Best 1978 movies

Written by:
August 29, 2025
Tero Vesalainen // Shutterstock

Best 1978 movies

Stacker compiled a list of the best 1978 movies of all time based on our own Stacker score, a weighted index split evenly between IMDb user rating and Metascore. The top movie on this list has a Stacker score of 100; the remaining movies are ranked relative to it. To qualify, the film had at least 10,000 IMDb user votes and a Metascore. Any ties were broken by number of IMDb votes.

#20. Revenge of the Pink Panther
- Stacker score: 76.6
- IMDb user rating: 6.6 (votes: 24,000)
- Metascore: 65
- Director: Blake Edwards
- Actors: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk
- Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $49,579,269

#19. Death on the Nile
- Stacker score: 77.2
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 43,000)
- Metascore: 59
- Director: John Guillermin
- Actors: Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Simon MacCorkindale
- Runtime: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $14,560,084

#18. Coming Home
- Stacker score: 78.4
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 16,000)
- Metascore: 61
- Director: Hal Ashby
- Actors: Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern
- Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $32,653,905

#17. Midnight Express
- Stacker score: 78.4
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (votes: 92,000)
- Metascore: 59
- Director: Alan Parker
- Actors: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins
- Runtime: 2 hours 1 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $35,000,000

#16. The Great Train Robbery
- Stacker score: 80.1
- IMDb user rating: 6.9 (votes: 21,000)
- Metascore: 68
- Director: Michael Crichton
- Actors: Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, Lesley-Anne Down
- Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $13,027,857

#15. Straight Time
- Stacker score: 80.7
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 11,000)
- Metascore: 64
- Director: Ulu Grosbard, Dustin Hoffman
- Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey
- Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $9,900,000

#14. Watership Down
- Stacker score: 81.3
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (votes: 42,000)
- Metascore: 64
- Director: Martin Rosen, John Hubley
- Actors: John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson
- Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: N/A

#13. Interiors
- Stacker score: 81.9
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 22,000)
- Metascore: 67
- Director: Woody Allen
- Actors: Diane Keaton, Geraldine Page, Kristin Griffith
- Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $10,432,366

#12. Heaven Can Wait
- Stacker score: 82.5
- IMDb user rating: 6.9 (votes: 25,000)
- Metascore: 72
- Director: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry
- Actors: Warren Beatty, James Mason, Julie Christie
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $81,640,278

#11. Grease
- Stacker score: 83.0
- IMDb user rating: 7.2 (votes: 318,000)
- Metascore: 70
- Director: Randal Kleiser
- Actors: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing
- Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $190,071,103

#10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- Stacker score: 87.1
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 77,000)
- Metascore: 75
- Director: Philip Kaufman
- Actors: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum
- Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $24,946,533

#9. Dawn of the Dead
- Stacker score: 87.1
- IMDb user rating: 7.8 (votes: 134,000)
- Metascore: 71
- Director: George A. Romero
- Actors: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger
- Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes
- Rating: Unrated
- Box office: N/A

#8. The Buddy Holly Story
- Stacker score: 87.7
- IMDb user rating: 7.2 (votes: 10,000)
- Metascore: 78
- Director: Steve Rash
- Actors: Gary Busey, Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith
- Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $14,363,400

#7. Blue Collar
- Stacker score: 88.9
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (votes: 12,000)
- Metascore: 77
- Director: Paul Schrader
- Actors: Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto
- Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $6,521,083

#6. National Lampoon's Animal House
- Stacker score: 89.5
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 134,000)
- Metascore: 79
- Director: John Landis
- Actors: John Belushi, Karen Allen, Tom Hulce
- Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $141,600,000

#5. Superman
- Stacker score: 91.2
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 203,000)
- Metascore: 82
- Director: Richard Donner
- Actors: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman
- Runtime: 2 hours 23 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $134,478,449

#4. The Last Waltz
- Stacker score: 96.5
- IMDb user rating: 8.1 (votes: 21,000)
- Metascore: 84
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Actors: Robbie Robertson, Muddy Waters, Neil Young
- Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $322,313

#3. Halloween
- Stacker score: 97.7
- IMDb user rating: 7.7 (votes: 327,000)
- Metascore: 90
- Director: John Carpenter
- Actors: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran
- Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $47,160,000

#2. Days of Heaven
- Stacker score: 100.0
- IMDb user rating: 7.7 (votes: 67,000)
- Metascore: 94
- Director: Terrence Malick
- Actors: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard
- Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $3,446,749

#1. The Deer Hunter
- Stacker score: 100.0
- IMDb user rating: 8.1 (votes: 379,000)
- Metascore: 90
- Director: Michael Cimino
- Actors: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale
- Runtime: 3 hours 3 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $48,979,328

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