Films in History (Part 5)

1976-11-21 "Rocky" directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Sylvester Stallone premieres in New York (Best Picture 1977)

1976-12-18 Second remake of "A Star is Born" film, directed by Frank Pierson and starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, premieres

1977-04-20 "Annie Hall", directed by Woody Allen and starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1978)

1977-05-19 Caper comedy film "Smokey and the Bandit" starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason premieres at Radio City Music Hall in NYC

1977-05-25 Original "Star Wars" movie (Episode IV – A New Hope), directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, premieres

1977-07-07 "The Spy Who Loved Me", 10th James Bond film starring Roger Moore and Barbara Bach, premieres in London

1978-01-08 TV series "All Creatures Great and Small" debuts on BBC TV, based on the books by James Herriot, starring Robert hardy and Christopher Timothy

1978-03-10 "The Incredible Hulk", starring Bill Bixby as David Banner, premieres on CBS

1978-04-02 TV show "Dallas" starring Larry Hagman and Barbara Bel Geddes premieres on CBS as a 5 week mini-series; ratings success leads to a 13 year run

1978-06-16 Film "Grease" opens, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on the 1971 musical

1978-07-21 "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" film starring The Bee Gees, based on the Beatles' album of the same name, premieres in NYC

1978-09-01 Horror film "Dawn of the Dead" written and directed by George A. Romero, starring David Emge, Ken Foree and Scott H. Reiniger premieres in Torino

1978-10-04 Film adaptation of Ira Levin's novel "The Boys from Brazil", starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier premieres

1978-10-06 Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven" film premieres starring Richard Gere

1978-10-25 "Halloween", directed by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut, is released

1978-12-08 "The Deer Hunter", directed by Michael Cimino and starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep, premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Best Picture 1979)

1978-12-10 Superman: The Movie, directed by Richard Donner and starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.

1978-12-27 CBS Television's premiere of its version of "Les Miserables", starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins

1979-03-09 "The Passage", directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Anthony Quinn, is released in the United States

1979-05-14 "Stalker", Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, starring Alexander Kaidanovsky and Anatoli Solonitsyn, is released

1979-05-25 Horror film "Alien", directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver is released

1979-06-26 "Moonraker", 11th James Bond film starring Roger Moore, premieres in London

1979-08-15 "Apocalypse Now", directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen, is released (Palme d'Or 1979)

1979-08-17 "Monty Python's Life of Brian" directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, Mickael Palin, & John Cleese, and funded by George Harrison's HandMade Films, premieres in US theaters

1979-08-25 TV series "Hart to Hart" starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers premieres in the US on ABC

1979-10-16 Comedy sketch show "Not the Nine O'Clock News" debuts starring Rowan Atkinson, Chris Langham, Pamela Stephenson and Mel Smith on BBC 2

1979-11-17 "Salem's Lot", American two-part miniseries based on the horror novel of the same name by Stephen King, premieres in the United States

1979-12-07 "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" first movie of the series premieres directed by Robert Wise, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy

1979-12-19 "Kramer vs Kramer" directed by Robert Benton and starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep is released (Best Picture 1980)

1980-02-24 Revival of Brian Clark's stage drama "Whose Life is it Anyway?" starring Mary Tyler Moore and James Naughton, and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, opens at the Royale Theatre, NYC; runs for 96 performances

1980-05-23 Horror film "The Shining" released directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, based on book by Stephen King

1980-08-12 Warner Bros, Records releases "One-Trick Pony", the fifth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon; it features the song "Late in the Evening" and was accompanied by a dramatic film of the same name, written by and starring Simon

1980-09-17 Bette Midler's concert film "Divine Madness", directed by Michael Ritchie, premieres

1980-10-10 Comedy film "Private Benjamin" is released starring Goldie Hawn

1980-11-18 "Heaven's Gate" film directed by Michael Cimino, starring Kris Kristofferson and Christopher Walken premieres - one of the biggest box office bombs ever

1980-12-11 "Magnum P.I." starring Tom Selleck premieres on CBS

1980-12-19 "Raging Bull", directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro as boxer Jake LaMotta and Cathy Moriarty as his wife, is released in the United States

1980-12-19 Comedy film "9 to 5" starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin is released

1981-02-06 Crime film "Fort Apache: The Bronx" starring Paul Newman released amid protests in the US

1981-06-26 "Stripes", American military comedy film, directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and John Candy premieres

1982-10-08 MGM releases comedy film "My Favorite Year", directed by Richard Benjamin, and starring Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, and Joseph Bologna

1982-12-03 "Frances", film depicting life of actress Frances Farmer and starring Jessica Lange, first released in the US

1982-12-08 "Sophie's Choice", directed by Alan J. Pakula and based on William Styton's 1979 novel of the same name, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, is released (Academy Awards Best Actress 1983)

1983-07-15 Film version of "The Pirates of Penzance", starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, and Angela Lansbury premieres in US

1983-11-20 "Terms of Endearment" from the book by Larry McMurtry, directed by James L. Brooks and starring Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger premieres in New York (Best Picture 1984)

1984-03-19 American sitcom "Kate & Allie" premieres on CBS TV starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin

1984-04-22 CBS premiere of TV film "Pope John Paul II", starring Albert Finney in title role

1984-05-23 "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", 2nd in the film series, directed by Stephen Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford, and produced by George Lucas' Lucosfilms premieres

1984-09-06 "Amadeus" from the play by Peter Shaffer, directed by Milos Forman and starring Tom Hulce premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Best Picture 1985)

1984-09-20 "The Cosby Show" premieres on NBC-TV starring Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad

1984-10-26 "The Terminator" directed by James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton is released in the US

1984-11-23 "A Christmas Carol" directed by Clive Donner starring George C. Scott premieres in the UK

1984-12-01 "Beverly Hills Cop" directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold premieres in Los Angeles

1985-06-13 "Prizzi's Honor", starring Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, and Anjelica Huston, is released

1985-07-03 "Back to the Future" directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd is released

1985-09-14 "The Golden Girls", starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, debuts on NBC

1985-11-05 CBS premieres "Stone Pillow", a dramatic made-for-TV movie starring Lucille Ball as a homeless woman

1985-11-24 NBC miniseries "Mussolini: The Untold Story" starring George C. Scott premieres in the US

1985-12-01 TV mini series "Anne of Green Gables" based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, starring Megan Follows is first shown on CBS in Canada

1985-12-16 Film "The Color Purple" based on novel by Alice Walker, directed by Stephen Spielberg starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover premieres in New York

1986-02-08 Crime film "A Better Tomorrow", starring Yun Fat Chow, premieres in Hong Kong