1975 in film

The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.

Events

• March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London.
• July - 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 Rocky Horror Picture Show premieres in London.
• Jaws becomes the first movie to ever gross US$100 million in North America,^{[citation needed]} 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.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)

Awards

Academy Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Chronicle of the Years of Fire (Chronique des années de braise), directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algeria

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Adoption (Örökbefogadás), directed by Márta Mészáros, Hungary

Awards

Films released in 1975

U.S.A. unless stated

#

• 92 in the Shade, starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Elizabeth Ashley, Margot Kidder

A

• Aaron Loves Angela
• 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./U.K.)
• The Adventures of the Wilderness Family
• Afonya - (U.S.S.R.)
• Aloha, Bobby and Rose, starring Paul LeMat
• Attilas '74, documentary - (Cyprus)
• The Apple Dumpling Gang, starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway
• At Long Last Love, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd
• 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.K./U.S.)
• Bim - (Trinidad)
• Bite the Bullet, directed by Richard Brooks, starring Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Candice Bergen
• The Black Bird, starring George Segal
• Il Bestione (The Beast) - (France/Italy)
• A Boy and His Dog
• Breakheart Pass, starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna
• Breakout, starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Robert Duvall
• Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, a documentary film about the Great Depression
• Bugs Bunny Superstar

C

• Carry On Behind - (U.K.)
• Chronicle of the Years of Fire - (Algeria)
• Chupke Chupke (Hush Hush), starring Dharmendra - (India)
• The Claws of Light - (Philippines)
• Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold
• Cooley High
• Coonskin, an animated film by Ralph Bakshi
• Conduct Unbecoming, directed by Michael Anderson, starring Michael York, Richard Attenborough, Trevor Howard - (U.K.)

D

• The Day of the Locust, directed by John Schlesinger, starring Donald Sutherland and 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)
• Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
• Dog Day Afternoon, 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, Gail Strickland

E

• The Eiger Sanction, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood with George Kennedy and Jack Cassidy
• Escape to Witch Mountain, starring Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence

F

• Farewell, My Lovely, 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) - (Italy)
• 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)
• French Connection II, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Philippe Leotard
• Funny Lady, directed by Herbert Ross, starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif

G

• Galileo, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Topol, Edward Fox, John Gielgud - (U.K.)
• The Giant Spider Invasion (a.k.a. The Land of Spiders)
• Give 'em Hell, Harry!, a biopic of Harry S. Truman starring James Whitmore
• Graveyard of Honor (Jingi no hakaba) - (Japan)
• Great, animated short - (U.K.)
• The Great Waldo Pepper, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Robert Redford
• Grey Gardens, a documentary film

H

• Hababam sinifi (Outrageous Class) - (Turkey)
• The Happy Hooker, starring Lynn Redgrave and Jean-Pierre Aumont
• Hard Times, directed by Walter Hill, starring Charles Bronson and James Coburn
• Hearts of the West, starring Jeff Bridges
• Hedda, directed by Trevor Nunn, starring Peter Eyre and Glenda Jackson - (U.K.)
• Hester Street, starring Carol Kane
• The Hiding Place
• The Hindenburg, directed by Robert Wise, starring George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft
• Hustle, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Burt Reynolds, Catherine Deneuve, Ben Johnson

I

• 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, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw
• Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, starring Delphine Seyrig - (France/Belgium)

K

• Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute, documentary by Shohei Imamura - (Japan)
• Kaddu Beykat - (Senegal)

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)
• Legend of the Werewolf, starring Peter Cushing - (U.K.)
• 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 Jan Kadar - (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 Schlondorff 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

• The Magic Flute, 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 - (Spain)
• 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.)
• Mandingo, directed by Richard Fleischer, starring James Mason, Susan George, Ken Norton, Perry King
• Master of the Flying Guillotine (Du bi quan wang da po xue di zi), directed by Jimmy Wang Yu - (Hong Kong)
• Milestones
• The Mirror, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky - (U.S.S.R.)
• 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
• 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)
• Numéro deux (aka Number Two) directed by Jean-Luc Godard - (France)
• The Noah

O

• The Old Gun (Le vieux fusil) - (France)
• Once Is Not Enough, starring Kirk Douglas, David Janssen, Brenda Vaccaro, Deborah Raffin
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by Milos Forman, starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif
• One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, starring Peter Ustinov and Helen Hayes - (U.K./U.S.)
• Operation Daybreak - (U.S./Czechoslovakia)
• The Other Side of the Mountain, starring Marilyn Hassett and Beau Bridges
• Overlord - (U.K.)

P

• The Passenger, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, starring Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Steven Berkoff - (Italy/France)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock, directed by Peter Weir, starring Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse - (Australia)
• Posse
• 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 - (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 and Lara Parker
• Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
• Rancho Deluxe, starring Jeff Bridges, Sam Waterston, Elizabeth Ashley, Slim Pickens
• The Reincarnation of Peter Proud
• The Return of the Pink Panther, directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Herbert Lom - (U.K.)
• The Return of the Sister Street Fighter - (Japan)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 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
• Royal Flash, directed by Richard Lester, starring Malcolm McDowell, Oliver Reed, Alan Bates - (U.K.)

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, 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)
• Smile, starring Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon
• Special Section (Section spéciale), directed by Costa Gavras - (France)
• The Stepford Wives, directed by Bryan Forbes, starring Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson
• The Story of Adele H., directed by François Truffaut, starring Isabelle Adjani and Bruce Robinson - (France)
• The Strongest Man in the World
• Sunday Too Far Away - (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

T

• Terror of Mechagodzilla - (Japan)
• 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, 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

V

• Villa Zone, directed by Eduard Zahariev, starring Itzhak Fintzi, Katya Paskaleva and Naum Shopov - (Bulgaria)

W

• W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Burt Reynolds and Art Carney
• The Werewolf of Woodstock
• White Line Fever, starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Kay Lenz
• The Wilby Conspiracy - (U.K.)
• The Wind and the Lion, directed by John Milius, starring Sean Connery and Candice Bergen
• A Woman's Decision - (Poland)
• The Wrong Move, directed by Wim Wenders, starring Rudiger Vogler and Hanna Schygulla - (West Germany)

Y

• The Yakuza, directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura - (U.S./Japan)

Births

• January 3 - Jason Marsden, actor.
• January 3 - Danica McKellar, American actress
• January 5 - Bradley Cooper, American actor
• February 14 - Malik Zidi, French actor
• February 22 - Drew Barrymore, American actress and director
• March 27 - Stacy Ferguson, American actress/singer
• June 4 - Angelina Jolie, American actress
• June 25 - Linda Cardellini, American actress
• July 11 - Bridgette Andersen, American actress (d. 1997)
• July 23 - Surya Sivakumar, Indian actor
• August 7 - Charlize Theron, South African actress
• September 30 - Marion Cotillard, French actress
• October 5 - Kate Winslet, English actress
• October 5 - 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
• December 17 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-American actress
• December 27 - Heather O'Rourke, American actress (d.1988)

Deaths

• January 9 - Pierre Fresnay, French actor
• January 18 - Gertrude Olmstead, American actress
• January 24 - Larry Fine, American actor and comedian, original member of The Three Stooges
• January 27 - Bill Walsh, American film producer and writer
• March 4 - Renée Björling, Swedish actress
• March 7 - Ben Blue, Canadian-born American actor
• March 14 - Susan Hayward, American actress
• April 3 - Mary Ure, Scottish actress
• April 10 - Marjorie Main, American actress
• April 13 - Larry Parks, American actor
• April 15 - Richard Conte, American actor
• May 4 - Moe Howard, American actor, original member of The Three Stooges
• June 4 - Evelyn Brent, American actress
• October 31 - Joseph Calleia, Maltese actor
• November 2 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director
• November 5 - Annette Kellerman, Australian swimmer, and silent film actress, portrayed by Esther Williams
• December 24 - Bernard Herrmann, American film composer

Film debuts

• Kim Cattrall
• Tim Curry
• Brad Dourif
• Laurence Fishburne
• Richard Griffiths
• Nastassja Kinski
• Christopher Lloyd
• Mary Stuart Masterson
• Bill Murray
• Bill Paxton
• Joe Pesci
• Dennis Quaid
• Chris Sarandon
• Patrick Stewart
• John Travolta
• Fred Ward

References