Unforgettable (1939-1979)
Before CGI and out-of-this-world special effects and make-up, the theater arena of the early and mid-20th century often opened the door for modern films with their bold and cerebral subject matter, many deemed before their time.
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- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsOskar WernerJulie ChristieCyril CusackIn an oppressive future, a fireman whose duty is to destroy all books begins to question his task.Cerebral, making a powerful statement.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBibi AnderssonLiv UllmannMargaretha KrookA nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.Another cerebral movie. Unique.
- DirectorFrank PerryStarsJane ConnellWilliam DanielsJames FrawleyStaff and students at a rural school react to a warning of an imminent nuclear attack, not knowing whether it is real or a mistake.Told before its time.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsPat O'BrienRobert RyanBarbara HaleThis parable looks at public reaction when the hair of an American war orphan mysteriously turns green.The subject matter was boldly and clearly presented. Timely for any era, but especially 1948.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsNancy KellyPatty McCormackGage ClarkeRhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.Character development was very important and the actors stepped up to plate. Excellent film.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsGene HackmanErnest BorgnineShelley WintersA group of passengers must embark on a harrowing struggle for survival after a rogue wave capsizes their cruise ship at sea.One of the greatest adventure movies. Character development/disaster make an interesting mix.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsPaul NewmanSteve McQueenWilliam HoldenAt the opening party of a colossal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.Another one of the best disaster movies that I can watch over and over.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTallulah BankheadJohn HodiakWalter SlezakSeveral survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship in World War II find themselves in the same lifeboat with one of the crew members of the U-boat that sank their ship.Tense.
- 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.A unique adventure from start to finish.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantEva Marie SaintJames MasonA New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.It's Hitchcock. There's a reason he is still famous.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRod TaylorTippi HedrenJessica TandyA wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.My favorite Hitchcock film. This one is tense and shows that lots of guts are not necessary to prove that someone is dead.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA secretary on the run for embezzlement takes refuge at a secluded California motel owned by a repressed man and his overbearing mother.Earns its fame.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsJon VoightBurt ReynoldsNed BeattyIntent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.Not just dueling banjos. Plenty of character development.
- 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.Before. During. After.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.Excellent presentation of a descent.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.Every actor made this move a success. It's a classic.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.The director was harsh, but the results were unbelievable.
- 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.Everything fit into place. Pacino made this movie what it is.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsSteve McQueenDustin HoffmanVictor JoryA French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.Every detail and the genius of McQueen and Hoffman made the unacceptable understandable.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSteve McQueenJames GarnerRichard AttenboroughAllied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their men to escape from a German camp during World War II.Not a dull moment. Every actor kept you in the reality of their circumstances.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.I was there, watching the action unfold. Excellent.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsGregory PeckJohn MegnaFrank OvertonAtticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.The movie doesn't compete with the book. It presents a portion of the story. The details aren't clouded and the sense of things come alive.
- DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.Over the top and known to the world.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsBarbra StreisandRobert RedfordBradford DillmanDuring post-WWII McCarthyism, a diametrically opposed couple come together only to find out that genuine friendship and physical attraction is not enough to overcome fundamental societal beliefs.You'll like it or not. Solid story.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsVivien LeighMarlon BrandoKim HunterDisturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.Let the film take you for a ride.