1973 in film

Highest-grossing films

United States and Canada

Outside North America

Worldwide gross revenue

Events

• March – Five Fingers of Death is released in the United States and is a surprise success starting a kung fu film craze in North America
• April 11 – Kim Jong-il publishes his film treatise On the Art of the Cinema.
• May 1 – The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely; she will marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra in 1976.
• July 20 – Martial arts legend Bruce Lee dies before Enter the Dragon is released on July 26.
• August 17 – The sci-fi movie Westworld is the first feature film to use digital image processing.
• December 25 – The Sting is released and goes on to become one of the top-grossing films of all time.
• December 26 – The Exorcist reawakens the horror film genre and becomes one of the most popular and controversial films ever released.

  Awards

Notable films released in 1973

#

• The 14, directed by David Hemmings, starring Jack Wild –

  A

• Abhimaan –
• Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies, starring Cliff Robertson and Pamela Franklin
• The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob –
• All Nudity Shall Be Punished –
• The Alpha Caper, starring Henry Fonda and Leonard Nimoy
• Alvin Purple –
• Amarcord, directed by Federico Fellini –
• American Graffiti, directed by George Lucas, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Paul Le Mat, Candy Clark, Harrison Ford
• Ana and the Wolves, starring Geraldine Chaplin –
• And Now the Screaming Starts!, starring Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham, Herbert Lom
• Arnold, starring Stella Stevens, Roddy McDowall, Elsa Lanchester
• Ashani Sanket, directed by Satyajit Ray – Golden Bear winner –

  B

• The Baby, starring Anjanette Comer and Ruth Roman
• Badlands, directed by Terrence Malick, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek
• Bang the Drum Slowly, starring Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty
• Bat Pussy, believed to have been made or released in 1973
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes, starring Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Natalie Trundy, John Huston
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity –
• Baxter!, starring Patricia Neal and Britt Ekland –
• Black Caesar, starring Fred Williamson
• Black Holiday, starring Adolfo Celi –
• Blood Brothers, directed by Chang Cheh –
• Blood in the Streets, a.k.a. Revolver, starring Oliver Reed –
• Blood of the Dragon –
• Blue Blood, starring Oliver Reed, Fiona Lewis and Derek Jacobi-
• Blume in Love, starring George Segal, Susan Anspach, Kris Kristofferson
• Bobby, starring Rishi Kapoor –
• Book of Numbers, directed, produced by and starring Raymond St. Jacques
• Il Boss, starring Henry Silva and Richard Conte –
• Breezy, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring William Holden and Kay Lenz
• A Brief Vacation, directed by Vittorio De Sica –
• Brother of the Wind

  C

• Cahill U.S. Marshal, starring John Wayne and George Kennedy
• Can Dialectics Break Bricks? –
• The Candy Snatchers, starring Tiffany Bolling
• Charley and the Angel, starring Fred MacMurray, Cloris Leachman, Kurt Russell
• Charley Varrick, directed by Don Siegel, starring Walter Matthau, John Vernon, Joe Don Baker, Andy Robinson, Sheree North, Felicia Farr
• Charlotte's Web, an animated film directed by Charles A. Nichols and Iwao Takamoto, with the voices of Debbie Reynolds and Henry Gibson
• Chino, directed by John Sturges, starring Charles Bronson
• Cinderella Liberty, directed by Mark Rydell, starring James Caan and Marsha Mason
• Class of '44, starring Gary Grimes
• Cleopatra Jones, starring Tamara Dobson and Shelley Winters
• Coffy, starring Pam Grier
• Cops and Robbers, starring Joseph Bologna and Cliff Gorman
• The Crazies, directed by George A. Romero
• The Creeping Flesh, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing –

  D

• Dark Places, starring Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Jane Birkin –
• Day for Night, directed by François Truffaut, starring Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Aumont – Academy Award and Bafta winner –
• The Day of the Dolphin, directed by Mike Nichols, starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Paul Sorvino
• The Day of the Jackal, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig –
• The Death of a Lumberjack –
• A Delicate Balance, starring Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick, Kate Reid, Betsy Blair
• The Devil in Miss Jones, adult film, directed by Gerard Damiano
• Dillinger, starring Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, Richard Dreyfuss, Geoffrey Lewis
• A Doll's House, starring Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins –
• The Don Is Dead, starring Anthony Quinn, Robert Forster, Al Lettieri, Ina Balin
• Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Kim Darby and Jim Hutton
• Don't Look Now, directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland –

  E

• The Earth Is a Sinful Song –
• Electra Glide in Blue, starring Robert Blake
• Emperor of the North Pole, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine
• England Made Me, starring Peter Finch and Michael York –
• Enter the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly –
• Executive Action, starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan
• The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow—winner of 5 Golden Globes and 2 Oscars

  F

• Fantastic Planet –
• Fé, Esperanza y Caridad, starring Katy Jurado –
• The Final Programme, starring Jon Finch, Jenny Runacre and Graham Crowden –
• Five on the Black Hand Side, starring Godfrey Cambridge
• The Friends of Eddie Coyle, directed by Peter Yates, starring Robert Mitchum, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats, Alex Rocco, Peter Boyle
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, starring Ingrid Bergman

  G

• Godspell, starring Victor Garber
• Godzilla vs. Megalon, directed by Jun Fukuda –
• La Grande Bouffe, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret –

  H

• The Hare Census, directed by Eduard Zahariev, starring Itzhak Fintzi, Nikola Todev, Georgi Rusev –
• The Harrad Experiment, starring Don Johnson, Tippi Hedren, James Whitmore
• Heavy Traffic, an animated film by Ralph Bakshi
• Hell Up in Harlem, starring Fred Williamson
• High Plains Drifter, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Geoffrey Lewis
• The Hireling, directed by Alan Bridges, starring Robert Shaw and Sarah Miles – Palme d'Or winner –
• , starring Alec Guinness –
• The Holy Mountain, directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky –
• Home Sweet Home –
• The Homecoming, directed by Peter Hall, starring Cyril Cusack, Ian Holm, Vivien Merchant –
• Hot Winds, directed by M. S. Sathyu –
• The Hourglass Sanatorium, directed by Wojciech Has –
• The House in Nightmare Park, directed by Peter Skyes, starring Frankie Howerd and Ray Milland –
• The House on Chelouche Street –
• Hugo the Hippo – (Hungary

  I

• The Iceman Cometh, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Lee Marvin, Fredric March, Robert Ryan
• Idaho Transfer, directed by Peter Fonda
• Indian Summer, directed by Milen Nikolov, starring Georgi Partsalev, Leda Taseva, Tatyana Lolova –
• Interval, starring Merle Oberon
• L' Invitation, directed by Claude Goretta – Academy Award for Best Foreign Film –
• –

  J

• Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Norman Jewison, starring Ted Neeley and Yvonne Elliman, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Jeremy, starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull, featuring voices of James Franciscus and Juliet Mills

  K

• Kanashimi no Belladonna, Anime feature film –
• Kid Blue, starring Dennis Hopper and Warren Oates

  L

• Lady Ice, starring Donald Sutherland and Jennifer O'Neill
• Lady Snowblood –
• The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges
• The Last Detail, directed by Hal Ashby, starring Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young
• The Last of Sheila, written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, starring Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon, James Mason, James Coburn, Richard Benjamin, Joan Hackett, Ian McShane
• The Laughing Policeman, starring Walter Matthau, Bruce Dern, Louis Gossett, Jr., Joanna Cassidy, Cathy Lee Crosby
• The Legend of Hell House, starring Pamela Franklin and Gayle Hunnicutt
• The Legend of Paul and Paula –
• Le Magnifique, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jacqueline Bisset –
• Little Tiger of Canton, starring Jackie Chan –
• Live and Let Die, starring Roger Moore, with Jane Seymour and Yaphet Kotto –
• Lolly-Madonna XXX, starring Rod Steiger, Robert Ryan, Jeff Bridges
• The Long Goodbye, directed by Robert Altman, starring Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson, Jim Bouton
• Lost Horizon, starring Peter Finch, John Gielgud, Liv Ullmann, George Kennedy, Olivia Hussey
• Love and Anarchy, directed by Lina Wertmüller –
• Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing, directed by Alan J. Pakula, starring Timothy Bottoms and Maggie Smith

  M

• The Mackintosh Man, starring Paul Newman –
• Magnum Force, directed by Ted Post, starring Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, David Soul, Tim Matheson, Robert Urich
• Malizia –
• Manson, a documentary film about Charles Manson
• Massacre in Rome, directed by George Pan Cosmatos, starring Richard Burton and Marcello Mastroianni –
• Maurie, directed by Daniel Mann, starring Bo Svenson and Bernie Casey
• Mean Streets, directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro
• The Mother and the Whore –
• My Dear Brother starring Tarık Akan, Halit Akçatepe and Kahraman Kıral –
• My Name is Nobody, starring Terence Hill and Henry Fonda –

  N

• The Neptune Factor, starring Ben Gazzara, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine
• The No Mercy Man, starring Sid Haig and Ron Thompson
• Night Flight from Moscow, starring Yul Brynner, Henry Fonda, Dirk Bogarde –
• Night Watch, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey –
• The Night Strangler, TV movie starring Darren McGavin
• The Nutcracker –

  O

• Oklahoma Crude, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Faye Dunaway and George C. Scott
• O Lucky Man!, directed by Lindsay Anderson, starring Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts –
• The Olsen Gang Goes Crazy –

  P

• The Paper Chase, starring Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, John Houseman
• Paper Moon, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn
• Paperback Hero, starring Keir Dullea and Elizabeth Ashley –
• Papillon, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman
• Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, with music by Dylan
• The Pedestrian, directed by Maximilian Schell, starring Peggy Ashcroft – Golden Globe for best foreign film –
• Property Is No Longer a Theft, starring Ugo Tognazzi –
• The Pyx, starring Christopher Plummer and Karen Black-

  R

• Resurrection of Eve, starring Marilyn Chambers
• El Retorno de Walpurgis –
• Robin Hood, animated film with voices of Roger Miller, Phil Harris, Andy Devine, Peter Ustinov, Terry-Thomas

  S

• Save the Tiger, directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Jack Lemmon
• Scarecrow, directed by Jerry Schatzberg, starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino – Palme d'Or winner
• Scenes from a Marriage, directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson –
• Scorpio, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Paul Scofield, Gayle Hunnicutt
• Scream Blacula Scream, starring William H. Marshall and Pam Grier
• Serpico, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Al Pacino
• The Seven Madmen, directed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson –
• The Seven-Ups, starring Roy Scheider
• Shamus, starring Burt Reynolds, Dyan Cannon, John P. Ryan
• Showdown, starring Dean Martin and Rock Hudson
• Sisters, directed by Brian De Palma
• Slaughter's Big Rip-Off, starring Jim Brown, Brock Peters, Ed McMahon
• Sleeper, directed by and starring Woody Allen, with Diane Keaton
• Slither, starring James Caan, Sally Kellerman, Peter Boyle
• The Society of the Spectacle –
• Son of Zorro
• Soul Hustler, directed by Bert Topper, starring Fabian Forte, Nai Bonet, Tony Russel, Casey Kasem
• Soylent Green, directed by Richard Fleischer, starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Edward G. Robinson
• The Spirit of the Beehive –
• Stateline Motel, starring Eli Wallach, Ursula Andress, Fabio Testi, Eli Wallach – Canada/Italy
• Steelyard Blues, starring Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda
• Steptoe and Son Ride Again, starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett –
• The Sting, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Eileen Brennan, Charles Durning, Ray Walston – winner of 7 Academy Awards
• The Stone Killer, starring Charles Bronson
• Super Fly T.N.T., directed by and starring Ron O'Neal
• Superdad, starring Bob Crane, Barbara Rush, Kurt Russell
• Sweet Kill, starring Tab Hunter

  T

• The Tenderness of Wolves –
• That´ll Be the Day, starring David Essex, Rosemary Leach, Ringo Starr –
• Theatre of Blood, starring Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Robert Morley
• Themroc, starring Michel Piccoli –
• There's No Smoke Without Fire, starring Annie Girardot –
• The Thief Who Came to Dinner, starring Ryan O'Neal, Jacqueline Bisset, Warren Oates
• The Three-Day Reign –
• The Three Musketeers, directed by Richard Lester, starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Raquel Welch –
• Three Nuts for Cinderella –
• A Touch of Class, starring George Segal and Glenda Jackson –
• Tom Sawyer, starring Johnny Whitaker and Jodie Foster
• Touki Bouki –
• The Train Robbers, starring John Wayne and Ann-Margret
• Tsugaru Folk Song –
• Turkish Delight, directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Rutger Hauer –
• Two Men in Town, starring Jean Gabin and Alain Delon –
• Two People, directed by Robert Wise, starring Peter Fonda and Lindsay Wagner

  U

• Ultimul cartuş –

  V

• The Vault of Horror, starring Glynis Johns, Terry-Thomas, Curd Jürgens –
• Voices, starring David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt –

  W

• Walking Tall, starring Joe Don Baker
• The Way We Were, directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford
• We Want the Colonels, starring Ugo Tognazzi –
• Wedding in Blood, directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Stéphane Audran and Michel Piccoli –
• Westworld, directed by Michael Crichton, starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin
• White Lightning, starring Burt Reynolds
• Wicked, Wicked, starring David Bailey, Edd Byrnes, Tiffany Bolling
• The Wicker Man, directed by Robin Hardy, starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento –
• Willie Dynamite, directed by Gilbert Moses, starring Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala and Roger Robinson
• The World's Greatest Athlete, starring Jan-Michael Vincent and John Amos

  Z

• Zanjeer –
• Ziddi -

  1973 film releases

January–March

• January 1973
• *27 January
• **Last Tango in Paris
• *31 January
• **Shamus
• **Steelyard Blues
• February 1973
• *1 February
• **The World's Greatest Athlete
• *7 February
• **Black Caesar
• **The Train Robbers
• *22 February
• **Walking Tall
• March 1973
• *1 March
• **Charlotte's Web
• **The Thief Who Came to Dinner
• *7 March
• **Slither
• **The Long Goodbye
• *16 March
• **The Crazies
• *17 March
• **Godzilla vs. Megalon
• *21 March
• **Godspell
• *23 March
• **Charley and the Angel
• *27 March
• **Sisters

  April–June

• April 1973
• *1 April
• **Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies
• *7 April
• **Night Flight from Moscow
• *11 April
• **Scarecrow
• *19 April
• **Scorpio
• **Soylent Green
• May 1973
• *1 May
• **Guns of a Stranger
• *9 May
• **Paper Moon
• *20 May
• **Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
• *24 May
• **Emperor of the North Pole
• June 1973
• *14 June
• **The Last of Sheila
• *15 June
• **Battle for the Planet of the Apes
• **The Legend of Hell House
• *17 June
• **Coffy
• *17 June
• **Blume in Love
• *20 June
• **O Lucky Man!
• **One Little Indian
• **Showdown
• *26 June
• **The Friends of Eddie Coyle
• **Live and Let Die
• *28 June
• **The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing

  July–September

• July 1973
• *2 July
• **Oklahoma Crude
• *11 July
• **Cahill U.S. Marshal
• *13 July
• **Lady Ice
• *18 July
• **Sssssss
• *20 July
• **Dillinger
• *25 July
• **The Mackintosh Man
• *27 July
• **The Last American Hero
• August 1973
• *3 August
• **The Neptune Factor
• *8 August
• **The Stone Killer
• **White Lightning
• *9 August
• **Gordon's War
• *11 August
• **American Graffiti
• *15 August
• **Jesus Christ Superstar
• *17 August
• **Westworld
• *19 August
• **Electra Glide in Blue
• **Enter the Dragon
• *22 August
• **High Plains Drifter
• *26 August
• **Bang the Drum Slowly
• September 1973
• *29 September
• **Kid Blue

  October–December

• October 1973
• *2 October
• **Mean Streets
• *15 October
• **Badlands
• *16 October
• **Don't Look Now
• **The Paper Chase
• *19 October
• **Charley Varrick
• **The Way We Were
• November 1973
• *8 November
• **Robin Hood
• *14 November
• **The Don Is Dead
• *18 November
• **Breezy
• December 1973
• *5 December
• **Serpico
• *6 December
• **Fantastic Planet
• **The Wicker Man
• *12 December
• **The Last Detail
• *14 December
• **My Name is Nobody
• **Superdad
• **The Seven-Ups
• *16 December
• **Hell Up in Harlem
• **Papillon
• *17 December
• **Sleeper
• *18 December
• **Cinderella Liberty
• *19 December
• **Willie Dynamite
• *20 December
• **The Laughing Policeman
• *21 December
• **The Deadly Trackers
• *25 December
• **The Sting
• **Magnum Force
• *26 December
• **The Exorcist

  Births

• January 7 – Baiba Broka, Latvian actress
• January 31 – Portia de Rossi, Australian-Canadian actress
• February 12 – Tara Strong, Canadian-American voice actress
• March 18 – Luci Christian, American voice actress
• March 20 – Jane March, English actress and model
• April 10 – Guillaume Canet, French actor
• April 14 – Adrien Brody, American actor
• April 22 – Christopher Sabat, American voice actor
• April 30 – Antonino Isordia, Mexican director
• May 5 – Tina Yothers, American actress
• May 10 – Tora Sudiro, Indonesian actor
• May 27 - Jack McBrayer, American actor, singer and comedian
• June 15 – Neil Patrick Harris, American actor
• June 16 – Eddie Cibrian, American actor
• June 21 – Juliette Lewis, American actress
• July 26 – Kate Beckinsale, English actress
• August 6 – Vera Farmiga, American actress
• August 8 – Jessica Calvello, American voice actress
• August 22 – Kristen Wiig, American actress and comedian
• August 24 –
• *Dave Chappelle, American actor
• *Grey Griffin, American actress, comedian and singer songwriter
• September 12 – Paul Walker, American actor and producer
• September 14 – Andrew Lincoln, English actor
• September 18 – James Marsden, American actor
• September 26 – Julienne Davis, American actress and model
• October 3
• *Neve Campbell, Canadian actress
• *Richard Ian Cox, Welsh-Canadian voice actor
• *Lena Headey, English actress
• October 24 – Kurt Kuenne, American filmmaker
• October 26 – Seth MacFarlane, American actor, voice actor, animator, screenwriter, comedian, television producer, director and singer
• November 1 – Aishwarya Rai, Indian actress
• November 26 – Peter Facinelli, American actor
• November 27 – Sharlto Copley, South African actor
• December 14 – Jan Uuspõld, Estonian actor

  Notable deaths

Debuts

• John Candy – Class of '44
• Joanna Cassidy – The Outfit
• Laura Dern – White Lightning
• Anthony Edwards – Big Zapper
• Emilio Estevez – Badlands
• Victor Garber – Godspell
• Rutger Hauer – Turkish Delight
• Stan Lee - The Year 01
• Tatum O'Neal – Paper Moon
• Bernadette Peters – Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies
• Kathleen Quinlan – American Graffiti
• Stellan Skarsgård – Anita – ur en tonärsflickas dagbok
• Carl Weathers – Magnum Force