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The Blue Angel
Really Great 66 Points 1930

Seminal movie, thy name is The Blue Angel, Der Blaue Engel in its native German. Josef von Sternberg was 36 when he paired unknown Marlene Dietrich with eminent Emil Jannings. Dietrich and von Sternberg rocketed straight to Hollywood. Jannings was left behind, kind of like in the story its…

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WikChip Video Falling In Love Again with Marlene
Double Indemnity
Perfect 66 Points 1944

Want to hear what perfect dialog sounds like? Listen to Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. Credit Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and director Billy Wilder, three legendary writers who didn’t get along but nonetheless birthed “the paradigmatic film noir.”1

A perfect…

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WikChip Video MacMurray & Stanwyck speak perfect di...
Sunset Blvd.
Perfect 66 Points 1950

Hollywood’s greatest confection is and has always been Hollywood, a reality that the fabulous imagery of Sunset Blvd. celebrates better than any movie before or since. Oh yeah, it’s also a hell of a lot of fun, a black & white cauldron of irony, ambition and beauty, full of devilish turns and …

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WikChip Video A Hyperbolic Trailer That Doesn't Ove...
All About Eve
Perfect 66 Points 1950

All About Eve is surely one of the greatest Best Pictures most people have never seen. It won six Oscars: Best Picture, Best Screenplay & Best Director to the extraordinary Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Best Costume Design to Charles Le Maire & Edith Head the Costume Doctor, Best Supporting Actor to Ge…

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WikChip Video A Bumpy Night at a Glamorous Party
Cat on a Hot Ti...
Very Good 66 Points 1958

The eyes have it! Well, the eyes and the lies have it. The eyes belong to golden superstars Paul Newman & Elizabeth Taylor — his intense blue orbs opposite her intoxicating violet ones, no FX involved with either. The lies, well, the lies drive the story, with the fancy word “mendacity” bandied a…

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WikChip Video Liz Taylor gets sexy with Paul Newman
Hud
Very Good 66 Points 1963

Paul Newman wanted to be bad and got his wish with Hud. He plays a charismatic asshole, a user and abuser whose evil becomes increasingly evident as the movie rolls along. Three Oscars came in its wake, though King Cool himself had to be satisfied with just a nomination. Think Hud would’ve s…

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WikChip Image His unwanted attention brought her an...
Last Tango in P...
OK 66 Points 1972

Brando’s feral sexuality reached its nihilistic extreme in Last Tango in Paris, a high-toned porno distinguished then for its daring explicitness and now as a period piece of iconic 70s indulgence.

The minimalistic story about a grief stricken older man conducting an anonymous sexual maratho…

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WikChip Image Nihilistic Chic: Cover Boy Brando
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Cabaret
Really Great 66 Points 1972

This paean to lost licentiousness in the face of fascism won eight (8!) Oscars, losing out only on Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay (both to The Godfather for Pete’s sake). The movie that made Liza more famous for her talent than her…

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WikChip Image Sexy Brilliance.
The Conversation
Good 66 Points 1974

The Conversation was one of Francis Ford Coppola’s celebrated early Seventies movies, nominated for Best Picture and winner of the Palme d’Or. Deeply accomplished, occasionally fascinating, a time capsule of San Francisco from 1973, it nonetheless disappoints all these decades later.

The min…

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WikChip Video Coppola talks 'The Conversation' in 1974
American Gigolo
Great 66 Points 1980

American Gigolo kickstarted the Eighties. It made the Seventies suddenly – instantly – yesterday. Unkempt & brassy gave way to sleek & sophisticated, disco to New Wave. How? Gere wearing Armani, driving a Mercedes, listening to Blondie in Schrader’s glimmering California masterpiece, that’s…

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WikChip Video The Call Me intro defined the Eighties