Rank: 60
Release Year: 1978
Genre: Drama/Romance
Plot
Summary: After running away from an incident at a steel mill, the
hot-tempered Bill decides to try his hand as a farm laborer. Travelling with
his companions Abby and Linda, he gains employment for a rich but sick land
owner. Bill encourages Abby to give in to the rich man’s advances in a play for
his fortune (but is secretly jealous, as he too loves her).
What
Makes It Special: With Days of Heaven American auteur Terrence Malick
found the cinematic language that he is now best known for: an experience of
beauty and emotion more than a straightforward narrative. The film is
incredibly stunning visually, as Malick and cinematographer
Nestor Almendros
shot most of the exteriors during the ‘magic hour’. There is almost no dialog in the film (aside
from Linda Manz’s great voiceover narration), as Malick uses the montage of his
images to evoke character and emotion. This film changed the landscape of
American cinema (and then Malick did not make another film for twenty years).
Rank: 59
Release Year: 1962
Genre: Western
Plot
Summary: Senator Ransom Stoddard returns home to the small town of
Shinbone for the funeral of a friend. While there, a local newspaper writer asks
him to recount his famous duel with ruffian Liberty Valance. Stoddard obliges,
but as he tells the story he decides to leave the legend behind and finally
tell the truth about what really happened.
What
Makes It Special: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is John Ford’s final
great film and collaboration with John Wayne (they did work together again
after this on a segment of
How the West Was
Won). What makes this Western particularly interesting is that it signifies
the end of the genre (in a classic sense) and of the West as it was depicted in
the genre. White hats and black hats would no longer be so easily distinguished
– gruff heroes stepping aside for heroes of a new world. It is in some ways a
sadly nostalgic experience, as the classic Western is now nothing more than an
American Myth.
Rank: 58
Release Year: 1964
Genre: War
Thriller/Comedy
Plot
Summary: An insane general initiates the United States’ failsafe against
nuclear attack by the U.S.S.R., setting U.S. bombers on a collision course with
targets within the Soviet Union, giving them no other choice than to fire nukes
back.
What
Makes It Special: Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove is an on-point satire
of what was a very serious situation in the 1960s. People were terrified that
the world really could come to an end at any moment if the Cold War escalated
to a point of no return, the film coming out just over a year after the Cuban Missile
Crisis. In addition to its sharp wit and daring political overtones, the film
has stood the test of time thanks to Peter Sellers delivering a comedic
performance for the ages, playing three separate characters.
Rank: 57
Release Year: 1938
Genre: Screwball Comedy
Plot
Summary: David, a paleontologist, is desperate to secure a one million
dollar donation for his museum from Susan, an heiress. However, she proves to
be impossible, pulling David into difficult and awkward situations – none more
so than searching for her lost pet (a leopard named Baby).
What
Makes It Special: While not the first, the screwball comedy was more or
less born with the films
It Happened One Night
and
The Awful
Truth, but there is maybe none better than Bringing Up Baby. It features
the genre’s two biggest stars Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn and is packed
with wonderful comedy bits and laughs. The dialog and jokes come at the
audience fast, as Grant and Hepburn are constantly at each other’s throats.
Like many great films, audiences were not quite ready for it when it was
initially released, as it opened as a box office failure. It has since found
its audience and place among the cinematic comedic elite.
Rank: 56
Release Year: 1980
Genre: Horror
Plot
Summary: A writer Jack Torrance decides to take a job as the caretaker
of a grand, secluded hotel so that he can work on his new novel. He moves up to
the hotel with his wife and son, but strange things begin to happen. Evil and
spiritual forces influence Jack leading him towards violence. Meanwhile, his
psychic son sees horrific scenes from the past and future.
What
Makes It Special: The Shining is Stanley Kubrick’s take on the horror
genre. With the film, he spawned one of the most terrifying and affecting in
the genre’s history. Kubrick is a master of visual imagery, and here he creates
so many classic moments that continue to grab and scare audiences of each new
generation. It is an atmospheric experience that while it finds its audience
trembling is also an aesthetic marvel.
55-51
