Watching Bernardo Bertolucci’s erotic drama now, it’s not the graphic sex scenes that startle – these days they would pass for R-rated material. Instead, the jarring intensity of Marlon Brando in full fury keeps you off-balance. His portrayal of Paul, a recent widower who tries to exorcise his rage by having callous sex in a

Though Dashiell Hammett’s novel had already been filmed twice before, it is this 1941 version that many consider to be the first noir picture. Bogart defined the tough, fast-talking hero as Sam Spade; Mary Astor had three parts in one as the mysterious and alluring femme fatale; and director John Huston, making his debut, set

An early effort from director Jonathan Demme, Melvin and Howard takes off from a real-life situation – a contested will of Howard Hughes, who may have left millions to an unknown gas-station worker – and turns it into a comic satire on the fickleness of the American dream. As the movie opens, Melvin Dumar (Paul

Could that really be Mrs. Robinson? Anne Bancroft made a permanent mark on film culture with her galvanizing turn as the desiccated, predatory housewife of The Graduate. Yet it would be unfair to let that performance overshadow her other formidable work, especially her Oscar-winning turn as Helen Keller’s teacher here. The Miracle Worker has all

An original script from Arthur Miller, The Misfits turns on the playwright’s usual concern: that of the individual trying to maintain his identity in a changing world. Cowboys are the dying breed here, specifically an aging wrangler played by Clark Gable, a mechanic played by Eli Wallach and a daredevil bull-rider played by Montgomery Clift,

Secretary features a young woman who cuts herself (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and a lawyer who considers bondage gear proper office attire (James Spader), and yet the movie isn’t about self-mutilation or dominant-submissive relationships. Instead, what begins as something kinky, even silly, transforms into an unabashed – if politically incorrect – romance. And why not – who

A fascinating morality play about honor and loyalty. Russell Crowe, as the real-life tobacco company scientist who risks his family and personal freedom to testify against the industry, provides a mesmerizing portrait of integrity’s cost; you can see the worry weighing down on his drooping eyelids and sagging mouth. A slow-burning, interior epic from muscular

Big Fish, about the reconciliation between a tall-tale-telling father (Albert Finney) and his skeptical son (Billy Crudup), is an odd Tim Burton film, but not in the way that a Tim Burton film usually is odd. This time he forgoes his artful despondency for an unadorned, unabashed emotional warmth. Still, Burton purists needn’t worry: There

The first movie to confess the American sins of the Vietnam War, Platoon carried extra weight because it came from someone who was there: writer-director Oliver Stone. Platoon had a purging power when it was released, but years later you can see some of the picture’s flaws more clearly. As it details a rift that