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 2003:
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - "THE
RETURN OF THE KING, the third and final film in Peter Jackson's THE
LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, finds Middle-earth on the cusp of great
change. Weary hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) venture
further into the dark realm of Mordor, guided by the increasingly
desperate Gollum (Andy Serkis), the two-faced former owner of the
Ring that Frodo must destroy in the fires of Mount Doom. Meanwhile
Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) contend with the deranged
ruler Denethor (John Noble) at the once-mighty city of Minas Tirith,
as Merry (Dominic Monaghan) joins Éowyn (Miranda Otto) and
the Riders of Rohan to hold back the forces of Sauron. Amidst the
chaos, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) must rise to his destiny, aided by
Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) in assembling
allies for a massive battle that will decide the fate of Middle-earth.
With RETURN, Jackson brings J.R.R. Tolkien's world-renowned tale to a stunning conclusion. As with THE TWO TOWERS, the director deftly weaves various storylines together in one remarkable scene after another. Spectacular visuals complement Jackson's sharp focus on the characters and their emotional battles. While the special effects help to create huge battles and frightening creatures on a previously unseen scale, they never outshine the excellent ensemble of actors who bring the heart of the story home. A truly astounding work of filmmaking, THE RETURN OF THE KING skillfully concludes one of the greatest trilogies in cinema history."
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 1985:
Out of Africa - "Adapted from Isak Dinesen's
novel, OUT OF AFRICA, this film plaintively tells the story of two
troubled adults who meet and fall in love in the African wilderness.
Karen Blixen-Flecke (Meryl Streep) is a modern woman, caught in the
shortcomings of a practical marriage. Finch Hatton (Robert Redford)
is a gallant British hunter, lonely, but unable to commit. As they
two meet and begin a torrid affair, they set out on an epic adventure
in the badlands of Africa--an adventure that real-life Karen Blixen-Flecke
would later novelize under the pen name Isak Dinesen. Sydney Pollack's opus, OUT OF AFRICA, is a full, visually compelling film. Its storyline evokes a plethora of emotions, ranging from fear and loathing to hope and the elation of love. Robert Redford and Meryl Streep are electric as the two damaged infidels in love. A key American film, OUT OF AFRICA is not to be missed."
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The film is a brutally honest assessment of the prospects of a relationship between two very different people. Allen's Alvy is (like the filmmaker himself) an introverted, neurotic intellectual and a complete mismatch for Diane Keaton's vivacious, flaky Annie Hall. Although the romance is undoubtedly the center of the film, it affords Allen the opportunity to contrast his beloved New York culture with that of the Midwest, where Annie comes from, and Los Angeles, which tempts Annie with the possibility of fame and success as a singer. The city of New York itself plays an important part for the first time in an Allen film, with a great deal of location shooting that serves to highlight the city's character and atmosphere. Finally, the many comedic cameos peppered through the film--from Truman Capote to Paul Simon to media theorist Marshall McLuhan--pay tribute to the deserved reputation that Allen had gained for himself."
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 1972:
The Godfather - "Based on the best-selling novel
by Mario Puzo (who co-wrote the screenplay with director Francis Ford
Coppola), THE GODFATHER tells an epic tale of Mafia life in America
during the 1940s and 1950s. Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is the family
patriarch balancing a love of his family with an ambitious criminal
instinct. At the wedding of the Don's daughter Connie (Talia Shire),
youngest son Michael (Al Pacino) is reunited with his family. A subsequent
assassination attempt leaves the Don too ill to run the family business,
forcing Michael and Sonny (James Caan), with the help of consigliere
Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), to lead the Corleones into a vendetta-filled
war with other mob families. Violent revenge ensues as the family
tries to change from its old criminal ways into legitimacy.
Coppola's certified masterpiece, which won three Oscars (including Best Picture) and spawned an Oscar-winning sequel (THE GODFATHER PART II), set a new screen standard for merging blood-soaked violence with intimate family drama. In the process, Coppola single-handedly established the Mafia as an industry in film and television (GOODFELLAS, THE SOPRANOS). Featuring truly unforgettable performances, including the Best Actor-winning Brando, the riveting Pacino, and an unexpectedly dramatic Diane Keaton, THE GODFATHER is the pinnacle of Hollywood cinema in the 1970s."
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 1971:
The French Connection - "Released the same year
as Clint Eastwood's DIRTY HARRY (1971), William Friedkin's THE FRENCH
CONNECTION marked the beginning of a new era of gritty, urban police
dramas. Here, the theme of tough-cop amorality serves a conservative
demand for a police-state crackdown on the domestic chaos and subversive
youth culture of the Vietnam War period. The film is based on the true story of two New York City police detectives and their investigation into a French heroin smuggling operation. FRENCH CONNECTION is perhaps best known for its infamous, masterfully filmed chase scene (influenced by Peter Yates' BULLITT) in which the lead policeman, Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman), recklessly drives a stolen car through oncoming traffic in pursuit of a sniper escaping by elevated train. The thrill of this crime drama is accentuated by director William Friedkin's early European influences, perhaps best represented by the handheld documentary-style visuals and Friedkin's claims that the Oscar-winning screenplay was frequently disregarded in favor of improvisation. THE FRENCH CONNECTION marked not only a significant change of course for his career, but also a stylistic shift that all of Hollywood would soon follow. entertainment. The film not only marked a significant change of course for his career, but also signified a stylistic shift that all of Hollywood would soon follow."
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Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, this Oscar-winning film (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay) features brilliant performances by Voight and Hoffman, and brings to the screen an unusually gritty realism in its portrayal of the streets of New York City."
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 1963:
Tom Jones - " Tony Richardson's rousing adaptation
of Henry Fielding's classic comic novel stars Albert Finney as the
eponymous swordsman. TOM JONES achieved enormous critical and commercial
success, benefiting from an excellent cast, lively score, and unusually
realistic art direction. While the film surely deserves this praise,
Richardson initially considered it a failure, and it's likely that
he saved the film in the editing room, emphasizing the farcical elements
of the story with rapid intercutting, and adding amusingly ironic
voice-over narration. The end product is one of the most entertaining
costume dramas ever put on celluloid. Tom Jones is raised by Squire Allworthy (George Devine), his mother's (Joyce Redman) aptly named employer. He grows up to be a lively young man, loved by all except Allworthy's legitimate heir--the dour, envious Blifil (David Warner)--to whom Tom's true love Sophie Western (Susannah York) is promised in marriage. Allworthy feels obliged to send Tom away for Blifil's sake, which only briefly dampens Tom's mood. Soon, he's engaging in a famously libidinous eating scene with a woman met en route, carrying on with his ever-entertaining high spirits. An inspired piece of cinematic comedy, TOM JONES is most memorable for Finney's performance, which keeps viewers laughing long after the film's end."
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 1943:
Casablanca - "World War II Morocco springs to
life in Michael Curtiz's (THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, YANKEE DOODLE
DANDY) classic love story. Colorful characters abound in Casablanca,
a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe.
Humphrey Bogart plays Richard "Rick" Blaine, a cynical but
good-hearted American whose café is the gathering place for
everyone from the French Police to the black market to the Nazis.
When his long-lost love, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces in Casablanca
with her Resistance leader husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid),
Rick is pulled into both a love triangle and a web of political intrigue.
Ilsa and Victor need to escape from Casablanca, and Rick may be the
only one who can help them. The question is, will he? Top-notch performances include Claude Rains as the chief of the French police and the major authority figure in Unoccupied France, Peter Lorre as the doomed Senor Ugarte, Sydney Greenstreet as Senor Ferrari, and Dooley Wilson as Rick's loyal friend and the café's pianist, Sam. The mesmerizing musical score, by Max Steiner, along with the well-structured plot, flawless acting, and unforgettable dialogue makes this one of the best films of all time."
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2006:
The Departed - "In South Boston, the state
police force are waging a war on Irish-American organized crime.
Undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob
syndicate, which is run by gangland chief Frank Costello. Billy
quickly gains Costello’s confidence. Colin Sullivan is a hardened
young criminal who has infiltrated the police department as an informer
for the syndicate. Colin is rising to a position of power within
the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed
by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans
of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to
both the mob and the police that there’s a mole in their midst,
Billy and Colin are suddenly thrust into danger. Afraid of being
caught and exposed to the enemy, they each must race to uncover
the identity of the other man in time to save himself."
Call number: SAC - PN1997
Departed DVD
2005:
Crash - "A car accident brings together a
group of strangers in Los Angeles. Crash takes a provocative, unflinching
look at the complexities of racial tolerance in contemporary America."
2004:
Million Dollar Baby - "Frankie is a former
boxing manager, who initially refuses to train Maggie due to her
gender and age. With her talent and his coaching the spirited young
fighter rises through the ranks of women’s boxing, the pair
form a touching bond in the process."
2002:
Chicago - "This Hollywood adaptation of the
classic Broadway musical sparkles with glamour and reverberates
with the energy of good, old-fashioned song and dance. As the film
leaps into its first riveting act, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones),
one half of the famous number she performs with her sister, arrives
at the night club late, disheveled, and with blood on her hands.
Nonetheless, she goes onstage unhindered and wows the crowd with
her shimmying rendition of "All That Jazz." Roxie Hart
(Renee Zellweger) a young blond who dreams of someday being famous
like Velma, watches from the audience with eyes full of envy. Later,
as the cops pick up Velma for the murder of her sister, sending
her fame to all-time heights as she becomes a tabloid sensation,
Roxie also commits a crime of passion--shooting a lover who falsely
promised to secure her cabaret debut. The girls wind up together
in jail, where Mama Morton (Queen Latifah), a compassionate guard,
is their only hope of redemption; and Billy Flynn (Richard Gere)
is the lawyer who can get them out. There, through wonderfully familiar
songs like "Razzle Dazzle," "Cell-Block Tango,"
and "Cellophane Man" Roxie and Velma tell their story
of competing for bad-girl celebrity. Director Rob Marshall presents
a loveable CHICAGO that shares all the grit and grime of the Bob
Fosse Broadway original with phenomenal performances by this grouping
of Hollywood stars. The dizzying camerawork and dazzling sets make
an easy transition from stage to film."
2001:
A Beautiful Mind - "Director Ron Howard delivers
his finest effort with his extraordinary film, A BEAUTIFUL MIND,
which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2001. Based loosely
on Sylvia Nasar's acclaimed biography of mathematician John Forbes
Nash, the film is a compelling look at one man's genius, his debilitating
mental illness, and the fine line between the two. A BEAUTIFUL MIND
begins with Nash (Russell Crowe) at Princeton, where he struggles
to think of an original idea, and the stroke of genius that will
make him matter. Nash is eccentric, socially awkward, and extremely
competitive. Eventually, he finds the inspiration for his innovative
and influential work on game theory. He's chosen for a post at MIT,
which includes crucial code-breaking work for the US government.
There, he meets a beautiful and brilliant student, Alicia (Jennifer
Connelly). They marry but their happiness is threatened, as Nash,
belatedly diagnosed as schizophrenic, descends into madness. Screenwriter
Akiva Goldsman cannily condenses Nash's story, and the film manages
to dramatize both Nash's mathematical brilliance and his schizophrenia
in a compellingly visual manner. Crowe delivers a strong performance,
and has real chemistry with Connelly. The two make the film's story
about the power of love believable and moving."
2000:
Gladiator - "Ridley Scott (BLADE RUNNER, ALIEN) transports
Hollywood to second-century Rome in this rousing historical epic
that proudly harkens back to such films as BEN-HUR and SPARTACUS.
Russell Crowe plays Maximus, a Roman general who leads the troops
in conquering Germania for the empire. When an aging Marcus Aurelius
(Richard Harris) tells Maximus that he'd like him to rule Rome once
he's gone, a classic confrontation ensues between the brave and
charming soldier--who wants to return home to his wife, son, and
farm--and the jealous and conniving Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix),
the emperor's only son, who is thirsty for power. Bought as a slave
by the profiteering Proximo (Oliver Reed, in his last role), Maximus
must kill or be killed in the ring, battling to save not only himself
but the future of the very empire that he loves and honors. The
film features a terrific battle sequence (that recalls the beginning
of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN), huge crowd scenes of thousands of people,
and even a little romance, albeit mostly taboo. The impeccably choreographed
gladiator scenes are violent yet thrilling, flashing by like lightning.
GLADIATOR is a glorious spectacle filled with heart and soul."
1999:
American Beauty - "AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the
story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps
when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence.
Burnham lets us know in voice-over from the film's opening that
this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach),
a technique that adds an inevitable tension to the proceedings and
keeps the story moving forward at all times. On a whim, Lester quits
his job and begins a regression into young adulthood, lifting weights,
smoking pot, doing nothing, and discovering the overflowing sexuality
of his 16-year-old daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari).
His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), has her own midlife crisis of
sorts. A real estate agent, she experiences a youthful awakening
when super-agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Jane (Thora Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is pursued
by Ricky (Wes Bentley), the mysterious boy next door who carries
a video camera around with him at all times. When Ricky's militaristic
father, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper), discovers something potentially
horrifying on one of his tapes, and when Carolyn's rage for Lester's
actions boils over, the time bomb finally explodes."
1998:
Shakespeare in Love - "In this well-conceived
Elizabethan comedy, writers Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman ask the
question: Who was William Shakespeare's muse? The answer: Viola
de Lesseps, a young noblewoman who dreams of acting on a man's stage.
The screenwriters deliver a cleverly crafted scenario which beautifully
illustrates both the early aspirations of the playwright, and a
glimpse into the culture of Elizabethan theater. Colorful characters,
like the Globe theater owner Henslow (played by Geoffrey Rush),
the lead player in the troupe (Ben Affleck), and the Queen herself
(Judi Dench), give the cast charm, wit, and feasibility. The young
playwright who at the start of the film is experiencing writer's
block bursts forth with a lyrical text inspired by the lovely and
passionate Viola. Ultimately this film is about the making of a
great play, but most importantly it is about the power of words."
Call number: PAL - PN1997 Shak 1998 VHS 
1997:
Titanic - "Leonardo DiCaprio and Oscar-nominee
Kate Winslet light up the screen as Jack and Rose, the young lovers
who find one another on the maiden voyage of the "unsinkable"
R.M.S. Titanic. But when the doomed luxury liner collides with an
iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic, their passionate love affair
becomes a thrilling race for survival. From acclaimed filmmaker
James Cameron comes a tale of forbidden love and courage in the
face of disaster that triumphs as a true cinematic masterpiece."
1996:
The English Patient - "THE ENGLISH PATIENT
is an epic, sweeping adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's richly layered,
WWII-era novel chronicling two periods in the life of European explorer
Count Laszlo Almasy, whose torrid affair with a colleague's wife
is countered by the beginning of the war, allegations of Nazi sympathies,
and disfiguring injuries. The patient's stay at the ruins of an
Italian monastery under the care of an emotionally injured French-Canadian
nurse serves as a framing device for his intriguing story."
1995:
Braveheart - "Mel Gibson directs and stars
in this Academy Award-winning epic based on the life of legendary
thirteenth century Scottish hero William Wallace. Returning to his
homeland following the death of an heirless king, Wallace (Mel Gibson)
finds the political landscape precarious. Edward the Longshanks,
King of England (Patrick McGoohan), has captured Scotland's throne
and threatens the freedom of all Scottish people, as tyrannical
policies instituted by the English plague the Scots. Initially,
Wallace is content to stand by the wayside, yearning for the simple
life of building a home and raising a family. However, when the
woman he loves (Catherine McCormack) suffers a cruel fate at the
hands of English soldiers, Wallace takes a stand against the new
rule. With his fierce patriotism and determination, he gathers an
amateur but passionately rebellious army. Although this makeshift
force may be outnumbered by the English troops, their desperation
and love for their land surpass any military maneuvers, as evidenced
in the film's breathtaking battle sequences." 
1994:
Forrest Gump - "The title character leads
viewers through an accidental travelogue of American social history
from the early 1960s through the present in this revisionist fable.
Vietnam, desegregation, Watergate and more are presented from the
perspective of Hanks' lovably slow-witted character as he finds
himself embroiled in situations he can't quite comprehend. Academy
Award Nominations: 13, including Best Picture, Best Actor--Tom Hanks,
and Best Director. Academy Awards: 6, including Best Picture, Director,
Actor and Adapted Screenplay." 
1993:
Schindler's List - "Based on a true story,
SCHINDLER’S LIST is Steven Spielberg’s epic drama of
World War II Holocaust survivors and the man who unexpectedly came
to be their savior. Unrepentant womanizer and war profiteer Oskar
Schindler uses Polish Jews as cheap labor to produce cookware for
the Third Reich. But after witnessing the violent liquidation of
the walled ghetto where the Krakow Jews have been forced to live,
Schindler slowly begins to realize the immense evil of Nazism. When
his employees are sent to a work camp, they come under the terrorizing
reign of sadistic Nazi Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). With the help
of his accountant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), Schindler creates
a list of "essential" Jews. Bribing Goeth, Schindler manages
to get 1,100 people released from the camp and brought to the safety
of his munitions factory in Czechoslovakia. Spielberg's glorious
film is wondrously evocative, visually stunning, and emotionally
stirring."
1992:
Unforgiven - "In Clint Eastwood's acclaimed
Western, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), a sadistic, dictatorial
sheriff, enforces gun control on a tiny frontier town, doling out
his own brand of due process as he sees fit. When he denies justice
to the prostitutes of the town brothel, one of whom has been slashed
by a client, the women hire Bill Munny (Eastwood), a reformed gunslinger,
to gain vengeance. However, Munny must contend with his new moral
code in the face of revisiting the life he left behind. Eastwood's
directorial masterpiece also stars Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris."
1991:
Silence of the Lambs - "Jodie Foster and Anthony
Hopkins will likely be forever associated with their roles in this
bone-chilling masterpiece, based on the novel by Thomas Harris and
directed by Jonathan Demme. FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Foster)
is sent by her supervisor (Scott Glenn) to interview ferociously
intelligent serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lechter
(Hopkins) at his cell in a Maryland mental hospital. The FBI hopes
Lechter can provide insight into the mind of killer-at-large, Buffalo
Bill (Ted Levine), whose current abductee happens to be the daughter
of a senator. Intrigued by Clairice, Lechter demands information
about her personal life and in exchange for clues, and the two begin
to form a strangely intimate connection, with a girl's life hanging
in the balance. Starling is gradually revealed as a woman struggling
out of her own darkness, bound to aid the dysfunctional males around
her on their own paths of transformation, liberation, and destruction.
This is a film of brilliant and disturbing beauty that transcends
its B-movie origins (though it does honor them with a cameo appearance
by Roger Corman)."
1990:
Dances with Wolves - "In 1865, Civil War hero
Lt. John Dunbar asks to be reassigned to the western frontier before
it disappears. At his isolated post he develops a relationship with
the peaceful Lakota Sioux and a white woman who lives among them,
finding greater kinship with them than with his own people."
1989:
Driving Miss Daisy - "Director Bruce Beresford's
affinity for the subtleties of southern life is apparent in this
adaptation of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Starring
Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan and Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn,
the film opens in late-1940s Atlanta. Since Miss Daisy is becoming
a menace behind the wheel, her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), ignores
her protests and hires Hoke, a black chauffeur. When the feisty
matron decides to resist necessity and walk to the store, the equally
stubborn chauffeur follows her in her car. As he says to Boolie,
"I used to rassle hogs down to the ground...ain't nary a hog
got away from me yet." But Hoke's methods are gentleness and
patience, and as the years elapse in his ongoing tug-of-war with
the temperamental Daisy, she begins to tacitly acknowledge his wisdom.
When she expresses annoyance over the demands of the nascent civil
rights movement, Hoke points out to the Jewish woman the similarity
between the attack on her synagogue and Klan attacks on black churches.
But it is only after many years together that they can finally admit
to the depth of the friendship they have shared. The two stars give
unforgettable performances, and Beresford's direction is a model
of restraint."
1988:
Rain Man - "A callous young hustler living
in California finds his father has died and left him only rose bushes
and a ’49 Buick convertible. Feeling cheated out of what he
thinks should be his 3 million dollar inheritance, he kidnaps the
autistic brother he never knew he had, and takes him on the ride
of his life."
1987:
The Last Emperor - "Although it is 160 minutes
long and shot with breathtaking scope and sumptuousness, Bertolucci's
film is a story about claustrophobia. Pu Yi, the Manchurian emperor
of China who ascended the throne in 1908 at the age of three, is
a prisoner in the palace he rules over. Outside, real power changes
hands with each coup d'etat. Pu Yi grows to manhood, is tutored
by a Westerner (Peter O'Toole), and marries a gorgeous princess
(Joan Chen). However, the adult Pu Yi (John Lone) is destined for
a communist reeducation camp when the war is over. From start to
finish, Pu Yi is a passive antihero who can never come to grips
with the idea that the absolute power conferred on him as a child
was only a mirage. The mistakes Pu Yi made trying to realize that
power, especially collaborating with the Japanese during the war,
provide Bertolucci with the chance to explore his familiar theme
of collaboration and its moral consequences (as he did in THE CONFORMIST
and 1900). In the end, Pu Yi seems to have reached a kind of peace,
and the terrible waste of a special man's life disappears into a
drab, grey-clad Beijing."
1986:
Platoon - "In PLATOON, Oliver Stone draws
on his experience as an infantryman in Vietnam to convey the brutality
of guerrilla warfare: the heat of the jungle, the brushes with such
wildlife as snakes and leeches, and, most powerfully, the presence
of the unseen enemy. Charlie Sheen stars as Chris, a raw recruit,
or "new meat," who serves as the film's narrator. At first
he wilts under the rigorous conditions of jungle life, freezes up
in a fire fight, and wonders whether he'll be able to survive. But
he gradually adapts and, as time goes by, begins to see that the
platoon is divided into two groups. One consists of lifers, juicers,
and subintelligent whites, the other of blacks and heads. Sgt. Barnes,
a combat-loving burnout (Tom Berenger), is the informal leader of
the lifers, and Sgt. Elias, a free spirit (Willem Dafoe), leads
the latter group. When the platoon takes some gruesome losses, an
enraged Barnes kills some Vietnamese and orders the burning of their
village, outraging the temporarily absent Elias. As the conflict
between these two reaches its tragic climax, Chris must decide what
he really values. Widely regarded as one of the finest war films
ever made, PLATOON reflects not only the United States' division
over Vietnam but the timeless truths of battle: terror, disorientation,
exhilaration, and horrible loss."
1984:
Amadeus - "In a lavish 18th Century parlor
in Austria, an elderly man is found, by his servant, with his throat
slashed. The wound is self-inflicted, and the man is the little-known
composer Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), contemporary and adversary
of the now-famed, but once reviled, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(Tom Hulce). Later, from his cell in an insane asylum, Salieri tells
a priest (Herman Meckler) the story of his association with Mozart,
confessing that he actually killed the brilliantly gifted but troubled
young man. Based on the award-winning play by Peter Shaffer, Milos
Forman's riveting, brilliant, Oscar-winning AMADEUS is a fictionalized
account of the real-life mysterious death of Mozart. Abraham, in
the role that won him the Best Actor Oscar, is the celebrated court
composer to Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones)--his confidence and religious
dedication shaken when he meets the boorish 26-year-old Mozart as
he chases his future wife (Elizabeth Berridge) around a party while
making obscene remarks. Furious that this clownish boy can produce
such beautiful music, Salieri determines to keep Mozart's talent
from lasting recognition and sets himself on a course for Mozart’s
destruction that leads to his own as well. Mozart continues to mount
beautiful, moving operas (incredibly staged in the film), but becomes
obsessed with writing a Requiem as his friends, family, health,
and resources waste away, Salieri’s manipulating presence
always there. It is hard to imagine anyone--whether they are knowledgeable
about classical music or not--who would not be held captive by this
superb feast for the eyes and ears, a film whose excellence can
be felt in every detail."
1983:
Terms of Endearment - "Aurora and Emma are
mother and daughter who march the beat of different drummers. Over
a 30-year span, each finds different reasons to go on living and
find joy. In the end, both mother and daughter find a way to show
their love for one another."
1982:
Gandhi - "The acclaimed dramatization of the
life of Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, from his beginnings
as a South African-educated lawyer through his historic, galvanizing
struggle to free India from British Colonial rule. With a large,
distinguished cast, headlined by Ben Kingsley in a nuanced performance,
Sir Richard Attenborough's biopic is a classic of the genre. Academy
Award Nominations: 11. Academy Awards: 9, including Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Actor--Ben Kingsley, Best (Original) Screenplay."
1981:
Chariots of Fire - "Director Hugh Hudson's
absorbing drama, based on a true story, deals with the personal
struggles faced by two very different long-distance runners competing
for Britain in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson)
is a devout Christian who sees victory as a testament to the glory
of God, while the other, Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), is a Jewish
Cambridge student who sees victory as a challenge to anti-Semitism
and his ongoing struggle for acceptance by Britain's elite. Eric,
a hometown Scottish hero to the people, gives rousing sermons after
victory and works at a local missionary. Harold runs with a zealous
commitment, upsetting Cambridge's educational upper crust (played
with enjoyable wit and candor by Sir John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson)
while enjoying social life with his university chums and his beautiful
showgirl girlfriend (Alice Krige). But when faced with such a competent
challenger, Harold hires trainer Sam Mussabini (Ian Holm) to further
his dreams of winning the gold. Ultimately, the two runners meet
in Paris to run for British victory in a rousing finale. Featuring
an unforgettable soundtrack by Vangelis, this Academy Award-winning
film is an inspirational story of athletic excellence and spiritual
awakening that captures the zeal of post-WWI Britain and the glory
of the Olympics. 
1979:
Kramer v. Kramer - "When his wife walks out,
Ted Kramer and his six-year-old son have a chance to really get
to know each other. Then Ted’s wife returns and she wants
her son back."
1978:
The Deer Hunter - "This epic look at the Vietnam
War and its effects told through the lives of a tight knit group
of friends from a Pennsylvania town was Michael Cimino's second
film and established him in the pantheon of American directors.
Complex and emotionally raw performances from Robert De Niro and
Meryl Streep earned each an Academy Award nomination, and Christopher
Walken's portrayal of Nick, who survives capture but is unable to
escape its trauma, is a tour de force that earned him the Oscar
for Best Supporting Actor. With a keen eye for nuance and a carefully
structured script, Cimino interweaves the rituals great and small
that make up the lives of his characters, creating a poignant sense
of what remained constant and what was forever changed by their
experience of the war."
1977:
Annie Hall - "Often considered the crown jewel
in a highly acclaimed and prolific film career, ANNIE HALL is Woody
Allen's only film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
This recognition, however, is not what makes the film significant.
ANNIE HALL marks the beginning of the second phase of Allen's career
as a filmmaker, abandoning the slapstick of SLEEPER and BANANAS
for more thoughtful comedies (and eventually dramas) that explored
human relationships and psychology. Allen's capacity as a creative
filmmaker had also grown with the film, as he utilized creative
subtitles, split screens, and animation, as well as evincing a sophisticated
understanding of the potential of editing and camera movement for
comic effect--consider the cutaway to Allen's character Alvy Singer,
as seen through the eyes of "Grammy Hall" during the dinner
sequence, or shortly afterward the slow pan to Alvy in the passenger
seat of a car driven by Annie's unhinged brother Duane.
1976:
Rocky - "Director John G. Avildsen's ROCKY
is the stand-up-and-cheer saga of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone),
an underdog boxer who gets his million-to-one shot at love, self-respect,
and the world heavyweight title. Rocky is a down-on-his-luck Philadelphia
southpaw who works at a meat-packing factory while fighting at a
local club. He's given the chance of a lifetime when the world heavyweight
champion, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), chooses him as an unlikely
opponent in his championship bicentennial fight. What was originally
planned as a publicity stunt becomes a chance for Rocky to prove
himself as a prizefighter while training with his cantankerous manager,
Mickey (Burgess Meredith), to rise to the challenge. Thrilling scenes
of Rocky's arduous training, including his unforgettable run up
the Philadelphia Art Museum steps, are interspersed with a sweet
and touching love story between the fighter and his best friend's
shy sister, Adrian (Talia Shire). With the love of Adrian on his
side, Rocky struggles to overcome the odds, fighting with all his
heart in the glorious and brutal finale. Shot with gritty realism
on the mean streets of Philadelphia, ROCKY introduced a new American
cinematic hero, spurred on by rollicking action sequences and a
rousing soundtrack. A triumph for star and screenwriter Stallone,
who himself came from nowhere to reach the top, ROCKY is crowd-pleasing
entertainment at its finest."
1975:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - "Milos Foreman's
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, based on the novel by Ken Kesey
and the play by Dale Wasserman, presents a biting and ultimately
tragic satire about mental institutions and the human spirit. A
disturbing, witty, and electrifying drama, the film won the 1975
Academy Award for Best Picture. R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson),
a misbehaved con who shirks authority, finds himself in an asylum
after faking insanity to get out of work detail in prison. The vivacious
troublemaker soon finds himself in a worse kind of prison--one presided
over by the repressed, terrifyingly quiet Nurse Ratched (Louise
Fletcher), whose set of rules and regulations are meant to suppress
patients' psychotic outbursts, and their spirits. It's not long
before McMurphy is reaching out to his new inmates, trying desperately
to bring life to an otherwise dead atmosphere. To Ratched, however,
Nicholson's free spirit is as dangerous as a schizophrenic impulse.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is brilliantly acted by an ensemble
that includes Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli,
and Danny DeVito."
1974:
The Godfather: Part II - "The sequel to THE
GODFATHER tells the story of both a young Vito Corleone (Robert
De Niro), newly arrived in America, and his son Michael (Al Pacino),
forty years later, running the family empire. On the streets of
Hell's Kitchen in 1917 New York City, Vito is initiated into the
ways of the local cosa nostra by his friend Clemenza (Bruno Kirby).
After killing the local mafioso in a towel-wrapped gun, Vito becomes
the new man to be respected and feared. Meanwhile, a dour Michael
Corleone negotiates with business partner Hyman Roth (legendary
method actor Lee Strasberg in his first film role) in Cuba and testifies
in front of a Washington Senate committee. Robert Duvall (Tom Hagen),
Diane Keaton (Kay Corleone), Talia Shire (Connie Corleone), and
John Cazale (Fredo Corleone), reprising their roles from THE GODFATHER,
are outstanding as the people forced to watch the new godfather’s
moral destruction. Robert De Niro, speaking in Italian, captures
the mannerisms of Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone from the first film
brilliantly. THE GODFATHER PART II is one of the only major sequels
ever made that might just surpass the original."
1969:
Midnight Cowboy - "Joe Buck (Jon Voight),
an aspiring male prostitute from Texas, heads to Manhattan where
he hopes to find plenty of wealthy women willing to pay for the
services of a handsome man. When he arrives, the naive country boy
befriends Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a tubercular homeless con
artist who dreams of moving to Florida. As they go about trying
to get the money Ratso needs, the two men confront the seediness,
corruption, and cruelty that flourish in the big city.
1968:
Oliver! - "A rousing film version of Lionel
Bart's musical adaptation of Dickens's classic novel, OLIVER| stars
Ron Moody as Fagin and Mark Lester as the eponymous hero. The orphaned
Oliver escapes to London from a dreary workhouse and is taken in
by a gang of young pickpockets who work for master thief Fagin while
learning their trade. When he's falsely accused of stealing from
the gang by the fearsome Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), Oliver begins
to realize that he has more friends than he had thought."
1967:
In the Heat of the Night - "A small town Southern
sheriff finds himself in an uneasy alliance with a big-city black
homicide detective as they investigate a murder."
1966:
A Man for All Seasons - "An excellent biographical
drama about the conflicts faced by Sir Thomas More when King Henry
VIII asks him to break with the Pope and grant him a divorce. A
powerful, cerebral story, supported by an excellent cast and characterization.
Vanessa Redgrave would later participate in a well-received made-for-television
remake in 1988. Based on Robert Bolt's stage play. Academy Award
Nominations: 8. Academy Awards: 6, including Best Picture, Best
Director, Best Actor (Paul Scofield), Best (Adapted) Screenplay."
1965:
The Sound of Music - "Shot in Salzburg against
the majestic Bavarian Alps, THE SOUND OF MUSIC is considered one
of the greatest screen musicals ever made. Winner of five Academy
Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Robert Wise),
the film, based on a real family and their true events, tells the
story of a young postulate, Maria (Julie Andrews), who, after proving
too high-spirited for the Mother Abess and other nuns, is sent off
to work as a governess to seven unruly children. The Von Trapp family
is run, in military style, by the seemingly cold-hearted Captain
Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), a lonely widowed naval officer.
Seeing how badly he and his children need companionship, he proposes
to the Baroness Schraeder (Eleanor Parker), a calculating, mutual
friend of beloved family friend Max Detweiler (Richard Haydn). It
is the baroness who soon realizes that it's Maria--with her warmth
and love for the children--the captain really loves. It is nearly
bliss for the newly formed family who loves to sing together--except
for the cloud looming over their beloved Austrian horizon: Hitler
is ascending to power, forcing Von Trapp to decide whether to join
the Nazi party--which he loathes--or force his family to leave their
home forever. One of the most memorable scores ever written (by
Rodgers and Hammerstein) and breathtaking performances by Andrews,
Plummer, and the seven children mark this classic as one of the
world's most favorite films."
1964:
My Fair Lady - "A priceless classic, MY FAIR
LADY has become one of the most popular musicals of all time. Based
on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play PYGMALION, the film swept
the Academy Awards. Cecil Beaton s lavish sets and costumes and
Lerner and Loewe’s winning score became the background for
George Cukor’s striking mix of styles that ranged from the
fantastic to the abstract in his telling of the tale of a waif who’s
educated into being a lady. Egotistical linguist Professor Henry
Higgins (Oscar-winning Rex Harrison) bets his friend, Colonel Hugh
Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), that he can transform Cockney flower
girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) in time for an important society
ball. His gamble could pay off--but the spirited Eliza is more of
a handful than the Professor could have predicted. As she slowly
becomes more refined, and less reliant upon him, Higgins realizes,
to his confusion, that he can’t live without her. The film
was nominated for 12 Oscars and won eight, including Best Picture
and Director."
1962:
Lawrence of Arabia - "David Lean's masterpiece,
perhaps the greatest of screen epics, stars Peter O'Toole in one
of the most electrifying debuts in film history. The film is less
an ordinary adventure than an experience that leaves an overwhelming
sense memory of the struggle between two powerful forces: the Arabian
deserts, immense, intractable, ever-shifting, punishing; and T.E.
Lawrence, humble as a monk, flamboyant as a rock star, protean,
polymathic, heroic, enigmatic, mad. While working on the staff of
British Intelligence in Cairo in 1916, Lawrence's fluency in Arabic
earns him a post on a mission sent to establish contact with Prince
Feisal (Alec Guinness), leader of the Arab revolt and ally of the
British against the German-sponsored Turks in WWI. Impressed by
Lawrence's knowledge of their culture, the prince allows the young
officer to join his staff, and Lawrence quickly earns the Arabs'
respect after he executes acts of extraordinary heroism. As the
Englishman's genius for guerrilla warfare becomes evident, he assumes
the role of de facto leader of the Arab revolt, uniting the heretofore
warring tribes into a devastatingly effective weapon. But the chaos
of war also unleashes the repressed officer's powerful need for
self-abasement and mortification of the flesh. A visionary work
that unfolds one indelible image after another, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
fuses the conflict of man against man, man against nature, and man
against himself into a sublime poem of force. The film features
a literate script by Robert Bolt and an outstanding cast, which
also includes Claude Rains, Jack Hawkins, Arthur Kennedy, Anthony
Quinn, Jose Ferrer, and Omar Sharif in his unforgettable desert-crossing
debut."
1961:
West Side Story - "Considered one of the most popular
musicals of all time, WEST SIDE STORY earned director Robert Wise
an Oscar for Best Director as well as nine other Academy Awards,
including Best Picture. Realistically portrayed characters and their
surroundings and expert editing complementing innovative dance sequences
mark this highly stylized modern-day Romeo and Juliet tale. The
stage is set in New York’s Upper West Side in the 1950s, where
the area’s slums are plagued by racial tensions acted on by
two rival gangs: the Puerto Rican Sharks and the Caucasian Jets.
In the middle of this mess is young, innocent Maria (Natalie Wood),
a Puerto Rican seamstress whose brother, Bernardo (George Chakiris),
is the leader of the Sharks. Despite the warnings of Anita (Rita
Moreno), Bernardo's fiery girlfriend, Maria falls in love with a
young, hopeful Polish boy, Tony (Richard Beymer), who used to belong
to the Jets, now headed by Riff (Russ Tamblyn). When Tony, on Maria’s
urging, tries to stop a rumble between the gangs, tragedy ensues,
marking their dedicated love affair with violence and desperation.
The infectious, lyrical landmark score by Leonard Bernstein and
Stephen Sondheim help round out one of the greatest musical experiences
ever captured on film."
1960:
The Apartment - "Lemmon is a career-climbing
executive who offers his boss the use of his apartment for an extra-marital
fling and soon gets tangled up with the boss' flighty and fragile
girlfriend, played by MacLaine."
1959:
Ben-Hur - "The numbers speak volumes: 100,000
costumes, 8,000 extras, 300 sets and a staggering budget in its
day the largest in movie history. Ben-Hur's creators made it the
best, the greatest Biblical-era epic ever. Charlton Heston brings
a muscular physical and moral presence to the role of Judah Ben-Hur,
a Jewish nobleman in Palestine whose heroic odyssey includes enslavement
by the Romans, a bold escape from an embattled slave galley, vengeance
against his tormentors during a furious arena chariot race and fateful
encounters with Jesus Christ. Heston's charismatic performance brought
him the Best Actor Oscar; the winner as 1959's Best Picture with
the legendary William Wyler earning his third Best Director trophy,
the film won a total 11 Academy Awards -- a tally unequaled until
1997's Titanic set sail." 
1958:
Gigi - "Set in Paris at the turn of the century,
this delightful Lerner and Loewe musical, based on a story by Collette,
follows a precocious French girl as she is groomed into a would-be
courtesan, blossoming into a stunning woman. The story provides
plenty of opportunity for Minnelli and MGM to pull out all the stops
in its first musical production shot on location. Paris and Caron
never looked lovelier, and Jourdan and Chevalier are so French,
no? Songs include: "Gigi," "Thank Heaven for Little
Girls," and "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well." Academy
Award Nominations: 9. Academy Awards: 9, including Best Picture,
Best Director, Best (Adapted) Screenplay. "
1957:
Bridge on the River Kwai - "One of the all-time
great war films, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI is yet another classic
from the marvelous David Lean (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DR. ZHIVAGO).
The film is an outstanding, psychologically complex adaptation of
Pierre Boulle's 1952 novel, a classic story of English POWs in Burma
forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese
captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to
blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson (a fabulous Alec Guinness),
the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired
a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
Although credited to screenwriter Carl Foreman, the script was actually
written by blacklisted writer Michael Wilson. The film garnered
seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Guinness).
The climax is one of the great finales in film history."
1954:
On the Waterfront - "Marlon Brando is Terry
Malloy, an ex-prize fighter struggling against union corruption
along the New York waterfront, in Elia Kazan's film classic. Malloy's
battle takes him all the way to the witness stand, where he finds
himself testifying against union leaders. The film was Kazan's response
to his decision to turn in the names of his Hollywood contemporaries
during Senator Joe McCarthy's anti-Communism hearings. Cobb, Steiger,
and Malden were all nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscars.
Academy Award Nominations: 12. Academy Awards: 8, including Best
Picture, Best Director, Best Actor--Marlon Brando, Best Story and
Screenplay."
1953:
From Here to Eternity - " An all-star cast
brought what was considered an unfilmable novel to the screen with
skill and grace with this story of the loves, hopes and dreams of
those in a close-knit Army barracks in Hawaii shortly before the
attack on Pearl Harbor. Montgomery Clift portrays a former boxer
who refuses to fight after blinding a friend in the ring and is
sent to the remote outpost as punishment for his insubordination.
Love and tragedy abound in this unflattering look at military life
and American thought before the war. Based on the novel by James
Jones."
1950:
All About Eve - " Given that she throws tantrums,
gets intoxicated, and pushes people away when she needs them the
most, it’s a wonder New York theater star Margo Channing has
any true friends. But when Eve, Margo’s young and innocent-seeming
protégée, schemes to gain both the affection of Margo’s
friends and a starring role originally written for Margo, the actress
discovers just who is in her corner--and who is not. Released in
1950, ALL ABOUT EVE’s power radiates undimmed through the
years. The role of aging stage star Margo Channing is considered
by many to be the best of Bette Davis’s career, as Davis reveals
and conceals Margo’s vulnerabilities with a skill seldom seen
onscreen. Anne Baxter is also marvelous as the subtle Eve, whose
glowing enthusiasm masks a cold, calculated ambition. Both actresses
garnered Best Actress Oscar nominations, and the film in its entirety
took 14 nominations, winning seven of them, including Best Picture,
Best Director, and Best Screenplay. George Sanders was awarded Best
Supporting Actor for his biting portrayal of potent, nasty theater
critic Addison DeWitt. Consistently listed among the best films
of all time, director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ALL ABOUT EVE
shouldn’t be missed; the acting, writing, and directing are
unequivocally brilliant."
1948:
Hamlet - "Before Kenneth Branagh, before Mel
Gibson, Laurence Olivier gave the definitive portrayal of "the
man who could not make up his mind." In 15th-century Denmark,
young Prince Hamlet is racked by torment and indecision after seeing
a vision of his deceased father. The late king's ghost informs his
son Hamlet that Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, was responsible for murdering
the king. When the murderer married Hamlet's mother--the king's
widow--scarcely two months after his funeral, he also took the throne
that was his brother's. The ghost beseeches Hamlet to avenge him--yet
Hamlet procrastinates, unsure of how best to accomplish his task.
In what was only his second directorial effort, Olivier uses his
misty, moody set and long tracking camera shots to complement his
indecisive prince tortured by the murder of his father. Olivier's
version of the Shakespeare tragedy eliminates the characters of
Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras."
1947:
Gentleman's Agreement - "A magazine writer
poses as a Jew to expose anti-Semitism. Oscars for best picture,
director Elia Kazan, supporting actress Celeste Holm."
1946:
The Best Years of Our Lives - "Perhaps the
most memorable film about the aftermath of World War II, it unfolds
with the homecoming of three veterans to the same small town. The
leads all touch emotional truths: Loy seems able to express longing,
joy, fear and surprise - mostly with her back turned - in a particularly
poignant welcome home. The movie never glosses over the reality
of altered lives and the inability to communicate the experience
of war on the front lines or the home front. A landmark achievement.
WWII vet Russell, who lost his hands in the war, is the only person
to win two Oscars for the same role, Best Supporting Actor and a
special Oscar "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow
veterans through his appearance.""
1945:
The Lost Weekend - "Ray Milland stars as alcoholic
writer Don Birnam in Billy Wilder's first unabashedly dramatic film,
and one of the first to deal in such painstaking detail with the
disease of alcoholism. Don shares an apartment in New York City
in the 1940s with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry) who has his hands
full trying to deal with his brother's drinking problem. One night,
Don encourages his brother to take his girlfriend Helen St. James
(Jane Wyman) to hear some music only so that he can be out from
under their watchful eyes. Taking the money left for the maid, he
goes out to buy some liquor, stashing one bottle in the chandelier.
When he goes to the bar the next day, Nat (Howard Da Silva), the
owner berates him for treating his girlfriend badly and warns him
that he's on a path toward death. Don returns to the apartment to
try to work on his novel "The Bottle," but consumed by
self-doubt, goes to another bar, and steals a woman's purse to buy
a drink. As the weekend wears on, his spiral downward continues
apace. Although dated in some respects, the film's unadorned portrait
of the relentless torture that is alcoholism still packs a powerful
punch thanks to Wilder's sharp script, the deep-focus camerawork
of John Seitz, and a career performance by Ray Milland."
1939:
Gone with the Wind - "Hot-tempered, self-centered,
part-Irish Southern beauty Scarlett O'Hara, played to the teeth
by Vivien Leigh, loves the gentlemanly Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard).
Smug, rebellious, honest, blockade-running profiteer Rhett Butler,
portrayed gracefully and naturally by Clark Gable, loves Scarlett.
Ashley, who is also in love with Scarlett, marries his genteel cousin
Melanie (Olivia de Havilland) because he believes that their quiet
similarities will create a better marriage than Scarlett’s
passion. Meanwhile, sparks fly between Rhett and Scarlett at their
first encounter and continue throughout Scarlett's first two marriages.
Scarlett and Rhett finally wed, but Scarlett continues to pine for
her beloved Ashley. Set against the Civil War and Southern Reconstruction,
this tragic love quadrangle offers the burning of Atlanta and fields
of wounded Confederates as part of its lush scenery. Meticulous
backdrops, glorious sunsets, numerous silhouettes, and the ultrasaturated
Technicolor film create a hyperreal vision. The romantic score is
every bit as lush and dramatic as the photography, borrowing folk
melodies from the Old South to make the tragic war concrete. Heavy
nostalgic tones pervade the often witty dialogue and larger-than-life
charms and faults of the leads. GONE WITH THE WIND stands among
the greatest epic dramas ever filmed."
1934:
It Happened One Night - "A sparkling, legendary
romantic comedy based on the story "Night Bus" by Samuel
Hopkins Adams about a news reporter and a runaway heiress who fall
in love while traveling cross country on a bus. Academy Awards:
5, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor--Clark Gable,
Best Actress--Claudette Colbert, Best Adapted Screenplay."
1931/1932:
Grand Hotel - "A ballerina, baron, stenographer,
bookkeeper and tycoon check into Berlin's Grand Hotel. Directed
by Edmund Goulding."
1929/1930:
All Quiet on the Western Front - " Lewis Milestone's
adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel is a masterpiece
whose power to disturb remains undiminished by the passage of time.
The film stars Lew Ayres as the young Paul Bauman, who, along with
a group of his teenaged classmates, are conscripted into the German
army during WWI. The youths quickly realize that the patriotic hogwash
they had been fed by their schoolmaster has absolutely has nothing
to do with the horror they observe and experience on the front lines."