New York City 1977 Commercial Releases
(Reconstructed from New York Times archives; I didn't start keeping track week-to-week until 1998. List is probably not definitive—if it got neither an ad nor a review, I won't have caught it—but everything major should be here. Films seen by yours truly are in blue.)
Week of 30 Dec
[no films released]
Week of 23 Dec
The Children of Theatre Street (Robert Dornheim)The Choirboys (Robert Aldrich)
The Gauntlet (Clint Eastwood)
High Anxiety (Mel Brooks)
Padre padrone (Paolo & Vittorio Taviani)
The World's Greatest Lover (Gene Wilder)
Week of 16 Dec
Saturday Night Fever (John Badham)Telefon (Don Siegel)
Week of 9 Dec
Clown White (John Walker)Heart of Glass (Werner Herzog)
Nomadic Lives (Mark Obenhaus)
Week of 2 Dec
American Rib Tickler (Chuck Vincent)The Cinema According to Bertolucci (Giuseppe Bertolucci)*
The Goodbye Girl (Herbert Ross)
* NOTE: A different film than Gianni Amelio's of the same title, which is
apparently also a making-of doc about 1900. This one is
called Abicinema on the IMDb.
Week of 25 Nov
Another Man, Another Chance (Claude Lelouch)It's Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, but the Situation in Which He Lives (Rosa von Praunheim) [1971]
Santa Claus (René Cardona) [1959]
Week of 18 Nov
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)The Confessions of Amans (Gregory Nava)
Iphigenia (Michael Cacoyannis)
Semi-Tough (Michael Ritchie)
Summerdog (John Clayton)
Thunder and Lightning (Corey Allen)
The Turning Point (Herbert Ross)
Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) [1970]
Week of 11 Nov
The Last Resort (Daniel Keller)More Nuclear Power Stations (Per Mannstaedt)
The Ona People: Life and Death in Tierra Del Fuego (Anne Chapman & Ana Montes de Gonzalez)
That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Buñuel)
Week of 4 Nov
First Love (Joan Darling)Heroes (Jeremy Paul Kagan)
Mr. Klein (Joseph Losey)
1900 (Bernardo Bertolucci)
Pete's Dragon (Don Chaffey)
Voyage to Grand Tartarie (Jean-Charles Tacchella) [1974]
Which Way Is Up? (Michael Schultz)
Week of 28 Oct
Alicia (Eduardo Manet)Rapid Eye Movement (various)
Week of 21 Oct
Angel City (Jon Jost)Damnation Alley (Jack Smight)
The Demise of Father Mouret (Georges Franju) [1970]
The Hills Have Eyes (Wes Craven)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks)
The Man Who Loved Women (François Truffaut)
Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry (Donald Brittain)
Week of 14 Oct
Breaking With Old Ideas (Li Wenhua)Desperate Living (John Waters)
Equus (Sidney Lumet)
Rolling Thunder (John Flynn)
Roseland (James Ivory)
Scenes From the Class Struggle in Portugal (Robert Kramer & Philip J. Spinelli)
Week of 7 Oct
Handle With Care (Jonathan Demme)The Lacemaker (Claude Goretta)
The Lincoln Conspiracy (James L. Conway)
Oh, God! (Carl Reiner)
A Piece of the Action (Sidney Poitier)
Rabid (David Cronenberg)
Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Valentino (Ken Russell)
Week of 30 Sep
The American Friend (Wim Wenders)Bobby Deerfield (Sydney Pollack)
Grand Theft Auto (Ron Howard)
The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (William A. Levey)
Julia (Fred Zinnemann)
Short Eyes (Robert M. Young)
Week of 23 Sep
Femmes Fatales (Bertrand Blier)One Sings, the Other Doesn't (Agnès Varda)
A Special Day (Ettore Scola)
Week of 16 Sep
Allegro non troppo (Bruno Bozzetto)By the Blood of Others (Marc Simenon) [1974]
The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Luis Buñuel) [1955]
Let Joy Reign Supreme (Bertrand Tavernier)
San Francisco Good Times (Allan Francovich & Eugene Rosow)
Week of 9 Sep
Dynasty (Chang Mei ChunThe River and Death (Luis Buñuel) [1954]
A Woman's Decision (Krzysztof Zanussi)
Week of 2 Sep
Final Chapter—Walking Tall (Jack Starrett)You Light Up My Life (Joseph Brooks)
Week of 26 Aug
Death in the Garden (Luis Buñuel) [1956]One on One (Lamont Johnson)
Week of 19 Aug
Adios Amigo (Fred Williamson)The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (Michael Pressman)
Fantastic Animation Festival (various)
The Illusion Travels by Streetcar (Luis Buñuel) [1954]
Ruby (Curtis Harrington)
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (Sam Wanamaker)
Week of 12 Aug
Chac (Rolando Klein)Daughter of Deceit (Luis Buñuel) [1951]
The Kentucky Fried Movie (John Landis)
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Nicholas Gessner)
Satan's Brew (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
The Sensual Man (Marco Vicario) [1973]
Suspiria (Dario Argento)
Week of 5 Aug
Greased Lightning (Michael Schultz)The Great Madcap (Luis Buñuel) [1949]
March or Die (Dick Richards)
Outrageous! (Richard Benner)
Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown! (Bill Melendez)
Sandakan 8 (Kei Kumai) [1974]
Tentacles (Oliver Hellman)
Week of 29 Jul
The Amazing Dobermans (Byron Ross Chudnow)The Spy Who Loved Me (Lewis Gilbert)
Viva Knievel! (Gordon Douglas)
Week of 22 Jul
The First Nudie Musical (Mark Haggard & Bruce Kimmel)In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima)
La Grande Bourgeoise (Mauro Bolognini) [1974]
Strongman Ferdinand (Alexander Kluge)
Week of 15 Jul
Godzilla vs. Cosmic Monster (Jun Fukuda) [1974]I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (Anthony Page)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (Don Taylor)
The Last Remake of Beau Geste (Marty Feldman)
The Man From Maisinicu (Manuel Pérez) [1973]
Orca (Michael Anderson)
Outlaw Blues (Richard T. Heffron)
Stroszek (Werner Herzog)
Week of 8 Jul
The People That Time Forgot (Kevin Connor)The Rescuers (Wolfgang Reitherman & John Lounsbery & Art Stevens)
Week of 1 Jul
Empire of the Ants (Bert I. Gordon)MacArthur (Joseph Sargent)
The Other Francisco (Sergio Giral) [1974]
Three Sisters (Paul Bogart) [1966]
Week of 24 Jun
Conversation Piece (Luchino Visconti) [1974]For the Love of Benji (Joe Camp)
High Street (André Ernotte)
New York, New York (Martin Scorsese)
Pardon Mon Affaire (Yves Robert)
Pharaoh (Jerzy Kwalerowicz) [1966]
Sorcerer (William Friedkin)
Week of 17 Jun
A Bridge Too Far (Richard Attenborough)The Deep (Peter Yates)
Effi Briest (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) [1974]
Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman)
Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love (Harry Rasky)
The Last Samurai (Kenji Misumi) [1974]
Touched in the Head (Jacques Doillon) [1974]
We're Not the Jet Set (Robert Duvall)
Week of 10 Jun
Gods of the Plague (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) [1970]Journey Into the Beyond (Rolf Olsen)
The March on Paris 1914—Of Generaloberst Alexander von Kluck—and His Memory of Jessie Holladay (Walter Gutman)
The Other Side of Midnight (Charles Jarrott)
Pick-Up (Bernie Hirschenson)
Rollercoaster (James Goldstone)
Young Lady Chatterley (Alan Roberts)
Week of 3 Jun
Fraternity Row (Thomas J. Tobin)The Grateful Dead (Jerry Garcia)
Katzelmacher (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) [1969]
The New School (Jorge Fraga) [1974]
Ossessione (Luchino Visconti) [1943]
The Van (Sam Grossman)
Week of 27 May
Cinderella 2000 (Al Adamson)Day of the Animals (William Girdler)
Equinox Flower (Yasujiro Ozu) [1958]
Star Wars (George Lucas)
We All Loved Each Other So Much (Ettore Scola) [1974]
Week of 20 May
Breaker! Breaker! (Don Hulette)Cría! (Carlos Saura)
The Greatest (Tom Gries)
Smokey and the Bandit (Hal Needham)
Tenderness of the Wolves (Ulli Lommel) [1973]
Week of 13 May
The Car (Elliot Silverstein)Cousin Angelica (Carlos Saura) [1974]
Cross of Iron (Sam Peckinpah)
The House by the Lake (William Fruet)
Jail Bait (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) [1973]
Looking Up (Linda Yellen)
Tokkan (Kihachi Okamoto)
Week of 6 May
Bad (Jed Johnson)Black and White in Color (Jean-Jacques Annaud)
Les Ordres (Michael Brault) [1974]
Rebellion in Patagonia (Héctor Olivera) [1974]
Revenge of the Cheerleaders (Richard Lerner)
Slumber Party '57 (William A. Levey)
Union Maids (James Klein)
Week of 29 Apr
Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders) [1974]Between the Lines (Joan Micklin Silver)
It's Alive (Larry Cohen)
Shining Star (Sig Shore)
The Wild Duck (Hans Geissendörfer)
Week of 22 Apr
Ankur (Shyam Benegal) [1974]Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
Chinese Roulette (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Cover Girl Models (Cirio Santiago)
Hollywood Boulevard (Joe Dante & Allan Arkush)
Jacob the Liar (Frank Beyer) [1974]
Wizards (Ralph Bakshi)
Week of 15 Apr
The Beast (Walerian Borowczyk)Jabberwocky (Terry Gilliam)
Week of 8 Apr
Audrey Rose (Robert Wise)Demon Seed (Donald Cammell)
3 Women (Robert Altman)
Week of 1 Apr
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog) [1972]Black Sunday (John Frankenheimer)
Brothers (Arthur Barron)
The Littlest Horse Thieves (Charles Jarrott)
Raggedy Ann & Andy (Richard Williams)
Week of 25 Mar
Airport '77 (Jerry Jameson)Bittersweet Love (David Miller)
The Domino Principle (Stanley Kramer)
The Eagle Has Landed (John Sturges)
Les Zozos (Pascal Thomas) [1973]
My Ain Folk (Bill Douglas) [1973]
My Childhood (Bill Douglas) [1972]
Man on the Roof (Bo Widerberg)
Uncle Vanya (Laurence Olivier) [1967]
Week of 18 Mar
Demon! (Larry Cohen)The Jaws of Death (William Grefé)
Nasty Habits (Michael Lindsay-Hogg)
Week of 11 Mar
A City at Chandigarh (Alain Tanner) [1966]The Farmer (David Berlatsky)
Islands in the Stream (Franklin J. Schaffner)
Mohammad: Messenger of God (Moustapha Akkad)
Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Welcome to L.A. (Alan Rudolph)
Week of 4 Mar
Mr. Billion (Jonathan Kaplan)The Wonderful Crook (Claude Goretta)
Week of 25 Feb
F for Fake (Orson Welles) [1973]Slap Shot (George Roy Hill)
Yesterday's Witness: A Tribute to the American Newsreel (Christian Blackwood)
Week of 18 Feb
The Town That Dreaded Sundown (Charles B. Pierce)
Week of 11 Feb
The Cassandra Crossing (George Pan Cosmatos)Fellini's Casanova (Federico Fellini)
Fun With Dick & Jane (Ted Kotcheff)
The Late Show (Robert Benton)
The Sentinel (Michael Winner)
Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (Martin Herbert)
Thieves (John Berry)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (Robert Aldrich)
Week of 4 Feb
The Cookies (Jo7euml;l Séria)
Week of 28 Jan
The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio (Corey Allen) [1971]From Noon Till Three (Frank D. Gilroy)
Providence (Alain Resnais)
Week of 21 Jan
The Day That Shook the World (Veljko Bulajic)Harlan County U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple)
The Holes (Pierre Tchernia) [1974]
Madam Kitty (Tinto Brass)
Pumping Iron (George Butler & Robert Fiore)
Week of 14 Jan
Get Charlie Tully (Cliff Owen) [1972]The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (Wim Wenders) [1972]
Some of Our Best Friends (Édouard Molinaro) [1973]
Special Delivery (Paul Wendkos)
Week of 7 Jan
Pink Flamingos (John Waters) [1972]