Movie Recommendations

Two landowners scheme to ruin an idealistic, hunchbacked lawyer-turned-farmer whose land contains a vital water source. (subtitled)

Gary Cooper as the small-town tuba player and poet who inherits a fortune and must deal with slick lawyers, hangers-on, and a media frenzy whipped up by ace reporter Jean Arthur.

Montgomery Clift takes on patriarch John Wayne in this tale of mutiny on the trail.

A New Hope (the original Star Wars movie) is a nonstop extravaganza of heroes, villains, aliens, and magic. The Empire Strikes Back (1980), although in some ways a richer film, rates an F from me just because nothing could match the magic of the original. Return of the Jedi garners only an M for its…

Harrison Ford as a cop trained to kill replicant humans. But how can you tell the artificial from the real?

Gerard Depardieu handles the role with aplomb; exquisite sets and costumes complement an intelligent Roxane and sympathetic Christian. (subtitled)

Another definitive film, this time of the antebellum and Reconstruction Era South. Not actually my cup of tea, but a must-see for anyone seeking cinema literacy.

For those into wry gallows humor. Slighted by his aristocratic relatives, Henry realizes that only eight people—all played by Alec Guinness—stand between him and the dukedom.

The classic little guy vs. big political machine. Jimmy Stewart finds his apotheosis in Capra’s indictment of corruption in the Capitol.

Not for the weak of stomach. But Quentin Tarantino’s terrific script and directing are matched by great performances from Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, and others in this account of a badly botched bank robbery. Far superior, IMHO, to the more-lauded Pulp Fiction.