American Films That Give Me Something To Think About !!
"Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper." - Jean Cocteau
"Every poem is a coat of arms. It must be deciphered." - Jean Cocteau
American films that "feed my head" in some way. This list isn't in any order of preference or quality. I just add "thought provoking" American films as they come to mind.
"Every poem is a coat of arms. It must be deciphered." - Jean Cocteau
American films that "feed my head" in some way. This list isn't in any order of preference or quality. I just add "thought provoking" American films as they come to mind.
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- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsFrank SilveraKenneth HarpPaul MazurskyFour soldiers trapped behind enemy lines must confront their fears and desires.dir: Stanley Kubrick.
available at Fandor.com. - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJames MasonShelley WintersSue LyonA middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old girl.dir: Stanley Kubrick.
available at Amazon.com Instant Video. - 19641h 35mPG8.4 (519K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.screenplay: Stanley Kubrick et al.
dir: Stanley Kubrick.
available at Amazon.com Instant Video. - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.screenplay: Stanley Kubrick et al.
dir: Stanley Kubrick.
available at Amazon.com Instant Video. - DirectorAaron SchneiderStarsRobert DuvallBill MurraySissy SpacekA movie spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about the mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who famously threw his own rollicking funeral party... while he was still alive.Robert Duvall. Bill Murray. Sissy Sapcek.
After 30 years in seclusion in the wilderness, a hermit contacts the undertaker at his nearby hometown to arrange conducting a funeral for himself while he's still alive & wants to invite the whole town to attend. - DirectorSean PennStarsJack NicholsonDavid MorseAnjelica HustonFreddy Gale is a seedy jeweller who has sworn to kill the drunk driver who killed his little girl.Jack Nicholson. David Morse. Anjelica Huston.
Director & Writer: Sean Penn.
Nicholson delivers a brilliant portrayal of a man whose obsession with revenge is destroying his life & driving him to the brink of insanity. - DirectorGus Van SantStarsSean ConneryRob BrownF. Murray AbrahamForrester, the author of a famous book, decides to help Jamal, a 16-year-old student, discover his writing prowess by mentoring him and enrolling him into a prestigious private school.Sean Connery. Rob Brown.
The unlikely alliance between an eccentric & reclusive old White man & a poor, disadvantaged Black teenager proves, in the end, to benefit both of them. - DirectorJohn SturgesFred ZinnemannStarsSpencer TracyFelipe PazosHarry BellaverAn old Cuban fisherman's dry spell is broken when he hooks a gigantic fish that drags him out to sea.Spencer Tracy.
Ernest Hemingway's novel.
A classic portrayal of Man's never ending struggle with Nature. - DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaLee J. CobbMartin BalsamThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.Henry Fonda & a great ensemble supporting cast.
On a jury of 12 White men, only one man has the guts to stand up & argue that they can not just throw away a young man's life with a hasty decision, even if he is a poor, lower class Latino. - DirectorDavid O. RussellStarsBradley CooperJennifer LawrenceRobert De NiroAfter a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.Bradley Cooper. Jennifer Lawrence. Robert De Niro.
A mentally ill man & a mentally ill woman find sanity & romance while practicing as a couple for a ballroom dance competition. - DirectorGus Van SantStarsRobin WilliamsMatt DamonBen AffleckWill Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.Matt Damon. Robin Williams. Ben Affleck. Minnie Driver.
A brilliant & inspiring story of how a young man's low self image was keeping from realizing his true potential. - DirectorJohn MaddenStarsLiam NeesonPatricia ArquetteGil RoodA new pastor arrives in a stark Vermont village and is intrigued by crippled, misshapen Ethan Frome living on an isolated, hardscrabble farm with his sickly wife Zeena.Liam Neeson. Patricia Arquette.
Although set in the 1800's, this film gives an excellent portrayal of life in a small town, replete with narrowed minded, judgmental "small town thinking", & where everybody knows everybody else's business, & that is still very much alive & well in small town America even today. - DirectorCraig GillespieStarsRyan GoslingEmily MortimerPaul SchneiderA delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.Ryan Gosling. Emily Mortimer.
Delusional, but lovable, & good natured small town guy buys an inflatable sex doll on the Internet & tells his family & everyone else in town that he loves her & that he's going to marry her & he's sincere about it. Everybody in town goes overboard to go along with him because they've known him & loved him his whole life. - DirectorElia KazanStarsJames DeanRaymond MasseyJulie HarrisTwo brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.James Dean,
James Dean gives a brilliant portrayal of the classic dilemma of a boy who just can't get his father's approval & validation, no matter how hard he tries. - DirectorRobert MulliganStarsGregory PeckJohn MegnaFrank OvertonAtticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.Gregory Peck.
Harper Lee's novel. - DirectorJohn SaylesStarsJoel TorreChris CooperGarret DillahuntA fictional account of events during the Philippine-American War.director: John Sayles.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJames DeanNatalie WoodSal MineoA rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.James Dean.
A classic portrayal of the disintegration of the nuclear family in Modern America. - DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsJohn TravoltaDustin HoffmanAlan AldaA distraught man inadvertently takes a group of children hostage in a museum while a hungry, seasoned reporter tries to resurrect his career covering the story.John Travolta. Dustin Hoffman.
- DirectorJesse PeretzStarsPaul RuddElizabeth BanksZooey DeschanelA comedy centered on an idealist who barges into the lives of his three sisters.Paul Rudd.
The protagonist is a free thinking, free loving guy with a very unconventional life style. His three sisters all have alternative lifestyles that are only a little more "normal" than his. Together, they kick the "Establishment" dogma in the teeth that preaches that true happiness lies only in living "The American Dream". - DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.James Dean. Rock Hudson. Elizabeth Taylor.
James Dean delivers a brilliant portrayal of a character that goes through a more radical transformation of personality than I have seen in any other film. - DirectorJerry ZaksStarsMeryl StreepLeonardo DiCaprioDiane KeatonAfter seventeen years, a fiercely independent woman and her rebellious son return home and together they turn the family she left behind upside down.Meryl Streep. Leonardo Di'Caprio.
Diane Keaton. Robert De Niro. - DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartJean ArthurClaude RainsA naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.James Stewart
A classic portrayal of the well worn tale of the young, naïve idealist who takes on the corrupt Establishment. - DirectorJames FrancoStarsJames FrancoTim Blake NelsonJim ParrackBased on the classic novel by William Faulkner, first published in 1930, "As I Lay Dying" is the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her family's quest to honor her last wish to be buried in the nearby town of Jefferson.James Franco.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartDonna ReedLionel BarrymoreAn angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.James Stewart. Donna Reed.
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsSusan SarandonSean PennRobert ProskyA nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.Susan Sarandon. Sean Penn.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsJoe MortonDaryl EdwardsRosanna CarterA mute alien with the appearance of a black human is chased by outer-space bounty hunters through the streets of Harlem.director: John Sayles
- DirectorDelbert MannStarsErnest BorgnineBetsy BlairEsther MinciottiA middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up on the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other.Ernest Borgnine
- DirectorHenry BeanStarsRyan GoslingSummer PhoenixPeter MeadowsA young Jewish man develops a fiercely anti-Semitic philosophy. Based on the factual story of a K.K.K. member in the 1960s who was revealed to be Jewish by a New York Times reporter.Ryan Gosling.
A young man from a devout Orthodox Jewish family slowly converts to being a member of an ant-Semitic, neo-Nazi gang. - DirectorJohn SaylesStarsBruce MacDonaldMaggie RenziAdam LeFevreSeven former college friends, along with a few new friends, gather for a weekend reunion at a summer house in New Hampshire to reminisce about the good old days, when they got arrested on the way to a protest in Washington, DC.director: John Sayles
- DirectorChris EskaStarsAshton SandersTishuan ScottKeston JohnOn the outskirts of the U.S. Civil War, a boy is sent north by his bounty hunter gang to retrieve a wanted man.Reveals that slavery is just not a physical & a social phenomenon, but slavery has a psychological dimension as well. Protagonist is a Black teenager during the Civil War who is free both physically & socially, but whose mind is still in chains.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobert De NiroKevin BaconBrad PittAfter a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.Brad Pitt. Kevin Bacon. Robert De Niro.
An innovative, creative, & well thought out variation of the age old revenge story. - DirectorJohn SaylesStarsLinda GriffithsJane HallarenJon DeVriesA happily married woman comes to realize herself of being a repressed lesbian after she has an affair with a female college professor, and then tries to come to terms with her newfound lifestyle.director: John Sayles
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsBrad PittDavid ThewlisBD WongHeinrich Harrer, an Austrian climber, breaks out of prison and travels to the holy city of Lhasa. He is employed as an instructor to the 14th Dalai Lama and soon becomes his close confidante.Brad Pitt.
- DirectorJames GrayStarsTim RothEdward FurlongMoira KellyA cold-blooded hitman visits his estranged Russian immigrant family in Brooklyn.Tim Roth.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsVivien LeighMarlon BrandoKim HunterDisturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.Marlon Brando. Vivian Leigh. Karl Malden.
Tennessee William's play. - DirectorJohn SaylesStarsMary McDonnellAlfre WoodardAngela BassettAfter an accident leaves her a paraplegic, a former soap opera star struggles to recover both emotionally and mentally, until she meets her newest nurse, who has struggles of her own.director: John Sayles
- DirectorElia KazanStarsMarlon BrandoKarl MaldenLee J. CobbAn ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.Marlon Brando. Karl Malden. Lee J Cobb.
- DirectorRobert BentonStarsDustin HoffmanMeryl StreepJane AlexanderAfter his wife leaves him, a work-obsessed Manhattan advertising executive is forced to learn long-neglected parenting skills, but a heated custody battle over the couple's young son deepens the wounds left by the separation.Dustin Hoffman. Meryl Streep.
- DirectorTodd S. YellinStarsScott CohenKatie DanzigerLisa EmeryJake Groden is the black sheep of his family. Ankle deep in fish guts, he serves out his parole in Alaska. Then, after a decade of self-imposed exile, he is forced to return to his Brooklyn family. He soon discovers that his perfect brother, Michael is dead, and he begins trying to take what Michael had- a beautiful wife, adoring son, control of the family furniture business and the love of their gruff father. For Jake, the price of a new life is his identity.Scott Cohen. Judd Hirsch.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsMarlon BrandoMaria SchneiderMaria MichiA young Parisian woman meets a middle-aged American businessman who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.Marlon Brando.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsElizabeth TaylorPaul NewmanBurl IvesBrick is an alcoholic ex-football player who drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife. A reunion with his terminal father jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.Paul Newman. Elizabeth Taylor. Burl Ives.
Tennessee William's play. - DirectorMartin RittStarsPaul NewmanJoanne WoodwardAnthony FranciosaAccused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.Paul Newman. Joanne Woodward. Orson Welles.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsPaul NewmanBarbara RushAlexis SmithA promising lawyer tries to handle his social and professional problems while climbing the ranks in Philadelphia.Paul Newman.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsPaul NewmanJackie GleasonPiper LaurieAn up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.Paul Newman. Jackie Gleason.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordRobert ShawTwo grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con.Paul Newman. Robert Redford.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsRobert De NiroChristopher WalkenJohn CazaleAn in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.Robert De Niro. Christopher Walken. Meryl Streep.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperThora BirchMaria BelloThe discovery of a corpse threatens to unravel a bumbling local politician's campaign for governor of Colorado.director: John Sayles
- DirectorMike BinderStarsAdam SandlerDon CheadleJada Pinkett SmithA man who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate. Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief.Adam Sandler. Don Cheadle.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsRobert De NiroSean PennDemi MooreTwo fugitives pass themselves off as priests in the hope of evading capture and passing the police blockade at the border with Canada.Robert De Niro. Sean Penn. Demi Moore.
A revealing & even cynical commentary about how most people can be fooled just by a person's outward appearance. - DirectorBobcat GoldthwaitStarsRobin WilliamsDaryl SabaraMorgan MurphyWhen his son's body is found in a humiliating accident, a lonely high school teacher inadvertently attracts an overwhelming amount of community and media attention after covering up the truth with a phony suicide note.Robin Williams.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsDonald SutherlandMary Tyler MooreJudd HirschThe accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.Donald Sutherland. Mary Tyler Moore.
Judd Hirsch. Timothy Hutton.
Director: Robert Redford. - DirectorMike NewellStarsJulia RobertsKirsten DunstJulia StilesA free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.Julia Roberts.
- DirectorMichael RadfordStarsShirley MacLaineChristopher PlummerMarcia Gay HardenA withdrawn senior experiences life in new ways when he begins spending time with the free-spirited woman who lives across the hall.Shirley Mac Laine. Christopher Plummer.
An elderly woman & an elderly man discover that it's never too late to find romance again & thereby to find a new reason to live. - DirectorMartin PapazianStarsMartin PapazianTristan Lake LeabuLaura San GiacomoA haunted soldier just back from war and a boy who has never known peace in his home life embark on a life-changing journey as they become unlikely friends -- and one another's last shot at redemption.Writer & Director & Lead Actor: Martin Papazian.
An army veteran whose PTSD is so severe that his civilian life is crumbling finds meaning & new purpose in his life by going on a road trip with a newly orphaned adolescent to find the boy's father, without really knowing where the father is or even if he exists. The resultant bonding between the troubled veteran & the orphan boy in the end saves both of them. - DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsMorgan FreemanJessica TandyDan AykroydAn old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.Morgan Freeman. Jessica Tandy. Dan Aykroyd.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.Jack Nicholson.
Ken Kesey's novel. - DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.Bette Davis. Anne Baxter. George Sanders.
- DirectorGene SaksStarsJack LemmonWalter MatthauJohn FiedlerA New Yorker newly separated from his wife moves in with his best friend, a divorced sportswriter, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day.Jack Lemmon. Walter Matthau.
Neil Simon's play. - DirectorCarl FranklinStarsDenzel WashingtonTom SizemoreJennifer BealsA Black war hero is hired to find a mysterious woman, and gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal in 1948 Los Angeles.Denzel Washington. Don Cheadle.
Like a noir film, but with African American characters. - DirectorMel BrooksStarsZero MostelGene WilderDick ShawnA stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop.Zero Mostel. Gene Wilder.
Writer & Director: Mel Brooks. - DirectorHubert CornfieldStarsSidney PoitierBobby DarinPeter FalkA black prison psychiatrist is assigned the distasteful task of helping a paranoid American Nazi charged with sedition.Sidney Poitier. Bobby Darin.
- DirectorIain SoftleyStarsHelena Bonham CarterLinus RoacheAlex JenningsAn impoverished woman who has been forced to choose between a privileged life with her wealthy aunt and her journalist lover, befriends an American heiress. When she discovers the heiress is attracted to her own lover and is dying, she sees a chance to have both the privileged life she cannot give up and the lover she cannot live without.
- DirectorPeter AskinStarsJoan AllenAnthony LaPagliaStephen LangAfter 25 years of a good marriage, what will Darcy do once she discovers her husband's sinister secret?Joan Allen. Anthony LaPaglia.
Stephen King's short story.
A thought provoking film that makes you ask yourself exactly how well you can really know someone, even after 25 years of marriage. - DirectorBrad AndersonStarsKate BeckinsaleJim SturgessDavid ThewlisAn Oxford graduate takes up a job in a mental asylum, only to discover that the "revolutionary" new treatments are inhumane, and that there is more going on than meets the eye.Ben Kingsley. Michael Caine.
Set in an 19th Century insane asylum, this film will keep you questioning the "reality" of what's happening on the screen right to the very end. Not a Horror movie, but suspenseful & thrilling nonetheless with lots of bizarre characters - DirectorTimothy HuttonStarsEvan Rachel WoodKevin BaconMary Stuart Masterson10 y.o. Harriet's divorced mom owns and runs a motel. Harriet's an outsider and wants to leave. A woman stays there with her adult, disabled son who befriends Harriet.Kevin Bacon.
directed by Timothy Hutton.
A poignant story about a lonely & neglected 10 year old girl who makes friends with a very intellectually challenged grown man. Being so young & naïve, she sees nothing wrong with this mentally disabled man & treats him as an equal & someone who is worthy of her friendship.
Kevin Bacon gives a brilliant performance in the difficult role of portraying a grown man with a diminished mental capacity. - DirectorCampbell ScottStanley TucciStarsTony ShalhoubStanley TucciMarc AnthonyNew Jersey, 1950s. Two brothers run an Italian restaurant. Business is not going well as a rival Italian restaurant is out-competing them. In a final effort to save the restaurant, the brothers plan to put on an evening of incredible food.Tony Shaloub. Stanley Tucci.
Two Italian immigrant brothers struggle to survive in the restaurant business & get their piece of the American Dream. - DirectorRob ReinerStarsJack NicholsonMorgan FreemanSean HayesTwo terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.
- DirectorLindley FarleyStarsShane BarbanelMichael A. CalderoneCaesar CampbellGeorge Wall is a retired New York City police detective and now owner of Ruby's Bar. Once a month he gathers with his old police crew for a "Bulls' Night Out" of drinking and fellowship. One night, the bar is held up by a young junkie. George and his retired police friends teach the bandit a lesson in street justice, and determine with the neighborhood sliding into drug-fueled violence and the police seeming to have their hands tied, that they are in a unique position to up-end the drug activity. So, George and the bulls prowl by night putting the fear of God into the local drug dealers until their vigilante actions go horribly wrong. The retired detectives turn on each other as their lives are forever changed.A realistic tale of four "over the hill" retired ex-cops whose sudden desire to "clean up the streets" leads to a vigilante's worst nightmare.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'Orson Welles.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsAnthony PerkinsArnoldo FoàJess HahnAn unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.
- DirectorRobert Downey Sr.StarsJim AntonioTom GainesJames GreeneTribulations of a newly elected President.screenplay: Robert Downey, Sr.
dir: : Robert Downey, Sr.
available at Criterion.com/Hulu. - DirectorJan EglesonStarsMichael CaineElizabeth McGovernPeter RiegertWhen electrocuted by the fuse box at home, Graham gets ideas concerning his nagging wife and the guy, who got Graham's promotion at the office.Lead actors: Michael Caine, Elizabeth McGovern.
A middle age corporate executive discovers that you literally DO Need to "step over the bodies" of others to make it to the top. A brilliant & bitter satire of what it takes to make it in the Corporate Business World.
available at Fandor.com - DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsDustin HoffmanRobert De NiroAnne HecheShortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.This film is purely fiction, but it should also be a warning to all thinking people to question EVERYTHING that they witness through the mass media.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsAndy GriffithPatricia NealAnthony FranciosaA female radio reporter turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.The Naive and Gullible people around a worthless bum, from the top of society to the bottom of society, manufacture a False Idol of out him and get disappointed in the end when he reveals that he's still a just worthless bum. None of them realize that he was creation of their own imagination. They all think that it's all HIS Fault.