 81. SPARTACUS (1997 Rank: NEW)
Universal, 1960 PRINCIPAL CAST Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov DIRECTOR Stanley Kubrick PRODUCER Edward Lewis SCREENWRITER Dalton Trumbo Kubrick’s historic epic stars Douglas in the title role of the slave who leads a rebellion for freedom against the rulers of the Roman Empire. “I am Spartacus!” 82. SUNRISE (1997 Rank: NEW) Twentieth Century-Fox, 1927 PRINCIPAL CAST George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor DIRECTOR F.W. Murnau SCREENWRITER Carl Mayer Murnau’s shattering film of redemption and forgiveness is told in a simple story of a married farmer, lured to the big city by a “wicked woman.” A cavalcade of urban images and horrific storms almost destroy the farmer when he thinks his wife is lost at sea in this expressionistic masterpiece.  83. TITANIC (1997 Rank: NEW) Paramount, 1997 PRINCIPAL CAST Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Billy Zane DIRECTOR James Cameron PRODUCERS James Cameron, Jon Landau SCREENWRITER James Cameron Cameron’s fictionalized account of the “ship of dreams” was both a grand love story and a monumental visual effects undertaking. “I’m king of the world!”  84. EASY RIDER (1997 Rank: 88) Columbia, 1969 PRINCIPAL CAST Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson DIRECTOR Dennis Hopper PRODUCER Peter Fonda SCREENWRITERS Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern Fonda and Hopper, better known as Captain America and Wyatt, hit the road on their choppers to find an America bitterly divided by the Vietnam war. On the way they pick up Nicholson, who gets turned on and tuned in. The original independent film was an anthem for the 1960s’ cultural dialogue on freedom, individualism and patriotism.  85. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1997 Rank: NEW) MGM, 1935 PRINCIPAL CAST Groucho, Chico, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle DIRECTOR Sam Wood PRODUCER Irving Thalberg SCREENWRITERS George S. Kaufman, James Kevin McGuinness, Morrie Ryskind The Marx Brothers take on opera and give a drubbing to anyone who gets in their way. Some of the team’s most famous comic moments are from this film: rearranging the bedroom furniture, Chico and Groucho tearing up the contract, and the overstuffed stateroom scene, where 15 people crowd inside!  86. PLATOON (1997 Rank: 83) Orion, 1986 PRINCIPAL CAST Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe DIRECTOR Oliver Stone PRODUCER Arnold Kopelson SCREENWRITER Oliver Stone Based on Stone’s own experiences as a grunt in Vietnam, Sheen is a young man from a privileged background who suddenly finds himself stuck between two officers with opposing ideas of right and wrong in a war filled with uncertainties. The conflict within a conflict results in the massacre of a village.  87. TWELVE ANGRY MEN (1997 Rank: NEW) United Artists, 1957 PRINCIPAL CAST Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley DIRECTOR Sidney Lumet PRODUCERS Henry Fonda, Reginald Rose SCREENWRITER Reginald Rose In a jury room, Fonda methodically faces class and racial prejudices, and convinces eleven other jurors to change their verdict from guilty to not guilty, thus enabling an innocent young man to go free.  88. BRINGING UP BABY (1997 Rank: 97) RKO, 1938
PRINCIPAL CAST Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, May Robson, Charles Ruggles, Barry Fitzgerald DIRECTOR Howard Hawks PRODUCER Cliff Reid SCREENWRITERS Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde Hepburn’s heiress is mad for Grant’s uptight paleontologist. The plot and characters define screwball comedy, not the least of which involves a pet leopard who can be soothed by listening to I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby.”  89. THE SIXTH SENSE (1997 Rank: NEW) Hollywood, 1999 PRINCIPAL CAST Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette DIRECTOR M. Night Shyamalan PRODUCERS Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Barry Mendel SCREENWRITER M. Night Shyamalan “I see dead people.” That’s what young Cole Sears claims. At first, psychologist Malcolm Crowe thinks the boy is seeing things. Little by little he begins to understand. 90. SWING TIME (1997 Rank: NEW) RKO, 1936 PRINCIPAL CAST Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers DIRECTOR George Stevens PRODUCER Pandro S. Berman SCREENWRITERS Howard Lindsay, Allan Scott, Erwin Gelsey Prospective groom Astaire misses his wedding and must prove that he is marriage material. He heads to NYC, where he dances his heart out with Rogers to the songs of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Every song advances the plot and the courtship of two hoofers looking for A Fine Romance.
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