Off-screen, Peck was so convinced Hepburn would be a huge star that he confronted director William Wyler, insisting she share top billing with him. An extremely generous and unusual gesture, it also reflected keen ...

Zenovich wants to rehabilitate Polanski’s less-than-admirable image, but the way she goes about it is intelligent and thorough. She speaks with screenwriter Robert Towne, actress Mia Farrow, and Polanski’s victim ...

Director Rossellini shot this neo-realist masterpiece on the broken streets of Rome during the first days of the Allied liberation, mainly using non-actors due to limited funding. This only adds to the film's ...

My favorite version of this oft-filmed classic is Zeffirelli's Oscar-nominated version. Starring two unknowns in the title roles (17-year-old Whiting and 15-year-old Hussey), the movie remains true to Shakespeare, while ...

Late director John Frankenheimer takes a boilerplate idea and milks it for all its worth, creating a tight, pounding thriller. Casting and performances are solid, but this truly is a director's picture, with ...

Based on John Braine's cynical novel, one of the first "angry young man" tales, Clayton's brilliant social drama is distinguished by sharp, biting dialogue and sexually explicit language unusual for its time. It's also ...

Polanski’s paranoic, demonic tale builds gradually to a bizarre and shocking climax, but more than the half the fun is getting there. Farrow is the embodiment of vulnerability as Rosemary, while Cassavetes scores in a ...

This searing drama from German filmmaker Staudte provides a uniquely human lens through which to examine the initially seductive rise of the Nazis, who were credited with restoring Germany’s economic prosperity after an ...

Tavernier's vivid, sensitive ode to the brilliant exiled musicians who flocked to his country in the fifties to escape racism (and find a more appreciative fan base) might well be the greatest jazz film of all time. ...

Originally aired on Showtime, "Night" evokes a 1940s nightclub environment complete with art-deco set design, gorgeous black-and-white photography, and Orbison's trademark shades. But aside from director Mitchell's ...

Directed by David Anspaugh ("Hoosiers") and based on a true story, this triumphant film recounts the incredible odyssey of Ruetigger (played by a pitch-perfect Sean Astin), from dyslexic, small-town nobody to Holy Cross ...

Leo McCarey’s 1936 Best Picture Nominee holds up as ageless class satire, also lampooning Anglo-American relations in the bargain. The whole cast is splendid, but Laughton and Ruggles play off each other particularly ...

A slick, kinetic thriller with a mind-bending temporal structure told in triplicate, Tykwer's "Run Lola Run" is a dizzying mix of pulsing music and adrenaline-fueled visuals, with a bold, punk-haired female protagonist ...

In veteran director Robert Wise's tense, trim "Run," an aging but vigorous Clark Gable plays Richardson with panache and iron determination. Wise creates just the right mood of simmering hostility via some pointed ...

Director Andrei Konchalovsky’s underexposed masterpiece doubles as both gripping action film and existential drama. (This may account for Akira Kurosawa originally being slated to helm it.) The film’s virtues include ...

Hong Kong action director To packs his slick, fast-paced thriller with so many improbable plot twists and explosive, next-to-impossible escapes that the only appropriate response is total submission. Drenched in the ...

Written by Anderson and his good friend, actor Owen Wilson, this quirky, hard-to-categorize comedy-romance hit everyone's best-of lists in 1999, and with good reason: Schwartzmann's performance was odd, daring, funny, ...