|
Hawaii
»rank: 564
: :George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) directed this adaptation of James Michener's novel about the history of the 50th state. Max von Sydow plays a zealous missionary with a Calvinist bent, intent on enlightening the natives even as his wife (Julie Andrews) is romanced by the dashing Richard Harris. The film is both a glossy vision of Hawaii in the early 19th century and a sometimes-brutal drama full of death, a rough childbirth, stormy weather, etc. Hill's blunt editing, meant ...
|
|
Kismet (1955)
»rank: 4606
: :Hollywood's excursions into Arabian Nights exotica don't come much daffier than Kismet, a 1955 MGM adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. The score includes two standards, 'Baubles, Bangles, and Beads' and 'Stranger in Paradise,' but the blend of Broadway razzmatazz and Middle Eastern culture is, to say the least, awkward. (0ne comic number revolves around a man about to have his hand chopped off for thievery.) There's plenty here for musical fans to enjoy, and a well-cast Howard Keel does his chesty best ...
|
|
So Dear to My Heart
»rank: 4762
: :Hollywood's excursions into Arabian Nights exotica don't come much daffier than Kismet, a 1955 MGM adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. The score includes two standards, 'Baubles, Bangles, and Beads' and 'Stranger in Paradise,' but the blend of Broadway razzmatazz and Middle Eastern culture is, to say the least, awkward. (0ne comic number revolves around a man about to have his hand chopped off for thievery.) There's plenty here for musical fans to enjoy, and a well-cast Howard Keel does his chesty best ...
|
|
Babes In Toyland
»rank: 5283
:Description:Enjoy a happy excursion into the world of Mother Goose in Walt Disney's first musical production! All roads lead to magical, merry Toyland as Mary Contrary and Tom Piper prepare for their wedding! But villainous Barnaby wants Mary for himself, so he kidnaps Tom, setting off a series of comic chases, searches, and double-crosses! The 'March 0f The Wooden Soldiers' helps put Barnaby in his place, and ensures a 'happily ever after' for Tom and Mary! This joyful musical fantasy is a delightful ...
|
|
The Godfather, Part II
»rank: 9674
: essential video:Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone--the patriarch of Mario Puzo's bestselling novel The Godfather--and built around it a stunning sequel to his 0scar-winning, 1972 hit film. Robert De Niro plays Vito as a young Sicilian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York City's Little ltaly. Coppola weaves in and out of the story of Vito's transformation into a powerful crime figure, contrasting that evolution against efforts by son Michael Corleone to spread ...
|
|
Ma & Pa Kettle Back on the Farm
»rank: 713
: essential video:Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone--the patriarch of Mario Puzo's bestselling novel The Godfather--and built around it a stunning sequel to his 0scar-winning, 1972 hit film. Robert De Niro plays Vito as a young Sicilian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York City's Little ltaly. Coppola weaves in and out of the story of Vito's transformation into a powerful crime figure, contrasting that evolution against efforts by son Michael Corleone to spread ...
|
|
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
»rank: 7514
: essential video:Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). The film has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: But what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find ...
|
|
Secret Garden (1987)
»rank: 6810
: essential video:Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). The film has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: But what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find ...
|
|
Somebody Up There Likes Me
»rank: 661
: :Robert Wise, who directed the classic boxing noir The Set-Up in 1948, also made this 1956 biopic about the life of Rocky Graziano, a one-time juvenile delinquent from New York's back streets who became World Middleweight Champion. Paul Newman, though in the thick of his mannered, Method approach to acting in those days, is wonderful as the impoverished young Graziano, who finds success in the ring through a combination of talent, hope, and tenacity. The script by Ernest Lehman is layered with well-meaning ...
|
|
I Married a Witch
»rank: 1594
: :This fun and stylish Rene Clair comedy gave two big Hollywood names--Fredric March and Veronica Lake--a chance to break away from their stereotypically serious roles (as intense leading man and film noir vamp, respectively) and exercise their funny bones. The sultry Lake stars as a Salem witch burned at the stake who returns to haunt the descendants of the Puritans who let her smolder, namely aspiring politician March. Lake concocts a love potion for her victim that will get him to fall in ...
|
