Movies that make you think about how you see the world
For 80 years there are films that touch us so much that we never expect them to change our views of the world and even on ourselves. Here is a list of movies that help take a good look at ourselves.
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- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsSidney PoitierRod SteigerWarren OatesA black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.In this film, at the time, racism was an issue not worth discussing and so people who are in the movies made sure the issue does not come undiscussed. In this film, Rod Steiger won a Best Actor Oscar for playing a sheriff whose views on race were changed when he met a black detective named Virgil Tibbs played by Sidney Poitier while investigating a murder.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracySidney PoitierKatharine HepburnA couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter introduces them to her African-American fiancé.For anyone who is a mixed-race couple, this is a film worth watching because in this film at that time, mixed-race couples were shunned by society and their loved ones because of their views on racism. With this film, Sidney Poitier shows us that it is ok find love in the most unexpected places when he plays a black man decided on marrying a white woman while everyone else disagrees. Spencer Tracy earned a Best Actor Nomination and Katharine Hepburn earned her second Best Actress Oscar for their portrayals of the would-be in-laws.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyBurt LancasterRichard WidmarkIn 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.In this film, in 1948, three years after the most important Nazi leaders had already been tried, at this trial, four judges who used their offices to conduct Nazi sterilization and cleansing policies, are being tried for war crimes. A retired American judge, Dan Haywood, (Spencer Tracy who earned Best Actor Nomination for his role) is asked to be one of three judges at a war crimes trial. At this time, a German lawyer Hans Rolfe (Maximillian Schell who earned a Best Actor Oscar for this role) defends one of the judges at a trial that asks the question; are these judges guilty of committing these horrendous crimes or are they guilty of just doing right by what was German Law. With a great cast, like Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift who earned acting nominations for their supporting roles in this film, this film makes us ask ourselves are we convicting the people who committed these crimes or are we convicting all of Germany?
- DirectorRalph NelsonStarsCliff RobertsonClaire BloomLilia SkalaAn intellectually disabled man undergoes an experiment that gives him the intelligence of a genius.Charlie is a mentally-retarded man who through experimental surgery is given intelligence at a genius level and has opened his eyes to the world like he never thought before. Through an Oscar-winning performance by Cliff Robertson, we see his world living as a man who is persecuted by his mental status and how everyday people treats him. With the help of a female scientist, he was more opened to the world than ever especially to her heart. When he finds out his genius is not lasting, he tries to prevent that from happening. With this movie, it shows us how we should treat the mentally handicapped because like Charlie they want to be treated equally and fairly.
- DirectorGuy GreenStarsMaria SchellStuart WhitmanRod SteigerA man who served prison time for intent to molest a child tries to build a new life with the help of a sympathetic psychiatrist.This is the story of a 33 year old man, Jim Fuller, released from prison after serving a three year term for intent to commit child molestation. Fuller is assisted by the prison psychiatrist in obtaining a position. He does well in this position and falls in love with the secretary of the owner of the company. A child is molested and beaten in the town where he now lives and the police pick him up for questioning. He has an alibi and is released, but a reporter who covered his former trial recognizes him. The reporter begins to follow him and reports that Fuller spent time alone with the daughter of his girl friend. Stuart Whitman earned himself a Best Actor Nomination of a man who made mistakes and is trying to do right by them but is still being persecuted for his past crimes even though he did not commit the current crime. This film takes a hard look at sex offenders, how they are treated by other people, and how quick they can be accused before all the facts are collected before he is put back in prison.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsTom HanksDenzel WashingtonRoberta MaxwellWhen a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic-small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.Tom Hanks earned himself a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of a lawyer dying from AIDS who in his situation was fired from his job because he has this disease. But its up to him and his lawyer to prove that in court when he sues them for that reason. Hanks really pulled off a great performance that have people thinking about others with this disease and how they should be treated with human decency not being judged for what caused them to get this disease.
- DirectorKevin CostnerStarsKevin CostnerMary McDonnellGraham GreeneLieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.In this movie, Kevin Costner stars and directs this film about Lt. John Dunbar who is dubbed a hero after he accidentally leads Union troops to a victory during the Civil War. He requests a position on the western frontier, but finds it deserted. He soon finds out he is not alone, but meets a wolf he dubs "Two-socks" and a curious Indian tribe. Dunbar quickly makes friends with the tribe, and discovers a white woman who was raised by the Indians. He gradually earns the respect of these native people, and sheds his white-man's ways. What this film is about is how Native Americans were treated as villains in alot of films and how in this film they were a noble people that tried to live their lives by their tradition and how a stranger found himself through his friendship with the tribe. Kevin Costner, Graham Greene, and Mary McDonnell all earned acting nominations for this film but for Costner he earned a Best Director and Best Picture Oscar for this film.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsDonald SutherlandMary Tyler MooreJudd HirschThe accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.I would say the whole cast deserved acting nominations for this film that delves into how a family deals with a death of an older son. In this Best Picture winner, it delves into suicide, bitterness, and family dysfunction. Mary Tyler Moore plays the emotionally unavailable mother who despite her family falling apart tries to ignore the problems and act like it never happened. Moore plays her so well and was a given a Best Actress Golden Globe and a Best Actress Academy Award Nomination. Donald Sutherland plays the father who despite his son's problems is trying to ignore his own problems with his wife. Sutherland is so good in his role but it only earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe Nomination. Timothy Hutton is nothing short of brilliant in his role of a guilt-ridden boy who tried to kill himself and is seeing a therapist about it. Hutton really earned his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role and Judd Hirsch who played the therapist also earned himself an Oscar nomination especially when they shared very good scenes together. Either way it is a great film that is one of the first to deal with suicide.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.This great film, delves into the Holocaust like no other and it makes sure the audience knew that everything that happened in this film is how it was in Nazi-occupied Germany. Liam Neeson earned himself a Best Actor Nomination for his brilliant performance as Oscar Schindler, a businessman who went to Germany to get rich but instead found his soul when he realizes that the Nazis were killing Jewish people and had to deal with a German officer Amon Goeth who is brilliant, manipulative, and as a heartless savage to the Jews as the rest of the Nazis. This film deals with the Holocaust at emotional levels so deep that it makes us not forget it ever happened. Well deserving for Best Picture, that it made everyone wonder why did Liam Neeson not earn a Best Actor Win.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardJack OakieDictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.One of the first films to deal with injustices of Nazi-occupied Germany in which the Jewish population were dealing with ant-semitism. Charlie Chaplin (who starred, written, produced, and directed this film) plays both the hero and the villain in this comic film. Chaplin plays the Jewish barber who gets caught up in the country's politics and as the cruel Adenoid Hynkel (an obvious parody of Adolf Hitler). This film will make you laugh, cry, and have tears of joy in the end.
- 19641h 35mPG8.3 (521K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.This black comedy actually satirize the nuclear scare at the time it was made. This film has Peter Sellers in multiple-roles that earned him a Best Actor Oscar Nomination and one of the them we all remember is the infamous Doctor Strangelove, a former Nazi who acts as the advisor to the Americans. This film deals with the craziness of having the power of the Atomic Bomb and how our leaders deal with it.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsSam WaterstonHaing S. NgorJohn MalkovichA journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians.This film is about Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston in his Best Actor Oscar Nomination), a New York Times journalist covering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the American forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in. Dr. Haing S. Ngor plays Dith Pran so admirably that it reflected upon his own experiences in Cambodia so much that earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. This film reflects a great deal on the turmoil of the people of Cambodia being forced to work and being killed for no reason. This is a film unlike any other and Ngor pulls off a performance that makes us want to watch this again and again.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsRobert De NiroChristopher WalkenJohn CazaleAn in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.In the Deer Hunter, it confronts with Vietnam so much that it taps to the very core of any soldier that lived through it and for any soldier who was traumatized to a point where reality could not get passed their trauma. Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken give Oscar-nominated performances in this film which Walken earned an Oscar for. John Cazale also costarred in this film which unfortunately it was his last due to cancer.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsJane FondaJon VoightBruce DernIn 1968 California, a woman whose husband is a Marine officer fighting in Vietnam falls in love with a former high school classmate who suffered a paralyzing combat injury in the war.Coming Home was another film that confronts Vietnam but it states the issues at home not in Vietnam. Either way with a soldier's wife who waits for her husband to come home she helps a recently crippled soldier deal with his condition and ends up falling in love with him. When her husband comes home, the situation gets worse when the man is confronted by her cheating on him and the trauma he developed from the war. Jon Voight, Jane Fonda, and Bruce Dern gave Oscar-nominated performances that gave both Voight and Fonda their Oscars.
- DirectorDavid MillerStarsGregory PeckTony CurtisAngie DickinsonIn 1944, an Army doctor is in charge of a neuropsychiatric ward at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona, and he must deal with a variety of tough cases.Captain Newman is the first film to talk about what happens in a mental ward when soldiers are traumatized during World War II and are sent to Newman's ward to be helped. With Bobby Darin giving an Oscar-nominated performance, this film is a great realization of how our own soldiers dealt with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or mental problems they gained from the war.
- DirectorJoshua LoganStarsMarlon BrandoRicardo MontalbanPatricia OwensA US Air Force major in Kobe confronts his own opposition to marriages between American servicemen and Japanese women when he falls for a beautiful performer.Major Lloyd Gruver, (an Oscar-nominated performance by Marlon Brando) a Korean War flying ace reassigned to Japan, staunchly supports the military's opposition to marriages between American troops and Japanese women. But that's before Gruver experiences a love that challenges his own deeply set prejudices... and plunges him into conflict with the U.S. Air Force and Japan's own cultural taboos. This film confronted the problems by the military marrying japanese women with a story so human the two actors Red Buttons and Meyoshi Umeki who played American and Japanese couple who endured prejudice at a bad time earned themselves Best Supporting Actor/Actress Oscars for their brave performances.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenTom BerengerWillem DafoeChris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon. With Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger in their Oscar-nominated performances as the two competing sergeants who were the balance of good and evil in this film it is a keeper for anyone who likes Oliver Stone and his films.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsTom HanksRobin WrightGary SiniseThe history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.For anyone who has been told they won't succeed in life, here's an example of a man who proved everyone wrong and more. He's an ordinary man who was able to be present for all the most memorable events in American history.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTim RobbinsMorgan FreemanBob GuntonOver the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsTim RobbinsGreta ScacchiFred WardA Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected, but which one?
- DirectorStephen GaghanStarsGeorge ClooneyMatt DamonAmanda PeetA politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved in and affected by it.
- DirectorPaul HaggisStarsDon CheadleSandra BullockThandiwe NewtonLos Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsJake GyllenhaalHeath LedgerMichelle WilliamsEnnis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
- DirectorTom HooperStarsColin FirthGeoffrey RushHelena Bonham CarterThe story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsMichael DouglasBenicio Del ToroCatherine Zeta-JonesA conservative judge is appointed by the President to spearhead America's escalating war against drugs, only to discover that his teenage daughter is a crack addict. Two DEA agents protect an informant. A jailed drug baron's wife attempts to carry on the family business.