griggs's - Roger Ebert's Great Movies List

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The Dude, Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed and laid-back... until...victim of mistaken identity, two thugs break into his apartment in the errant belief that they are accosting Jeff Lebowski the Pasadena millionaire.

In hope of getting a replacement for his soiled carpet Dude visits his wealthy namesake and, with buddy, ex 'Nam' veteran, Walter (John Goodman) he is swept into a comedy/thriller of extortion, embezzlement, sex and dope. It takes guys as simple as the Dude and Walter to make a story this complicated...and they'd really rather be bowling.

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"The Real Glory of War", Samuel Fuller said, "is surviving". A decorated combatant with the tamed U.S. First Infantry in World War II. Fuller survived. His 1980 film version of his war experiences did not... Until now. Working with 70.

000 feet of vault materials and Fuller's shooting script critic/filmmaker Richard Schickel heads a reconstruction that adds over 40 minutes and transforms a truncated but admired war film into an epic masterwork. Lee Marvin, in a richly layered performance now revealed as one of his finest stars as the sergeant of peach-fuzzed riflemen fighting from North Africa to Normandy and across Europe. The film is the squad's combat diary, war as it's fought and sweated and bled and, maybe, survived.

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L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) takes on a blackmail case...and follows a trail peopled with murderers, pornographers, nightclub rogues, the spoiled rich and more.

But Raymond Chandler's legendary gumshoe solves it in hard-boiled style - and style is what 'The Big Sleep' is all about.

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Based on a best-selling novel and negrophobic play called 'The Clansman', he produced a three-hour epic that, in 1915, set a new standard for film production and absorbing melodrama. It follows the lives of two white families divided by.

and enduring, the American Civil War, and includes elaborate cameos of historical events such as the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Costing the then unprecedented sum of $100,000 to make, it opened in Los Angeles on 8 February 1915 and quickly became the most successful silent film ever made. It grossed over $10 million on its first release. Many denounced its overt racism and wars with the censors were used for publicity with brilliant effect. Social reformers constantly denounced the film's racism and historians protested about its claims to historical accuracy. Wherever it was shown, protests, and sometimes riots, ensued and authorities frequently enforced cuts of the more offensive parts of the film.

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Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) prowls the steel-and-microchip jungle of 21st century Los Angeles. He's a "Blade Runner" stalking genetically made criminal replicants. His assignment: kill them. Their crime: wanting to be human.

A visual stunner, remastered for improved home presentation, director Ridley Scott's vision of this sci-fi cinema classic intriguingly differs from what 1982 moviegoers saw. This version omits Deckard's voiceover narration, develops in greater detail the romance between Deckard and Rachael (Sean Young) and removes the "uplifting" finale. Most intriguing of all is a newly included unicorn vision that suggests Deckard may be a humanoid. The result is a heightened emotional impact a great film made greater.

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Professional photographer Thomas saw nothing. And he saw everything. Enlargements of pictures he secretly took of a romantic couple in the park reveal a murder in progress. Or do they? Blowup is an influential, stylish study of paranoid intrigue and disorientation.

It is also a time capsule of mod London, a mindscape of the era's fashions, free love, parties, music (Herbie Hancock wrote the score and The Yardbirds riff at a club) and hip langour. David Hemmings plays the jaded photog enlivened by the mystery in his photos. Vanessa Redgrave is the elusive woman pictured in them. And the enigma of what you see, what you don't see and what the camera sees is yours to solve.

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Originally banned in its home country of China, where the director was under close government scrutiny for making the film "without permission", 'The Blue Kite' is one of the most acclaimed and controversial films to come out of the new Chinese cinema, detailing the realities of daily life under

Mao's regime. Tian Zhuangzhuang's touching and humane story is reflected through the experience of young Tietou, following the trials, tribulations and devastation's of a Beijing family as they experience the political and social upheavals in 1950's and 60's China. With two educated parents (a librarian and a school teacher) Tietou's upbringing is one surrounded by the bustle of growing political awareness. His parents, both loyal communist party members, learn that innocent criticism can at once be misinterpreted by the Party as imperialist propaganda, to the detriment of family peace and prosperity. Tietou observes these mounting pressures and the adverse effects of party policy on his family for fifteen years, learning to hold dear the values of his heritage and keep tight reins on the string of the precious blue kite given to him by his loving father.

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In Melville's self-confessed 'love letter to Paris', the world-weary hero weaves his way through a stylised Parisian underworld, a failed gambler wearing a trench coat and a gentleman's code of honor.

His pursuit of the ultimate heist takes him on a journey from the Sacre Coeur to Montmartre and Pigalle. Encountering betrayal, secrets and a dangerously seductive young girl, Bob Le Flambeur seeks to carry out his one final crime, despite warnings from L'inspecteur, his loyal friend yet adversary.

Attorney Ned Racine's life coasts along in neutral - until he meets a siren in white (with a well-to-do husband) named Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner). Ned (William Hurt) knows Matty's the kind of woman a man would kill to be with. So he does.

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Adrift in the Depression-era Southwest, Clyde Barrow(Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) embark on a life of crime. They mean no harm. They crave adventure - and each other. Soon we start to love them too. But nothing in film history has prepared us for the cascading violence to follow.

Bonnie And Clyde turns brutal. We learn they can be hurt - and dread they can be killed.

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A small time crook, Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo), chased by the police after stealing a car, shoots one of them and flees. Back in Paris he finds an American girlfriend (Jean Seberg) and succeeds in seducing her. He convinces her to go to Italy with him.

But the police have discovered the murderer's identity and are on his trail...

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The acclaimed sequel to the original 'Frankenstein', one of the most popular horror classics in film history, has now been restored in stunning high definition. The legendary Boris Karloff reprises his role as the screen's most misunderstood monster, now longing for a mate of his own.

The last horror film directed by James Whale features a haunting musical score that helps make 'The Bride of Frankenstein' one of the finest and most touching thrillers of its era.

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When British P.O.W.'s build a vital railway bridge in enemy-occupied Burma, Allied commandos are assigned to destroy it in David Lean's epic World War II adventure 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'.

Spectacularly produced, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' captured the imagination of the public and won seven 1957 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Alec Guinness), and Best Director. Even it's the theme song, an old WWI whistling tune, the 'Colonel Bogey March', became a massive worldwide hit. 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' continues today as one of the most memorable cinematic experiences of all time.

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Some people will do anything for a million dollars...

even if it means killing anyone who gets in their way! Written and directed by Oscar nominee Sam Peckinpah and starring Academy Award winner Gig Young, Warren Oates, Robert Webber, Kris Kristofferson and the seductively beautiful Isela Vega, 'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia' is a gritty classic that vibrates with explosive action and nail-biting tension. When a Mexican land baron puts a million dollars on the head of the man who seduced his daughter, two money-hungry men (Young and Webber) recruit a small-town bartender (Oates) to help them do their dirty work. But their tequila-fuelled trek across the desolate Mexican frontier grows more intense, gruesome and bloody with every savage murder they leave in their wake!

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What Cheng Huan sees of the behaviour of 'westerners' in China convinces him that he should take the teachings of Buddha abroad for the enlightenment of others less fortunate than himself.

On arriving in London's Limehouse as a missionary, he is quickly disillusioned by the locals' reluctance to accept his teachings of peace and embarks on a life as small shopkeeper - with occasional visits to the local Chinese entertainments. Battling Burrows is a xenophobic prizefighter who's fond of drink and womanising. His adopted fifteen year-old daughter, Lucy, is frequently the convenient outlet for his temper and he beats her regularly. She is underfed and wears ragged clothes but, whilst shopping, is noticed by Cheng Huan as the priceless young beauty that she is. Following a savage beating, Lucy escapes and collapses in Cheng Huan's shop. He, lovingly, takes care of her, feeds her well and dresses her in beautiful silks.An acquaintance of Burrows discovers Lucy while Cheng Huan has to go across the street to get change for half-a-crown. On hearing the intelligence that his daughter is with a foreigner, Burrows visits the shop while the shopkeeper is out, smashes everything in sight and takes Lucy home and beats her so badly that she dies. On finding Lucy missing and the havoc caused by Burrows' rage, Cheng Huan takes a pistol and embarks on the final act of retribution in this sad, and very violent, melodrama.