Best 1979 movies

Stacker compiled a list of the best 1979 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. Mad Max
- Stacker score: 79.2
- IMDb user rating: 6.8 (votes: 241,000)
- Metascore: 73
- Director: George Miller
- Actors: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne
- Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $8,750,000

#19. The In-Laws
- Stacker score: 79.8
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 11,000)
- Metascore: 69
- Director: Arthur Hiller
- Actors: Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Richard Libertini
- Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: N/A

#18. Hair
- Stacker score: 80.3
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (votes: 43,000)
- Metascore: 68
- Director: Milos Forman
- Actors: John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo
- Runtime: 2 hours 1 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $15,284,643

#17. Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
- Stacker score: 83.1
- IMDb user rating: 7.6 (votes: 35,000)
- Metascore: 72
- Director: Hayao Miyazaki
- Actors: Yasuo Yamada, Eiko Masuyama, Kiyoshi Kobayashi
- Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
- Rating: 72Metascore
- Box office: $142,425

#16. All That Jazz
- Stacker score: 84.3
- IMDb user rating: 7.8 (votes: 39,000)
- Metascore: 72
- Director: Bob Fosse
- Actors: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking
- Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $37,823,676

#15. The Muppet Movie
- Stacker score: 84.3
- IMDb user rating: 7.6 (votes: 41,000)
- Metascore: 74
- Director: James Frawley
- Actors: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Rating: G
- Box office: $66,458,405

#14. Quadrophenia
- Stacker score: 84.8
- IMDb user rating: 7.2 (votes: 22,000)
- Metascore: 79
- Director: Franc Roddam
- Actors: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Phil Davis
- Runtime: 2 hours
- Rating: R
- Box office: N/A

#13. Escape from Alcatraz
- Stacker score: 84.8
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (votes: 160,000)
- Metascore: 76
- Director: Don Siegel
- Actors: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom
- Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $43,000,000

#12. Scum
- Stacker score: 86.0
- IMDb user rating: 7.5 (votes: 14,000)
- Metascore: 78
- Director: Alan Clarke
- Actors: Ray Winstone, Mick Ford, Julian Firth
- Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $6,461

#11. Nosferatu the Vampyre
- Stacker score: 86.0
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 48,000)
- Metascore: 79
- Director: Werner Herzog
- Actors: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz
- Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: N/A

#10. Tess
- Stacker score: 87.1
- IMDb user rating: 7.3 (votes: 19,000)
- Metascore: 82
- Director: Roman Polanski
- Actors: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson
- Runtime: 3 hours 6 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $20,093,330

#9. The China Syndrome
- Stacker score: 87.1
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 35,000)
- Metascore: 81
- Director: James Bridges
- Actors: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas
- Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $51,718,367

#8. Kramer vs. Kramer
- Stacker score: 87.1
- IMDb user rating: 7.8 (votes: 162,000)
- Metascore: 77
- Director: Robert Benton
- Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander
- Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $106,260,000

#7. Monty Python's Life of Brian
- Stacker score: 88.2
- IMDb user rating: 8.0 (votes: 431,000)
- Metascore: 77
- Director: Terry Jones
- Actors: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin
- Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $20,206,622

#6. The Black Stallion
- Stacker score: 88.8
- IMDb user rating: 7.4 (votes: 15,000)
- Metascore: 84
- Director: Carroll Ballard
- Actors: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr
- Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
- Rating: G
- Box office: $37,799,643

#5. Manhattan
- Stacker score: 90.4
- IMDb user rating: 7.8 (votes: 152,000)
- Metascore: 83
- Director: Woody Allen
- Actors: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway
- Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $39,946,780

#4. Being There
- Stacker score: 91.0
- IMDb user rating: 7.9 (votes: 81,000)
- Metascore: 83
- Director: Hal Ashby
- Actors: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas
- Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $30,177,511

#3. Breaking Away
- Stacker score: 94.4
- IMDb user rating: 7.7 (votes: 27,000)
- Metascore: 91
- Director: Peter Yates
- Actors: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Box office: $16,424,918

#2. Alien
- Stacker score: 97.8
- IMDb user rating: 8.5 (votes: 1.0 million)
- Metascore: 89
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
- Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $84,206,106

#1. Apocalypse Now
- Stacker score: 100.0
- IMDb user rating: 8.4 (votes: 750,000)
- Metascore: 94
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Actors: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall
- Runtime: 2 hours 27 minutes
- Rating: R
- Box office: $96,074,376