Roger and Me Roger and Me
The real question is who comes off worse: the callous GM executive, the bunny-cidal woman or Bob Eubanks, the anti-Semitic, joke-telling gameshow host.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
A mental institution is the setting for Ken Kesey's 1962 parable about the power of the state.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
The Great Dictator The Great Dictator
Hitler was said to have seen this twice. One tends to doubt, however, that he gave it a thumbs up.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Franz Hoellering
Roman Holiday Roman Holiday
The blacklisted Dalton Trumbo wrote this romantic comedy about a queen who in Gregory Peck's arms would much rather be part of the working class--that's a Marxist message for you.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Manny Farber
Grand Illusion Grand Illusion
The story may have been set in World War I, but it was the specter of fascism that loomed over Renoir's masterpiece.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Richard Griffith
Metropolis Metropolis
Long before Orwell envisioned 1984, Fritz Lang depicted 2026 as a battleground between workers and capitalists beneath an Art Deco city
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Evelyn Gerstein
Crossfire Crossfire
Hollywood turns a novel about a gay murder into a call to action against anti-Semitism. Homophobia would have to wait.
Dec 29, 2008 / Books & the Arts / James Agee
Double Indemnity Double Indemnity
Before he was the perfect TV dad, Fred MacMurray was Billy Wilder's favorite movie heavy.
Dec 23, 2008 / Books & the Arts / James Agee
It Happened One Night It Happened One Night
What happened was Clark Gable doffed his shirt to reveal his bare chest, prompting the second great crash of the Depression: in undershirt sales.
Dec 23, 2008 / Books & the Arts / William Troy
For Whom the Bell Tolls For Whom the Bell Tolls
Some feared a film of Hemingway's novel about the Spanish Civil War would take too strong a stance against fascism. They didn't know Hollywood.
Dec 23, 2008 / Books & the Arts / James Agee