frankie's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

Show moreShow less

Inspired by a letter by Friedrich Engels and a 1974 account of two militant Marxist writers who had been imprisoned by the Nasser regime, Straub-Huillet filmed 'Too Early, Too Late' in France and Egypt during 1980.

They reflect on Egypt’s history of peasant struggle and liberation from Western colonization, and link it to class tensions in France shortly before the Revolution of 1789, quoting texts by Engels as well as the pioneering nonfiction film Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895).

Show moreShow less

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, directed by Amy Heckering, is simply a modern cult classic.

First-time screenwriter Cameron Crowe, went undercover as a high school student and came back with the straight dope on sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, while capturing some of the most memorable screen characters ever. They're all here, from Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Linda's (Pheobe Cates) sexual misadventures to go-getter Brad's (Judge Reinhold) quick career in the world of fast food to the unforgettable Spicoli (Sean Penn) as the ultimate surfer dude. Add appearances by Nicolas Cage. Anthony Edwards, Forest Whitaker and Ray Walston and you have an unbeatable cast. With all this talent behind it, no wonder Fast Times at Ridgemont High is as honest, fresh and funny as it was a generation ago.

A little lost alien, three million light years away from home. A lonely ten-year old boy willing to take him home. Two lives changed by a timeless adventure and a friendship that knows no earthly bounds.

Show moreShow less

Horror-master John Carpenter teams Kurt Russell's outstanding performance with incredible visuals to build this chilling version of the classic 'The Thing'.

In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon unfrozen, the shape-shifting alien wreaks havoc, creates terror and becomes one of them.

"They're Here", playful at first...but not for long. A storm erupts, a tree attacks and little Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke) is whisked onto a spectral void. As her family confronts horrors galore, something else is here too: a new benchmark in Hollywood ghost stories.

Show moreShow less

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.

Show moreShow less

Ever-present, ever-listening, the Evil Dead lie in wait for the one ancient incantation that will give them license to possess the living.

Watch in horror as five vacationing college students unwittingly resurrect these slumbering demons, and are forced into battle with the supernatural forces that occupy the forests and dark bowers of man's domain. The innocent must suffer. The guilty must be punished. One-by-one, the students are possessed by these demons whose thirst for revenge is insatiable. As the night wanes, only one man remains... Ash. He must now defend himself while trying to uncover the horrible secret of The Evil Dead.

Show moreShow less

Dustin Hoffman stars as Dorsey, a dedicated actor with a reputation for being difficult. Having antagonised every producer in New York nobody will hire him. But Michael is desperate for work, so desperate he's willing to pretend to be a woman.

Passing himself off as 'Dorothy Michaels' he lands himself a part on a TV Soap Opera and soon becomes a national phenomenon. But when he falls for the leading lady of the show things get complicated. How can he tell her he loves her when she thinks he's a woman and so does the rest of America....

Show moreShow less

In Turkey, several prisoners are granted furlough. One, Seyit Ali (Tarik Akan) travels to his house and finds that his wife (Serif Sezer) has betrayed him and works as a prostitute. She was caught by her family and held captive for Seyit Ali to end her life in an honor killing.

Though apparently determined at first, he changes his mind when his wife starts to freeze while travelling in the snow. Despite his efforts to keep her alive, he eventually fails. His wife's death relieves Seyit Ali from family pressure. Another prisoner, Mehmet Salih (Halil Ergün) has been arrested for his role in a heist with his brother-in-law, whom he abandoned as he was being shot by police. His in-laws have disowned him, and he is finally forced to tell his wife Emine (Meral Orhonsay) the truth. Emine and Mehmet Salih decide to run away on a train. On the train, they are caught in the washroom having sex. They are saved from an angry mob by the train's officers and held in a cabin before being handed over to officials. There, a young boy from Emine's family who boarded the train shoots both Mehmet Salih and Emine. Ömer (Necmettin Çobanoglu) returns to his village sitting near the border between Turkey and Syria, and arranges to cross the border to escape prison. Ömer finds his village in a battle between Kurdish smugglers and Turkish soldiers. Though Ömer is clearly determined, he gives up after his brother, who took part in the battle, is shot dead. Through his brother's death, Ömer has inherited the responsibilities of his brother's wife and children as dictated by tradition.

Show moreShow less

Fries with gravy, a cherry cola. Friendship, bragging rights...and does Sinatra or Mathis croon the best makeout music? Before there was the counterculture of the '60s, there was the counter culture.

From his Oscar-nominated script, Barry Levinson makes his directing debut with this endearing study of pals in transition. Film-debuting Ellen Barkin plays a neglected wife. Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly and Paul Reiser - chosen from over 600 hopefuls - play the up-all-night buddies who work out the remnants of adolescence during ritual grazings at a busy steel-and-vinyl hangout in 1959 Baltimore. Stars, laughs, interlocking stories: entertainment is the daily special in Diner.

Show moreShow less

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.

Show moreShow less

Gandhi was not a ruler of nations, nor did he have scientific gifts. Yet this small, modest man did what others before him could not. He led an entire country to freedom - he gave his people hope. Gandhi, the man of the century is explored in this breathtaking, unforgettable motion picture.

After 20 years in the making, this masterful epic garnered nine 1982 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. In stirring detail, Gandhi's life, principles and power explode on the screen with vivid scenes such as the horrific massacre at Amritsar, where the British opened fire on 15,000 unarmed men, women and children, and the dramatic march to the sea where Gandhi led thousands of his fellow Indians to prove that sea salt belonged to all and was not just a British commodity.

Show moreShow less

It's the summer of 1944, after the fall of Mussolini. As the Germans take control of Italy from the north and the Allies do the same from the south, ordinary Italians face a deadly conflict of loyalties.

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani lived through this as teenagers, and they later turned their memories and those of countless compatriots into this extraordinarily rich and vivid evocation of the most terrifying time in their native Tuscany's history, where even the most respected authority figures can no longer be trusted and seemingly throwaway decisions can prove fatal. The Tavianis' creative masterstroke was to present all this through the eyes of a six-year-old girl, who despite the death and destruction around her is having the most exciting time of her life.

Show moreShow less

Housewife Christine M. tries to shoplift some merchandise from a boutique in a shopping mall but is caught by the male shopkeeper. Christine and two other customers, waitress Annie and secretary Anna, beat the man to death, witnessed by a large group of other female shoppers.

They are tried with murder and deny the plea of insanity that the male prosecutor and judges assume they should plead. The female criminal psychiatrist assigned to ascertain their level of sanity comes to identify with the women's situations and concludes that they are not insane but have been driven to murder by the strain of living in a patriarchy.

Show moreShow less

"Fanny and Alexander" is Bergman's dreamlike family chronicle. The Ekdahl's are an upper-middle-class theatrical family sheltered by their own theatrics from the deepening chaos of the outside world.

One tumultuous year in the life of the Ekdahl family is viewed through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve), whose imagination fuels the magical goings-on leading up to and following the death of his father. His mother's remarriage to a stern prelate banishes Alexander and his sister Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) from all known joys, and thrusts them and the movie into a kind of gothic horror. The bishop is a Bergmanesque character whose severity has gone awry - he has become sinister - and the film's round rejection of him in favour of "kindness, affection and goodness" may be Bergman's fondest farewell to cinema.