Movies That Were Way Ahead of Their Time
by blueish35 | created - 27 Jun 2017 | updated - 2 weeks ago | PublicIn some cases we still haven't caught up. And in many cases it was a "way ahead" play and, or novel before the movie. But I don't read and I can't afford to go to a play.
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1. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Director: Charles Laughton | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason
Votes: 97,375 | Gross: $0.65M
Upon its release it was dismissed by both critics and audiences. Almost 70 years later and nothing has ever even come close.
2. 42nd Street (1933)
Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
When the leading lady of a Broadway musical breaks her ankle, she is replaced by a young unknown actress, who becomes the star of the show.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler
Votes: 13,039 | Gross: $2.30M
Parodying itself practically before it was even a genre.
3. Kings Row (1942)
Passed | 127 min | Drama
The dark side and hypocrisy of provincial American life is seen through the eyes of five children as they grow to adulthood at the turn of the century.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field
Votes: 5,037
A movie loaded with taboos, many of them unspeakable in its day.
4. Bob Roberts (1992)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
A conservative folk singer turns his hand to politics, running for the US Senate. He is not above dirty tricks and smear campaigns to gain an advantage over his opponent.
Director: Tim Robbins | Stars: Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, Alan Rickman, Ray Wise
Votes: 15,637 | Gross: $4.48M
24 years before it happened.
5. The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy
A bumbling, long-winded and crooked Southern senator, considered by some as a dark horse for the Presidency, panics his party when his tell-all diary is stolen.
Director: George S. Kaufman | Stars: William Powell, Ella Raines, Peter Lind Hayes, Arleen Whelan
Votes: 708
It happens every 4 years but they were the first to say so.
6. The President's Analyst (1967)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
When the overworked and stressed-out White House presidential shrink runs away, the CEA and the FBR scramble to retrieve him before he could be abducted by various competing foreign intelligence services.
Director: Theodore J. Flicker | Stars: James Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge, Severn Darden, Joan Delaney
Votes: 3,524
The conspiracy is as alive today as it has ever been. THIS is an important movie.
7. Forbidden Planet (1956)
G | 98 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
A starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
Director: Fred M. Wilcox | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens
Votes: 53,222 | Gross: $3.00M
Thank your lucky stars you won't be around for this one. That's unless you believe in the Wheel of Life.
8. The Hospital (1971)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A hospital's chief-of-staff struggles to find meaning in his life during a spate of staff deaths.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard Dysart
Votes: 7,333 | Gross: $19.71M
Who knew healthcare could be so complicated?
9. HealtH (1980)
PG | 105 min | Comedy
A parody and satire of the U.S. political scene of the time, "HealtH" is set at a health-food convention at a Florida luxury hotel, where a powerful political organization is deciding on a new president.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson, James Garner, Lauren Bacall
Votes: 934
Who knew healthcare could be so complicated?
10. Britannia Hospital (1982)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
The chaotic workings of a hospital with staff on strike.
Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Leonard Rossiter, Malcolm McDowell, Brian Pettifer, John Moffatt
Votes: 2,928
Who knew healthcare could be so complicated? This one couldn't be more topical.
11. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 881,468 | Gross: $6.21M
Viddy this.
12. Metropolis (1927)
Not Rated | 153 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Votes: 185,558 | Gross: $1.24M
Whistle while you work... oh wait, this isn't that movie.
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After 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.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,676 | Gross: $56.95M
I'm sure the Space Force will eventually catch up with this visionary masterpiece.
14. Brazil (1985)
R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 211,252 | Gross: $9.93M
Terrorism breeds fascism which breeds terrorism. Everyone jump for joy. I didn't see any poor people, only a lower-middle class. Is that the future?
15. The Man from the First Century (1962)
85 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A workman is accidentally sent into outer space, where he meets an alien that can make himself invisible. They return to Earth in the year 2447. Complications ensue.
Director: Oldrich Lipský | Stars: Milos Kopecký, Radovan Lukavský, Anita Kajlichova, Otomar Krejca
Votes: 183
This one's out-of-left-field. Amazingly forward-looking satire.
16. The Cool World (1963)
105 min | Crime, Drama
A look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto slum life filled with drugs, violence, human misery, and a sense of despair due to the racial prejudices of American society.
Director: Shirley Clarke | Stars: Rony Clanton, Carl Lee, Yolanda Rodríguez, Clarence Williams III
Votes: 663
A very early and way-late look at the disenfranchisement of young, urban African-Americans. A benchmark.
17. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In an oppressive future, a fireman whose duty is to destroy all books begins to question his task.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring
Votes: 45,426
This is the future.
18. The Arrival (1996)
PG-13 | 115 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Zane, an astronomer, discovers intelligent alien life. But the aliens are keeping a deadly secret, and will do anything to stop Zane from learning it.
Director: David Twohy | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Crouse, Richard Schiff, Shane
Votes: 38,188 | Gross: $14.05M
A sensible but way-out sci-fi. Completely unexpected.
19. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
G | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 85,778
We should get-our-shit-together before this becomes a reality.
20. One Potato, Two Potato (1964)
92 min | Drama
In his wanderlust, Joe Cullen moves from the US to South America to work in a mining camp, he leaving behind his wife Julie and their infant daughter, Ellen Mary. After Joe stops writing ... See full summary »
Director: Larry Peerce | Stars: Barbara Barrie, Bernie Hamilton, Richard Mulligan, Harry Bellaver
Votes: 941
Love is colorblind. Again, very early and way too late.
21. David and Lisa (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
Teenager David Clemens develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people.
Director: Frank Perry | Stars: Keir Dullea, Janet Margolin, Howard Da Silva, Neva Patterson
Votes: 3,350 | Gross: $5.01M
Nutty love
22. The Snake Pit (1948)
Approved | 108 min | Drama, Mystery
A detailed chronicle of a woman during her stay in a mental institution.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm
Votes: 8,430 | Gross: $10.00M
Early and way late look at mental health.
23. Ex Machina (2014)
R | 108 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.
Director: Alex Garland | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno
Votes: 589,793 | Gross: $25.44M
I'm starting to feel like a mouse in a maze with no exit.
24. Demon Seed (1977)
Approved | 94 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist creates Proteus--an organic super computer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the creator's wife.
Director: Donald Cammell | Stars: Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham, Berry Kroeger
Votes: 10,008
Digital love is blind.
25. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, War
An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 518,377 | Gross: $0.28M
Well, they're our precious bodily fluids.
26. Fail Safe (1964)
Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller
A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Fritz Weaver, Dan O'Herlihy
Votes: 24,411
We had a poodle.
27. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man and his telepathic dog wander a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Director: L.Q. Jones | Stars: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton, Tim McIntire
Votes: 19,223 | Gross: $6.90M
Full of the new morality.
28. Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
M | 100 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Thinking this will prevent war, the US government gives an impenetrable supercomputer total control over launching nuclear missiles. But what the computer does with the power is unimaginable to its creators.
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsent, William Schallert
Votes: 10,157
Siri? Alexa? Is this World Control? Hello?
29. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
G | 131 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what killed the citizens of a small town and how the deadly contagion can be stopped.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: James Olson, Arthur Hill, David Wayne, Kate Reid
Votes: 40,449 | Gross: $3.42M
Another early and way late exposure. (minus 3 stars for what definitely seems like animal cruelty)
30. The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Under a dystopian religious tyranny, most women cannot conceive children. Those young women who can live in a form of sexual slavery to provide children for influential families.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth McGovern
Votes: 10,747 | Gross: $4.96M
25 years before it became a big splash. This one has Robert Duvall as the Commander.
31. Billy Budd (1962)
Approved | 123 min | Adventure, Drama, War
When a kind-hearted sailor is made to join an English vessel at war, he finds himself caught between devotion to his crew mates and obedience to their hated, cruel master-at-arms.
Director: Peter Ustinov | Stars: Robert Ryan, Peter Ustinov, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Rogers
Votes: 4,886
God bless Capt Vere.
32. Billy Liar (1963)
Not Rated | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A lazy, irresponsible young clerk (Sir Tom Courtenay) in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne
Votes: 7,101 | Gross: $0.04M
Revived something Joe E Brown revived during the sound era. A neglected benchmark.
33. Things to Come (1936)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, War
The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
Director: William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson, Margaretta Scott
Votes: 9,069
Men are pigs.
34. Alfie (1966)
Unrated | 114 min | Comedy, Drama
An unrepentant ladies' man gradually begins to understand the consequences of his lifestyle.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster
Votes: 15,831 | Gross: $18.87M
Men are pigs.
35. The Ipcress File (1965)
Passed | 109 min | Drama, Thriller
In London, a wisecracking spy investigates the kidnapping and brainwashing of British scientists while dealing with the constraints of his agency's bureaucracy.
Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd
Votes: 17,588
We haven't caught up to this level of cool. You'll know because 60's Czech cinema will be just before it.
36. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 79,838
Reawakened enthusiasm for solitaire.
37. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
R | 98 min | Drama
A dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg
Votes: 40,550 | Gross: $19.40M
Cements the age of disillusionment.
38. 12 Angry Men (1957)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama
The jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler
Votes: 865,348 | Gross: $4.36M
39. They Won't Forget (1937)
Passed | 95 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A politically ambitious district attorney, unscrupulous tabloid journalists, and regional prejudice combine to charge a teacher with the murder of his student.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, Edward Norris, Otto Kruger
Votes: 1,942
40. Fury (1936)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 13,728
41. The Rapture (1991)
R | 100 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A telephone operator living an empty, amoral life finds God and loses him again.
Director: Michael Tolkin | Stars: Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny, Darwyn Carson, Patrick Bauchau
Votes: 6,031 | Gross: $1.28M
42. Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Billy Pilgrim has mysteriously become unstuck in time. He goes on an uncontrollable trip back and forth from his birth in New York to life on a distant planet and back again to the horrors of the 1945 fire-bombing of Dresden.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans
Votes: 13,911 | Gross: $0.57M
43. The Stuff (1985)
R | 87 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation, but the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world.
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino
Votes: 18,501
Pillsbury's getting close.
44. Winter Kills (1979)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter.
Director: William Richert | Stars: Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach
Votes: 3,500 | Gross: $1.08M
45. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Votes: 14,438 | Gross: $1.42M
Mervyn LeRoy had THE biggest balls in Hollywood
46. La Dolce Vita (1960)
Not Rated | 174 min | Comedy, Drama
A series of stories following a week in the life of a philandering tabloid journalist living in Rome.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, Yvonne Furneaux
Votes: 78,217 | Gross: $19.52M
Ciao
47. Network (1976)
R | 121 min | Drama
A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall
Votes: 170,686
"I got a big titted hit"
48. Videodrome (1983)
R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky
Votes: 103,018 | Gross: $2.12M
This makes my cathode ray tube glow.
49. eXistenZ (1999)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe
Votes: 107,229 | Gross: $2.84M
Wait just a darn minute.
50. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps
Votes: 193,759 | Gross: $12.47M
Honk, Honk.....
51. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,697 | Gross: $3.27M
You know, when this is all over I think I'll collect butterflies.
52. The Crowd (1928)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Romance
The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark
Votes: 9,170
53. New Jack City (1991)
R | 97 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A crime lord ascends to power and becomes megalomaniacal while a maverick police detective vows to stop him.
Director: Mario Van Peebles | Stars: Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Allen Payne, Chris Rock
Votes: 38,836 | Gross: $47.62M
54. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,517 | Gross: $13.01M
55. Real Life (1979)
PG | 99 min | Comedy
A film crew sets out to record a year in the life of an average family, but things quickly start going wrong.
Director: Albert Brooks | Stars: Dick Haynes, Albert Brooks, Matthew Tobin, J.A. Preston
Votes: 3,825
56. Neighbors (1981)
R | 94 min | Comedy
A quiet man's peaceful suburban lifestyle is threatened by the new, obnoxious couple that moves in next door.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Kathryn Walker, Cathy Moriarty
Votes: 8,591 | Gross: $29.92M
57. The Night of the Iguana (1964)
Approved | 125 min | Drama
An 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 | Stars: Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr, Sue Lyon
Votes: 13,117 | Gross: $9.43M
58. Beat the Devil (1953)
Approved | 89 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
On their way to Africa are a group of rogues who hope to get rich there, and a seemingly innocent British couple. They meet and things happen...
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley
Votes: 10,407
59. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Musical
Over two "typical" days in the life of The Beatles, the boys struggle to keep themselves and Sir Paul McCartney's mischievous grandfather in check while preparing for a live TV performance.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Votes: 48,098 | Gross: $13.78M
60. Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham
Votes: 22,404 | Gross: $0.16M
61. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 168,492 | Gross: $0.03M
62. A Foreign Affair (1948)
Approved | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi café singer and the U.S. congresswoman investigating her.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund, Millard Mitchell
Votes: 8,559
63. One, Two, Three (1961)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy
In West Berlin during the Cold War, a Coca-Cola executive is given the task of taking care of his boss' socialite daughter.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Arlene Francis
Votes: 22,987
64. THX 1138 (1971)
R | 86 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In the 25th century, a time when people have designations instead of names, a man, THX 1138, and a woman, LUH 3417, rebel against their rigidly controlled society.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie
Votes: 54,621 | Gross: $2.44M
65. Ninotchka (1939)
Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Romance
A stern Soviet woman sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from Russian nobles finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 22,897 | Gross: $1.19M
66. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Passed | 118 min | Drama, Romance
An unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell
Votes: 16,463
67. In a Lonely Place (1950)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid
Votes: 35,270
68. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, Romance, War
A Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori, Walter Connolly
Votes: 4,302
Do you think they hooked up?
69. Ace in the Hole (1951)
Approved | 111 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall
Votes: 39,125 | Gross: $3.97M
Human interest.
70. Detective Story (1951)
Approved | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
On one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell
Votes: 9,494
This one is historic. Lee Grant gets an Oscar Nomination on her debut and is then blacklisted by Joe McCarthy.
71. The Landlord (1970)
PG | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
At the age of 29, Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially, his ... See full summary »
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey
Votes: 3,088 | Gross: $0.96M
Almost 30 years before Do the Right Thing.
72. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Votes: 166,601 | Gross: $2.11M
73. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,445 | Gross: $5.01M
74. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama
After his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offenses, a low level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats
Votes: 12,204
Ultra reality hits mainstream.
75. 1984 (1984)
R | 113 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a totalitarian future society, a man, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love.
Director: Michael Radford | Stars: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack
Votes: 79,040 | Gross: $8.40M
76. 1984 (1956)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a totalitarian future society, Winston Smith, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Michael Redgrave, Jan Sterling, David Kossoff
Votes: 4,180
77. The Third Man (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Votes: 181,857 | Gross: $0.45M
78. The Red Shoes (1948)
Not Rated | 135 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann
Votes: 39,172 | Gross: $10.90M
79. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
PG | 104 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Robert Coote, Kathleen Byron
Votes: 24,907
80. An American in Paris (1951)
Passed | 114 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
Three friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary
Votes: 36,891 | Gross: $4.50M
81. Sweepings (1933)
Passed | 80 min | Drama
Starting over with almost nothing after the great Chicago Fire, Daniel Pardway builds the biggest department store in town. He wants to pass on the business to his daughter and three sons, ... See full summary »
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Eric Linden, William Gargan, Gloria Stuart
Votes: 475
This one hits a little too close to home. And in 1933 !!! This is the one where I learned about the amazing career of Gregory Ratoff. AND IT'S ONLY 85 YEARS BEFORE Succession!!!!!!!!
82. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Albert Dekker
Votes: 17,216 | Gross: $13.90M
Talky but, oh, what talk.
83. Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
PG | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Ambitious but diminutive motorcycle cop John Wintergreen patrols the Arizona highways, yearning for promotion to Homicide Detective, while investigating a murder tied to hippies.
Director: James William Guercio | Stars: Robert Blake, Billy Green Bush, Mitchell Ryan, Jeannine Riley
Votes: 6,427 | Gross: $1.60M
Cops are people, too.
84. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
R | 102 min | Drama
While drag-racing through the American Southwest in a Chevrolet 150, a driver and his mechanic cross paths with an enigmatic hitchhiker and the tall-tale-spinning driver of a GTO.
Director: Monte Hellman | Stars: James Taylor, Warren Oates, Laurie Bird, Dennis Wilson
Votes: 13,423
Contains greatest straight line ever. "Better checkout the rear-end." Warren Oates performance is possibly the greatest ever filmed. Up there with Isabelle Adjani in Possession and Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois and Robert Duvall in Apocalypse, Now or Convicts.
85. Putney Swope (1969)
R | 84 min | Comedy
The board of directors at a Madison Avenue ad agency must elect a new chairman. In the maneuvering to make sure that enemies don't get votes, all the members accidentally cast their ballot for the board's token black man, Putney Swope.
Director: Robert Downey Sr. | Stars: Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Archie Russell
Votes: 4,359 | Gross: $2.73M
Beer is (and I'm paraphrasing, here) Inky-Pinky.
86. Desk Set (1957)
Approved | 103 min | Comedy, Romance
Two extremely strong personalities clash over the computerization of a television network's research department.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young, Joan Blondell
Votes: 9,540
boo-boop-be-do
87. Easy Rider (1969)
R | 95 min | Adventure, Drama
Two bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.
Director: Dennis Hopper | Stars: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Antonio Mendoza
Votes: 116,965 | Gross: $41.73M
Easy Rider, matinee movie, Karen on acid, that's real groovy. (an excerpt from rap single ready to drop off real soon, 2 weeks, fast like no one's ever seen)
88. Cisco Pike (1971)
R | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A down on his luck former drug dealer is forced by a corrupt LAPD policeman to sell 100 kilos of confiscated marijuana in one weekend.
Director: Bill Norton | Stars: Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black, Gene Hackman, Harry Dean Stanton
Votes: 1,936
They don't want your body.
89. Fat City (1972)
PG | 96 min | Drama, Sport
Two men, working as professional boxers, come to blows when their careers each begin to take different directions.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark
Votes: 10,379
Think he's happy?
90. Shadows (1958)
PG | 87 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Cassavetes' jazz-scored improvisational film explores interracial friendships and relationships in Beat-Era (1950s) New York City.
Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Hugh Hurd, Anthony Ray
Votes: 12,559
91. A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Passed | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas
Votes: 10,803
Cancer from your cigarettes??!!
92. Little Murders (1971)
PG | 108 min | Comedy, Crime
Pitch black comedy about a young nihilistic New Yorker coping with pervasive urban violence, obscene phone calls, rusty water pipes, electrical blackouts, paranoia and ethnic-racial conflict during a typical summer of the 1970s.
Director: Alan Arkin | Stars: Elliott Gould, Marcia Rodd, Vincent Gardenia, Elizabeth Wilson
Votes: 3,567 | Gross: $0.26M
Before paranoia was in fashion.
93. Tron (1982)
PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
Director: Steven Lisberger | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan
Votes: 129,325 | Gross: $33.00M
94. Dinner at Eight (1933)
Passed | 111 min | Drama
Affluent Millicent and Oliver Jordan throw a dinner for a handful of wealthy and/or well-born acquaintances, each of whom has much to reveal.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow
Votes: 9,019 | Gross: $4.58M
Machines are going to replace everybody, period.
95. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Passed | 91 min | Drama, Romance
An elderly couple are forced to live hundreds of miles apart when they lose their house and none of their five children will take both parents in.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 9,513
Not so forwarding looking as timeless.
96. The Male Animal (1942)
Passed | 101 min | Comedy, Romance
A college English teacher suddenly finds himself the center of a free-speech debate on campus.
Director: Elliott Nugent | Stars: Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Leslie, Jack Carson
Votes: 1,439
This is as today as it gets. God bless Henry Fonda. This is also the only other time beside The Strawberry Blond that Olivia had a comedic role equal to her enormous talent.
97. The Stepford Wives (1975)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Joanna Eberhart has come to the quaint little town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all too perfect behavior of the female residents.
Director: Bryan Forbes | Stars: Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman
Votes: 19,580 | Gross: $8.72M
Order online at Disney.com.
98. Cherry 2000 (1987)
PG-13 | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
In 2017, a successful businessman travels to the ends of the earth to find that the perfect woman is always under his nose. He hires a sexy renegade tracker to find an exact duplicate of his android wife.
Director: Steve De Jarnatt | Stars: Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, Pamela Gidley, Jennifer Balgobin
Votes: 10,589 | Gross: $0.01M
99. Making Mr. Right (1987)
PG-13 | 98 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
A reclusive scientist, Jeff Peters (Malkovich), builds a robot, Ulysses, which looks exactly like himself and is set to go on a long-term space mission. Since the (real) scientist seems to ... See full summary »
Director: Susan Seidelman | Stars: John Malkovich, Ann Magnuson, Glenne Headly, Ben Masters
Votes: 3,109 | Gross: $1.58M
100. Android (1982)
PG | 80 min | Sci-Fi
A strange doctor secretly experiments with androids on his space station. His assistant is Max, a curious android who wants to see the world and meet a girl. Criminals hide on their station and soon violence erupts.
Director: Aaron Lipstadt | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Don Keith Opper, Brie Howard, Norbert Weisser
Votes: 2,571
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