1941 (1979)
[4] After the enormous success of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg was dealt his biggest box office blow to date with 1941. The film, billed as a 'comic spectacular', takes place in Hollywood the day…
Maverick (1994)
[8] This comedic western from director Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, The Goonies) succeeds largely on the charm of stars Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner, as well as a clever script by William Goldman (The Ghost and the Darkness,…
Creature from Black Lake (1976)
[7] Maybe I crave Bigfoot movies and the innocence of the 1970s so much that I give half-way decent 'Squatch flicks more credit than I should, but I was impressed with Creature from Black Lake, a low-budget film with production…
You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
[7] James Stewart plays the son of a Wall Street tycoon whose father (Edward Arnold) is trying to force an eccentric family out of their home so he can pursue a major real estate development deal. Things get more complicated…
The Best of Times (1986)
[4] Robin Williams and Kurt Russell star in this alleged comedy about a loser (Williams) who decides to recreate the high school football game in which he dropped the ball and lost the game, sentencing his community to years and…
The Getaway (1972)
[7] An ex-con and his wife are on the lam after a heist goes bad in this flick from Sam Peckinpah (Straw Dogs, The Wild Bunch). Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw star as the central couple. She has to sleep…
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
[5] Not being a poker player, there's probably a lot about The Cincinatti Kid that I simply don't get. Still, for a movie about people sitting at a table playing cards, it ain't half bad. Steve McQueen and Edward G.…
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
[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 like Bonnie Parker would fall for a handsome bad boy like Clyde Barrow (I mean, who wouldn’t get in a car with smoking-hot Warren Beatty?) And since the two only robbed banks, they became folk heroes to a working class destroyed by foreclosures. I also like that the film suggests Clyde is impotent. It’s refreshing to see a tough guy with flaws and foibles, and it also makes the romantic relationship more interesting than most.