Essential Films of the 20th Century (U.S.)
Top-list of essential films of the 20th century.
(U.S.; non-documentary releases)
Each title is accompanied by one of my favorite lines (sound films).
(U.S.; non-documentary releases)
Each title is accompanied by one of my favorite lines (sound films).
List activity
581 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
200 titles
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'(Leland) That's all he ever wanted out of life...was love. That's the tragedy of Charles Foster Kane. You see, he just didn't have any to give.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.(Noah Cross) You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.(Dr. Floyd) Except for a single very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter, the four-million year old black monolith has remained completely inert- its origin and purpose still a total mystery.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsGene HackmanRoy ScheiderFernando ReyA pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal.(Doyle) Frog One is in that room.
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.Hello! This is a demonstration of a talking picture. Notice, it is a picture of me and I am talking. Note how my lips and the sound issuing from them are synchronized together in perfect unison.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
- 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.(Firefly) Lieutenant, why weren't the original indictment papers placed in my portfolio?
(Roland) Why, uh, I didn't think those papers were important at this time, your excellency.
(Firefly) You didn't think they were important? Do you realize I had my dessert wrapped in those papers? - DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.(Wizard) Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.(Lisa) A murderer would never parade his crime in front of an open window.
- 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.(Scarlett) Sir, you are no gentleman.
(Rhett Butler) And you, Miss, are no lady. - DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.(Captain Renault) I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.(Sonny) Did Clemenza tell you to drop the gun?
(Michael) Yeah, a million times. - DirectorHoward HawksStarsCary GrantRosalind RussellRalph BellamyA newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.(Walter Burns) Take Hitler and stick him on the funny page!
- 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.(Kurtz) Are my methods unsound?
(Willard) I don't see any method at all, sir. - DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.(Tom Joad) They're workin' away our spirits, tryin' to make us cringe and crawl, takin' away our decency.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.(Itzhak Stern) It's Hebrew, it's from the Talmud. It says, 'Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.'
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsKatharine HepburnCary GrantCharles RugglesWhile trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.(David Huxley) It isn't that I don't like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn toward you, but - well, there haven't been any quiet moments.
- 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.(Atticus Finch) There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible.
- 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.(Farmer) All I can say is, they did right by me - and I'm bringin' me and a mess of flowers to their funeral.
- 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.(Michael Corleone) I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsCharlton HestonOrson WellesJanet LeighA stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping and police corruption in a Mexican border town.(Vargas) Captain, you won't have any trouble with me.
(Quinlan) You bet your sweet life I won't. - DirectorArthur PennStarsAnne BancroftPatty DukeVictor JoryThe story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.(Annie Sullivan) It's less trouble to feel sorry for her than it is to teach her anything better.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsClaude RainsGloria StuartWilliam HarriganA scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.(Farmer) Excuse me, sir. There's breathing in my barn.
- DirectorOtto PremingerRouben MamoulianStarsGene TierneyDana AndrewsClifton WebbA police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.(Laura Hunt) I never have been and I never will be bound by anything I don't do of my own free will.
- DirectorSam WoodEdmund GouldingStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxA sly business manager and the wacky friends of two opera singers in Italy help them achieve success in America while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.(Lassparri, costumed as Pagliacci) Now, what have you got to say to me?
(Otis B. Driftwood) Just this: can you sleep on your stomach with such big buttons on your pajamas? - DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartDonna ReedLionel BarrymoreAn angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.(Clarence) Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsWilliam PowellCarole LombardAlice BradyA scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.(Alexander Bullock) Life in this family is one subpoena after another.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonTony RobertsAlvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.(Alvy Singer) That sex was the most fun I've ever had without laughing.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanJon VoightSylvia MilesA naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.(Rizzo) The two basic items necessary to sustain life, are sunshine and coconut milk... didya know that?
- 19641h 35mPG8.4 (519K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.(Commander Ripper) I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
- 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.(Travis Bickle) Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperJames Earl JonesMary McDonnellA labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.(Hatfield) I take care of my people. You bring 'em trouble, and you're a dead man. Sleep tight, Kenehan.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsTimothy BottomsJeff BridgesCybill ShepherdIn 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.(Sam the Lion) If she was here I'd probably be just as crazy now as I was then in about 5 minutes. Ain't that ridiculous?... Naw, it ain't really. 'Cause being crazy about a woman like her is always the right thing to do.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.(Prince Feisal) The English have a great hunger for desolate places. I fear they hunger for Arabia.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaLee J. CobbMartin BalsamThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.(Juror #2) It's hard to put into words. I just think he's guilty. I thought it was obvious from the word 'go'. Nobody proved otherwise.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSpencer TracyRobert RyanAnne FrancisA one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.(Macreedy) You're not only wrong. You're wrong at the top of your voice.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsJeff BridgesIsabella RosselliniRosie PerezA man's personality is dramatically changed after surviving a major airline crash.(Max Klein) This is it. This is the moment of your death.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsGene KellyLeslie CaronOscar LevantThree friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.(Milo Roberts) Why do you always talk about money?
(Jerry Mulligan) Because I ain't got any. And when you ain't got any that takes on a curious significance. - DirectorTerrence MalickStarsJim CaviezelSean PennNick NolteAdaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.(Colonel Gordon Tall) Look at this jungle. Look at those vines, the way they twine around, swallowing everything. Nature's cruel, Staros.
- 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.(Blanche DuBois) I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.
- 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.(Bromden) Mmmmmm, Juicy Fruit.
- 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.(Man in diner) It's the end of the world.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.(Colonel Dax) Too much has happened. Someone's got to be hurt. The only question is who.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsNorma ShearerJoan CrawfordRosalind RussellA study of the lives and romantic entanglements of various interconnected women.(Mary Haines) I've had two years to grow claws mother. Jungle red.
- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.(Ben Harper) What religion do you profess, preacher?
(Rev. Harry Powell) The religion the Almighty and me worked out betwixt us. - 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.(Bureaucrat) So horribly sad. How is it I feel like laughing?
- DirectorErich von StroheimStarsGibson GowlandZasu PittsJean HersholtThe sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.
- DirectorSamuel ArmstrongNorman FergusonWilfred JacksonStarsSterling HollowayEdward BrophyHerman BingRidiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.(Giddy) Oh, well, I suppose that's mother love.
- 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.(Roy Neary) This means something. This is important.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDonald SutherlandKaren BlackBurgess MeredithAn art director in the 1930s falls in love and attempts to make a young woman an actress despite Hollywood who wants nothing to do with her because of her problems with an estranged man and her alcoholic father.(Faye Greener) I could never love a man who wasn't criminally handsome.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMerle OberonLaurence OlivierDavid NivenA servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.(Heathcliff) Oh Cathy, I never broke your heart. You broke it!
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsClark GableClaudette ColbertWalter ConnollyA rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.(Peter Warne) A normal person couldn't live under the same roof with her without going nutty... But I'm a little screwy myself.
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongFord Beebe Jr.StarsLeopold StokowskiDeems TaylorThe Philadelphia OrchestraA series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraCedric HardwickeIn 15th-century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.(Quasimodo) She gave me water.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartJean ArthurClaude RainsA naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.(Jefferson Smith) Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsFaye DunawayWilliam HoldenPeter FinchA television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.(Arthur Jensen) You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.(Scottie) One final thing I have to do... and then I'll be free of the past.
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongDavid HandStarsHardie AlbrightStan AlexanderBobette AudreyThe story of a young deer growing up in the forest.(Young Bambi) What happened, Mother? Why did we all run?
(Bambi's Mother) Man was in the forest. - DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.(Kasper Gutman) I'll tell you right out, I am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.(Jake La Motta) I got these small hands. I got a little girl's hands.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.(Paul Baumer) War isn't the way it looks back here.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGary CooperGrace KellyThomas MitchellA town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.(Judge) This is just a dirty little village in the middle of nowhere. Nothing that happens here is really important.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonJohn BeckA nerdish store owner is revived out of cryostasis into a future world to fight an oppressive government.(Luna Schlosser) It's hard to believe that you haven't had sex for 200 years.
(Miles Monroe) 204, if you count my marriage. - 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.(Michael) A deer has to be taken with one shot. I try to tell people that but they don't listen.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.(Jeffrey Beaumont) See that clock on the wall? In five minutes you are not going to believe what I've told you.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesMicheál MacLiammóirRobert CooteThe Moorish General Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his Lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality, it is all part of the scheme of a bitter Ensign named Iago.(Iago) Oh beware, my lord, of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.
- DirectorLawrence KasdanStarsWilliam HurtKathleen TurnerGeena DavisAn emotionally distant writer of travel guides must carry on with his life after his son is killed and his marriage crumbles.(Macon) Okay. Let's say that that's true. Let's say for now that you do know what the trouble with me is, that nothing that I might feel could surprise you. And that the reason I don't want to hear about this thing is that I can't open up! If we agree on all that, can we drop it?!
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsRichard DreyfussRon HowardPaul Le MatA group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.(Debbie) Is that tuck and roll?
(Terry) Yeah!
(Debbie) That's bitchin' tuck and roll! You know, I really love the feel of tuck and roll upholstery. - DirectorStanley KubrickAnthony MannStarsKirk DouglasLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsThe slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.(Spartacus) When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That's why he's not afraid of it. That's why we'll win.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsNicolas CageHolly HunterTrey WilsonWhen a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.(Evelle) Do they blow up in funny shapes?
(Grocer) Nope. Unless round's funny. - DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.(Uncle Bawley) Bick, you shoulda shot that fella a long time ago. Now he's too rich to kill.
- DirectorJerome RobbinsRobert WiseStarsNatalie WoodGeorge ChakirisRichard BeymerTwo youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.(Tony) It's so much to believe. You're not making a joke?
(Maria) I have not yet learned how to joke that way. I think now I never will. - DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppMartin LandauSarah Jessica ParkerAmbitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.(Bela Lugosi) I'm not getting near that goddamn thing. One of them burned me in "The Return of Chandu".
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsSusan SarandonSean PennRobert ProskyA nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.(Matthew Poncelet) Only three days left. Plenty of time to read my Bible and look for a loophole.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydAfter a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.(Esther) It was Judah Ben-Hur I loved. What has become of him? You seem to be now the very thing you set out to destroy.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTony CurtisJack LemmonAfter two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.(Junior) Syncopators... Does that mean you play that very fast music-- jazz?
(Sugar) Yeah. Real Hot. - DirectorGeorge StevensStarsMontgomery CliftElizabeth TaylorShelley WintersA poor boy gets a job working for his rich uncle and ends up falling in love with two women.(Angela) Seems like we always spend the best part of our time just saying goodbye.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsBurt LancasterMontgomery CliftDeborah KerrAt a U.S. Army base in 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his commanding officer's wife and top aide begin a tentative affair.(Prewitt) Nobody ever lies about being lonely.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartWalter HustonTim HoltTwo down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.(Curtin) You know, the worst ain't so bad when it finally happens. Not half as bad as you figure it'll be before it's happened.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGeorge O'BrienJanet GaynorMargaret LivingstonA sophisticated city woman seduces a farmer and convinces him to murder his wife and join her in the city, but he ends up rekindling his romance with his wife when he changes his mind at the last moment.
- DirectorHoward HawksArthur RossonStarsJohn WayneMontgomery CliftJoanne DruDunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.(Cherry Valance) You're fast with that gun, Matt. Awful fast. But your heart's soft... too soft. Might get you hurt some day.
(Matt Garth) Could be. I wouldn't count on it. - DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsDaniel Day-LewisJuliette BinocheLena OlinCentral Europe, 1968: A Czech doctor with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives.(Sabina) I really like you, Tomas. You are the complete opposite of kitsch. In the kingdom of kitsch you would be a monster.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsGene HackmanJohn CazaleAllen GarfieldA paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.(Harry Caul) I'm not afraid of death, but I am afraid of murder.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsPaul NewmanMelvyn DouglasPatricia NealHonest, hard-working Texas rancher Homer Bannon has a conflict with his unscrupulous, selfish, arrogant, egotistical son Hud, who sank into alcoholism after accidentally killing his brother in a car crash.(Pastor) I know what you're feeling, my boy. Look at it this way, he's gone to a better place.
(Lonnie) I don't think so... not unless dirt is a better place than air. - DirectorRobert AltmanStarsDonald SutherlandElliott GouldTom SkerrittThe staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and high jinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.(Duke) Now, fair's fair Henry. If I nail Hotlips and hit Hawkeye can I go home too?
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsSidney PoitierRod SteigerWarren OatesA black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.(Gillespie) You're gonna stay here if I have to go inside and call your chief of police and have him remind you of what he told you to do. But I don't think I have to do that, you see? No, because you're so damn smart. You're smarter than any white man. You're just gonna stay here and show us all.
- DirectorIain SoftleyStarsHelena Bonham CarterLinus RoacheAlex JenningsAn impoverished woman who has been forced to choose between a privileged life with her wealthy aunt and her journalist lover, befriends an American heiress. When she discovers the heiress is attracted to her own lover and is dying, she sees a chance to have both the privileged life she cannot give up and the lover she cannot live without.(Merton Densher) She's alive, Kate, more alive than anyone I've ever known.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyFredric MarchGene KellyBased on a real-life case in 1925; two great lawyers argue the case for, and against, a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.(Drummond) Perhaps it is you who have moved away... by standing still.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsMia FarrowJohn CassavetesRuth GordonA young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.(Rosemary) This is no dream! This is really happening!
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.(Joe Gillis) You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
(Norma Desmond) I am big. It's the pictures that got small. - DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneHenry FondaShirley TempleAt Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe.(Yorke) Colonel Thursday, I gave my word to Cochise. No man is gonna make a liar out of me, sir.
(Thursday) Your word to a savage? ...There's no question of honor, sir, between an American officer and Cochise.
(Yorke) There is to me, sir! - DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.(Henry Frankenstein) Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!
- 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.(Margo Channing) Peace and quiet is for libraries!
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.(Carl Denham) Don't be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMyrna LoyDana AndrewsFredric MarchThree World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.(Al Stephenson) I've seen nothing; I should have stayed at home and found out what was really going on.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersEdward Everett HortonAn American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.(Bates) Sic transit gloria mundi. "Thus passes the glory of the world."
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRoy ScheiderRobert ShawRichard DreyfussWhen a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.(Mayor Vaughn) Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsGreta GarboJohn BarrymoreJoan CrawfordA group of very different individuals staying at a luxurious hotel in Berlin deal with each of their respective dramas.(Preysing) You're discharged! You're discharged, you hear?
(Kringelein) Wait! You can't discharge me. I am my own master for the first time in my life. - DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMatt DamonTom SizemoreFollowing the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.(Wade) Only thing is, sometimes she'd come home early, and I'd pretend to be asleep
(Mellish) Who, your mom?
(Wade) Yeah. She'd stand in the doorway looking at me... and I'd just keep my eyes shut. And I knew she just wanted to find out about my day - that she came home early... just to talk to me. And I still wouldn't move... I'd still pretend to just be asleep. I don't know why I did that.