New York City 1981 Commercial Releases
(Reconstructed from New York Times archives; I didn't start keeping track week-to-week until 1998. List is probably not definitive—if it got neither an ad nor a review, I won't have caught it—but everything major should be here. Films seen by yours truly are in blue.)
Week of 25 Dec
Infra-Man (Hua Shan) [1975]Modern Problems (Ken Shapiro)
Week of 18 Dec
Ghost Story (John Irvin)Heartbeeps (Allan Arkush)
Neighbors (John G. Avildsen)
Sharky's Machine (Burt Reynolds)
Week of 11 Dec
Buddy Buddy (Billy Wilder)Clarence and Angel (Robert Gardner)
Four Friends (Arthur Penn)
The Last Chase (Martyn Burke)
Pennies From Heaven (Herbert Ross)
Rollover (Alan J. Pakula)
Signs of Life (Werner Herzog) [1968]
Spaced Out (Norman J. Warren)
Tales From the Vienna Woods (Maximilian Schell)
Taps (Harold Becker)
Week of 4 Dec
Goodbye Emmanuelle (François Leterrier) [1977]On Golden Pond (Mark Rydell)
Reds (Warren Beatty)
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (John Badham)
Week of 27 Nov
Man of Iron (Andrzej Wajda)Mortal Combat (Chang Cheh) [1978]
Strong Medicine (Richard Foreman)
Week of 20 Nov
Absence of Malice (Sydney Pollack)Body and Soul (George Bowers)
Demonoid (Alfredo Zacarias)
The Hungarians (Zoltán Fábri) [1978]
Jane Austen in Manhattan (James Ivory)
Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (Friz Freleng)
Ragtime (Milos Forman)
They All Laughed (Peter Bogdanovich)
A Thin Line (Michal Bat-Adam)
Week of 13 Nov
Ashram (Wolfgang Dobrowolny)Crocodile (Sompote Sands)
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (les Blank)
High Street (André Ernotte) [1976]
The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper (Roger Spottiswoode)
Ticket to Heaven (R.L. Thomas)
Week of 6 Nov
Fantasies (John Derek)Montenegro (Dusan Makavejev)
Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch ( XXII Olympiad: 1980 Moscow (Yuri Ozerov)
Week of 30 Oct
The Devil's Playground (Fred Schepisi) [1976]Halloween II (Rick Rosenthal)
Looker (Michael Crichton)
Lorang's Way (David & Judith MacDougall) [1978]
Week of 23 Oct
Blood Wedding (Carlos Saura)The Boat Is Full (Markus Imhoof)
Nightmare (Romano Scavolini)
Quartet (James Ivory)
Week of 16 Oct
...All the Marbles (Robert Aldrich)Chanel Solitaire (George Kaczender)
Night School (Kenneth Hughes)
Strange Behavior (Michael Laughlin)
Student Bodies (Mickey Rose)
The Wild Party (James Ivory) [1975]
Week of 9 Oct
The Aviator's Wife (Eric Rohmer)Beau-père (Bertrand Blier)
Contract (Krzysztof Zanussi)
Manifestations of Shiva (Malcolm Leigh)
My Dinner With Andre (Louis Malle)
Priest of Love (Christopher Miles)
Rich and Famous (George Cukor)
Tattoo (Bob Brooks)
Taxi zum Klo (Frank Ripploh)
Tiefland (Leni Riefenstahl) [1954]
The Troupe (Avi Nesher) [1978]
The Woman Next Door (François Truffaut)
Week of 2 Oct
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Paul Morrissey) [1978]Paternity (David Steinberg)
Week of 25 Sep
Carbon Copy (Michael Schultz)Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson)
The Disappearance (Stuart Cooper) [1977]
Only When I Laugh (Glenn Jordan)
Slaughter in San Francisco (William Lowe) [1974]
So Fine (Andrew Bergman) Southern Comfort (Walter Hill)
True Confessions (Ulu Grosbard)
The Unseen (Peter Foleg)
Week of 18 Sep
Continental Divide (Michael Apted)The French Lieutenant's Woman (Karel Reisz)
Mommie Dearest (Frank Perry)
Pick-Up Summer (George Mihalka)
Raggedy Man (Jack Fisk)
Tim (Michael Pate)
Week of 11 Sep
14 Americans (Michael Blackwood & Nancy Rosen)Lovers and Liars (Mario Monicelli)
Made in U.S.A. (Jean-Luc Godard) [1966]
Pixote (Hector Babenco)
The Shooting Party (Emil Loteanu) [1978]
Week of 4 Sep
Hell Night (Tom DeSimone)The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (Ronald F. Maxwell)
Week of 28 Aug
Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan)Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (David Lowell Rich)
Condorman (Charles Jarrott)
Gallipoli (Peter Weir)
Private Lessons (Alan Myerson)
Take This Job and Shove It (Gus Trikonis)
Week of 21 Aug
An American Werewolf in London (John Landis)Comin' at Ya! (Ferdinando Baldi)
First Monday in October (Ronald Neame)
Heartland (Richard Pearce)
Honky Tonk Freeway (John Schlesinger)
Prince of the City (Sidney Lumet)
Week of 14 Aug
Camouflage (Krzysztof Zanussi) [1977]Deadly Blessing (Wes Craven)
An Eye for an Eye (Steve Carver)
The Uprising (Peter Lilienthal)
Week of 7 Aug
Beatlemania (Joseph Manduke)Heavy Metal (Gerald Potterton)
Tarzan, the Ape Man (John Derek)
Week of 31 Jul
I Hate Blondes (Giorgio Capitani)Under the Rainbow (Steve Rash)
Victory (John Huston)
Week of 24 Jul
Blow Out (Brian De Palma)Eye of the Needle (Richard Marquand)
The Inheritance (Mauro Bolognini) [1976]
Rock City (Peter Clifton) [1973]
Wolfen (Michael Wadleigh)
Zorro, the Gay Blade (Peter Medak)
Week of 17 Jul
Arthur (Steve Gordon)Endless Love (Franco Zeffirelli)
On the Right Track (Lee Philips)
Week of 10 Jul
Escape From New York (John Carpenter)The Fox and the Hound (Art Stevens & Ted Berman & Richard Rich)
Heart to Heart (Pascal Thomas)
Illustrious Corpses (Francesco Rosi) [1976]
Lili Marleen (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Primal Fear (Anne Claire Poirier)
Week of 3 Jul
The Decline of Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris)Force: Five (Robert Clouse)
S.O.B. (Blake Edwards)
Week of 26 Jun
Dragonslayer (Matthew Robbins)For Your Eyes Only (John Glen)
The Great Muppet Caper (Jim Henson)
High Risk (Stewart Raffill)
Stripes (Ivan Reitman)
We Are the Guinea Pigs (Joan Harvey)
Week of 19 Jun
The Cannonball Run (Hal Needham)Coup de Sirocco (Alexandre Arcady)
Gaijin, a Brazilian Odyssey (Tizuka Yamasaki)
Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard) [1975]
Stevie (Robert Enders) [1978]
Superman II (Richard Lester)
Week of 12 Jun
The Blockhouse (Clive Rees) [1973]Clash of the Titans (Desmond Davis)
The Dark End of the Street (Jan Egleson)
History of the World Part I (Mel Brooks)
Messidor (Alain Tanner)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)
Richard's Things (Anthony Harvey)
Week of 5 Jun
¡Alambrista! (Robert M. Young) [1977]Alligator (Lewis Teague)
Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams (Thomas Chong)
Olly, Olly, Oxen Free (Richard A. Colla) [1978]
The Sea Wolves (Andrew V. McLaglen)
Search & Destroy (William Fruet)
Week of 29 May
Caveman (Carl Gottlieb)A Celtic Trilogy (Kathleen Dowdey)
Dirty Tricks (Alvin Rakoff)
The Haunting of Julia (Richard Loncraine)
Polyester (John Waters)
Week of 22 May
Bustin' Loose (Oz Scott)Death Hunt (Peter Hunt)
The Fan (Edward Bianchi)
The Four Seasons (Alan Alda)
Glen or Glenda? (Edward D. Wood, Jr.) [1953]
Improper Channels (Eric Till)
The Legend of the Lone Ranger (William A. Fraker)
Outland (Peter Hyams)
Week of 15 May
Beyond the Reef (Frank C. Clark)Cattle Annie and Little Britches (Lamont Johnson)
Happy Birthday to Me (J. Lee Thompson)
Heartworn Highways (James Szalapski) [1976]
Ms. 45 (Abel Ferrara)
A Second Chance (Claude Lelouch) [1976]
The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) (Barbet Schroeder) [1972]
Week of 8 May
Black & White Like Day & Night (Wolfgang Petersen) [1978]Cheaper to Keep Her (Ken Annakin)
Impostors (Mark Rappaport)
Kill and Kill Again (Ivan Hall)
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Vladimir Menshov)
Second Hand Hearts (Hal Ashby)
Squeeze Play (Samuel Weil)
This Is Elvis (Andrew Solt & Malcolm Leo)
Week of 1 May
Café Express (Nanni Loy)Friday the 13th Part 2 (Steve Miner)
I Sent a Letter to My Love (Moshé Mizrahi)
Just a Gigolo (David Hemmings) [1978]
King of the Mountain (Noel Nosseck)
The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (Connie Field)
Week of 24 Apr
Cocktail Molotov (Diane Kurys)The Hand (Oliver Stone)
Spoiled Children (Bertrand Tavernier) [1977]
Week of 17 Apr
Breaking Glass (Brian Gibson)Caveman (Carl Gottlieb)
Gal Young 'Un (Victor Nunez)
Going Ape! (Jeremy Joe Kronsberg)
Knightriders (George A. Romero)
Lion of the Desert (Moustapha Akkad)
Week of 10 Apr
City of Women (Federico Fellini)D.O.A. (Lech Kowalski)
Excalibur (John Boorman)
La Drôlesse (Jacques Doillon)
Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth)
The Private Eyes (Lang Elliott)
Voyage en Douce (Michel Deville)
The Wizard of Waukesha: Les Paul (Catherine Orentreich)
Week of 3 Apr
Atlantic City (Louis Malle)The Dozens (Randall Conrad & Christine Dall)
Hardly Working (Jerry Lewis)
Holy Terror (Alfred Sole) [1976]
Week of 27 Mar
Eyes of a Stranger (Ken Wiederhorn)Joe and Maxi (Joel Gold) [1978]
The Land of No Return (Kent Bateman) [1978]
Thief (Michael Mann)
Where Time Began (J. Piquer Simon) [1977]
Week of 20 Mar
Confidence (István Szabó)Cutter and Bone (Ivan Passer)
The Final Conflict (Graham Baker)
Image Before My Eyes (Josh Waletzky)
9 Months (Márta Mészáros) [1976]
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Bob Rafelson)
The Wobblies (Stewart Bird & Deborah Shaffer)
Week of 13 Mar
Back Roads (Martin Ritt)The Funhouse (Tobe Hooper)
The Howling (Joe Dante)
Modern Romance (Albert Brooks)
Northern Lights (John Hanson & Rob Nilsson) [1978]
Windwalker (Keith Merrill)
Week of 6 Mar
All Night Long (Jean-Claude Tramont)The Devil and Max Devlin (Steven Hilliard Stern)
Oblomov (Nikita Mikhalkov)
Week of 27 Feb
Eyewitness (Peter Yates)From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China (Murray Lerner)
Galaxina (William Sachs)
One Wild Moment (Claude Berri) [1977]
Sunday Lovers (Gene Wilder/Bryan Forbes/Edouard Molinaro/Dino Risi)
Week of 20 Feb
The Birch Wood (Andrzej Wajda) [1970]Hunting Flies (Andrzej Wajda) [1969]
Week of 13 Feb
American Pop (Ralph Bakshi)Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (Clive Donner)
The Dogs of War (John Irvin)
The Earthling (Peter Collinson)
La Cage aux folles II (Edouard Molinaro)
The Last Metro (François Truffaut)
My Bloody Valentine (George Mihalka)
Sphinx (Franklin J. Schaffner)
Week of 6 Feb
Caddie (Donald Crombie) [1976]Fear No Evil (Frank LaLoggia)
Fort Apache, The Bronx (Daniel Petrie)
Spetters (Paul Verhoeven)
Week of 30 Jan
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (Joel Schumacher)Like a Turtle on Its Back (Luc Beraud) [1978]
Long Shot (Maurice Hatton) [1978]
Maniac (William Lustig)
Week of 23 Jan
Acting Out (Carl Gurevich & Ralph Rosenblum) [1978]Blood Beach (Jeffrey Bloom)
From the Life of the Marionettes (Ingmar Bergman)
Man of Marble (Andrzej Wajda) [1977]
The President's Women (John G. Avildsen) [1975]
Week of 16 Jan
Fish Hawk (Donald Shebib)Les Bons Débarras (Francis Mankiewicz)
Let There Be Light (John Huston) [1946]
Mountain Family Robinson (John Cotter)
Scanners (David Cronenberg)
Week of 9 Jan
The Case Against Ferro (Alain Corneau) [1976]Hangar 18 (James L. Conway)
Week of 2 Jan
Notes for an African Orestes (Pier Paolo Pasolini) [1970]You Are Not Alone (Lasse Nielsen & Ernst Johansen) [1978]