- Day of the Dolphin (1973)
[9] George C. Scott (Patton, The Changeling) stars as a marine biologist teaching a dolphin named Alpha to speak in this unusual film from director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and screenwriter Buck Henry (adapting loosely from a novel by Robert Merle). Scott and his team’s love for the dolphin and…
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
[7] James Stewart and John Wayne star in this intimate John Ford western about a lawyer and a gunslinger who hold differing ideas about how best to deal with the town’s most notorious criminal, Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Stewart plays the lawyer who inspires the community to participate in democracy, while Wayne plays the gunslinger…
- Lost Horizon (1937)
[5] In this film from the great Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night), Ronald Colman (Oscar-winner for A Double Life) stars as a celebrated diplomat who leads a small band of Brits on a plane out of war-torn China only to discover the plane has been hijacked. They crash-land in…
- High School Confidential! (1958)
[6] In this hilariously dated morality play about the perils of marijuana use, Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) plays the smart-ass new kid at school, losing no time offending the faculty while trying to climb to the top of the drug dealing hierarchy. Along the way he flirts with a…
- Fire (1977)
[6] Producer Irwin Allen continued his string of successful disaster films (The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure) with this TV movie that aired the month Star Wars was unleashed upon the world. Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine (Marty) headlines the ensemble this time around, trying to rescue his girlfriend (Psycho‘s Vera Miles) and a bunch of children…
- Executive Suite (1954)
[7] After the head of a furniture manufacturing company dies from a stroke, six underlings vie for his position in this ensemble drama from director Robert Wise (The Haunting, West Side Story) and six-time Oscar nominated screenwriter Ernest Lehman (based on the novel by Cameron Hawley). William Holden (Sunset Boulevard, Network) leads the ensemble cast…
- Another Country (1984)
[7] Rupert Everett and Colin Firth star in this coming-of-age period drama set in an elite 1930s English boys’ school, where militaristic tradition and hierarchy seems far more important than education. There is a sense of brotherhood among the students, even though Everett’s character is openly gay and Firth’s character is a devout Marxist. But…
- Flood! (1976)
[3] In this TV movie from producer Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno), several inhabitants of a small fishing town debate whether or not their dam is about to break after several weeks of rain. The mayor refuses to believe the town is in danger until the flood waters are upon them. In…
- Legends of the Fall (1994)
[8] Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, and Aidan Quinn star in this sprawling, family melodrama set in early twentieth century Montana, where the Ludlow family works their ranch in the untamed wilderness. Hopkins plays the patriarch, a pacifist and single father who is dismayed when his sons express desire to enlist in the first World War.…
- Spetters (1980)
[8] Paul Verhoeven (Soldier of Orange, RoboCop) brings his devil-may-care attitude toward sex and morality to this slice-of-life story about three young Dutch boys who dream of escaping their restrained provincial lives by winning motor cross competitions. One of the boys, Rien (Hans van Tongeren), has a real chance of unseating the current champion (Rutger Hauer), while Eef…