The Nature and Power of the American Family
by apjrtheme | created - 31 Aug 2011 | updated - 19 Feb 2013 | PublicConsider the components of family in contemporary American life. What really defines an American family? Have those factors changed over the course of history? What have been the consequences of those changes? What is the power‐‐if any‐‐of family in today's society? What is your definition of family? Would other people easily agree with you? Why? Is the American family important to our future national well‐being? What is the "nuclear family"? How do political parties use the family to reflect their values? How does the entertainment industry reinforce or challenge prevailing values about the family?
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1. Affliction (1997)
R | 114 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A deeply troubled small-town cop investigates a suspicious hunting death while other events jeopardize his sanity.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn, Brigid Tierney
Votes: 19,198 | Gross: $6.30M
2. Avalon (1990)
PG | 128 min | Drama
A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Leo Fuchs, Eve Gordon
Votes: 6,822 | Gross: $15.74M
3. American Beauty (1999)
R | 122 min | Drama
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley
Votes: 1,217,210 | Gross: $130.10M
4. Boyz n the Hood (1991)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama
Follows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.
Director: John Singleton | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Hudhail Al-Amir, Lloyd Avery II
Votes: 155,337 | Gross: $57.50M
5. Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986)
PG-13 | 108 min | Comedy
Eugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He goes through the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house.
Director: Gene Saks | Stars: Blythe Danner, Jonathan Silverman, Stacey Glick, Lisa Waltz
Votes: 3,882 | Gross: $11.96M
6. The Brothers McMullen (1995)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Three Irish Catholic brothers from Long Island struggle to deal with love, marriage, and infidelity.
Director: Edward Burns | Stars: Jack Mulcahy, Michael McGlone, Edward Burns, Shari Albert
Votes: 8,210 | Gross: $10.25M
7. East of Eden (1955)
PG | 118 min | Drama
Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives
Votes: 49,121
8. Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A study in culture bridging, including ... a new US-born husband, trying to work within the traditional ways, a new China-born wife, eager to join the "dream" of America, two family-minded ... See full summary »
Director: Wayne Wang | Stars: Cora Miao, Russell Wong, Victor Wong, Sau-Kei Lee
Votes: 834 | Gross: $0.23M
9. El Norte (1983)
R | 141 min | Adventure, Drama
After their family is killed in a government massacre, siblings Enrique and Rosa flee Guatemala and embark on a perilous journey to "El Norte": the United States.
Director: Gregory Nava | Stars: Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez, David Villalpando, Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Alicia del Lago
Votes: 5,615
10. Garden State (2004)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A quietly troubled young man returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.
Director: Zach Braff | Stars: Zach Braff, Peter Sarsgaard, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm
Votes: 224,372 | Gross: $26.78M
11. Giant (1956)
G | 201 min | Drama, Western
Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker
Votes: 42,477
12. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,022,021 | Gross: $134.97M
13. The Graduate (1967)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, William Daniels
Votes: 289,941 | Gross: $104.95M
14. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
PG | 105 min | Drama
After his wife leaves him, a work-obsessed Manhattan advertising executive is forced to learn long-neglected parenting skills, but a heated custody battle over the couple's young son deepens the wounds left by the separation.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry
Votes: 155,531 | Gross: $106.26M
15. Liberty Heights (1999)
R | 127 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Baltimore, Fall 1954: Schools implement the new integration law. Ben finds the "colored" girl in his class cute - upsetting his Jewish mom and granny. Ben talks to her while his brother looks for his WASP dream girl.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Adrien Brody, Bebe Neuwirth, Joe Mantegna, Ben Foster
Votes: 7,076 | Gross: $3.73M
16. The Little Foxes (1941)
Approved | 116 min | Drama, Romance
The ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the Deep South at the turn of the twentieth century.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard Carlson
Votes: 13,199
17. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 520,786 | Gross: $59.89M
18. Lone Star (1996)
R | 135 min | Drama, Mystery, Western
When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.
Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Stephen Mendillo, Stephen J. Lang
Votes: 32,478 | Gross: $13.27M
19. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Directors: Orson Welles, Fred Fleck, Robert Wise | Stars: Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter
Votes: 26,905
20. My Family/Mi familia (1995)
R | 128 min | Drama
A man makes his way from Mexico to Los Angeles in the 1920s and gets married and raises a big family there. The movie follows the children until they get married and start their families in the 1960s.
Director: Gregory Nava | Stars: Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales, Edward James Olmos, Rafael Cortes
Votes: 4,517 | Gross: $11.08M
21. October Sky (1999)
PG | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen
Votes: 98,296 | Gross: $32.48M
22. On Golden Pond (1981)
PG | 109 min | Drama
Norman is a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea. At Golden Pond, he and his wife nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend, and a most unexpected relationship blooms.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon
Votes: 35,045 | Gross: $119.29M
23. Ordinary People (1980)
R | 124 min | Drama
The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.
Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton
Votes: 56,985 | Gross: $54.80M
24. Places in the Heart (1984)
PG | 111 min | Drama
In central Texas in the 1930s, a widow with two small children tries to save her small 40-acre farm with the help of a blind boarder and an itinerant black handyman.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan
Votes: 13,644 | Gross: $34.90M
25. Pleasantville (1998)
PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Two 1990s teenage siblings find themselves transported to a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that colorless, complacent world.
Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy
Votes: 137,113 | Gross: $40.57M
26. Pollyanna (1960)
Approved | 134 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts its attitude with her determination to see the best in life.
Director: David Swift | Stars: Jane Wyman, Hayley Mills, Richard Egan, Karl Malden
Votes: 11,403
27. A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Approved | 128 min | Drama
A substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a poor black family.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands
Votes: 9,619
28. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama
A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus
Votes: 98,413
29. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
R | 102 min | Drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
Votes: 903,335 | Gross: $3.64M
30. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller
Votes: 314,703 | Gross: $52.36M
31. Shoot the Moon (1982)
R | 124 min | Drama
A mother of four is abandoned by her husband for a younger woman. Husband, wife and children struggle to survive the seemingly inevitable divorce.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Albert Finney, Diane Keaton, Karen Allen, Peter Weller
Votes: 3,079 | Gross: $9.22M
32. Sounder (1972)
G | 105 min | Drama, Family
The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Carmen Mathews
Votes: 4,848 | Gross: $3.10M
33. Terms of Endearment (1983)
PG | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito
Votes: 65,804 | Gross: $108.42M
34. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Approved | 129 min | Crime, Drama
Atticus 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.
Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy
Votes: 334,572
35. What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
PG-13 | 118 min | Drama
A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen
Votes: 255,414 | Gross: $9.17M
36. You Can Count on Me (2000)
R | 111 min | Drama
A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely seen younger brother returns to town.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Stars: Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Amy Ryan, Michael Countryman
Votes: 31,536 | Gross: $9.18M
37. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg
Votes: 90,873 | Gross: $7.36M
38. Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama
In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school, a mom starts an unusual business -- a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service -- with her unreliable sister.
Director: Christine Jeffs | Stars: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack
Votes: 74,558 | Gross: $12.06M
39. Unfinished Life (2011 Video)
26 min | Documentary, Short, Biography
Unfinished Life is a Video Art based on documentary style. It's the story about journey of 3 women ; homeless, illustrator and designer. The video represents the world in their mind ... See full summary »
Director: Jirawut Ueasungkomsate
40. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller
Votes: 314,703 | Gross: $52.36M
41. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
R | 113 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman who has been in and out of rehab for the past ten years returns home for the weekend for her sister's wedding.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger, Sebastian Stan
Votes: 51,507 | Gross: $12.80M
42. The Fighter (I) (2010)
R | 116 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Based on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo
Votes: 391,039 | Gross: $93.62M
43. The Kids Are All Right (2010)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their biological father into their non-traditional family life.
Director: Lisa Cholodenko | Stars: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska
Votes: 135,226 | Gross: $20.81M
44. Winter's Bone (2010)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
Director: Debra Granik | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt, Isaiah Stone
Votes: 151,527 | Gross: $6.53M
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