New York City 1987 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 31 Dec
The Rose King (Werner Schroeter)
Week of 25 Dec
Good Morning, Vietnam (Barry Levinson)The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (Jack Clayton)
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (Hal Sutherland)
Rendez-Vous (André Téchiné)
Week of 18 Dec
*Batteries Not Included (Matthew Robbins)Broadcast News (James L. Brooks)
The Dead (John Huston)
Eddie Murphy Raw (Robert Townsend)
Ironweed (Hector Babenco)
Leonard Part 6 (Paul Weiland)
Moonstruck (Norman Jewison)
Overboard (Garry Marshall)
September (Woody Allen)
The Spirit Moves: A History of Black Social Dance on Film (Mura Dehn)
Week of 11 Dec
Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg)Throw Momma From the Train (Danny DeVito)
Wall Street (Oliver Stone)
Week of 4 Dec
Blind (Frederick Wiseman)Deathrow Gameshow (Mark Pirro)
The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell (Janelle Balnicke & David Kennard)
Home Is Where the Hart Is (Rex Bromfield)
Repentance (Tengiz Abuladze) [1984]
The Stranger (Adolfo Aristarain)
Student Confidential (Richard Horian)
The Trouble With Spies (Burt Kennedy)
Walker (Alex Cox)
Week of 27 Nov
Housekeeping (Bill Forsyth)Planes, Trains & Automobiles (John Hughes)
3 Men and a Baby (Leonard Nimoy)
Week of 20 Nov
A Boy From Calabria (Luigi Comencini)Date With an Angel (Tom McLoughlin)
Flowers in the Attic (Jeffrey Bloom)
Honeymoon (Patrick Jamain)
Jean Renoir, the Boss (Jacques Rivette) [1967]
La vie est belle (Benoît Lamy & Mwezé Ngangura)
The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci)
Loyalties (Anne Wheeler)
Nuts (Martin Ritt)
Sign "o" the Times (Prince)
Teen Wolf Too (Christopher Leitch)
Week of 13 Nov
Cross My Heart (Armyan Bernstein)Hostage (Hanro Möhr)
Howling III (Philippe Mora)
Hypothesis of a Stolen Painting (Raoul Ruiz) [1978]
The Running Man (Paul Michael Glaser)
Siesta (Mary Lambert)
The Wannsee Conference (Heinz Schirk) [1984]*
* NOTE: The New York Times and IMDb have this opening on
Wednesday, 18 November, which would be the following week. But the ad for
the theater where it opened has it playing there on Friday, 13 November.
I have no way of knowing which is inaccurate, so I'm going with the
earlier of the two. (I guess it's also possible that it played on the
13th prior to opening on the 18th, but that seems unlikely.)
Week of 6 Nov
Broken Noses (Bruce Weber)Cry Freedom (Richard Attenborough)
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (J. Lee Thompson)
Fire and Ice (Willy Bogner)
Hello Again (Frank Perry)
Hiding Out (Bob Giraldi)
Less Than Zero (Marek Kanievska)
Made in Heaven (Alan Rudolph)
Manon of the Spring (Claude Berri)
Pouvoir intime (Yves Simoneau)
Russkies (Rick Rosenthal)
Slam Dance (Wayne Wang)
Steel Dawn (Lance Hool)
Week of 30 Oct
Anna (Yurek Bogayevicz)Deadly Illusion (William Tannen & Larry Cohen)
Fatal Beauty (Tom Holland)
Gaby—A True Story (Luis Mandoki)
Hell Without Limits (Arturo Ripstein) [1978]
The Hidden (Jack Sholder)
Nowhere to Hide (Mario Azzopardi)
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (Stephen Frears)
Theme (Gleb Panfilov) [1979]
Week of 23 Oct
A Death in the Family (Stewart Main & Peter Wells)The Funeral (Juzo Itami) [1984]
The Glass Menagerie (Paul Newman)
John and the Missus (Gordon Pinsent)
The Killing Time (Rick King)
Nightflyers (T.C. Blake)
No Man's Land (Peter Werner)
Positive I.D. (Andy Anderson)
Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter)
The Sicilian (Michael Cimino)
Suspect (Peter Yates)
Week of 16 Oct
Barfly (Barbet Schroeder)Blue Monkey (William Fruet)
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (Bruce Pittman)
Hope and Glory (John Boorman)
House of Games (David Mamet)
Islands (Albert Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin & David Maysles)
Long Live the Lady! (Ermanno Olmi)
The Outing (Tom Daley)
Too Outrageous! (Dick Benner)
The 20th Intertional Tournee of Animation (various)
Vera (Sergio Toledo)
Weeds (John Hancock)
The Whales of August (Lindsay Anderson)
Week of 9 Oct
Baby Boom (Charles Shyer)Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (Taylor Hackford)
Dancers (Herbert Ross)
Dogs in Space (Richard Lowenstein)
Lindsay Anderson: The Early Documentaries (various)
Man on Fire (Elie Chouraqui)
Someone to Watch Over Me (Ridley Scott)
Surrender (Jerry Belson)
Three O'Clock High (Phil Joanou)
Week of 2 Oct
Big Shots (Robert Mandel)Like Father Like Son (Rod Daniel)
Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow)
The Right Hand Man (Di Drew)
Rolling Vengeance (Steven H. Stern)
Week of 25 Sep
Best Seller (John Flynn)The Big Town (Ben Bolt)
China Girl (Abel Ferrara)
Dark Eyes (Nikita Mikhalkov)
The Offspring (Jeff Burr)
Parting of the Ways (Jesús Díaz)
The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner)
Surf Nazis Must Die (Peter George)
You Talkin' to Me? (Charles Winkler)
Week of 18 Sep
Amazon Women on the Moon (Joe Dante/Carl Gottlieb/Peter Horton/John Landis/Robert K. Weiss)Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne)
Hellraiser (Clive Barker)
Hey Babu Riba (Jovan Acin)
Hotel Colonial (Cinzia Th. Torrini)
In the Mood (Phil Alden Robinson)
Lady Beware (Karen Arthur)
Maurice (James Ivory)
Miss...or Myth? (Geoffrey Dunn & Mark Schwartz)
The Mozart Brothers (Suzanne Osten)
Orphans (Alan J. Pakula)
The Pick-up Artist (James Toback)
The Principal (Christopher Cain)
Street Trash (Jim Muro)
Tough Guys Don't Dance (Norman Mailer)
Week of 11 Sep
Coming Up Roses (Stephen Bayly)The Curse (David Keith)
Deadline (Nathaniel Gutman)
Gospel According to Al Green (Robert Mugge) [1984]
He's My Girl (Gabrielle Beaumont)
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (Patricia Rozema)
A Prayer for the Dying (Mike Hodges)
Week of 4 Sep
Blood Diner (Jackie Kong)Buffet froid (Bertrand Blier) [1979]
Family Business (Costa-Gavras)
Flames in the Ashes (Haim Gouri & Jacques Ehrlich)
Penitentiary III (Jamaa Fanaka)
Week of 28 Aug
Backlash (Bill Bennett)The Fourth Protocol (John Mackenzie)
Hamburger Hill (John Irvin)
House II: The Second Story (Ethan Wiley)
Maid to Order (Amy Jones)
Matewan (John Sayles)
Rio 100° (Nelson Pereira dos Santos) [1955]
The Rosary Murders (Fred Walton)
Será posible el sur: Un Viaje por Argentina de la mano de Mercedes Sosa (Stefan Paul)
Week of 21 Aug
The Big Easy (Jim McBride)Born in East L.A. (Cheech Marin)
Dirty Dancing (Emile Ardolino)
The Garbage Pail Kids (Rod Amateau)
Inside Out (Robert Taicher)
Where the Heart Roams (George Paul Csicsery)
Week of 14 Aug
Can't Buy Me Love (Steve Rash)Colegas (Eloy de la Iglesia) [1982]
Disorderlies (Michael Schultz)
Living on Tokyo Time (Steven Okazaki)
The Monster Squad (Fred Dekker)
No Way Out (Roger Donaldson)
North Shore (William Phelps)
Week of 7 Aug
Back to the Beach (Lyndall Hobbs)The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (Raymond Jafelice)
The Girl (Arne Mattson)
Happy New Year (John G. Avildsen)
Masters of the Universe (Gary Goddard)
Nadine (Robert Benton)
Stakeout (John Badham)
Vampires in Havana (Juan Padrón)
Who's That Girl (James Foley)
Week of 31 Jul
The Living Daylights (John Glen)The Lost Boys (Joel Schumacher)
A Man in Love (Diane Kurys)
Singing on the Treadmill (Gyula Gazdag) [1984]
The Wolf at the Door (Henning Carlsen)
Week of 24 Jul
La Bamba (Luis Valdez)Mix-Up (Françoise Romand)
The Sea and Poison (Kei Kumai)
Summer School (Carl Reiner)
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (Sidney J. Furie)
Wish You Were Here (David Leland)
Week of 17 Jul
Eat the Peach (Peter Ormrod)Good Morning Babilonia (Paolo & Vittorio Taviani)
Jaws the Revenge (Joseph Sargent)
La gran fiesta (Marcos Zurinaga)
Ping Pong (Po Chih Leong)
Rita, Sue & Bob Too (Alan Clarke)
RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven)
Week of 10 Jul
Karma (Hô Quang Minh)Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (Joe Roth)
The Squeeze (Roger Young)
The Whistle Blower (Simon Langton)
Week of 3 Jul
Adventures in Babysitting (Chris Columbus)Innerspace (Joe Dante)
Sleepwalk (Sara Driver)
Week of 26 Jun
Dragnet (Tom Mankiewicz)Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)
Growing Pains (various)
Jean de Florette (Claude Berri)
Spaceballs (Mel Brooks)
Straight to Hell (Alex Cox)
Week of 19 Jun
Benji the Hunted (Joe Camp)Luggage of the Gods! (David Kendall) [1983]
Roxanne (Fred Schepisi)
Summer Night With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and Scent of Basil (Lina Wertmüller)
A Virus Knows No Morals (Rosa von Praunheim)
Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson)
Week of 12 Jun
Andy Warhol (Lana Jokel)The Believers (John Schlesinger)
Burke & Wills (Graeme Clifford)
Chile: Hasta Cuando? (David Bradbury)
Dances, Sacred and Profane (Dan Jury & Mark Jury)
Million Dollar Mystery (Richard Fleischer)
Predator (John McTiernan)
The Puppetoon Movie (Arnold Leibovit)
Rumpelstiltskin (David Irving)
The Witches of Eastwick (George Miller)
Week of 5 Jun
Commando Squad (Fred Olen Ray)Harry and the Hendersons (William Dear)
Munchies (Bettina Hirsch)
Shadey (Philip Saville)
Theater in Ruins (Irmgard von zur Muehlen) [1982]
The Untouchables (Brian De Palma)
Week of 29 May
Athens, GA.—Inside/Out (Tony Gayton)Devil in the Flesh (Marco Bellocchio)
Hunter's Blood (Robert C. Hughes)
Morgan Stewart's Coming Home (Alan Smithee) [Paul Aaron]
My Life for Zarah Leander (Christian Blackwood)
Salvation! (Beth B)
The Second Victory (Gerald Thomas)
Summer Heat (Michie Gleason)
Unfinished Business (Viveca Lindfors)
Week of 22 May
Amazing Grace and Chuck (Mike Newell)Beverly Hills Cop II (Tony Scott)
The Chipmunk Adventure (Janice Karman)
Enemy Territory (Peter Manoogian)
Ernest Goes to Camp (John R. Cherry, III)
Good Weather, but Stormy Late This Afternoon (Gérard Frot-Coutaz)
Happy Hour (John De Bello)
The Pornographers (Shohei Imamura) [1966]
Tampopo (Juzo Itami)
Week of 15 May
The Gate (Tibor Takacs)Ishtar (Elaine May)
Meatballs III (George Mendeluk)
Monster in the Closet (Bob Dahlin)
Personal Services (Terry Jones)
Week of 8 May
Gardens of Stone (Francis Coppola)Hearst Metrotone Newsreel Show (various)
Hot Pursuit (Steven Lisberger)
Programmed to Kill (Allan Holzman)
River's Edge (Tim Hunter)
Steele Justice (Robert Boris)
The Stepfather (Joseph Ruben)
Week of 1 May
The Allnighter (Tamar Simon Hoffs)The Brothers Quay (The Brothers Quay) [four shorts]
Campus Man (Ron Casden)
Creepshow 2 (Michael Gornick)
The Element of Crime (Lars von Trier) [1984]
Malone (Harley Cokliss)
Memed My Hawk (Peter Ustinov) [1984]
My Life as a Dog (Lasse Hallström)
Rosa Luxemburg (Margarethe von Trotta)
Sweet Lorraine (Steve Gomer)
Week of 24 Apr
Extreme Prejudice (Walter Hill)Forever, Lulu (Amos Kollek)
The Housekeeper (Ousama Rawi)
L'Année des méduses (Christopher Frank) [1984]
Link (Richard Franklin)
My Demon Lover (Charlie Loventhal)
Padre nuestro (Francisco Regueiro)
The Princess Academy (Bruce Block)
Slaughter High (George Dugdale & Mark Ezra & Peter Litten)
Week of 17 Apr
Festival of Claymation (various)Heaven (Diane Keaton)
Prick Up Your Ears (Stephen Frears)
Project X (Jonathan Kaplan)
Samuel Beckett: Silence to Silence (Seán O'Mórdha) [1984]
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (Lee Harry)
Wild Thing (Max Reid)
William Carlos Williams (Richard P. Rogers)
Week of 10 Apr
Gothic (Ken Russell)Making Mr. Right (Susan Seidelman)
The Secret of My Success (Herbert Ross)
Sorekara (Yoshimitsu Morita)
Story of a Junkie (Lech Kowalski)
Three for the Road (B.W.L. Norton)
Week of 3 Apr
Captive (Paul Mayersberg)Club Life (Norman T. Vane)
I Lived, but... (Kazuo Inoue) [1983]
The Night Stalker (Max Kleven)
The Only Son (Yasujirô Ozu) [1936]
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (Jim Drake)
Return to Horror High (Bill Froehlich)
Starship (Roger Christian) [1984]
Week of 27 Mar
Blind Date (Blake Edwards)The Hanoi Hilton (Lionel Chetwynd)
Hunk (Lawrence Bassoff)
Prettykill (George Kaczender)
Street Smart (Jerry Schatzberg)
Tasio (Montxo Armendáriz) [1984]
Hollywood Shuffle (Robert Townsend)
Iron Warrior (Al Bradley)
Reichsautobahn (Hartmut Bitomsky)
Week of 13 Mar
Animation Celebration (various)
Everything for Sale (Andrzej Wajda) [1969]
Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi)
Gospel According to Vic (Charles Gormley)
Heat (R.M. Richards)
Kangaroo (Tim Burstall)
Man Facing Southeast (Eliseo Subiela)
Raising Arizona (Joel Coen)
Swimming to Cambodia (Jonathan Demme)
Witchboard (Kevin S. Tenney)
Week of 6 Mar
Angel Heart (Alan Parker)
Broken Mirrors (Marleen Gorris) [1984]
Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner)
Lily Tomlin (Nicholas Broomfield & Joan Churchill)
No End (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Tin Men (Barry Levinson)
Waiting for the Moon (Jill Godmilow)
Week of 27 Feb
Beyond Therapy (Robert Altman)
Class Relations (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet) [1984]
Hoosiers (David Anspaugh)
A Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 3: Dream Warriors (Chuck Russell)
Rage of Honor (Gordon Hessler)
Some Kind of Wonderful (Howard Deutch)
Working Girls (Lizzie Borden)
Week of 20 Feb
Alpine Fire (Fredi M. Murer)
Barravento (Glauber Rocha) [1962]
Billy Galvin (John Gray)
Death Before Dishonor (Terry Leonard)
Eat and Run (Christopher Hart)
The Good Wife (Ken Cameron)
Ira, You'll Get Into Trouble (Stephen A. Sbarge) [1971]*
The Legend of Suram Fortress (Sergei Paradjanov & Dodo Abashidze)
Square Dance (Daniel Petrie)
* Opened at Film Forum in 1971, but played two weekends
rather than a full week. I'm not sure whether Film Forum even did
week-long runs that early in its history, to be honest.
Week of 13 Feb
Duet for One (Andrei Konchalovsky)
84 Charing Cross Road (David Jones)
Faces of Women (Désiré Ecaré)
The Good Father (Mike Newell)
Mannequin (Michael Gottlieb)
No Man's Land (Alain Tanner)
Over the Top (Menahem Golan)
Week of 6 Feb
Amulet of Ogum (Nelson Pereira dos Santos) [1974]
The Assault (Fons Rademakers)
Black Widow (Bob Rafelson)
Come and See (Elem Klimov)
Dead of Winter (Arthur Penn)
Filming Othello (Orson Welles) [1978]
From the Hip (Bob Clark)
Light of Day (Paul Schrader)
One Woman or Two (Daniel Vigne)
Scorpion (William Riead)
Week of 30 Jan
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (Gary Nelson)
Cannes Goods (various)
Deadtime Stories (Jeffrey Delman)
Mes petits amoureuses (Jean Eustache) [1974]
Opera do Malandro (Ruy Guerra)
Outrageous Fortune (Arthur Hiller)
Radio Days (Woody Allen)
Week of 23 Jan
The Fringe Dwellers (Bruce Beresford)
Hour of the Star (Suzana Amaral)
Jocks (Steve Carver)
Package Tour (Gyula Gazdag)
Scene of the Crime (André Téchiné)
Something Special (Paul Schneider)
Sweet Country (Michael Cacoyannis)
Week of 16 Jan
The Bedroom Window (Curtis Hanson)
Comic Magazine (Yôjirô Takita)
Critical Condition (Michael Apted)
Defense of the Realm (David Drury)
Touch and Go (Robert Mandel)
Wanted Dead or Alive (Gary Sherman)
Wired to Kill (Franky Schaeffer)
Week of 9 Jan
Assassination (Peter Hunt)
The City and the Dogs (Francisco J. Lombardi)
The Kindred (Jeffrey Obrow & Stephen Carpenter)
My Sweet Little Village (Jiri Menzel)