The 30 Greatest Films of 1979
by Gibboanxious | created - 05 Jul 2022 | updated - 4 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 710,569 | Gross: $83.47M
2. 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: 951,365 | Gross: $78.90M
3. Life of Brian (1979)
R | 94 min | Comedy
Born on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 421,921 | Gross: $20.05M
4. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
PG | 112 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Alcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau
Votes: 147,489 | Gross: $43.00M
5. Breaking Away (1979)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A working-class Indiana teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl while searching for life goals with his friends.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley
Votes: 25,483 | Gross: $16.42M
6. 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: 154,777 | Gross: $106.26M
7. 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: 147,317 | Gross: $45.70M
8. 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: 77,684 | Gross: $30.18M
9. 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: 33,049 | Gross: $51.72M
10. And Justice for All (1979)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A lawyer is forced to defend a judge, while defending other clients, and trying to find punishment for the guilty and provide justice for the innocent.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Al Pacino, Jack Warden, John Forsythe, Lee Strasberg
Votes: 39,691
11. 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: 231,323
12. The Jerk (1979)
R | 94 min | Comedy
A simpleminded, sheltered country boy suddenly decides to leave his family home to experience life in the big city, where his naivete is both his best friend and his worst enemy.
Director: Carl Reiner | Stars: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, Mabel King
Votes: 64,236 | Gross: $73.69M
13. 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: 222,499 | Gross: $8.75M
14. The Warriors (1979)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A street gang known as the Warriors must fight its way from the Bronx to its home turf on Coney Island when its members are falsely accused of assassinating a respected gang leader.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Michael Beck, James Remar, Dorsey Wright, Brian Tyler
Votes: 110,738 | Gross: $22.49M
15. 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: 13,857
16. 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: 25,758
17. 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: 34,330
18. 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: 33,583
19. 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: 108,829 | Gross: $70.31M
20. The Muppet Movie (1979)
G | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Kermit and his newfound friends trek across America to find success in Hollywood, but a frog legs merchant is after Kermit.
Director: James Frawley | Stars: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt
Votes: 39,157 | Gross: $76.66M
21. Quadrophenia (1979)
R | 120 min | Drama, Music
Jimmy Cooper loathes his dead-end job and his working-class parents. He seeks solace with his mod clique, scooter riding, and drugs, only to be disappointed.
Director: Franc Roddam | Stars: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Phil Davis, Mark Wingett
Votes: 20,879
22. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
PG | 107 min | Drama, Horror
Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor
Votes: 40,553
23. 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: 35,413 | Gross: $37.82M
24. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
R | 120 min | Drama
Maria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Löwitsch, Ivan Desny, Gisela Uhlen
Votes: 14,928
25. The Jericho Mile (1979 TV Movie)
97 min | Crime, Drama, Sport
A prisoner gets a chance to take part in the Olympics.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Peter Strauss, Richard Lawson, Roger E. Mosley, Brian Dennehy
Votes: 2,064
26. Tess (1979)
PG | 186 min | Drama, Romance
A strong-willed young peasant girl attracts the affection of two men.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin
Votes: 18,283
27. The Plumber (1979 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 76 min | Horror, Thriller
A young couple, living in a campus apartment complex, are repeatedly harassed by an eccentric plumber, who subjects them to a series of bizarre mind games while making unnecessary repairs to their bathroom.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Judy Morris, Ivar Kants, Robert Coleby, Candy Raymond
Votes: 2,581
28. One Fine Day (1979 TV Movie)
95 min | Comedy, Drama
George Phillips, a middle-aged Londoner, works as an estate agent for the firm of Frobisher, Rendell and Ross. His home life is soured by clashes with his wife over whether their teenage ... See full summary »
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Dave Allen, Robert Stephens, Dominic Guard, Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Votes: 52
29. Elvis (I) (1979 TV Movie)
168 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Biographical movie about the famous rock singer Elvis Presley.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Shelley Winters, Bing Russell, Robert Gray
Votes: 5,137
30. Afternoon Off (1979 TV Movie)
63 min | Drama
Lee, a Chinese man, works as a waiter in a hotel in England, despite speaking very little English. Told that a girl called Iris might be interested in him, on his afternoon off work he buys a box of chocolates and sets off to find her.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Henry Man, Benjamin Whitrow, Angela Morant, Pasquale Perrino
Votes: 62
31. The Rose (1979)
R | 125 min | Drama, Music, Romance
The tragic life of a self-destructive female rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton
Votes: 9,252 | Gross: $29.20M
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