SHORTLIST VINTAGE FILM OF 1978

Grease

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Grease

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

For 20th- and 40th-anniversary screenings of Grease, teenagers abandoned their screens and flocked to the big one at the cinema and sing along with John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, and that scene-stealing Stockard Channing. There should be a law against any effort to remake this classic.

Director: Randal Kleiser

Starring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing

Major nominations on original release : None

Click Here to Buy or Watch

National Lampoon’s Animal House

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

National Lampoon’s Animal House

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Produced for not much more than today’s tuition at a college in New England – where Otis Day and the Knights are still available to sing “Shout” at your fall formal – Animal House is a good and funny reminder that boys mature relatively late.

Director: John Landis

Starring: John Belushi, John Vernon, Tim Matheson, Verna Bloom

Major nominations on original release : None

Click Here to Buy or Watch

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

San Francisco residents are practicing social distancing, in a bad way, and two staffers from the health department soon figure out why: aliens are taking over their bodies. “They get you when you sleep,” we soon learn, but don’t worry: you’re unlikely to nod off during this Philip Kaufman sci-fi thriller.

Director: Philip Kaufman

Starring: Brooke Adams,Donald Sutherland,Jeff Goldblum,Leonard Nimoy

Major nominations on original release : None

Click Here to Buy or Watch

Death on the Nile

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Death on the Nile

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Though we’re not in Bangkok – this was shot on location in Egypt – the lyric “a show with everything but Yul Brynner” comes to mind during the final credits; there are too many A-list stars to count in this adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel. With Peter Ustinov as the Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.

Director: John Guillermin

Starring: Bette Davis,Jane Birkin,Lois Chiles,Peter Ustinov

Major nominations on original release : BAFTA for Best Actor (Ustinov), Supporting Actress (Smith and Lansbury)

Click Here to Buy or Watch

Dawn of the Dead

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Dawn of the Dead

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Zombies attack! Surviving Americans establish a shopping mall (of course) as their Alamo. Over-the-top gore ensues. Never has a pointless bloodbath been so well-loved by critics and audiences alike; as Roger Ebert wrote of the film: “Nobody ever said art had to be in good taste.”

Director: George A. Romero

Starring: David Emge , Gaylen Ross , Ken Foree , Scott Reiniger

Major nominations on original release : None

Click Here to Buy or Watch

Days of Heaven

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Days of Heaven

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Against golden-hour backdrops of the Texas panhandle, young Linda (Manz) narrates the story of her older brother (Gere) and girlfriend (Adams) trying to escape poverty working for a well-off farmer (Shepard). If possible, see it on the big screen.

Director: Terrence Malick

Starring: Brooke Adams , Linda Manz , Richard Gere , Sam Shepard

Major nominations on original release : Cannes: Prix de la mise en scène (won)

Click Here to Buy or Watch

Superman

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Superman

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Even Deadpool owes a debt of gratitude to 1978’s Superman, the first “comic-book movie” to offer an origin story for its hero. As he did later in Lethal Weapon and The Goonies, the versatile Donner delivers an expert mix of action, emotion and comedy.

Director: Richard Donner

Starring: Christopher Reeve , Gene Hackman , Margot Kidder , Marlon Brando

Major nominations on original release : BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor (Hackman), Most Promising Newcomer (Reeve - won)

Click Here to Buy or Watch

Midnight Express

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Midnight Express

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Oliver Stone’s riveting script shows the ordeal of an American student, arrested at the airport with drugs, trying to endure and escape a Turkish prison. Giorgio Moroder’s soundtrack also won an Oscar.

Director: Alan Parker

Starring: Brad Davis , Irene Miracle , John Hurt , Randy Quaid

Major nominations on original release : Academy Award for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay (won), Supporting Actor (Hurt); Cannes Palme d'Or

Click Here to Buy or Watch

Halloween

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Halloween

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

The ur-slasher movie. Masked Michael Myers chases the original “final girl” Laurie Strode, leaving a trail of tropes recycled by the Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and other franchises. True to the genre it created, the killer keeps coming back; a 10th Halloween sequel is expected in 2020.

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Donald Pleasence , Jamie Lee Curtis , Nancy Loomis , P.J. Soles

Major nominations on original release : None

Click Here to Buy or Watch

The Deer Hunter

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

The Deer Hunter

Shortlist for Vintage Film of 1978

Heartbreaking and unforgettable, The Deer Hunter depicts the tragedy of America’s war in Vietnam through the eyes of three soldiers from small-town Pennsylvania.

Director: Michael Cimino

Starring: Christopher Walken , John Cazale , John Savage , Meryl Streep , Robert De Niro

Major nominations on original release : Academy Award for Best Picture (won), Director (won), Original Screenplay, Actor (De Niro), Supporting Actor (Walken - won), Supporting Actress (Streep); BAFTA for Best Film, Direction, Screenplay, Actor (De Niro), Supporting Actor (Walken)

Click Here to Buy or Watch