Finally, the fifth and last list of favorites—twenty-five films from the 1980s and 1990s. Again, and as always, it’s important to follow the Rules of the Game, but one reminder I will mention explicitly: only one director per list (and so any other films from that director which would have otherwise found a place on…
Author: MidCenturyCinema
News And Commentary – The Films of Woody Allen
A programming alert for followers of Mid Century Cinema: on the occasion of his eightieth birthday (!), I have written an appreciation of the films of Woody Allen for Bright Lights Film Journal, which can be read here. In the spirit of the occasion, below is a list of Allen’s feature films as writer-director, along…
News And Commentary – More Greatest Films – The Eagerly Awaited List Four: The Seventies!
So here they are, my top twenty-five from the seventies, (once again in order of domestic release date by country of origin). Obviously, this was the hardest list of all—looking back, it turns out this decade contributed TEN to my twenty-five greatest of all-time list; as always, those films noted by an asterisk. So the…
News And Commentary – More Greatest Films – The Lists of Others: Auteur Edition
Wow. There must be something in the air. Here at Mid Century Cinema we’re been compiling our “best of” lists, and just by coincidence – we assume – those invaluable folks at the Criterion Collection have put up a link to this French website which has posted a slew of “top 50s” from notable directors….
News And Commentary – The Greatest Films, Part Three – 25 from the 1960s
Forging ahead with the “best of” lists . . . and this is getting harder. Last week we went with twenty-five favorites from the 1940s and 1950s. The 1960s featured what Phillip Lopate dubbed “the heroic age of movie going” (especially for foreign films), the ambitious American films that pressed hard against the weakening resistance…
News And Commentary – The Greatest Films, Continued – 25 from the 1940s and 50s
Making lists is like watching movies by Ozu—once you start, it’s hard to stop. So after last week’s “top twenty-five” of all time, here at Mid Century Cinema we’ve decided to drum up a few more lists, for your consideration. But remember The Rules of the Game, including, especially: (1) no complaining, only debating. If…
News And Commentary – The Greatest Films of All Time
What is your favorite movie? We are often asked that question here at Mid Century Cinema, and our stock response is to reject the question with a dismissive, even haughty wave of the hand. “Favorite”? “Best”? “The Greatest”? Just what are those words supposed to mean when talking about the movies? And to compare one…
50 Years Ago This Week – Otto Preminger’s Bunny Lake is Missing
Bunny Lake is Missing, the last eminently masterful film from producer-director Otto Preminger (though six more would follow over the next fifteen years) was released on October 3, 1965. It is very nearly a great movie: the gripping tale, with a smart, witty screenplay was gloriously shot on location in London in striking black and…
50 Years Ago This Week – Arthur Penn’s Mickey One
Mickey One, produced and directed by Arthur Penn, opened on September 27, 1965. A harbinger of the New Hollywood, it had the misfortune of arriving ahead of its time; had it been released two or three years later, it surely would have met with greater success and acclaim. But in 1965, a moody, expressionistic film…
50 Years Ago This Week – Get Smart
Get Smart made its television debut on September 18, 1965, with the episode “Mr. Big,” written by the show’s co-creators, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. The series, which can be watched with enormous pleasure today, arrived at a transitional moment in American politics and culture. An odd hybrid of rat-pack sensibilities and New Hollywood anti-establishment…