The Viet Nam war ended in 1973. Five years later Hollywood finally came to acknowledge it in a big way with several films about the war, two of which were honored with seventeen Oscar nominations and eight wins between them, including Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Original Screenplay.

Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter about the devastating effects of the war on a small Pennsylvania industrial town had been nominated for nine Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor Christopher Walken, Editing and Sound, all of which it won, as well as Best Actor Robert De Niro, Supporting Actress Meryl Streep, Original Screenplay and Cinematography, which it did not.

Walken’s haunting gradual deterioration to the point where he plays a game of Russian roulette that is ultimately responsible for his death was the source for much criticism at the time as there was no historical basis for it. It also resulted in several well-publicized copycat deaths.

The Deer Hunter’s chief competition was Hal Ashby’s Coming Home about the consciousness- raising of a career soldier’s wife who falls in love with a paralyzed veteran turned anti-war protestor. Nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor Bruce Dern, Supporting Actress Penelope Milford and Editing which it failed to win. It did, however, win three big ones – Best Actor Jon Voight, Actress Jane Fonda and Original Screenplay.

Fonda’s win was a bit of a surprise as she faced strong competition from both Jill Clayburgh and Ingrid Bergman. Voight’s win, on the other hand, was a foregone conclusion, his having already won every extant precursor for his sensitive portrayal of a paraplegic, The dueling war films’ competition including a harrowing American-in-a-foreign-prison drama, a contemporary woman’s picture and a remake of an Oscar nominated comedy of 37 years earlier.

The true story of American Billy Hayes, imprisoned in Turkey for attempting to smuggle drugs of the country, was a sensation at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, for which director Alan Parker received a Golden Palm nomination. The film was the first major starring role for Brad Davis, whose career had been mostly on TV. He was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor and won as Best Newcomer. He did not, however, receive one of the film’s six Oscar nominations, which included those for Best Director and Supporting Actor John Hurt. The film won two, for Oliver Stone’s highly controversial screenplay and Giorgio Moroder’s pulsating original score.

Stone’s screenplay had come under fire for embellishing Hayes’ escape and making his Turkish captors seem more ominous than they were in real life.

So-called women’s films may have been a thing of the past, but films about newly liberated women were in vogue, with Paul Mazurksy’s An Unmarried Woman having the highest profile. Jill Clayburgh briefly became a top box-office star with her portrayal of the upper middle-class New York housewife whose husband suddenly dumps her for a younger woman. The performance earned her the first of her two Oscar nominations, one of three nominations the film received. Mazursky was nominated both as producer of the film and for his sharply observant screenplay, but not for his direction.

Harry Segall’s play, Heaven Can Wait, was first filmed as Here Comes Mr. Jordan in 1941. Two years later another film was made using the play’s original title. Warren Beatty’s 1978 was a remake of the 1941 film, not the 1943 film. Confused? Don’t worry, a lot of people were at the time.

Beatty received four of the film’s nine Oscar nominations, as producer of a Best Picture nominee, as co-director (with Bucky Henry), as writer (with Elaine May), as well as for his portrayal of a race car driver who dies before his time and comes back in the body of a millionaire who is about to be murdered. Robert Montgomery had been a prizefighter in the original version, for which he, too, received a Best Actor nod.

Jack Warden in James Gleason’s previously nominated role and Dyan Cannon in Rita Johnson’s old role received supporting nods.

Other films Oscar liked this year included Autumn Sonata; Interiors; California Suite; Death on the Nile; Days of Heaven; The Boys From Brazil; The Buddy Holly Story; Pretty Baby; The Wiz; Grease; Thank God It’s Friday and Superman.

Sweden’s legendary, albeit unrelated, Bergmans – director Ingmar and actress Ingrid – combined their talents for the first time on Autumn Sonata in which Ingrid played a world famous concert pianist reuniting with the daughter (Liv Ullmann) she had precious little time for while at the peak of her career. Both Bergmans were nominated for Oscars, Ingrid having already won the National Board of Review, New York Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics awards for her performance. Ingmar’s nomination was for his screenplay, not his direction.

Woody Allen, one of Ingmar Bergman’s greatest admirers, was nominated for both writing and directing the Bergmanesque Interiors about three women (Diane Keaton, Mary Beth Hurt, Kristin Girffith) in the wake of the divorce of their parents played by Geraldine Page and E.G. Marshall and Marshall’s unexpected marriage to Maureen Stapelton. Page as the control freak mother and Maureen Stapleton as her complete opposite, were both nominated, Page in the lead category, Stapleton in support. Many felt that had Page been nominated in support she would have had a better chance at winning on what was her sixth nomination.

The supporting actress Oscar went instead to former winner, Maggie Smith, playing an Oscar losing actress in Herbert Ross’ California Suite. The episodic comedy, written by Neil Simon, featured four couples staying at a California hotel the week of the Oscars. The other three segments were at best okay, but Smith and Michael Caine as her gay husband of convenience were at the top of their game and Smith’s win was extremely popular.

Smith’s other film this year was John Guillermin’s film of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile in which she played Bette Davis’ secretary. Itwon an Oscar in the only category it was nominated for, Best Costume Design. It did considerably better elsewhere, with Smith, Peter Ustinov (as Hercule Poirot) and Angela Lansbury all nominated for BAFTAs. Lansbury also won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a too talkative mystery writer.

One of the most beautifully photographed films of all time, Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven won Nestor Almendros a much deserved Oscar for Best Cinematography. The film was also nominated for Best Director, Costume Design, Original Score and Sound.

Laurence Olivier received his tenth and final acting nomination for his fearless Nazi hunter in Franklin J. Schaffner’s film of Ira Levin’s The Boys From Brazil. He had also been nominated for Best Director for Hamlet, and had previously won two Oscars including one for Best Actor in Hamlet, and an honorary Oscar for acting, directing and producing 1945’s Henry V. He did not go home empty-handed this year either, having received an honorary Oscar for career achievement.

At the other end of the spectrum, Gary Busey received his first and only Oscar nomination for impersonating 1950s singer Buddy Holly in Steve Rash’s The Buddy Holly Story, which won for Best Adapted Score over Pretty Baby and The Wiz. The year’s most successful musical, Grease, was not nominated in this category although it was nominated for Best Song, “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, losing to ‘Last Dance” from Thank God It’s Friday.

The megahit Superman, directed by Richard Donner, was nominated for three technical Oscars and won a Special Achievement Award for its stunning visual effects.

All films discussed have been released on DVD in the U.S.

This week’s new DVD releases include the Oscar winning documentary, Inside Job and the Blu-ray debut of Excalibur.