griggs's - Favourite Films of the 20th Century List
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Blue Velvet (1986)Terciopelo azul
Set in the picture-postcard small town environs of Lumberton, Kyle MacLachlan plays the clean cut Jeffrey Beaumont, who, whilst returning from a visit to his hospitalised father, makes the shocking discovery of a severed human ear. After reporting his discovery to a local police detective, Jeffrey decides to pursue his own line of enquiry, aided by the detective's daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern). This sets Jeffrey on a voyage of discovery that takes him to the very heart of Lumberton's seedy and sinister underworld where he encounters a collection of misfits whose various chronic compulsions to engulf him in their twisted and nightmarish world. - Director:
- David Lynch
- Cast:
- Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper
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At the centre of the terror is Carrie (Sissy Spacek), a tortured high-school misfit with no confidence, no friends... and no idea about the extent of her 'secret powers' of telekinesis. But when her psychotic mother and sadistic classmates finally go too far. the once-shy teen becomes an unrestrained, vengeance-seeking powerhouse who, with the help of her 'special gift', causes all hell to break loose in a famed cinematic frenzy of blood, fire and brimstone that will take you to the very depths of horror - and beyond! - Director:
- Brian De Palma
- Cast:
- Sissy Spacek, Katie Irving, Piper Laurie
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An innocent man on the run. A beautiful icy blonde. A fast-moving cross-country pursuit. A chaotic world where no one is ever what they seem. 'The 39 Steps' set the template for Hitchcock's classic suspense thrillers. John Buchan's very loosely adapted story begins when Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) picks up the exotic 'Annabella Smith' at a music hall. The next morning he discovers she's been killed and finds himself in the frame for her murder. Way ahead of its time in terms of its pace, black comedy and the sexual chemistry between the charismatic leads (particularly when Carroll removes her stockings while handcuffed to Donat), 'The 39 Steps' is among Hitch's finest and has been voted into the BFI's Top Five Favorite British Films. - Director:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Cast:
- Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim
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Holland (Alec Guinness) is a shy, retiring man who works as a bank transfer agent for the delivery of gold bullion. One day he befriends Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a maker of souvenirs. Holland remarks that, with Pendlebury's smelting equipment, one could forge the gold into harmless-looking toy Eiffel Towers and smuggle them into France. Soon after, they gain the services of professional criminals Lackery (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass) and the four plot what they believe will be the perfect crime - which turns out to be anything but! - Director:
- Charles Crichton
- Cast:
- Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James
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In the spectacular final chapter of the Star Wars saga, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) must travel to Tatooine to free Han Solo (Harrison Ford) by infiltrating the wretched stronghold of Jabba the Hutt, the galaxy's most loathsome gangster. Reunited, the Rebels team up with tribes of Ewoks to combat the Imperial forces on the forest moon of Endor. Meanwhile the Emperor and Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) conspire to turn Luke to the dark side, and young Skywalker is determined to rekindle the spirit of the Jedi within his father. The Galactic Civil War culminates in the ultimate showdown, as the Rebel forces gather to attack the seemingly defenseless and incomplete second Death Star in the battle that will determine the fate of the galaxy. - Director:
- Richard Marquand
- Cast:
- Frank Oz, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford
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When Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) - lovelorn after the loss of her beloved sweetheart Westley (Cary Elwes) - is kidnapped by cunning crook Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) and his sidekicks Fezzik the Giant (André the Giant) and swordsman Inigo (Mandy Patinkin), she is confident her one true love will come to save her. But is the man in the mask hot on the heels of her captors the Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon), to whom she is now betrothed, or a mysterious stranger. This family fairy-tale will touch your heart, tickle your funny bone and leave you feeling happily ever after. - Director:
- Rob Reiner
- Cast:
- Cary Elwes, Willy DeVille, Mandy Patinkin
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Nosferatu (1922)Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens
Made in 1922, on location in the Carpathians and several Baltic Towns, Nosferatu is in all but name Bram Stokers Dracula with the lead names changed. Starring Max Schrek as Nosferatu the film relies heavily on lighting, shadow and pictorial compensation. Following closely Bram Stokers novel. Stokers wife took offence and won her case against the producers forcing them to destroy all prints. Luckily a couple survived. - Director:
- F.W. Murnau
- Cast:
- Max Schreck, Greta Schröder, Ruth Landshoff
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A battle of gigantic proportions is looming in the neon underground of New York City. The armies of the night number 100,000; they outnumber the police 5 to 1; and tonight they're after the Warriors - a street gang unfairly blamed for a rival gang leader's death. This contemporary action-adventure story takes place at night, underground, in the sub-culture of gang warfare that rages from Coney Island to Manhattan to the Bronx. Members of the Warriors fight for their lives, seek to survive in the urban jungle and learn the meaning of loyalty. - Director:
- Walter Hill
- Cast:
- Michael Beck, James Remar, Dorsey Wright
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It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare. Captain Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) is returning to a loveless marriage; Sergeant Al Stephenson (Fredric March) is a stranger to a family that's grown up without him; and young sailor Homer Parrish (Harold Russell) is tormented by the loss of his hands. Can these three men find the courage to rebuild their world? Or are the best years of their lives a thing of the past? - Director:
- William Wyler
- Cast:
- Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Fredric March
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An uncompromising, double-Bafta winning portrait of a particular milieu of working-class family life in southeast London, where its writer and director grew up, 'Nil by Mouth' is a powerful, astute, authentically foul-mouthed account of unfettered machismo, booze and drugs, petty crime and domestic abuse. The performances are mesmerising throughout, with Ray Winstone as the volatile and self-pitying Ray, Kathy Burke as his longsuffering wife Val and Charlie Creed-Miles as her junkie brother Billy. Shot and scripted in a deceptively casual realist style reminiscent of John Cassavetes, this profoundly personal and humane film eschews sensationalism and sentimentality to illuminate a vicious circle of abuse and criminality. A dark but dazzling masterwork. - Director:
- Gary Oldman
- Cast:
- Ray Winstone, Kathy Burke, Charlie Creed-Miles
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Based on the true life best seller 'Wiseguy' by Nicolas Pileggi and backed by a dynamic pop/rock oldies soundtrack, critics and filmgoers alike declared 'GoodFellas' great. It was named the best film of the '90s by the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of film critics, and it earned 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. - Director:
- Martin Scorsese
- Cast:
- Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
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An Autumn Afternoon / A Hen in the Wind (1962)Sanma no aji / Kaze no naka no mendori
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. - Director:
- Yasujirô Ozu
- Cast:
- Chishû Ryû, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada
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Le Samouraï (1967)The Godson / The Samurai
In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him. An elegantly stylized masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean-Pierre Melville, 'Le Samourai' is a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940's American gangster cinema and 1960's French pop culture - with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology. - Director:
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Cast:
- Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon
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Rashomon (1950)Rashômon
A woodcutter experiences a horrific series of events - an ambush, rape and murder. In the telling of the tale however, each of the four participants give different views of what actually happened - is any of them telling the truth? Kurosawa's masterful film plays on the subjective nature of truth while unfurling a riveting tale of violence and greed. - Director:
- Akira Kurosawa
- Cast:
- Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori
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In seventeenth-century France, Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) uses his power to protect the city of Loudun from destruction at the hands of the establishment. Soon, he stands accused of the demonic possession of Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), whose erotic obsession with him fuels the hysteria that sweeps through her convent. - Director:
- Ken Russell
- Cast:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton
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