Robert Duvall, one of our finest living screen actors, turns 81 tomorrow. Born to a career military officer from Virginia and his wife, an amateur actress and descendant of General Robert E. Lee, Duvall’s childhood was peripatetic, as his father was transferred frequently to various bases around the country. (The military bearing Duvall absorbed from his father would later come … More Details

I’ve just sat down dutifully and read the reviews for the new 3-D rehashes of Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night, as well as the treacly-sounding One Day, and realized once again there is no reason to make my way to the multiplex this weekend. Just where are all the great movies these days? I think I’ll stay home and … More Details

Imagine if in “It’s A Wonderful Life“, Mr. Potter had actually prevailed and George Bailey, a ruined man, had to relocate. That couldn’t happen in a Frank Capra movie, of course, but sadly it can and did happen in real life, at Carnegie Hall, and without that much fuss or fall-out. Photographer Josef Astor’s new documentary “Lost Bohemia”, which opens … More Details

It’s been nearly two years since the kerfuffle when Faye Dunaway made the admittedly unfortunate, off-hand remark on hearing that Hilary Duff (who calls herself an actress) was playing Clyde’s moll Bonnie Parker, a role Faye after all originated. Her reaction: “Couldn’t they at least cast a real actress?” Rather than rise above it, Hilary, a performer who has every … More Details

Can it really be that Benjamin Braddock, the disaffected young man starting out his adult life in “The Graduate,” turns 73 today?
That character was of course immortalized in 1967 by a then unknown Dustin Hoffman, whose sheer talent and nervous energy compensated for a conspicuous absence of classic leading man attributes.
It’s sad to think young people today may know this gifted actor primarily as Ben Stiller’s hippy-dippy Dad in the execrable “Meet the Fockers” (2004). In truth, over the past fifteen or so years, almost invariably Hoffman’s performances have outclassed the movies featuring them.
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As we head into the Independence Day weekend, I wanted to suggest some classic titles scattered over the decades that each in their way evoke our country’s unique character. Some of these movies are overtly patriotic, portraying seminal moments and figures in our colorful history, while others delve into more complex, troubling periods and events which have also helped shape … More Details