If You Wanna Be a Movie Buff, You Gotta See...
Beginning a compilation of must see films
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- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnouk AiméeClaudia CardinaleA harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.This is the oddity that made Fellini known round the world. It was also as introspective as the world of film can get. If you saw the musical "Nine" then you know the plot, but it was made much more accessible in that form. Here it is bizarrely Fellini all the way. Filled with symbols and images that don't always translate, but none of which should ever bore. It is one of the films that you may not always "Get" but it will always be one you are glad to have as a reference point.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJonathan PryceKim GreistRobert De NiroA bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.Terry Gilliam gives us 1984, with touches of Metropolis and his own noirest nightmares of being eaten by the Bureaucracy. There are images that will stick with you for a long time. The beautiful flying man, the Home Invaders at Christmas, the family that forever cowers, all off center pictures that will stay with everyone who stumbled in thinking he was just going to watch some Python-esque silliness. He achieves fall down funny and nightmare scary both at the same time, and that, my friends, is something.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsSylvia SidneyJoel McCreaHumphrey BogartThe lives of a young man, a young woman, an notorious gangster, and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.It started as a Broadway play. With the exception of Wellman's "Wild Boys of the Road" and Ford's "Grapes of Wrath" no movie ever dealt with the two sides of the depression better. A Hood (Bogart) returns to his old neighborhood before going into hiding. He sees the kids who are coming up the way he did (the first appearance of the Dead End Kids, Bowery Boys, etc.) and the honest people trying to get themselves and the kids out of this place. He also sees the rich people just over the fence. He also sees his old girl who has become a street walker because there was nothing else to be. But the most powerful moment is when he sees his mother (Marjorie Main in what should have been an Oscar performance) and sees how shamed she is to have born such a monster. It is a powerful, uncompromising film. One of the great Hollywood adaptations.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMargaret LockwoodMichael RedgravePaul LukasWhile travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.We've talked about Hitchcock's "Everyman" scenario, about a normal guy who get's thrust into an extraordinary situation without it being his choice. This is another version of that story, a woman meets a woman on a train. The woman may be in trouble. Then the woman disappears and no one even recalls she ever existed. Now the young woman who seems to be the only one who ever encounter the missing woman gets the help of a young man. Together they try to find the lady, finding disturbingly complex denials where ever they look. Then they find themselves in trouble for looking. It is a complex, thrilling film, even today. Plus it has all the Hitchcockian flourishes. If you can give it all your attention, you will have a great time with this one.
- DirectorPaul WegenerCarl BoeseStarsPaul WegenerAlbert SteinrückErnst DeutschIn 16th-century Prague, a rabbi creates the Golem - a giant creature made of clay. Using sorcery, he brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.If you are not familiar with the legend it is the very basis for Frankenstein. In the Polish Ghetto Jewish people are being threatened and killed. A Rabbi fashions a giant clay statue and prays that God will bring him to life to protect the people. When he does, there are unforeseen complications, of course. There is destruction, there is a love interest and there is a moral. Everything you could want from such a tale, but years before Frankenstein could bring his monster to life. This one is one of the first great monster movie hits of the silent age.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.This is it. The first (albeit illegal) Dracula on the screen. If you've seen "Shadow of the Vampire" this is the film they were making in that movie. So much of what we think of as the Vampire Mythos was created here. F.W. Murnau, whose name became known as the master of silent terror, took Dracula and morphed him into Count Graf Orlok (played by Max Shreck - which means Terror I'm told) to cast nightmare shadows on the wall with his elongated fingers and cadaverous body. His face has been used in dozens of other vampire make up jobs, not the least of which were "Salem's Lot" & several episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." If you can get over the black and white, and the silence, and if you are a true movie buff that shouldn't be problem, then this movie is a treasure. Just don't expect it not to bother you. That was what it was made to do.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJeanne MoreauMargaret RutherfordWhen King Henry IV ascends to the throne, his heir, the Prince of Wales, is befriended by Sir John Falstaff, an old, overweight, fun-loving habitual liar. Through Falstaff's eyes we see the reign of King Henry IV and the rise of Henry V.It was a character that, at the time, a Royal Decree brought him around for a play after the playwright had killed him off. Sir John Falstaff. A character that Eddie Izzard called "The most perfect man every written, next to Scooby Doo and Shaggy." He was a beloved rogue and one of Shakespeare's most Unique Creation. And who better to bring him to the screen than Orson Welles. The director takes the greatest speeches and scenes from all his appearances in the history plays and makes them work as one screen tour de force. He is selfish, sensual, boisterous, and living of life completely. He is a celebration of all things human, including the frailties that come along with being a man. His great speech? Falstaff: "Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no.Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is
honour? a word. What is in that word honour? what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. ‘Tis insensible, then. Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I’ll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my catechism." It is a performance, both as actor and director, to take second seat to none. Listen and you shall be rewarded. If nothing else, the battle scene is one to make even Kurasawa proud. - DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardJack OakieDictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.This was not just an anti-war film. This was not just an anti-Hitler film. It was an anti-Hate film. Chaplin took a chance here, a big one. When Mel Brooks, in "The Producers," sang "Springtime for Hitler" it was a dead issue and easily most folks could see it, when Chaplin did this we were not in the war yet. Some had been denying what Hitler was and was doing (as some, amazingly, still do today) and it was politically a gamble to make this film. But when you look at this film it is about love, not hate. Some of the most powerful moments ever put on screen, and not a chance to make us laugh is wasted. The Irony of the Globe/Balloon dance is still magnificent. If you want to laugh and think in a way that makes you glad you thought, this film is waiting and you deserve to treat yourself. BTW: Three different clips, all worth your time.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsCharlton HestonOrson WellesJanet LeighA stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping and police corruption in a Mexican border town.If you want to know what Film Noir is, here is a perfect example. Made with almost no money, using craft to make up for budget this tells a gritty story better than a lot of "A" product could hope to do. Charlton Heston was brought in to play a Mexican District attorney (reportedly Ricardo Montolban has just had an injury that would hamper his career the rest of his life) and was asked if he knew someone who could play the sinister sheriff's role. He suggested Orson Welles. Welles got the script and said he would play the role only if a) He could rewrite the script and b) He could also direct. He didn't ask for any more money so they said "Okay." He put together a film that blew all the others out of the water. Unfortunately the producers were morns who cut the film by 45 minutes and changed other things (there are a couple of books about the hatchet job they did) The film was still a huge success. When he died Welles left behind a memo he had written (50 pages or so) about what they needed to do to return the film to its better original form. A USC film student found the memo and went searching and found the original footage and using both re-edited the film to nearly perfect. That is the form you need to see. If nothing else, in these days of the 1/2 second shots in medley, you need to see one of the most impressive continuous uncut shots in film history. Even more than "Kane," to see what a genius Welles was, see "Touch of Evil."
- DirectorAlfonso Corona BlakeStarsSantoLorena VelázquezMaría DuvalA professor recruits a professional wrestler to protect his daughter from vampires intent on kidnaping her and marrying her to the devil.In some movies genres there are bunches of leading names to know. In Kung Fu you need to know Bruce Lee, Jet Li & Jackie Chan. Horror has over a dozen classic actors, Westerns have so many it would fill books. But in Los Luchadores you start and nearly end with El Santo. Sometime you might consider The Blue Demon, but mainly the Giant of the genre is Santo (aka Samson to American Movie Goers) Luchadores are Mexican Masked Wrestlers. So if you plan to see one of their films expect to cut every few minutes to watch some wrestling in the ring. Santo was so popular for so long eventually he handed his mask to his son who carried on in the same name. During his time he fought every kind of monster they could think of, including Martian Invasions. If you can speak Spanish you can watch lots of these films on You Tube. Some of the dubbed versions are available on DVD. You have to see at least one. They even did one of MST3K. But, remember, at the time they were taken very seriously, so do not disrespect Los Luchadores!
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.A movie that we are lucky still exists. When Hitler came to power he loved it, and ordered every copy destroyed. For nearly every year since film lovers have searched for pieced of this masterpiece to put together the 2 hours and 15 minutes that it debuted with in 1927. It has finally been restored and it is worth your time to see the grandfather of all Science Fiction Film. Sure, the acting is overbearing, and some people have a real problem with silent films, and black and white films and to them I say, Get Over IT! The doors to the mind that this film opened are beyond counting. The Images within are so impressive that they have become Cliche'. But to do that they had to make the mold and then break it. Click through all the pictures and remember, this was 1927, almost 100 years ago.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.I won't join in the argument about how good the Jackson remake was (I liked it) but I'll still tell you, if you have missed the original you have missed a film that changed the scope of all film that came after it. Any Science Fiction film, any fantasy or adventure film that came afterward walked in Kong's foot prints. I have said before, this is the first film that actually let me feel transported. I wasn't watching a movie, I was experiencing Skull Island and what came after. It really needs to be watched with the sequel (Son of Kong) so you can see the backlash that happened to Denham (he had to pay for what he had done) since that was the only thing really missing at the end of the first film. But if you are not one of those who say, "Oh, I can't watch Black and White Movies" or "CGI is okay, but Stop Motion just doesn't look real to me," in otherwords, if you are not an joke as a movie fan, you have to take this ride. Remember, this is not just a movie, it is a fable, comparable to the Arabian Nights or Beauty and the Beast. This is the one that made every adventure after it possible.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.You may think you know anti-war films, like "M*A*S*H" or "Oh, What a Lovely War," but to make a really funny, really anti-war film in 1933, when America had just started gearing up for war, was a big deal. The backlash was not small. But the film is so funny it is hard to think of anything else. It is the Marx Brothers in their prime, at their peak. If you want to know what they were about, this is the film to see.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantEva Marie SaintJames MasonA New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.Most people who talk Hitchcock tend to start with Psycho. Maybe Rear Window or Vertigo. But if you want to get to the heart of Hitch, this is the film. The story of an average man (if you can ever think of Cary Grant as average) who gets dragged into something dangerous totally by accident or miscue or happenstance. He had done it before in Saboteur (1942) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) not to mention both versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much. It was all about rising to the occasion and by pure will and grit finding your way out of the situation. He would return to that scenario in The Trouble with Harry and The Wrong Man among others. It was an idea close to his heart. We can all understand the man who, while walking through his life, suddenly finds he has been mistaken for someone whose life is perilous. Never will you find Hitchcock better than here. This was his soul.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira TakaradaAmerican nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable dinosaur-like beast.Gojia! The Subtitled Japanese Version. Sure, I know you don't take the Godzilla movies seriously. They're just wrestling in rubber suits. But even the first Americanized film was pretty cool. Now, go back and see what became a phenomenon around the world. And why. This was nothing if not a powerful indictment of nuclear weapons and those who would use them. Gojira is a destruction machine with no purpose other than to destroy and leave flaming ruins behind. It is not angry, it doesn't hold a grudge. It just levels everything it encounters. Little people who get in its way are killed, period. It is a man made act of God. It is the destruction of the world, before your eyes. I promise, if you see the original film, you will not come away unmoved. This stands with Frankenstein and Dracula among the monsters of the world.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.I know more film makers who will point to this film as one of the favorites. It is about a successful creator of comedy movies who wants to make an "Important" film. He decides to go out among "the people" and learn what the real story is. He has funny adventures as his backup team follows him and tries to keep him safe. But once he gets loose a real problem comes about. He is picked up in the south for a small crime and thrown into a chain-gang. He can't get anyone to believe he is who he says he is and now he has to really experience what the world is like. BTW: The film he wants to make is called "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" So even the Coen Brothers gave us all a little shout out and acknowledgement that this is one of their favorites too
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGösta EkmanEmil JanningsCamilla HornThe demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.F.W. Murnau was famous in the U.S. for one thing mostly, "Nosferatu" (more about which at a later date) He was a master of mood and German expressionism. This one, the first time the story was put on film, has never been surpassed. Mephistopheles is evil incarnate and you can feel it across the screen. He is not some cute cuddly Devil, he is the real deal. Yes, there is stiltedness in the acting, even from the great Emil Jannings, but no one had acted for film yet. It was new and played for the lowest common denominator. Everyone could understand what was going on, without dialog. But, watching these poor people suffer when all they wanted was life and love, that is the essence of tragedy. Give it ten minutes. If you can honestly say you're not getting anything, then maybe you just don't have the stuff to understand and relate to silent movies. But I think you will end up glad you gave it a try.
- DirectorGeorge PalStarsTony RandallBarbara EdenArthur O'ConnellA mysterious circus comes to a western town bearing wonders and characters that entertain the inhabitants and teach valuable lessons.This is a personal favorite of my family. A Western that is a magical morality play. Tony Randall plays the Doctor and all his identities, but he is supported by a wonderful cast. This was to be a little throw-away and yet there is an honesty that elevates it to the area of great art. It is doubtful that you can see this one and not be changed, for the better.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLaurence OlivierJoan FontaineGeorge SandersA self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.It was the only Hitchcock film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Daphne Du Maurier's ultimate gothic thriller in the master's hands for his first American feature. This one has so much atmosphere that it's rolling off the screen. Laurence Olivier is good, but Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson are the best. And George Sanders give his slimiest performance ever. If you want to see what it was about Hitchcock that people got excited about you need go no farther. It is all here. Other Hitchcock movies have their points, but this is the best.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneHenry FondaShirley TempleAt Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe.John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy. Ford was known as far back as the silents for the westerns. We'll talk about "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" another day, but this is very important. Ford paid an homage to the cavalry in this trio of films. It's not like most trilogies, hell, they characters don't even always have the same names in all three pictures, but it is a continuation of story. A Cavalry Officer sees a commanding officer go off the rails (ala Custer) and follows him anyway. Then he becomes the wizened officer and then finally sees his retirement edging towards him and wants to get a few things done before hand. It was an institution that would never live again. There were historic wrongs done, but this is the story of the men, trying to do the best they could without support and without information. The native Americans are treated honorably by contrast with so many others. They were, of course, films of their times and that must be taken into account. But these are heroic adventures that stand with Homer and the Arabian Nights. BTW: They were shot out of order, but forgive that too.
Brilliance knows no order.
Fort Apache (1940)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Rio Grande (1950
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 - DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneMaureen O'HaraBen JohnsonA cavalry officer posted on the Rio Grande is confronted with murderous raiding Apaches, a son who's a risk-taking recruit and his wife from whom he has been separated for many years.John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy Ford was known as far back as the silents for the westerns. We'll talk about "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" another day, but this is very important. Ford paid an homage to the cavalry in this trio of films. It's not like most trilogies, hell, they characters don't even always have the same names in all three pictures, but it is a continuation of story. A Cavalry Officer sees a commanding officer go off the rails (ala Custer) and follows him anyway. Then he becomes the wizened officer and then finally sees his retirement edging towards him and wants to get a few things done before hand. It was an institution that would never live again. There were historic wrongs done, but this is the story of the men, trying to do the best they could without support and without information. The native Americans are treated honorably by contrast with so many others. They were, of course, films of their times and that must be taken into account. But these are heroic adventures that stand with Homer and the Arabian Nights. BTW: They were shot out of order, but forgive that too.
Brilliance knows no order.
Fort Apache (1940)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Rio Grande (1950
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 - DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJoanne DruJohn AgarCaptain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy Ford was known as far back as the silents for the westerns. We'll talk about "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" another day, but this is very important. Ford paid an homage to the cavalry in this trio of films. It's not like most trilogies, hell, they characters don't even always have the same names in all three pictures, but it is a continuation of story. A Cavalry Officer sees a commanding officer go off the rails (ala Custer) and follows him anyway. Then he becomes the wizened officer and then finally sees his retirement edging towards him and wants to get a few things done before hand. It was an institution that would never live again. There were historic wrongs done, but this is the story of the men, trying to do the best they could without support and without information. The native Americans are treated honorably by contrast with so many others. They were, of course, films of their times and that must be taken into account. But these are heroic adventures that stand with Homer and the Arabian Nights. BTW: They were shot out of order, but forgive that too.
Brilliance knows no order.
Fort Apache (1940)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Rio Grande (1950
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 - DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAnthony QuinnGiulietta MasinaRichard BasehartA care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.This Oscar winner is the most accessible of all of Frederico Fellini's films. A poor girl's family sells her to a traveling strong man to hawk for his show. The waif is a natural and we come to love Giulietta Masina (Mrs. Fellini) as much as we hate the overbearing Zampanò (Anthony Quinn). She is in awe of him until she meets a Circus character played by Richard Baseheart. She falls for The Fool, and that makes the jealous Zampano hate him even more than he already does. This triangle is at the heart of this earthy, human drama. Masina's Gelsomina will be what keeps you in your seat. Quinn's agent (who was known to have said, "I don't go to the movies to read") Hated it so much that when it opened in New York the agent talked Quinn into giving up his rights in the film for $5,000 because he thought it would never amount to anything. Then it went on to be named Best Foreign Film. And, my friend, it more than deserved it. You will find much of why you can love movies in this one.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.This is one of those films everyone has heard about, but not that many have really seen. Yes, it has subtitles, yes it is not glamorous, very few things blow up. But it is so good even people who are not action film buffs come out of a viewing changed. If you've ever seen one of the dozen or so films that could be called "remakes" ("The Magnificent Seven," "Battle Beyond the Stars" or, God help us, "The Seven Magnificent Gladiators") you already know the plot. A small village is being raided out of existence by an army of bandits and they hire a small band of Ronin (Samurai without masters) to take the impossible task of teaching them to fight and then leading them in a campaign for their survival. The Samurai are fighting for more than the pittance they will be paid. They fight for the honor they have lost, they fight for the nobility they would like to taste again, they are fighting because they are very good at what they do. Kurasawa made a classic for the ages, with an incredibly young Toshiro Mifune and faces that will never leave your memory. If you wanna be a Movie Buff, you gotta see this one.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleMax ReinhardtStarsJames CagneyDick PowellIan HunterTwo couples and a troupe of actors have an encounter with some mischievous fairies in the forest.When Max Reinhardt brought Shakespeare to the screen it wasn't jjust a regular release, but a high ticket road show with big name stars and lots of sparkle. Dick Powell, James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Joe E. Brown and a dozen more faces you couldn't dismiss. It was everything to give the Bard to the people in a way that they could understand and enjoy. The visuals alone would keep people watching. And the performances were spot on from top to bottom. If you've never seen it, this is the Shakespeare to initiate people about why Shakespeare is still performed today.
- DirectorLotte ReinigerCarl KochA handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.This gives the lie that "Snow White" was the first animated feature film. This one wins out by nearly a decade. Not only that it was made up of cut paper figures. One woman made them, cutting out each frame's worth of picture and then photographing it. It is wonderfully unique and you will come away thinking differently about what a movie can be, what a cartoon is, and wondering why more females weren't given the chance to make their own films in the heyday of movies. And, just in case, I will warn you that this is a silent. If this is a big deal, give up, you are not a movie buff.
- DirectorJohn EnglishWilliam WitneyStarsTom TylerFrank Coghlan Jr.William 'Billy' BenedictTo protect a magic talisman from being used for evil, a teenage boy named Billy Batson is given the power to become an adult superhero, Captain Marvel, with a single magic word: "Shazam!"Adventures of Captain Marvel is arguably the best of the genre, but real movie buffs don't stop there. From the 1920's to the late 1950's they were always part of the movies. Upcoming stars (like John Wayne) made their bones in serials. Every week you got another chapter. Today they have evolved into continuing action shows. "Heroes" and "Lost" are both perfect examples of serials on Television. You cannot understand the whole movie-going experience without understanding movie shorts, newsreels and the serials. Here's a listing of every known serial ever made: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_serials
Here's some folks that exalt the genre: http://www.serialsquadron.com/ - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.You've seen it done as dozens of TV Series episodes, because the writers and directors of TV shows know what a great idea it is. It was Americanized in the Paul Newman film "The Outrage." A horrific act takes place and we only know it later by having it recounted by several different memories of those involved. It is a perfect example of why eye witness testimony is unreliable. It is all crafted by the magnificent hands of Akira Kurasawa and performed by the inimitable Toshiro Mifune. The cultural differences may stand between most Americans and full understanding of the film, but it is worth hanging on to get all of this piece of cinematic genius.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'It hardly seems to need saying. Everyone who watches movies will recommend this one, some will even say it is the greatest film every made. I won't argue that point here, or give you the ultimate spoiler of spoilers, but I will say if you haven't seen Kane you have missed one of the most powerful movie experiences out there. There has been several documentaries about it (My favorite was "The Battle Over Citizen Kane") and even a feature about its making ("RDO 281" also recommended when you have seen Kane first) but what was going on behind the scenes, no matter how amazing, is not important to enjoying the mastery of Welles and company. This is the story of power. Not power sought after, but power none the less. You've heard that power corrupts and this is a case study of that saying. Every shot is an art print. Every exchange is an example of what dialog should be. The pacing, the story arc, all of it is worth study. But first, just watch. Don't go in expecting anything. If you can do that you will understand what movies can be and what those pictures can mean. This is as good as it gets.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsDorothy McGuireRobert YoungHerbert MarshallA plain maid and a wounded war veteran are transformed by their love for each other while residing in an enchanted honeymoon cottage.Few stories have flown under the radar as this one did. It was a magazine story, then a silent movie (1924) and then this film, loved by those who have seen it, but unknown to so many. It is a simple story about the trans-formative power of love. Two unfortunate people come to visit a small cottage and fall in love, changing their entire lives. A magnificent cast sells every cell of this film with a commitment that is a beauty in itself. If you are uncomfortable with pure emotion, or having a tear slip now and then, then stay away from this one. If you want only dark, scary or explosive action, this one is not for you. But if you want a movie to make your heart hurt in the best way, see this film.
- 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.No film since "Metropolis" (1927) had changed the landscape of films as much as this one had. With spoken words as the minority and visual as the prime mover, this story literally spanned the planets. It was the story of mankind from caves to the stars, and the illusionary voyage involved. It also made a demand that is so often left out of modern film, if asked you to pay attention. You could make it through the caveman scenes with only a cursory viewing, but once they got into outer space you must pay attention or it is all lost on you. This is when most folks complained of being bored, or falling asleep. But if you did nothing but noticed the way the music and visuals play among themselves, you should never lose interest. The abstract scenes should be taken for what they are, explaining the unexplainable. If you really watch, this film is something beyond the movies. Give it a chance, you will never watch movies the same way again.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsHenry FondaCharles BronsonClaudia CardinaleA mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.Sergio Leone, sometimes called the John Ford of Italy. He began what has been called the Spaghetti Westerns with some films that graduated into "A Fistful of Dollars" which not only saved the sagging career of Clint Eastwood but brought this new brand of western to international prominence. All three of that series are worthwhile and we may cover them sometime. But even those movies are important as they graduated with "Once Upon a Time in the West." Action, Characters, excellent cinematography, Historical importance, and possibly the greatest Enio Morricone score yet. This one has a span only hinted at in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." It is about the opening of a country and what the cost is to the individuals paved over on the way. It contains a dream cast, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Claudia Cardinale, Jack Elam & Woody Strode. There are so many set piece scenes it would be impossible to list them. The opening in the remote railway station is one that any director would be proud to have done, and may have tried to recreate. Even in the anime "The Full Metal Alchemist" that scene appears in recreation in the credit sequence. This is how infulenchal this film is. I have shown it to many crowds who would have turned up there nose at the thought of a western, much less an Italian one. BTW: All the actors are from different countries and speak their own languages, since Italian films are all dubbed in studio and almost never have live sound tracks. That way the American actor can do a scene with an Italian director, a German actor, a french actor and a Japanese sound man, all at once. It is a miracle the films get made, to turn out a masterpiece like this, it is next to impossible.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.I keep coming back to the silents because they are the foundation of everything the movies have become. This expressionist German horror film can be seen in a thousand other forms, used and re-used visually and story wise throughout film history. Conrad Veidt, who plays the somnambulist had a long film career and was also a powerful enemy to the Nazis once he had escaped to America. This performance is echoed in Monster films down to this very day. Yes, it is a very different style than the films you usually watch, but it is almost a ballet. Watch this film.
- DirectorJames ParrottStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyDinahLike the legendary Sisyphus, deliverymen Laurel and Hardy struggle to push a large crated piano up a seemingly insurmountable flight of stairs.There won't be many shorts on this list, though there are some that deserve to be. One day Laurel & Hardy were driving with Hal Roach to a shoot on the beach early one morning. While stopped at a light Stan turned to look at a spectacular series to step up the side of a hill to their right. His mind began to whir. "Wow," he said, "Imagine having to carry a piano up those stairs!" The others looked and laughed at the idea. Then they all began to think. The next morning filming began on "The Music Box." It was a silent masterpiece, and one of their best. A couple of years later, when they were looking for something that would work in the new medium of sound they thought of that hill again. Then came their only Oscar. It is a simple premise, but a perfect one. If you ever wanted to know what people saw in Laurel & Hardy, look no further. BTW: It also features one of the great men of comedy Billy Gilbert!
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.What can you say about the film that gave Science Fiction legs as a real film form? Forbidden Planet tried, but this is the one that got the genre its first taste of legitimacy. People started talking about thinking about story. Not just giant bugs and cobbled together monsters. Not since Metropolis back in 1927 had the world looked at a Science Fiction film as more than an excuse to eat popcorn. Michael Rennie's performance was measured and there was even talked about in Oscar terms. That hadn't happened in genre since Fredric March got a statue for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde back in the 30's. Sure, it may seem slow to the modern MTV "15 seconds is a long time to hold a shot" eye, but give it a chance. You will see why it never needed to be remade, since it has never been surpassed.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.Here it is. For some the greatest film ever made is Citizen Kane. For other misguided souls it is Gone with the Wind. But there is another great film in that race. The movie that the whole country rallied around at the beginning of World War II. The meeting of Hero and anti-heroes when every kind of hero was needed. It is melodrama, propaganda, romance, intrigue, comedy and, above all else, style. You cannot fully describe it, it has to be experienced. You don't talk about Casablanca, you have to go to Casablanca. Rick, Ilsa, Sam, Victor Laslo, Capt. Renault, Major Strasser, these only start to set up the story. There's also a pickpocket, a matre de', a bartender, a flighty girl, a down on their luck pair of newlyweds, the head of the black market and, of course, Ugarte. If you let yourself get into the experience you will understand why Woody Allen had to write "Play it Again, Sam." You will come away with dozens of lines that you will always remember. "I came for the water." "Casablanca is in the desert." "I was misinformed." "All the gin joints in all the towns in all the world and she has to walk into mine" "You will do great in America" "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" and so many more. Written by the man who had just scared all of America with Orson Welles "The War of the Worlds." This one literally has it all.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsDustin HoffmanFaye DunawayChief Dan GeorgeJack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Native Americans and fighting with General Custer."Cimarron" (1931) won the Oscar for best picture and it wasn't until 1990 and "Dances with Wolves" that another Western would win the statue. But it should have gone to 1970's "Little Big Man." With romance, adventure and a barrel full of laughs this epic of early America was all an audience could ever ask for, and much more that it had gotten in awhile. Dustin Hoffman's bravura performance spanning from childhood to extreme old age is the set piece for this film, but there are many others. Faye Dunaway and Richard Mulligan could have walked away with any other picture. Mulligan's flaying of the Custer mythos warmed my Cherokee heart. It was the first time anyone had really tried to tell the story from the Native American's point of view. Chief Dan George was nominated for best supporting actor, but there were so many performers who should have been recognized. Most of all it will surprise you and make you laugh. Of all the Westerns you should see, this is the one you should see first.
- DirectorChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames ArnessScientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.The director of record is Christian Nyby, but the dialog and pacing are right out of the wheelhouse of producer Howard Hawks. This is one of those 1950's horror films dressed up in Science Fiction clothing. This one could have been a stage play, and maybe one day someone will have the idea to do it as one. The burning room scene is the only one that would give it a large budget, but it would be worth it. It is, ostensibly, based on Campbell's story "Who Goes There?" but it is a bastard child at best. The later John Carpenter version goes back to the original story of a shape-shifting alien, but this one is worthy on its own terms. It plays right into the paranoia that fuel the UFO frenzy of the time. The lighting rapidity (it puts a 2 hour film in a less than 90 minute format) The over-lapping words, the crystal clear exposition all rocket us along to a constant roller coaster ride of a story. There is only one side bar romance story, but even it is hinted at rather than wallowed in. Everyone who wants to make an action film should have to watch this movie first, it gives every demand that a film should have to have. I love both versions of this film, but this is the first and, to my mind, the best. "Keep looking! Keep watching the skies!"
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.We've talked about the first attempt to bring the Campbell story "Who Goes There?" to the screen, "The Thing from Another World." This time John Carpenter wanted to bring the story directly to the screen. This time we saw the shape-shifting alien in all his terror. But the most vile, scary thing was seeing the monster hiding behind the faces you knew every day. It was a creepier version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, only the change was undetectable. There is a moment with the supreme terror of the thing becomes manifest. It is not explained in dialog, or narration. But you see it only in Kurt Russell's eyes. There is a moment when you see the wheels turning and Russell is struck by the horrible thought that the thing might have taken him over and he doesn't even know it. That is a mastery of the film maker's art, when you can make the audience see so far into a character's head that they can all read the same thought. This is the moment when John Carpenter took the film to a whole new level.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneClaire TrevorAndy DevineA group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.What is this thing Americans have about westerns? Well they are our mythology. As Hercules was to the ancient world, or Thor or Samurai in Japan, they were the place a country put our dreams. Heroes, not because they had to be, but because it was the right thing. And nothing summed up our love of that mythology than John Ford's 1939 masterpiece. It is amazingly simple. A bunch of people, for varying reasons have to leave town even though there is threat from warring tribes out there. They pick up an outlaw who is seeking justice for his murdered family. There is love, loyalty, comedy and heroism at its best. If you've never given John Wayne a try because of his politics, get over it. This movie is what we as a country wanted to be about. Set in the majestic Monument Valley, shot if some of the best Black and White photography ever put on screen, and with stunts designed by the great Yakima Canutt, you cannot go wrong with this one.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsOliver ReedRaquel WelchRichard ChamberlainA young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.There have been filmed versions of the Dumas classic as long as there have been movies. Each generation seems to like its own interpretation best. From Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. to Gene Kelly to The Ritz Brothers (yes, and it's not that bad). For my generation, this one is by far the best, and I'd seen all the previous renditions before I saw this one. The book was a favorite of mine. It taught me about honor and loyalty. When I heard Richard Lester was going to direct I was not sure. I'd loved his Beatles comedies, but hated what he did with "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." But, I could not have been more surprised. This was the true swashbuckler that you needed it to be. The first half was bombastic and funny, the second half was the adult half of the story and broke your heart just as it was meant to do. Performances were spot on, even Raquel Welch, whom I had always enjoyed seeing, but never expected this depth of character. Every boy introduced to this adventure has taken a step into the world of ideas about what it is supposed to be to be a man. I haven't seen the TV series yet, but have heard good things. But I find it hard to believe it could be better that this one.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsMichael YorkRaquel WelchOliver ReedThe Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.There have been filmed versions of the Dumas classic as long as there have been movies. Each generation seems to like its own interpretation best. From Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. to Gene Kelly to The Ritz Brothers (yes, and it's not that bad). For my generation, this one is by far the best, and I'd seen all the previous renditions before I saw this one. The book was a favorite of mine. It taught me about honor and loyalty. When I heard Richard Lester was going to direct I was not sure. I'd loved his Beatles comedies, but hated what he did with "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." But, I could not have been more surprised. This was the true swashbuckler that you needed it to be. The first half was bombastic and funny, the second half was the adult half of the story and broke your heart just as it was meant to do. Performances were spot on, even Raquel Welch, whom I had always enjoyed seeing, but never expected this depth of character. Every boy introduced to this adventure has taken a step into the world of ideas about what it is supposed to be to be a man. I haven't seen the TV series yet, but have heard good things. But I find it hard to believe it could be better that this one.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.This was a production of Todd Browning that was made with Lon Chaney Sr. in mind. Chaney became unavailable by being dead, so Browning changed the story (Based on the story "Spurs") around and made this disturbing picture. The film takes place in a circus, among the freaks in the freak show. This is an amazingly loving community run by a little person. The circus strongman and beautiful trapeze artist decide that she will seduce and marry the man, then kill him and own the whole show. The freaks welcome her among them in a ritual that disgusts her, as do all the freaks. Her plan to poison her new man is discovered and the retribution involves one of the creepiest scenes ever put on film. The film is incredible, but it was banned in England for decades as being "Too Horrific." Did they show to much bloodletting? Was the gore to severe? No, what made so many cringe was the use of real circus freaks for the actors in the troop. They are not professional actors, but they are, to a one, performers and they give startlingly vivid portrayals. If you are not squeamish of humans who are different than yourself, give "Freaks" a look, and you will be taken into a world unlike that you live in daily. And isn't that what movies are supposed to do for us?
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonKathryn McGuireJoe KeatonA film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.The story was that when Roscoe ("Fatty") Arbuckle was about the hottest thing the fledgeling movie industry had ever seen he invited his old vaudeville chum Buster Keaton to join him. They did several very popular shorts together. But the tale says on the first day they were on the set, when everyone went off to lunch Buster stayed behind. When the cast and crew got back they found Buster inspecting a sheet with all the parts of a camera pulled apart and looking like no one would ever put Humpty Dumpty camera back together again. When Roscoe asked Buster what the heck he was doing Buster said, very academically, "I just wanted to see what this thing could do." Well, this film is the direct result of that. Keaton stretched the boundaries of the film experience on this one. He plays of movie house projectionist who wants to be a detective. In the midst of a plot that finds him framed for theft, he falls asleep in the theater. His inner self walks up to the screen and enters the movie playing. But, even though he is in the movie he is not a part of it. When the scene changes, he is still there. If it moves to the ocean, he falls in. If it changes to a mountain top, he is now there. The visuals in these few minutes are something that, for the time, was mind-blowing. With this one and "The Playhouse" (where Keaton plays all the actors on stage and all the audience at the same time) are when we see the result of Keaton's missed lunch.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsÉtienne BeckerJean NégroniHélène ChatelainThe story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.One of the few short films that can change the way you watch movies. For the short time of 28 minutes this collection of still photographs in what would now be called a slideshow, but was way before there was any such title, will hold you spellbound. A Story so well defined that it's remake was nothing less than "12 Monkeys." You catch yourself falling into the images and being unable to stop and think as you wait for the next. It is beyond riveting. It is an art form redefined. You will never watch film the same way again. How many movies can you say that about?
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.Another Buster Keaton? I hate to admit it, but you could include anything he ever (among his silent films, less said about his sound films, the better. Not because he was bad, but because he was under a studio thumb and they had not idea what he was about) But this is the most unanimously regarded films he ever made. The slightest kernel of the story is true. A Southern Railroad Engineer is 4-Fd because his train is to important to the war effort to lose. But his girlfriend thinks he is a coward and using it as an excuse to get out of service. Then his train is stolen by Northern Spies and he takes out after them. He steals the train (and his girlfriend, who has, it seems, been kidnapped by the North) and races back to the South. The race is on and somehow Keaton keeps it funny and spine-tingling at the same time. It was so powerful Disney took their hottest star (Fess Parker, hot off Davy Crockett fame) and remade the story as "The Great Locomotive Chase" but it went nowhere. This again is a case of Keaton knowing just how to balance the romance, the action, the comedy in a perfect blend. If you want to see what the best of silent films is about, this is the one.
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongFord Beebe Jr.StarsLeopold StokowskiDeems TaylorThe Philadelphia OrchestraA series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.This was the project animation was created to bring you. It touches on all aspects of blending drawings with film and music. Each of the segments had been seen in screenings as separate shorts, though not in general release. It was as big a gamble as Snow White had been. No one believed that you could make people watch cartoons for two hours, nor listen to classical music in large enough numbers to make a profit. Negative press and talk did hurt the film in its initial release, it didn't make money for awhile, but, eventually, people got over the prejudices and saw the film for what it was - a masterpiece. What may have helped was releasing "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" as a short to theaters. It picked up a following and when the film was re-re-released with a blurb on the posters that it included that toon, viewers picked up. Disney soon was releasing other compilations of musical cartoons and making lots of money. These ("Make Mine Music" etc.) had the added impetus of having been out there in the theaters singly before joining its brothers in anthologies. But this film still stands alone as one of the most unique film experiences to ever been conceived. The animator's ultimate experiment. All the other Disney animated films have to admit, this is the Greatest of all. Even a 2000 "re-imagining" stood several levels below it.
- DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.This one is the cornerstones of Universal Horror. It elevated Bela Lugosi to legendary status and opened the door that would see a decade of monsters erupt from the studio that Lon Chaney, Sr. had helped make a powerhouse. After that whenever Universal was a little short for the season they could find another monster under the rug and let it go on the public. Don't get me wrong, these movies, and especially this one, were a great part of my childhood. Not only the movies but books, comics, model kits, trading cards, posters, the whole nine yards were in my room. I loved Hammer and Christopher Lee, but Bela was the king. The film, so close to being a silent movie, so clunky in parts, was somehow resting on the edge of my nightmares. People fainted in the theater, that is how powerful it was at the time. A new Glass score has brought even more focus on this masterpiece. If you've only seen parodies or remakes, you need to treat yourself to a full on theater style (no commercials, no jabbering by people during it) screening of the film. You will then understand that this was horror the Universal way. BTW: You see one, and only one, drop of blood the entire movie!
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallJohn RidgelyPrivate detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.There are two versions of this film, thank goodness the DVD carries both. The first, the original version is closer to the book, but there is a bigger difference. During production "To Have and Have Not" came out and fans went crazy about the innuendo filled scenes full of snappy dialog for Bogart and Bacall. They called everybody in and reshot a bunch of scenes with inserting just those kind of scenes, rounding out the film nicely. But Martha Vickers, playing Bacall's little sister, lost most of her great scenes cut. It was a performance that might have made her a big star. Very sad. But the film is a knock out. The book had been a runaway hit and was the first hard boiled detective novel since Dashiell Hammett to make the reading public start taking the genre seriously. The plot is confusing to say the least. There are a couple of plot-lines that are never really tied up, but it doesn't matter. The film is a roller coaster draped with that snappy dialog that made Howard Hawks films hard to dislike, and Bogart is the essence of P.I. manliness. If you enjoyed "The Maltese Falcon" or "The Thin Man" then this is the film for you. If you haven't seen those films then shame on you. Watch the three films soon.
- DirectorMichael WinnerStarsRobert MitchumSarah MilesRichard BooneGrizzled American private detective in England investigates a complicated case of blackmail turned murder involving a rich but honest elderly general, his two loose socialite daughters, a pornographer and a gangster.I'm not a big one for remakes, especially not of Bogart movies, but this one is the exception. Robert Mitchum is the personification of hard-boiled and weary of the world P.I. Philip Marlowe. He has been beat up by the world and is still of such a heroic character that he goes on. Even when the story is so convoluted that even at the end you are not sure that all the bad guys are caught. His gait is one of a man who has seen more than anyone should, his eyes tell of a dirty world where you really cannot trust anyone, possibly even yourself. Beauty is a weapon in this world, as is wealth. And they are used a quickly as a fist or a gun. It is a the kind of case that anybody without a gripping sense of duty would just walk away from, but that's Marlowe.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsJackie CooganJames A. MarcusAggie HerringAn orphan named Oliver Twist meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.The first major filming of the Dickens story this one featured Lon Chaney as a scary version of Fagan and the lovable Jackie Coogan as Oliver. If you every had a doubt why these two were so huge in silents this is the film that should end your questions. Coogan is best remembered for two things. 1, he was "The Kid" across from Charlie Chaplin and one of the most lovable figures ever to wring a tear from an audience of that time. 1, Coogan was the cause of the Coogan Law which was the first legal attempt to save child actors from being robbed of their earnings by the adults around them. If Coogan had been able to keep the money he earned in his childhood years of work he could have retired at the age of 12. He was the camera's darling and could have done every child's role from all the great books. Oliver Twist was proof of his ability. Chaney brings us the book's creepy Fagan (rather than the lovable one found in the musical) He is a usurer and a user and probably some other evil things that we wouldn't like to think of at this moment. George Siegmann as Bill Sykes is a bully you can have no doubt, and when he threatens little Coogan, it is more than most audiences could stand. This is one of the truest translations of the book to film, and it is worth the watching.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.Among filmmakers of my generation it would be hard to find films that had a greater impact that this movie (maybe "Star Wars") It defined what the grace and power a film could have. It seems hard to say that about a crime film, but this is really a film about family. Not the kind of family you or I should ever be a part of, but a family still. The power of "us against the world" thinking that many families needed to survive in a new world is portrayed in this saga. And how, no matter what our individual dreams family comes first. The last segment is amazing, as the slaughter of enemies becomes almost a ballet. Watching the lead character become altered by his circumstances into the heartless leader that is needed by the time and situation. Just like the nice kid who goes off to war and comes home a silent killer who still has that kid somewhere within. The movie is nothing less that the power of conversion spelled out in under 4 hours. Change of humanity that you thought could not happen. Nice guys don't become heartless killers, right? It just takes the right surroundings, the right motivations, and here we see them and cheer him along. Until we see what he has become. And that is where the chill comes. Along with seeing ourselves having changed as well.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroRobert DuvallThe early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.It goes without saying that the sequel is never as good as the original. 99.9% of the time this is true. Here is that tiny fraction of the time that statement is not true. Mario Puzo tells the story about the book "The Godfather." When he got a large advance for the book he had not been making a lot of money, and wanted to take his family on vacation to Italy. The publishing company wanted the book. He was not done with it, but, at their behest, he turned in what he had, most of the story done, with sections just glossed over to be filled out later. He took his vacation and, when he returned he found he had the biggest selling book in America. They had published his bare bones outline and people loved it. But he had a lot more to tell. So, when the first film came out he told Coppola that there was a lot of story he hadn't told yet. That story is the larger part of this film. Vito's early life, his rise in power and the corresponding story of Micheal's further fall into the life of the Godfather. It is a triumph, both of story and storytelling. It may be why film now is so obsessed with trilogies from books. Ready made sequels that are not cobbled together just to make more money, but to continue a story arc. So, if you saw and enjoyed the first film, don't be afraid of the number after the name, this time it is not a bad thing, but a good one. We'll talk about the third film in this series some other time, but that's another story.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsKerwin MathewsKathryn GrantRichard EyerWhen a princess is shrunken by an evil wizard, Sinbad must undertake a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.For a long time every generation had its memory of the first Ray Harryhausen they saw, that molded their view of great fantasy/science fiction film. For my daughter it was "Clash of the Titans." For Tom Hanks it was "Jason and the Argonauts." For me it was 7th Voyage. I've spoken before about being "Transported" by a film, being taken somewhere out of the theater or out of you living room, and, for however long, feeling that you were part of an adventure. This was another of those films. People who don't like stop action animation say, "It just doesn't look real to me." (Remember these are the people who liked lizards with added fins and such for dinosaurs more than stop action ones) Well, the point is that it doesn't look real (like CGI) It looks MORE than real. It has a mythic quality that enhances the who experience. Things that cannot be just are! Magic Cyclops, fierce dragon, flying Rocs, these things cannot be real, and yet there they are before your eyes. Princesses, adventurers and wizards and even sword fighting skeletons. All standing before you and giving you the kind of magic that George Melies invented at the birth of movies, indeed, why the movies were born. When those French brothers showed people arriving on a train, that was magic because movies were unique and new. But soon that became routine and Melies made the experience new and magical again. Harryhausen made the movies magical for all time. If you have never seen this one (or any Ray Harryhausen for that matter) you owe it to your sense of wonder to go, now, and see what the man could create in his garage and spark the wonder of generations of movie goers.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsKevin McCarthyDana WynterLarry GatesA small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.It was remade, but it was never surpassed. This film rose during the height of the black list and the Red Menace sweeping the country and it scared America to its core. Here was the terror that was eating away at the heart of the country. Who was the enemy? How can you tell? Those around you were losing their souls, and you couldn't tell who was human anymore. Could that beautiful woman on your arm really be an alien (communist)? You thought you knew her. You trusted her. That was what this film was really about. It was devastating in its power. If the pods had taken over nearly every one you knew, how would you know who else in the world was really an honest to God person? The scenes where we saw the seed pods were not nearly as scary as those when we were realizing that someone we thought of a normal was somehow less that a person. The rising tide of inhumanity threatened to sweep all of us away. How much was it like madness? Paranoia? You couldn't sleep are you would fall to them. The hysteria was all around you and growing. After seeing "Psycho" people said they couldn't take a shower for awhile, but after this one you could never talk to your friends exactly the same way for quite awhile. That, my friend, is powerful movie making!
- DirectorCharles BartonWalter LantzStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloLon Chaney Jr.The Wolf Man tries to warn a dimwitted porter that Dracula wants his brain for Frankenstein monster's body.Horror Fans were ready to be mortally offended, and yet it is on may horror lists as a great film. There have been cases in almost all the comedy teams where they threw in a horror aspect, but rarely has it been done as well and never better than this one. It is aided by having true horror icons Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney along for the ride. There was a sense of honoring the monsters, not making fun of them, the ones who were made fun of were the non-believers (A & C) who got it trouble not because they believed in the monsters, but that they refused to believe. Lugosi and Chaney, along with Glenn Strange as the creature of Frankenstein, show themselves able to deal with the comedy situations without giving up the seriousness of their character base. The comedy happens around them without making fun of them. Abbott & Costello were never better, the gags are solid and you feel for them all the way, while never losing the humor. This may well be one of the few perfect comedy films every made, and that is saying something.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.Few movies you will ever see will have the effect on you that this one can. It is about a serial child murderer. This character has the city in such a state of horror that even the criminal class has lined up to beat the bushes and get rid of this aberration. Done by Fritz Lang the mob mentality has no better portrayer, no more powerful viewer. Then you look at the monster, this evil beyond evil. A young Peter Lorre in the performance that could be a career ender unless the actor finds something within this inhuman beast to find just a slice of empathy in our hearts. He is a monster, yes, but like Frankenstein he cannot help but be what he is, his creator, his god, has made him what he is. He hates what he is, what he does. He loves children, in his heart. He doesn't know what happens. If he had the strength of will he would kill himself, but that same creator has burdened him with a will to survive, so, again, he is, in his eyes, the victim. If ever there were a film that is truly timeless, this is the one. Everyone should see this film, and try to understand, if not condone. It is a horrifying masterpiece.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsDavid NivenPeter SellersRobert WagnerThe bumbling Inspector Clouseau travels to Rome to catch a notorious jewel thief known as "The Phantom" before he conducts his most daring heist yet: a princess' priceless diamond with one slight imperfection, known as "The Pink Panther".The studio didn't know what they had. When Blake Edwards brought in another light caper comedy, starring David Niven and Robert Wagner, that sounded solid and selling, and they didn't really care about the back up cast and who was Peter Sellers anyway? But then it happened. One of the funniest films anyone had seen since the silent days. Unabashed slapstick! Sellers walked away with the film, and spawned decades more of them. How could anyone know this little silly potboiler about a romantic thief and his protege would be a smash hit and that it would be because Edwards and his goofy inspector would trip and slip and crash into everything in their way. Sellers is spectacular, and he was just getting started. It really is a tribute to the kind of complete commitment to slapstick that Keaton and Lloyd had created and passed along to an English genius named Sellers. If you want to laugh, and aren't ashamed at why, this is a film you sill savor time and again. Not playing down the excellent Steve Martin remake, but this is the original and the groundbreaker.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsGary CooperWalter BrennanJoan LeslieA Tennessee farmer and marksman is drafted in World War I, and struggles with his pacifist inclinations before becoming one of the most celebrated war heroes.This is not only a movie about war and what horrible things it can put a man of true spirit through, it is a movie about the American Fame Machine and how it tries to grind up anyone who is forced into it. Alvin York was a real man and an unbelievably real hero of World War 1. He fought to get out of the service because of his Christian beliefs and how they forbid him to do the things war demanded he do. From the back hills he had little understanding of "The Big Picture." He just knew that "Thou Shalt Not Kill" was one of the laws he had given his life to, after giving up a young life of rough living and it had saved him. Now everyone, even Walter Brennan as his minster (in a brilliant portrayal, BTW) is telling him that he will become a criminal if he refuses. They didn't have as many ways to become an accepted resister in those days. Even the Amish were being taken. Finally he goes and, using the hunting skills he learned back home, and his personal fearlessness, he becomes a hero in terms that make everyone that knows of it ponder how any human is capable of such boldness and heroism. Then they make him the HERO that he doesn't see himself as being. In the midst of all this brough-ha-ha, all he wants is to go home. Gary Cooper gives a performance of a lifetime and you will understand more about York than anyone of those generals above him ever could. If you hate war or those people who seek out fame for doing nothing (Kim and Kanye, I'm looking at you) then you will find much to love here. If you want to see biography done in a salute to the truth that was rarely done in Hollywood, you will love this one. If you love the heart of the real America, then you will find why the legend of "Sergeant York" has lived so long. This is a film that defies much definition. It is just a great movie.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie HarrisClaire BloomRichard JohnsonHill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.Boris Karloff said he disliked the term Horror because it spoke of revulsion, but terror, that meant the feeling of heightened suspense and fear. Well, this film fits Karloff's definition of terror to a tea. You never see a monster, you never see anyone's anything cut off or impaled. But you will be afraid. There is a scene I promise you, if you ever jumped out of your skin watching a movie it was at this one. This stylish film, directed by Robert Wise, is subtle and passionate at the same time. It hints at things that will make your skin crawl while never trying overtly to revulse you. The cast is small, but every one of them puts in a bravura performance, from Julie Harris and Claire Bloom to Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn there is not a single person who comes close to phoning it in. Even the housekeeper (Rosalie Crutchley as Mrs. Dudley) will make you want to pull the blanket up higher on your shoulders. This is not to say there is no humor, there is plenty, but even that is an attempt to keep them sane. If you believe in spooks, or even if you don't, this movie will make you wonder. Forget the remake, it misses all the wonderful nuance that this one gives you. And, though you will be glad to leave Hill House, you know it will never leave you.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsVictor AndréBleuette BernonA group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.For everyone who ever wanted to see the world stood on its ear by a single movie, this was one of the first. This was the world's first mega-hit. When they made the blockbuster "Around the World in 80 Days" and wanted to start it off with a bang they added this film in its entirety to begin it. It has been part of several films, including the Ray Harryhausen hit "First Men in the Moon." At a time when they were still talking about men reaching the moon flying on the backs of giant moths Verne created a giant gun and propelled a capsule to break the atmosphere. That idea was still pretty new when Melies put it on film and punched the man in the moon in the eye. All Movie Buffs should see as much Melies as possible, just to see what that simple camera was capable of putting on film, but if they see none of his work, they should see this. This defined the term "Ground-breaking" for the movie making world. At the first full time movie studio, the world's first genius director put it all together to create something unlike any had ever envisioned, much less create for the rest of us to see. Imagine a man who could imagine such marvels at a time before there was radio, before anyone had flown across the channel in anything but a balloon. It was "King Kong" and "Avatar" in 12 silent black and white minutes. If you haven't seen it, this is a must.
- 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.This was Frank Capra's America in the spotlight. It showed the bad, the evil in the Capital, but it showed the glory that was involved in this country's ideals as well. It was the ultimate David and Goliath story, about a young man who believed in the greatness of America and the people who were intent on milking it for all they could get out of it, at any cost. It was the America we all hoped it to be and the America that probably was facing off with it. Jimmy Stewart gives the performance of a lifetime, defending all out dreams against the machine that is corruption. Every time a young politician stands before us we hope he's going to be our Mr. Smith, and then he gets chewed up and becomes part of the machine. But this films keeps us hoping and keeps us searching and it is hope, nothing less. This film is damn near flawless. All the cast gives everything they have, maybe they believe it the story as well. Maybe everyone who goes to Washington should be forced to watch this film before they can take office. This is the story of what we want our politicians to actually be, rather than the money obsessed clones they seems to usually be.
- DirectorDave FleischerWillard BowskyOrestes CalpiniStarsJessica DragonetteLanny RossPinto ColvigA doctor washes ashore on an island inhabited by little people.It was Hollywood's Golden Year. Never has the magic city put out so much magic. "Gone With the Wind" & "The Wizard of Oz""Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" "Goodbye Mr. Chips" and on and on. Sometime this wonder of animation seems a bit overshadowed, but it shouldn't be. Max & Dave Fleischer were second only to Disney in animation. They were famed as the home of both Betty Boop and Popeye, and there was nobody more popular than that pair. They they decided to do the first animated feature. Delays and lack of distribution held them up and Disney beat them by 2 years, but since there was already a German Silent feature (Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)) it didn't really matter. But, they were the inventors of Rotoscoping (the process of filming a person and then painting over the frames to make them into a cartoon) they decided to include that in the feature. It was stunning. This most human of leading men among the most obvious cartoon world, it fit the idea of a man who found himself completely among strangers in a world not his own. Beyond that, they made it a musical that was nominated for two Oscars, that against "Wizard" and a Busby Berkley musical with Rooney and Garland. No small feat. Even today it remains easily watchable. It is easy to overlook, but please don't. You will be happy to know about and share.
- DirectorGeorge P. CosmatosKevin JarreStarsKurt RussellVal KilmerSam ElliottA successful lawman's plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating.Few events in American history have been filmed so many times as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. From "My Darling Clementine" by John Ford, to "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" by John Sturges to "Spectre of the Gun" on Star Trek TOS. It has become a part of our DNA as a country. This generation has its own iteration and it is excellent to say the very least. Every cast member puts in a performance of a lifetime, and that's saying something considering this cast. It is lyrically written as though it had just been discovered in some forgotten history book and put on the screen for the very first time. The story leans heavily on the mythic nature of the tale and allows it to be epic rather than real. Val Kilmer has never done a role better than he plays Doc Holiday. Who wouldn't want him to be your Huckleberry? If you thought, as many do, that the Western was dead, you need only to see this film to see just how badly mistaken that person was. Sergio Leone would have been proud to have made "Tombstone," and that's saying something.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.Three movies have scared the hell out of the entire nation during their release. First came Lon Chaney in "The Phantom of the Opera"and people fainted and ran out of the theater screaming. Then came this one that electrified the country. Finally there was "Jaws" and the beach would never be the same. But, now, we're talking about people being so scared that they couldn't sleep at night. This one sent people terrified and back to church in huge numbers. Exorcisms became something that people now sought out for real, and they were seeing demons everywhere. It has been parodied and stolen from so often as to become a cliche, but in a theater, in the dark, it is still something hard to dismiss. If you can get away from all you know already, and see it for the story like the first time, it can still scare the hell out of you. It is hard to see for itself after all these years, but if you can, you can still give yourself a good scare.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJean ArthurJames StewartLionel BarrymoreThe son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.This Pulitzer Prize winning play has rarely been off Broadway. There is another revival winning Tony awards on the boards as this is written. It has reached the point of being an icon, and so the Frank Capra wonder that was put on film. This is how America has seen itself for so many years. Screwy but lovable. Noble but impractical. This might well be the perfect example of what a Frank Capra movie is. The film contains as many disparate characters as you can fit on the screen, so many high ideals, facing the straight laced society and giggling at its silliness. We love these characters from Wise old grandpa, to the ballet dancer who isn't really, to mom trying to write another play that will never get past the typewriter stage. They are always here and please God, let them always be so. Because, as a nation, we all need to know we all have some place we could all fit in if we lost everything else. All you need to be part of this family is love and tolerance. And, come on my friend, shouldn't that be true of America? With all those money grubbing blusterers out there, isn't that the path to the soul that we hope we can teach them to find? You can't take it with you, but maybe, if you're lucky, you can find a little fun and a lot of love before you go. Hail Capra, you showed us America!
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJeffrey HunterVera MilesAn American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.It starts out as what one would call "Just another John Wayne kills Indians" movie. It certainly shows a lot a race hatred, and that is palpable. When an attack party takes away two little girls the leading character swear to bring them back however long it takes. And it is an odyssey. The racism of the Wayne character is a boiling, growing hatred that overcomes everything else on the screen. It is hard to see the magnificent vistas or the growth of those around him, because of his desire only to kill those he will never forgive. He even, after time, realizes that the girl will become more like the Indians that the whites. It is at this time that he decides that when they find the girl, she must die also. And then after the final climax he must confront what is more important, his racist hatred of all Indians or family. On that cross hangs the heart of what may be John Ford's ultimate western. His decision is what lifts this film above all others of the genre. When he walks away at the end not just he, but all of us, may have changed forever. At least I hope so.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.Charlie Chaplin was one of the few performers to make silent movies long after sound had secured the future. Here was an early foray into sound for the little tramp, but it has so many of the aspects of silent that it is a smooth transition. The tramp loves a flower girl, but she is blind. He is ashamed of his poverty, but he takes the girl in and cares for her but doesn't let her know what he is. Finally he is able to get her an operation to restore her sight, and because of his shame he vanishes from her life. Now she can have the life she deserves and he will still love her from afar. Until that day, that scene when she realizes who he is. It is still one of the most romantic films ever made. You can see it as sappy and over dramatic only if you choose to do so. But if your heart is in the right place you will take it in the sense it was made and I promise you will cry for these two. Love doesn't have to be blind.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsCary GrantRosalind RussellRalph BellamyA newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.Howard Hawks was known for characters that talked like real people talked. Fast and not terribly polite. They tended to talk over each other, but they were also given to snappy patter, and usually funny stuff as well. Nowhere was this trait so positively displayed than in this film. Based on the Pulitzer Play, filmed before and since "The Front Page" this one added a new idea. Rosalind Russel become one of the guys, and that added a powerful sexual tension between her and her costar Cary Grant. They were reporters on top of the biggest story of the decade and fighting over if she is going to retire and marry someone else, while neither one is willing to accept how they really feel about each other. Now, they have been married before and that makes it even harder for either of them to actually fess up to their real feelings, but they are both manipulative and crafty and more than a little underhanded in the way they treat everyone, especially each other. This one is a battle of the century in the war of the sexes, and it is a wonderment every moment they are on the screen. It is on the National Film Registry as a treasure and never before was that more deserved.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsWilliam H. MacyFrances McDormandSteve BuscemiMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.It could have been your average Detective story, but the Coen Brothers and their cast, including stalwarts like : William H. Macy, Frances McDormand & Steve Buscemi would have none of it. It was going to be the kind of black comedy that it usually up to the British to make. When a dumb Car Salesman tries to hire a "Funny looking guy" to kill his wife, and the local, pregnant police person takes up the trail, there is never a moment that is run of the mill. McDormand and Joel and Ethan's screenplay won Oscars, not to mention 5 other nominations and all of them deserving. There is, somehow, a hopefulness about the dark take on Northern life. It will go on, it will succeed, even with witheringly evil-doers out there, perhaps because the evil-doers are so inept. And it is impossible to talk about this film without singling out McDormand's Marge Gunderson as one of the great characters of the movies. She is a force of nature, never giving up no matter how impossible the surroundings, no matter how insane the roadblocks before her. She is the engine of hope that keeps the whole wonderful machine pumping towards the finish line.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperJean ArthurGeorge BancroftA unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.Frank Capra was about showing Everyman at the crossroads with America. There never was a more honest, more everyman than Longfellow Deeds. A tuba playing small towner who believed, more than anything else, that Fairness was what life was about. You got what you got, and you shared when you got more than you had to have. You made people happy when you could. When he inherits a great deal of money he continues being who he is, and the big city decides he must be crazy. The people who controlled all that money before don't want to give up that control, so they want to put Deeds away, and set out to put together a case to show that he is a lunatic and shouldn't be allowed to control all that cash. We are ready to fight on Deeds side and Capra takes that feeling and gives us a ride on the best roller coaster film can assemble. If you ever wanted to see the good guy win against the really bad, really powerful guys, then this film will make you want to cheer. Or at least whistle.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.Very little can be said of this film that hasn't already been said a hundred times. One thing many people don't say is that Hitchcock thought it was a shaggy dog joke and nothing more. You kill off the star in the first 15 minutes of the film! Who in their right mind does that? You set up the monster as the kid next door that you really start the film liking and only later find out he is a monster. (BTW: if you want a little trivia insider, the guard in the final scene, the one just outside of Norman Bates cell door? That's Ted Knight. Ted Baxter himself is guarding the serial killer! Feel safer now?) The remake and all 4 sequels, plus the TV series added nothing to the power of this film, nor explained it any better than the initial images did. Martin Balsam falling down those stairs is an incredible scene that is rarely mentioned, and yet should be. It is a simple SFX, and yet the unbelievability of the shot adds to the horrible mythic quality of the film. It is like some terrible bedtime story that your kids will read to you. Sleep well.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.This could well be called "The Anti-War Movie to End All Anti-War Movies" (sadly, of course, it wasn't because the need was still there) Just bridging the gap between the two great wars this one was told from the German side, and still made us feel for the boys involved. It could well have been made featuring soldiers from any country, and that is its true power. School boys are revved up to go out there for Flag and Fathers and no one really thinks about dying, but die they do, again and again. They don't know about the hunger as supply lines are cut, the loss of close friends or any of the rest that goes along with it. Their tough, seen it all sergeant tries to prepare them, but how could they know? It is set in WWI and even he has never seen anything like this before. You feel as though you are a member of the troop and you watch as the hell that is war grinds them down bit by bit. When you find the end coming, the last scene is nothing less than devastating, just as it was meant to be. This film is nothing less than a masterpiece.
- DirectorBrad BirdStarsEli MarienthalHarry Connick Jr.Jennifer AnistonA young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.It could have been just another silly giant robot movie. There have been a lot. And yet, there is so much more here. There is heart, there is soul. This is possibly one of the best 10 animated films ever made. The boy is a cast off of the world. He will never fit in, and everybody knows it. Then he finds this thing. This thing that came from outer space. He does what none around it are willing to do. He tries to understand and teach it. In that simple act, he saves the human race. In the midst of the most closed minded time of America, his mind is open and accepting and by being that he helps in ways no one could have expected. He finds humanity in the mechanical, and the robot finds that there is something within humanity worth saving. It is like the angel looking for the one good man that would save the entire world from being destroyed. This little boy, who is all of us in our hearts, is that one good man. There is a lot to this movie, but if you only take it as wonderful entertainment, it works on that level too. Either way, whatever you see here, enjoy. That's what movie's are about!
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRoy ScheiderRobert ShawRichard DreyfussWhen a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.This one changed the world. This created the "Summer Blockbuster" that goes on even today. The book had been so big everyone thought it couldn't be filmed. Then they gave it to a young director who was promising, but no one knew if he was up to the task. Then there was gossip that the production was in trouble. Over-budget and having trials with the special effects, could this one scare us like "The Exorcist" did? Turns out it could. There are moments where entire theater audiences screamed out loud. People lined up to see it for a 3rd, 4th and more times. Posters, and t-shirts flew off the shelves, and the era of movie marketing was really born. Until "Star Wars" no film had so much movie related stuff selling. And, it still packs a wallop. They say it will, yet again, hit the theaters around the country and others will see what only a big screen can deliver. It is damn near a perfect action/thriller film. The performances, the visuals, everything is great. You cannot say too much about how good this one is, you just have to let someone see it uninterrupted. It is a treat.
- DirectorJerry ZuckerStarsPatrick SwayzeDemi MooreWhoopi GoldbergAfter a young man is murdered, his spirit stays behind to warn his lover of impending danger, with the help of a reluctant psychic.This one surprised everyone. It was supposed to be a little supernatural comedy with some romance thrown in, but it ended up being so much more. It became one of the great romance films of all time. It was a multiple Oscar nominee, with two wins (Whoopie Goldberg, it must be said, was really winning for the previous snub of "The Color Purple" but it was deserved anyway. Not to mention the one for screenplay) Two people are very much in love (Shown in the single hottest pottery scene ever put on film) and then one of them is murdered. Then the humor starts. When Sam (Patrick Swayze) tries to communicate with his love (Demi Moore) he ends up using the services of fake psychic Oda Mae Brown (Goldberg) it leads to some of the best ghostly fun since the original "Topper." The action is thrilling as well, all in all the film delivers on nearly every event it attempts to give us, and, thankfully, the threatened sequel was never done.
- 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.Yes, this is a movie that you may think you've seen too many times. It's on every year at Christmas time and you know all the lines. But, sometime set aside some time to watch it like a movie again. Not out of the corner of your eye while everything else is going on, while the family is getting things ready, while you're ready for "A Christmas Story" to start. Really watch it. When you see it under those circumstances it becomes something else. It becomes a masterpiece. A film that plumbs the depths of all of our emotions. We all have had dreams that may or may not have been realized. We all have seen those around us who seem to be getting everything they wanted, while we slave away just scraping by on a daily basis. But there are people we love. Those we have helped up when they were down, not because it made us money, but because it was the right thing to do. We are all George Bailey in our way. This film salutes and pays tribute to all of us. If you can watch this as a film, like the first time, I dare you not to have to wipe away a tear at some point that touches your own personal soul. Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra to the idea of the everyman and enshrined it on celluloid for all time. Sure it is hard to see that way, since it went into public domain for so long and TV stations could play it free and did so every year at Christmas, until it was coming out our ears. But, if you can divorce that experience and savor the movie for what it truly is, you may just find a new favorite.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsAustin StokerDarwin JostonLaurie ZimmerA Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.This film is the definition of Independent Film. Carpenter did the story, direction and music all himself. It is as mythic as a modern day Western, with the remainder of the good guys held in a fort and expected to hold until the end, because help is not coming. The chief good guy is new and he has to align himself with a really bad guy for everyone to survive. Sure, there was a remake, there was also a Japanese remake that never played here, so they say. You remake something because it was good and you want to start there. This is the story of a young black police officer who is given (probably as a joke) the job of being in charge of a closed precinct. This is his first day in charge of anything. What no one knows is that a kamikaze inter-racial street gang has marked that place as its target and that everyone there is going to die. The officer finds a single cop and a couple of female office assistants are all he has to work with, until a bus pulls up carrying two prisoner transfers. One is a notorious killer, about whom no one will talk because his crimes must be so heinous. There is also a prisoner who seems just thrown in for company. When the gang hits all hell, literally, breaks loose. This is nothing short of mythic and with that all the shortages in effects and manpower work for the film, not against it. This is just what every small to no budget film maker prays for - a nearly bullet proof piece. Just like Carpenter's "Halloween" is lumped in with so many slasher films, it is surprisingly bloodless. But, for action, it has all you could ask for, and then just a bit more. "Assault on Precinct 13" is nearly flawless independent movie making.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.There are great movies that are hard to watch, and yet you can't look away. It is like the reconstruction of a car crash. You see humanity at their most extremely honest and without any kind of filter. That is "Taxi Driver." This is not glossy in any way, nor is it meant to be. From teenage hookers to slowly going madder men who seek meaning in their corner of hell. The cab arriving in the mist, like a ghost from the nether world, is the most important image in the movie. You will never forget the people you meet here, as much as you might want to. You have seen people who could live in this world, and you get away from them as fast as you can because you don't want to be drawn into the hell they live every night. Think of this film as your chance to visit hell and then escape back to your world. It is not a vacation, but you will never forget the experience.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn RandolphJack KehoeAn honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.This was reality, as we rarely see it on the screen. A cop in New York fighting for his ideals, against odds that would have cut down any other warrior on any other battlefield. Pacino gives what for others might have been the performance of a lifetime, but for him it is just one of many. He brings the character to life in a way that is as uncomfortable as it is heroic. Frank Serpico is not a perfect man by any means, but he becomes a hero fighting to be the cop he got out of the Academy thinking he was going to be. When he gets there, he finds that the corruption is on such an epic scale as to talk just about anyone out of trying. It would be easier to give in or give up. But something, down deep inside this man will not allow him to do either. You might not want him as a friend, but this is the kind of guy you want on your police force. At a time when more than a few people do not trust the police, Frank Serpico was an example of what they could be, and should be, but shouldn't have to be. It is engrossing and never lets up for a minute. You feel like you bleed with him, and that's what film greatness is about, isn't it?
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsJohn BelushiDan AykroydCab CallowayJake Blues rejoins with his brother Elwood after being released from prison, but the duo has just days to reunite their old R&B band and save the Catholic home where the two were raised, outrunning the police as they tear through Chicago.Let us never mention the sequel. This film was a powerhouse at the box office, and well it should have been. If nothing else the music was a good as any film since "Woodstock." It was the ultimate summer fun blockbuster. It was the peak of John Landis' career, with Ackroyd and Belushi at the top of their form (no matter what the production problems were, and it is given that there would be great problems on this set) It would set the stage for a lot of films that would try to ride these coat tails. Put a lot of pop music together, introduce lots of car chases and star cameos and it should be a hit, right? No, this mix of all those elements was nearly impossible to match. When Spielberg is a cameo as the county clerk, you know something wonderful is going on here. (And yes, the Landis in joke is there too. If you don't know John Landis put a line from "2001" in as many films as he could. You can watch for it, next time you watch a Landis film. "See You Next Wednesday" is found about as often as Hitchcock made a cameo in his films. Here you have to watch for the billboard the police are hiding behind) It is almost impossible not to have a good time watching this film and that's a lot to say about any movie.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSteve McQueenJames GarnerRichard AttenboroughAllied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.This is the war movie for people who hate war movies. Based on a true story it tells of the Prison Camp supposed to be unbreakable. It was populated with every escape artist from camps all over Germany. There are escape attempts before everyone is even in the camp. The camp commander is not a martinet, he seems reasonable, unlike the Gestapo and SS people who deliver some of the prisoners, like "Big X" (played by Richard Attenborough) who then goes on to lead the underground organization that is going to break out, not 20 or 30 men, but 200 or 300. The preparation of the escape is like the training segments in fight films, you learn the characters and begin to care for them. You like the Americans two of whom are James Garner and Steve McQueen. You like the Polish digger, played by Charles Bronson. You even come to love the Forger played by Donald Pleasance. Everything seems to fall apart at one point, but they forge ahead and everything still seems impossible. But, like the heroes you now know them to be, they keep going. And then the escape happens and, while almost shut down at the last moment they send 80 or so men out. Then the focus of the film becomes who will get away. Few do. The shocking thing happens when they murder some of those they catch. From the first moment till the last the film will take you on one of the finest adventures every put on film.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJeff BridgesJohn GoodmanJulianne MooreJeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.There are few movies ever made that have as many fans as does this one. Deservedly so. It's premise is simple. Take a Philip Marlowe types story, now exchange the lead from a hard nosed film noir Private Eye, to a complete loser, devoid of any self awareness and all his habituate friends, and then the story plays out with completely new notes, all singing a Hallucinogenic Rock number. There is not a single miss fire in this arsenal of Whack-os, from the Off center Femme Fetal to the scheming tycoon with something to hide, to the gun wielding side kick and his totally lost buddy. From the moment "The Dude" (Jeff Bridges) comes on screen the film is his. Our viewpoint becomes clouded with the taste of White Russians and teh sound of bowling balls. John Goodman, it has to be said, has some stellar moments, as do Steve Bushemi, John Turturro and Philip Seymour Hoffman. And never for a minute can we forget the voice of History played by Sam Elliot. The Coen brothers have put together a parfait that can only be believed once it has been tasted.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsGene HackmanJohn CazaleAllen GarfieldA paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.You might say this came out when America was making the best foreign art films, the 1970's. Antonionni had moved to America and Francis Ford Coppola was just coming into his own. This film was something like the audio cousin of "Blow Up." A technician discovered what he thought was routine surveillance may be the doorway to a murder. This is the movie that followed up "The French Connection," and thereby insured the stardom of Gene Hackman. This proved that the actor, who had just come to the foreground from "Bonnie & Clyde" was a major performer. Coppola has his regular stable of dependable performers and they all are at their peaks. This is suspense in masterful style and will carry you along better than most car chases or gun battles. It is sad we have to short cut audiences because we think them dumb, when films like this can challenge them and come away winners.
- DirectorJustin HardyStarsJohn HurleyFreddie FindlaySebastian ArmestoA new student at a British public school forms a secret society centered around cooking and midnight feasting with other school misfits and outcasts.This may be a film that many of you has never heard of, but it is serendipity for those who know it. Boys in an English Boarding School under the tutelage of hard nosed masters (and if I tell you the head of the board is Christoper Lee, you understand just how hard nosed they can be!) Little comfort, especially for those who don't fit in. Then there comes a boy, one who really doesn't fit in. And they make his life a living hell. But they don't know his talent. He can cook. Not just cook, but create masterpiece food! Late at night, when everyone sleeps, he slips into the kitchen and cooks. Soon he has a few friends who find comradeship in the group who eats at midnight. To tell any more would be to give spoilers indeed, but I can tell you this is a little gem that you should not, under any circumstance, miss. And Mr. Lee's performance shows just how magnificent an actor he was capable of being.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.What more need you say about a film than several different re-edits were released to theaters and all of them were top box office for those weeks? This ultimate Anti-War/Vietnam film was born in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and sent dozens of people involved through the experiences of their lives during the filming. Over budget, heart attacks, monsoons, mental breakdowns and more were involved in making this film something that is beyond Hollywood to explain. Brando, Sheen, Hopper, Duvall, Fishburne and Coppola all thrown in a barrel and tossed over the falls until a masterpiece fell out. You've undoubtedly heard the story - Military sends hero to find insane officer who is building his own country out of the chaos of the war. But, to limit it to just that would be to ignore what it is. From "The Flight of the Valkeries" to "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" there are no words to aptly describe it. The one out "Gone with the WInd"s "Gone with the Wind." This is what big-budget epics were meant to be and more. Seeing this film will change you.
- DirectorBob ClarkStarsChristopher PlummerJames MasonDavid HemmingsSherlock Holmes investigates the murders commited by Jack the Ripper and discovers a conspiracy to protect the killer.The idea is as old as fiction. Take characters well known to the audience and mix them together and see what happens. In this case introduce the world's greatest detective to one of the most famous unsolved mysteries of his time. Sherlock Holmes never dealt with the case of Jack the Ripper during his initial run of stories. Oh, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was asked who he thought did it, and he said it might be a mad midwife (another film "A Study in Terror" dealt with that idea) but her is a flat out, committed to the genre Holmsean adventure that takes the Man of Baker Street and unravels new threads around the Stalker of White Chapel. Christoper Plummer may be one of my all time favorite Sherlock Holmes personages, with James Mason actually being one of my top two Watsons of all time (He has a marvelously Watsonian scene with the last pea on his plate that you won't forget) But. there is a full plate of adventure, politics, detection and emotion here that will make you viewing memorable. Do not expect this to be a light bit of fluff, this is full of soul and existing in a world of its own. Give it a try and you will be grateful of the ride.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJames StewartJohn WayneVera MilesA senator returns to a Western town for the funeral of an old friend and tells the story of his origins.For many in my generation this was their first John Wayne movie. Wayne was certainly not hip, and his Viet Nam views kept us away from the theaters in droves. We watched because of Jimmy Stewart. But this movie, discovered on TV was so powerful that it was undeniably too good to hate. It had all the John Ford classic touches. It had the stoic American western hero (John Wayne), the high idealed but torpic protaganist (James Stewart) and the woman who loves them both(Vera Miles). It also has one of the all time most evil villains ever put on the screen in the title character (Lee Marvin). It was the type of hero's journey that Joseph Campbell would have loved. It is about more than physical courage, it is about moral courage which is not as easy to talk about. If you remember nothing else about this film you must remember this quote: Ransom Stoddard: "You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?"
Maxwell Scott: "No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Well, sir, this is a legend worth the film it is printed on. - DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.Rarely, if ever, has there been a film composed of so much pure joy as this one. Every song and dance are a set piece, any other film would find itself treasured to have just that number among its menu. You can't name a segment that doesn't extol the power of musical comedy to its highest peak. Of course you cannot talk about this film without mentioning the title tune, and remembering that Gene Kelly had a high fever during the filming and that they had to wring out and dry his suits from take to take. Another point people don't know is that when we see scenes where Jean Hagen is being dubbed by Debbie Reynolds, while singing, it was actually Hagen doing the singing. The Hagen performance is one of the most under-rated acting jobs ever done by any actress at any time. Just as this film portrays the passing of the silent era and the early days of sound, it represents the soon to be passing of the studio musical film. It is a testament to what that genre could be, and that was something wonderful.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsRobert ClarkeMargaret FieldRaymond BondAs a mysterious planet hurls itself toward Earth, an enigmatic extraterrestrial scout arrives on a remote Scottish island with unknown intentions.This is a perfect example of the fact that you don't need a giant budget to get an atmospheric, affecting motion picture that carries a message and also just makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. This is a perfect example of the mixture of science fiction and horror of the classic era. Will you get big explosions? Nope. Will you get tentacled, oozing ocher monsters? None at all. But this story of a space vehicle, crashed on the Scottish moor, using his power to have the locals for forced labor around his ship, is all you could hope for as an adventure tale. The local man who decides to manipulate the alien to fit his own agenda has a lot to say about the scary side of humanity. All in all you couldn't ask much more of a little genre film than this one delivers, as long as special effects are not all that you are looking for, and if that's what you care about watch anything that came out in the 1990's junk science fiction flood.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaLinda DarnellVictor MatureAfter their cattle are stolen and their brother murdered, the Earp brothers have a score to settle with the Clanton family.Few incidents in human history have been filmed anywhere as many times as has the Gunfight at the Okay Corral, but this lyrical John Ford classic is one of the best. Henry Fonda's Wyatt Earp is never just a cowboy, he is a mythic figure, as are his enemies led by Walter Brennan. And no one can forget Victor Mature as an amazing vision of Doc Holiday. His fight for the Shakespearean Actor's right to do his performance is a highlight. This is the west as we sing about it, as we dream it was and the truth about it be damned. Earp and his brothers are more than Tombstone lawmen, they are heroes in the fashion of Hercules and King David (fighting Goliath). All the good in the world is here, the simple people, living today on breath at a time while trying to have a life in the old west. All the evil in the world is here also. The Clantons are not human, they are avaricious things, destroying all the things that are good, not just to take what they want, but because they live to destroy. This is the tale of the American West that made these films the view of America around the world. No one did this myth making better than John Ford. He was America's Homer.
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouMathieu KassovitzRufusDespite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.We think of French films as sober, thought provoking, sometimes romantic but always tinged with melancholy. That is not this film. This is the story of a girl who is fantastically sweet, but removed from dealing with the real world. She has a father who will not live, just exists, since his wife died. She works at a coffee shop with people who are stuck in dead end relationships or no relationships and an inability to see anything beyond the end of their noses. Then she happens to find a box, hidden in her wall. It is obviously a small boy's treasures, but they have been there for decades. She decides to try to reunite the box with the boy. Not directly, she doesn't have that ability, she cannot do that. She also decides that if it can be done and is a good thing she will become a mover in creating joy in others' lives. What follows is one of the most joyous, marvelous romps, always in incredible style, that has ever been put on the screen. You will also see the idea that spawn hundreds of TV commercials. If you are not charmed by this film you might just as well give up.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.I talk a lot of the great movies that saved their studios, well this is one of those. Along with the Bela Lugosi "Dracula" this film, in its initial release and several re-releases over the years, dragged Universal out of the doldrums and set them up to make lots of money. All those great Universal films of the 30's and forties and fifties might not have been made if this masterpiece hadn't be released again and again and continued to make barrels of money for the studio. It also opened the door for a series of film sequels that kept the studio afloat. The film in itself is nothing less that about as good as commercial cinema gets. Colin Clive, Boris Karloff, Dwight Frye and all the rest put in legendary performances that would forever tell us what this story was about. All other Frankenstein films tried to tell us the real story, but it is this vision that would over shadow them all. When someone says "Frankenstein monster" you see Jack Pierce's make-up on Karloff. That's it. There's a reason for that. It is, without a doubt, the most mythic realization of a story that one could ask for, whether it is what Mary Shelley wrote or not. The atmosphere, the music and sometimes lack thereof all work to make a film that, once seen, cannot be forgotten. You've seen it. You can picture it at this very second. Go ahead, give in, go slip that DVD in the machine. Why wait for Halloween. "Frankenstein" is eternal.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsHarrison FordRutger HauerSean YoungA blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.Ridley Scott created the ultimate Film Noir/Science Fiction/Dystopian Future film back in 1982, when he foresaw work androids becoming sentient and wanting to overwrite the planned obsolescence in their programing, before they shut down and in essence died. They wanted what any of us wanted, to live. This battle for the human right to stay the top of the food chain even though they tried to hold back a possibly superior species, is at the heart of this film. It is really what science fiction does best, taking a hard issue and putting it in terms people can more easily deal with. These artificial life forms are wanting their equality and we, through the film, can see how worthy they are of it. Ridley Scott actually made an A.I. Civil Rights movie. Why should anyone, what ever they look like, however they came to be, not have the right to be what they have the potential to be? Even Harrison Ford (as Hard Boiled Detective Rick Deckard) comes to understand. But it is Rutger Hauer, as the instigator of the rebellion whose words will stay with us for a long time after. "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die." This is one of the truly great films, not just a great Science Fiction film, but one of the greatest films ever. Period.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandLionel AtwillAfter treating a Monmouth rebel against King James II in 1680s England, a young Irish doctor is exiled as a slave to Jamaica where he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the most feared pirate of the Caribbean.Every few years we see a resurgence in "The Pirate Film." The silent era had "The Black Pirate" with Douglas Fairbanks as its high point, lately audiences have thrilled at Johnny Depp's swashbuckling. But for the 1940's the genre was said in one man's name - Errol Flynn. A great author could be said to have defined what action on the high seas was about - Raphel Sabatini. And together they joined to give us not only "The Sea Hawk" (a great film on its own) but the greatest pirate film ever made, "Captain Blood." A country doctor (who has gotten his adventuring days out of the way by fighting in foreign wars and on foreign warships long before this film began) is drawn into the revolution against English tyrant king James. He is drawn in, not by fighting the king, but by living up to his Hippocratic oath and treating a man who was injured. Unfortunately for him that man was a rebel. For that Blood is about to be hanged. Until someone sells the king on the idea of selling those rebel captives to slave-owners in the Carri bean. So ship loads of English and Irish rebels are dumped on plantations to work themselves to death. When they revolt and steal a ship they become Pirates and again war on the evil king. What happens then is as good as romantic adventure gets. This is what every action film hopes to be.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeMichael GoughWhen Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.Here is the film that ushered in the "Hammer Age of Horror." (BTW: It was just called "Dracula" during it's European release) It was as mythic as the Universal Age, but in color. And, therefore, toned with a lot more red. But Lee and Cushing stood side by side with Price and Lorre and Lugosi and Karloff. The opening is great, but the ending is so good they had to repeat it into the sequel. Lee and Cushing's stand off in Castle Dracula still stands the test of time. Lee is so mighty standing, eyes ablaze, as the king of vampires, against Cushing as Van Helsing, powered only with knowledge and conviction of right. They are a powerful pair, and thought "Curse of Frankenstein" was great, this was the film that turned the corner for the house of Hammer. It was on this pivot that over a decade of films became a legacy. If you see no other Hammer movie, this is the one to see.
- DirectorClyde GeronimiWilfred JacksonHamilton LuskeStarsIlene WoodsJames MacDonaldEleanor AudleyWhen Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq and from her Fairy Godmother.This film came out the year I was born. So I didn't see it until its first re-release in 1957. It was the first film I saw in an honest to gosh movie theater. Wrapped in the cloak of velvet darkness, alone for the first time in the world, my attention was rapt upon the screen. Did I care about the girl and her prince? Not in the least. But the mice...ah, now they I loved. Jacques and Gus and their friends, they were the film for me. I didn't have any idea about the damage on females in the audience and their self-esteem, that I figured out later.What I cared about was that those industrious workers were rewarded in their labors. If Cinderella got the guy then the mice would celebrate. That was the whole film to me. I never understood if anyone else cheered for who I was cheering for, but that didn't matter, no one else was involved. The movie in that theater was there for me alone. That was the beginning of my love for the great movie theaters. It still is today. See it in the theater, if you can. It is a whole different thing. They all are.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsDavid HemmingsVanessa RedgraveSarah MilesA fashion photographer unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park.This is the perfect film to illustrate what the 1960's were about. Visually, contextually this is that era, put onto film cans. It is an art film, a mystery, a black comedy, a sex romp and all without committing to any one style. When it is over you will still be wondering, "What just happened?" A photographer, the image of Carnaby Street and the hip Britain of the day, notices something in the background of one of his photos that might be an involvement in murder. He keeps trying to blow up the image and get proof, all the while never slowing in his personal explosive lifestyle. Youth is all that is important, right? What about truth? What about taking responsibility? It is hard to tie anything down, but then, what is the worth in life? This is a film you have to see more than once and it will not let you down. It will be just the same roller coaster the first time and the last.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGregory PeckAudrey HepburnEddie AlbertA bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.This was Audrey Hepburn's breakthrough, first American role. Pairing her with Gregory Peck was an inspired bit of casting, they were both all angles and hesitation, but she was princess and finding life, he was reporter and weary. Together they discovered life and love and took us along on the ride to see what youth and happiness could be. If you are a fan of either of these performers, Eddie Albert or director William Wyler, or just want to look at the world afresh all over again, then this is a movie that will call to your jaded soul and dip it into a refreshing pool and bring you spirit up for a breath of fresh air. BTW: Though not given credit at the time, blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo brought this script to life and he should be celebrated also. Here is a man whose life has been nearly destroyed by the most cynical forces on Earth who can bring joy and life-affirming charm to us anonymously with the force that should make all of us smile and hope again.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.This is a personal favorite of mine. Steinbeck's most provocative, controversial, mind altering and emotionally powerful novel brought with 100% of its soul intact to the screen. John Ford had to film in the real world and sneak around to avoid those who thought the book was "Commie inspired" to get it done. The cast, including Henry Fonda and Oscar-winning Jane Darwell, not to mention small roles for John Carradine and John Qualen are all at the top of their games. Carradine's washed up preacher and Qualen's "Muley" are examples of people that the world has chewed up and spit out. The family is all that the Joad clan has left after they are thrown off their share-cropping farm at the height of the dust bowl, but they are determined to get that family to the better days of California. When they get there they find that they have once again been manipulated by greedy men along the way. It embodies the anger that was at the heart of America during the depression, but it shows something even more important. It lets us see the indomitable spirit of human spirit. And in one of the most memorable last lines in any film, ever, Ma Joad says, "Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people." Amen.