griggs's - Roger Ebert's Great Movies List
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Ballad of Narayama (1958)Narayama bushiko
Based on the novel by Shichiro Fukazawa, the film recounts the ancient custom of younger inhabitants in a remote Japanese mountain village who are obliged to shepherd those over the age of seventy to the top of Mount Narayama to await their death. One such elder must first sort out the lives of her three children before she fulfils her duty to the village. - Director:
- Keisuke Kinoshita
- Cast:
- Kinuyo Tanaka, Teiji Takahashi, Yûko Mochizuki
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In this Vincente Minnelli-directed backstager, Fred Astaire dazzles in numbers set in a train station (By Myself), a penny arcade, a backlot Central Park and a smoky cafe, the latter two with the incomparable Cyd Charisse. And when he, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan play infants who "hate each other very much!" in the merry Triplets, it's one more reason to love this movie very, very much. As the hallmark song which originated here goes, That's Entertainment! - Director:
- Vincente Minnelli
- Cast:
- Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant
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W.C. Fields: The Bank Dick / Follow the Boys (1944)The Great Man / Three Cheers for the Boys
Two W.C. Fields classics comedies...
The Bank Dick (1940)Fields, as local tippler' and henpecked husband - Egbert Sorse, accidentally foils a band raid and is rewarded with a job as guard. After advising his prospective son in law, a bank teller, to borrow funds in order to buy shares, Souse has to sabotage a visiting bank examiner. A second bank raid crescendos in a spectacular car chase.
Follow the Boys (1944)
Rejected for military service, a movie star concentrates all his efforts on organizing shows for the troops, endangering his marriage. 'Follow the Boys' pays tribute to the artists who gave their services during Word War Two. Highlights include Orson Welles and Marline Dietrich performing a magic act and W.C. Fields in the pool routine he had first presented in 1903.- Director:
- Edward Sutherland
- Cast:
- W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel
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Baraka (1992)Vô Ngã
Taking its' title from an ancient Middle Eastern word, Baraka means 'a blessing', or 'breath of life'. A visually stunning film that was shot over 13 months in 24 countries, Baraka is an overwhelming experience that spans the geographical, cultural and social diversity of our changing planet. Set to an atmospheric soundtrack inspired by various rituals and nature itself; the film captures the very essence of man's relationship with the earth, both harmonious and catastrophic. Baraka is a journey of rediscovery. It is the power, the beauty and the rage of life itself. It is the world we live in. - Director:
- Ron Fricke
- Cast:
- Not Available
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How does an Irish lad without prospects become part of 18th-century nobility? For Barry Lyndon (Ryan O'Neal) the answer is: any way he can! His climb to wealth and privilege is the enthralling focus of this sumptuous Stanley Kubrick version of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel. For this ravishing, slyly satiric winner of four Academy Awards, Kubrick found inspiration in the works of the era's painters. Costumes and sets were crafted in the era's designs and pioneering lenses were developed to shoot interiors and exteriors in natural light. The result? 'Barry Lyndon' endures as a cutting-edge movie that brings a historical period to vivid screen life like no other film before or since. - Director:
- Stanley Kubrick
- Cast:
- Michael Hordern, Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson
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The Battle of Algiers (1966)La Battaglia di Algeri
Gillo Pontecorvo's multi-award winning picture 'The Battle of Algiers' has perhaps never been as pertinent as it is now. Set from 1954 to 1962, the movie uses documentary-style black and white photography to recreate real events. Algerian liberation fighters use terrorist techniques against the French colonial occupiers; the French retaliate with brutal military force. Brilliantly directed set-pieces and remarkable crowd scenes make the film a masterpiece; the ominous familiarity of its subject makes it a must-see" - The Times How to win battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas. Children shoot soldiers at point blank range. Women plant bombs in Cafes. Sounds familiar? The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically. To understand why, come to a rare showing of this film.'' - Pentagon tlyer for their in-house screening of Battle Of Algiers All the armies of the world - including the Pentagon - will never, but never, be able to conquer a country which wants to control its own destiny" - Saadi Yacef - Director:
- Gillo Pontecorvo
- Cast:
- Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi
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Battleship Potemkin (1925)Bronenosets Potyomkin / Potemkin / The Armored Cruiser Potemkin
Planned by the Soviet Central Committee to coincide with the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the unsuccessful 1905 Russian Revolution, this film was developed by the 27 year-old Sergei Eisenstein from less than one page of script from a planned eight-part epic that was intended to chronicle a large number of revolutionary actions. Starting with the Potemkin's crew's refusal to eat maggot-infested meat, the mutiny develops and their leader Vakulinchuk is shot by a senior officer. The officers are overthrown and when the Potemkin docks at Odessa, crowds appear from all directions to take up the cause of the dead sailor and open rebellion ensues. What became the most celebrated sequence in world cinema history follows as the Czarist soldiers fire on the crowds thronging down the Odessa steps; the broad newsreel-like sequences being inter-cut with close-ups of harrowing details. Returning to sea, the Potemkin's crew prepares the guns for action as the ship, flying the flag of freedom, steams to confront the squadron. When they finally meet their worst fears are allayed as, with relief coupled with joy, they are universally acclaimed. This film, which was destined to become such an influential landmark in cinematographic history, opened in Moscow in January 1926. It ran for only four weeks. - Director:
- Sergei M. Eisenstein
- Cast:
- Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov
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As one of a disparate group of fortune-seekers bound for Africa, hard-up Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart) faces the swindling machinations of his fellow travellers as they await passage from a picturesque port on Italy's Amalfi coast. But with scheming aplenty, will this motley crew miss the boat completely? - Director:
- John Huston
- Cast:
- Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida
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La Belle Et La Bete (1946)Beauty and the Beast
"Beauty and the Beast " is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death that have never been equalled. Josette Day is luminous yet feisty as Beauty, and Jean Marais gives one of his best performances as the Beast, at once brutal and gentle, rapacious and vulnerable, shamed and repelled by his own bloodlust. Henri Alekan's subtle black and white cinematography combine with Christian Berard's masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema, a children's fairytale refashioned into a stylised and highly sophisticated dream. - Director:
- Jean Cocteau
- Cast:
- Jean Marais, Jean Cocteau, Josette Day
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Being There (1979)Un jardinero con suerte
After Being There was published, author Jerzy Kosinski got a telegram from its lead character Chance the Gardner: "Available in my garden or outside of it". Kosinski dialled the accompanying telephone number and Peter Sellers answered. Sellers indeed got the part and gave an indelible performance in this modern comedy classic. Isolated all his life in a Washington DC townhouse, Chance knows only what he's seen on TV. Cast into the world, he stumbles into the inner circle of governmental power brokers eager for "sage wisdom". As Chance might say, you'll like to watch - Director:
- Hal Ashby
- Cast:
- Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas
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Belle De Jour (1967)Belle de jour
Undoubtly Luis Bunuel's most accessibly film, Belle de Jour is an elegant and erotic masterpiece that maintains as hypnotic a grip on modern audiences as it did on its debut 40 years ago. Screen icon Catherine Deneuve plays Severine, the glacially beautiful, sexually unfulfilled wife of a surgeon, whose blood runs cold with ennui until she takes a day-job in a brothel. There she meets a charismatic but sinister young gangster (Pierre Clementi), and ignites an obsession that will court peril. Expertly dramatizing the collision between fantasy and reality, and between depravity and respectable bourgeois values, Bunuel, working from the novel by Joseph Kessel, fashions an immaculately designed (the fetishistic interiors and production designs are astonishing) and amoral comedy of manners. - Director:
- Luis Buñuel
- Cast:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli
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La Belle Noiseuse (1991)The Beautiful Troublemaker
Jacques Rivette's award-winning, critically acclaimed film stars Michel Piccoli in one of his finest performances as an artist who, ten years previously, abandoned his masterpiece entitled 'La Belle Noiseuse' (The Beautiful Troublemaker), a painting of his wife (Jane Birkin). When he encounters the beautiful and fascinating Marianne (Emmanuelle Beart), he is inspired to return to the unfinished canvas, using her as his new model. But disturbing tensions develop as the work progresses and the reasons for the painting's original rejection begin to surface. - Director:
- Jacques Rivette
- Cast:
- Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart
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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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Bicycle Thieves (1948)Ladri di biciclette
'Bicycle Thieves' tells the story of Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani), a long unemployed man who finally finds employment putting up cinema posters for which he needs a bicycle. His wife pawns all the family linen to redeem their already pawned bicycle and for Antonio salvation has come, until it is stolen. Antonio and his son take to the streets in a desperate search to find the bicycle which is so crucial to his livelihood. - Director:
- Vittorio De Sica
- Cast:
- Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell
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The Big Heat (1953)Los sobornados
Ruthless criminals, a dedicated honest cop, sultry women and a gripping plot - all the elements of a classic police action-drama are here in force. Police Sergeant Bannion (Glenn Ford) is investigating the apparent suicide of a corrupt cop, then is suddenly ordered to stop - and The Big Heat is on. Driven to unravel the mystery, Bannion continues probing until an explosion meant for him, kills his wife. He resigns from he force and soon learns that behind it all is the powerful underworld led by Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby) and his cold-blooded henchman, Vince Stone (Lee Marvin). When Stone's girl Debby (Gloria Grahame) makes a play for Bannion, Stone disfigures her face and in revenge, she tells all she knows. A life-or-death confrontation between Bannion and Stone brings this classic film noir thriller to a climatic unmissable finale! - Director:
- Fritz Lang
- Cast:
- Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando
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