1977 in film

Highest-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• March 28 – At the 49th Academy Awards, Rocky picks up the Academy Award for Best Picture. Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, and Beatrice Straight all win Oscars for their performances in Network for Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, while Jason Robards wins for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in All the President's Men. He will win again the following year, becoming the only person to win two consecutive Best Supporting Actor awards.
• May 25 – Star Wars opens in theaters and becomes the highest-grossing film of the year. The film revolutionizes the use of special effects in film and television production. It also embraces the notion of omitting any sort of opening credits sequence. Lucas, told by the Directors Guild of America that he must have an opening credits sequence, instead distributes the film independently, sans the opening credits. The film's release is often considered one of the most important events in film history.
• June 22 – Walt Disney Productions releases The Rescuers, which brings back an interest in animation that had been lost to both filmgoers and critics throughout the beginning of the 1970s.
• November 16 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind opens to widespread critical acclaim and massive box office success, becoming one of the top-grossing films to date and cementing Steven Spielberg's status as one of the most talented and profitable film directors of all time.
• The average price of a movie ticket in the United States is about $2.25.

  Awards

Notable films released in 1977

#

• 3 Women, directed by Robert Altman, starring Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule
• 21 Up, a TV made documentary film –

  A

• – directed by Lasse Hallström –
• Airport '77, starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Brenda Vaccaro, Christopher Lee, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, James Stewart
• Alien Prey, directed by Norman J. Warren, starring Glory Annen –
• Alice or the Last Escapade, directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Sylvia Kristel –
• Allegro Non Troppo, a musical animated film –
• Amar Akbar Anthony, starring Amitabh Bachchan –
• The American Friend, directed by Wim Wenders, starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz –
• Andy Warhol's Bad, starring Carroll Baker and Perry King
• Annie Hall, directed by and starring Woody Allen, with Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon
• Audrey Rose, directed by Robert Wise, starring Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins, John Beck
• The Ascent, directed by Larisa Shepitko –
• An Average Little Man, directed by Mario Monicelli, starring Alberto Sordi –

  B

• Backroads, directed by Phillip Noyce –
• The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, starring Jackie Earle Haley and William Devane
• Black Joy, starring Norman Beaton –
• Black Sunday, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller
• A Bridge Too Far, directed by Richard Attenborough, starring James Caan, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O'Neal, Robert Redford –
• The Brothers Lionheart –

  C

• Candleshoe, starring David Niven, Helen Hayes, Jodie Foster
• The Car, starring James Brolin
• Ceddo, directed by Ousmane Sembène –
• Charleston, starring Bud Spencer, James Coco, Herbert Lom
• The Chess Players, directed by Satyajit Ray –
• Chinatown Kid, directed by Chang Cheh –
• The Choirboys, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Charles Durning, Louis Gossett, Jr., Perry King, Phyllis Davis, Barbara Rhoades
• Cinderella, starring Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith
• Circuit no Ōkami –
• Citizen's Band, directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Paul Le Mat and Candy Clark
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr
• Cross of Iron, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason –
• Crossed Swords, starring Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Rex Harrison, Charlton Heston, George C. Scott
• Carrie Force, directed by Brian Depalma, starring John Travolta

  D

• Damnation Alley, directed by Jack Smight, starring George Peppard and Jan-Michael Vincent
• Death of a President –
• The Deep, directed by Peter Yates, starring Robert Shaw, Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte, Louis Gossett, Jr.
• Demon Seed, directed by Donald Cammell, starring Julie Christie
• Desperate Living, directed by John Waters
• The Devil Probably, directed by Robert Bresson –
• Dharam Veer, starring Dharmendra –
• Dinner for Adele –
• The Disappearance, starring Donald Sutherland and David Hemmings
• The Dog Who Loved Trains –
• The Domino Principle, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Mickey Rooney, Eli Wallach, Richard Widmark
• Dot and the Kangaroo –
• Double Murder, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress, Peter Ustinov
• The Duellists, directed by Ridley Scott, starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel –

  E

• Elisa, vida mía, directed by Carlos Saura, starring Geraldine Chaplin and Fernando Rey –
• Equus, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Richard Burton and Peter Firth –
• Eraserhead, directed by David Lynch, starring Jack Nance
• Executioners from Shaolin –
• , directed by John Boorman, starring Richard Burton, Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher

  F

• First Love, starring Susan Dey, William Katt, Beverly D'Angelo
• Full Circle, aka The Haunting of Julia, starring Mia Farrow, Keir Dullea, Tom Conti
• Fun with Dick and Jane, directed by Ted Kotcheff, starring Jane Fonda and George Segal

  G

• The Gauntlet, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Sondra Locke
• The Getting of Wisdom, directed by Bruce Beresford –
• Golden Rendezvous, starring Richard Harris, Ann Turkel, David Janssen
• The Goodbye Girl, directed by Herbert Ross, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason
• Grand Theft Auto, directed by and starring Ron Howard with Nancy Morgan
• The Grateful Dead Movie, directed by Jerry Garcia and Leon Gast
• The Greatest, starring Muhammad Ali as himself
• Gulliver's Travels

  H

• Halloween with the New Addams Family
• Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, directed by Vincent McEveety, starring Dean Jones and Don Knotts
• Heroes, starring Henry Winkler, Sally Field, Harrison Ford
• High Anxiety, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, with Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Howard Morris, Cloris Leachman
• The Hills Have Eyes, directed by Wes Craven
• , directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg –
• The Hobbit, an animated film
• House –
• The Hunters, directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos –

  I

• I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, starring Kathleen Quinlan
• In the Name of the Pope King, starring Nino Manfredi –
• In Search of Noah's Ark
• Iphigenia, directed by Michael Cacoyannis –
• The Iron Prefect –
• The Iron-Fisted Monk, directed by and starring Sammo Hung –
• The Island of Dr. Moreau, starring Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Barbara Carrera
• Islands in the Stream, starring George C. Scott

  J

• J.A. Martin Photographer –
• Jabberwocky, directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Michael Palin –
• Joseph Andrews, directed by Tony Richardson, starring Ann-Margret
• Jubilee, by Derek Jarman, starring Adam Ant, Toyah Willcox, Little Nell –
• Julia, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards

  K

• The Kentucky Fried Movie, directed by John Landis, starring Bill Bixby and George Lazenby
• Kingdom of the Spiders, starring William Shatner and Tiffany Bolling
• The King of the Street Cleaners –
• Die Konsequenz, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Jürgen Prochnow –

  L

• La Soufrière, a documentary film directed by Werner Herzog –
• The Lacemaker, starring Isabelle Huppert –
• The Last Remake of Beau Geste, directed by and starring Marty Feldman
• The Last Wave, directed by Peter Weir –
• The Late Show, directed by Robert Benton, starring Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, Joanna Cassidy
• A Little Night Music, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Lesley-Anne Down, Diana Rigg
• Looking for Mr. Goodbar, directed by Richard Brooks, starring Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, Richard Kiley, Richard Gere
• The Lorry, directed by and starring Marguerite Duras with Gérard Depardieu –

  M

• MacArthur, starring Gregory Peck
• Madame Rosa, starring Simone Signoret – Academy Award for Best Foreign Film –
• The Magic Pony
• Ma-ma –
• Mama, I'm Alive –
• Man of Marble, directed by Andrzej Wajda –
• The Man Who Loved Women, directed by François Truffaut, starring Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey, Leslie Caron –
• Manly Times, directed by Eduard Zahariev, starring Grigor Vachkov, Mariana Dimitrova, Velko Kanev –
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• March or Die, directed by Dick Richards, starring Gene Hackman, Catherine Deneuve, Max von Sydow
• Martin, directed by George A. Romero
• Mimino –
• Mogliamante – –
• Mr. Billion, starring Terence Hill, Valerie Perrine, Jackie Gleason

  N-O

• Nenè –
• New York, New York, directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro
• A Nice Plate of Spinach –
• Office Romance –
• Oh, God!, directed by Carl Reiner, starring George Burns, John Denver, Teri Garr, Paul Sorvino
• One on One, starring Robby Benson, Annette O'Toole, G. D. Spradlin
• One Sings, the Other Doesn't, directed by Agnès Varda –
• Opening Night, directed by John Cassavetes, starring Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara
• Orca, starring Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling, Bo Derek
• The Other Side of Midnight, starring Marie-France Pisier, Susan Sarandon, John Beck, Clu Gulager, Raf Vallone
• Outlaw Blues, starring Peter Fonda and Susan Saint James

  P-Q

• Padre Padrone, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani – – Palme d'Or winner
• Pafnucio Santo –
• Pete's Dragon, directed by Don Chaffey, starring Helen Reddy, Jim Dale, Mickey Rooney
• The Picture Show Man, starring Rod Taylor –
• A Piece of the Action, directed by and starring Sidney Poitier, with Bill Cosby and James Earl Jones
• Plae Kao –
• Portrait of a Hitman, starring Jack Palance and Rod Steiger
• Providence, directed by Alain Resnais, starring John Gielgud, Dirk Bogarde, Ellen Burstyn –
• Pumping Iron, a docudrama starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

  R

• Rabid, starring Marilyn Chambers
• Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown
• , an animated film with the voices of Didi Conn and Mark Baker
• Rembrandt 1669 –
• The Report, directed by Abbas Kiarostami –
• The Rescuers, animated film with voices of Eva Gabor and Bob Newhart
• Rollercoaster, starring Timothy Bottoms, George Segal, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda
• Rolling Thunder, starring William Devane
• Roots, TV mini-series, starring LeVar Burton, Louis Gossett, Jr., John Amos, Cicely Tyson, Georg Stanford Brown, Olivia Cole, Ben Vereen
• Roseland, starring Teresa Wright, Geraldine Chaplin, Lou Jacobi, Christopher Walken
• Ruby, starring Piper Laurie

  S

• Saturday Night Fever, directed by John Badham, starring John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney
• Scott Joplin, starring Billy Dee Williams, Margaret Avery, Clifton Davis, Art Carney
• Semi-Tough, directed by Michael Ritchie, starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Preston, Bert Convy
• The Sentinel, starring Chris Sarandon, Cristina Raines, José Ferrer, Martin Balsam, Ava Gardner
• September 30, 1955, directed by James Bridges, starring Richard Thomas, Susan Tyrrell, Dennis Quaid, Tom Hulce, Dennis Christopher
• The Serpent's Egg, directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring David Carradine and Liv Ullmann –
• Short Eyes, directed by Robert M. Young, starring Bruce Davison and Jose Perez
• Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, directed by Sam Wanamaker, starring Patrick Wayne and Jane Seymour –
• Slap Shot, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Lindsay Crouse, Strother Martin
• Smokey and the Bandit, directed by Hal Needham, starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason
• Soldier of Orange, directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Rutger Hauer –
• Sorcerer, directed by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider
• A Special Day, directed by Ettore Scola, starring Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, John Vernon –
• Speedtrap, starring Joe Don Baker and Tyne Daly
• Spider-Man, starring Nicholas Hammond
• The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Roger Moore with Barbara Bach, Curd Jürgens, Richard Kiel –
• Starship Invasions, starring Christopher Lee, Robert Vaughn, Helen Shaver
• Star Wars, directed by George Lucas, starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing
• Stroszek, directed by Werner Herzog, starring Bruno S. and Eva Mattes –
• Suspiria, directed by Dario Argento, starring Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Alida Valli –
• Sweeney!, starring John Thaw and Dennis Waterman –

  T

• A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness –
• Telefon, directed by Don Siegel, starring Charles Bronson and Lee Remick
• Tenda dos Milagres, directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos –
• Tentacles, starring John Huston, Shelley Winters, Henry Fonda
• That Obscure Object of Desire, directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquet, Ángela Molina –
• That's Carry On!, a compilation film featuring Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor –
• Thunder and Lightning, starring David Carradine and Kate Jackson
• Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea –
• Tongpan –
• The Turning Point, directed by Herbert Ross, starring Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Tom Skerritt, Mikhail Baryshnikov
• Twilight's Last Gleaming, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Charles Durning, Paul Winfield, Burt Young

  U-V

• Unsichtbare Gegner directed by Valie Export –
• Viva l'Italia!, starring Vittorio Gassman and Ornella Muti –
• Viva Knievel!, featuring Evel Knievel

  W

• The War in Space –
• Which Way Is Up?, directed by Michael Schultz, starring Richard Pryor, Margaret Avery, Lonette McKee
• White Bim Black Ear –
• The White Buffalo, starring Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, Will Sampson, Slim Pickens, Kim Novak
• Wilma, starring Shirley Jo Finney, Cicely Tyson, Denzel Washington
• The Wishing Tree –
• Wizards – animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi
• The World's Greatest Lover, directed by and starring Gene Wilder, with Carol Kane, Dom DeLuise
• Wounded Game –

  XYZ

• The Year of the Hare –
• The Yellow Handkerchief –
• You Light Up My Life, starring Didi Conn

  1977 film releases

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Births

• January 7 – Dustin Diamond, American actor
• January 8 – Amber Benson, American actress
• January 13 – Orlando Bloom, English actor
• January 15 – Ronald Zehrfeld, German actor
• January 19 – Taliesin Jaffe, American voice actor
• January 28 – Joey Fatone, American singer and actor
• January 29 – Justin Hartley, American actor
• January 31 – Kerry Washington, American actress
• February 16 – Paul Brittain, American actor and comedian
• March 2 – Heather McComb, American actress
• March 8 – James Van Der Beek, American actor
• March 9 – Lydia Mackay, American voice actress
• March 24 – Jessica Chastain, American actress
• March 25 – Édgar Ramírez, Venezuelan actor
• April 2 – Michael Fassbender, Irish-German actor
• April 10 – Stephanie Sheh, American voice actress
• April 14 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress
• April 20 – Robert Wilfort, English actor
• April 23
• * John Cena, American professional wrestler and actor
• * Kal Penn, American actor
• April 26 – Tom Welling, American actor
• May 13 – Samantha Morton, English actress
• May 16
• * Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
• * Emilíana Torrini, Icelandic singer
• May 19 – Kelly Sheridan, Canadian voice actress
• May 20 – Matt Czuchry, American actor
• June 1 – Danielle Harris, American actress
• June 2 – Zachary Quinto, American actor
• June 5 – Liza Weil, American actress
• July 1 – Liv Tyler, American actress
• July 8 – Milo Ventimiglia, American actor
• July 10 – Chiwetel Ejiofor, English actor
• July 13 – Kari Wahlgren, American voice actress
• July 26 – Tony Sampson, Canadian oiler, former actor and voice artist
• July 27 – Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Irish actor
• July 30 – Jaime Pressly, American actress
• August 2 – Edward Furlong, American actor
• September 11 – Ludacris, American actor and rapper
• September 15 – Tom Hardy, English actor
• September 25
• * Divya Dutta, Indian actress
• * Clea DuVall, American actress
• September 27 – Mike Maronna, American actor
• October 7 – Brandon Quinn, American actor
• October 8 – Jamie Marchi, American voice actress
• October 11 – Matthew Bomer, American actor
• October 26 – Jon Heder, American actor
• October 29 – Jon Abrahams, American actor
• November 10 – Brittany Murphy, American actress
• November 11 – Scoot McNairy, American actor
• November 14 – Brian Dietzen, American actor
• November 15 – Sean Murray, American actor
• November 16 – Maggie Gyllenhaal, American actress
• November 29 – Chadwick Boseman, American actor
• December 8 – Matthias Schoenaerts, Belgian actor
• December 10 – Emmanuelle Chriqui, Canadian actress
• December 15 – Geoff Stults, American actor

  Notable deaths

Film debuts

• Dan Aykroyd – Love at First Sight
• Roberto Benigni – Berlinguer, I Love You
• Tom Berenger – The Sentinel
• Beverly D'Angelo – The Sentinel
• Judy Davis – High Rolling
• Brian Dennehy – Looking for Mr. Goodbar
• Bo Derek – Orca
• Fran Drescher – Saturday Night Fever
• Charles Fleischer – One on One
• Mel Gibson – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
• John Goodman – Jailbait Babysitter
• Steve Guttenberg – Rollercoaster
• Marilu Henner – Between the Lines
• Tom Hulce – September 30, 1955
• Helen Hunt – Rollercoaster
• Michael Ironside – Outrageous!
• Joe Mantegna – Medusa Challenger
• Bruce McGill – Handle with Care
• Michael McKean – Cracking Up
• Kevin McNally – The Spy Who Loved Me
• Sam Neill – Sleeping Dogs
• Pete Postlethwaite – The Duellists
• Meryl Streep – Julia
• Craig Wasson – Rollercoaster
• Sigourney Weaver – Annie Hall
• Robin Williams – Can I Do It... 'Till I Need Glasses?
• Rita Wilson – The Day It Came to Earth