1978: Year in Review
Fritz Golden Superlatives

1. Days of Heaven (dir: Terrence Malick)

2. Autumn Sonata (dir: Ingmar Bergman)

3. The Battle of Chile: Part I (dir: Patricio Guzmán; US Release Date)

4. Killer of Sheep (dir: Charles Burnett; US Release Date)

5. Halloween (dir: John Carpenter)

6. Insiang (dir: Lino Brocka; International Release Date)

7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (dir: Philip Kaufman)

8. Dawn of the Dead (dir: George A. Romero)

9. Jeanne Dielman 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (dir: Chantal Akerman; US Release Date)

10. Straight Time (dir: Ulu Grosbard)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Always for Pleasure (dir: Les Blank), Blue Collar (dir: Paul Schrader), Coming Home (dir: Hal Ashby), The Deer Hunter (dir: Michael Cimino), The Driver (dir: Walter Hill), Eyes of Laura Mars (dir: Irvin Kershner), The Fury (dir: Brian De Palma), Gates of Heaven (dir: Errol Morris), Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (dir: Bertrand Blier), Girlfriends (dir: Claudia Weill), Grease (dir: Randal Kleiser), Interiors (dir: Woody Allen), Midnight Express (dir: Alan Parker), Remember My Name (dir: Alan Rudolph), The Shout (dir: Jerzy Skolimowski), Soldier of Orange (dir: Paul Verhoeven), An Unmarried Woman (dir: Paul Mazursky), and Watership Down (dir: Martin Rosen)

Best Picture: Days of Heaven
Director: Terrence Malick Producers: Bert Schneider, Harold Schneider
US Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Best Director:
Terrence Malick, Days of Heaven
2. Ingmar Bergman, Autumn Sonata
3. John Carpenter, Halloween
4. Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep
5. Lina Brocka, Insiang

Best Actor:
Donald Sutherland, Invasion of the Body Snatchers
2. Richard Pryor, Blue Collar
3. Jon Voight, Coming Home
4. Dustin Hoffman, Straight Time
5. Volker Spangler, In a Year of 13 Moons

Best Actress:
Hilda Koronel, Insiang
2. Geraldine Chaplin, Remember My Name
3. Jill Clayburgh, An Unmarried Woman
4. Delphine Seyrig, Jeanne Dielman 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles
5. Genevieve Bujold, Coma

Best Supporting Actor:
Yaphet Kotto, Blue Collar
2. Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter
3. John Cazale, The Deer Hunter
4. Harry Dean Stanton, Straight Time
5. Christopher Plummer, The Silent Partner

Best Supporting Actress:
Linda Manz, Days of Heaven
2. Maureen Stapleton, Interiors
3. Stockard Channing, Grease
4. Ann-Margret, Magic
5. Theresa Russell, Straight Time

Best Original Screenplay:
Autumn Sonata — Ingmar Bergman
2. An Unmarried Woman — Paul Mazursky
3. Girlfriends —Vicki Polon and Claudia Weill
4. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs — Bertrand Blier
5. Blue Collar — Paul Schrader and Leonard Schrader

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers — W.D. Richter
2. Soldier of Orange — Kees Holierhoek, Gerard Soeteman, and Paul Verhoeven
3. Straight Time — Alvin Sargent, Edward Bunker, Michael Mann and Jeffrey Boam
4. The Silent Partner — Curtis Hanson
5. Midnight Express — Oliver Stone

Best Cinematography:
Days of Heaven — Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler
2. Insiang — Conrado Baltazar
3. Autumn Sonata — Sven Nykvist
4. The Fury — Richard H. Kline
5. Coma — Victor J. Kemper

Best Film Editing:
Dawn of the Dead — George A. Romero
2. Days of Heaven — Billy Weber
3. Halloween — Charles Bornstein and Tommy Wallace
4. The Fury – Paul Hirsch
5. Superman — Stuart Baird and Michael Ellis

Best Original Score:
Halloween – John Carpenter
2. Midnight Express — Giorgio Moroder
3. The Boys from Brazil — Jerry Goldsmith
4. Superman — John Williams
5. Magic — Jerry Goldsmith

Best Production Design:
Days of Heaven – Jack Fisk and Robert Gould
2. The Wiz – Tony Walton, Robert Drumheller, Edward Stewart and Justin Scoppa, Jr.
3. Heaven Can Wait — Paul Sylbert and George Gaines
4. The Brink’s Job — Dean Tavoularis, George R. Nelson, and Bruce Kay
5. The Buddy Holly Story — Joel Schiller and Tom Roysden

Best Costume Design:
Days of Heaven — Patricia Norris
2. The Wiz – Tony Walton
3. Pretty Baby — Mina Mittelman
4. Death on the Nile — Anthony Powell
5. Interiors — Joel Schumacher

Best Visual Effects
Superman
2. Coma
3. Heaven Can Wait

Best Sound
The Shout
2. Days of Heaven
3. Magic

Best Documentary:
Patricio Guzmán, The Battle of Chile: Part 1

Best Animated Feature:
Martin Rosen and John Hubley, Watership Down

Best Ensemble Cast:
Straight Time

Orson Welles’ Best First Feature:
Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep

Best Ensemble Cast: 
Straight Time (dir: Ulu Grosbard; in alphabetical order): Kathy Bates, Gary Busey, Jake Busey, Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Harry Dean Stanton, Rita Taggart and M. Emmett Walsh

Orson Welles' Best First Feature:
Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep

RECAP

W I N S :

Days of Heaven — 6,
Invasion of the Body Snatchers — 2, Autumn Sonata — 1, The Battle of Chile: Part 1 — 1, Blue Collar — 1, Dawn of the Dead — 1, Halloween — 1, Insiang — 1, Killer of Sheep — 1, The Shout — 1, Straight Time— 1, Superman — 1, Watership Down — 1

M U L T I P L E
N O M I N A T I O N S :

Days of Heaven — 8,
Straight Time — 6, Autumn Sonata — 4, Halloween — 4, Insiang — 4, Blue Collar — 3, Coma — 3, Invasion of the Body Snatchers — 3, Killer of Sheep — 3, Superman — 3, The Battle of Chile: Part 1 — 2, Dawn of the Dead — 2, Deer Hunter — 2, The Fury — 2, Interiors — 2, Jeanne Dielman — 2, Magic — 2, Midnight Express — 2, The Silent Partner — 2, An Unmarried Woman — 2, The Wiz — 2

the year-end project:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1940 - 1949, 1930 - 1939, 1920 - 1929 + Superlatives Index

Best of the Decade:
2010s, 2000s, 1990s, 1980s