Gregor's Top 20 of 1979 +10
by Movie-Mate | created - 24 Nov 2013 | updated - 08 Jan 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 949,212 | Gross: $78.90M
2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, War
A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 709,323 | Gross: $83.47M
3. Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
102 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A dashing thief, his gang of desperadoes and an intrepid cop struggle to free a princess from an evil count, and learn the secret of a treasure that she holds part of the key to.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yasuo Yamada, Eiko Masuyama, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue
Votes: 33,502
Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
4. Manhattan (1979)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Murphy
Votes: 147,128 | Gross: $45.70M
5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
G | 143 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan
Votes: 96,525 | Gross: $82.26M
6. All That Jazz (1979)
R | 123 min | Drama, Music, Musical
Director/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid career of Joe Gideon, a womanizing, drug-using dancer.
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer
Votes: 35,338 | Gross: $37.82M
7. A Little Romance (1979)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
An American teenager living in Paris meets and falls in love with a local.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Diane Lane, Thelonious Bernard, Arthur Hill
Votes: 6,415
8. Odd Couple (1979)
Unrated | 97 min | Action, Adventure
The self proclaimed 'king of sabres', and 'king of spears', decide to settle whose weapon is better by each taking a student and training them in the use of their favorite weapon, and whoever students' comes out on top is the winner.
Director: Chia-Yung Liu | Stars: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Ka-Yan Leung, Chia-Yung Liu, Lung Chan
Votes: 617
Odd Couple
9. Mad Max (1979)
R | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley
Votes: 222,031 | Gross: $8.75M
10. Zombie (1979)
R | 91 min | Horror
Strangers searching for a young woman's missing father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately seeks the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.
Director: Lucio Fulci | Stars: Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver
Votes: 30,684
AKA: Zombie Flesh Eaters
11. The Kid with the Golden Arm (1979)
R | 86 min | Action, Drama
Director Chang Cheh reunites the Five Venoms in his second biggest cult hit in the West. It's Lo Meng's most memorable performances whose showdown with fellow Venom Kuo Chue is artistically violent while being graphically artsy.
Director: Cheh Chang | Stars: Chien Sun, Meng Lo, Feng Lu, Sheng Chiang
Votes: 1,763
The Kid With The Golden Arm
12. The Magnificent Butcher (1979)
PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
A hot headed young butcher, who is also a kung fu disciple, gets embroiled in a feud with a rival shaolin temple.
Director: Woo-Ping Yuen | Stars: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Tak-Hing Kwan, Biao Yuen, Pai Wei
Votes: 2,597
Magnificent Butcher
13. Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)
Not Rated | 106 min | Action, Drama
A son tries to avenge his father, and gets two sword fighters to help him.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Pai Wei, Damian Lau, Kong Lau, Chau-Wah Yim
Votes: 1,877
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
14. Mad Monkey Kung Fu (1979)
R | 116 min | Action, Comedy
A disgraced former Kung Fu expert makes a living as a merchant with the help of a hot headed friend. When the men are harassed by gangsters, the merchant decided to teach his friend monkey boxing so they can defend their business.
Director: Chia-Liang Liu | Stars: Chia-Liang Liu, Hou Hsiao, Kara Wai, Lieh Lo
Votes: 1,158
Mad Monkey Kung Fu
15. Stroke of Death (1979)
R | 93 min | Action, Drama
A small-time crook goes in search of the other half of a wooden keepsake which will lead him to the legendary kung fu technique of the Gibbon Clan Fist.
Director: Mar Lo | Stars: Siu-Tung Ching, Chiu-Sing Hau, Feng Kuan, Hui-Huang Lin
Votes: 422
Monkey Kung-Fu
16. Rope and Skin (1979)
70 min | Crime, Horror
Okoma (literally, Red Cherry) was a woman gambler until she retired from the yakuza world. Two years later, she returns home, and finds that the big boss has been assassinated and his ... See full summary »
Director: Shôgorô Nishimura | Stars: Naomi Tani, Junko Miyashita, Yuri Yamashina, Ren Seido
Votes: 102
Rope and Skin
17. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
PG | 105 min | Drama
After his wife leaves him, a work-obsessed Manhattan advertising executive is forced to learn long-neglected parenting skills, but a heated custody battle over the couple's young son deepens the wounds left by the separation.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry
Votes: 154,557 | Gross: $106.26M
18. Being There (1979)
PG | 130 min | Comedy, Drama
After the death of his employer forces him out of the only home he's ever known, a simpleminded, sheltered gardener becomes an unlikely trusted advisor to a powerful tycoon and an insider in Washington politics.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden
Votes: 77,587 | Gross: $30.18M
19. Hardcore (1979)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama
A religious businessman from Michigan has to venture into the world of pornography in California, desperately searching for his runaway teenage daughter.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, Dick Sargent
Votes: 13,693
20. The China Syndrome (1979)
PG | 122 min | Drama, Thriller
A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.
Director: James Bridges | Stars: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady
Votes: 32,995 | Gross: $51.72M
21. The Wanderers (1979)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The Wanderers is a teenage, Italian gang in Bronx, NYC, 1963. They have their confrontations with other gangs. Drugs and weapons are uncool. Adult life awaits them.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Ken Wahl, Karen Allen, John Friedrich, Toni Kalem
Votes: 12,346 | Gross: $0.01M
22. The Brood (1979)
R | 92 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Henry Beckman
Votes: 34,268
23. Avenging Warriors of Shaolin (1979)
PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Comedy
Two friends who long to be heroes join the fight against a Ching warlord and his students. They get help from a Kung Fu student and a rebel. They also save Hung Si Quan's life.
Director: Cheh Chang | Stars: Jason Piao Pai, Feng Lu, Meng Lo, Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok
Votes: 384
Shaolin Rescuers
24. Knockabout (1979)
PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
Two brothers and small time crooks Yipao and Taipao convince a martial arts expert to take them on as students, completely oblivious to his sordid past.
Director: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung | Stars: Ka-Yan Leung, Chia-Yung Liu, Biao Yuen, Kuang Yu Wang
Votes: 1,575
Knockabout
25. The Magnificent Ruffians (1979)
82 min | Action, Drama
Yuan Ying Fei is the descendant of the one known as Golden Sword and himself is a master of the technique as well as being boss of the town. He is so a cruel man and has killed his sparring... See full summary »
Director: Cheh Chang | Stars: Feng Lu, Meng Lo, Chien Sun, Li Wang
Votes: 454
The Magnificent Ruffians
26. Dirty Ho (1979)
R | 103 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
A prince enlists a thief to serve as his bodyguard to protect him from assassins.
Director: Chia-Liang Liu | Stars: Yue Wong, Chia-Hui Liu, Lieh Lo, Hou Hsiao
Votes: 1,470
Dirty Ho Release Date 04. August 1979
27. Shaolin Daredevils (1979)
100 min | Action, Drama
The heroes pose as gun dealers and acrobats in order to get close to the bad guys so they can avenge the death of one of their brothers. In the end they lock the bad guys in a warehouse for a final battle to the death.
Director: Cheh Chang | Stars: Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok, Feng Lu, Sheng Chiang, Chien Sun
Votes: 286
The Daredevils
28. The Deadly Breaking Sword (1979)
101 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Warrior Tuan Changqing (Ti Lung) meets courtesan Liu Yinxi (Shih Szu) in a small town. Liu pleads Tuan to kill underworld master Guo Tiansheng (Ku Feng), known as the "Killer Doctor", in ... See full summary »
Director: Chung Sun | Stars: Lung Ti, Sheng Fu, Szu Shih, Feng Ku
Votes: 287
The Deadly Breaking
29. The Kung Fu Instructor (1979)
R | 100 min | Action, Drama
The Kung-Fu Instructor was director Sun Cheng's homage to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo where Ti Lung plays a righteous weapon instructor. It's the first time a Shaw Brother's director uses a ... See full summary »
Director: Chung Sun | Stars: Lung Ti, Yue Wong, Feng Ku, Angie Chiu
Votes: 349
The Kung Fu Instructor
30. Rocky II (1979)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Sport
Rocky struggles in family life after his bout with Apollo Creed, while the embarrassed champ insistently goads him to accept a challenge for a rematch.
Director: Sylvester Stallone | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers
Votes: 231,042
31. Salem's Lot (1979)
PG | 100 min | Horror
A novelist and a young horror fan attempt to save a small New England town which has been invaded by vampires.
Stars: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia
Votes: 27,445
32. Moonraker (1979)
PG | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
James Bond investigates the mid-air theft of a space shuttle, and discovers a plot to commit global genocide.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Richard Kiel
Votes: 108,710 | Gross: $70.31M
33. Dance of the Drunken Mantis (1979)
Not Rated | 94 min | Action, Comedy
Drunken Boxing master Beggar So must train his bumbling son in order to take on a rival Drunken Boxing master and his student.
Director: Woo-Ping Yuen | Stars: Siu-Tin Yuen, Jeong-lee Hwang, Linda Lin, Shun-Yee Yuen
Votes: 823
Dance of the Drunk Mantis
34. Stalker (1979)
Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko
Votes: 144,570 | Gross: $0.23M
35. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,733
36. Raining in the Mountain (1979)
120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In Ming Dynasty China, the abbot of the San Pao Buddhist monastery must choose a successor. Among the high dignitaries invited, there are some who are after the priceless parchment kept in the temple: the Mahayana Sutras.
Director: King Hu | Stars: Feng Hsu, Yueh Sun, Lin Tung, Feng Tien
Votes: 1,492
Raining in the Mountain
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