My best 25 US movies of substance
Some are famous, some are not.
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- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.The finest work of Stanley Kubrick that has withstood the test of time. It is a fine example of cinema combining visuals and music to provide a profound message. The character of the inanimate HAL appears more real today than in 1968. It is total cinema.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsBrad PittSean PennJessica ChastainThe story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.Terrence Mallick has always made films that force the viewer to think rather than spoon-feed the audience. His grammar of cinema is different, where the voice-over provide verbal clues, nature and sublime forces of grace provide visual clues, and the soundtrack musical clues to unfold a tale that each viewer can identify with, on reflection. My review: http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2011/11/121-us-director-terrence-malicks-tree.html
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'Orson Welles proves that he was not just a brilliant director at age 25, but a good actor and screenplay-writer. Not many individuals have achieved this feat on both sides of the camera. Every bit of the film is well thought out and filmed.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsJim CaviezelSean PennNick NolteAdaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.It is not a movie about why there should be no wars. It is a film about the genesis of wars and why human beings get embroiled in wars. It is replete with quotations from the Bible, the Bhagvad Gita, the Illiad, and Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath and presents an argument that individuals are less in control of nature than they think they are. Philosophy and nature are important facets of any Malick film. Won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film festival. My review: http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2009/10/90-us-director-terrence-malicks-thin.html
- DirectorMichael MannStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroVal KilmerA group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a verbal clue at their latest heist.A film that explores the mind and the feelings of a cop and criminal, in a cat and mouse game. Beyond the thriller is Michael Mann's ability to study several relationships of several sets of spouses and friendship among criminals. The film is also one of the finest examples of a director using and editing music with fascinating camerawork. Plus two great actors at the helm.
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsJon VoightEric RobertsRebecca De MornayTwo escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving.Japanese director Akira Kurosawa wrote the initial script but it was the Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky who ultimately made the film in USA. With two Oscar nominated performances, the movie transcends the prison breakout genre to provide a philosophical tale about man battling a hostile universe. Includes one of the finest end-sequences in cinema. My detailed review is at http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2015/09/183-russian-director-andrei-mikhalkov.html
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsGene HackmanJohn CazaleAllen GarfieldA paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.A crisis of conscience for a lonely surveillance expert who is a Catholic is the subject of Francis Ford Coppola's finest work on film with a superlative performance from Gene Hackman. With an evocative end-sequence. The film won Coppola the Golden Palm at Cannes.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDennis WeaverJacqueline ScottEddie FirestoneA business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.A Steven Spielberg film with hardly any spoken dialog that proves the power of good camerawork,editing, and direction and keeps the viewer transfixed to the end.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsRobert De NiroJames WoodsElizabeth McGovernA former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.The finest work of Italian director Sergio Leone, the director who turned down the offer to direct 'Godfather'. The film is all about the importance of money in our lives and its ripple effect on values. A film built around robust performances, screenplay, music (Ennio Morricone), camerawork and superb direction. My review: http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2006/09/14-late-italian-director-sergio-leones.html
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsRichard GereBrooke AdamsSam ShepardA hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.One of the most beautiful movies ever made! Director Terrence Malick won the best director award at Cannes film festival and the Cuban/Spanish cinematographer Nestor Almendros a well-deserved Oscar for the superlative photography. And the music was contributed by Ennio Morricone. My review: http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2007/04/36-us-director-terence-mallicks-days-of.html
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsEdward AsnerPat BenatarJerry BrownA collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.A documentary that spawned visual ideas to a generation of advertising personnel. Director Godfrey Reggio's work with an environmental consciousness may pale in comparison to cinematographer Ron Fricke's own films made much later but Reggio needs to be credited for starting the innovative trend of mixing amazing images with the music of Philip Glass.
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsJill ClayburghBarbara HersheyMartha PlimptonNew York journalist visits her distant cousin for the first time to write an article about her hard life in the bayous of Louisiana. Journalist's wild drug addicted daughter just adds to tensions between two families' cultures.An absorbing study of open-minded urban US values versus close-minded rural US values from the Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky. The film won the Best Actress award for Barbara Hershey at Cannes Film Festival. Konchalovsky was cleverly mirroring the changes in Russia from tyranny to freedom, using US examples. Chris Menges' photography, the miusic of Tangerine Dream and Jill Clayburgh's performance lent additional value. My detailed review is at http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2018/05/222-russian-director-andrei.html
- DirectorErich von StroheimStarsGibson GowlandZasu PittsJean HersholtThe sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.The story is not as important as the way the film is made. My favourite scene: the marriage scene in the apartment, while the camera captures a funeral procession on the street. That one brilliant sequence captures the entire film. There are many other less prominant sequences. Birds and cats are significant in the film.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsDavid StrathairnMary Elizabeth MastrantonioVanessa MartinezIn an economically devastated Alaskan town, a fisherman with a troublesome past dates a woman whose young daughter does not approve of him. When he witnesses the murder of his shady brother, he, the woman and the kid run to the wilderness.This superb work from Sayles can be considered as 'The Ox-Bow Incident' reworked with more craft and subtlety. Sayles proved he could write an original story, edit the film imaginatively and direct a group of talented actors and provide an ending to a film incomparable in American cinema--with a little help from the talented cinematographer Haskell Wexler.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceJackie CooganThe Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.The best Charlie Chaplin film where the actor Chaplin was overshadowed by child star Jackie Coogan. But the film was so charming because of the direction, the editing and the music (yes, music!) of Chaplin.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterPatrick O'NealJean-Pierre AumontDuring the Battle of the Bulge, an anachronistic count shelters a ragtag squad of Americans in his remote 10th Century castle hoping a battle there against the advancing Germans will not lead to its destruction and all the heritage within.A stylistic surreal and philosophical film on war and violence that was far ahead of its time, when released. The true "heroes" of the film were its director Sidney Pollack and cinematographer Henri Decae.
- DirectorOrson WellesGary GraverOja KodarStarsOrson WellesOja KodarFrançois ReichenbachA documentary about fraud and fakery.A documentary about fraud and fakes that makes the viewer wonder if the film took the viewer for a ride. A brilliant film from a clever director that makes one wonder how movies can trick your senses without your realizing that you have been had. My review: http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2013/07/147-us-maestro-orson-welles-last-film-f.html
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonGeorge SegalA bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.Who is afraid of living life without false illusions? Great performances by the Burtons, a great play by Edward Albee, a great screenplay by Ernest Lehman, a great debut in direction by Mike Nichols and fascinating b&w camerawork by Haskell Wexler. My review: http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2012/10/134-us-film-director-mike-nichols-debut.html
- DirectorAbraham PolonskyStarsRobert RedfordKatharine RossRobert BlakeIn 1909, when young Paiute Indian Willie Boy returns to his California reservation to be with Lola, whose father disapproves of him, a killing in self defense takes place, triggering a massive man hunt for Willie.A revisionist Western from the talented and once ostracized scriptwriter-director Abraham Polonsky that portrays the native Indian with empathy, well ahead of its time--with stunning photography. Robert Redford and Robert Blake play the major roles.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsLeslie HowardHumphrey BogartBette DavisA waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert.A rare film that discussed inequality, power, wealth and nexus between government establishments and gangsters in USA. It even provides an astute study of the behavior of blacks in USA. It touches upon the exploitation of women, blacks and artists by people in power. Amazingly well made for its time, it is relevant even today.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsRichard BurtonAva GardnerDeborah KerrAn ostracized Episcopal clergyman leads a busload of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.Director John Huston adapts Tennessee Williams's play with bravura. A fine cast (including Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr, and Ava Gardner) shows how a defrocked and ruined priest can find redemption in life. The way the tale is presented on screen (thanks to Huston's screenplay) makes the film superior to the fine work of the written play.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsPaul NewmanFredric MarchRichard BooneJohn Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Native Americans, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.The subject and the story are commendable. A revisionist Western. Racism against the native Indians is highlighted. So are the negative traits of the white men who made money out of the subjugation of the the native Indians. Even the attitudes towards Mexicans are well etched. The film is all about values and humanism and not about killing. The opening sequence of the black stallion leading wild horses is amazing.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsHumphrey BogartAva GardnerEdmond O'BrienThis is the life of a Hollywood movie star named Maria, as told by writer/director Harry Dawes, from being discovered in Madrid, Spain, until her funeral in Italy.Truffaut was dead right. This is a superb film--structurewise and contentwise. Way ahead of its time. And Ava Gardner is stunning.
- DirectorFrank PerrySydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterJanet LandgardJanice RuleA man spends a summer day swimming as many pools as he can all over a quiet suburban town.Social satire on the typical WASP US male, an abstract morality tale, rewinding in time, presented with intelligence, rarely encountered in Hollywood cinema My detailed review is at http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com/2015/11/186-us-directors-frank-perrys-and.html
- DirectorArthur PennStarsGene HackmanJennifer WarrenEdward BinnsLos Angeles private investigator Harry Moseby is hired by a client to find her runaway teenage daughter. Moseby tracks the daughter down, only to stumble upon something much more intriguing and sinister.More than a thriller, it is an existential statement. The director states it visually in the last shot.