1973 in film
The year 1973 in film involved some significant events.
Events
Top grossing films (U.S.)
| Rank |
Title |
Studio |
Actors |
Gross |
| 1. |
The Exorcist |
Warner Bros. |
Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Jason Miller, and Linda Blair |
$89,000,000 |
| 2. |
The Sting |
Universal |
Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw |
$78,212,000 |
| 3. |
American Graffiti |
Universal |
Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat and Harrison Ford |
$55,128,000 |
| 4. |
Enter the Dragon |
Warner Bros. |
Bruce Lee |
$25,000,000 |
| 5. |
Papillon |
Allied Artists |
Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman |
$22,500,000 |
| 6. |
The Way We Were |
Columbia |
Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford |
$22,457,000 |
| 7. |
Magnum Force |
Warner Bros. |
Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook |
$20,100,000 |
| 8. |
Robin Hood* |
Walt Disney |
Roger Miller, Phil Harris, Andy Devine |
$18,000,000 |
| 9. |
Last Tango in Paris |
United Artists |
Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider |
$16,711,000 |
| 10. |
Paper Moon |
Paramount |
Ryan O'Neal, Madeleine Kahn, Tatum O'Neal |
$16,559,000 |
| 11. |
Live and Let Die |
United Artists |
Roger Moore, Jane Seymour |
$15,925,000 |
(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)
Awards
Academy Awards:
- Best Picture: The Sting - Bill/Phillips-Hill, Zanuck/Brown, Universal
- Best Director : George Roy Hill - The Sting
- Best Actor: Jack Lemmon - Save the Tiger
- Best Actress: Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class
- Best Supporting Actor : John Houseman - The Paper Chase
- Best Supporting Actress : Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon
- Best Foreign Language Film: Day for Night (La Nuit américaine), directed by François Truffaut, France
Golden Globe Awards:
- Drama:
- Best Picture: The Exorcist
- Best Actor: Al Pacino - Serpico
- Best Actress: Marsha Mason - Cinderella Liberty
- Musical or comedy:
- Best Picture: American Graffiti
- Best Actor: George Segal - A Touch of Class
- Best Actress: Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class
- Other
- Best Director: William Friedkin - The Exorcist
- Best Foreign Language Film: The Pedestrian (Der Fußgänger), W. Germany
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
- The Hireling, directed by Alan Bridges, United Kingdom
- Scarecrow, directed by Jerry Schatzberg, United States
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
- Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder), directed by Satyajit Ray, India
Films released in 1973
U.S.A. unless stated
A
B
- Badlands, directed by Terrence Malick, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek
- Bang the Drum Slowly, starring Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty
- Battle for the Planet of the Apes, starring Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, John Huston
- Battles Without Honour and Humanity (ingi naki tatakai) - (Japan)
- Baxter! - (U.K.)
- Black Holiday (La Villeggiatura), starring Adolfo Celi - (Italy)
- Blood Brothers, directed by Chang Cheh - (Hong Kong)
- Blood in the Streets aka Revolver - (Italy/France/West Germany)
- Blood of the Dragon - (Hong Kong)
- Blume in Love, starring George Segal and Susan Anspach
- The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
- Breezy, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring William Holden and Kay Lenz
- A Brief Vacation (Una breve vacanza), directed by Vittorio de Sica - (Italy)
- Brother of the Wind
C
- Cahill U.S. Marshal, starring John Wayne
- The Candy Snatchers
- Carry On Girls - (U.K.)
- Charley and the Angel, starring Fred MacMurray, Cloris Leachman, Kurt Russell
- Charley Varrick, directed by Don Siegel, starring Walter Matthau, John Vernon, Joe Don Baker, Andy Robinson, Felicia Farr
- Charlotte's Web, an animated film directed by Charles A. Nichols and Iwao Takamoto, with the voices of Debbie Reynolds and Henry Gibson
- Cinderella Liberty, directed by Mark Rydell, starring James Caan and Marsha Mason
- Cleopatra Jones, starring Tamara Dobson and Shelley Winters
- Coffy, starring Pam Grier
- Cops and Robbers, starring Joseph Bologna and Cliff Gorman
- The Crazies, directed by George A. Romero
- The Creeping Flesh, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing - (U.K.)
D
- Day for Night, directed by François Truffaut, starring Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Aumont - Academy Award and Bafta winner - (France)
- The Day of the Jackal, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale, Delphine Seyrig - (U.K./France)
- The Devil in Miss Jones
- Dillinger, starring Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, Richard Dreyfuss, Geoffrey Lewis
- A Doll's House, starring Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins - (U.K.)
- Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Kim Darby and Jim Hutton
- Don't Look Now, directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland - (U.K./Italy)
E
- Electra Glide in Blue, starring Robert Blake
- Emperor of the North Pole, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine
- England Made Me, starring Peter Finch and Michael York - (U.K.)
- Enter the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee - (Hong Kong)/U.S.A.)
- Executive Action, starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan
- The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow -- winner of 5 Golden Globes and 2 Oscars
F
G
H
- The Hare Census - (Bulgaria)
- Heavy Traffic, an animated film by Ralph Bakshi
- High Plains Drifter, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood with Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Geoffrey Lewis
- The Hireling, directed by Alan Bridges, starring Robert Shaw and Sarah Miles - Palme d'Or winner - (U.K.)
- Hitler: The Last Ten Days, starring Alec Guinness - (U.K./Italy)
- The Holy Mountain (La Montaña Sagrada), directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky - (Mexico/U.S.)
- The Homecoming, directed by Peter Hall, starring Cyril Cusack, Ian Holm, Vivien Merchant - (U.K.)
- Hot Winds (गर्म हवा), directed by M.S. Sathyu - (India)
- The Hour-Glass Sanatorium (Sanatorium pod klepsydrą), directed by Wojciech Has - (Poland)
- The House in Nightmare Park, directed by Peter Skyes and starring Frankie Howerd and Ray Milland (U.K.)
I
J
K
L
- Lady Ice, starring Donald Sutherland and Jennifer O'Neill
- The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges
- The Last Detail, directed by Hal Ashby, starring Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young
- The Last of Sheila, written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, starring Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon, James Mason, James Coburn
- The Laughing Policeman, starring Walter Matthau and Bruce Dern
- Little Tiger of Canton, starring Jackie Chan - (Hong Kong)
- Live and Let Die, starring Roger Moore as James Bond with Jane Seymour and Yaphet Kotto - (U.K.)
- Lolly-Madonna XXX
- The Long Goodbye, directed by Robert Altman, starring Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Jim Bouton
- Lost Horizon, starring Peter Finch, John Gielgud, Liv Ullman, George Kennedy, Olivia Hussey
- Love and Anarchy (d'amore e d'anarchia), directed by Lina Wertmuller - (Italy)
- Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing, directed by Alan J. Pakula
- Luther, a biopic of Martin Luther starring Stacy Keach
M
- The Mackintosh Man, starring Paul Newman - (U.K./U.S.A.)
- Magnum Force, directed by Ted Post, starring Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, David Soul
- Malizia - (Italy)
- Le Magnifique', directed by Philippe de Broca, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jacqueline Bisset - (France)
- Manson, a documentary film about Charles Manson
- Massacre in Rome (Rappresaglia), directed by George Pan Cosmatos, starring Richard Burton and Marcello Mastroianni - (Italy)
- Mean Streets, directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro
- The Mother and the Whore (La Maman et la Putain) - (France)
- My Name is Nobody (Il mio nome è Nessuno) - (Italy)
N
O
P
- The Paper Chase, starring Timothy Bottoms
- Paper Moon, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn
- Paperback Hero - (Canada)
- Papillon, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson with music from Bob Dylan
- The Pedestrian (Der Fußgänger), directed by Maximilian Schell, starring Peggy Ashcroft - winner of Golden Globe for best foreign film - (West Germany/Switzerland/Israel)
R
S
- Save the Tiger, directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Jack Lemmon
- Scarecrow, directed by Jerry Schatzberg, starring Gene Hackman and Al Pacino - Palme d'Or winner
- Scenes from a Marriage, directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson - (Sweden)
- Scream Blacula Scream
- Serpico, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Al Pacino
- The Seven Madmen (Los siete locos), directed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson - (Argentina)
- The Seven-Ups, starring Roy Scheider
- Sisters, directed by Brian De Palma
- Slaughter's Big Rip-Off, starring Jim Brown, Brock Peters, Ed McMahon
- Sleeper, directed by and starring Woody Allen with Diane Keaton
- Slither, starring James Caan, Sally Kellerman, Peter Boyle
- Soul Hustler, directed by Bert Topper, starring Fabian, Nai Bonet, Tony Russel, Casey Kasem
- Soylent Green, directed by Richard Fleischer, starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Edward G. Robinson
- The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena) - (Spain)
- Steelyard Blues, starring Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda
- Steptoe and Son Ride Again, starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett - (U.K.)
- The Sting, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw - winner of 7 Academy Awards
- The Stone Killer, starring Charles Bronson
- Sweet Kill
T
W
Z
Births
- February 12 - Tara Strong, voice actor
- March 20 - Jane March, actress and model
- April 14 - Adrien Brody, actor
- April 30 - Antonino Isordia, Mexican director
- May 5 - Tina Yothers, actress
- June 15 - Neil Patrick Harris, actor
- June 21 - Juliette Lewis, actress
- July 26 - Kate Beckinsale, actress
- August 24 - Dave Chappelle actor
- September 12 - Paul Walker, actor and producer
- September 26 - Julienne Davis, actress and model
- October 3 - Neve Campbell, actress
- November 26 - Peter Facinelli, actor
- November 27 - Sharlto Copley, actor
Deaths
- January 26 - Edward G Robinson, actor
- February 15 - Tim Holt, actor
- February 22 - Katina Paxinou, actress
- March 10 - Robert Siodmak, director
- March 26 - Noel Coward, prolific English actor, playwright and composer of popular music
- April 26 - Irene Ryan, actress
- May 11 - Lex Barker, actor
- June 23 - Fay Holden, actress
- July 2 - Betty Grable, actress
- July 6 - Joe E. Brown, actor
- July 7 - Veronica Lake, actress
- July 11 - Robert Ryan, actor
- July 12 - Lon Chaney Jr, actor
- July 18 - Jack Hawkins, actor
- July 20 - Bruce Lee, actor
- August 10 Douglas Kennedy, actor
- August 22 - Louise Huff, actress
- September 13 - Betty Field, actress
- September 21 - Diana Sands, actress
- September 26 - Anna Magnani, actress
- October 16 - Gene Krupa, musician, actor
- October 25 - Cleo Moore, actress
- November 23 - Sessue Hayakawa, actor
- November 23 - Claire Dodd, actress
- November 23 - Constance Talmadge, actress
- November 25 - Laurence Harvey, actor
- December 26 - William Haines, actor
Debuts