AMERICA's 100 GREATEST MOVIES ( part 4 )

76. City Lights (1931) - Chaplin/United Artists
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Stars: Charlie Chaplin; Virginia Cherrill; Harry Myers; Florence Lee

A moving tragi-comedy/drama in which the Little Tramp falls hopelessly in love with a blind flower girl (Cherrill), and experiences difficulty linked to a rich and eccentric lush (Myers). Perhaps best remembered for the dramatic ending when she first sees the face that helped her regain her sight, the film is grounded in classic Chaplin comedy. Among the most memorable laughs has Chaplin trying to raise money for the girl's operation by entering the boxing ring in a bout that he thinks has been fixed. Notable as an exquisite Chaplinesque blend of drama, passion, self-sacrifice and true love.

77. American Graffiti (1973) - Universal
Director: George Lucas
Stars: Richard Dreyfuss; Ron Howard; Candy Clark; Harrison Ford; Paul LeMat; Cindy Williams; Mackenzie Phillips; Charles Martin Smith

"Where were you in '62?" was the advertising slogan for this nostalgic, comical, coming-of-age story of California teenagers/high-school graduates during an eventful late-summer night out on the town in 1962, who mark passage from high school into adulthood. This funny, melancholy film brought the director to prominence, featured a grown-up Howard, and made stars of newcomers Ford and Dreyfuss; use of early rock hits influenced soundtracks for years.

78. Rocky (1976) - United Artists
Director: John G. Avildsen
Stars: Sylvester Stallone; Talia Shire; Burgess Meredith; Carl Weathers

Crowd-pleasing Cinderella drama of small-time boxer Rocky Balboa (Stallone), an underclassed boxer from Philadelphia, whose dream is to fight for the championship belt. He gets his last chance to prove himself in a championship match against Apollo Creed (Weathers). With the help of his new love Adrian (Shire), and his wily and irascible boxing coach (Meredith), he steps into the ring against Creed and exits an American film icon. An Academy Award winner, the film made Stallone a star and sparked four sequels.

79. The Deer Hunter (1978) - Warner Bros.
Director: Michael Cimino
Stars: Robert De Niro; Christopher Walken; Meryl Streep; John Savage; John Cazale

Cimino's epic film, an intense drama about friendship and the effects of Vietnam War service on a group of three steelworker friends and their western Pennsylvania community, whose lives are irrevocably changed by a tour of duty in Vietnam. The film is renowned for the Russian roulette scenes. Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture and Supporting Actor (Walken), among others.

80. The Wild Bunch (1969) - Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Stars: William Holden; Ernest Borgnine; Robert Ryan; Ben Johnson

Anti-heroic western about a group of aging desperados who plan one last and final heist before retiring. Holden is the leader of the band of outlaws in 1913 Texas. Peckinpah's use of slow motion and Lou Lombardo's editing are considered milestones in the Western genre. Notable for its grittiness and lyrical representation of violence.

81. Modern Times (1936) - United Artists
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Stars: Charlie Chaplin; Paulette Goddard; Henry Bergman

Poignant comedy-drama about the dehumanization of the machine age. Chaplin ended the silent era with this film, his last silent film, about a little man working on an assembly line, who is literally caught in the hub and cogs of an industrialized society, and after several trips to the hospital and jail, ultimately finds happiness with a kindred soul.

82. Giant (1956) - Warner Bros.
Director: George Stevens
Stars: Elizabeth Taylor; James Dean; Rock Hudson; Mercedes McCambridge

Generational epic based on Edna Ferber's saga of wealth and prejudice during twenty-five years in the life of a Texas ranching family. It boasts the sprawling Texas countryside, co-stars Taylor, Hudson and Dean, and features a fistfight in a diner fought to the strains of "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Notable for its star turns and as Dean's final film.

83. Platoon (1986) - Orion
Director: Oliver Stone
Stars: Tom Berenger; Willem Dafoe; Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker

Intense drama about the Vietnam War depicts harshness and cruelties through the eyes of a soldier played by Sheen, a young man from a privileged background who volunteers to serve in Vietnam and experiences the horror of war first-hand. He tries to make sense of the madness through the leadership provided by Dafoe's sensitive Sergeant Elias and Berenger's scarred and unfeeling Sergeant Barnes. Acclaimed for its realism, the film won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, among others.

84. Fargo (1996) - Gramercy Pictures/Polygram Filmed Entertainment/Working Title Films
Director: Joel Coen
Stars: Frances McDormand; William H. Macy; Steve Buscemi

Dark, jaunty, but grisly crime drama about a Minnesota gruesome multiple murder case (intertwined with a botched kidnapping job hatched by Macy) in a frigid and snowy landscape under the able investigation of pregnant police chief Marge (McDormand). She reconstructs the crime with a style all her own. Wood-chipper scene and blinding white exterior shots are notable. Academy Award winner for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay. "You betcha."

85. Duck Soup (1933) - Paramount
Director: Leo McCarey
Stars: Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo Marx; Margaret Dumont; Louis Calhern

Quintessential, anarchic Marx Brothers comedy about the Prime Minister of Freedonia Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho), and his war on another fictional country, Sylvania, with the help of Chico's peanut salesman and his sidekick, Harpo. Released at the height of the Depression, this Marx Brothers comedy is a satirical attack on politics and the absurdity of war. At the height of battle, Groucho says to his brothers of Dumont, "Remember, we're fighting for this woman's honor, which is probably more than she ever did." In one memorable scene, Groucho, dictator of the mythical country of Freedonia, mistakes Harpo for his mirror image. Other timeless gags involve a street vendor and a sidecar. Zeppo's last film.

86. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - MGM
Director: Frank Lloyd
Stars: Charles Laughton; Clark Gable; Franchot Tone

Bracing adaptation of the adventure novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall about 18th-century sea justice based on an historical incident, with meaty performances by Laughton as Captain William Bligh, an excellent seaman whose lack of humanity and rigid adherence to regulations forces Gable's noble Fletcher Christian to lead a mutiny against him. Won an Academy Award for Best Picture.

87. Frankenstein (1931) - Universal
Director: James Whale
Stars: Colin Clive; Boris Karloff; Mae Clarke; John Boles; Dwight Frye; Edward Van Sloan

The original sound version of Mary Shelley's classic horror novel is notable for its Gothic atmosphere and haunting makeup and the poignant performance by Karloff as the Monster brought to life by the scientist Frankenstein (Clive). Whale ushered in a new era of horror films, and Karloff was never quite able to shake his image as the frightening, yet often sympathetic "monster" of Dr. Frankenstein.

88. Easy Rider (1969) - Columbia
Director: Dennis Hopper
Stars: Peter Fonda; Dennis Hopper; Jack Nicholson; Karen Black

Definitive countercultural road movie follows motorcycle-riding duo (Hopper and Fonda) across America to find America. Nicholson gained notice for his supporting role as a lawyer, leading to stardom in the 1970s. The film became an anthem for the 1960s' cultural dialogue on freedom, individualism and patriotism.

89. Patton (1970) - 20th Century-Fox
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Stars: George C. Scott; Karl Malden; Stephen Young

Intelligent epic biography of "Blood and Guts" World War II general, notable for its riveting opening sequence of Scott as Patton speaking in front of an American flag that fills the screen, and Scott's commanding title performance. Film won an Academy Award for Best Picture; Scott won (and refused) an award for Best Actor.

90. The Jazz Singer (1927) - Warner Bros.
Director: Alan Crosland
Stars: Al Jolson; May McAvoy; Warner Oland; Eugenie Besserer; William Demarest

Pioneering silent film with sound portions about a cantor's son (Jolson) who enters show business. It wasn't really the first "talkie," but its release marked the death knell for silent pictures and helped launch the sound era. Jolson, as the rabbi's son who wants to be a Broadway star, tells the audience "You ain't heard nothin' yet." Songs include "Blue Skies," "Mammy," and "Toot Toot Tootsie, Goodbye."

91. My Fair Lady (1964) - Warner Bros.
Director: George Cukor
Stars: Rex Harrison; Audrey Hepburn; Stanley Holloway; Gladys Cooper; Wilfrid Hyde-White

Lush adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe musical, an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, that features Harrison reprising his stage role as Henry Higgins, who takes a bet that he can transform the young spirited cockney Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn) into a proper lady. Earned Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Director, but the music is the film's enduring element. Lerner and Loewe's songs include "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "The Rain In Spain," "On the Street Where You Live," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."

92. A Place in the Sun (1951) - Paramount
Director: George Stevens
Stars: Montgomery Clift; Elizabeth Taylor; Shelley Winters

Atmospheric adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy. Features a smoldering performance from Clift as he pursues the gorgeous, elusive, and rich Taylor. When the brooding Clift meets beautiful socialite Taylor, he has to do something about his pregnant girlfriend Winters. Whether or not Winters' drowning death is accidental, Clift must pay the ultimate price.

93. The Apartment (1960) - United Artists
Director: Billy Wilder
Stars: Jack Lemmon; Shirley MacLaine; Fred MacMurray

In this sparkling office comedy, a career-climbing insurance clerk (Lemmon) advances his career when he offers his boss (MacMurray) the use of his apartment as an evening love nest for an extra-marital fling. He soon gets tangled up with the boss's flighty and fragile girlfriend (MacLaine), the insurance building's elevator operator, and his career gets dangerously close to plummeting back down to the lobby. Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay.

94. GoodFellas (1990) - Warner Bros.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Robert De Niro; Joe Pesci; Ray Liotta; Lorraine Bracco

Based on a true story in Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy, this is a violent, unromanticized drama about modern-day New York City Mafia underworld life, as seen through the eyes of former member Henry Hill (Liotta). Hill dreamed as a kid of becoming a member of the glamorous mob who ran his New York neighborhood. De Niro and Pesci are members of the family he ascends to, until he breaks the code and eventually falls from grace.

95. Pulp Fiction (1994) - A Band Apart/Jersey Films/Miramax Films
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: John Travolta; Samuel L. Jackson; Uma Thurman; Bruce Willis; Harvey Keitel; Tim Roth; Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames

Tarantino weaves together multiple stories that juggle plot lines, time frames and characters that inhabit the seamy side of Los Angeles, including Travolta and Jackson as hit-men with strong moral codes, Willis as a low-life boxer and, of course, The Gimp. The stories form a frenetic meditation on underworld honor. The Travolta-Thurman dance scene and metaphysical discussions between Travolta and Jackson are memorable.

96. The Searchers (1956) - Warner Bros.
Director: John Ford
Stars: John Wayne; Jeffrey Hunter; Natalie Wood; Ward Bond; Vera Miles

Haunting western, Ford's masterpiece, about Ethan Edwards (Wayne), an Indian-hating ex-soldier, who spends years in an obsessive and relentless search for his niece Debbie (Wood), who was abducted and captured in childhood during a Comanche Indian raid. Indelible closing shot shows the eternal divide between Edwards and his family, and between the frontier and civilization.

97. Bringing Up Baby (1938) - RKO
Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: Katharine Hepburn; Cary Grant; Charlie Ruggles

Archetypal, fast-paced screwball comedy about madcap heiress (Hepburn), with the help of her pet leopard Baby and a wire-haired terrier named George, who wreaks havoc and derails the staid life of a paleontologist (Grant). Funny and fast, it features song standard, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," sung to the leopard perched on a roof.

98. Unforgiven (1992) - Malpaso Productions/Warner Bros.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood; Morgan Freeman; Gene Hackman, Frances Fisher

Meditative western about a reformed killer (Eastwood) called to one last gunfight. Eastwood directs and stars as a formerly notorious gunslinger who is forced to return to his murderous ways after his wife dies and his family needs money. The film was noted for challenging the morality of Western stereotypes created by American film. Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor (Hackman).

99. Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967) - Columbia
Director: Stanley Kramer
Stars: Katharine Hepburn; Spencer Tracy; Sidney Poitier; Katharine Houghton

Timely drama about parents (Tracy and Hepburn sharing the screen for the last time) who learn of inter-racial romance between their daughter (Houghton) and an erudite, well-spoken African-American (Poitier). She brings him home for dinner and tests the family's socially liberal resolve. Tracy's last film, especially poignant for a scene in which he and Hepburn reflect on the power of love. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress.

100. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) - Warner Bros.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Stars: James Cagney; Joan Leslie; Walter Huston; Irene Manning

Patriotic musical biography of song-and-dance man George M. Cohan, energetically portrayed by Cagney. The film covers the earliest days of vaudeville to the development of the American musical stage play. Cagney sings and dances memorably in the title role, for which he won an Academy Award. The World War II musical features such rousingly patriotic Cohan songs as "Over There," "It's a Grand Old Flag," "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Mary's a Grand Old Name," and "Yankee Doodle Boy."