West Side Story (1961)
[8] Tension between rival New York City gangs the Jets and the Sharks is wound to a tragic snapping point after one young Jet falls head over heels for the sister of the Sharks' leader. West Side Story is based…
This Property Is Condemned (1966)
[6] Robert Redford and Natalie Wood headline this Tennessee Williams tale adapted by Francis Ford Coppola and directed by Sydney Pollack. Redford plays a railroad representative who comes to a small Mississippi town during the Great Depression to lay off…
Brainstorm (1983)
[6] Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, and Cliff Robertson star as scientists who discover how to record and transmit memories and sensory experiences from one person to another, a direct transference from brain to brain. When their technology is…
The Searchers (1956)
[7] John Ford reteams with frequent leading man John Wayne in what is often considered one of the best Hollywood westerns ever made. Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a loner returning home from the Civil War. After his brother's family is…
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
[4] A man named Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) steps in to replace a drunken Santa in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and does such a good job that Macy's then hires him to play Santa in their stores during the holiday season.…
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
[7] Warren Beatty made his screen debut alongside Natalie Wood in this Elia Kazan film about sexual repression in 1920s middle-America. Beatty and Wood play Bud and Deanie, high school lovers who plan to get married and consummate their growing…
The Star (1952)
[6] Bette Davis stars as a washed-up Hollywood actress desperate to revive her career. You might think the film would be a bit autobiographical, but the screenwriters actually patterned it after Joan Crawford. (And Davis no doubt found some amount…
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
[10] James Dean stars as Jim Stark, an angst-ridden teenager who quarrels with his parents almost as much as he tangles with high school bullies. I normally hate tough guy movies, and I'd normally put teenagers with puffed-out chests in…
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
[9] A young, lonely widow gains her independence by moving into a seaside cottage where she begins a supernatural relationship with the ghost of a crusty sea captain. As the two begin to fall in love, a flesh-and-blood suitor rivals…