MRQE Ranks: The Best of the Best Pictures

1

The Godfather (1972)

Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Synopsis: Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather is a touchstone of cinema: one of the... [MORE]

2

Casablanca (1942)

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt

Director: Michael Curtiz

Synopsis: One of the most beloved American films, this captivating wartime adventure of romance and intrigue from director Michael Curtiz defies standard cat... [MORE]

3

All About Eve (1950)

Cast: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Gary Merrill, George Sanders, Celeste Holm

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Synopsis: Based on the story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr, All About Eve is an elegantly bitchy backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrin... [MORE]

4

The Godfather: Part II (1974)

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Synopsis: Francis Ford Coppola's legendary continuation and sequel to his landmark 1972 film, The Godfather, parallels the young Vito Corleone's rise with hi... [MORE]

5

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel

Director: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood

Synopsis: Gone With the Wind boils down to a story about a spoiled Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. Producer David O. Selznick managed to exp... [MORE]

6

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins, James Donald

Director: David Lean

Synopsis: The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma in 1943, where a battle of wills rages between camp commander Colone... [MORE]

7

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins

Director: David Lean

Synopsis: This sweeping, highly literate historical epic covers the Allies' mideastern campaign during World War I as seen through the eyes of the enigmatic ... [MORE]

8

On the Waterfront (1954)

Cast: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger

Director: Elia Kazan

Synopsis: This classic story of Mob informers was based on a number of true stories and filmed on location in and around the docks of New York and New Jersey... [MORE]

9

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Will Sampson, Danny DeVito

Director: Milos Forman

Synopsis: With an insane asylum standing in for everyday society, Milos Forman's 1975 film adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel is a comically sharp indictment of... [MORE]

10

Unforgiven (1992)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett

Director: Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Dedicated to his mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood's 1992 Oscar-winner examines the mythic violence of the Western, taking on the... [MORE]

11

Rocky (1976)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith

Director: John G. Avildsen

Synopsis: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a Philadelphia boxer, is but one step removed from total bum-hood. A once-promising pugilist, Rocky is now takin... [MORE]

12

Amadeus (1984)

Cast: Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice

Director: Milos Forman

Synopsis: For this film adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Broadway hit, director Milos Forman returned to the city of Prague that he'd left behind during the Cze... [MORE]

13

Schindler's List (1993)

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle

Director: Steven Spielberg

Synopsis: Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland who sees an opportu... [MORE]

14

It Happened One Night (1934)

Cast: Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Walter Connolly, Jason Thomas, Roscoe Karns

Director: Frank Capra

Synopsis: Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Claudette Colbert... [MORE]

15

The French Connection (1971)

Cast: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Marcel Bozzuffi, Tony Lo Bianco

Director: William Friedkin

Synopsis: This gritty, fast-paced, and innovative police drama earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (written by Ernest... [MORE]

16

The Sound of Music (1965)

Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Charmian Carr

Director: Robert Wise

Synopsis: One of the most popular movie musicals of all time, The Sound of Music is based on the true story of the Trapp Family Singers. Julie Andrews stars ... [MORE]

17

Annie Hall (1977)

Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Paul Simon, Carol Kane

Director: Woody Allen

Synopsis: Woody Allen's romantic comedy of the Me Decade follows the up and down relationship of two mismatched New York neurotics. Jewish comedy writer Alvy... [MORE]

18

My Fair Lady (1964)

Cast: Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper

Director: George Cukor

Synopsis: At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw come... [MORE]

19

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald

Director: Joel Coen

Synopsis: When a Vietnam veteran discovers two million dollars while wandering through the aftermath of a Texas drug deal gone horribly awry, his decision to... [MORE]

20

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald

Director: Jonathan Demme

Synopsis: In this multiple Oscar-winning thriller, Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI's training academy whose shrewd analyses ... [MORE]

21

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom

Director: Peter Jackson

Synopsis: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King brings Peter Jackson's mammoth adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic to a close in suitably epic fas... [MORE]

22

Ben-Hur (1959)

Cast: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Martha Scott

Director: William Wyler

Synopsis: This 1959 version of Lew Wallace's best-selling novel, which had already seen screen versions in 1907 and 1926, went on to win 11 Academy Awards. A... [MORE]

23

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck

Director: John Madden

Synopsis: William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is on a cold streak. Not only is he writing for Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), owner of "The Rose," a theatr... [MORE]

24

American Beauty (1999)

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari

Director: Sam Mendes

Synopsis: Noted theater director Sam Mendes, who was responsible for the acclaimed 1998 revival of Cabaret and Nicole Kidman's turn in The Blue Room, made hi... [MORE]

25

Titanic (1997)

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher

Director: James Cameron

Synopsis: This spectacular epic re-creates the ill-fated maiden voyage of the White Star Line's $7.5 million R.M.S Titanic and the tragic sea disaster of Apr... [MORE]

26

Patton (1970)

Cast: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, Edward Binns, Karl Michael Vogler

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Synopsis: In 1943 North Africa, George Patton (George C. Scott) assumes command of (and instills some much-needed discipline in) the American forces. Engaged... [MORE]

27

The Artist (2011)

Cast: John Goodman, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle, Penelope Ann Miller, Jean Dujardin

Director: Michel Hazanavicius

Synopsis: Michel Hazanavicius' stylistically daring, dialogue free comedy The Artist stars Jean Dujardin as George Valentin, a matinee idol in Hollywood befo... [MORE]

28

Rebecca (1940)

Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, George Sanders, Nigel Bruce

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the classic psychological thriller Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film. Joan Fontaine plays... [MORE]

29

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Synopsis: Based on the personal wartime experiences of journalist Mark Boal (who adapted his experiences with a bomb squad into a fact-based, yet fictional s... [MORE]

30

Platoon (1986)

Cast: Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn

Director: Oliver Stone

Synopsis: Oliver Stone's breakthrough as a director, Platoon is a brutally realistic look at a young soldier's tour of duty in Vietnam. Chris Taylor (Charlie... [MORE]

31

The King's Speech (2010)

Cast: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi, Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce

Director: Tom Hooper

Synopsis: Emmy Award-winning director Tom Hooper (John Adams) teams with screenwriter David Seidler (Tucker: A Man and His Dreams) to tell the story of King ... [MORE]

32

Ordinary People (1980)

Cast: Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Judd Hirsch, M. Emmet Walsh

Director: Robert Redford

Synopsis: Robert Redford's directorial debut ended up the 1980 Oscar winner for Best Picture. It is a simple but painfully emotional story of the disintegrat... [MORE]

33

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter

Director: Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran boxing trainer who has devoted his life to the ring and has precious little to show for it; his daughter... [MORE]

34

West Side Story (1961)

Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn

Director: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins

Synopsis: +Romeo and Juliet is updated to the tenements of New York City in this Oscar-winning musical landmark. Adapted by Ernest Lehman from the Broadway p... [MORE]

35

The Departed (2006)

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen

Director: Martin Scorsese

Synopsis: Legendary director Martin Scorsese takes the helm for this tale of questionable loyalties and blurring identities set in the South Boston organized... [MORE]

36

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Cast: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage

Director: Michael Cimino

Synopsis: One of several 1978 films dealing with the Vietnam War (including Hal Ashby's Oscar-winning Coming Home), Michael Cimino's epic second feature The ... [MORE]

37

Wings (1927)

Cast: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen, Gary Cooper, Jobyna Ralston

Director: William A. Wellman

Synopsis: Wings, the first feature film to win an Academy Award, tends to disappoint a little when seen today. Too much time is afforded the wheezy old plotl... [MORE]

38

Rain Man (1988)

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Jerry Molen, Michael D. Roberts

Director: Barry Levinson

Synopsis: Self-centered, avaricious Californian Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is informed that his long-estranged father has died. Expecting at least a portio... [MORE]

39

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro

Director: John Schlesinger

Synopsis: Based on a James Leo Herlihy novel, British director John Schlesinger's first American film dramatized the small hopes, dashed dreams, and unlikely... [MORE]

40

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Synopsis: The scene is Schofield Army Barracks in Honolulu, in the languid days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, where James Jones' acclaimed war novel Fro... [MORE]

41

Chicago (2002)

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly

Director: Rob Marshall

Synopsis: A starry-eyed would-be star discovers just how far the notion that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" can go in this screen adaptation of the... [MORE]

42

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan

Director: Danny Boyle

Synopsis: Accused of cheating and desperate to prove his innocence, an eighteen-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai reflects back on his tumultuous life... [MORE]

43

The Apartment (1960)

Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, David Lewis

Director: Billy Wilder

Synopsis: Widely regarded as a comedy in 1960, The Apartment seems more melancholy with each passing year. Jack Lemmon plays C.C. Baxter, a go-getting office... [MORE]

44

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany

Director: Ron Howard

Synopsis: The true story of prominent mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. is the subject of this biographical drama from director Ron Howard. Russell Crowe st... [MORE]

45

Grand Hotel (1932)

Cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone

Director: Edmund Goulding

Synopsis: Based on Vicki Baum's novel and produced by Irving Thalberg, this film is about the lavish Grand Hotel in Berlin, a place where "nothing ever happe... [MORE]

46

Gandhi (1982)

Cast: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Edward Fox

Director: Richard Attenborough

Synopsis: It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it... [MORE]

47

Braveheart (1995)

Cast: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Mel Gibson

Synopsis: Mel Gibson, long-time heartthrob of the silver screen, came into his own as a director with Braveheart, an account of the life and times of medieva... [MORE]

48

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Cast: Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, James Patterson

Director: Norman Jewison

Synopsis: The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture (as well as four other Oscars), In the Heat of the Night is set in a small Mississippi town where an ... [MORE]

49

The Sting (1973)

Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston

Director: George Roy Hill

Synopsis: Four years after setting box offices ablaze in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill re-tea... [MORE]

50

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, Anna Lee

Director: John Ford

Synopsis: Spanning 50 years, director John Ford's How Green Was My Valley revolves around the life of the Morgans, a Welsh mining family, as told through the... [MORE]

51

Chariots of Fire (1981)

Cast: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Ian Holm, John Gielgud

Director: Hugh Hudson

Synopsis: Based on a true story, Chariots of Fire is the internationally acclaimed Oscar-winning drama of two very different men who compete as runners in th... [MORE]

52

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman

Director: Kevin Costner

Synopsis: historical drama about the relationship between a Civil War soldier and a band of Sioux Indians, Kevin Costner's directorial debut was also a surp... [MORE]

53

An American in Paris (1951)

Cast: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Nina Foch, Georges Guetary

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Synopsis: Gene Kelly does his patented Pal Joey bit as Jerry Mulligan, an opportunistic American painter living in Paris' "starving artists" colony. He is di... [MORE]

54

The English Patient (1996)

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Colin Firth

Director: Anthony Minghella

Synopsis: Anthony Minghella wrote and directed this award-winning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel about a doomed and tragic romance set against the ba... [MORE]

55

Forrest Gump (1994)

Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Synopsis: "Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intellige... [MORE]

56

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, Jane Alexander, Howard Duff

Director: Robert Benton

Synopsis: Robert Benton's Oscar-winning adaptation of Avery Corman's bestseller takes on contemporary problems of divorce and shifting gender roles, as a jil... [MORE]

57

The Last Emperor (1987)

Cast: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ying Ruocheng, Victor Wong

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

Synopsis: The Last Emperor is the true story of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, the last ruler of the Chinese Ching Dynasty. Told in flashback, the film covers the years ... [MORE]

58

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Cast: Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, Dan Aykroyd, Patti LuPone, Esther Rolle

Director: Bruce Beresford

Synopsis: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy affectionately covers the 25-year relationship between a wealthy, stron... [MORE]

59

Crash (2004/I)

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner

Director: Paul Haggis

Synopsis: Issues of race and gender cause a group of strangers in Los Angeles to physically and emotionally collide in this drama from director and screenwri... [MORE]

60

Gladiator (2000)

Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris

Director: Ridley Scott

Writer: David Franzoni

Synopsis: A man robbed of his name and his dignity strives to win them back, and gain the freedom of his people, in this epic historical drama from director ... [MORE]

61

Gigi (1958)

Cast: Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold, Eva Gabor

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Synopsis: Leslie Caron plays Gigi, a young girl raised by two veteran Parisian courtesans (Hermione Gingold and Isabel Jeans) to be the mistress of wealthy y... [MORE]

62

Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

Cast: David Niven, Mario Moreno 'Cantinflas', Shirley MacLaine, Robert Newton, Charles Boyer

Director: Michael Anderson

Synopsis: Razzle-dazzle showman Michael Todd hocked everything he had to make this spectacular presentation of Jules Verne's 1872 novel Around the World in 8... [MORE]

63

All the King's Men (1949)

Cast: Broderick Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge, John Derek, Joanne Dru, John Ireland

Director: Robert Rossen

Synopsis: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men is a roman à clef inspired by the career of Louisiana go... [MORE]

64

Oliver! (1968)

Cast: Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Mark Lester, Shani Wallis, Jack Wild

Director: Carol Reed

Synopsis: Inspired by Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, Lionel Bart's 1961 London and Broadway musical hit glossed over some of Dickens' more graphic pass... [MORE]

65

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

Cast: Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, James Stewart, Dorothy Lamour

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Synopsis: Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth is a lavish tribute to circuses, featuring three intertwining plotlines concerning romance and rivalr... [MORE]

66

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Cast: William Powell, Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen

Director: Robert Z. Leonard

Synopsis: In MGM's three-hour-plus The Great Ziegfeld, William Powell stars as the titular theatrical impresario, whose show business empire begins when he s... [MORE]

67

Hamlet (1948)

Cast: Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Eileen Herlie, Basil Sydney, Norman Wooland

Director: Laurence Olivier

Synopsis: Although criticized by Shakespeare devotees upon its release because of director, producer, and star Laurence Olivier's decision to excise large po... [MORE]

68

Going My Way (1944)

Cast: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Rise Stevens, James Brown, Jean Heather

Director: Leo McCarey

Synopsis: It took some doing to persuade the staunchly Catholic Bing Crosby to play a happy-go-lucky priest in Going My Way; luckily he acquiesced, winning a... [MORE]

69

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Cast: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Howard da Silva, Philip Terry, Doris Dowling

Director: Billy Wilder

Synopsis: Billy Wilder's searing portrait of an alcoholic features an Oscar-winning performance by Ray Milland as Don Birnam, a writer whose lust for booze c... [MORE]

70

Out of Africa (1985)

Cast: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen, Malick Bowens

Director: Sydney Pollack

Synopsis: Out of Africa is drawn from the life and writings of Danish author Isak Dinesen, who during the time that the film's events occured was known by he... [MORE]

71

The Broadway Melody (1929)

Cast: Anita Page, Bessie Love, Charles King, Jed Prouty, Kenneth Thomson

Director: Harry Beaumont

Synopsis: This landmark MGM backstage musical of the early sound era about broken dreams on the Great White Way features a bevy of standards by the songwriti... [MORE]

72

The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

Cast: Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut, Gale Sondergaard, Gloria Holden, Donald Crisp

Director: William Dieterle, Irving Rapper

Synopsis: The second of Paul Muni's biographical films for Warner Bros., the Oscar-winning The Life of Emile Zola is by far the best, even allowing for the d... [MORE]

73

Cavalcade (1933)

Cast: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Ursula Jeans, Herbert Mundin, Una O'Connor

Director: Frank Lloyd

Synopsis: The only Academy Award winning picture for Fox Studios (in its pre-20th Century-Fox era), Cavalcade is a stately film adaptation of the pageant-lik... [MORE]

74

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Cast: Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Mayo

Director: William Wyler

Synopsis: The postwar classic The Best Years of Our Lives, based on a novel in verse by MacKinlay Kantor about the difficult readjustments of returning World... [MORE]

75

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Cast: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, Slim Summerville, Ben Alexander, John Wray

Director: Lewis Milestone

Synopsis: One of the most powerful anti-war statements ever put on film, this gut-wrenching story concerns a group of friends who join the Army during World ... [MORE]

76

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Richard Ney, May Whitty

Director: William Wyler

Synopsis: As Academy Award-winning films go, Mrs. Miniver has not weathered the years all that well. This prettified, idealized view of the upper-class Briti... [MORE]

77

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Cast: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Susannah York

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Synopsis: Adapted by Robert Bolt and Constance Willis from Bolt's hit stage play, A Man for All Seasons stars Paul Scofield, triumphantly repeating his stage... [MORE]

78

You Can't Take It with You (1938)

Cast: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Mischa Auer

Director: Frank Capra

Synopsis: Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's whimsical Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play +You Can't Take It With You was transformed into a paean to populi... [MORE]

79

Tom Jones (1963)

Cast: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, Hugh Griffith

Director: Tony Richardson

Synopsis: Tony Richardson's adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, winning f... [MORE]

80

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Herbert Mundin, Eddie Quillan

Director: Frank Lloyd

Synopsis: The 1932 publication of Charles Nordhoff and James Norton Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty sparked a revival of interest in the titular 1789 ship mutiny... [MORE]

81

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Cast: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm, Anne Revere

Director: Elia Kazan

Synopsis: Adapted by Moss Hart from the novel by Laura Z. Hobson, this film stars Gregory Peck as recently widowed journalist Phil Green. With a growing son ... [MORE]

82

Cimarron (1931)

Cast: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil, William Collier Jr.

Director: Wesley Ruggles

Synopsis: Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22,... [MORE]

83

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Jeff Daniels, Danny DeVito

Director: James L. Brooks

Synopsis: Terms of Endearment covers three decades in the lives of widow Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Debra Winger). Fiercely pr... [MORE]

84

Marty (1955)

Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Joe Mantell, Esther Minciotti, Karen Steele

Director: Delbert Mann

Synopsis: Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning slice-of-life drama is a heartwarming story about Marty Pilletti (Ernest Borgnine), a lonely Bronx butcher. Marty i... [MORE]