September 9, 1978

Animal House (1978) ***

Halloween (1978) ***

An Unmarried Woman (1978) ***

A Wedding (1978) ***

Drunken Master (1978) ***


A Hunting Accident (1978) ***


Autumn Sonata (1978) ***

An Ingmar Bergman film starring Ingrid Bergman.

The Buddy Holly Story (1978) ***

A musical biopic about the famous singer.

La Cage aux Folles (1978) ***

Classic French farce about a gay couple (Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi) pretending to be straight.

Eraserhead (1978) ***

David Lynch's feature film debut.

Gates Of Heaven (1978) ***

Unique documentary about a pet cemetary.

Interiors (1978) ***

Woody Allen is imitating Ingmar Bergman, but he is imitating him well.

The Last Waltz (1978) ***

Martin Scorsese's documentary about the final concert of The Band.

Revenge Of The Pink Panther (1978) ***

The last Pink Panther film starring Peter Sellers. It was followed by "Trail Of The Pink Panther" (1982) that used archive footage of Peter Sellers, and then by other Pink Panther films, starring, respectively, Roger Moore (1983's "Curse Of The Pink Panther), Roberto Benigni (1993's "Son Of The Pink Panther") and Steve Martin (2006's "The Pink Panther").

Up In Smoke (1978) ***

Amusing comedy starring Cheech and Chong.

Watership Down (1978) ***

Very intresting animated feature.

Days Of Heaven (1978) ***

Visually gorgeous film with about Prairie farm workers. Nestor Almendros won a well deserved Oscar for cinematography. Ennio Morricone also should have won an Oscar for his absolutely magnificent score.

The Lord Of The Rings (1978) ***

Directed by Ralph Bakshi. J.R.R.Tolkien's fantasy saga is given a short shrift, but the film is remarkable for its mix of rotoscoping and traditional animation.

Who'll Stop The Rain (1978) ***

Michael Moriarty and Nick Nolte star in this complex and tense drama about corruption, heroism and loyalty.

The Wiz (1978) ***

This musical starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson has plenty of flaws, but impressive art direction and a couple of very good songs save it from being a failure. Musical numbers include:

"The Feeling That We Have"
"He's The Wizard" **
"Soon As I Get Home"
"You Can't Win" *
"Ease On Down The Road" ***
"What Would I Do If I Could Feel"
"Slide Some Oil To Me" *
"I'M A Mean Old Lion"
"Be A Lion" *
"Don't Bring Me No Bad News" ***
"Brand New Day" *
"Believe In Yourself"
"Home"

The Brink's Job (1978) ***