[10] Jeff Bridges stars as Jack, a shock radio host who inadvertently encourages a mad man to go on a killing spree. Guilt ridden, he teeters on the brink of self-annihilation before an eccentric homeless person named Parry (Robin Williams) helps him see the light. At its heart, The Fisher King is a reluctant buddy movie, but it’s so much more. The Oscar-nominated script by …
[10] A suicidal TV news anchorman strikes a nerve with the public, prompting his network to bastardize their news hour with his crackpot proselytizing. Before long, the network embraces pure tabloid sensationalism — live assassinations and all. Network is now famous for being ahead of its time, foretelling the Jerry Springer and Honey Boo Boo phenomenons decades in advance. But there’s more to it than …
[10] In the Depression-era Dust Bowl, a traveling con man strikes up an unlikely relationship with an orphan girl who may or may not be his daughter. Director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) coaxes magnificent performances from real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, working from a beautiful screenplay adaptation by two-time Oscar winner Alvin Sargent (Julia, Ordinary People). The magic of Paper …
[10] Peter Bogdanovich adapts Larry McMurtry’s nostalgic coming-of-age tale, creating a film so believably rooted in a lonely time and place (the early ’50s Texas dust bowl), that you have a hard time shaking it when it’s over. The film chronicles the sexual indiscretions of its ensemble of characters, which include a high school infatuation between Duane (Jeff Bridges) and Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), as well …
[9] Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway star as the legendary real-life bank robbers in Arthur Penn’s volatile Bonnie and Clyde. With its anti-hero point of view and graphic violence, this film helped lead the charge for grittier, more realistic fare that cropped up throughout the ’70s. While the film certainly sensationalizes the criminals, it also humanizes them. It’s easy to see how a bored waitress …
[10] James Dean received the first posthumous acting nomination from the Academy Awards for his performance as the troubled Cal in East of Eden, his first major film role. (He would die tragically just a few months after the film was released.) It’s a riveting performance, one of the most vulnerable and moving I’ve ever seen. The film, directed with style and elegance by Elia …
[10] William Wyler’s portrait of an English family weathering the darkest hours of World War II is a moving drama about hope and persistence. There’s a quiet strength and noble resolve about the characters in this movie that I find utterly disarming. Wyler shows admirable restraint in the direction and storytelling, sidestepping any opportunity to sensationalize the material. One of the greatest scenes in the …
[10] John Ford directs John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of a destitute Oklahoma family who pile everything they own into a jalopy and head for California in hope of finding work and a new home. The Grapes of Wrath puts an exclamation point on stories about the Great Depression and the down-trodden. The film features a stellar cast, gorgeous photography by Gregg Toland, and enough …
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