[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 same group as mobsters — but Rebel Without a Cause doesn’t glorify bravado. The Oscar-nominated screenplay is more concerned about the vulnerable, real person …
[10] Two small children run for their lives from a murderous preacher in the only film actor Charles Laughton ever directed. The Night of the Hunter is a unique blend — part fable and part thriller, both pastoral and horrific, a beguiling mixture of qualities that usually mark the work of an amateur… or a genius. Laughton is as precise and purposeful as Orson Wells …
[9] It could just be my hillbilly roots, but I get a kick out of this corny but highly entertaining romp from the director of Singin’ in the Rain. A kind-hearted woman (Jane Powell) impulsively marries a mountain man (the booming Howard Keel) but gets more than she bargained for when he introduces his six brothers in the squalor of their remote farm house. Powell …
[9] Montgomery Clift (Red River, The Heiress) stars as a poor young man who takes a job at his rich uncle’s garment factory where he falls in love with a coworker played by Shelley Winters. Things become complicated when Clift is introduced to an alluring young socialite played by Elizabeth Taylor in her first ‘adult’ role. Just as Clift is ready to commit to Taylor …
[9] Charm can take a movie a long, long way. With Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in their only film together, The African Queen goes the distance. She’s Rosie, the prudish widow of a missionary, and he’s Charlie, the rough-around-the-edges steamboat captain. Director John Huston puts them in a small boat together and lets the sparks fly. We need only a simple plot to drive …
[10] In this darkly comic noir masterpiece from Billy Wilder, a struggling Hollywood screenwriter (William Holden) moves in with a delusional silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who wants him to write the script for her big comeback. But when the writer strikes up a relationship with a younger woman (Nancy Olson), the eccentric diva goes dangerously insane with envy. Sunset Boulevard is …
[10] Bette Davis revived her sagging career and writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz continued an Oscar streak with All About Eve. Davis stars as Margo Channing, an aging broadway star who takes a sympathetic, aspiring ingenue under her wing. Anne Baxter plays the ingenue and title character, Eve Harrigton. Over the course of the film, Eve ingratiates herself to Margo’s friends and acquaintances, who include a …
[9] Of the nine films which paired Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Adam’s Rib is often considered the best. Writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin were friends of the famous couple and wrote the film specifically for them. Kate insisted the film be directed by her favorite screen director, George Cukor, who services the brilliant writing and on-screen chemistry with his trademark elegant staging and …
[9] Three desperate men scrape together everything they can muster to go prospecting for gold and discover not just riches, but the destructive greed that comes with them. This is one of John Huston’s finest works, a male bonding adventure that doubles as a dark morality tale. Humphrey Bogart is terrific in the leading role, especially when his character begins turning into the monster of …
[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 for her affection. Time goes by and the woman begins to wonder if the old ghost was just a figment of her imagination. As far …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes