griggs's - Scorched Screen 2025: Heatwave Cinema (Ranked) List
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Stray Dog (1949)Nora inu
A masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo. When rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) has his pistol stolen from his pocket while on a bus, his frantic attempts to track down the thief lead him to an illegal weapons market in the Tokyo Underworld. But the gun has already passed from the pickpocket to a young gangster, and Murakami's gun is identified as the weapon in the shooting of a woman. Murakami, overwhelmed with remorse, turns for help to his older and more experienced senior, Sato (a superb performance by Takashi Shimura). The race is on to find the shooter before he can strike again... - Director:
- Akira Kurosawa
- Cast:
- Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji
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Fitzcarraldo (1982)Фіцкарральдо
Iquitos, Peru, is a town Isolated in the middle of the jungle at the turn of the century. On the outskirts, a few shacks are rotting in the mud. In the centre are the splendid houses of the nouveaux-riches rubber barons. It is in this setting, rich in grotesque contrast, that Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald - Fltzcarraldo (Klaus Kinski), as the natives call him - has his dream of bringing together Enrico Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt for one great celebration of Grand Opera. To finance his fantastic dream, Fitzcarraldo decides to exploit a vast area of rubber trees growing beyond the impassable Ucayala Falls. In order to circumvent this barrier, he literally has his huge steamboat lifted over a mountain from one branch of the river to the other. With the aid of a tribe of Indians bewitched by records featuring the voice of the greatest singer of all time, Fitzcarraldo fights fever, mosquitoes and suffocating heat to achieve the impossible. - Director:
- Werner Herzog
- Cast:
- Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy
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North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objective. It's The Hill, a man made instrument of torture, a tower of sand seared by a white-hot sun. And the troops' tormentors are not the enemy, but their own comrades-in-arms. Sean Connery headlines this stark tale of war inside military prison walls. The inmates are soldiers who once defied, rebelled, talked back. The wardens are sadists who perpetrate cruelty in the name of discipline. - Director:
- Sidney Lumet
- Cast:
- Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen
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On a remote mountaintop, a rebel group of commandos perform military training exercises while watching over a prisoner (Julianne Nicholson) for a shadowy force known only as 'The Organization'. After a series of unexpected events drives them deep into the jungle, fracturing their intricate bond, their mission slowly begins to collapse. Set against a stunningly beautiful but dangerous landscape, Alejandro Landes' awe-inspiring film is a breathtakingly epic vision that will leave you both mesmerised and utterly gripped. - Director:
- Alejandro Landes
- Cast:
- Sofia Buenaventura, Julián Giraldo, Karen Quintero
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A middle-class schoolteacher, stuck in a government-enforced teaching post in an arid backwater, stops off in the mining town of Bundanyabba on his way home for the Christmas holidays. Discovering a local gambling craze that may grant him the financial independence to move back to Sydney for good, the opportunity proves irresistible. But the bad decisions are just beginning and a reliance on local standards of hospitality in "the Yabba" may take him on a path darker than ever expected. - Director:
- Ted Kotcheff
- Cast:
- Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty
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Pauline at the Beach (1983)Pauline A La Plage
Recently divorced, Marion (Arielle Dombasle) decides to spend the end of summer in the family beach house on the Normandy coast. She takes her young cousin Pauline (Amanda Langlet), who is delighted to prolong her holidays, along with her. At the beach they meet up with Pierre (Pascal Greggory), Marion's ex-lover who introduces his friend Henri (Féodor Atkine). While at the local casino, Pierre confesses his love to Marion but she is now attracted to Henri. Meanwhile, Pauline has met Sylvain... - Director:
- Eric Rohmer
- Cast:
- Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory
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Summer with Monika (1953)Sommaren med Monika
A chance meeting in a coffee shop between Harry (Lars Ekborg), a young errand boy, and Monika (Harriet Andersson), a wild and reckless girl who works in a nearby grocery shop, soon develops into a love affair. After a row with her father, Monika goes on a motorboat holiday. Their idyllic summer is soon shattered by the news that Monika is pregnant. Faced with sudden responsibility, Harry agrees to marry Monika and they set up home together in a small flat. Monika rapidly becomes bored with married life and looking after the baby. Soon Harry returns from a business trip to discover that his wife has been unfaithful with a former lover. A frank and tender portrait of first love, Bergman's film is also a realistic and uncompromising account of a disintegrating marriage. - Director:
- Ingmar Bergman
- Cast:
- Harriet Andersson, Lars Ekborg, Dagmar Ebbesen
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Ten year old Laure isn't like most girls. She prefers football to dolls and sweaters to dresses. When her family move to a new neighbourhood, local girl Lisa mistakes Laure to be a boy. Indulging in this exciting new identity, Laure becomes Michael, and so begins a summer of long sunny afternoons, playground games and first kisses. But with the school term fast approaching, how long can Laure keep her secret? - Director:
- Céline Sciamma
- Cast:
- Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson
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Jamon Jamon (1992)Jamón, jamón
Headstrong senorita Silvia (Penelope Cruz) becomes pregnant to village Mummy's-boy Jose (Jordi Mulla). Silvia's father has left town and her mother Carmen (Anna Galiena) is forced to become the town prostitute. Jose's overbearing mother Conchita (Stefania Sandrelli) fears her son will marry the daughter of a scarlet woman and takes action...she hires sexy, young Raul (Javier Bardem) who works in the ham factory and enjoys nude bullfighting, to seduce Sylvia. What ensues is a series of chaotic and frantic couplings, testosterone overload, breasts that taste of ham and a duel to the death with a side of bacon. - Director:
- Bigas Luna
- Cast:
- Penélope Cruz, Stefania Sandrelli, Anna Galiena
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Il Sorpasso (1962)The Easy Life
A career highlight for director Dino Risi and his star Vittorio Gassman, 'II Sorpasso' isn't just one of the heights of commedia all'italiana but of all Italian cinema. Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Conformist) plays Roberto, a shy law student who meets Bruno (Gassman), a larger-than-life Roman playboy who convinces Roberto to join him on a road trip from Rome to the Tuscan countryside. Their travels teach them about each other and themselves, oscillating between comedy and tragedy with powerful and affecting commentary on the easy life. Long admired in Italy, the film has influenced filmmakers including Alexander Payne (Sideways) and Aziz Ansari (Master of None). - Director:
- Dino Risi
- Cast:
- Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Spaak, Jean-Louis Trintignant
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When a high-profile couple - a rock star (Tilda Swinton), and a filmmaker (Matthias Schoenaerts) decide to vacation on a remote Italian island, their rest is disrupted by the sudden visit of an old friend (Ralph Fiennes), and his sexy, yet mysterious daughter. Suddenly, what was supposed to be an ideal getaway turns into a whirlwind of jealousy, passion and danger for everyone in the group. - Director:
- Luca Guadagnino
- Cast:
- Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes
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In the Cut (2003)En carne viva
Meg Ryan stars in this dark psychological thriller, where desire and death mix in the shadows of New York. Frannie (Meg Ryan) is a lonely but determined woman living alone in Manhattan, who becomes involved in an investigation, following the gruesome slaying of a young woman in her neighbourhood. It soon appears that she may know more about the murder than she thinks< after witnessing what could have been the prelude to the crime. Drawn to the homicide detective investigation the case, she discovers the dark side of passion when she embarks on a risky and turbulent affair with him. But as the death toll rises, each victim getting closer to Frannie, she begins to wonder if her new lover is hiding a deadly secret! - Director:
- Jane Campion
- Cast:
- Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh
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Texas brothers - Toby (Chris Pine), and Tanner (Ben Foster), come together after years divided to rob branches of the bank threatening to foreclose on their family land. Vengeance seems to be theirs, until they find themselves on the radar of Texas Ranger, Marcus (Jeff Bridges) looking for one last grand pursuit on the eve of his retirement. As the brothers plot a final bank heist to complete their scheme, and with the Rangers on their heels, a showdown looms at the crossroads where the values of the Old and New West murderously collide. - Director:
- David Mackenzie
- Cast:
- Dale Dickey, Ben Foster, Chris Pine
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The Breaking Point (1950)To Have and Have Not
Michael Curtiz brings a master skipper's hand to the helm of this thriller, Hollywood's second crack at Ernest Hemingway's 'To Have and Have Not'. John Garfield stars as Harry Morgan, an honest charter-boat captain who, facing hard times, takes on dangerous cargo to save his boat, support his family, and preserve his dignity. Left in the lurch by a freeloading passenger, Harry starts to entertain the criminal propositions of a sleazy lawyer (Wallace Ford), as well as the playful come-ons of a cheeky blonde (Patricia Neal), making a series of compromises that stretch his morality - and his marriage - farther than he'll admit. Hewing closer to Hemingway's novel than Howard Hawks's Bogart-Bacall vehicle, 'The Breaking Point' charts a course through daylight noir and working-class tragedy, guided by Curtiz's effortless visual fluency and a stoic, career-capping performance from Garfield. - Director:
- Michael Curtiz
- Cast:
- John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter
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Claire's Knee (1970)Le Genou de Claire
The fifth and undeniably most accessible of French auteur Eric Rohmer's Moral Tales, Claire's Knee concerns Jerome (Jean-Claude Brialy), an affianced diplomat who bumps into successful novelist and old flame Aurora (Aurora Cornu) whilst holidaying by the picturesque Lac d'Annecy. In search of inspiration, Aurora persuades Jerome to indulge in a little flirtation with Laura (Beatrice Romand), the sprightly teenage daughter of an acquaintance. However, events take a more serious turn when the diplomat finds himself falling for Laura's luminous half-sister Claire (Laurence de Managhan). Struggling to suppress his desires, Jerome decides to channel his energies into one simple act, a gentle caress of Claire's knee. - Director:
- Eric Rohmer
- Cast:
- Jean-Claude Brialy, Aurora Cornu, Béatrice Romand
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