Movie Recommendations

Paul Newman’s tortuous journey from pool shark to pool player is an engrossing look at life on the down side.

Viciously cynical and paranoid conspiracy film about a brainwashed assassin. Angela Lansbury is outstanding in an against-type-casting role.

Heroes! Monsters! Magic! Miracles! True Love!

Mystery mindgames turn fatal between Michael Caine and cuckolded husband Laurence Olivier.

Jack Benny’s theater troupe plays a dangerous game to aid the Polish underground. Some feel that joking about the Third Reich is tasteless; fans of the film find it funny and human.

Another musical in which sparkling songs (Lerner & Loewe) and performances (Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold) rescue a mediocre plot.

Wonderful film of a young Swedish boy coming to terms with tragedy while finding the joy in life with help from the country relatives who take him in.

The first full-length animated movie is, in many ways, still the best. The lush artwork, individual characters, and wonderful songs coalesce into a near-perfect work.

Checking over Off-Off-Off-Off-Broadway producer Zero Mostel’s accounts, nebbishy Gene Wilder gets a crazy idea…become rich by producing a flop. Mel Brooks’s first bigscreen hit.

A top musical, albeit suffused with a colonial mindset that modern viewers may find disturbing. Yul Brynner is superb in his signature role as the King of Siam, and Deborah Kerr is very good indeed as the British governess/tutor for his many children. Beautiful Rodgers and Hammerstein score.