100 Years at the Movies
(in rough chronological order)
(Links are to "Greatest Films"
reviews)
1954 - On the Waterfront
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- in the back seat of a taxicab, Marlon Brando (as has-been boxer Terry
Malloy) speaking the immortal dialogue to Rod Steiger (as his older
brother Charley): "I coulda had class, I coulda been a contender,
I coulda been somebody..."
- The Misfits (1961) -
Clark Gable (as aging rodeo hand Gay Langland) struggling at the end
of a rope holding a wild horse, with Marilyn Monroe (as new girlfriend
Roslyn Taber) battling him to let go
- Stalag 17 (1953) - William
Holden (as Nazi POW Sefton), with black eye, rising from cot in prison
barracks
- A Star is Born (1954) - Judy Garland (as wife Vicki Lester of James
Mason as alcoholic film star Norman Maine) proudly announcing onstage
at the Shrine Theatre: "Hello everybody - this is - Mrs.
Norman Maine"
- Mister Roberts (1955) - Henry Fonda (as Lt.
Doug Roberts, chief cargo officer of a supply ship) on deck of the "Reluctant"
in naval uniform
- Giant (1956) -
James Dean (as soon-to-be wealthy oil magnate Jett Rink) climbing
oil derrick tower
- High Noon (1952) - high crane shot of Gary Cooper (as abandoned
Marshal Will Kane) alone in dusty street waiting for four gunslingers
- A Place in the Sun (1951) - Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift (as
lovers Angela Vickers and George Eastman) in an intimate moment
- From Here to Eternity (1953) - Burt Lancaster (as Sergeant Milt Warden)
and Deborah Kerr (as adulterous wife Karen Holmes) embracing on a Hawaiian
beach with the foaming surf flowing over them
- To Catch A Thief (1955)
- the kissing-fireworks scene (symbolically orgasmic) between Grace
Kelly (as vacationing Frances Stevens) and Cary Grant (as jewel cat
burglar John Robie)
- Funny Face (1957) - Audrey
Hepburn (as fashion model Jo Stockton) wearing hat while crying and
holding Pekinese dog
- Hud (1963) - Paul Newman (as womanizing cowboy Hud Bannon)
- Pat and Mike (1952) -
Spencer Tracy (as sports promoter Mike Conovan) commenting on Katharine
Hepburn (as outdoorsy athlete Pat Pemberton) as she walked across a
golf course green: "There's not much meat on 'er, but what's there
is cherce"
- The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
- Marilyn Monroe (as sexy 'niece' Angela
Phinlay to Louis Calhern as corrupt attorney Alonzo Emmerich), reclining
and looking up from couch
- Dr. No (1962) - the first screen appearance of James Bond - Agent 007, with Sean
Connery introducing himself at a card table while lighting his cigarette
and gambling against Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson): "Bond, James
Bond"
- Roman Holiday (1953)
- Audrey Hepburn (as escaped Princess Ann), waking relaxed and peaceful
in the apartment of street-smart American newspaperman Joe Bradley (Gregory
Peck), and wearing his oversized pajamas
- True Grit (1969) - John
Wayne (as one-eyed, tough US Marshal 'Rooster' Cogburn) riding horse
with reins in mouth while shooting pistol
- Doctor Zhivago (1965)
- Omar Sharif (as poet/physician Yuri Zhivago)
1962 - Lawrence of Arabia
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Peter O'Toole (as enigmatic title character T.E. Lawrence) admiring
his new flowing white Bedouin robe and headdress on the top of the train
- A Hard Day's Night (1964) - the Fab Four
- hysterical Beatles fans
- Jailhouse Rock (1957)
- Elvis "the Pelvis" Presley (as con Vince Everett) - hip-swiveling
during a performance
- Lolita (1962) - the first view of Sue Lyon (as precocious
nymphet, bikini-clad Lolita - Dolores Haze) looking up while sporting
a broad-brimmed, feathered straw hat and heart-shaped plastic sunglasses
as she lies on a backyard blanket
- Dr. Strangelove, Or: (1964)
- Slim Pickens (as Major Kong) riding a nuclear warhead named "Hi
There!" like a rodeo cowboy riding a bucking bronco, while waving
and fanning his Stetson cowboy hat and howling wildly toward oblivion:
"YAHOO!! YAHOO!!"
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid (1969) - Paul Newman (as Butch Cassidy)
and Robert Redford (as the Sundance Kid) jumping in tandem off a ledge
at the edge of a steep rock canyon into the river far below, exclaiming
on the way down: "Ohhh . . . s - h - i - i - i - i - i - t !"
- West Side Story (1961)
- the daring, high-stepping opening dance
sequence of the Jets (composed of white teens, led by brown-haired,
All-American type Riff (Russ Tamblyn)) - an exhilarating, inventive,
visual ballet of pirouettes, vigorous athletic moves, and running jumps
on the pavement - bearing their gang's name in chalk
- The Sound of Music (1965) - with a sweeping aerial view of Julie Andrews
(as happy and joyous Maria, a novice Salzburg Austrian nun) singing
"The Hills Are Alive" while twirling open-armed on a high
green meadow in the Austrian Alps
- Psycho (1960)
- the ending close-up of Anthony Perkins (as mother-possessed, insane
hotel manager Norman Bates) sitting still and staring out into space
in his box-like jail cell and looking slightly up toward the camera
- Funny Girl (1968) - the
opening sequence of Barbra Streisand (as entertainer Fanny Brice) singing
"Don't Rain on My Parade" next to the front railing of a tugboat heading
out in choppy New York City's Harbor near the Statue of Liberty
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- the great transitional sequence of an 'enlightened' ape, in slow-motion,
flinging his weapon - a fragmented piece of the bone - exultantly and
jubilantly into the air; it flies and spins upwards, twisting and turning
end-over-end, instantly dissolving into a white, orbiting space satellite
from Earth
- The Great Escape (1963)
- Steve McQueen (as Allied POW loner Virgil "Cooler King" Hilts) pulling
up next to a prison fence on a motorcycle
1969 - Easy Rider
- Easy Rider (1969) -
Peter Fonda (as Wyatt/Captain America), and Dennis Hopper (as hippie
Billy) and football-helmeted passenger Jack Nicholson (as lawyer George
Hanson) cruisin' cross-country down the highway on motorcycles, with
arms outstretched [segment 1]
- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
- Katharine Hepburn (as mother-in-law to-be Christina Drayton) stating:
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"
- Rosemary's Baby (1968) - Ruth Gordon (as nosey, over-solicitous,
and garrulous neighbor Minnie Castevet) in a ludicrously distorted fish-eye
view through neighbor Rosemary's (Mia Farrow) security door peephole
- Easy Rider (1969) - Gold football-helmeted Jack Nicholson (as
lawyer George Hanson) smiling/laughing [segment 2]
- Woodstock (1970) - crowds
of concert musicgoers on Yasgur's farmland in upper state NY, as viewed
from helicopter
- M*A*S*H (1970) - airborne
army helicopter with initials MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) carrying
wounded soldier
- Patton (1970) - the unforgettable opening shot of George
C. Scott (as fierce American General Patton) in front of an enormous
red and white-striped US flag, addressing the troops in a memorable
six-minute pep-talk monologue
- Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Jon Voight (as stud Joe Buck) newly-arrived
on NYC's streets, donning cowboy hat, and walking down the street gaping
at tall buildings
- Don't Look Back (1967)
- a documentary view of the man behind the music, folk singer Bob Dylan,
displaying two flashcards: "Chew Gum, No" and "The Vandals
Took All the Handles"
- The Last Picture Show (1971) - Royal Theater marquee, the only 'picture
show' palace soon to close in the small town of Anarene, Texas
1972 - The Godfather
- The Godfather (1972)
- three segments: Marlon Brando (as godfather Don Corleone) kissing
Al Pacino (as successor Michael Corleone); the final scene of the office
door symbolically closing on Diane Keaton (as Michael's non-Italian
wife Kay); Al Pacino (as young Michael Corleone) dropping his gun after
executing his family's sworn enemy Virgil Sollozzo and his bodyguard
- corrupt ('bought') police Captain McCluskey
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967) - Warren Beatty (as Clyde Barrow) and Faye Dunaway (as Bonnie Parker)
boldly boasting to a dispossessed farmer: "We rob banks"
- The Godfather, Part II (1974)
- three segments: the image of Vito Corleone at Ellis Island in 1901,
looking out from his quarantined room where the Statue of Liberty is
reflected in the window; Robert DeNiro (as young man Vito Corleone)
years later; the ending shot of Al Pacino (as prematurely aging Michael
Corleone) - now a ruthless, soul-less, power-mad and paranoid gangster
in the year 1959, sitting quietly and introspectively on a Tahoe estate
lawn chair as the cold winter approaches
- Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
- Al Pacino (as bank robber Sonny) taunting police outside bank, yelling:
"Attica! Attica!"
- Taxi Driver (1976) - Robert DeNiro (as disturbed veteran Travis
Bickle) practicing in front of mirror: "You talkin' to me?..."
[segment 1]
- Chinatown (1974) - Jack Nicholson (as ex-cop and private eye
J. J. "Jake" Gittes) in bed with Faye Dunaway (as rich suspect
Evelyn Mulwray)
- Taxi Driver (1976) -
Robert DeNiro (as Travis Bickle): "...Well, I'm the only one here"
[segment 2]
- Saturday Night Fever (1977)
- John Travolta (as white-suited, black-shirted Tony Manero) on the
disco dance floor
- Airplane! (1980) -
Robert Hays (as shell-shocked pilot Ted Striker) on dance floor
parodying the Saturday
Night Fever dancing pose of John Travolta
1976 - Rocky
- Rocky (1976) - Sylvester Stallone (as small-time boxing
hero Rocky Balboa) with hands upraised celebrating early morning, wintry
training regimen/workout on steps of Philadelphia art museum to the
tune of Bill Conti's rousing "Gonna Fly Now"
- The French Connection (1971) - the dazzlingly-edited scene of the frantic
car pursuit by Gene Hackman (as cop Popeye Doyle), in a car driven below
the tracks, after fleeing French smuggler Nicoli (Marcel Bozzufi) in
a hijacked, elevated subway train above, barely missing woman with baby
carriage
- Play It Again, Sam (1972)
- various segments: Woody Allen (as Humphrey
Bogart-obsessed Allan Felix) ripping off coat; fighting with his hair
dryer; and his disastrous, fumbling first blind date experience when
attempting to be "cool" but ending up swinging his arm wildly, sending
an Oscar Peterson record out of its album cover to crash against the
wall
- The Exorcist
(1973) - Linda Blair (as 14 year-old demonically-possessed
Regan MacNeil) with a 360 degree spinning head
- The Rocky Horror Picture
Show (1975)
- view of a tough motorcycle biker (Meatloaf as Eddie) rotating, with
Tim Curry (as transvestite scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter) observing
- The Sting (1973) - Paul Newman (as con artist
Henry Gondorff) giving his secret warning signal - a flick or swipe
of the nose with an index finger
- All the President's Men (1976)
- Robert Redford (as Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward) on
the phone investigating Watergate
- The Way We Were (1973)
- Barbra Streisand (as Katie Morosky) touching the hair of Robert Redford
(as Hubbell Gardiner) in the film's closing sequence
- Nashville (1975) - Lily Tomlin (as lonely married gospel singer
Linnea Reese) sitting entranced at a table in restaurant listening to
Keith Carradine (as womanizing rock singer Tom) as he sings: "I'm
Easy"
- Klute (1971) - Jane Fonda
(as stalked Manhattan call girl Bree Daniels)
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
- a closeup of the steely-blue eyes of Henry Fonda (as sadistic cowboy
Frank)
- Star Wars (1977) - Carrie Fisher (as Princess Leia) and Harrison
Ford (as Han Solo) shouting "Yahoo!"
- American Graffiti (1973)
- MacKenzie Phillips (as unwelcome pre-teen Carol) spraying car with
shaving cream
- Star Wars (1977)
- the climactic Death Star shoot-out, with Mark Hamill (as X-wing rebel
pilot Luke Skywalker) during a bombing raid across the surface of the
Evil Empire's enormous battle station, exclaiming: "They're coming
in too fast!"
- Apocalypse Now
(1979) - the scene of the choreographed
Air Cavalry and its swarming and swooping gunner helicopter attack at
dawn on a coastal Vietnamese village, with Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries
blaring over loudspeakers
- Jaws (1975) - the frightening and horrifying opening
scene of Susan Backlinie (as blonde skinny-dipping Christine "Chrissie"
Watkins) gasping as she gets pulled under and dragged helplessly by
an unknown sea creature
- The Black Stallion (1979)
- Kelly Reno (as young shipwrecked Alec Ramsey) riding bareback on the
Black Stallion, racing across the surf's edge
- Network (1976)
- Peter Finch (as 'mad prophet of the airwaves' newsman Howard Beale)
extolling his viewers with his arms outstretched: "I want you to
get up now..." [segment 1]
- Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
- Dustin Hoffman (as new single father Ted Kramer) clapping to encourage
Justin Henry (as young son Billy) as he learns to ride his bike
- Network (1976)
- reprise of: "I want you to get up right
now and go to the window and stick your head out and yell..." [segment
2]
- Close Encounters of the Third
Kind (1977) - the climactic sequence
at the Devils Tower National Monument when the gigantic, sparkling UFO
mother ship hovers above the landing site, witnessed by Richard Dreyfuss
(as Roy Neary)
- Norma Rae (1979) - Sally
Field (as cotton mill union organizer Norma Rae) holding up hand-scrawled,
cardboard "UNION" sign
- Network (1976)
- reprise: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm
not gonna take this anymore!" [segment 3]
- The Turning Point (1977) -
Anne Bancroft (as Emma) resentfully throwing a drink in the face of
Shirley MacLaine (as DeeDee) during catfight
1980 - Raging Bull
- Raging Bull (1980)
- Robert DeNiro (as boxer Jake LaMotta) with hands up in triumph in
the ring
- Terms of Endearment (1983)
- Debra Winger (as daughter Emma Greenaway) running and jumping into
the arms of Shirley MacLaine (as widowed mother Aurora)
- Amadeus (1984) -
Tom Hulce (as musical genius composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
as conductor
- Reds (1981) - Diane Keaton
(as US journalist Louise Bryant) hugging Warren Beatty (as American
Communist John Reed)
- Witness (1985) - Harrison
Ford (as investigative police detective John Book) and Kelly McGillis
(as widowed Amish mother Rachel) sharing a loving look
- Tootsie (1982) - Dustin
Hoffman (as unemployed troubled NY actor Michael Dorsey) walking down
a crowded New York street, in drag (as popular soap opera actress Dorothy
Michaels) - filmed with telephoto lens
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) -
William Shatner (as Admiral James T. Kirk) walking down corridor of
the spaceship Enterprise
- The Right Stuff (1983)
- Project Mercury mission astronauts (Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard, Ed
Harris as John Glenn, Dennis Quaid as Gordon Cooper, Fred Ward as Gus
Grissom, Scott Paulin as Deke Slayton, Charles Frank as Scott Carpenter,
and Lance Henriksen as Wally Schirra) walking seven abreast
- Top Gun (1986) - Tom Cruise (as daring navy
pilot Pete Mitchell) and Anthony Edwards (as flying pal Lt. Nick Bradshaw)
high-fiving each other near an F-14 Tomcat, with a quick image of a
twisting fighter jet
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Harrison Ford (as archaeologist Indiana
Jones) dashing just ahead of a huge, thundering rock boulder tumbling
like a giant bowling ball in his direction - perfectly sized to fit
the South American cave's passageway
- Ghostbusters (1984)
- NY team of paranormal scientists (Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Dan
Aykroyd as Raymond Stantz, and Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler) turning
and firing their ghost-busting weapons in unison
- Batman (1989) - Michael
Keaton (as Batman/Bruce Wayne) flying his Batmobile
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
(1991) - Robert Patrick (as villainous
T-1000 android) with his head morphing into molten shape - split by
a gunshot, then rejoining or rezippering itself
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Sam Neill (as dinosaur expert Dr. Alan Grant) and the grandchildren
(Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello as Lex and Tim) of Richard Attenborough
(as Dr. Hammond), running near chicken-like Gallimimus dinosaurs
- Dances with Wolves (1990)
- Kevin Costner (as Union lieutenant John W. Dunbar) riding horseback
while chasing buffalo during a hunt
- JFK (1991) - two images: Jodie Farber (as President's
wife Jackie Kennedy) cradling the head of Steve Reed (as JFK) in back
of open limousine after he was shot in Dallas; close-up of Kevin Costner
(as New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison) flinching at gunshot
sound on soundtrack
- The Last Emperor (1987) - Richard Vuu (as three-year-old
Chinese Ching dynasty ruler Pu Yi) running toward yellow curtain in
the Forbidden City palace
- The Killing Fields (1984) - Haing Ngor (as translator Dith Pran - Cambodian friend of Sam
Waterston as New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg)
- Moonstruck (1987) - Cher
(as widowed Italian bookkeeper Loretta Castorini) kissing Nicolas Cage
(as bakery operator Ronny Cammareri - brother of her fiancee, Danny
Aiello as Johnny Cammareri)
- Driving Miss Daisy (1989) - Morgan Freeman (as
faithful black chauffeur Hoke) driving Jessica Tandy (as strong-willed
Southern matron Miss Daisy Werthan)
- Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
- Tom Hanks (as widower and single father Sam Baldwin) in parking lot
looking at Meg Ryan (as correspondent Annie Reed) standing in street
- Philadelphia (1993) -
Tom Hanks (as AIDS-afflicted Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Beckett) suffering
in the advanced stage of the disease (balding, lesions on face, etc.)
- The Fugitive (1993) -
Harrison Ford (as desperate fugitive Dr. Richard Kimble) on the run
from authorities
- Boyz 'N the Hood (1991)
- Cuba Gooding, Jr. (as underachieving son Tre Styles) and Laurence
Fishburne (as disciplinarian father Furious Styles) hugging each other
1994 - Schindler's List
- Schindler's List (1993)
- Liam Neeson (as humane entrepreneur Oskar
Schindler) looking back
- Film unknown - view of Broadway trolley car
- Ben Hur (1959) - reprise
of chariot race [segment 5]
- The Wind (1928) - Lillian
Gish (as oppressed wife Letty) looking through window, raising right
hand to glass
- Queen Christina (1933) - Greta Garbo (as 17th century Swedish Queen Christina) hugging
pillow
Some images are viewed in the two 00's of the superimposed
"100" Years at the Movies:
- National Velvet (1944)
- Elizabeth Taylor (as young Velvet Brown) riding her horse "Pie"
preparing for the big Grand National Steeplechase race
- Sergeant York (1941) - Gary Cooper (as farmer
Alvin York), originally a pacifist, serving heroically with the AEF
in WWI in Europe, and becoming the most decorated hero of the war by
singlehandedly capturing a German position
- Gilda (1946) - one of filmdom's most famous entrances - Rita Hayworth (as hedonistic,
flirtatious, auburn-haired femme fatale Gilda) with her famous
hair flip - she throws back her head and tosses around her thick mane
of hair while responding sexily when George Macready (as her new casino-owning
husband Ballin Mundson) introduces her to Glenn Ford (as gambler and
right-hand man Johnny Farrell)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957) - Alec Guinness (as British Colonel
Nicholson) marching and leading his regiment of defeated British troops
in formation into a Japanese POW camp in Burma during WWII, to the sounds
of the whistled "Colonel Bogey March"
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) - the
famous barn-raising sequence (choreographed by Michael Kidd) with three
brothers athletically leap-frogging and dancing towards three town lasses
- Some Like It Hot (1959)
- Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis (as musicians Jerry/Daphne and Joe/Josephine)
struggling in drag while walking next to a train bound for Florida,
escaping mobsters by masquerading as members of Sweet Sue's all-girl
band
- East of Eden (1955) -
James Dean (as discontented Cal Trask), the "bad" son
of Raymond Massey (as Salinas valley lettuce farmer Adam Trask)
- The Searchers (1956) - the dramatic scene in which John Wayne (as vengeful Ethan Edwards)
cradled Natalie Wood (as niece Debbie Edwards), finding her after a
long, multi-year search and telling her: "Let's go home, Debbie"
- Love Story (1970)
- Ali McGraw (as Radcliffe music student Jenny Cavalleri) and
Ryan O'Neal (as Oliver Barrett IV) in front of a window displaying winter
scene
- Oliver! (1968) - "Consider Yourself"
song, sung by Jack Wild (as the Artful Dodger) to Mark Lester (as young
orphan Oliver Twist)
- Ghost (1990) - Whoopi
Goldberg (as channeling psychic Oda Mae Brown) in gold gown sitting
up in chair with eyes wide
- Home Alone (1990) - Macaulay Culkin (as accidentally
abandoned Kevin) at top of stairs, shouting "Yes!"
- E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
(1982) - the indelible image of Henry
Thomas (as young Elliott) riding his 'flying' bicycle (with alien E.T.
in the front basket) silhouetted against a full moon
Closing Credits
- Butterfly Dance (1897), Annabelle
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