MovieSorter

loading Title loading Tws summary loading Trust loading Year ▲ Viewable
San Francisco
None Yet 0 Points 1936
In Old California
Good 66 Points 1942

In Old California is a simpleminded recreation of Old Sacramento in 1848 and then 1849, made in 1942. A quasi-historical tale, it mostly exists to showcase John Wayne looking quite-the-dandy, from Boston even. The settings are the thing now: pre-49er San Francisco and then up the river to Old…

Full Review »
WikChip Image John Wayne, the Boston Dandy
The House on Te...
OK 66 Points 1951

The House on Telegraph Hill is a triumph of art direction. That’s good. It’s also unintentionally campy. That’s bad. The result is a just OK movie, yet one that belongs in the San Francisco Cinema Hall of Fame.

The views are marvelous. And the views are the thing with San Francisco real…

Full Review »
WikChip Image Grt Views, Lrg House, fake Telegraph ...
The Wild One
OK 66 Points 1953

The Wild One is an iconic movie better now as an iconic image and line than a motion picture experience. The image? Marlon Brando as an outlaw biker, inspiring popular culture for the next half-century. The line?

Whattaya got?

You don’t have to be a Jeopardy whiz to k…

Full Review »
WikChip Image "Whattaya got?"
East of Eden
Great 66 Points 1955

Great American Movies based on Great American Novels reveal new insights at increasingly greater remove. Dating from 1955 and set in 1917, East of Eden is greatly insightful about the changes in America in the near half century between when it was set and made, and the half century plus between…

Full Review »
WikChip Video James Dean, James Dean, James Dean!
Pal Joey
Great 66 Points 1957

Frank Sinatra won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical as the womanizing nightclub singer in Pal Joey. Sandwiched between the glamorous Rita Hayworth and the luscious Kim Novak, he’s at his lounge-lizard best in this mid-century paean to pre-liberation sexual politics. It’s a wh…

Full Review »
WikChip Video The Lady is a Tramp - Sinatra simmers
Vertigo
Really Great 78 Points 1958

Hitchcock’s classic thriller, dizzying as ever, still packs enough punch to make girls scream. While tame by the crude standards of the past thirty years, the movie doesn’t lack for intrigue, glamour and surprise.

That said and though Vertigo is widely acclaimed as Hitchcock’s masterpiece, …

Full Review »
WikChip Image Hey, is that Kim Novak out front?
1 Reply
  • Wick – Regarding "Fire at Will!'s Review":/movie_reviews/20...
Days of Wine an...
Great 66 Points 1962

Effectively two movies: the first, a boozy romp a la Mad Men; the second, a melodramatic horror of alcoholic insanity, complete with straight-jackets and padded rooms. The first is more fun. Isn’t it always, before ugly drunkenness spoils the party.

The bubbly opening reels are a San Franc…

Full Review »
WikChip Video Charming, boozy romp till he litters ...
The Sandpiper
None Yet 0 Points 1965
Bullitt
None Yet Points 1968