1997 in movies
by Bendjilovesfantasy | created - 20 Dec 2015 | updated - 20 Dec 2015 | PublicMovies from 1997 EVERYONE should see, for reasons of excellence, cult status, nostalgia, corniness or other reasons. This is my 13th list in my "EVERYONE should see" series. Feel free to check out the rest, spanning from 1985 onward.
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1. Gridlock'd (1997)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two friends try to kick their drug addiction after a friend dies from an overdose, when they try to enroll in a detox program, things quickly go wrong.
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall | Stars: Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, Thandiwe Newton, Charles Fleischer
Votes: 16,586 | Gross: $5.48M
2. Dante's Peak (1997)
PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A volcanologist arrives at a countryside town recently named the second-most desirable place to live in America, and discovers that a nearby long-dormant volcano may awaken at any moment.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Jamie Renée Smith, Jeremy Foley
Votes: 98,289 | Gross: $67.13M
3. Rosewood (1997)
R | 140 min | Action, Drama, History
A dramatization of a 1923 horrific racist lynch mob attack on an African-American community.
Director: John Singleton | Stars: Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Bruce McGill
Votes: 8,902 | Gross: $13.10M
4. Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A 6 y.o. Inuit boy runs off a snowy roof in Copenhagen and dies. Smilla, a half Inuit who lives in the building and knows the boy, looks into it. What makes an acrophobic boy run up on the roof? The clues take her to Greenland.
Director: Bille August | Stars: Julia Ormond, Jens Jørgen Fleischer, Agga Olsen, Patrick Field
Votes: 15,208 | Gross: $2.22M
5. Donnie Brasco (1997)
R | 127 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the Mafia life--at the expense of his regular one.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 332,019 | Gross: $41.91M
6. Liar Liar (1997)
PG-13 | 86 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A pathological liar-lawyer finds his career turned upside down when he inexplicably cannot physically lie for 24 whole hours.
Director: Tom Shadyac | Stars: Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Amanda Donohoe, Jennifer Tilly
Votes: 333,133 | Gross: $181.41M
7. The Devil's Own (1997)
R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A police officer uncovers the real identity of his house-guest, an I.R.A. terrorist in hiding.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Margaret Colin, Rubén Blades
Votes: 71,610 | Gross: $42.87M
8. Chasing Amy (1997)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Holden and Banky are comic book artists. Everything's going good for them until they meet Alyssa, also a comic book artist. Holden falls for her, but his hopes are crushed when he finds out she's a lesbian.
Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Ethan Suplee, Scott Mosier
Votes: 143,752 | Gross: $12.02M
9. Volcano (1997)
PG-13 | 104 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A volcano erupts in downtown Los Angeles and a city official and a seismologist try to stop its inevitable flow through the city.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann, Don Cheadle
Votes: 81,514 | Gross: $49.32M
10. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
PG-13 | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy
A world-class playboy and part-time secret agent from the 1960s emerges after thirty years in a cryogenic state to battle with his nemesis Dr. Evil.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Mimi Rogers
Votes: 256,993 | Gross: $53.88M
11. The Fifth Element (1997)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm
Votes: 505,805 | Gross: $63.54M
12. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
PG-13 | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A research team is sent to the Jurassic Park Site B island to study the dinosaurs there, while an InGen team approaches with another agenda.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Vince Vaughn
Votes: 443,747 | Gross: $229.09M
13. Hercules (1997)
G | 93 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The son of Zeus and Hera is stripped of his immortality as an infant and must become a true hero in order to reclaim it.
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker | Stars: Tate Donovan, Susan Egan, James Woods, Barbara Barrie
Votes: 254,960 | Gross: $99.05M
14. My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When a woman's long-time friend reveals he's engaged, she realizes she loves him herself and sets out to get him, with only days before the wedding.
Director: P.J. Hogan | Stars: Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, Rupert Everett
Votes: 155,310 | Gross: $127.12M
15. Batman & Robin (1997)
PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Sci-Fi
Batman and Robin try to keep their relationship together even as they must stop Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from freezing Gotham City.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman
Votes: 268,006 | Gross: $107.33M
16. Face/Off (1997)
R | 138 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
To foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge.
Director: John Woo | Stars: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola
Votes: 400,666 | Gross: $112.23M
17. Men in Black (1997)
PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
James, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 612,505 | Gross: $250.69M
18. Contact (1997)
PG | 150 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
Votes: 292,943 | Gross: $100.92M
19. George of the Jungle (1997)
PG | 92 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A man raised in the jungle by apes falls in love with a wealthy American heiress.
Director: Sam Weisman | Stars: Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, Richard Roundtree
Votes: 84,347 | Gross: $105.26M
20. Air Force One (1997)
R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Communist radicals hijack Air Force One with the U.S. President and his family on board. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C., while the President, a veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson
Votes: 210,023 | Gross: $172.96M
21. In the Company of Men (1997)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.
Director: Neil LaBute | Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, Stacy Edwards, Michael Martin
Votes: 14,282 | Gross: $2.86M
22. The Full Monty (1997)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama
Six unemployed steel workers form a male striptease act. The women cheer them on to go for "the full monty" - total nudity.
Director: Peter Cattaneo | Stars: Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy, Wim Snape
Votes: 114,079 | Gross: $45.95M
23. G.I. Jane (1997)
R | 125 min | Action, Drama, War
Lt. Jordan, a US Navy topographic analyst, joins the US Navy Special Warfare Group and struggles to prove her worth in a unit dominated by men. But a cynical woman Texan senator has sold her out.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft, Jason Beghe
Votes: 86,975 | Gross: $48.17M
24. The Game (1997)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a wealthy San Francisco banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game, his life is turned upside down as he begins to question if it might really be a concealed conspiracy to destroy him.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn
Votes: 428,963 | Gross: $48.32M
25. L.A. Confidential (1997)
R | 138 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger
Votes: 617,467 | Gross: $64.62M
26. Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
PG-13 | 136 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian climber, breaks out of prison and travels to the holy city of Lhasa. He is employed as an instructor to the 14th Dalai Lama and soon becomes his close confidante.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, BD Wong, Mako
Votes: 155,847 | Gross: $37.96M
27. The Devil's Advocate (1997)
R | 144 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
An exceptionally-adept Florida lawyer is offered a job at a high-end New York City law firm with a high-end boss--the biggest opportunity of his career to date.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones
Votes: 401,610 | Gross: $60.98M
28. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
R | 101 min | Horror, Mystery
Four young friends bound by a tragic accident are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town.
Director: Jim Gillespie | Stars: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Heche, Ryan Phillippe
Votes: 158,042 | Gross: $72.59M
29. Gattaca (1997)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
Director: Andrew Niccol | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Gore Vidal
Votes: 323,040 | Gross: $12.34M
30. Eve's Bayou (1997)
R | 108 min | Drama
What did little Eve see--and how will it haunt her? Husband, father and womanizer Louis Batiste is the head of an affluent family, but it's the women who rule this gothic world of secrets, lies and mystic forces.
Director: Kasi Lemmons | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, Lynn Whitfield
Votes: 11,603 | Gross: $14.82M
31. Starship Troopers (1997)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey
Votes: 320,932 | Gross: $54.81M
32. Anastasia (1997)
G | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
The last surviving child of the Russian Royal Family joins two con men to reunite with her grandmother, the Dowager Empress, while the undead Rasputin seeks her death.
Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman | Stars: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, Kelsey Grammer
Votes: 135,944 | Gross: $58.41M
33. The Rainmaker (1997)
PG-13 | 135 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An underdog lawyer takes on a fraudulent insurance company.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight
Votes: 82,826 | Gross: $45.86M
34. Flubber (1997)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
An absent-minded professor discovers "flubber," a rubber-like super-bouncy substance.
Director: Les Mayfield | Stars: Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald, Ted Levine
Votes: 94,602 | Gross: $92.98M
35. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,066,969 | Gross: $138.43M
36. Amistad (1997)
R | 155 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 82,727 | Gross: $44.18M
37. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond sets out to stop a media mogul's plan to induce war between China and the UK in order to obtain exclusive global media coverage.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher
Votes: 204,616 | Gross: $125.33M
38. Titanic (1997)
PG-13 | 194 min | Drama, Romance
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates
Votes: 1,279,264 | Gross: $659.33M
39. Ma vie en rose (1997)
R | 88 min | Drama
Ludovic is an innocent seven-year-old child who provokes horror in his community when he dresses in girls clothes and insists he's a girl.
Director: Alain Berliner | Stars: Georges Du Fresne, Michèle Laroque, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Hélène Vincent
Votes: 9,024 | Gross: $2.28M
40. Jackie Brown (1997)
R | 154 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A flight attendant with a criminal past gets nabbed by the ATF for smuggling. Under pressure to become an informant against the illegal arms dealer she works for, she must find a way to secure her future without getting killed.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda
Votes: 374,727 | Gross: $39.67M
41. As Good as It Gets (1997)
PG-13 | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Votes: 318,259 | Gross: $148.48M
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