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The Wrong Man
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Bronx Tale
: :Chazz Palminteri wrote the script for this excellent story of an Italian American boy (Lillo Brancato) who grows up in the 1960s caught between the strong influences of his blue-collar, straight- arrow father (Robert De Niro) and a Mafia chieftain (Palminteri) who is his all-purpose mentor. De Niro makes his directorial debut with this production and, except for a little stiffness, does very well by the characters and their world. The story does not go precisely where one might expect ...
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Now & Forever
: :Shirley Temple's superstardom in the 1930s was associated with Twentieth Century Fox, but before Fox locked her down she made two films for Paramount. It was 1934, her breakthrough year, and these pictures are not quite yet the showcase vehicles Fox would assemble for their pint-sized meal ticket. Henry Hathaway's Now and Forever casts Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard as world-traveling con artists, suddenly forced to grow up when Coop decides to take charge of his daughter. The lure of ...
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Breathless (1983)
: :Shirley Temple's superstardom in the 1930s was associated with Twentieth Century Fox, but before Fox locked her down she made two films for Paramount. It was 1934, her breakthrough year, and these pictures are not quite yet the showcase vehicles Fox would assemble for their pint-sized meal ticket. Henry Hathaway's Now and Forever casts Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard as world-traveling con artists, suddenly forced to grow up when Coop decides to take charge of his daughter. The lure of ...
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Native Son (1986)
: :Shirley Temple's superstardom in the 1930s was associated with Twentieth Century Fox, but before Fox locked her down she made two films for Paramount. It was 1934, her breakthrough year, and these pictures are not quite yet the showcase vehicles Fox would assemble for their pint-sized meal ticket. Henry Hathaway's Now and Forever casts Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard as world-traveling con artists, suddenly forced to grow up when Coop decides to take charge of his daughter. The lure of ...
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Rashomon
: essential video:This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Its most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by ...
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Eyes of an Angel
: essential video:This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Its most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by ...
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Falling Down
: :This film, about a downsized engineer (Michael Douglas) who goes ballistic, triggered a media avalanche of stories about middle-class white rage when it was released in 1993. In fact, it's nothing more than a manipulative, violent melodrama about one geek's meltdown. Douglas, complete with pocket protector, nerd glasses, crewcut, and short-sleeved white shirt, gets stuck in traffic one day near downtown L.A. and proceeds to just walk away from his car--and then lose it emotionally. Everyone he encounters rubs him ...
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A Stolen Life (1946)
: :This film, about a downsized engineer (Michael Douglas) who goes ballistic, triggered a media avalanche of stories about middle-class white rage when it was released in 1993. In fact, it's nothing more than a manipulative, violent melodrama about one geek's meltdown. Douglas, complete with pocket protector, nerd glasses, crewcut, and short-sleeved white shirt, gets stuck in traffic one day near downtown L.A. and proceeds to just walk away from his car--and then lose it emotionally. Everyone he encounters rubs him ...
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Enforcer (1951)
: :Humphrey Bogart stars as a crusading district attorney working against the clock to prosecute a mob boss in this suspenseful picture that should appeal to crime completists and fans of the iconic actor. Based on actual court cases, the plot unfolds largely in flashback as Bogart reviews his case against vicious racketeer Everett Sloane, who has killed off anyone that has threatened to testify against him. Capably directed by Bretaigne Windust (with uncredited help from Raoul Walsh, who shot most ...
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