PAULINE KAEL: TOP RATED FILMS
The infamous film critic Pauline Kael's top rated films as of the time of her demise in 2001.
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- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartKatharine HepburnRobert MorleyIn WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsKatharine HepburnFred MacMurrayFred StoneA working-class girl is thwarted and embarrassed in her attempts to move up socially by her gauche family and unstable father.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsPinaki SenguptaSmaran GhosalKamala AdhikariFollowing his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.
- DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsSemyon SvashenkoGeorgi KhorkovAmvrosi BuchmaA soldier returns to Kyiv after surviving a train crash and encounters clashes between nationalists and collectivists.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsGabriele FerzettiMonica VittiLea MassariA woman disappears during a Mediterranean boating trip. During the search, her lover and her best friend become attracted to each other.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsIrene DunneCary GrantRalph BellamyA married couple file an amicable divorce, but find it harder to let go of each other than they initially thought.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsRaimuGinette LeclercFernand CharpinA small village rejoices at the arrival of a new baker. But when his young wife runs off with another man, he is unable to keep baking and the village is thrown into disarray.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsWillie NelsonGary BuseyIsela VegaAn inexperienced farm boy hooks up with a legendary outlaw in Mexico and both are soon on the run from the law, Mexican bandits, and two families bent on revenge.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsMichael KeatonJack NicholsonKim BasingerThe Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsAbilio FernándezSalvador AllendeThe chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsSalvador AllendeCarlos AltamiranoFernando CastilloFilmmaker Patricio Guzmán tracks the deterioration of Salvador Allende's position following the attempted coup d'état of 29 June 1973, and analyzes the 10 weeks before Augusto Pinochet's CIA-backed seizure of power.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsMark W. ClarkJohn HustonDirector John Huston documents the Battle of San Pietro Infine in December 1943.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsJeanne MoreauClaude MannPaul GuersJean is a clerk in a bank. His colleague Caron is a gambler and gives him the virus. In the casinos, Jean meets Jackie. Their love affair will follow their luck at the roulette.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartJennifer JonesGina LollobrigidaOn their way to Africa are a group of rogues who hope to get rich there, and a seemingly innocent British couple. They meet and things happen...
- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsAdriana AstiFrancesco BarilliAllen MidgetteFollowing the death of his friend, an Italian youth grows increasingly closer to his young aunt.
- DirectorPeter BrookStarsLaurence OlivierHugh GriffithGeorge RoseWhen the composer of an opera about a swashbuckling, wenching highwayman meets his hero's real-life counterpart, he's disappointed with his lack of dash.
- DirectorEric FawcettStarsAlfie BassDavid KossoffAlan TilvernThe ghost of a poor warehouse clerk who died from the cold persuades a tailor to steal a coat.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsBette DavisJoseph CottenDavid BrianResentful of her small-town life, a married woman schemes to run off with a rich businessman.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenJames P. HoganStarsW.C. FieldsMartha RayeDorothy LamourThe Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsGlenn FordGloria GrahameJocelyn BrandoTough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.
- DirectorCarroll BallardStarsKelly RenoMickey RooneyTeri GarrAfter being shipwrecked with a magnificent horse off the coast of Africa in the 1940s, a boy bonds with the stallion, and trains him to race after their rescue.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsMarion DaviesRobert MontgomeryBillie DoveTwo young women find their friendship strained when one wins a role in a Broadway show, and the other's boyfriend begins to fall for her.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsJohn TravoltaNancy AllenJohn LithgowA movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsWarren BeattyFaye DunawayMichael J. PollardBored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffElsa LanchesterColin CliveMary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
- DirectorBob FosseStarsLiza MinnelliMichael YorkHelmut GriemA female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliBusby BerkeleyStarsEthel WatersEddie 'Rochester' AndersonLena HorneA compulsive gambler dies during a shooting, but he'll receive a second chance to reform himself and to make up with his worried wife.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsLouis MalleWith minimal narration by the director and very little context this is a kaleidoscope of stunning visuals from Calcutta, a city of 8,000,000 in the late 1960's: rich and poor, exotic and mundane, secular and religious, children and adults, animate and inanimate. Given only the images, the viewer can read any meaning she or he wants into the film.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsGeorge SegalElliott GouldAnn PrentissWhen a casual gambler (George Segal as Bill) befriends a professional one (Elliott Gould as Charlie), he begins to mirror his life, sending both deeper into the sleazy gambling world where the stakes keep getting bigger.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsSissy SpacekPiper LaurieAmy IrvingCarrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsMichael J. FoxSean PennDon HarveyDuring the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
- DirectorLamont JohnsonStarsScott GlennRedmond GleesonWilliam RussIn 19th-century Oklahoma, two teen girls who love stories about outlaws are on a quest to meet and join up with them. They find a shadow of a former gang and, although disappointed, still try to help them escape from a vigorous Marshal.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsTommy LewisFreddy ReynoldsAngela Punch McGregorAfter suffering racist abuse throughout his life - which intensifies following his marriage to a white woman - a half-Aboriginal farmhand finds himself driven to murder.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsEfrem Zimbalist Jr.Shelley WintersJane FondaBased on the best-selling novel by Irving Wallace that was inspired by the Kinsey Report on the sexual mores of suburban women, the film follows the personal (read sexual) lives of four women (Claire Bloom, Jane Fonda, Shelley Winters and Glynis Johns) with four separate sexual hangups, ranging from frigidity to nymphomania. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. plays a researcher who becomes entangled with Fonda, the young woman suffering from emotional frigidity.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsCary GrantAudrey HepburnWalter MatthauRomance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Whom can she trust?
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyJean-Louis BarraultPierre BrasseurThe theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsPaul Le MatCandy ClarkBruce McGillThe interlaced stories of several characters in a small town united by their use of CB (citizen's band) radio.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnne WiazemskyJean-Pierre LéaudJuliet BertoA small group of French students are studying Mao, trying to find out their position in the world and how to change the world to a Maoistic community using terrorism.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsBernard VerleyZouzouFrançoise VerleyThough he has an adoring wife, a bourgeois man is still tempted to pursue other women.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRichard DreyfussFrançois TruffautTeri GarrRoy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsMaria MontezJon HallSabuA beautiful woman is abducted from her peaceful South Seas home and taken to Cobra Island, where her grandmother Queen wants her to displace her evil twin sister and vengeance against her priest and corrupt advisor.
- DirectorJames W. HorneBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonAnne CornwallFlora BramleyRonald's high-school valedictory address praises books and condemns sports. His girlfriend Mary condemns his attitude. Fearing to lose her to rival Jeff, he decides to go to college and pay more attentions to sports.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsGérard BlainJean-Claude BrialyJuliette MaynielA pair of cousins share a flat, but animosity begins to build between the two when a woman gets involved.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBurt LancasterNick CravatEva BartokDuring the 1700s, pirate Captain Vallo seizes a British warship and gets involved in various money-making schemes involving Caribbean rebels led by El Libre, British envoy Baron Jose Gruda, and a beautiful courtesan named Consuelo.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsGlenn CloseJohn MalkovichMichelle PfeifferA scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisGeorge BrentHumphrey BogartA young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and must decide whether or not she'll meet her final days with dignity.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsSylvia BatailleJane MarkenGeorges D'ArnouxThe family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsThorkild RooseLisbeth MovinSigrid NeiiendamThe young wife of an aging priest falls in love with his son amidst the horror of a merciless witch hunt in 17th-century Denmark.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSharmila TagoreKaberi BoseSimi GarewalFour carefree, jaded middle-class bachelors from Calcutta head out for a holiday in the wilderness. Before long, each man undergoes their own journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsAnjelica HustonDonal McCannHelena CarrollGabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisPaul HenreidClaude RainsAfter marrying her long-lost love, a musician finds the relationship threatened by a wealthy composer who is besotted with her.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsRobert De NiroChristopher WalkenJohn CazaleAn in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsMarlene DietrichJames StewartMischa AuerDeputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSharmila TagoreSoumitra ChatterjeeChhabi BiswasA young woman is deemed a goddess when her father-in-law, a rich feudal land-lord, has a dream envisioning her as an avatar of Kali.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLionel BarrymoreMaureen O'SullivanFrank LawtonAn escaped convict uses miniaturized humans to wreak vengeance on those who framed him.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsCharles McCallumJohn FrawleyArthur DignamFred Schepisi's first feature is this lushly photographed period drama detailing a young boy's coming-of-age in a strict Catholic seminary in 1950s Australia.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsClaude LayduNicole LadmiralJean RiveyreA young priest taking over the parish at Ambricourt tries to fulfill his duties even as he fights a mysterious stomach ailment.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsSteve GuttenbergMickey RourkeKevin BaconA group of college-age buddies struggle with their imminent passage into adulthood in 1959 Baltimore.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsFernando ReyDelphine SeyrigPaul FrankeurA surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
- DirectorJean-Jacques BeineixStarsWilhelmenia FernandezFrédéric AndréiRoland BertinTwo tapes, two Parisian mob killers, one corrupt policeman, an opera fan, a teenage thief, and the coolest philosopher ever filmed all twist their way through an intricate and stylish French-language thriller.
- DirectorMichael RitchieStarsBette MidlerJocelyn BrownUla HedwigMovie comedy queen Bette Midler reigns supreme in this rocking, rolling concert movie bash. The Divine Miss M at her trashiest, flashiest, heavenly best!
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn CazalePenelope AllenThree amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsJulie ChristieDonald SutherlandHilary MasonA married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsFred MacMurrayBarbara StanwyckEdward G. RobinsonA Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsNick NolteBette MidlerRichard DreyfussA rich but troubled family find their lives altered by the arrival of a vagrant who tries to drown himself in their swimming pool.
- DirectorPaul CzinnerLee GarmesStarsElisabeth BergnerRaymond MasseyRomney BrentTragic story of the wife of a violin player in a famous orchestra, who falls in love with her husband's friend, and finally drowns herself.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsMichael CaineAngie DickinsonNancy AllenA mysterious blonde woman kills one of a psychiatrist's patients, and then goes after the high-class call girl who witnessed the murder.
- 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.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsCharles BoyerDanielle DarrieuxVittorio De SicaWhen an aristocratic woman known only as "Madame de . . ." sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband in order to pay some debts, she sets off a chain reaction of financial and carnal consequences that can end only in despair.
- DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsStepan ShkuratSemyon SvashenkoYuliya SolntsevaIn the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsJean ArthurEdward ArnoldRay MillandWhen a wealthy banker throws his wife's expensive fur coat off a roof and it lands on the head of a stenographer, everyone assumes she is his mistress and has access to his millions.
- DirectorJan TroellStarsMax von SydowLiv UllmannEddie AxbergSmåland, Sweden, mid-19th century. A farming family struggle with their rocky, unyielding land, and decide to embark on the arduous journey to new hope in America.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsRon SilverAnjelica HustonLena OlinA ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHenry ThomasDrew BarrymorePeter CoyoteA troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsPierre BrasseurAlida ValliJuliette MaynielA surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanStarsW.C. FieldsRosemary ThebyGeorge ChandlerThe prodigal son of a Yukon prospector comes home on a night that "ain't fit for man nor beast."
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsEiji FunakoshiMantarô UshioYoshihiro HamaguchiIn the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.
- DirectorMarco BellocchioStarsLou CastelPaola PitagoraMarino MaséA young man takes drastic measures to rid his dysfunctional family of its various afflictions.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
- 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.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsKirk DouglasJohn CassavetesCarrie SnodgressA former CIA agent uses the talents of a young psychic to help retrieve his telekinetic son from a shadowy secret government agency.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsMarlene DietrichCharles BoyerTilly LoschThe star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsGérard DepardieuCarole LaurePatrick DewaereA worried husband finds a lover for his depressed wife, but she falls in love with a bullied thirteen-year-old math prodigy and wants to have the boy's baby.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
- 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.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
- DirectorArne SucksdorffStarsAnders NohrborgKjell SucksdorffArne SucksdorffA year in the lives of the animals living near a small Swedish farm.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineVictor McLaglenIn 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsJohn LauriePrince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsGabriel GabrioOrane DemazisFernandelThe narrative revolves around a farming village where only three inhabitants remain, but they are told that if only one of them, Panturle, manages to find a wife, the village will be able to prosper again
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsOlivia de HavillandMontgomery CliftRalph RichardsonA naive young woman falls for a handsome young man her emotionally abusive father suspects is only a fortune hunter.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsRobert De NiroAllen GarfieldLara ParkerA Vietnam vet moves into an apartment and peers through other people's windows across the street, meets one of the women, and discovers Black theater.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsCary GrantRosalind RussellRalph BellamyA newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.