(1978) Superman: The Movie

Just before the destruction of the planet Krypton, scientist Jor-El (Marlon Brando) sends his infant son Kal-El on a spaceship to Earth. Raised by kindly farmers Jonathan (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter), young Clark (Christopher Reeve) discovers the source of his superhuman powers and moves to Metropolis to fight evil. As Superman, he battles the villainous Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), while, as novice reporter Clark Kent, he attempts to woo co-worker Lois Lane (Margot Kidder).

(1978) Revenge of the Pink Panther

When French drug kingpin Philippe Douvier (Robert Webber) learns that he's losing the respect of New York mob bosses, he decides to murder Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) to regain his reputation. After a case of mistaken identity, Clouseau is declared dead, much to the delight of his former boss, Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom). When Clouseau reemerges, he teams up with Douvier's ex-lover, Simone LeGree (Dyan Cannon), to break up the drug trafficking operation.

(1978) The Driver

The Driver is a 1978 crime thriller film written and directed by Walter Hill, starring Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, and Isabelle Adjani. Based upon similarities in plot elements, it is heavily influenced by Jean-Pierre Melville's film Le Samouraï. The film is also notable for its impressive car chases, its no-frills style of filmmaking, and its taciturn, nameless titular character.

The Driver (Ryan O'Neal) - real name unknown - has made a career out of stealing cars to use as getaway vehicles in big-time robberies all over Los Angeles. Hot on the Driver's trail is the Detective (Bruce Dern), a conceited and otherwise-nameless cop who has his own name for the Driver: "Cowboy." Since the Driver has never been caught, the Detective goes to ever-increasing lengths to bring him down. Ultimately, the Detective sets up a bank job in order to bait and trap the Driver. Even when said plan threatens to wreck the Detective's own career, he remains steadfast in his obsession to bust the Driver.

(1978) The Lord of the Rings: Original Animated Classic

This animated film by Ralph Bakshi presents the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's renowned fantasy tale. The wise old wizard, Gandalf (William Squire), entrusts the young hobbit, Frodo (Christopher Guard), with a magical ring. Soon dark forces are after Frodo, so he must leave his peaceful home and travel to the ominous Mount Doom, where the ring must be destroyed. Accompanied by a trio of hobbit friends, Frodo is also aided by the mysterious Aragorn (John Hurt) and other heroic allies.

(1978) The Last Waltz

Seventeen years after joining forces as the backing band for rockabilly cult hero Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian roots rockers The Band call it quits with a lavish farewell show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom on Nov. 25, 1976. Filmed by Martin Scorsese, this documentary features standout performances by rock legends such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell and Muddy Waters, as well as interviews tracing the group's history and discussing road life.

(1978) Jaws 2

Years after the shark attacks that left Amity Island reeling, Sheriff Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) finds new trouble lurking in the waters. Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) wants to rid the beach town of the stain on its reputation. But the disappearance of a pair of divers suggests that all is not right. When Sheriff Brody voices his warnings about holding a sailing competition, everyone thinks it's post-traumatic stress. That is, until a shark fin cuts through the water.

(1978) The Inglorious Bastards

Two officers (Bo Svenson, Ian Bannen) lead military misfits on a mission to steal a Nazi V-2 rocket gyroscope.

(1978) Halloween

On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six year old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith's Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims.

(1978) The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete First Season

All 13 episodes from the first season of the classic 1970s series starring John Schneider and Tom Wopat. Episodes are: 'One Armed Bandits', 'Daisy's Song', 'Mary Kaye's Baby', 'Repo Men', 'High Octane', 'Swamp Molly', 'Luke's Love Story', 'The Big Heist', 'Limo One is Missing', 'Deputy Dukes', 'Money to Burn', 'Route 7-11' and 'Double Sting'.

The Dukes of Hazzard was part of America's redneck fetish in the mid-to-late 1970s, otherwise evident in popular songs, movies, and television shows highlighting fast cars, truckers, citizens' band radio, moonshine, irreverent hicks, and clueless lawmen. Created by writer-producer Gy Waldron and inspired by his own 1975 bootlegging comedy, Moonrunners, Dukes milked seven seasons of material from the tale of a Deep South family of reformed whiskey-makers and their running feud with a greedy impresario and his chief lackey, a buffoonish, venal sheriff.

This three-disc set includes all 13 initial episodes of Dukes from 1979, a period fans fondly recall because some of the programs were shot on location in Covington, Georgia, rather than a Burbank backlot. Also noteworthy is that a couple of key characters, particularly Hazzard County's corrupt lawman, Roscoe P. Coltrane (James Best), hadn't gelled yet into permanent hayseed stereotypes and were arguably more interesting at the beginning. At the center of the action are Sheriff Coltrane's nemeses, cousins Bo Duke (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat), a couple of wild boys buzzing through the backwoods in the "General Lee," a souped-up Dodge Charger. Bo and Luke are good at heart but have to behave themselves while on indefinite probation, complicating but not halting their efforts to vex Roscoe and his patron, diminutive bigwig Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke). The enmity runs both ways: Roscoe and Boss Hogg, with the aid of witless Deputy Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer), dream up ways of eliminating the Dukes--including their wise old Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle)--but their efforts always backfire.

While every episode is a variation on the previous one, predictability is a virtue in Dukes. The series pilot, "One Armed Bandits," finds Luke and Bo, with help from their sexy cousin, Daisy (Catherine Bach), diverting slot machines (smuggled into Hazzard County by Roscoe and Boss Hogg) to sundry watering holes where they can raise money for Bo's girlfriend's charity. In "Money to Burn," Boss Hogg tries to frame Bo and Luke for robbing an armored truck, while in "Deputy Dukes," the unarmed guys are forced by Roscoe to escort a deadly prisoner from one town to another. The Dukes hit back in "Daisy's Song," investigating a scam that took Daisy for $50 and implicates, of course, Boss Hogg and Roscoe.

Yes, it's a show about rubes, car stunts, and a legacy of moonshine, but there's something comforting about it, in a tongue-in-cheek way. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

 

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

The United States is devastated by a mysterious phenomenon that reanimates recently deceased human beings as flesh-eating zombies. Three weeks after it began - despite the best efforts of the U.S. government and local authorities to control the situation - millions of people have been killed and reanimate; social order is collapsing. Some rural communities and the National Guard have been effective in fighting the zombie hordes in open country, but urban centers are helpless and largely overrun.

Confusion reigns at the WGON television studio in Philadelphia by the phenomenon's third week, where staff members Stephen Andrews (David Emge) and Francine Parker (Gaylen Ross) are planning to steal the station's traffic helicopter to escape the city. Meanwhile, police SWAT officer Roger DiMarco and his team raid a housing project where the residents are defying the martial law of delivering their dead to National Guardsmen. Some residents fight back with handguns and rifles, and are killed by both the overzealous SWAT team and their own reanimated dead. During the raid, Roger meets Peter Washington, part of another SWAT team, and they partner up together. Roger tells Peter that his friend Stephen intends to steal his workplace's helicopter and flee, and suggests that Peter come with them. They are informed of a group of zombies trapped in the basement, which they assist in the grim job of destroying.

That night, Roger and Peter rendezvous with Francine and Stephen and leave Philadelphia in the helicopter. Following some close calls while stopping for fuel, the group comes across a shopping mall, which they decide to make their sanctuary. The group devise an operation to block the mall entrances with trucks to keep the undead masses outside from building up enough cumulative force to break through. Peter and Stephen also craft a wooden barrier to cover the access to the stairwell that leads to their living space. During the blockade operation, Roger suffers from a mental break, becomes reckless and is bitten by the zombies.

After clearing the interior of zombies, the four are able to enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle with all the goods available to them, furnishing their makeshift apartment with the mall's many commodities. Roger eventually succumbs to his wounds, soon reanimates and is shot in the head by Peter. After several months, all emergency broadcast transmissions cease, suggesting that the government has collapsed and a large portion of the population has been killed and reanimated. Francine, now visibly showing her pregnancy, presses to be prepared to leave the shopping mall. Ammo and other supplies are loaded into the helicopter, and Stephen teaches Francine how to operate the helicopter in case of emergency.

A gang of nomadic motorcyclists, having seen the helicopter during one of Francine's flying lessons, arrive to conquer the mall destroying the barriers and allowing hundreds of zombies inside during the incursion. Peter and Stephen try locking the gates to prevent looting, The rioting bikers enrage Stephen and he foolishly starts a gun battle with them. Both Peter and Stephen flee to the apartment, but as Stephen tries to escape through an elevator shaft, is shot in the arm, then cornered by the undead and bitten several times. As some of the bikers, shot by Peter, are consumed by the zombies, the rest retreat with their stolen goods. A reanimated Stephen, apparently acting on a remnant of his former memories, limps over to the false wall covering the stairwell and leads the undead to Francine and Peter. As Stephen enters their hideout, Peter kills him while Francine escapes to the roof. Peter then locks himself in a room and contemplates suicide. When zombies burst into the room, he has a change of heart and fights his way up to the roof, where he joins Francine. The two then fly away in the partially fueled helicopter to an uncertain future.

(1978) Invasion of the Body Snatchers

This remake of the classic horror film is set in San Francisco. Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) assumes that when a friend (Brooke Adams) complains of her husband's strange mood, it's a marital issue. However, he begins to worry as more people report similar observations. His concern is confirmed when writer Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife (Veronica Cartwright) discover a mutated corpse. Besieged by an invisible enemy, Bennell must work quickly before the city is consumed.

(1978) The Big Sleep (Promotional DVD)

(1978) The Swarm