frankie's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List
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His crime: nonconformity. His sentence: the chain gang. Paul Newman plays one of his best-loved roles as Cool Hand Luke, the loner who won't - or can't - conform to the arbitrary rules of his captivity. It recalls other hallmark Newman performances: Luke is The Hustler without a dream of victory, Harper without a moral mission, Hud without a father to defy. A cast of fine character actors, including George Kennedy in his Academy Award-winning role of Dragline, gives Newman solid support as fellow prisoners. And Strother Martin is the Captain who taunts Luke with the famous line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate." No failure here. With rich humour and vibrant storytelling power, 'Cool Hand Luke' succeeds resoundingly. - Director:
- Stuart Rosenberg
- Cast:
- Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin
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They double-crossed Walker, took his $93,000 cut of the heist and left him for dead, but they didn't finish the job. Big mistake. He - someday, somehow - is going to finish them. Lee Marvin is in full antihero mode as remorseless Walker, talking the talk and walking the walk in John Boorman's (Deliverance) edgy neo-noir classic filled with imaginative New Wave style, blunt dialogue and Walker's relentless quest that, one by one, smashes into the corporate pecking order of a crime group called the Organisation. Angie Dickinson plays the accomplice who uses her seductive wiles to ensnare one of Walker's prey. - Director:
- John Boorman
- Cast:
- Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn
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One of the most unconventional and experimental films ever made, Wavelength is a structural film of a 45-minute long zoom in on a window over a period of a week.
- Director:
- Michael Snow
- Cast:
- Hollis Frampton, Lyne Grossman, Naoto Nakazawa
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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. - Director:
- Arthur Penn
- Cast:
- Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
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The Red and the White (1967)Csillagosok, katonák
In the brutal Civil War which took place, Hungarian volunteers supported the 'Red' revolutionaries in a war against the 'White' counter-revolutionaries who were seeking to restore the old Czarist order. through its stylistic virtuosity, ritualistic power and sheer beauty, Jancso invites us to study the mechanisms of power almost abstractly and with a cold eroticism that clearly portrays the utter futility of war. Although the film was an Hungarian-Russian co-production, the Russian authorities banned it from being shown anywhere in the Soviet Union. - Director:
- Miklós Jancsó
- Cast:
- József Madaras, Tibor Molnár, András Kozák
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Voted the best Czech film of all time, Marketa Lazarová is a powerful and passionate medieval epic set in the mid-13th Century. Based on avant-garde writer Vladislav Vancura’s novel, it follows the rivalry between two warring clans, the Kozlíks and the Lazars, and the doomed love affair of Mikolá Kozlík and Marketa Lazarová. Vlacil draws upon remote historical sources to recreate an authentic primitive world and fashion a film with surprising contemporary impact. Owing as much to the stylistic vigour of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai as it does to the rich tapestry of Czech fiction, this ambitious and poetically extraordinary film is the crowning achievement of Vlacil's career and an undiscovered cornerstone of world cinema. - Director:
- František Vlácil
- Cast:
- Josef Kemr, Antonie Hegerlíková, Magda Vásáryová
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Meet the most unforgettable characters and embark on a thrilling adventure with Mowgli, as he journeys deep into the jungle and learns “The Bare Necessities” of life from happy-go-lucky Baloo the bear. Meet Bagheera, the wise old panther and crazy King Louie the orangutan. But watch out for cunning Shere Khan the tiger and Kaa, the ssssneakiest snake in the jungle. Bursting with wild fun, toe-tapping music and beloved characters, this timeless masterpiece celebrates the true meaning of friendship. - Director:
- Wolfgang Reitherman
- Cast:
- Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima
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The Fireman's Ball (1967)Horí, má panenko
In their small-town meeting hall, a maladroit committee of volunteer fire-fighters holds a ball to celebrate the retirement of one of their own, but thanks to poor planning and lack of leadership, the evening quickly devolves into a catastrophe. Nobody can prevent the lottery prizes from being stolen out from under the very noses of those guarding them. A beauty contest turns into an embarrassing farce, and the brigade can't even respond properly to a real fire next door. The Firemen's Ball was Czechoslovakian director Milos Forman's final film in his home country; he was scouting locations in Paris when the Russians moved their tanks into Prague in 1968 causing Forman to decide to remain an expatriate. - Director:
- Milos Forman
- Cast:
- Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebánek, Josef Valnoha
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Entranced Earth (1967)Terra Em Transe
In the hypothetical Latin-American country of Eldorado, the idealistic and anarchist poet and journalist Paulo Martins (Jardel Filho) fights against the populist governor, Felipe Vieira (Jose Lewgoy), and the conservative president Porfirio Diaz (Paulo Autran), supported by revolutionary forces. Paulo is depressed, since the two corrupt politicians were his former friends and have been elected with his moral support-Paulo Martins opposes the two equally corrupt political candidates. Paulo is torn between the madness of the elite and the blind submission of the masses. - Director:
- Glauber Rocha
- Cast:
- Jardel Filho, Paulo Autran, José Lewgoy
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Closely Observed Trains (1966)Ostre sledované vlaky
Milos Hrma, a bumbling dispatcher's apprentice at a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, he embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Milos becomes involved in a plot to blow up a German ammunition train, but when the plan backfires, he is forced to commit the ultimate act of courage. - Director:
- Jirí Menzel
- Cast:
- Václav Neckár, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodský
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VIY (1967)Viy or Spirit of Evil / Viy, King of the Ghosts
Khoma (Leonid Kuravlyov), a young novice Monk, travels across the Ukrainian countryside whilst on a break from his seminary, and stays for one night in a barn belonging to a seemingly harmless old woman. Whilst sleeping the old woman attacks him, displaying supernatural strength. The scared novice fatally wounds her while fending her off. But before dying, she transforms into a beautiful young woman. Some time later Khoma, is called to the estate of a rich Kosack landowner, grieving the death of his daughter. Khoma has been personally requested to attend, and against his wishes taken by force to the estate. There he must pray for three nights in the chapel until the body of the landowners daughter is buried. On the first night, the woman Khoma had killed rises from the coffin and tries to kill him. Khoma must use every skill he knows for the next 3 nights to prevent this from happening. - Director:
- Konstantin Ershov
- Cast:
- Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin
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The Cow (1969)Gaav
'The Cow' has the beauty and simplicity associated with the great films of that movement. In a small village in Iran, Hassan cherishes his cow more than anything in the world. While he is away, the cow mysteriously dies, and the villagers protectively try to convince Hassan the cow has wandered off. Grief stricken, Hassan begins to believe he is his own beloved bovine. 'The Cow' won great acclaim at the Venice Film Festival after being smuggled out of Iran in 1971, and was twice voted the best Iranian film ever made by a survey of Iranian film critics... - Director:
- Dariush Mehrjui
- Cast:
- Ezzatolah Entezami, Mahin Shahabi, Ali Nassirian
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Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)C'era una volta il West / There Was Once the West
Sergio Leone's monumental epic 'Once Upon a Time in the West' ranks among the five or six all-time Western masterpieces. The picture itself is as big as its Monument Valley locations, as grand as its fine, distinguished cast. Henry Fonda plays the blackest character of his long career. He's Frank, the ruthless, murderous psychopath who suffers conscience pangs after annihilating an entire family. Jason Robards is the half-breed falsely accused of the terrible slaughter. Charles Bronson plays the harmonica playing man who remembers how his brother was savagely tortured. - Director:
- Sergio Leone
- Cast:
- Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale
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A bewildered astronaut (Charlton Heston) crash-lands on a strange planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport.
- Director:
- Franklin J. Schaffner
- Cast:
- Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter
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An incisive exploration of the disintegration of a bourgeois marriage, 'Faces' traces the shifting character dynamics as Richard (John Marley) and Maria's (Lynn Carlin) fourteen-year marriage implodes. Maria joins her friends looking for romantic satisfaction elsewhere and has an unfulfilling fling with a young swinger (Seymour Cassel). Richard meanwhile secures the services of a prostitute (Gena Rowlands) for a night. Both find their liaisons to be no more satisfying than their dead-end marriage. - Director:
- John Cassavetes
- Cast:
- John Marley, Gena Rowlands, Lynn Carlin
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