There Was More to the Summer of ’77 Than Just ‘Star Wars’

In celebration of the release of “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace,” why not head out to your local video store and check out other films that were released in the summer of 1977--the same time the original “Star Wars” was burning up the box office?

“Star Wars” was the biggest moneymaker of the year. But do you remember what film came in second? None other than the Burt Reynolds good-ol’-boy comedy “Smokey and the Bandit” (Universal, $15). Reynolds plays a bootlegger who wages he can get a truckload of beer delivered to Atlanta from Texas in 28 hours. Jackie Gleason is the smokey, hot on his trail. Sally Field plays the hitchhiker who gets a ride with the bandit.

“The Deep” (Goodtimes, $15), based on Peter Benchley’s bestseller, was also a big movie that year, though it’s best remembered now for Jacqueline Bisset’s wet T-shirt scene. Bisset, a stolid Nick Nolte, the always wonderful Robert Shaw and Louis Gossett Jr. star in this dull, waterlogged thriller about a search for an underwater wreck.

After scoring a big hit with “Taxi Driver,” Martin Scorsese directed the dark, lavish musical drama “New York, New York” (MGM, $25). Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro star in this lengthy, uneven study of the ill-fated romance between a hot-headed saxophonist and an aspiring singer-actress. Some terrific numbers include Minnelli’s rendition of the title tune.

One of the summer’s real howlers was “The Exorcist 2: The Heretic” (Warner, $15), a silly sequel to the 1973 classic horror flick. Maybe the devil himself coerced Richard Burton to star in this turkey as a priest who is still trying to help poor bedeviled Regan (Linda Blair). John Boorman directed; it’s not his finest hour.

A good cast--Richard Widmark, George Segal, Timothy Bottoms, Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg--is wasted in the pedestrian “Rollercoaster” (Universal, $13). The release originally appeared in certain theaters with Universal’s novelty attraction, Sensurround. At certain moments during the picture, sound waves would cause seats to vibrate in the theater. At least you don’t have to worry at home about having to endure Sensurround while watching this forgettable flick about an extortionist trying to blow up an amusement park. Look for a young Helen Hunt in a co-starring role.

One of the summer’s guiltiest pleasures was the well-stuffed turkey “The Other Side of Midnight” (Fox, $30), based on Sidney Sheldon’s sexy bestseller. Susan Sarandon, Marie-France Pisier and John Beck star in this clunker about a poor French girl who is dumped by an American GI lover and after using her body and her wits to become a successful star, seeks revenge upon the man who spurned her. Unbelievable.