The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.
The top ten 1975 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
March 26: The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London.
May: In order to create the necessary special effects for his film, Star Wars, George Lucas forms Industrial Light and Magic.
August 14: The cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show premieres in London.
Jaws becomes the first movie to gross $100 million in US theatrical rentals, setting the standard for future blockbusters.
November 23: Sneak Previews, the first American film review show, premieres and launches the careers of critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. They will remain a team, and a staple among film critics, through various programs for the next twenty-four years.
Academy Awards
BAFTA Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): Chronicle of the Years of Fire (Chronique des années de braise)
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): Adoption (Örökbefogadás)
Note: U.S. releases unless stated.
February 12: The Stepford Wives
March 1: At Long Last Love
March 7: Deep Red (Italy)
March 13: The Great Waldo Pepper
March 14: The Prisoner of Second Avenue
March 15:
Funny Lady
Terror of Mechagodzilla (Japan)
March 21: Escape to Witch Mountain
March 26: Brannigan
April 6: Capone
April 9: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
April 27: Death Race 2000
May 7: The Day of the Locust
May 8: The Happy Hooker
May 14: Moonrunners
May 17: The Man in the Glass Booth
May 20: The Fortune
May 21:
Cornbread, Earl and Me
French Connection II
The Return of the Pink Panther
June 10: Love and Death
June 11:
Nashville
Night Moves
June 20:
The Devil's Rain
Jaws
Once Is Not Enough
June 25: Cooley High
July 1: The Apple Dumpling Gang
July 2: Gone with the West
July 9: One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing
July 11: Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold
July 26: Mandingo
August 2: Dersu Uzala (U.S.S.R./Japan)
August 8:
Farewell, My Lovely
Journey into Fear (Canada)
August 14: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
August 20: Coonskin
August 29: 92 in the Shade
September 10: Mitchell
September 18: Give 'em Hell, Harry!
September 21: Dog Day Afternoon
October 8:
Hard Times
Hearts of the West
Mahogany
October 10: Shivers (Canada)
October 11: Let's Do It Again
October 19: Hester Street
October 22: Diamonds
October 24: The Giant Spider Invasion
November 14: A Boy and His Dog
November 19: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
December 14: The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
December 18:
Barry Lyndon
The Man Who Would Be King
December 19: The Adventures of the Wilderness Family
December 25:
Aaron Loves Angela
The Black Bird
Friday Foster
The Hindenburg
Hustle
Lucky Lady
Note: U.S. releases unless stated
#
92 in the Shade, starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Elizabeth Ashley, Margot Kidder
A
Aaron Loves Angela (December 25), directed by Gordon Parks, Jr., starring Moses Gunn
Adoption (Örökbefogadás), winner of Golden Bear (Hungary)
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, directed by and starring Gene Wilder, with Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman (U.S.A./U.K.)
The Adventures of the Wilderness Family, starring Robert Logan
Afonya (U.S.S.R.)
Africa Express, starring Ursula Andress and Jack Palance (Italy)
Aloha, Bobby and Rose (April 29), starring Paul Le Mat
Anno Domini 1573 (Yugoslavia)
Apoorva Raagangal (Rare Melodies) (India)
The Apple Dumpling Gang, starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway
At Long Last Love, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd
Attilas '74, documentary (Cyprus)
Autobiography of a Princess, directed by James Ivory, starring James Mason and Madhur Jaffrey (U.K.)
B
Barry Lyndon, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Ryan O'Neal and Marisa Berenson (U.S.A./U.K.)
The Beehive, directed by Fereydun Gole. (Iran)
The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures, directed by James Algar (documentary)
Bim (Trinidad)
Bite the Bullet (June 20), directed by Richard Brooks, starring Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Candice Bergen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Ben Johnson
The Black Bird (December 25), starring George Segal
A Boy and His Dog, starring Don Johnson
Brannigan, starring John Wayne
Breakheart Pass, starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna
Breakout (May 22), starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Robert Duvall
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, a documentary film about the Great Depression (U.K.)
Bucktown, starring Fred Williamson and Pam Grier
Bugs Bunny: Superstar
C
Capone, starring Ben Gazzara
Chronicle of the Years of Fire (Chronique des Années de Braise) (Algeria)
Chupke Chupke (Hush Hush), starring Dharmendra (India)
The Claws of Light (Maynila... sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag) (Philippines)
Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, starring Tamara Dobson and Stella Stevens
Conduct Unbecoming, starring Stacy Keach, Michael York and Richard Attenborough (U.K.)
Cooley High, starring Glynn Turman
Coonskin, an animated film by Ralph Bakshi
Cornbread, Earl and Me, starring Laurence Fishburne
Crazy Mama, directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Cloris Leachman, Ann Sothern, Linda Purl
The Cycle (Dayereh-ye Mina) (Iran)
D
The Day of the Locust, directed by John Schlesinger, starring Donald Sutherland, William Atherton, Karen Black
Death Race 2000, directed by Paul Bartel, starring David Carradine, Simone Griffeth, Sylvester Stallone
Deep Red, directed by Dario Argento, starring David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi (Italy)
Dersu Uzala, directed by Akira Kurosawa (U.S.S.R./Japan)
Deewaar (The Wall), starring Shashi Kapoor (India)
The Devil's Rain, starring Ernest Borgnine
Dialogues of Exiles (Diálogos de exiliados) (Chile)
Diamonds, starring Robert Shaw, Richard Roundtree, Barbara Hershey
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, starring Ron Ely
Dog Day Afternoon (September 21), directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Al Pacino, John Cazale, Chris Sarandon, Charles Durning
The Drowning Pool, directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Melanie Griffith
E
The Eiger Sanction, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with George Kennedy and Jack Cassidy
The Empress Dowager (Qing guo qing cheng), starring Lisa Lu (Hong Kong)
End of the Game, starring Maximilian Schell, Jon Voight, Jacqueline Bisset, Martin Ritt, Robert Shaw
Das Erdbeben in Chili, directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms (West Germany)
Escape to Witch Mountain, starring Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence
Evrydiki BA 2O37 (Ευριδίκη ΒΑ 2Ο37), directed by Nikos Nikolaidis (Greece/West Germany)
F
Fantozzi (a.k.a. White Collar Blues) (Italy)
Farewell, My Lovely, directed by Dick Richards, starring Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, Jack O'Halloran, Sylvia Miles, John Ireland
Flame, starring Slade (U.K.)
The Flower in His Mouth (Gente di rispetto), starring Jennifer O'Neill and Franco Nero (Italy)
Fore Play, starring Zero Mostel and Estelle Parsons
The Fortune, directed by Mike Nichols, starring Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Stockard Channing
Fox (Faustrecht der Freiheit), directed by and starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder (West Germany)
Framed, directed by Phil Karlson, starring Joe Don Baker
French Connection II, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Bernard Fresson, Philippe Léotard
Friday Foster, starring Pam Grier
Funny Lady (March 15), directed by Herbert Ross, starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif
Furtivos (Poachers) (Spain)
G
Galileo, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Topol, Edward Fox, John Gielgud (U.K.)
The Giant Spider Invasion, starring Barbara Hale, Leslie Parrish, Alan Hale, Jr.
Give 'em Hell, Harry!, a biopic of Harry S. Truman starring James Whitmore
God's Gun, starring Lee Van Cleef and Jack Palance (Italy/Israel)
Gone with the West, starring James Caan, Stefanie Powers and Aldo Ray
Grandsons of Zorro
Graveyard of Honor (Jingi no hakaba) (Japan)
Great, animated short (U.K.)
The Great Waldo Pepper, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Robert Redford, Bo Svenson, Margot Kidder, Susan Sarandon
Grey Gardens, a documentary film
H
Hababam Sınıfı (Outrageous Class) (Turkey)
Hagiga B'Snuker (Party at the Snooker) (Israel)
Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (Anderusen Dōwa Ningyo hime) (Japan)
The Happy Hooker, starring Lynn Redgrave and Jean-Pierre Aumont
Hard Times (October 8), directed by Walter Hill, starring Charles Bronson and James Coburn
Hearts of the West, starring Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Andy Griffith
Hedda, directed by Trevor Nunn, starring Peter Eyre and Glenda Jackson (U.K.)
Hedgehog in the Fog (Yozhik v tumane) (U.S.S.R.)
Hello, I'm Your Aunt! (Zdravstvuyte, ya vasha tyotya!) (U.S.S.R.)
Hennessy, starring Rod Steiger and Lee Remick
Hester Street, starring Carol Kane
The Hiding Place, starring Julie Harris
The Hindenburg, directed by Robert Wise, starring George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, William Atherton, Gig Young
The 'Human' Factor, directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring George Kennedy, John Mills, Rita Tushingham
Hustle, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Burt Reynolds, Catherine Deneuve, Ben Johnson
I
In Celebration, directed by Lindsay Anderson, starring Alan Bates and Brian Cox (U.K.)
Inserts, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jessica Harper, Veronica Cartwright, Bob Hoskins (U.K.)
The Irony of Fate (Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!) (U.S.S.R.)
J
Jacob the Liar (Jakob, der Lügner) (East Germany/Czechoslovakia)
Jaws (June 20), directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, starring Delphine Seyrig (France/Belgium)
Journey into Fear, starring Sam Waterston, Zero Mostel, Yvette Mimieux (Canada)
K
Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute, documentary by Shohei Imamura (Japan)
Kaddu Beykat (a.k.a. Letter from My Village) (Senegal)
Keetje Tippel (Katie Tippel), directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Monique van de Ven and Rutger Hauer (Netherlands)
L
L'important c'est d'aimer (That Most Important Thing: Love), starring Romy Schneider (France)
The Land That Time Forgot, starring Doug McClure (U.K.)
Legend of the Lawman (a.k.a. Walking Tall Part 2), starring Bo Svenson
Legend of the Werewolf, starring Peter Cushing (U.K.)
Lepke, starring Tony Curtis
Let Joy Reign Supreme (Que la Fete Commence), directed by Bertrand Tavernier (France)
Let's Do It Again, directed by and starring Sidney Poitier with Bill Cosby
Lies My Father Told Me, directed by Ján Kadár (Canada)
The Lion Roars Again, documentary short
Lisztomania, directed by Ken Russell, starring Roger Daltrey, Sara Kestelman, Paul Nicholas (U.K.)
The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, directed by Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta (West Germany)
Love and Death, directed by and starring Woody Allen, with Diane Keaton
Lucky Lady, directed by Stanley Donen, starring Gene Hackman, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds
M
Mackintosh and T.J., starring Roy Rogers
The Magic Flute (Trollflöjten), a film version of the Mozart opera directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden)
Mahogany, directed by Berry Gordy, starring Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Jean-Pierre Aumont
La Maldicion de la Bestia (Horror of the Werewolf), starring Paul Naschy (Spain)
Man Friday, starring Peter O'Toole
The Man in the Glass Booth, directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Maximilian Schell and Lois Nettleton
The Man Who Would Be King, directed by John Huston, starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Saeed Jaffrey (U.K./U.S.A.)
Mandingo, directed by Richard Fleischer, starring James Mason, Susan George, Ken Norton, Perry King
La marque de Zorro
Milestones
The Mirror (Zerkalo), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (U.S.S.R.)
Mitchell, starring Joe Don Baker, Linda Evans, Martin Balsam, Merlin Olsen
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Gilliam and Jones (U.K.)
Moonrunners, starring James Mitchum
Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven (Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (West Germany)
Mr. Ricco, starring Dean Martin
My Friends (Amici miei), directed by Mario Monicelli (Italy)
N
Nashville, directed by Robert Altman, starring Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Ronee Blakley, Karen Black, Michael Murphy, Barbara Harris, Ned Beatty
Night Moves, directed by Arthur Penn, starring Gene Hackman, Melanie Griffith, Susan Clark, Jennifer Warren
Nights and Days (Noce i dnie) (Poland)
Nishant (India)
Numéro deux (aka Number Two) directed by Jean-Luc Godard (France)
The Noah, starring Robert Strauss
O
The Old Gun (Le vieux fusil), starring Philippe Noiret and Romy Schneider (France)
Once Is Not Enough, starring Kirk Douglas, David Janssen, Brenda Vaccaro, Deborah Raffin, George Hamilton
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (November 19), directed by Miloš Forman, starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif, William Redfield, Will Sampson, Danny DeVito
One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, starring Peter Ustinov and Helen Hayes (U.S.A./U.K.)
Operation Daybreak, starring Timothy Bottoms, Anthony Andrews, Martin Shaw (U.S./Czechoslovakia)
Osadeni Dushi (Doomed Souls) (Bulgaria)
The Other Side of the Mountain, starring Marilyn Hassett and Beau Bridges
Out of Season, starring Vanessa Redgrave
Overlord, directed by Stuart Cooper (U.K.)
P
The Passenger, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, starring Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Steven Berkoff (Italy/France)
Peeper, directed by Peter Hyams, starring Michael Caine
Permission to Kill, starring Dirk Bogarde and Ava Gardner
Picnic at Hanging Rock, directed by Peter Weir, starring Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse (Australia)
Pick-Up
The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (Flåklypa Grand Prix) (Norway)
Posse, directed by and starring Kirk Douglas
The Prisoner of Second Avenue, directed by Melvin Frank, starring Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft
The Promised Land (Ziemia Obiecana), directed by Andrzej Wajda (Poland)
Q
Queen of the Gypsies (Tabor ukhodit v nebo) (U.S.S.R.)
Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, starring Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning
R
Race with the Devil, starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, starring Alan Arkin, Sally Kellerman, Mackenzie Phillips
Rancho Deluxe, starring Jeff Bridges, Sam Waterston, Elizabeth Ashley, Clifton James, Harry Dean Stanton, Slim Pickens
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Michael Sarrazin, Margot Kidder, Jennifer O'Neill
The Return of the Pink Panther (May 21), directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Herbert Lom (U.K.)
The Return of the Sister Street Fighter (Kaette kita onna hissatsu ken) (Japan)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (August 14), directed by Jim Sharman, starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Richard O'Brien, Barry Bostwick (U.S./U.K.)
Rollerball, directed by Norman Jewison, starring James Caan, John Houseman, John Beck, Maud Adams
The Romantic Englishwoman, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Glenda Jackson, Michael Caine, Helmut Berger (U.K.)
Rooster Cogburn, starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn
Rosebud, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Peter O'Toole
Royal Flash, directed by Richard Lester, starring Malcolm McDowell, Oliver Reed, Alan Bates (U.K.)
Russian Roulette, starring George Segal
S
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (aka Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom), directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France)
Le Sauvage (a.k.a. Lovers Like Us), starring Catherine Deneuve and Yves Montand (France)
The Sensuous Nurse (L'Infermiera), starring Ursula Andress, Luciana Paluzzi, Jack Palance (Italy)
Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze), directed by Lina Wertmüller (Italy)
Shampoo (February 11), directed by Hal Ashby, starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Carrie Fisher
Shivers (a.k.a. They Came from Within) (Canada)
Sholay, the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time (India)
Slashed Dreams, starring Peter Hooten and Robert Englund
Smile, directed by Michael Ritchie, starring Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon
Special Section (Section spéciale), directed by Costa Gavras (France)
The Stepford Wives (February 12), directed by Bryan Forbes, starring Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Tina Louise
The Story of Adele H. (L'Histoire d'Adèle H.), directed by François Truffaut, starring Isabelle Adjani and Bruce Robinson (France)
The Strongest Man in the World, starring Kurt Russell
Sunday Too Far Away, starring Jack Thompson (Australia)
The Sunshine Boys, directed by Herbert Ross, starring Walter Matthau, George Burns, Richard Benjamin
Supervixens, cult adult film directed by Russ Meyer
Switchblade Sisters (a.k.a. The Jezebels), directed by Jack Hill
T
Take a Hard Ride, starring Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef
Terror of Mechagodzilla (Mekagojira no gyakushu), directed by Ishirō Honda (Japan)
The Killer Elite
They Fought for Their Country (Они сражались за Родину), directed by Sergei Bondarchuk (U.S.S.R.)
Three Days of the Condor, directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson
Tommy (March 19), directed by Ken Russell, starring Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson, Roger Daltrey (U.K.)
The Travelling Players (Ο Θίασος; O Thiassos), directed by Theo Angelopoulos (Greece)
U
The Ultimate Warrior, starring Yul Brynner
Unter dem Pflaster ist der Strand, directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms (West Germany)
V
Villa Zone (Vilna Zona), directed by Eduard Zahariev, starring Itzhak Fintzi, Katya Paskaleva, Naum Shopov (Bulgaria)
W
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Burt Reynolds and Art Carney
Walking Tall Part 2, starring Bo Svenson
White Line Fever, starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Kay Lenz
The Wilby Conspiracy, directed by Ralph Nelson, starring Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine (U.K.)
The Wild Party, directed by James Ivory, starring Raquel Welch, James Coco, Perry King
The Wind and the Lion (May 22), directed by John Milius, starring Sean Connery and Candice Bergen
A Woman's Decision (Bilans kwartalny) (Poland)
The Wrong Move, directed by Wim Wenders, starring Rüdiger Vogler and Hanna Schygulla (West Germany)
XYZ
Zaklęte rewiry (a.k.a. Hotel Pacific) (Poland)
Xala, directed by Ousmane Sembène (Senegal)
The Yakuza, directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura (U.S./Japan)
January 3
Danica McKellar, American actress
Jason Marsden, actor
January 5: Bradley Cooper, American actor
February 14: Malik Zidi, French actor
February 22: Drew Barrymore, American actress and director
March 22: Guillermo Diaz, American actor
March 27: Stacy Ferguson, American actress/singer
April 2:
Adam Rodriguez, American actor
Deedee Magno, Filipino-american actress and singer
May 3: Christina Hendricks, American actress
May 22: Harriet Toompere, Estonian actress
June 4: Angelina Jolie, American actress
June 25: Linda Cardellini, American actress
June 27: Tobey Maguire, American actor
July 11: Bridgette Andersen, American actress (d. 1997)
July 17: Cécile de France, Belgian actress
July 23: Suriya, Indian actor
August 7: Charlize Theron, South African actress
August 12: Casey Affleck, American actor
August 29: Dante Basco, American actor
September 30
Asia Argento, Italian actress
Marion Cotillard, French actress
October 5
Kate Winslet, English actress
Parminder Nagra, English actress
October 7: Kaspars Znotiņš, Latvian actor
November 6: Sean Patrick Maclam, Scottish Grindhouse film director
November 19: Sushmita Sen, Indian actress
November 22: James Madio, American actor
December 17: Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-American actress
December 27: Heather O'Rourke, American actress (d. 1988)
Kim Cattrall – Rosebud
Tim Curry – The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Brad Dourif – W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings
Laurence Fishburne – Cornbread, Earl and Me
Nastassja Kinski – The Wrong Move
Christopher Lloyd – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Mary Stuart Masterson – The Stepford Wives
Bill Murray – Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle
Bill Paxton – Crazy Mama
Dennis Quaid – Crazy Mama
Chris Sarandon – Dog Day Afternoon
Patrick Stewart – Hennessy
John Travolta – The Devil's Rain
Treat Williams – Deadly Hero (filmed in 1975, released in May 1976)
