Top grossing films
- The Godfather
- Fiddler on the Roof
- Diamonds Are Forever
- What's Up, Doc?, starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal
- Dirty Harry
- The Last Picture Show
- A Clockwork Orange
- Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli
- The Hospital
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex
Births
Deaths
- January 1 - Maurice Chevalier, French actor/singer
- January 8 - Wesley Ruggles, movie director, producer
- January 17 - Rochelle Hudson, actress
- February 2 - Jessie Royce Landis, actress
- February 7 - Walter Lang, director
- March 20 - Marilyn Maxwell, actress
- April 5 - Isabel Jewell, actress
- April 5 - Brian Donlevy, actor
- April 30 - Gia Scala, actress
- May 3 - Bruce Cabot, actor
- May 15 - Nigel Green, actor
- May 21 - Margaret Rutherford, actress
- July 6 - Brandon De Wilde, actor
- August 7 - Joi Lansing, actress
- October 9 - Miriam Hopkins, actress
- November 23 - Marie Wilson, actress
- December 9 - Louella Parsons, Hollywood columnist
- December 26 - Harry S. Truman, president/actor
Other movies released
- Deliverance
- Prime Cut, starring Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman
- Slaughterhouse-Five
- Solaris, Russian version, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
- Sounder, starring Cicely Tyson
- They Call Me Trinity, spaghetti western with Terence Hill
- Une belle fille comme moi, directed by Francois Truffaut
- Young Winston
- The Poseidon Adventure
- Superfly
- Ultimo tango a Parigi
- The Getaway
- Fritz the Cat
- Frenzy
- Shaft's Big Score!
- Lady Sings the Blues
- Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
- The Cowboys
- Blacula
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
- The Canterbury Tales, Golden Bear winner
- The Working Class Goes to Heaven, Palme d'Or winner
- The Mattei Affair, Palme d'Or winner
- Sleuth, with Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine
- Cries and Whispers
- The Emigrants
- The Candidate
- The Heartbreak Kid
- The Adventures Of Barry Mackenzie (a)de:Filmjahr 1972
sv:Filmåret 1972
