#49 Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

I survived! It took three days for me to watch this three-hour silent movie and maybe a twenty-minute nap somewhere in there, but I watched it all!

D.W. Griffith wrote and directed this, the oldest movie on the AFI list. He also wrote and directed A Birth of a Nation, another epic about the Civil War which was extremely racist and pro-KKK, even for its day... probably owing to the fact that he was the son of a Confederate colonel. So, as sort of an apology for the racial prejudice displayed in Birth of a Nation, he wrote this story about love versus intolerance. Maybe "intolerance" didn't mean the same thing back in 1916 as it does now, but I feel like "injustice" would have been a better title for the movie.

What made this film ground-breaking for its day is that it tells four stories, jumping from story to story. The four stories really have nothing to do with each other but the common theme of "intolerance."

1. 539 BC: A mountain girl falls in love with a prince and gets caught up in the religious disagreements that lead to the fall of Babylon.
2. 32 AD: The tale of Jesus and the injustice that leads to his crucifixion
3. 1572: King Charles IX is persuaded to persecute the Huguenots, and they focus on two lovebird Protestants.
4. 1916 (Modern Story): A boy gets mixed up in the Mafia and is framed for crimes he didn't commit, he is sentenced to a hanging, and his poor wife has her child stolen from her because she has whiskey in her home. (This was easily the most entertaining story.)

I don't really know how to review this because it is so different from any other movie I've ever seen (including the two true silent films I've seen, Sunrise and Gold Rush, both about a decade later). The acting is over-the-top; the title cards seem to be written almost in another language; jumping from scene to scene seems clunky and abrupt; people have weird 'names' like "Brown Eyes" and "Dear One"; and there are SO, SO, SO many scenes of Babylon that are unnecessary. But for the time period, this is a masterpiece.

Rating: 5/10? It's also hard to say whether I liked it or not. I definitely don't need to see it ever again, but it was interesting.

Big Names: Lillian Gish (#17 in AFI's list of the 50 Greatest Screen Legends), Mae Marsh

Big "Lines": When women cease to attract men, they often turn to reform as a second option. (This made me laugh... old maids don't have anything better to do, so they start judging people instead.)

#51 West Side Story (1961)

Ugh, a musical. I am a girl, though, and I knew this was a love story, so I had high hopes in spite of the musical genre. It was pretty much the exact story of Romeo & Juliet... Once that was obvious to me, I was interested. The movie has some major issues, though. The main characters are terrible actors, Maria's voice is dubbed (seriously?!), and while it intrigues me that men can dance ballet to a gang violence scene, it seems a little silly to me.

Leonard Bernstein wrote the music, and that was easily my favorite part of the movie. The dancers amazed me, and I can't imagine trying to come up with choreography to go with the crazy changes in time signatures Bernstein loved.

As for why I thought the movie was so-so, I agree with Roger Ebert's review from the re-release in 2004:

"So the dancing is remarkable, and several of the songs have proven themselves by becoming standards, and there are moments of startling power and truth. West Side Story remains a landmark of musical history. But if the drama had been as edgy as the choreography, if the lead performances had matched Moreno's (actress who played Anita, a supporting character) fierce concentration, if the gangs had been more dangerous and less like bad-boy Archies and Jugheads, if the ending had delivered on the pathos and tragedy of the original, there's no telling what might have resulted."

Rating: 5/10

Big Names: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno (who's won a Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar!)

#52 Taxi Driver (1976)

This timing is freaky....

I currently have "Roseanne" on in the background while I'm writing this, and Dan is being interviewed on some TV show. (I would be more specific, but I wasn't really paying attention.) The host asks if he can do any impressions, and he says, "This is a character of mine... real nutty little guy named Travis Bickle from a movie called Taxi Driver, and that goes a little something like this: Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me? Hey... are you talkin' to me?"

For those who haven't seen this one, it's the story of a mentally unstable Vietnam vet (Robert De Niro) who works as a taxi driver in NYC. While driving around the city, he is disturbed by the "scum" of the city, and in his own way, he decides to do his part to "clean up" the streets.

It's an interesting movie because even though Travis Bickle is a frightening character, you still empathize with him. (Reminds me of Natalie Portman in Black Swan) The ending confused me a bit, as I'm not sure if it was meant to be reality or a dream. Either way, I think what this movie's trying to say is how easily Travis could have become an assassin instead of a hero.

Rating: 6/10

Big Names: Robert De Niro, Cybill Sherpherd, Jodie Foster (she plays a 12-year-old prostitute! and this is *before* she did Freaky Friday), Peter Boyle (from "Everybody Loves Raymond")

Big Lines: only the #10 movie quote of all time, according to AFI

#54 M*A*S*H (1970)

For anyone who doesn't know, MASH = Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. (I didn't know that until the first few minutes of this movie.) This was originally a book about a surgeon's experiences in the Korean War, but when it was turned into this movie, it deliberately resembled Vietnam.

This movie was meant to be one of those movies highlighting the counterculture of the 70's, like Easy Rider, but it was not nearly as awful or as painful to watch. M*A*S*H still lacked a solid plot; it felt like a few episodes of a TV show jammed together into a movie, but parts made me giggle, and it mostly held my attention. The last supper/funeral was hilarious, and the football game was especially fun.

I'll admit I downloaded the song minutes after the movie ended.

Rating: 5.5/10

Big Names: Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Elliott Gould (a.k.a. Ross and Monica's dad)

#56 Jaws (1975)

Another classic that I hadn't seen! I'm so glad that I'm watching these movies because I'm pretty sure I'm way behind most of the world in the movie-watching. Sigh... I'm catching up, though!

Jaws was a bit predictable since EVERYBODY knows the plot, but it was much more suspenseful than I expected it to be. I literally jumped at one point during the second half of the movie.

Another movie that I liked even though I didn't think it was particularly unique. I suppose it feels that way because all these later suspense/horror movies have copied Jaws's set-up. I would guess Jaws was probably the original natural predator suspense movie, though; that's why it deserves a spot on AFI's list.

Rating: 7.5/10

Big Names: Richard Dreyfuss (I thought he was adorable), Rob Scheider

#57 Rocky (1976)

I honestly had never seen this, or any other Rocky movie before I hit this one on the list. It was pretty much what I expected.... underdog success story, but it had a few moments that made it less cheesy than it had the potential to be.

The love story was odd and cute. Adrian was definitely Laney Boggs from She's All That... (Big glasses; therefore, she's ugly. Glasses off.... hottie!)

The ending was great, too, and it was perfect that he was too concerned about Adrian to even care if he won or lost. You definitely root for Rocky the whole movie because he's such a lovable little guy.

Predictable sports movie: yes. But still enjoyable. I liked it.

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Sylvester Stallone (who knew he could actually act?)

#58 The Gold Rush (1925)

I've been getting into too many different projects lately, so my movie-watching has slowed a little. I've been watching somewhat regularly, but I haven't felt like writing at all. I watched this movie months ago, maybe the first few days of February.... Oops.

Well, Charlie Chaplin is his usual Little Tramp self, but this time he's a prospector in the Alaska Gold Rush. It's another silent movie, but Netflix sent me the narrated version instead of the original version. The narration was completely unnecessary, and I would have liked to see this for the first time the way it was intended to be watched.

Even though I felt like I had seen a lot of the funny parts of this movie (probably incorporated into some Looney Tunes or old-school Disney cartoons-- see below, pretty sure some cartoon stole this), I laughed at bits of the movie. The love story was pretty cute, too. Charlie Chaplin is actually quite adorable. Too bad in real life he was a bit of a slut. He had several mistresses, twelve kids by four different wives, and his last child was born when he was 73. Wow.

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Charlie Chaplin

#62 American Graffiti (1973)

Harrison Ford is in another movie on this list! First Blade Runner, then Raiders of the Lost Ark, now this, and I know Star Wars must be on here somewhere (probably way too high). This was one of his first roles, and it wasn't really that big of a deal. He had maybe ten minutes of screen time, and I didn't even recognize him at first. He wore a cowboy hat and had an accent. Hilarious.

I had no expectations for this movie. All I knew was the title. It starts out at a drive-in in 1962, and we find out that the four boys talking are celebrating their last night at home before leaving for college. Sounds like a fun start.... I would expect something absolutely crazy to happen. For the movie to be on this list, something crazy must happen. And with all those big names, it's gonna get wild. But it really didn't.

Everything in this movie happens within 24 hours. It's simply the story of these guys' last night in town, who they meet, and what trouble they get into. This guy Josh who I found out is also watching the top 100 movies and blogging about them (I'll absolutely admit he's a much better writer than I am) compared this movie to Can't Hardly Wait. That is a perfect comparison.... even down to the radio station ordeal!

I found it hilarious that what the kids in this town did for fun was cruise around. That was sooooo my hometown. It was the thing for some people to cruise the K-Mart parking lot. I didn't participate except for once as a joke cruising the Taco Bell parking lot with my friend. We blasted some classical music as we did it, too. We were so cool.

So as for whether I think this deserves to be #62 on the list: I don't. I'm not sure why it even made the list besides the fact that it was acted well and had great music. It was a perfectly fun movie, though. Nice and light. Very enjoyable to watch.

Rating: 6/10

Big Names: George Lucas (director), Ron Howard, Cindy Williams (Shirley from "Laverne & Shirley"), Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford

#63 Cabaret (1972)

A musical.... blech, right?.... but this movie was just so bizarre and unexpected that I actually liked it!

Musicals and Westerns are easily my least favorite genres, so I was NOT looking forward to this one. Musicals always feel so artificial and cheesy. This movie handled the musical moments much better than that, though. All the songs were sung at the Kit Kat night club as part of their show, and the director just cut to those clips at the appropriate times in the story. It didn't feel cheesy to me at all. 

Maybe I've been sheltered, but I had no idea what this movie was about or why gay people love Liza Minnelli. Now I totally get it....

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Liza Minnelli (Lucille 2), Michael York (Basil from the Austin Powers movies.... hottie in this one!), Joel Grey (he played the creepy part perfectly)

Big Lines: I have a favorite line, but it definitely would ruin much of the movie if you're ever planning on watching this.

#64 Network (1976)

Network is a satire about network television, specifically what people are willing to do to boost ratings. Howard Beale, a middle-aged news anchor for the struggling network UBS, is fired for bad ratings, effective two weeks later. His wife had died recently, and he was childless, so it hits him pretty hard, and he states live on the news that night that he will be committing suicide on air the next night. He makes the front page of the paper the next day, and Diana, the ambitious VP of programming, convinces the network to keep Beale on the air as he goes through his mental breakdown...purely for the sake of gaining viewers. They give him his own news show, "The Howard Beale Show," and he fills the hour shouting his literally crazy opinions. They even go so far as to include a psychic on the show to predict the future news.

What I found fascinating about this movie was that it was shot in 1976, well before the days of Fox News..... but this guy was Glenn Beck! He's ridiculous, opinionated, has his group of loyal followers who believe everything he says. Also on UBS was what was basically a reality show; they film an extreme liberal/terrorist group actually commit crimes and then provide filler with fabricated story lines. It was a little eerie how similar these shows were to the kinds of shows we have on the air in 2012.

Even though I found the idea for the movie very clever, and it was a well-done satire, I didn't particularly enjoy watching the movie. Parts really dragged, and the love story was just obnoxious. I know why it was done -- to show the contrast between a middle-aged man and a younger woman who grew up watching TV, leading her to be cold, selfish, and unfeeling. It still felt unnecessary, and their romance wasn't very believable.

If I was a teacher, I would totally assign this film to my students. As I was watching, I felt like I could write a paper about everything they were saying with this movie. Interesting film.

Rating: 6/10

Big Names: Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall

Big Lines:

"I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANY MORE!" (#19 on AFI's list of movie quotes)

#65 The African Queen (1951)

Maybe I should stop reading the Netflix sleeves before watching these movies because I was prepared for an exciting, action-packed movie. In reality, it was a romantic comedy with only a few scenes of real action.

Rose (Katharine Hepburn) and her brother are Methodist missionaries in an African village in 1914. Charlie (Humphrey Bogart) is the boat captain who brings them mail and supplies, and one day at afternoon tea, he mentions to Rose and her brother that WWI has started. Pretty much immediately after Charlie leaves tea, German soldiers come into the African village, kill the women and children, kidnap the men, and burn the village to the ground. Rose's brother is so distraught that he kills himself, so Rose is left all alone in the village. Luckily, Charlie shows up and offers to help Rose get to safety.

They decide to travel together on Charlie's boat down the river to escape German-ruled Africa. Of course, they face all kinds of hurdles along the way. And as they go along, prissy Rose and dirty Charlie become friends and eventually fall in love.

The beginning and end of this movie were pretty awesome, but I have to admit that the middle dragged a little. Overall, though, not bad. I'd watch it again.

One thing I couldn't get over was how unattractive Humphrey Bogart is in this movie. He just looks sketchy and dirty. Not my type at all. :) Katharine Hepburn wasn't looking her best, either.

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn

#68 Unforgiven (1992)

This was the best Western I've ever seen, but I have to admit it's only the third I've ever watched. Maybe if they were all this great, I could say that I liked Westerns.

So in the town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, a prostitute laughs at a cowboy for being poorly endowed, and he responds by slashing up her face. The sheriff deems the appropriate punishment to be paying five horses to the owner of the whorehouse. Obviously, the women of the house are not so happy with this arrangement, and they pool their money to create a reward for whoever can kill the guy responsible for ruining the prostitute's face (and career.) Clint Eastwood hears about the reward and comes out of his assassin retirement to make some money for his family. He calls on his good friend Morgan Freeman, and they team up with the very obnoxious "Schofield Kid" to kill the cowboy and his friend.

The main theme of this movie has popped up in several of the movies I've seen so far, and that's the idea of what is good, what is evil, and what does it mean when the two are blurred. There are no "good guys" in this movie... Everyone is either perceived as moral (the sheriff) with a healthy dose of evilness or immoral (the assassins) with a strong grasp on right and wrong.

Rating: 7.5/10

Big Names: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman (2nd appearance after French Connection), Morgan Freeman (also in Shawshank), Frances Fisher (not a big name, but this is her second time to appear in a top 100 movie, too... she was also Rose's mom in Titanic)

#67 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Here's a movie that I'd like to see again. Not because it was pleasant to watch -- because it wasn't (it was painful and exhausting: think War of the Roses) -- but because the ending was so odd that I know that I'd look at the whole movie differently if I saw it a second time.

George and Martha are a middle-aged seemingly unhappily married couple who are entertaining Nick and Honey, a younger, seemingly normal and happy couple, for a night cap after a party. Through the night, you see George and Martha rip each other apart and expose Nick and Honey's marriage for the mess it is.

I started the film knowing absolutely nothing except that it starred Elizabeth Taylor and was 2 hours and 11 minutes. (I had to make sure I had plenty of time to watch the entire thing before going into work.) I kept thinking that the movie felt like a play, and yes, it was a play-turned-film. This movie was much, much more about dialogue and acting than it was about scenery or special effects.

A couple of interesting tidbits: George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) were married during this film....I wonder how much of a stretch it was to play an unhappy couple. Elizabeth Taylor gained thirty pounds for this movie. Also, all four of the main characters were nominated for Oscars. Martha and Honey both won them... Elizabeth Taylor totally earned hers, but it surprises me that a character like Honey (a mousy, blah, dumb blonde) would be worthy of an Oscar.

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton

Big Lines:
George: Good. Better. Best. Bested.

Honey: I want to… put some powder on my nose.
George: Martha, won’t you show her where we keep the euphemism?

#69 Tootsie (1982)

This is the original Mrs. Doubtfire. Dustin Hoffman plays Michael Dorsey, an actor who can't find work in NYC, and his agent blames Michael's difficult personality. To prove a point, Michael dresses as a woman, auditions for a soap, and gets the part.... Of course, this becomes a bit of a problem when he falls in love with one of his coworkers, then her DAD falls in love with him, American women idolize him (as a woman), a male coworker drunkenly attempts a date rape, and yeah.... it's just a giant mess.

The great lines in this movie were perfectly delivered, and I've learned after watching some of the really old movies on this list that delivery can make or break a joke. (Timing in the older movies was sometimes odd to me.) I found out a few hours before I watched this that Bill Murray played Hoffman's roommate, but it ended up being an insignificant part, so don't get too excited about that.

It's hard to rationalize a romantic comedy being ahead of so many great dramas, but to be fair, it was done very well!

Since my original goal was to get through 50 of these movies in the first year (so before February 1,) I've got some work to do! Next up: Unforgiven.

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr (poor girl definitely gets the shaft in this movie,) Geena Davis (very first role for her!)

Big Lines:
This exchange between Michael and his agent was awesome...

Michael: You should have seen the look on her face when she thought I was a lesbian.
George: "Lesbian?" You just said "gay."
Michael: No, no, no -- SANDY thinks I'm gay. JULIE thinks I'm a lesbian.
George: I thought Dorothy was supposed to be straight.
Michael: Dorothy IS straight. Tonight, Les, the sweetest, nicest man in the world asked me to marry him.
George: A guy named Les wants YOU to marry him?
Michael: No, no, no -- he wants to marry Dorothy.
George: Does he know she's a lesbian?
Michael: Dorothy's NOT a lesbian.
George: I know that. Does HE know that?
Michael: Know WHAT?
George: That, er, I... I don't know.

Julie: I miss Dorothy.
Michael: You don't have to. She's right here. And she misses you. Look, you don't know me from Adam, but I was a better man with you, as a woman... than I ever was with a woman, as a man. You know what I mean? I just gotta learn to do it without the dress. At this point, there might be an advantage to my wearing pants.

#74 Silence of the Lambs (1991)

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad pharmacy test is out of the way, and since late October, I've been working on everything else I had neglected since I started studying. Finally, I'm caught up enough not to feel guilty about allowing myself to restart my movie-watching. I've actually watched three since last Thursday... I've just been a slacker about writing about them.

So, about this movie....  I had seen parts of it thanks to my friend Shawna; I remember a night in high school when we started the movie at maybe midnight, and every time I fell asleep, she would wake me up and restart the movie at the spot at which I had fallen asleep. She finally gave up, though, so I had never seen it all the way through.

It's been well over four months since I finally watched this, so it's hard to remember how it initially struck me, but I know it was everything I thought it would be: creepy, intense, impressive, disturbing. Anthony Hopkins plays a "monster," and I think what sets him apart from any other monsters in a horror movie is the fact that he's so intelligent and witty, he's almost in a way, likable. Stories that can make you simultaneously root for and despise one of the main characters are fun to me.

All in all, it was a great film. As an interesting tidbit, only three films have won all top 5 Oscars (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Screenplay): It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and this one.

Rating: 7.5/10

Big names: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster

#73 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

I was told by a coworker that I would enjoy this one, and I definitely did. This movie redeemed Westerns for me. Despite being a seemingly traditional Western with gunfights and violence, it had humor, sarcasm, catchy (but odd) music, and even a tiny bit of romance.

Though it wasn't an incredibly intense movie to me, it was enjoyable to watch. I honestly wasn't ready for it to end. I didn't know the story of the actual Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, and Etta Place (the schoolteacher/prostitute who moved to South America with the outlaws,) and I had no expectations of what would happen. The actual Butch and Sundance were members of the "Wild Bunch" in the late 1800's/early 1900's, and no one knows how their story ended.

Interestingly, since The Wild Bunch came out a few months before Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, they changed their gang name to "Hole-in-the-Wall Bunch" so people wouldn't confuse the films. This movie was better than The Wild Bunch in every way imaginable, especially with casting. Paul Newman and Robert Redford were amazingly talented, memorable in their roles, and looked different enough for me to tell them apart!

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Paul Newman (Butch), Robert Redford (Sundance), Katharine Ross (Etta, also the girl in The Graduate), Cloris Leachman (only realized she was Agnes, the prostitute, after I saw her name in the credits and looked it up on IMDB)

Big Lines:
(during the last gunfight of the film, when they're running low on ammunition)
Butch: We're going to run out unless we can get to that mule and get some more.
Sundance Kid:  I'll go.
Butch: This is no time for bravery. I'll let ya!

Big Songs:
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" by Burt Bacharach

#78 Modern Times (1936)

The past few weeks I haven't had many weekdays off work, so it's been a while since I watched a movie on my list. Not excited about either of the movies I have at home right now (The Wild Bunch and this one), I picked the shorter one of the two. This was only 1 hour and 27 minutes long.

I definitely knew of Charlie Chaplin, but when I read a blurb about this movie, I had no clue who they were referring to as a Tramp. Chaplin's famous character, with the bowler hat, cane, clown shoes, and goofy walk/waddle, was the Little Tramp. Charlie knew this character wouldn't survive in the non-silent films that were taking over, so Modern Times was done stubbornly as a "silent" film. "Silent" is in quotes because there are some spoken lines, and the Tramp even sings toward the end.

Surprisingly (to me), there are pretty funny moments. I laughed out loud when he followed this girl with the buttons on her coat. It's insanely impressive to me that a 75-year-old movie can make me laugh, but this film also had more serious messages. The idea that progress and industrialization isn't always necessary or better and the the truth of how difficult it is for less fortunate Americans to keep up are just a bit of what Chaplin was trying to say. I like his style of stringing together entertaining skits, but having underlying deeper messages that I didn't even realize until after the movie was over.

One of the main songs in the movie is the original, instrumental version of "Smile Though Your Heart Is Aching." The lyrics weren't added until decades later, but the words are well suited for the last scene of the movie, when the main characters get themselves up off the ground and try again.

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard (Chaplin's wife at the time)

#70 A Clockwork Orange (1971)

So I skipped ahead a bit on this one. Of the movies I had already added to my Netflix instant queue, it was the one that Trav wanted to see with me at the time.

I had seen the first third of this movie when I was about 18. (See my "bad habit" in the post about #85: I fell asleep for the rest of the movie but acted like I hadn't.)  This portion of the movie shows the main character Alex, an inherently evil and violent man, breaking into strangers' houses, raping women, and actually getting enjoyment out of torturing people. On one of their "adventures," a woman calls the police and between the time of the call and the arrival of the police, he accidentally kills her. His friends leave him, he's arrested and then of course, has to serve jail time.

After serving a bit of time, he agrees to participate in an experimental "aversion therapy" to shorten his jail sentence. His therapists force him to watch movies of disgusting, violent acts until his body has a Pavlovian response to the sight of violence and he becomes physically ill. Unfortunately, the movies he's forced to watch are accompanied by the classical music he adores, and this is used against him when he again meets the husband of a woman he raped.

I read Roger Ebert's review, and his was incredibly negative, mostly criticizing Kubrick for glorifying Alex and "celebrating his nastiness." I don't think that's what Kubrick was trying to do, though. I think he wants the viewer to see through that and still be able to recognize what is good and evil, and I feel that most viewers would have the same reaction that I did, which was utter disgust.

If an indicator of a good movie is that it affects you somehow, this movie is incredible. It gave me nightmares.

Rating: 8/10

Big Names: Malcolm McDowell

#80 The Apartment (1960)

This movie has made lists of the best comedies of all time. I must be missing something because while this is a great movie and a sweet romance, I don't at all think of it as a comedy.

Jack Lemmon plays a complete pushover who lends his apartment out to executives at his office to spend alone time with their mistresses. He seems to be getting something out of it, though, like a raise and a new office, so it doesn't bother him until he realizes that one of his bosses is fooling around with the girl he loves.

Lemmon and MacLaine are talented actors, the story is very sweet and well-written, and I did enjoy watching this one, but I wonder if I'm watching too many great movies in a row and becoming accustomed to this new level of movies. None I've seen in a while have stood out to me as significantly better than others (besides Titanic... tease me for my taste if you must.)

Rating: 7/10

Big Names: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon

#81 Spartacus (1960)

I had very high expectations for this movie. I loved Ben-Hur, and this is ranked almost twenty spots higher, so I expected that this would be my new favorite on the list. It was an excellent movie, but there was at least a full hour that was just dull. (I actually fell asleep during that lull last night and had to finish it this morning.) Another reason I just knew I would love this was that it was directed by Stanley Kubrick, and his version of The Shining is fantastic, and even though it's disturbing, A Clockwork Orange was done very well. Only a few moments of the movie looked like his style, though, or at least what I think of as his style, so that was a bit of a letdown.

Set in 70 B.C., Spartacus is the epic story of a slave who is sold to a master who trains men to become Gladiators. When the Gladiator-trained slaves are asked to fight to the death simply for a Roman general's amusement, together they turn on their master. They then add thousands more slaves to their cause and form an army who revolts against the Roman empire.

The last hour of the movie has some very powerful scenes. I especially love the moment when the Roman general demands that Spartacus identifies himself out of the group of prisoners, and promises that if he does, the other imprisoned slaves' lives would be spared. Every single man identifies himself as Spartacus; they all give their lives for him.

Rating: 8/10

Big Names: Kirk Douglas (Michael Douglas's dad who looks just like him), Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons

Big Lines: I'm Spartacus.