Leigh created his most disturbing and loathsome character in the garrulous drifter Johnny, but his brilliance is in making us empathize with this viciously sociopathic personality. Thewlis gives a virtuosic performance ...

Based on a true story and presaging such Holocaust dramas as “Schindler’s List,” Beyer’s “Wolves” concerns the real-life efforts of dozens of concentration-camp inmates to hide an orphan from their Nazi captors. An ...

Hailed as the godfather of documentary film, Robert Flaherty made this remarkable movie about an Inuit family's epic struggle with nature after a previous attempt to document the lifeways of Eskimos on Belcher Islands ...

For a truly comprehensive view of Napoleon's rise and fall, look no further than this first-rate documentary, directed by Grubin under the auspices of PBS, and ably narrated by eminent historian and author David ...

One of the greatest films of the 1970s-or any decade- Altman's sprawling masterpiece cleverly satirizes both the wholesome image of the country-music industry and the values of the Me Generation. But the ...

After young Elizabeth Taylor proved herself in "Lassie Come Home", MGM felt confident to star her in this delightful film. Shot in glorious early technicolor, the camera already loves Liz, then just twelve. Rooney was ...

The exhilarating first feature by "Spirited Away" director-animator Miyazaki, "Nausicaa" is an epic masterpiece about an issue very much on the minds of young people today: sustainable living and the future of our ...

This lovely, deeply affecting music doc gets the red-carpet treatment from "Stop Making Sense" director Jonathan Demme, who briefly introduces each of the players on their way to the show before literally zooming in on ...

The final film from French auteur Claude Sautet, Nelly is a sweet yet never cloying exploration of the complexity of relationships. Sautet’s depiction of a non-sexual friendship between an older man and a younger woman ...

Sidney Lumet's devastating, disturbing satire of the modern broadcast age (written by Paddy Chayefsky) still has a lot to say thirty-five years after release. Beyond portraying a business that bypasses quality in ...

Under-rated family adventure film (best for older kids) is not only stunning to look at, with Ballard's superb on-location photography, but delivers a cautionary tale about the importance of protecting delicate ...

Ousted from Hollywood during the blacklist years, noir director Jules Dassin ("Rififi") fashioned this buoyant, flavorful romantic comedy with real-life wife Mercouri and scored a direct hit. As Homer, Dassin is ...

This rollicking, poignant documentary revisits the infamous career of the Dolls, who made a raucous, proto-punk racket in the early '70s, tarted up like male prostitutes. But the focus is squarely on Kane, a ...

A short but sweet piece that succeeds admirably in evoking a stimulating time and place. It's reassuring (though not that surprising) to hear Manhattan was as vibrant then as now, that the city opened its arms not only ...

The noirish name of Jules Dassin's classic thriller says it all: Widmark, here in the role of penny-ante loser more than hardened criminal, manages to be at once hateful and pathetic as conniver Fabian, running through ...

The revered private eye film gets updated to the 1970s at the expert hands of director Arthur Penn. Hackman is tailor-made for Moseby, a regular guy who once played football, and who's much better at snooping on others ...

The first and best of George Romero's zombie series, a horror classic made on a low five figure budget way back in 1968. Some of the acting is less than stellar, but this hardly affects the tightening knot in your ...

Director Reed, master of the British spy thriller, uses wartime Europe as the setting for a suspenseful romantic chase movie. Despite the palpable suspense and ominous presence of legions of SS soldiers, it’s never in ...

Edmund Goulding creates one of the screen's most indelible noirs, with the seamy carnival world providing an ideal setting. Power excels against type as the sleazy Stanton (a role he loved playing), and Blondell brings ...

In this bittersweet, poignant early feature from Italian maestro Fellini, Giulietta Masina (who was married to the director) brings off another demanding role with finesse and charm. Her Cabiria is a spiritual innocent ...