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
The Thin Blue Line The Thin Blue Line
Using innovative, slow-motion re-enactments, Errol Morris cast new light on the murder of a Dallas policeman. As a result, the man wrongly convicted of the crime went free.
Dec 23, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Fredric Paul Smoler
Fantasia Fantasia
When Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck gave way to Bach and Beethoven, the results were as far out as Pluto.
Dec 23, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Franz Hoellering
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Steven Spielberg's imaginary childhood friend brought to life, voiced by an aging actress with a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit.
Dec 23, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
On the Waterfront On the Waterfront
Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg used this gritty tale of corruption on the New York waterfront to help put a positive spin on ratting out their colleagues.
Dec 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Bernard Nossiter
Citizen Kane Citizen Kane
Frequently listed as the greatest film ever made, Orson Welles's masterpiece is also a thinly veiled biopic of William Randolph Hearst.
Dec 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Anthony Bower
Nashville Nashville
The quintessential Robert Altman film featured a cast of hundreds and about an equal number of subplots, but who's complaining?
Dec 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
Dog Day Afternoon Dog Day Afternoon
Sidney Lumet finds the soul of New York City in a bank robbery that goes comically--and tragically--awry.
Dec 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
Wings of Desire Wings of Desire
Angels look for love in some very odd places and discover among other things, a lonely trapeze artist and the real-life Peter Falk (sans raincoat).
Dec 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Baumbach