the murderers took ten years before?
Director: Jeff Lieberman | Stars: Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard, Robert Walden
Votes: 3,244
23. Magic (1978)
R | 107 min | Drama, Horror
A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Ed Lauter
Votes: 13,461 | Gross: $25.94M
24. 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
25. The Bloodstained Shadow (1978)
Not Rated | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
The body of a schoolgirl is found in a meadow. The murderer is never caught, and years later, a young man named Stefano returns to the island and is reunited with his brother, the local priest.
Director: Antonio Bido | Stars: Lino Capolicchio, Stefania Casini, Craig Hill, Massimo Serato
Votes: 1,963
26. The Shout (1978)
86 min | Drama, Horror
A traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon, and uses the aboriginal magic he has learned to displace his host.
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski | Stars: Alan Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt, Robert Stephens
Votes: 5,220
27. 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: 187,605 | Gross: $134.22M
28. 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
29. King of the Gypsies (1978)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama
In the criminal and violent world of modern-day Gypsies based in New York City, their 'king' Zharko Stepanowicz passes his leadership to his unwilling grandson, leaving the skipped father resentful.
Director: Frank Pierson | Stars: Eric Roberts, Judd Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, Sterling Hayden
Votes: 1,411 | Gross: $7.33M
30. The Comeback (1978)
R | 100 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A singer holes up at a sinister estate to write new songs for his act. The ghost of his murdered wife begins to haunt him, then the person who actually killed her shows up at the mansion.
Director: Pete Walker | Stars: Jack Jones, Pamela Stephenson, David Doyle, Bill Owen
Votes: 1,305
Tell Your Friends