Best American Films of 1948-1957

by hotspurpagg | created - 07 Jun 2015 | updated - 07 Jun 2015 | Public
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1. The Pirate (1948)

Approved | 102 min | Adventure, Comedy, Musical

A girl is engaged to the local rich man, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper

Votes: 5,617 | Gross: $2.96M

2. Red River (1948)

Passed | 133 min | Drama, Western

96 Metascore

Dunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.

Directors: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson | Stars: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan

Votes: 34,423

3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

98 Metascore

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: 132,497 | Gross: $5.01M

4. Rope (1948)

Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

73 Metascore

Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Dick Hogan

Votes: 153,807

5. Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

Approved | 105 min | Comedy, Music, Romance

A man dreams of revenge when he suspects his wife is unfaithful.

Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallee, Barbara Lawrence

Votes: 5,868

6. Johnny Belinda (1948)

Unrated | 102 min | Drama

A kind doctor volunteers to tutor a deaf-mute woman, but scandal starts to swirl when his pupil is raped and falls pregnant.

Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead

Votes: 5,319

7. Act of Violence (1948)

Passed | 82 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller

An embittered, vengeful POW stalks his former commanding officer who betrayed his men's planned escape attempt from a Nazi prison camp.

Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor

Votes: 5,718

8. 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: 10,808

9. The Fountainhead (1949)

Approved | 114 min | Drama, Romance

An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.

Director: King Vidor | Stars: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith

Votes: 10,910

10. Madame Bovary (1949)

Passed | 114 min | Drama, Romance

A provincial doctor's wife's romantic illusions about life and social status lead her to betray her naive husband, take on lovers, and run up ruinous debts.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan

Votes: 2,913

11. The Heiress (1949)

Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Romance

A naive young woman falls for a handsome young man her emotionally abusive father suspects is only a fortune hunter.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins

Votes: 17,358

12. On the Town (1949)

Passed | 98 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

71 Metascore

Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.

Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller

Votes: 18,791

13. Champion (1949)

Passed | 99 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Sport

Boxer Midge Kelly rises to fame...mainly by stepping on other people.

Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Marilyn Maxwell, Paul Stewart

Votes: 4,758

14. All the King's Men (1949)

Approved | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir

The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.

Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek

Votes: 16,600

15. Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir

94 Metascore

A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson

Votes: 236,600

16. 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: 35,304

17. Father of the Bride (1950)

Not Rated | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

76 Metascore

The father of a young woman deals with the emotional pain of her getting married, along with the financial and organizational trouble of arranging the wedding.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor

Votes: 12,541 | Gross: $8.84M

18. All About Eve (1950)

Passed | 138 min | Drama

98 Metascore

A seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm

Votes: 138,841 | Gross: $0.01M

19. A Place in the Sun (1951)

Passed | 122 min | Drama, Romance

76 Metascore

A poor boy gets a job working for his rich uncle and ends up falling in love with two women.

Director: George Stevens | Stars: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere

Votes: 24,806

20. Strangers on a Train (1951)

PG | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

88 Metascore

A psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll

Votes: 141,092 | Gross: $7.63M

21. An American in Paris (1951)

Passed | 114 min | Drama, Musical, Romance

83 Metascore

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: 36,909 | Gross: $4.50M

22. Quo Vadis (1951)

Not Rated | 171 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

65 Metascore

After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.

Directors: Mervyn LeRoy, Anthony Mann | Stars: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov

Votes: 16,761 | Gross: $24.29M

23. The African Queen (1951)

PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

91 Metascore

In WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull

Votes: 84,351 | Gross: $0.54M

24. Ace in the Hole (1951)

Approved | 111 min | Drama, Film-Noir

72 Metascore

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: 39,178 | Gross: $3.97M

25. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

PG | 122 min | Drama

97 Metascore

Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.

Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden

Votes: 114,419 | Gross: $8.00M

26. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

99 Metascore

A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.

Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen

Votes: 260,868 | Gross: $8.82M

27. Viva Zapata! (1952)

Approved | 113 min | Biography, Drama, History

The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of President Porfirio Díaz in the early 20th century.

Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Wiseman

Votes: 12,474

28. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Passed | 118 min | Drama, Romance

86 Metascore

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: 16,469

29. The Quiet Man (1952)

Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

85 Metascore

A retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920s Ireland, where he falls for a spirited redhead whose brother is contemptuous of their union.

Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond

Votes: 42,422 | Gross: $10.55M

30. Moulin Rouge (1952)

Not Rated | 119 min | Biography, Drama, Music

Fictional account of French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Director: John Huston | Stars: José Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon, Claude Nollier

Votes: 6,530 | Gross: $11.81M

31. Something to Live For (1952)

Approved | 89 min | Drama

An actress becomes an alcoholic after being jilted. She is aided by an Alcoholics Anonymous member with whom she has an affair; however, he is married.

Director: George Stevens | Stars: Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, Teresa Wright, Richard Derr

Votes: 434

32. The Star (1952)

Passed | 89 min | Drama, Romance

54 Metascore

A washed-up movie queen finds romance, but still desires a comeback.

Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden, Natalie Wood, Warner Anderson

Votes: 4,148

33. Shane (1953)

Not Rated | 118 min | Drama, Western

85 Metascore

A weary gunfighter in 1880s Wyoming begins to envision a quieter life after befriending a homestead family with a young son who idolizes him, but a smoldering range war forces him to act.

Director: George Stevens | Stars: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde

Votes: 44,173 | Gross: $20.00M

34. Stalag 17 (1953)

Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, War

84 Metascore

After two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss

Votes: 58,832

35. Roman Holiday (1953)

Passed | 118 min | Comedy, Romance

78 Metascore

A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power

Votes: 147,752

36. The Band Wagon (1953)

Passed | 112 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

93 Metascore

A pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray

Votes: 12,585

37. I Confess (1953)

Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

68 Metascore

A priest, who comes under suspicion for murder, cannot clear his name without breaking the seal of the confessional.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne

Votes: 23,289

38. From Here to Eternity (1953)

Passed | 118 min | Drama, Romance, War

85 Metascore

At a U.S. Army base in 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his commanding officer's wife and top aide begin a tentative affair.

Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed

Votes: 50,849 | Gross: $30.50M

39. On the Waterfront (1954)

Approved | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

91 Metascore

An ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.

Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger

Votes: 165,048 | Gross: $9.60M

40. Rear Window (1954)

PG | 112 min | Mystery, Thriller

100 Metascore

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter

Votes: 522,500 | Gross: $36.76M

41. The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Not Rated | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

70 Metascore

This 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.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Marius Goring

Votes: 12,726

42. A Star Is Born (1954)

Passed | 154 min | Drama, Musical, Romance

89 Metascore

A film star helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.

Director: George Cukor | Stars: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford

Votes: 19,688 | Gross: $14.93M

43. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

G | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

83 Metascore

A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.

Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre

Votes: 37,207 | Gross: $28.20M

44. Carmen Jones (1954)

Approved | 105 min | Drama, Musical, Romance

65 Metascore

Contemporary version of the Bizet opera, with new lyrics and an African-American cast.

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Olga James

Votes: 5,926

45. Executive Suite (1954)

Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance

When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice presidents vie to see who will replace him.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Fredric March

Votes: 4,587

46. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

97 Metascore

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: 97,449 | Gross: $0.65M

47. East of Eden (1955)

PG | 118 min | Drama

72 Metascore

Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.

Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives

Votes: 48,840

48. Marty (1955)

Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance

82 Metascore

A middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up on the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other.

Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti, Augusta Ciolli

Votes: 27,045

49. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

PG-13 | 111 min | Drama

89 Metascore

A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.

Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus

Votes: 98,011

50. It's Always Fair Weather (1955)

Passed | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

Three soldiers meet ten years after their last meeting in New York, and find out that they have little in common now.

Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray

Votes: 3,986

51. Oklahoma! (1955)

G | 145 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

74 Metascore

In Oklahoma, several farmers, cowboys and a traveling salesman compete for the romantic favors of various local ladies.

Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood

Votes: 14,085

52. The Trouble with Harry (1955)

PG | 99 min | Comedy, Mystery

74 Metascore

Harry's dead and, while no one really minds, everyone feels responsible. After Harry's body is found in the woods, several locals must determine not only how and why he was killed but what to do with the body.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick

Votes: 41,294

53. Summertime (1955)

Approved | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

An American spinster's dream of romance finally becomes a bittersweet reality when she meets a handsome--but married--Italian man while vacationing in Venice.

Director: David Lean | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Isa Miranda, Darren McGavin

Votes: 10,001

54. To Catch a Thief (1955)

PG | 106 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller

82 Metascore

A retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after being suspected of returning to his former occupation.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams

Votes: 79,820 | Gross: $8.75M

55. Picnic (1955)

Approved | 115 min | Drama, Romance

Emotions are ignited among the complacent townsfolk when a handsome drifter arrives in a small Kansas community on the morning of the Labor Day picnic.

Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: William Holden, Kim Novak, Betty Field, Susan Strasberg

Votes: 9,847

56. Giant (1956)

G | 201 min | Drama, Western

84 Metascore

Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.

Director: George Stevens | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker

Votes: 42,277

57. Lust for Life (1956)

Approved | 122 min | Biography, Drama

68 Metascore

The life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.

Directors: Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown

Votes: 12,513 | Gross: $3.48M

58. The Searchers (1956)

Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

94 Metascore

An American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.

Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond

Votes: 96,382

59. Carousel (1956)

Approved | 128 min | Drama, Fantasy, Musical

Fifteen years after his death, a carousel barker is granted permission to return to Earth for one day to make amends to his widow and their daughter.

Director: Henry King | Stars: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Ruick

Votes: 6,808

60. The King and I (1956)

G | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Musical

72 Metascore

A widow accepts a job as a live-in governess to the King of Siam's children.

Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson

Votes: 27,931 | Gross: $21.30M

61. Jubal (1956)

Passed | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Western

A new foreman rejects the sexual advances of a frustrated rancher's wife, which leads to conflicts that could get him killed.

Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger, Valerie French

Votes: 4,398

62. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

G | 175 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

69 Metascore

A Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.

Directors: Michael Anderson, John Farrow | Stars: David Niven, Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley

Votes: 29,727 | Gross: $42.00M

63. Bigger Than Life (1956)

Not Rated | 95 min | Drama

A seriously-ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a "miracle" drug that begins to affect his sanity.

Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau, Robert F. Simon

Votes: 8,149

64. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)

Passed | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport

Boxer Rocky Graziano's biopic, based on his autobiography, from childhood to his World Middleweight Championship title win at age 28 in 1947.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Paul Newman, Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart

Votes: 9,024

65. The Killing (1956)

Approved | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

91 Metascore

Crook Johnny Clay assembles a five-man team to plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen

Votes: 97,600

66. Tea and Sympathy (1956)

Approved | 122 min | Drama

A new senior at a boy's prep school, finds himself harassed by the machismo culture of his classmates and the unfeelingly behavior by his father, only being treated with decency by his roommate and with affection by the coach's wife.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Deborah Kerr, John Kerr, Leif Erickson, Edward Andrews

Votes: 3,218

67. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War

88 Metascore

British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.

Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa

Votes: 233,448 | Gross: $44.91M

68. Paths of Glory (1957)

Approved | 88 min | Drama, War

90 Metascore

After a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready

Votes: 212,461

69. A Face in the Crowd (1957)

Approved | 126 min | Drama, Music

72 Metascore

A female radio reporter turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.

Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau

Votes: 17,155

70. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Approved | 96 min | Drama, Film-Noir

100 Metascore

Powerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.

Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner

Votes: 35,727

71. The Wrong Man (1956)

Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Film-Noir

83 Metascore

In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle, Harold J. Stone

Votes: 31,387

72. 12 Angry Men (1957)

Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama

97 Metascore

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: 866,060 | Gross: $4.36M

73. Funny Face (1957)

Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

75 Metascore

An impromptu fashion shoot at a book store brings about a new fashion model discovery in the shop clerk.

Director: Stanley Donen | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michel Auclair

Votes: 33,050

74. Sayonara (1957)

Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Romance

A US Air Force major in Kobe confronts his own opposition to marriages between American servicemen and Japanese women when he falls for a beautiful performer.

Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Ricardo Montalban, Patricia Owens, James Garner

Votes: 7,729 | Gross: $26.30M

75. Designing Woman (1957)

Approved | 118 min | Comedy, Romance

A sportswriter and a fashion-designer marry after a whirlwind romance, and discover they have little in common.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Gray, Sam Levene

Votes: 5,470

76. The Pajama Game (1957)

Approved | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

An Iowa pajama factory worker falls in love with an affable superintendent who had been hired by the factory's boss to help oppose the workers' demand for a pay raise.

Directors: George Abbott, Stanley Donen | Stars: Doris Day, John Raitt, Carol Haney, Eddie Foy Jr.

Votes: 4,111



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