griggs's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

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Filmed in sumptuous black and white, and full of scenes of lush, strange beauty, it tells the story of Vittoria (Monica Vitti), a young woman who leaves her older lover (Francisco Rabal), then drifts into a relationship with a confident, ambitious young stockbroker (Alain Delon).

But this base narrative is the starting point for much, much more, including an analysis of the city as a place of estrangement and alienation and an implicit critique of colonialism.

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Jimmy Stewart plays the bungling but charming big-city lawyer determined to rid the fair village of Shinbone of its number one nuisance and bad man: Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). And as if all that weren't enough, the biggest star that ever aimed a six-shooter plays the man of the title: John Wayne.

Super-sincere Stewart and rugged rancher Wayne also share the same love interest (Vera Miles). One gets the gunman but the other gets the gal.

Prelude: Dog Star Man

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When peasant farmer Ze (Leonardo Villar) learns that his prized donkey is seriously ill, he makes a deal with God: If the animal recovers, Ze will carry a large cross to the village church. When the donkey pulls through, Ze begins his long journey.

But when he arrives at the church, he finds that the priest is less than thrilled with his sacrifice.

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After a lavish dinner party in a stately mansion, the guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave the room.

As the days pass the elaborate pretences and facades that they've built up by virtue of their position in society collapse completely as they become reduced to living like animals to survive.

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Newly arrived in Ramsdale, New Hampshire, European emigre Humbert Humbert is smitten, so much so that he comes up with a master plan. He'll marry Charlotte Haze.

That way he'll always be close to his dear one - Charlotte's precocious daughter! Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick explores the theme of sexual obsession (a subject he would revisit 37 years later in 'Eyes Wide Shut') with this darkly comic and deeply moving version of Vladimir Nabokov's novel.

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Described as 'a perfect film' by Susan Sontag, Jean-Luc Godard's compelling fourth feature presents 12 episodes in the life of Nana (wonderfully played by Godard's muse, Anna Karina), a young Parisian who turns to prostitution after becoming disillusioned by poverty and her failing marriage.

Stylistically innovative and boasting several of both the director's and star's most memorable moments, 'Vivre Sa Vie' is an undiminished classic of the French New Wave that is by turns both playful and sad, and which borrows the aesthetics of cinema verite to present a captivating vision of 1960's Parisian street life and pop culture.

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After saving the lives of his platoon during the Korean War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is hailed as a bona fide American hero.

This couldn't have come at a better time for his mother (Angela Lansbury) who is hell-bent on boosting the career of his stepfather, a senator straight from the McCarthyite wing of the US political spectrum with designs on the Presidency. So far so familiar - but why does Shaw's former captain (Frank Sinatra) have recurring nightmares that suggest that his distinguished comrade-in-arms might not be all that he seems?

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Two icons from the golden age of Hollywood, Oscar winners Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, take their famous feud onscreen in Robert Aldrich's newly restored thriller.

In fierce, no-holds-barred performances, Bette Davis portrays aging ex-child star Baby Jane Hudson while Joan Crawford plays Blanche, the crippled sister Jane torments psychologically. As the sisters descend into madness, the tension builds to a shocking ending...

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Yasujiro Ozu's elegiac final film, 'An Autumn Afternoon', charts the inevitable eclipse of older generations by irreverent youth. Revisiting the story of his earlier masterpiece Late Spring (1949), Ozu once again casts Chishu Ryu in the role of Hirayama, the concerned father to unmarried Michiko.

Harangued on all sides to marry off Michiko, Hirayama reluctantly prepares to bid his old life farewell. A cast of tragi-comic characters weaves seamlessly through this gently satirical portrayal of life's inevitable, endless cycle.

This true life story follows the struggles of T.E.Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) in uniting the hostile Arab factions and leading them to victory over the ruling Turkish Empire during the First World War.

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Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his brilliant performance as the Southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film version of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel. The setting is a dusty Southern town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape.

Though he is obviously innocent, the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forward to defend him - except Peck, the town's most distinguished citizen. His compassionate defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect and admiration of his two motherless children.

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Against a dramatic nineteenth-century backdrop of radical Italian Nationalism Luchino Visconti's masterful epic, 'The Leopard', follows the Sicilian Prince of Salina (Burt Lancaster) and his family as they adjust to the social turbulence of revolutionary times.

Adapted from Tomasi di Lampedusa's esteemed novel of the same name, this is a tragicomic depiction of a class eclipsed by history. ..

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Marcello Mastroianni is (Fellini's alter ego) Guido, a successful filmmaker who, embarking on his next film, discovers he has a complete "director's block": he has no story to tell! Harassed by his producers, his mistress (Sandra Milo) and his wife (Anouk Aimee), while struggling to find the

inspiration for his film, he increasingly retreats in dreamy recollections of his life and lovers, until fantasy, memories and reality merge in the director's mind - and on screen, in an astonishing, masterful spectacle, culminating in an electrifying triumph of optimism. As Guido-Federico says at the end of 8 1/2: "Life is a party, let's live it together!"

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This wildly melodramatic tale of a kabuki female impersonator who exacts a long-delayed revenge on the men who drove his parents to suicide is played out against a backdrop of comic rivalries between thieves in the Tokyo underworld.

Kazuo Hasegawa plays the dual role of the actor and the thief in a film which celebrates his 300th screen appearance. A heady mixture of swooning romanticism and stylised action, with a soundtrack that ranges from traditional Japanese music to lush Hollywood strings and cocktail jazz, 'An Actor's Revenge' is a cinematic tour de force.