R-S
| Title | Director | Cast | Genre | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rain Man | Barry Levinson | Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise | Drama, Comedy | won 4 Academy Awards |
| Rambo III | Sylvester Stallone | Sylvester Stallone | Action | 2nd sequel to First Blood |
| Rampage | William Friedkin | Michael Biehn, Nicholas Campbell | Crime drama | Miramax |
| Rattle and Hum | Phil Joanou | Bono, U2 | Documentary | |
| Red Heat | Walter Hill | Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Belushi | Crime drama | Carolco Pictures |
| Red Hot Skate Rock | Red Hot Chili Peppers | Music | Short | |
| Rent-A-Cop | Jerry London | Burt Reynolds, Liza Minnelli | Crime drama | 2 Razzie nominations |
| Rented Lips | Robert Downey, Sr. | Martin Mull, Jennifer Tilly, Dick Shawn, Robert Downey, Jr. | Comedy | |
| The Rescue | Ferdinand Fairfax | Kevin Dillon, Ned Vaughn | Adventure | |
| Return of the Killer Tomatoes | John DeBello | John Astin | Comedy | sequel |
| Return of the Living Dead Part II | James Karen, Thom Mathews | Horror | sequel | |
| Rocket Gibraltar | Daniel Petrie | Burt Lancaster, Patricia Clarkson, Macaulay Culkin | Drama | Columbia |
| Running on Empty | Sidney Lumet | River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, Martha Plimpton | Drama | 2 Academy Award nominations |
| Saturday the 14th Strikes Back | Howard Cohen | Ray Walston | Comedy | Saturday the 14th sequel |
| Scarecrows | William Wesley | Ted Vernon | Horror | |
| School Daze | Spike Lee | Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Ossie Davis | Musical | Columbia |
| Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School | Animated | |||
| Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf | Animated | |||
| Scrooged | Richard Donner | Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Alfre Woodard, Robert Mitchum, John Glover, Bobcat Goldthwait | Comedy | based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens |
| The Serpent and the Rainbow | Wes Craven | Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Paul Winfield | Horror | Universal |
| The Seventh Sign | Carl Schultz | Demi Moore, Michael Biehn | Drama | TriStar |
| Shadow Man | Tom Hulce | Drama | Poland | |
| Shakedown | James Glickenhaus | Peter Weller, Sam Elliott | Drama | |
| She's Having a Baby | John Hughes | Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Baldwin | Comedy | Paramount |
| Shoot to Kill | Roger Spottiswoode | Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley | Crime drama | |
| Short Circuit 2 | Kenneth Johnson | Fisher Stevens, Cynthia Gibb | Sci-Fi | sequel to Short Circuit |
| Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers | Michael A. Simpson | Pamela Springsteen, Renee Estevez | Horror | sequel |
| Slugs | Juan Piquer Simon | Michael Garfield | Horror | |
| Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama | David DeCoteau | Linnea Quigley | Sci-Fi | |
| Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure | Monologue | |||
| Spellbinder | Janet Greek | Tim Daly, Kelly Preston, Rick Rossovich | Drama | MGM |
| Spellcaster | Rafal Zielinski | Adam Ant, Gail O'Grady | Drama | |
| Spike of Bensonhurst | Paul Morrissey | Sasha Mitchell, Ernest Borgnine | Comedy | |
| Splash, Too | Greg Antonacci | Amy Yasbeck, Todd Waring | Comedy | sequel, made for TV |
| Stand and Deliver | Ramon Menendez | Edward James Olmos, Lou Diamond Phillips | Drama, Biopic | story of Jaime Escalante |
| Stealing Home | Steven Kampmann, William Porter | Jodie Foster, Mark Harmon, Blair Brown, Harold Ramis | Drama | Warner Bros. |
| Stormy Monday | Mike Figgis | Tommy Lee Jones, Melanie Griffith, Sting, Sean Bean | Drama | first film for Figgis |
| Storytelling Giant | Drama | |||
| Sweet Lies | Nathalie Delon | Treat Williams, Joanna Pacuła | Drama | Island Pictures |
| Switching Channels | Ted Kotcheff | Burt Reynolds, Kathleen Turner, Christopher Reeve | Comedy | based on The Front Page |
Read more about this topic: List Of American Films Of 1988