Yataro Tanigawa, a one-eyed hired assassin, impresses yakuza boss Gomyo Kiyoemon with his skill. Gomyo hires Tanigawa as his bodyguard, or yojimbo, to protect him during an inter-clan conflict. Tanigawa quickly rises in stature in the clan, but finds his boss's enemies almost overwhelming.

Vengeance Is Mine

1979

Japanese

7.7

♡ 8

100%

88%

Action

based on novel or book

Shôhei Imamura Director

Ken Ogata as Iwao Enokizu

Mitsuko Baishô as Kazuko Enokizu

Chôichirô Kawarasaki as Pawnshop owner

Kazuko Shirakawa as Sachiko Yoshizato

A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police.

The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher

1979

English

3.7

♡ 3

Ray Dennis Steckler Director

Pierre Agostino as Johnathan Click

Lori Morris as Strangler Victim #1

Bonnie Smith as Strangler Victim #3

Jean Roberts as Strangler Victim #5

A photographer cruises Hollywood and takes pictures of young models he then strangles. Meanwhile, a woman who works in a porno bookstore in downtown L.A. takes it upon herself to kill off the local derelicts. Soon the two killers meet up with each other.

Cantonen Iron Kung Foo

1979

Cn

5.6

♡ 8

Action

Adventure

martial arts

Chiu Lee Director Fei Liu

Fei Liu as

San Peng as

Teng-Tsai Li as (as Tung Tsai Li) Fei Kao

Fei Kao as Master Chu

In a small Chinese town wandering criminals kill a local merchant to take over his trade routes, leaving Liang Kun (Leung Kar Yan) to seek vengeance and protect his town.

Five Superfighters

1979

Cn

6.4

♡ 6

Mar Lo Director Fat Wan

Fat Wan as

Han Chiang as

Tau Wan Yue as

Siu-Hung Leung as Chang Tien Shao

Three young martial arts students and their teacher are beaten up badly by a wandering man who proclaims himself "a corrector of bad kung-fu." Determined to avenge their teacher and regain their honor, the three students all go their separate ways to find kung-fu masters who will take them as students.

Mad Monkey Kung Fu

1979

Cn

6.7

♡ 10

Chia-Liang Liu Director

Shao-Hung Chan as

King Chu Lee as

Hua Yang as

Yung-sheng Pan as (as Yun-hsiang Peng)

A disgraced former Kung Fu expert makes a living as a merchant with the help of a hot headed friend. When the men are harassed by gangsters, the merchant decided to teach his friend monkey boxing so they can defend their business.

Goldengirl

1979

English

5.0

♡ 3

Joseph Sargent Director

James Coburn as Dryden

Susan Anton as Goldine

Curd Jürgens as Serafin

Harry Guardino as Valenti

A neo-Nazi Doctor tries to make a superwoman of his daughter who has been specially fed, exercised & Conditioned since she was a child to run in the Olympics.

Walk Proud

1979

English

5.4

♡ 3

Robert L. Collins Director

Gary Carlos Cervantes as Carlos

Pepe Serna as Cesar

Daniel Faraldo as El Tigre

Eloy Casados as Hugo

A young Chicano gang member in Los Angeles comes to realize that the gang life is not what he really wants but doesn't know how to get out.

From the Clouds to the Resistance

1979

Italian

6.5

♡ 2

Drama

woman director

Jean-Marie Straub Director

Mario di Mattia as Cinto

Guido Lombardi as Issione

Olimpia Carlisi as Nefele

Gianni Toti as Priest

'Dalla nube alla resistenza (From the Cloud to the Resistance ) (1978), based on two works by Cesare Pavese, falls into the category of History Lessons and Too Early, Too Late as well. It, too, has two parts—a twentieth-century text and a text regarding the myths of antiquity, each set in the appropriate landscape. Pavese's The Moon and the Bonfires looks back on the violent deaths of Italian anti-Fascist resistance fighters; Dialogues with Leucò is a series of dialogues between heroes and gods, connecting myth and history and returning to an ambiguous stage in the creation of distinctions, such as that between animal and human, which are fundamental to grammar and language itself. Such a juxtaposition of political engagement with profoundly contemplative issues such as myth, nature, and meaning points to the characters of Empedocles and Antigone in the Hölderlin films.' (From "Landscapes of resistance. The German Films of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub" by Barton Byg)

The Magnificent Ruffians

1979

Chinese

6.5

♡ 2

Action

Drama

martial arts

Cheh Chang Director

Yu Lung Hsiao as

Huang-Hsi Liu as

Paul Wong as Meng Lo

Meng Lo as Guan Ah Yun

Venom regulars Philip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, and Sun Chien star as a gang of unemployed martial artists who spend their days stuffing their faces at local restaurants and letting the staff beat them up instead of paying the bill. Their fortunes appear to improve when the head of a local security agency hires them to take out the competition, who their new employer insists is up to no good. But the boys are being played for fools, and after an unfortunate misunderstanding, they unite with their former adversary to take out the true villain.

Norma Rae

1979

English

7.3

♡ 15

91%

79%

Action

alabama

based on a true story

based on novel or book

Martin Ritt Director

Gail Strickland as Bonnie Mae

James Luisi as George Benson

Noble Willingham as Leroy Mason

Sally Field as Norma Rae

Norma Rae is a southern textile worker employed in a factory with intolerable working conditions. This concern about the situation gives her the gumption to be the key associate to a visiting labor union organizer. Together, they undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize her factory.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry

1979

Cn

7.0

♡ 9

100%

John Woo Director

Alan Chung San Chui as Mars

Mars as

Homer Cheung as

Damian Lau as Tsing Yi

Kao has purchased a new wife, but an enemy has paid her more money to kill him. Kao must recruit a pair of swordsmen to help defend himself and his family from his ruthless enemy. But Kao has his dark side as well.

Tora-san, the Matchmaker

1979

Japanese

6.4

♡ 4

Action

Comedy

Romance

Yôji Yamada Director

Kaori Momoi as Hitomi

Senri Sakurai as Kakariin

Hisao Dazai as Shachô

Hiroshi Inuzuka as Taxi Driver

Tora-san helps out a runaway bride.

Tora-san's Dream of Spring

1979

Japanese

6.7

♡ 4

Comedy

Romance

Yôji Yamada Director

Gin Maeda as Hiroshi

Herb Edelman as Michael Jordan

Hisao Dazai as Shachô

Hiroshi Inuzuka as Shigeru

Tora-san's opinions about Americans get challenged when another wandering peddler Michael Jordan stops by Shibamata.

The Outsider

1979

English

6.9

♡ 3

57%

Tony Luraschi Director

Gabriel Byrne as

Aiden Grennell as Hanlan

Craig Wasson as Michael Flaherty

Patricia Quinn as Siobhan

Michael Flaherty (Craig Wasson), an American Vietnam veteran of Irish descent, returns to Belfast to join the cause of his grandfather, Seamus (Sterling Hayden). Soon he finds that he is not as welcomed in his home country as he imagined he would be. Even worse, he's the target of an IRA assassination plot designed to make the British forces look bad in order to elicit financial support from wealthy Americans.

The Resurrection of the Golden Wolf

1979

Japanese

6.6

♡ 4

Tôru Murakawa Director

Jun Fubuki as Kyoko Nagai

Shin'ichi Chiba as Mitsuhiko Sakurai

Akira Takahashi as Tamiya

Daiki Katô as Tomita

A seemingly run-of-the-mill corporate salaryman leads a double life as a vicious criminal by night. In a delicious scheme of payback, he seeks to dominate the corporation that employs him by day.

The Jericho Mile

1979

English

7.1

♡ 8

77%

Michael Mann Director

Burton Gilliam as Jimmy-Jack

Richard Moll as Joker Gibb

Edmund Penney as OAU Official

Richard Lawson as R.C. Stiles

A runner, serving a life sentence at Folsom Prison, works at becoming the world's fastest miler and wins a chance to compete for a spot on the Olympic team.

The Old Master

1979

Cn

4.9

♡ 1

Joseph Kuo Director

Fat Yuen as

Chut Yuen as

Fok Yuen as

Jorgen Wedseltoft as Hotel Clerk

Master Yu is invited to Los Angeles to take on numerous fighters in a Kung Fu contest. He beats all comers and this angers a local mob boss who lost a great deal of money on illegal betting…