Not Going to Make It

Unfortunately, I'm not going to make the challenge of 31 Movies in 31 Days. I've got a list of films to write up -- ones that I've even taken notes on! But I'm just tired and not really feeling like writing twelve movie reviews tonight. I've got the long Labor Day weekend, and I'll catch up before Monday is over! The August challenge will be met -- it'll just be early September. Yeah.

But for further temptation of goodies to come -- a list of movies I have notes and intentions of watching! There will also (hopefully!) be pictures, as I've been trying to add the image component to the blog through ImageShack.

The list --

20. A Stolen Life
21. Captain Blood
22. Santa Fe Trail
23. Dodge City
24. The Petrified Forest
25. Wife Vs. Secretary
26. Jezebel
27. The Shopworn Angel
28. Take Me Out to the Ballgame
29. Thrill of a Romance
30. Top Hat
31. Swing Time

I actually taped way over thirty-one movies this month -- TCM just showed too many good ones! -- but I'll save those for later. I've got a couple of books to write up as well -- August has been a busy month for me, both with movies and real life events!

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

19. They Drive By Night

I wasn’t sure that I was going to like this movie -- the story of two brothers who are truckers didn’t sound like it would be interesting. Boy, was I wrong! They Drive By Night is a really entertaining movie, with some suspense and humor, and tells the tale of independent truckers in the days before semis ruled the road.

George Raft, Ann Sheridan, and Humphrey Bogart chat in the roadside cafe.

The two brothers, Paul (Humphrey Bogart) and Joe (George Raft) Fabrini are independent truckers. They are barely scraping by and owe quite a bit on their truck, but they are managing to still drive their truck. The brothers have to stop at a roadside café to replace their wheel and end up flirting with their waitress ("Nice chassis, eh Joe?" "Classy chassis."). The boys end up picking up a hitchhiker -- Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan), the waitress from the café and taking her into Los Angeles. But before they get into LA, the trucker in front of them falls asleep at the wheel and rolls off an embankment and catches fire! Paul is pretty traumatized by it, and Joe drops him off at his home. Joe takes Cassie into LA and rents a room for her for a week. He puts the moves on her, but ends up falling asleep in her bed.

George Raft (notice the weird eyebrows!) and Ann Sheridan drive off.

The next day, Joe is looking for a load to haul and finds Ed Carlson (Alan Hale), an ex-trucker who has managed to start his own trucking company, just as Joe aspires to. Ed’s wife Lana (Ida Lupino) had a thing for Joe, and apparently still holds a torch for him. The Carlsons offer Joe a job, but he wants to keep trying at the independent trucking business until it fails. Ed helps out Joe by giving him info on a load of lemons that he can buy outright and then sell to the markets.

Paul is upset about buying the lemons, and the scene where Joe and the marketer are bargaining over the price is hilarious. The Fabrini brothers finally have some cash, and manage to pay off their truck and appear to be on their way to independent trucking! But while Paul is driving (by night!) he falls asleep and the truck goes off an embankment. Joe is thrown free of the truck, but Paul goes down with the truck and loses his arm.

In order to take care of Paul and his wife, Joe goes to work for Ed Carlson. But he doesn’t have to be a trucker any more -- Lana makes sure that he gets a job in the garage! Joe tries to keep Lana in line by calling her Mrs. Carlson all the time, but he still has to go to the Carlson’s anniversary party. Lana, of course, is upset that Joe wants to leave early, and becomes even more agitated when her husband continues to become more crass and drunk. She finally gets the idea to leave him in the garage with the motor engine running -- she breaks the beam that causes the automatic garage door to go down in a defiant gesture.

Lana makes her husband’s death out to be an accident, and everyone buys it, including the district attorney. She makes Joe her partner in the trucking business, claiming that she couldn’t run it herself. Lana expects Joe to marry her, and is really upset when Cassie shows up at the garage. She tells him: "I’m the one who made you into the man you are now -- you belong with me and you’re staying with me! ... You’re mine and I’m hanging on to you. I’ve committed murder for you! You made me murder Ed!"

Since Lana can’t have Joe, she goes to the district attorney and tells him that Joe made her murder Ed in order to get the trucking business. After the murder, Lana has a phobia of the automatic garage door openers, and can’t stand to go through any of the automatic doors. While testifying at Joe’s trial, she goes crazy and says that the doors made her do it! Naturally, Joe manages to go free and even stays with the trucking company.

I didn’t expect to like They Drive By Night at all, but it was really funny and fun. Bogart has a smaller role, but his sarcastic remarks are great. George Raft is a different kind of leading man -- he looks like he is wearing makeup or something -- maybe it’s his eyebrows? I love, love, love Alan Hale -- he is perfect as the lower-class man who's done good and has no idea how to class things up. Ida Lupino is spectacular as the bitchy Lana, and her breakdown is really convincing. I can see why this is a cult classic!

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

18. The Major and the Minor

The Major and the Minor is one of my favorite films, despite the completely ridiculous premise.

Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) is a girl from Iowa trying to make it in New York City. After a year and a lot of jobs, she decides to move back to Iowa and marry the man waiting for her. She has to take the train back to Stevenson, Iowa, but the fare has gone up and she has to pose as a twelve year-old in order to pay her way, thus becoming the title's "minor." While thwarting the suspicious conductors, she ends up in the drawing room of Major Kirby (Ray Milland) who buys her as a twelve year-old and takes her in for the night.

The next morning Sue-Sue (the childish name Susan takes on for her minor persona) is found by Major Kirby's fiance, and she ends up coming back to the military school with him to prove that he wasn't cheating on his fiance. So Sue-Sue spends a few days at the military academy fraternizing with the cadets. The fiance's sister catches on to Sue-Sue's deception (the only person to do so!) and blackmails her into helping get Major Kirby into active service. Sue-Sue eventually falls in love with Major Kirby, but the fiance finds out that she's an adult and sends her back to Stevenson before she can tell Major Kirby about her deception.

The film ends with Major Kirby stopping in Stevenson to drop off a tadpole for Sue-Sue. Susan poses as her mother and amazes Major Kirby with her similarity to little Sue-Sue. Then Susan shows up at the train station where Major Kirby finally realizes that Sue-Sue and Susan are the same girl. There's a big kiss and the end!

The Major and the Minor was Billy Wilder's first film, and it's really quite a delightful comedy. Ginger Rogers is surprisingly convincing as a twelve year-old, despite the fact that she was thirty at the time. (Maybe it's her shiny fresh-scrubbed appearance!) Ray Milland is a great Major and I love his exercises for his "bum eye."

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

17. The Trouble With Harry

Speaking of working my way through the Hitchcock ouevre, I do really enjoy The Trouble With Harry. It's not a typical Hitchcock film -- definitely more gentle and less suspenseful. It's also a very beautifully shot film; it would be hard to make New England in the fall look bad.

The problem is that Harry is dead. He's in a clearing where all the characters in the film happen upon him, and think that they killed him. The Captain (Edmund Gwenn) is the first adult to happen upon the body in the clearing -- and then Miss Ivy (Mildred Natwick) sees him with Harry. The Captain takes the blame for the death -- he had been shooting and apparently hit the man. Later, the local artist, Sam Marlowe (John Forsyte) finds Harry's body and makes a sketch of the man's face.

Sam helps the Captain bury Harry, and then dig him back up. They eventually find out that Harry is Jennifer Roger's (Shirley MacLaine) husband. There is a lot of digging up and reburying of Harry and eventually Harry ends up back at Jennifer's house.

The two couples end up falling love -- the Captain and Miss Ivy and John and Jennifer. John also sells his modern paintings for no money, but rather gifts for everyone.

Eventually, they get a doctor in to look at Harry and discover that he died of natural causes -- all of their burying and reburying was for nothing.

My recapping of the plot doesn't make a lot of sense, I realize, but it's really quite a charming film. It's not spectacular, but a very enjoyable comedy with a dark twist. It's one of Hitchcock's lesser films, but very enjoyable as a minor classic.

A few notes: it's Shirley MacLaine's first movie and she is excellent and adorable and makes me want to be the cute quirky girl. She's definitely inspired many actresses. I also did not realize that John Forsyte was the actor who was the voice of Charlie from Charlie's Angels!

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

16. The Man Who Knew Too Much

I love Alfred Hitchcock's films, but this is definitely one I won't seek out again. The Man Who Knew Too Much is actually a remake of a previous Hitchcock film, and stars Doris Day and James Stewart as the man who knew too much.

The plot is kind of interesting -- the McKennas (Stewart and Day) are on vacation in Morocco with their son Hank. They wind up talking with a man on the bus ride who will later die in the marketplace after passing some secret information on to Dr. McKenna. This information will cause the family all of their problems, and their son Hank will be kidnapped to keep them from sharing the info about the assassination attempt in London.

After thwarting the authorities in Morocco, the McKennas go back to London, where Jo had had a successful career on the stage, to find their son. Their search becomes more desperate and despite some problems finding the right Ambrose Chapel (it's not a man but a place), they manage to put the clues together and stop the assassination attempt in Albert Hall. They later find the kid through singing "Que Sera, Sera" and everyone ends up safe and happy.

The Man Who Knew Too Much, to me at least, wasn't as much fun as Hitchcock's films usually are. I'm more of a fan of the ones that have single male protaganists, and having Day in the film -- along with her song "Que Sera, Sera" -- just wasn't as fun as the Jimmy Stewart-Hitchcock films had been. (With the exception of Vertigo, which is just seriously a weird film, no matter how critically praised.) Oh well, at least I'm working my way through the Hitchcock ouevre!

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

15. Julie

Julie is probably Doris Day's worst movie (although I should qualify this by saying that I haven't seen that many of her films, although twelve out of forty isn't too bad!), and a relict of its time -- 1956. Julie also features Louis Jourdan as her husband Lyle (although I totally thought his name was Lionel!) and Barry Sullivan (who I hadn't heard of before, but he was in Grounds for Marriage with Van Johnson and Kathryn Grayson) as Julie's dead husband's friend.

Julie starts out with a bang -- Julie is running out on a party with Lyle following close behind. Lyle gets jealous easily, and when Julie was talking to a man for a little bit, he made some kind of scene. They both get into the car, with Julie driving. Their argument continues, and escalates to the point where Julie threatens to leave Lyle. Lyle won't take these kinds of idle threats, and he jams his foot onto the accelerator and the car takes off like a shot, careening around the bends of the highway as Julie frantically tries to keep the car on the road. Eventually the car spins out, and Julie takes back her threat.

Lyle's jealous continues to escalate, and eventually Julie ends up talking to Cliff, her dead husband's friend, about how odd Lyle has been acting. Cliff brings up his suspicions that Lyle may have caused her dead husband's suicide -- the dead husband had just gotten a loan, which disproved the police's theory that he killed himself because of bad finances. Julie becomes suspicious herself, and decides to talk to Lyle about that very evening.

So she brings up the jealous issues with Lyle, and while he doesn't admit to killing her first husband, he doesn't rule it out. Why she decided to ask him as they were going to bed, I don't know, but Julie has to spend the night with him rather terrified that he's going to kill her.

The next morning she pretends that she's out of eggs and cream, so she has to make a trip to town. Eventually Julie ends up sending Lyle over to the neighbor's to borrow the supplies -- she thinks that this will give her enough time to pack a bag and hit the road. Lyle, like any good psychotic person, anticipates this and takes something out of the car. The car won't start, so Julie hitchhikes into town.

She runs away into the town and tells the police all about how she suspects her new husband may have killed her first husband. They can't do anything -- there's the whole problem of a wife testifying against a husband (which I totally saw coming from watching lots of Law & Order). Eventually Julie manages to get out of town with the help of Cliff, and she checks into a hotel under an assumed name. Lyle continues to track her down -- he's crazy like a fox! The police aren't much help for Julie -- they suggest changing her name and running away. One of them even says that a lot of these lovesick guys would rather kill their wives than let them go -- what comfort is that!

Julie gets back her old job as an airline stewardess and begins flying cross country. Lyle figures this out and gets on one of her flights with a revolver! She finally realizes that he's on the flight (she recognizes the back of his head) and ends up conferencing with the pilots up front. Lyle breaks into the cockpit and winds up shooting the pilot, who shoots back. "You made a mistake, Julie. I told you you made a mistake." Then Lyle shoots the co-pilot and dies. This is when the movie goes from being a stalker film into an airline thriller.

Will Julie be able to land the plane? She has to follow the orders but manages to fly the plane back to San Francisco where they have precision radar! (Unlike the other airports with their unprecise radar.) She lands the plane, and everyone rushes out to meet her. The end.

Julie is definitely a film to avoid. I love Louis Jourdan, even if he isn't the best actor, but this was a definite low for him and Day! The best part is the movie's tag line (according to the IMDb) -- "Run JULIE Run, Run For Your Life!"

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

14. Easy to Love

Not quite half-way through the 31 Movies in 31 Days challenge, but I've got a nice backlog to write up by Tuesday night.

And despite going on a bit of a holiday this weekend, I managed to watch Easy to Love this morning. The film is Esther Williams and Van Johnson's last outing together and a not-so-great film either. I have seen a few of their films together (Duchess of Idaho and Easy to Wed), and all of them were better than this outing.

I didn't watch it real carefully, but I don't think I missed much. The basic story: Ray (Johnson) owns the Cypress Gardens which showcases Julie (Williams) as the star of the watershows. She swims, skis, and types for a mere seventy-five dollars a week! Ray ends up taking Julie to New York where she poses for a variety of ads and winds up being courted by Barry Gordon (Tony Martin), a nightclub singer. Julie likes the attention, but she's really in love with her boss, and despite being offered a great job in an Aquacade in New York (did they seriously do water shows in NYC back then?), she goes back to Florida. After Barry sings a lot and Julie swims and skis, there are a variety of romantic complications, but eventually Julie and Ray declare their love and all ends happily.

It's too bad that Van and Esther had to go out with such a crappy film. There is little romantic tension between the two of them, and the film focuses more on Julie dating Barry than why she would love Ray. I guess back in the early '50s it was okay to think that the boss is irresistable, and that every woman wants to marry their boss. If you want to see a movie where Esther and Van are at the top of their game, go rent Easy to Wed. It's definitely not as good as the film it's based on (Libeled Lady), but Esther and Van have more chemistry, as well as a great supporting cast (Keenan Wynn and Lucille Ball).

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge ; Van Johnson

Happy (Belated) Birthday

I can't believe I forgot his, but yesterday was Van Johnson's 88th Birthday.

So here's an picture of Van that I got from the V-Jo list-serv I joined. (Yes, people still do care about him!) Enjoy him in all his boy-next-door glory.

Sadly, Van didn't make the cut in TCM's Summer Under the Stars, but you can catch him with co-star favorite Esther Williams. Three great Van-Esther movies are being shown on August 30 -- including one of my favorites, Duchess of Idaho as well as two I haven't seen, Easy to Love and Thrill of a Romance. Next Monday is a great day for Van watching!

FILE UNDER: Van Johnson

When Stars Refuse to Die

I have to report on this commercial that I saw for Garden State Life Insurance. Mickey and Jan Rooney were shilling for the insurance company. But the oddest part is that Jan is the one doing all the talking! I mean, seriously, what is she known for? What are they billing her as in the commercial? Mickey Rooney's wife! C'mon, I wanna see the Mickster hawk that insurance. I mean, he's eighty-three and still cares about life insurance!

As I searched online to confirm this rumor, I found an article in New York Magazine all about the two of them and how they're putting on a show entitled (fittingly!) Let's Put on a Show. It's playing in New York until September 12. It would be a great opportunity to meet -- or at least see -- the actor that helped me get "into" classic movies. Hmmmm....

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

13. Blackboard Jungle

Blackboard Jungle is a film that I had heard about before seeing it. It’s mostly notable for being the first movie to feature rock 'n' roll music during the credits -- "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets. Sadly, the song doesn’t have the same impact as it must have back then -- after being used the theme song for Happy Days and just being a part of the '50s rock and roll scene, it just doesn’t have the same rebelliousness that it must have originally.

Blackboard Jungle stars Glenn Ford as Mr. Dadier (Dah-dee-eeeh), a brand new teacher at a troubled school in New York City. (Nowadays, we’d call it an inner city school, but the label doesn’t really fit this situation.) The movie starts with the beginning of the school year as Dadier begins his first year teaching English. The class breaks him in, including the famous scene with the baseball smashing into the blackboard. The class includes a variety of now-famous stars, including Sidney Poitier as Miller and Jamie Farr (credited as Jameel Farah) as Santini. The teachers are very jaded about teaching, and treat their students cynically.

The school year doesn’t start out well, as Dadier and the new math teacher are jumped in an alley. (I know they were drinking, but seriously, what were they thinking, taking a shortcut through an alley!) The math teacher later brings in his collection of swing records to play for his class, and winds up with broken records and player.

Dadier tries to maintain a sense of optimism about the kids, but later, when his wife goes into labor prematurely, possibly because she has been receiving letters about an affair her husband is supposedly having with another teacher.

The big final scene is quite memorable -- a leader of the gang decides to pull a knife on Dadier, but can’t manage to fight him. His gang decides not to join him in fighting the teacher, and the class manages to help Dadier fight off the assailants. In the end, Dadier and Miller walk out of school together, both deciding to stay at the school.

Blackboard Jungle is pretty dated and definitely has a 1950s feel to it. Honestly, after hearing about the state of inner-city schools now, it seems as though the problems of the 1950s were almost quaint. But at the same time, it still has a valid message: that kids need to have some optimism in their lives, and that teachers need to be tough on their students, especially in an urban setting.

I haven’t seen many movies with Sidney Poitier, but I really enjoyed him in this. I was surprised that he didn’t get higher billing, but this was definitely a step up for his career. Glenn, as always, did a great job playing the conflicted hero, and really made the movie for me.

One more reason to watch Blackboard Jungle: to see the great fashions of the 1950s for teenagers. Unfortunately, it’s an all-boys school, but to see how they dressed casually and some what more formally is kind of interesting.

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

12. The Last Time I Saw Paris

I haven't been slacking as much on the "TCM 31 Movies in 31 Days Challenge" as it would seem. I've got notes on nine or ten movies at home that I have yet to write up. The problem is getting from my handwritten notes to translate into a review online. So, the only thing I can do is continue onward with a review.

The Last Time I Saw Paris is notable (to me at least!) as one of Van Johnson's films, and this one also features Elizabeth Taylor (she gets top billing), Walter Pidgeon, and Donna Reed. The Last Time I Saw Paris is also notable for including Roger Moore's American film debut and Eva Gabor in a cameo. It's based on the short story "Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, only it's revised to be set after WWII instead of WWI.

The film starts on V-E Day in Paris and Charles Wills (Johnson) ends up being invited to a celebratory party by a girl he meets in a bar (Donna Reed). She's interested in him, but once Charles gets to the party, he has eyes only for her sister Helen (Taylor) whom he had kissed earlier in the square. Charles ends up funding an ill-conceived bet that their father (Walter Pidgeon) is convinced will pay off. It does, and the family has money again -- they live well but can't fund it.

Eventually Helen and Charles get married and have an adorable baby. Charles works for a newspaper in Paris and writes his great American novel at night. He gets a lot of rejection letters, but later, their Texas oil leases pay off and the family is flush with cash. Charles quits his job to write full-time. The whole family takes up partying as a career, and Charles drinks too much. Things go wrong with their marriage, and eventually Charles passes out on the stairs after locking the door and poor Helen catches her death of cold. Charles realizes that he needs to pull things together, mostly for his daughter's sake, and leaves the daughter in the care of Helen's sister. He comes back at the end of the film, much to the sister's resentment, and ends up getting his girl back. Fin.

I actually didn't watch this one on TCM because I found a cheapie DVD set featuring three Elizabeth Taylor movies. (The other two are Life with Father and Father's Little Dividend. I haven't gotten around to watching either of them.)

I thought that both Johnson and Taylor were miscast -- and I honestly thought Johnson and Reed had more chemistry together. Johnson's scenes with his daughter are very tender, and really help establish the heart of his character -- but with his wife -- not so much. It's surprising because Elizabeth Taylor is gorgeous, but she just doesn't seem to fit the character.

Van-related gossip: apparently he and many of his contemporaries were disappointed that he wasn't nominated for an Oscar for this film, or so says his biography. Considered by some to be one of his best roles -- I'm not totally convinced, but part of that might be the fact that his character is supposed to be from Milwaukee and he does not sound Midwest at all. This was his last film under his MGM contract -- Johnson did go back to MGM as a freelancer.

Also, from the reviews I read of this, this was a real career builder for Elizabeth Taylor. I'm not sure that she's fantastic -- the lack of chemistry between the two can't all be his fault -- and she never really had me convinced that she was fully the character. I felt like it should have been someone more delicate, some one like Daisy Buchanan or Zelda (to mix F. Scott Fitzgerald associates both factual and fictional). At the end, Helen dies of pneumonia and I didn't really feel like she was sick. She certainly didn't look like someone who was going to die!

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge ; Van Johnson

11. Rear Window

I've seen Rear Window many times -- for a couple of classes and on my own, and I even have it on DVD. But the first time I saw it was back in high school or middle school. I got a copy of the movie from the library and watched it one evening with my parents. We watched it in the basement -- so it must have been middle school, before we got central air. It made quite an impression on me -- a murder in the backyard capped off by a dramatic stand-off at the end. And Raymond Burr as the stereotypical Swede -- Lars Thorwald.

Since going to college, I learned about how Rear Window works as a commentary on voyeurism. The film is all about Jeff's forced preoccupation with his neighbor's windows. And yet there is us, the movie watchers, watching the watchers watch the neighbors. There is some theorist -- Lacan, maybe? -- who has theories about the gaze. It's pretty interesting stuff, but somehow I do like enjoying the film as a film instead of an entity to be analyzed.

The plot of Rear Window is one of Alfred Hitchcock's best and it's probably my second favorite of his films. (North by Northwest is definitely my favorite. You can't go wrong with a good cross-country chase.) L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) has been laid up with a broken leg in the heat of New York City. He doesn't have anything to do to entertain himself, so eventually Jeff resorts to watching his neighbors out the rear window. One night, as Jeff dozes in and out of sleep, he sees the salesman (Burr) acting suspiciously. The next morning, the salesman's wife is no where to be found. Jeff investigates the murder from his apartment with the assistance of his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) and his insurance nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter). Initially everyone is skeptical of Jeff's claims, but eventually Jeff manages to win everyone over to his side. Thorwald eventually finds out that Jeff is investigating him and the film ends with Thorwald entering Jeff's apartment and threatening him.

Rear Window is one of the great movies, and offers so much for analysis -- Jeff and Lisa's relationship, voyeurism and "the gaze," the various neighbors, the theatricality of the film with the raising of the curtain/window shades at the beginning and end, etc. It also holds up as a very suspenseful movie -- very classy compared to the thrillers put out now.

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

10. Bell, Book, and Candle

It’s James Stewart day today on TCM, and I was excited to see that Bell, Book, and Candle was showing this morning. I remembered reading about the film in the Baby-Sitters Club books. As I remember, one of the girls (Dawn, I think) was a big fan of the movie and she mentioned it a couple of times. So I made sure that my cleaning was done by the time the movie started at eleven, and boy, was I disappointed! I do love Jimmy Stewart, and he’s looking a little older but still cute. But Kim Novack! Blech. It’s based on a play, so it seems a bit theatrical in a manner. But her witch is just so odd. Basically, I wouldn’t recommend wasting the time on the movie.

FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge

Garden State

I saw Garden State tonight. I was really excited about it because of Zach Braff. I’m such a fan of Scrubs, and he seems so different than the up and coming stars of today. It wasn’t exactly what I expected, and yet it was at the same time.

I had heard it described as The Graduate for Generation X and I think that description is fitting, especially because of its use of music. Perhaps not as plot driven as The Graduate, but Garden State conveyed the same kind of alienation that young people feel.

The plot is simple: Andrew Largeman (Braff) comes home from LA to New Jersey for his mother’s funeral. He has been on some sort of medication to stop his depression since he was ten -- prescribed by his psychiatrist who is also his father (Ian Holm). But Andrew has left his medication back in LA and he finally begins to feel for the first time in a long time.

While at home for the few days, he parties with his high school friends -- one is a gravedigger (Peter Sarsgaard) and the other a millionaire from inventing a silent Velcro. Andrew also meets Sam (Natalie Portman), an epileptic and liar, at the doctor’s office and they begin a friendship. The film follows their interactions as they begin to fall in love. Andrew also deals with the alienation from his father which has caused him to stay away from New Jersey for the past nine years.

There aren’t a lot of events in the film, but it really conveyed the feeling of how Andrew is feeling -- his transition from a medicated numbness to being able to feel again.

One personal feeling that it brought up is the question of what is normal. Has the medicating of America changed the standard of normalcy? Is being comfortably numb easier than really feeling? I think Andrew would say no, especially after spending time back in the Garden State.

FILE UNDER: Modern Film

Movie Notes

I've got notes on five movies waiting to be written up this weekend. Yes, I know that I am way behind on my thirty-one movies in thirty-one days challenge. But once I write up those four, I'll be up to 13 -- just seven more to go! Yeah, yeah. I've got quite a movies taped to watch over the weekend (and take notes), and since I'm kitty-sitting again, I should have time to be insane. Plus Peter Sellers is the star today and Olivia de Havilland is the star on Sunday. I'm not so into their films -- although I have the option now of writing up a review of Gone With the Wind. Yeah.

Just wait until Esther Williams shows up at the end of the month -- there will be lots of her films watched 'cuz they're showing two of her movies that I haven't seen co-starring (you guessed it!) Van Johnson.

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

Seven Degrees of...

Kevin Bacon, of course.

And I've been rocking out this afternoon playing with the University of Virginia's Star Links. That one will link any stars together. So far I've been mostly using (you guessed it!) Van Johnson, but it's pretty cool.

And surprisingly, there is only two degrees of separation between Johnson and Bacon -- I think the fact that Van was in The Purple Rose of Cairo really helps him link it up. The X-factor between Johnson and Bacon -- John Rothman who was in The Purple Rose of Cairo with Johnson and Picture Perfect with Bacon.

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

I was a male Doris Day

Yes, Van Johnson really did, in retrospect, call himself the male Doris Day. And in many ways he was, although not as virginal as Doris, he was the awkward heart-throb of the bobby soxers during the '40s and early '50s.

One of the many movie magazines to feature Van on the cover -- isn't he quite the outdoorsy type with his plaid shirt?

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I recently read Van Johnson: MGM’s Golden Boy, which is a part of the Hollywood Legends Series published by the University Press of Mississippi. Ronald L. Davis, history professor at Southern Methodist University and general editor of the series, wrote the book which, according to the book flap, is “thoroughly researched biography [that] traces the career and influence of a favorite star and narrates a fascinating, sometimes troubled life story.”

I must say, I did not find the novel to appear thoroughly researched. Davis was unable to get an interview with Johnson, so he relies mostly on interviews with people from Johnson’s social circle -- his ex-wife Evie, his ex-stepsons, and a variety of other Hollywood types. What he isn’t able to get from these interviews, Davis uses a lot of movie magazines to extrapolate interesting conclusions. The book is also only 226 pages long, which isn’t quite long enough for an in-depth look but a little too short for something more shallow.

What did the book reveal? A basic outline of Johnson’s life, as well as some speculation about his sexual preferences and why he remained immature throughout most of his life, mostly from his mother deserting his father and him and being coddled by MGM (pop psychological analysis at its finest!). I learned that red socks are Johnson’s trademark, and that he wore them to spark casual banter. (Although what kind of casual banter this would bring up other than "Why red socks?" I don’t know.)

Johnson was born on August 25, 1916 in Newport, Rhode Island. His father was a Swede and his mother had a Pennsylvania Dutch background. She left the family -- apparently his father was too much of the stereotypical Swede -- and poor little Van was left motherless. He became fascinated by movies and performing, and worked to make money to pay for dance lessons.

Johnson eventually made it to New York after an unspectacular high school career. (Although his class prophecy said that: "Van Johnson will be a dancer. / For his snake hips he’ll be known. / You’ll soon see him performing / Before the English heir to the throne.") He stayed with his mother briefly, and worked a variety of jobs and got experience on the stage. Johnson finally got a part in Pal Joey (which was later made into a film with Frank Sinatra) and eventually became the understudy for Gene Kelly, who played Joey. He said after getting the understudy part, "I was sailing on eggs. I was in the chips-$150 a week." (Oh, to be able to talk like that and not sound stupid...well, I’m guessing it sounded stupid even back in the '30s, but I could be wrong.)

Eventually Johnson went West, like all good young men, as the siren song of Hollywood caught his ear. He got a six-month contract at Warner Brothers, and made one film there (Murder in the Big House) before they decided not to renew his contract. He eventually got another contract at MGM, a studio that was much more suited to his tastes -- especially since he considered Greta Garbo and Spencer Tracy to be his favorite actors, who were both under contact to MGM.

He got some smaller parts, but began working on learning acting skills, as well as acquiring the MGM polish through a variety of lessons in all kinds of activities -- horseback riding, tennis, fencing, singing, dancing, etc. He became friends with Keenan Wynn and his wife Evie and they formed a "convivial threesome." He took a variety of small roles before getting the part of Ted Randall, the juvenile lead in A Guy Named Joe. Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne were also starring, and it became his big break.

It was during the filming of A Guy Named Joe that Johnson suffered a disfiguring car accident. While driving to a screening of Keeper of the Flame, the car Johnson was driving was hit by another car running a red light. Out of the five people in the car, he suffered the worst injuries -- a fractured skull and several facial injuries from broken glass, as well as his scalp being peeled off and his brain pierced by bone fragments. The injury took three months to recover from and Johnson would have a metal plate placed in his head as well as a rebuilt forehead.

The publicity from the accident helped Johnson’s career immensely. Tracy and Dunne held up the filming of A Guy Named Joe, and he was able to continue in the role of Ted after recovering for almost three months. According to some "observers," Johnson changed after the accident and became more serious and mature, but other "friends" felt that Johnson was back to his normal self. Only Johnson himself could answer this question as to how the accident affected him, and apparently, he never gave any interviews about it. The world will never know!

A Guy Named Joe was a success, and Johnson became a star. Because of his auto accident, he would not be pressed into service during WWII, and was able to use the absence of other stars -- Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Robert Taylor, etc. -- to build his career. Of course, because of the war, he became the perennial boy sent away to war who comes back a man to the audiences. Davis makes an interesting point when he says, "His acceptance as a war hero is ironic yet points out public confusion over reality and fantasy not unlike what John Wayne experienced at the time and Ronald Regan did later" (68).

During the '40s, Johnson became the "voiceless Sinatra," the idol of the bobby-soxers. The girls screamed for him at his movies, and they tore after him if they caught him out and about. The other movie studios tried to create their own version of Van -- my favorite example is Donald O’Connor at Universal.

The bobby-soxers' idol, Van Johnson.

Johnson remains popular with the young ladies until he gets married to Evie Wynn, who had recently divorced Keenan Wynn, who was considered to be Johnson’s best friend. Being the point creating a love triangle didn’t help Johnson, and many of his fans turned against him. Evie later claimed that Louis B. Mayer had made Johnson marry in order to quell rumors that he was gay, and she "was 'It' -- the only women he would marry." Eventually Johnson’s marriage produced a daughter -- Schuyler Van Johnson -- born January 6, 1948. She is Johnson’s only child, and was spoiled thoroughly.

He continued to make films throughout the 1950s, although his advancing age made it more difficult for him to play teenagers and his youthful looks caused problems with more serious roles. His assignments at MGM began to alternate supporting roles in serious pictures with the lighter fare his fans expected from him. These light comedies co-starred Johnson with actresses like Esther Williams, June Allyson, and Janet Leigh. Johnson did manage, however, some successful dramatic roles during the '50s as well.

Van Johnson, complete with visible forehead scars, in The Caine Mutiny.

He was offered a role in The Caine Mutiny -- and not the ensign whom he expected to play. Rather Johnson was to be Steve Maryk, the executive officer who takes command of the minesweeper and is later charged with mutiny. The Caine Mutiny established Johnson as a "real" actor, and MGM became more interested in the former bobby-sox idol.

Another fairly successful MGM film Johnson made was Brigadoon with Gene Kelly and directed by Vincente Minnelli. Johnson gave a good performance, although Minnelli later said that "Van was cursed with a mugger’s face, and every director had to watch him to make sure he wasn’t too expressive"(163). The film didn’t fare too well with the critics, and the box office wasn’t very good either.

Van and Gene dancing in Brigadoon.

By 1954, MGM was in decline and could not afford to keep many of its famous stars, and Johnson left to become a freelance actor.

Van viewed the termination of his contract with the Lion Farm [MGM] mixed blessing. Although he would be free to develop as an actor, Metro had made him a star and been his professional home. For twelve years MGM had promoted Van, protected him, and awarded him preferential treatment. ... Almost thirty-eight years old, Van Johnson, the eternal boy next door, at least faced the terrifying prospect of growing up. (158)

Johnson also said that he was going to make fewer pictures from now on, but that the quality would be higher. However, during the late 1950s, his films did not do as well as he had hoped.

Eventually Johnson moved to Switzerland for tax purposes, and began taking roles in films for travel purposes. He remained in Europe until 1960 when he got a role on Broadway in Damn Yankees. After three weeks on Broadway, he auditioned for the role of Harold Hill in The Music Man in London. During the run of The Music Man, Johnson left his wife and filed for divorce. Evie told her son Ned that Johnson had left her for the lead boy dancer in the film. Davis reports,

How long Van’s relationship with the boy dancer lasted is not recorded. Although Johnson’s orientation was probably more homosexual than heterosexual, Van most likely was one of those people that Eros did not aroused deeply. He most certainly came from a generation that did not see sexual preference as the most essential part of its being (192).

[I might say here that this seems like rather unsubstantiated speculation here, and not very suitable for a book with an academic pedigree. Davis is reaching into his bag of pop psychology, and seems to be stretching to make a point.] While the divorce continued, Johnson came back the U.S. and toured with The Music Man.

Throughout the ‘60s, Johnson continued to tour in regional theater and kept busy performing in a variety of different shows. He did a few films -- Divorce American Style and Yours, Mine, and Ours. By the 1970s he was the "self-proclaimed king of the dinner theater circuit" (210). He moved to New York City, and became a friend of Greta Garbo. He picked up a variety of different hobbies, including painting, reading, cooking, and (best of all) needlepoint. Johnson took over the role of Georges in the musical version of La Cage aux Folles on Broadway in 1985. He managed to continue working sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and put on a lot of nostalgic shows with his contemporaries from MGM.

Davis’s final words on Johnson try to sum up what Johnson has as his lasting memory in film history. He says that Johnson’s impact on film history is slight, and that despite his popularity, Johnson didn’t make the American Film Institute’s list of 100 all-time great movie stars.

Personally, Johnson remains an enigma. Basically a timid soul, he spent a lifetime hiding his loneliness and sexual ambivalence behind a mask of superficial charm. Van Johnson endures in films of the 1940s and 1950s as Mr. Nice Guy. For many of his contemporaries he is a symbol of eternal youth, but for most members of the younger generations he is a pleasant face on classic movie channels. Yet somehow the personality does not ring true” (226).

[On a side note, to this I must say, What the hell? Davis writes a biography which purports to be a "solid [and] thoroughly researched" but yet he cannot answer these questions. These are the same questions I have often asked myself -- why am I so interested in a film star that (really) has no legacy, no solid fan base nowadays. But there is something about Johnson that intrigues me. While I am interested in learning about the personal lives of golden era Hollywood stars, I feel as though Johnson is entitled to his privacy. I am only interested in learning more about how he became a star and stories behind his films, not whether or not he is gay. It seems as though sexuality is such a focus these days, and eventually in the future, people will look back and say, what was all the fuss about? End sidenote!]

Davis covers Johnson’s life fairly thoroughly, but not very in-depth. There are observations by observers, friends, and acquaintances, but who are they? Why wouldn’t they go on the record? Davis says in his introduction that

potential sources [were] unwilling to talk to me or reluctant to reveal information that Johnson himself had not approved. Those willing to discuss Johnson’s life and career were generally cooperative until the question of his sexuality was raised. At that point, most told me politely that that area was taboo. (ix)

His sexuality seems to be a focus of the book -- was Van Johnson gay, bisexual, or just curious? There is no straight answer -- although interviews with his ex-wife clearly indicate that he was interested in men at one time. His stepson, Ned Wynn, is also very prominently featured as a source in this novel -- mostly from the autobiography that he wrote himself, We Will Always Live in Beverly Hills. Davis relies primarily upon those two for information regarding Johnson’s sexuality, and I have to wonder why he couldn’t find a more unbiased source. I mean, Johnson and Evie did not divorce on good terms, so she’s not exactly a cheerleader for him.

Towards the end of the biography, when Johnson’s career is evidently in decline, Davis focuses mostly on movie reviews and box office grosses, supplemented by "gossip" reported in movie magazines of the time. I’ve read many a Hollywood biography, and I have found that autobiographies are generally the most interesting because they are from the point of view of the person telling the story and you get to see inside their head. I have also enjoyed biographies, but generally they are more detailed than this one. Either Johnson’s life was not very well documented, or his friends really didn’t want to talk about him!

Sadly, this might be the best information about Johnson that the world will get. Davis quotes Johnson as saying that he had no intention of ever writing his memoirs. "I don’t want to hurt anybody, and I don’t need the money. I don’t want to go over the marriage and the ex-wife and all that. It’s very traumatic to go over your life" (218). If only he could write about making films and not necessarily his personal life -- that would be interesting to me! But it looks like Ronald Davis’s take on Johnson’s life might be the final word on this star.

[As a sidenote on this entire post, while I was searching for a link to add for Schuyler Johnson, I found out that her mother, Evie Wynn, died on August 12, 2004. There's more info (and additional speculation about Van and his sexuality) on an obituary message board. It's sad to hear that -- but perhaps Johnson will be more inclined to write an autobiography. Or perhaps not... Who knows?]

FILE UNDER: Biography ; Books on Film ; Van Johnson

The Minstrel

Oh, it's not really movie related, but it made me laugh.

I found out that Van Johnson was a guest star for two episodes of Batman during the '60s. His character's name? The Minstrel.

There is a Batman fan site detailing the commonalities between The Pied Piper of Hamlin (Van played the title character in the TV movie version) and the Minstrel.

Now if only someone showed reruns of Batman on TV! I know I've probably seen the episodes since I was a big Batman fan when I was younger, but I'll be darned if I remember "the Minstrel!"

FILE UNDER: News and Notes ; Van Johnson

Movie Mad

I've been thinking about my film consumption these days. I watch a lot of movies. I am considering getting a master's degree in film or media and cultural studies. Am I weird in some way that I enjoy watching movies a lot?

In the past, I would say yes. But since moving to Baltimore, I've met several people who are even more movie mad than I am. They collect DVDs obsessively, and almost always know the films that I can reference. They have memberships to the American Film Institute and go to film festivals. Compared to them, I'm an amateur. (I'm also at least twenty years younger than them, so I've got time to catch up too.)

Sometimes I wish that I had been born during the 1930s. In a big city, of course, where I could go to the theater all the time and see movies whenever I wanted. I would be able to live in a period when great movies came out -- Gone With the Wind, The Thin Man, all the Mickey-Judy musicals, and so on. And I could read the fan magazines -- not the fan magazines that we have now like Entertainment Weekly and US Weekly and so forth, but fan magazines that didn't care about movie grosses like Photoplay and Screenland. I know it's easy to look back nostalgically, but those would have been the good old days for movie fans. Plus there weren't as many distractions -- I wouldn't sit in front of a computer all day and there would be no TV to watch at night. The dawning of the information age is great, but simplicity has its place at times.

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

Doris and Rock

What is it about the combination of Doris Day and Rock Hudson that is so intriguing that I cannot look away?

Doris Day was the star of the day yesterday on TCM and I taped a couple of her films for later reviews (Julie, mostly because it features Louis Jourdan as a stalker husband and The Man Who Knew Too Much for "Que Sera, Sera"). But last night during prime time I decided to skip the Olympic opening ceremonies and watch Lover Come Back on TV! I even own this movie on DVD...but it just seems like the combination of Doris and Rock is too potent for me to turn off.

Perhaps it's going back to when I first saw these films -- on Sunday afternoons when I should have been doing my homework. They were on almost every week, and I loved Pillow Talk. I was surprised that it was the first of their pairing -- the quality definitely went downhill from there. In fact, Send Me No Flowers is the last movie that I saw out of the three.

When I think about it, the movies are pretty interchangeable -- a comedy of mistaken identity on Doris's part with unintentional (well, kind of) deception on Rock's part. Add Tony Randall as Rock's best friend who just can't get it together romantically, and you've got a great bedroom comedy. I think Pillow Talk is probably the best because of the double entendre -- especially the parts where they end up touching each other in the bath while on the phone. It's also the only one where Doris's character gets wise to the deception and really takes it out on him. There is no whimpy advertising board confrontation like in Lover Come Back. No, Doris tortures him with a hideously decorated apartment, complete with player piano!

I love these movies so much because of their cheesiness. They seem like such a slice of the early 1960s. And Doris Day is just so adorable. Had I been around then, I would have wanted to be like Doris -- always lusted after but remaining pure and virginal.

Since I enjoyed these movies so much, I thought I would enjoy a film from last summer, Down With Love. Despite not enjoying the squinty charms of Renee Zellweger, I do really enjoy Ewan McGregor as a lovely piece of Scottish eye candy that can act. Plus it had the added bonus of David Hyde Pierce in the Tony Randall role -- the only actor I could conceivably see as filling his shoes. But this movie disappointed me -- the scenery was fantastic and very much period, but the film itself was very knowingly winking at the sixties ideal. There was too much double entendre, and the split screen scenes went from the cuteness of Pillow Talk into the overdone antics in the vein of Austin Powers. The story was also incredibly stupid -- a riff on the deception-heavy Rock-Doris films, but then it threw in an additional twist at the end to make the Doris character come out on top.

The moral of the story: Hollywood doesn't make them the way they used to. It's a cliche, but true in some respects. The "innocent" romantic comedy has gone the way of the dodo, and can only be enjoyed on video.

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

More Lists!

I love lists, and this is definitely a doozy. The New York Times has a list of The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made. I think it may be a bit of an exaggeration -- after going through the list, there are 1006 movies listed, not 1000!

I’ve watched 165 out of the 1006 they have listed – not too bad, and I’m going to watching more. Plus, I’ve seen parts of several listed, but I try not to count those! 16.4% watched...well, not terrible!

1. À Nous la Liberté (1932)
2. About Schmidt (2002)
3. Absence of Malice (1981)
4. Adam’s Rib (1949)
5. Adaptation (2002)
6. The Adjuster (1991)
7. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
8. Affliction (1998)
9. The African Queen (1952)
10. L’Age d’Or (1930, reviewed 1964)
11. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, reviewed 1977)
12. A.I. (2001)
13. Airplane! (1980)
14. Aladdin (1992)
15. Alexander Nevsky (1939)
16. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1975)
17. Alice’s Restaurant (1969)
18. Aliens (1986)
19. All About Eve (1950)
20. All About My Mother (1999)
21. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
22. All That Heaven Allows (1956)
23. All the King’s Men (1949)
24. All the President’s Men (1976)
25. Amadeus (1984)
26. Amarcord (1974)
27. Amélie (2001)
28. America, America (1963)
29. The American Friend (1977)
30. American Graffiti (1973)
31. An American in Paris (1951)
32.The Americanization of Emily (1964)
33. American Movie (1999)
34. Amores Perros (2000)
35. Anastasia (1956)
36. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
37. The Angry Silence (1960)
38. Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
39. Anna Christie (1930)
40. Annie Hall (1977)
41. The Apartment (1960)
42. Apocalypse Now (1979)
43. Apollo 13 (1995)
44. The Apostle (1997)
45. L’Argent (1983)
46. Ashes and Diamonds (1958, reviewed 1961)
47. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
48. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
49. L’Atalante (1934, reviewed 1947)
50. Atlantic City (1981)
51. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1988)
52. L’Avventura (1961)
53. The Awful Truth (1937)
54. Babette’s Feast (1987)
55. Baby Doll (1956)
56. Back to the Future (1985)
57. The Bad and the Beautiful (1953)
58. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
59. Badlands (1973)
60. The Baker’s Wife (1940)
61. Ball of Fire (1942)
62. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
63. Bambi (1942)
64. The Band Wagon (1953)
65. Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
66. The Bank Dick (1940)
67. Barfly (1987)
68. Barry Lyndon (1975)
69. Barton Fink (1991)
70. The Battle of Algiers (1965, reviewed 1967)
71. Le Beau Mariage (1982)
72. Beautiful People (2000)
73. Beauty and the Beast (1947)
74. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
75. Bed and Board (1971)
76. Beetlejuice (1988)
77. Before Night Falls (2000)
78. Before the Rain (1994, reviewed 1995)
79. Being John Malkovich (1999)
80. Being There (1979)
81. Belle de Jour (1968)
82. Ben-Hur (1959)
83. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1983)
84. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
85. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
86. The Bicycle Thief (1949)
87. The Big Chill (1983)
88. The Big Clock (1948)
89. The Big Deal on Madonna Street (1960)
90. The Big Heat (1953)
91. Big Night (1996)
92. The Big Red One (1980)
93. The Big Sky (1952)
94. The Big Sleep (1946)
95. Billy Liar (1963)
96. Biloxi Blues (1988)
97. The Birds (1963)
98. Birdy (1984)
99. Black Narcissus (1947)
100. Black Orpheus (1959)
101. Black Robe (1991)
102. Blazing Saddles (1974)
103. Bloody Sunday (2002)
104. Blow-Up (1966)
105. Blue Collar (1978)
106. Blue Velvet (1986)
107. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
108. Bob le Flambeur (1955, reviewed 1981)
109. Body Heat (1981)
110. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
111. Boogie Nights (1997)
112. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
113. Born Yesterday (1950)
114. Le Boucher (1970)
115. Bound for Glory (1976)
116. Boys Don't Cry (1999)
117. Boyz N the Hood (1991)
118. Brazil (1985)
119. Bread, Love and Dreams (1954)
120. Breaker Morant (1980)
121. The Breakfast Club (1985)
122. Breaking Away (1979)
123. Breaking the Waves (1996)
124. Breathless (1961)
125. The Bride Wore Black (1968)
126. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
127. Brief Encounter (1946)
128. A Brief History of Time (1992)
129. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
130. Broadcast News (1987)
131. Brother’s Keeper (1992)
132. The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
133. Bull Durham (1988)
134. Bullitt (1968)
135. Bus Stop (1956)
136. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
137. The Butcher Boy (1998)
138. Bye Bye Brasil (1980)
139. Cabaret (1972)
140. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
141. California Suite (1978)
142. Calle 54 (2000)
143. Camelot (1967)
144. Camille (1937)
145. Captains Courageous (1937)
146. Carmen Jones (1954)
147. Carnal Knowledge (1971)
148. Casablanca (1942)
149. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
150. Catch-22 (1970)
151. Cavalcade (1933)
152. The Celebration (1998)
153. La Cérémonie (1996)
154. Chan Is Missing (1982)
155. Chariots of Fire (1981)
156. Charley Varrick (1973)
157. Chicago (2002)
158. Chicken Run (2000)
159. La Chienne (1931, reviewed 1975)
160. Chinatown (1974)
161. Chloë in the Afternoon (1972)
162. Chocolat (1988, reviewed 1989)
163. The Cider House Rules (1999)
164. The Citadel (1938)
165. Citizen Kane (1941)
166. Claire’s Knee (1971)
167. The Clockmaker (1973, reviewed 1976)
168. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
169. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
170. Close-Up (1990, reviewed 1999)
171. Clueless (1995)
172. Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
173. The Color of Money (1986)
174. Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
175. Coming Home (1978)
176. The Conformist (1970)
177. The Conquest of Everest (1953)
178. Contempt (1964)
179. The Conversation (1974)
180. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
181. The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)
182. The Country Girl (1954)
183. The Cousins (1959)
184. The Cranes Are Flying (1960)
185. Cries and Whispers (1972)
186. Crossfire (1947)
187. Crumb (1994)
188. Cry, the Beloved Country (1952)
189. The Crying Game (1992)
190. Damn Yankees (1958)
191. The Damned (1969)
192. Dance with a Stranger (1985)
193. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
194. Daniel (1983)
195. Danton (1983)
196. Dark Eyes (1987)
197. Dark Victory (1939)
198. Darling (1965)
199. David Copperfield (1935)
200. David Holtzman’s Diary (1968, reviewed 1973)
201. Dawn of the Dead (1979)
202. Day for Night (1973)
203. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
204. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
205. Days of Heaven (1978)
206. Days of Wine and Roses (1963)
207. The Dead (1987)
208. Dead Calm (1989)
209. Dead End (1937)
210. Dead Man Walking (1995)
211. Dead of Night (1946, reviewed 1946)
212. Dead Ringers (1988)
213. Death in Venice (1971)
214. Death of a Salesman (1951)
215. The Decalogue (2000)
216. Deep End (1971)
217. The Deer Hunter (1978)
218. The Defiant Ones (1958)
219. Deliverance (1972)
220. Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
221. Destry Rides Again (1939)
222. Diabolique (1955)
223. Dial M for Murder (1954)
224. Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
225. Diary of a Country Priest (1950, reviewed 1954)
226. Die Hard (1988)
227. Diner (1982)
228. Dinner at Eight (1933)
229. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
230. Dirty Harry (1971)
231. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
232. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
233. Disraeli (1929)
234. Distant Thunder (1973)
235. Diva (1982)
236. Divorce-Italian Style (1962)
237. Do the Right Thing (1989)
238. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
239. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
240. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
241. Dodsworth (1936)
242. La Dolce Vita (1961)
243. Donnie Brasco (1997)
244. Don’t Look Back (1967)
245. Double Indemnity (1944)
246. Down by Law (1986)
247. Dracula (1931)
248. The Dreamlife of Angels (1998)
249. Dressed to Kill (1980)
250. The Dresser (1983)
251. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
252. Drowning by Numbers (1991)
253. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
254. Duck Soup (1933)
255. The Duellists (1978)
256. Dumbo (1941)
257. The Earrings of Madame De . . . (1954)
258. East of Eden (1955)
259. Easy Living (1937)
260. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
261. Effi Briest (1977)
262. 8 1/2 (1963)
263. Eight Men Out (1988)
264. The Elephant Man (1980)
265. Elmer Gantry (1960)
266. Empire of the Sun (1987)
267. Enemies, A Love Story (1989)
268. Les Enfants du Paradis (1945, reviewed 1947)
269. The English Patient (1996)
270. The Entertainer (1960)
271. Entre Nous (1983)
272. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
273. Europa, Europa (1991)
274. Every Man for Himself (1980)
275. The Exorcist (1973)
276. The Exterminating Angel (1967)
277. A Face in the Crowd (1957)
278. Face to Face (1976)
279. Faces (1968)
280. The Family Game (1984)
281. Fanny and Alexander (1983)
282. Fantasia (1940)
283. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
284. Far From Heaven (2002)
285. Fargo (1996)
286. Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1997)
287. The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) (2002)
288. Fat City (1972)
289. Fatal Attraction (1987)
290. Father of the Bride (1950)
291. Fellini Satyricon (1970)
292. La Femme Infidèle (1969)
293. La Femme Nikita (1991)
294. The Fisher King (1991)
295. Fist in His Pocket (1968)
296. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
297. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
298. The Flamingo Kid (1984)
299. The Fly (1958)
300. The Flamingo Kid (1984)
301. Force of Evil (1948)
302. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
303. Forbidden Games (1952)
304. A Foreign Affair (1948)
305. The Fortune Cookie (1966)
306. The 400 Blows (1959)
307. Frankenstein (1931)
308. The French Connection (1971)
309. Frenzy (1972)
310. Friendly Persuasion (1956)
311. From Here to Eternity (1953)
312. The Fugitive (1947)
313. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
314. The Full Monty (1997)
315. Funny Face (1957)
316. Funny Girl (1968)
317. Fury (1936)
318. Gallipoli (1981)
319. Gandhi (1982)
320. Gangs of New York (2002)
321. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971)
322. Gas Food Lodging (1992)
323. Gaslight (1944)
324. Gate of Hell (1954)
325. A Geisha (1978)
326. The General (1998)
327. General della Rovere (1960)
328. Genevieve (1954)
329. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
330. Georgy Girl (1966)
331. Get Carter (1971)
332. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978)
333. Ghost World (2001)
334. Giant (1956)
335. Gigi (1958)
336. Gimme Shelter (1970)
337. The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
338. Girl with a Suitcase (1961)
339. The Gleaners and I (2001)
340. The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1977)
341. The Go-Between (1971)
342. The Godfather (1972)
343. The Godfather Part II (1974)
344. Going My Way (1944)
345. Goldfinger (1964)
346. Gone With the Wind (1939)
347. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968)
348. The Good Earth (1937)
349. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
350. Goodfellas (1990)
351. Gosford Park (2001)
352. The Graduate (1967)
353. Grand Hotel (1932)
354. Grand Illusion (1938)
355. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
356. The Great Dictator (1940)
357. Great Expectations (1947)
358. The Great Man (1957)
359. The Great McGinty (1940)
360. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
361. Green for Danger (1947)
362. Gregory’s Girl (1982)
363. The Grifters (1990)
364. Groundhog Day (1993)
365. The Gunfighter (1950)
366. Gunga Din (1939)
367. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
368. Hair (1979)
369. Hamlet (1948)
370. Hamlet (2000)
371. Handle With Care (1977)
372. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
373. Happiness (1998)
374. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
375. Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
376. Harry and Tonto (1974)
377. A Hatful of Rain (1957)
378. The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
379. Heartland (1981)
380. Hearts of Darkness: A Film Maker’s Apocalypse (1991)
381. Heat and Dust (1983)
382. Heathers (1989)
383. Heavy Traffic (1973)
384. Heimat (1985)
385. The Heiress (1949)
386. Henry V (1946)
387. Henry V (1989)
388. Henry Fool (1998)
389. Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
390. High and Low (Japan) (1963)
391. The High and the Mighty (1954)
392. High Art (1998)
393. High Hopes (1988)
394. High Noon (1952)
395. High Sierra (1941)
396. The Hill (1965)
397. Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1960)
398. His Girl Friday (1940)
399. The Homecoming (1973)
400. Hoop Dreams (1994)
401. Hope and Glory (1987)
402. Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988)
403. The Hours (2002)
404. Household Saints (1993)
405. House of Games (1987)
406. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
407. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
408. Howards End (1992)
409. Hud (1963)
410. Huey Long (1985)
411. Husbands and Wives (1992)
412. The Hustler (1961)
413. I Know Where I’m Going (1947)
414. I Remember Mama (1948)
415. I Want to Live! (1958)
416. If . . . (1969)
417. Ikirui(1952, reviewed 1960)
418. I’m All Right, Jack (1960)
419. Imitation of Life (1959)
420. In Cold Blood (1967)
421. In the Bedroom (2001)
422. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
423. The Informer (1935)
424. Inherit the Wind (1960)
425. The Insider (1999)
426. Internal Affairs (1990)
427. The Ipcress File (1965)
428. It Happened One Night (1934)
429. It’s a Gift (1935)
430. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
431. Jailhouse Rock (1957)
432. Jaws (1975)
433. The Jazz Singer (1927)
434. Jean de Florette (1987)
435. Jerry Maguire (1996)
436. Johnny Guitar (1954)
437. The Judge and the Assassin (1982)
438. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
439. Ju Dou (1990)
440. Jules and Jim (1962)
441. Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
442. Junior Bonner (1972)
443. Kagemusha (1980)
444. The Killers (1946)
445. The Killing Fields (1984)
446. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1950)
447. The King and I (1956)
448. King Kong (1933)
449. King Lear (1971)
450. The King of Comedy (1983)
451. The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
452. Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
453. Klute (1971)
454. Knife in the Water (1963)
455. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
456. L.A. Confidential (1997)
457. Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
458. The Lady Eve (1941)
459. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
460. Ladybird, Ladybird (1994)
461. Lamerica (1994, reviewed 1995)
462. The Last American Hero (1973)
463. The Last Emperor (1987)
464. The Last Metro (1980)
465. The Last Picture Show (1971)
466. The Last Seduction (1994)
467. Last Tango in Paris (1973)
468. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
469. The Last Waltz (1978)
470. Laura (1944)
471. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
472. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
473. A League of Their Own (1992)
474. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
475. The Leopard (1963)
476. The Letter (1963)
477. A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
478. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1961)
479. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1945)
480. Life Is Sweet (1991)
481. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
482. Life with Father (1947)
483. Like Water for Chocolate (1992, reviewed 1993)
484. Lili (1953)
485. Little Big Man (1970)
486. Little Caesar (1931)
487. The Little Foxes (1941)
488. Little Fugitive (1953)
489. The Little Kidnappers (1954)
490. Little Vera (1988, reviewed 1989)
491. Little Women (1933)
492. Little Women (1994)
493. The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
494. Living in Oblivion (1995)
495. Local Hero (1983)
496. Lola (1982)
497. Lola Montes (1968)
498. Lolita (1962)
499. Lone Star (1996)
500. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
501. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962)
502. The Long Goodbye (1973)
503. The Long Good Friday (1982)
504. The Long Voyage Home (1940)
505. The Longest Day (1962)
506. Look Back in Anger (1959)
507. Lost Horizon (1937)
508. Lost in America (1985)
509. The Lost Weekend (1945)
510. Love (1973)
511. Love Affair (1939)
512. Love and Death (1975)
513. A Love in Germany (1984)
514. Love in the Afternoon (1957)
515. Lovely and Amazing (2002)
516. Love on the Run (1979)
517. Lover Come Back (1962)
518. The Lovers (1959)
519. Lover of a Blonde (1966)
520. Loving (1970)
521. Lust for Life (1956)
522. M (1931, reviewed 1933)
523. Mad Max (1980)
524. The Madness of King George (1994)
525. The Magic Flute (1975)
526. The Major and the Minor (1942)
527. Major Barbara (1941)
528. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
529. Malcolm X (1992)
530. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
531. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
532. Man Hunt (1941)
533. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
534. The Man Who Loved Women (1977)
535. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
536. The Man With the Golden Arm (1955)
537. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
538. Manhattan (1979)
539. Manon of the Spring (1987)
540. Marriage—Italian Style (1964)
541. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
542. Married to the Mob (1988)
543. The Marrying Kind (1952)
544. Marty (1955)
545. Mary Poppins (1964)
546. M*A*S*H (1970)
547. The Match Factory Girl (1990)
548. Mayerling (1937)
549. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
550. Mean Streets (1973)
551. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
552. Melvin and Howard (1980)
553. Memories of Underdevelopment (1973)
554. The Memory of Justice (1976)
555. The Men (1950)
556. Ménage (1986)
557. Metropolitan (1990)
558. Midnight (1939)
559. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
560. Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
561. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)
562. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
563. The Miracle Worker (1962)
564. Les Misérables (1935)
565. The Misfits (1961)
566. Missing (1982)
567. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)
568. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
569. Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1954)
570. Mister Roberts (1955)
571. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
572. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
573. Mon Oncle d’Amérique (1980)
574. Mona Lisa (1986)
575. Monsieur Verdoux (1947, reviewed 1964)
576. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
577. Moonlighting (1982)
578. Moonstruck (1987)
579. The More the Merrier (1943)
580. Morgan! (1966)
581. The Mortal Storm (1940)
582. Mother (1996)
583. Moulin Rouge (1953)
584. The Mouthpiece (1932)
585. Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
586. Mulholland Drive (2001)
587. Murmur of the Heart (1971)
588. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
589. My Beautiful Laundrette (1986)
590. My Darling Clementine (1946)
591. My Dinner with André (1981)
592. My Fair Lady (1964)
593. My Left Foot (1989)
594. My Life as a Dog (1987)
595. My Man Godfrey (1936)
596. My Night at Maud’s (1969)
597. My Own Private Idaho (1991)
598. My 20th Century (1990)
599. My Uncle (Mon Oncle) (1958)
600. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
601. Nashville (1975)
602. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
603. National Velvet (1944)
604. Network (1976)
605. Never on Sunday (1960)
606. Night Moves (1975)
607. Night of the Hunter (1955)
608. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
609. A Night to Remember (1958)
610. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
611. 1900 (1977)
612. Ninotchka (1939)
613. Nobody’s Fool (1994)
614. Norma Rae (1979)
615. North by Northwest (1959)
616. Nothing but the Best (1964)
617. Notorious (1946)
618. Now, Voyager (1942)
619. La Nuit de Varennes (1983)
620.The Nun’s Story (1959)
621. Odd Man Out (1947)
622. Of Mice and Men (1940)
623. Oklahoma! (1955)
624. Oliver Twist (1951)
625. Los Olvidados (1950, reviewed 1952)
626. On the Beach (1959)
627. On the Town (1949)
628. On the Waterfront (1954)
629. One False Move (1992)
630. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
631. One Foot in Heaven (1941)
632. One Hour with You (1932)
633. One Night of Love (1934)
634. One Potato, Two Potato (1964)
635. One, Two, Three (1961)
636. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
637. Open City (1946)
638. Operation Crossbow (1965)
639. The Opposite of Sex (1998)
640. Ordinary People (1980)
641. Ossessione (1942, reviewed 1976)
642. Othello (1952, reviewed 1955)
643. Our Town (1940)
644. Out of the Past (1947)
645. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
646. The Overlanders (1946)
647. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
648. Paint Your Wagon (1969)
649. Paisan (1948)
650. The Palm Beach Story (1942)
651. The Parallax View (1974)
652. A Passage to India (1984)
653. The Passion of Anna (1970)
654. Pather Panchali (1958)
655. Paths of Glory (1957)
656. Patton (1970)
657. The Pawnbroker (1965)
658. Payday (1973)
659. Pelle the Conqueror (1988)
660. The People vs. Larry Flint (1996)
661. Persona (1967)
662. Persuasion (1995)
663. Le Petit Théâtre de Jean Renoir (1974)
664. Petulia (1968)
665. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
666. The Pianist (2002)
667. The Piano (1993)
668. Pickup on South Street (1953)
669. The Pillow Book (1997)
670. Pillow Talk (1959)
671. The Pink Panther (1964)
672. Pinocchio (1940)
673. Pixote (1981)
674. A Place in the Sun (1951)
675. Places in the Heart (1984)
676. Platoon (1986)
677. Play Misty for Me (1971)
678. The Player (1992)
679. Playtime (1967, reviewed 1973)
680. Point Blank (1967)
681. Poltergeist (1982)
682. Ponette (1997)
683. Il Postino (The Postman) (1994)
684. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
685. Pretty Baby (1978)
686. Pride and Prejudice (1940)
687. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
688. Prince of the City (1981)
689. The Prisoner (1955)
690. The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
691. Prizzi’s Honor (1985)
692. The Producers (1968)
693. Psycho (1960)
694. The Public Enemy (1931)
695. Pulp Fiction (1994)
696. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
697. Pygmalion (1938)
698. Quadrophenia (1979)
699. The Quiet Man (1952)
700. Raging Bull (1980)
701. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
702. Rain Man (1988)
703. Raise the Red Lantern (1991, reviewed 1992)
704. Raising Arizona (1987)
705. Ran (1985)
706. The Rapture (1991)
707. Rashomon (1951)
708. Re-Animator (1985)
709. Rear Window (1954)
710. Rebecca (1940)
711. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
712. Red (1994)
713. The Red Badge of Courage (1951)
714. Red River (1948)
715. The Red Shoes (1948)
716. Reds (1981)
717. The Remains of the Day (1993)
718. Repo Man (1984)
719. Repulsion (1965)
720. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
721. The Return of Martin Guerre (1983)
722. Reuben, Reuben (1983)
723. Reversal of Fortune (1990)
724. Richard III (1956)
725. Ride the High Country (1962)
726. Rififi (1956)
727. The Right Stuff (1983)
728. Risky Business (1983)
729. River’s Edge (1987)
730. The Road Warrior (1982)
731. RoboCop (1987)
732. Rocco and His Brothers (1960, reviewed 1961)
733. Roger and Me (1989)
734. Roman Holiday (1953)
735. Romeo and Juliet (1936)
736. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
737. Room at the Top (1959)
738. A Room with a View (1986)
739. The Rose Tattoo (1955)
740. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
741. ’Round Midnight (1986)
742. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
743. Rules of the Game (1939, reviewed 1950 and 1961)
744. The Ruling Class (1972)
745. Rushmore (1998)
746. Ruthless People (1986)
747. Sahara (1943)
748. Salaam Bombay! (1988)
749. Salesman (1969)
750. Sanjuro (1963)
751. Sansho the Bailiff (1969)
752. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961)
753. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
754. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
755. Say Anything (1989)
756. Sayonara (1957)
757. Scenes from a Marriage (1974)
758. Schindler’s List (1993)
759. The Scoundrel (1935)
760. The Search (1948)
761. The Searchers (1956)
762. Secret Honor (1985)
763. Secrets and Lies (1996)
764. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
765. Sergeant York (1941)
766. Serpico (1973)
767. The Servant (1963, reviewed 1964)
768. The Set-Up (1949)
769. Seven Beauties (1976)
770. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
771. Seven Days to Noon (1950)
772. The Seven Samurai (1956)
773. 7 Up/28 Up (1985)
774. The Seven Year Itch (1955)
775. The Seventh Seal (1958)
776. Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)
777. Sexy Beast (2001)
778. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
779. Shaft (1971)
780. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
781. Shane (1953)
782. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
783. Sherman’s March (1986)
784. She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
785. The Shining (1980)
786. Ship of Fools (1965)
787. Shoah (1985)
788. Shock Corridor (1963)
789. Shoeshine (1947)
790. Shoot the Piano Player (1962)
791. The Shooting Party (1985)
792. The Shootist (1976)
793. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
794. The Shop on Main Street (1966)
795. A Shot in the Dark (1964)
796. Shrek (2001)
797. Sid and Nancy (1986)
798. The Silence (1964)
799. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
800. The Silent World (1956)
801. Silk Stockings (1957)
802. Silkwood (1983)
803. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
804. Sitting Pretty (1948)
805. Sleeper (1973)
806. A Slight Case of Murder (1938)
807. Smash Palace (1982)
808. Smile (1975)
809. Smiles of a Summer Night (1956, reviewed 1957)
810. The Snake Pit (1948)
811. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938)
812. Some Like It Hot (1959)
813. The Sorrow and the Pity (Le Chagrin et la Pitié) (1971)
814. The Sound of Music (1965)
815. South Pacific (1958)
816. Spartacus (1960)
817. Spellbound (1945)
818. The Spiral Staircase (1946)
819. Spirited Away (2002)
820. Splendor in the Grass (1961)
821. Stage Door (1937)
822. Stagecoach (1939)
823. Stairway to Heaven (1946)
824. Stalag 17 (1953)
825. A Star Is Born (1937)
826. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
827. Star Wars (1977)
828. Starman (1984)
829. The Stars Look Down (1941)
830. State Fair (1933)
831. Stevie (1981)
832. Stolen Kisses (1969)
833. Stop Making Sense (1984)
834. Stormy Monday (1988)
835. The Story of Adèle H. (1975)
836. The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
837. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
838. Story of Women (1989)
839. Storytelling (2001)
840. La Strada (1956)
841. The Straight Story (1999)
842. Straight Time (1978)
843. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
844. Strangers on a Train (1951)
845. Straw Dogs (1972)
846. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
847. Stroszek (1977)
848. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
849. The Sugarland Express (1974)
850. Sullivan’s Travels (1942)
851. Summer (1986)
852. Summertime (1955)
853. Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
854. Sundays and Cybèle (1962)
855. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
856. Suspicion (1941)
857. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
858. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
859. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)
860. Swept Away (By an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August) (1975)
861. Swing Time (1936)
862. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
863. Talk to Her (2002)
864. Tampopo (1987)
865. Taste of Cherry (1997)
866. A Taste of Honey (1961, reviewed 1962)
867. Taxi Driver (1976)
868. A Taxing Woman (1987)
869. A Taxing Woman’s Return (1988, reviewed 1989)
870. Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
871. 10 (1979)
872. The Ten Commandments (1956)
873. Tender Mercies (1983)
874. The Tender Trap (1955)
875. Terms of Endearment (1983)
876. La Terra Trema (1947, reviewed 1965)
877. Tess (1980)
878. That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
879. That’s Life! (1986)
880. Thelma and Louise (1991)
881. These Three (1936)
882. They Live By Night (1949)
883. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)
884. They Were Expendable (1945)
885. They Won’t Forget (1937)
886. The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
887. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
888. The Thin Man (1934)
889. The Thin Red Line (1998)
890. The Third Generation (1979, reviewed 1980)
891. The Third Man (1950)
892. The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935)
893. 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (1994)
894. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
895. This Man Must Die (1970)
896. This Sporting Life (1963)
897. Three Comrades (1938)
898. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
899. Throne of Blood (1961)
900. Tight Little Island (1949)
901. The Tin Drum (1980)
902. To Be or Not To Be (1942)
903. To Catch a Thief (1955)
904. To Have and Have Not (1944)
905. To Kill a Mockingbird (1963)
906. To Live (1994)
907. Tokyo Story (1953, reviewed 1972)
908. Tom Jones (1963)
909. Tootsie (1982)
910. Top Hat (1935)
911. Topaz (1969)
912. Topkapi (1964)
913. Topsy-Turvy (1999)
914. Total Recall (1990)
915. Touch of Evil (1958)
916. Toy Story (1995)
917. Traffic (2000)
918. The Train (1965)
919. Trainspotting (1996)
920. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
921. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
922. The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1979)
923. The Trip to Bountiful (1985)
924. Tristana (1970)
925. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
926. The Trouble With Harry (1955)
927. True Grit (1969)
928. True Love (1989)
929. Trust (1991)
930. Tunes of Glory (1960)
931. 12 Angry Men (1957)
932. Twelve O’Clock High (1950)
933. Twentieth Century (1934)
934. Two English Girls (1972)
935. The Two of Us (1968)
936. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
937. Two Women (1961)
938. Ugetsu (1954)
939. Ulzana’s Raid (1972)
940. Umberto D. (1955)
941. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
942. Unforgiven (1992)
943. The Usual Suspects (1995)
944. Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)
945. The Verdict (1982)
946. Vertigo (1958)
947. Victor/Victoria (1982)
948. Videodrome (1983)
949. Violette (1978)
950. Viridiana (1962)
951. Viva Zapata! (1952)
952. The Voice of the Turtle (1947)
953. The Wages of Fear (1955)
954. Waking Life (2001)
955. Walkabout (1971)
956. A Walk in the Sun (1946)
957. The War Game (1966)
958. The War of the Roses (1989)
959. The Warriors (1979)
960. Watch on the Rhine (1943)
961. The Waterdance (1992)
962. The Way We Were (1973)
963. Weekend (1968)
964. Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)
965. The Well-Digger’s Daughter (1946)
966. West Side Story (1961)
967. The Whales of August (1987)
968. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
969. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993)
970. What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
971. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
972. White Heat (1949)
973. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
974. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
975. The Wild Bunch (1969)
976. The Wild Child (1970)
977. Wild Reeds (1994)
978. Wild Strawberries (1959)
979. Wilson (1944)
980. Wings of Desire (1988)
981. Wise Blood (1979)
982. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
983. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
984. Woman of the Year (1942)
985. The Women (1939)
986. Women in Love (1970)
987. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
988. Woodstock (1970)
989. Working Girl (1988)
990. The World of Apu (1959, reviewed 1960)
991. The World of Henry Orient (1964)
992. Written on the Wind (1957)
993. Wuthering Heights (1939)
994. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
995. The Year of Living Dangerously (1983)
996. The Yearling (1947)
997. Yellow Submarine (1968)
998. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000)
999. Yojimbo (1962)
1000 You Can Count on Me (2000)
1001. You Only Live Once (1937)
1002. Young Frankenstein (1974)
1003. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
1004. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
1005. Z (1969)
1006. Zero for Conduct (1933, reviewed 1947)]