Tuesday, November 24, 1998

50 years ago: Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette) released

Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette)

Released: November 24, 1948

Studio: Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche

Genre: foreign

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 0.33 Worldwide: --

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: Vittorio De Sica

Screenwriting: Oreste Biancoli, Suso D'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Adolfo Franci, Gherardo Gherardi, Gerardo Guerrieri, Cesare Zavattini

Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell

Review:

The Bicycle Thieves is a “timeless humanist gem of Italian Neorealism.” ^VY that “that deservedly earned a special Academy Award (before foreign films had a category of their own).” ^LM It is “an honest, beautiful film” ^LM and “one of the all-time classics.” ^LM

This is a “simple, realistic tale” ^LM “with urgent working-class concerns” ^VY during “unforgiving post-World War II Italy where the poor must own bikes for below-minimum-wage jobs.” ^VY

The focus is on the “dignified yet underprivileged Antonio” ^VY as he “desperately searches for his stolen pedals and tries to set an upstanding example for his impressionable young son.” ^VY

Sources:

^LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century”
^VY Variety.com (12/21/2022). “The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Lists:

Awards:

Oscars:

Wins: 1 – most outstanding foreign language film (honorary award)

Nominations: 1 – Best Adapted Screenplay

Lists:

Expert Picks:

Genre Lists:

First posted 6/9/2023.

Saturday, October 31, 1998

Premiere Magazine: 100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made

Premiere Magazine:

100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made

In their October 1998 issue, Premiere magazine presented its list of the 100 most daring movies ever made (also known as “Rebel Cinema” and “100 Movies That Shook the World.” The goal was to, as Filmsite.org says, celebrate films that “dared to be ridiculous, offensive, or even unpopular” but still ended up as classic films. The original list was presented in alphabetical order. It is presented here in order of the films’ rankings in Dave’s Movie Database.

1. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954)
2. Blade Runner (1982)
3. 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo) (1963)
4. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
5. Metropolis (1927)
6. Nashville (1975)
7. Touch of Evil (1958)
8. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
9. The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) (1959)
10. Blue Velvet (1986)

11. The Rules of the Game (La Règle du Jeu) (1939)
12. Do the Right Thing (1989)
13. Persona (aka “Masks”) (1966)
14. Badlands (1973)
15. Rashômon (1950)
16. The Conversation (1974)
17. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
18. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
19. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
20. Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) (1959)

21. The Terminator (1984)
22. Blazing Saddles (1974)
23. The Hustler (1961)
24. Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin) (1925)
25. Brazil (1985)
26. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
27. The Last Picture Show (1971)
28. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
29. Mean Streets (1973)
30. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

31. Airplane! (1980)
32. Trainspotting (1996)
33. The Conformist (Il Conformista) (1970)
34. Halloween (1978)
35. Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
36. The Piano (1993)
37. Blow-Up (1966)
38. Dirty Harry (1971)
39. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
40. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

41. Nosferatu, a Symphony of Terror (aka “Nosferatu, the Vampire”) (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens) (1922)
42. Scarface (1983)
43. Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) (1961)
44. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
45. Beauty of the Day (Belle de Jour) (1967)
46. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982)
47. Rome, Open City (Roma Città Aperta) (1945)
48. Raising Arizona (1987)
49. Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s Kinoapparatom) (1929)
50. Freaks (1932)

51. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
52. The Birds (1963)
53. The Crowd (1928)
54. Peeping Tom (1960)
55. Repulsion (1965)
56. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
57. An Andalusian Dog (Un Chien Andalou) (1928)
58. Last Tango in Paris (Ultimo Tango a Parigi) (1973)
59. Detour (1945)
60. The Killer (Dip Huet Seung Hung) (1989)

61. Cat People (1942)
62. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
63. The Killing (1956)
64. Johnny Guitar (1954)
65. Dumbo (1941)
66. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932)
67. Akira (1988)
68. If… (1968)
69. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
70. Faces (1968)

71. Pandora's Box (aka “Lulu”) (Die Büchse der Pandora) (1929)
72. Dead Ringers (1988)
73. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)
74. Don’t Look Back (1967)
75. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
76. Walkabout (1971)
77. Olympia (Parts 1 and 2) (1938)
78. Bob Le Flambeur (1955)
79. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
80. Zero for Conduct (Zero de Conduite) (1933)

81. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
82. Medium Cool (1969)
83. In the Company of Men (1997)
84. 28 Up (1984)
85. Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (1974)
86. Shock Corridor (1963)
87. Pink Flamingos (1972)
88. Bananas (1971)
89. Eyes Without a Face (1959)
90. Shaft (1971)

91. Ride the High Country (1962)
92. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
93. The Harder They Come (1973)
94. Seconds (1966)
95. Animal Crackers (1930)
96. My Brilliant Career (1979)
97. The Girl Can’t Help It (1956)
98. The Gang’s All Here (1943)
99. Flesh (1968)
100. The Devil in Miss Jones (1973)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
Premiere (Oct. 1998). “100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made”

Originally posted 8/10/2019; last updated 6/2/2023.

Friday, August 14, 1998

TV Guide: The 50 Greatest Movies

TV Guide:

50 Greatest Movies

The August 8-14, 1998 issue of TV Guide included a list of their picks for the top 50 movies that hold up on the small screen and to repeated viewings. Here’s the list.

1. The Godfather Part II (1974)
2. Casablanca (1942)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
6. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
7. The Godfather (1972)
8. Psycho (1960)
9. Chinatown (1974)
10. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

11. Vertigo (1958)
12. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
13. Pinocchio (1940)
14. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
15. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
16. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
17. Some Like It Hot (1959)
18. The Searchers (1956)
19. Duck Soup (1933)
20. Raging Bull (1980)

21. Annie Hall (1977)
22. Ninotchka (1939)
23. All About Eve (1950)
24. Double Indemnity (1944)
25. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
26. The Exorcist (1973)
27. Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
28. Gone with the Wind (1939)
29. The Lion King (1994)
30. The Palm Beach Story (1942)

31. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
32. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
33. Schindler’s List (1993)
34. Apollo 13 (1995)
35. The African Queen (1951)
36. The Graduate (1967)
37. American Graffiti (1973)
38. Jaws (1975)
39. Laura (1944)
40. On the Waterfront (1954)

41. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
42. Modern Times (1936)
43. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
44. Babe (1995)
45. Top Hat (1935)
46. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
47. Cabaret (1972)
48. The Quiet Man (1952)
49. Dirty Harry (1971)
50. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
TV Guide (8/14/1998). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video”

Last updated 5/31/2023.

Friday, July 24, 1998

Saving Private Ryan released

Saving Private Ryan

Released: July 24, 1998

Studio: DreamWorks

Genre: war drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 217.00 Worldwide: 482.30

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 412.69 Worldwide: 917.70

Directing: Steven Spielberg

Screenwriting: Robert Rodat

Starring: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Barry Pepper, Harve Presnell, Vin Diesel, Jeremy Davies

Review:

Because of its “realistic and uncompromising account of the war often romanticized by Hollywood,” ^AFI07 Saving Private Ryan is “considered as one of the greatest war dramas ever made.” ^MSN “The film was a critical and box office smash and brought Spielberg his second Best Director Oscar (his first was for his other World War II era film, Schindler’s List (1993).” ^FS

The first half hour of the film is marked by “the brutal, uncompromising, and graphic depiction of the landing at bloody Omaha Beach on D-Day (June 6, 1944) .” ^FS Most of the film, however, “revolves around the rescue of a downed paratrooper in the French countryside, Pvt. James Ryan (Damon), whose three brothers have recently been killed in action.” ^FS Thanks to a “morale-lifting, propagandistic, PR effort for the military brass (Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall (Presnell),” ^FS “a unit of war-weary soldiers is forced to risk their lives to find the young man and bring him home.” ^AFI07

Captain John Miller (Hanks) leads a platoon of “seven stereotypical characters…hard-nosed Sgt. Horvath (Sizemore), a frightened, militarily-inexperienced translator Cpl. Upham (Davies), and five privates (Burns, Ribisi, Diesel, Pepper and Goldberg) – including a cynical hothead from Brooklyn, an introspective medic, a decent soldier, a religious Southern sharpshooter, and a tough Jew.” ^FS

“Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks had been longtime friends before this movie, yet somehow had never worked together. Once each learned the other was reading Robert Rodat’s script, discussions ensued.” ^MSN

Sources:

^AFI07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition”
^FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films”
^MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud

Awards/Honors/Lists:

Oscars:

Wins: 5: Best Director – Steven Spielberg, Best Cinematography – Janusz Kaminski, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing

Nominations: 11, including Best Picture, Best Actor – Tom Hanks, Best Original Screenplay – Robert Rodat, Best Original Score – John Williams, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Makeup

Dave’s Movie Database Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists:

Awards:

Other Lists/Honors:

First posted 8/23/2019; last updated 5/27/2023.

Tuesday, June 16, 1998

American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Films”

Originally posted 6/16/1998.

From the website: “The very first edition of AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies is a list of the 100 greatest American films of all time. In 1998, AFI invited more than 1,500 leaders from across the American film community – screenwriters, directors, actors, producers, cinematographers, editors, executives, film historians and critics among them – to choose from a list of 400 nominated films compiled by AFI and select the 100 greatest American movies. The AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies CBS television special originally aired on June 16, 1998.”

Here is the top 100 list:

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. Casablanca (1942)
3. The Godfather (1972)
4. Gone with the Wind (1939)
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
6. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
7. The Graduate (1967)
8. On the Waterfront (1954)
9. Schindler’s List (1993)
10. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

11. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
12. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
13. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
14. Some Like It Hot (1959)
15. Star Wars (1977)
16. All About Eve (1950)
17. The African Queen (1951)
18. Psycho (1960)
19. Chinatown (1974)
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

21. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
22. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
23. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
24. Raging Bull (1980)
25. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
26. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
27. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
28. Apocalypse Now (1979)
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

31. Annie Hall (1977)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. High Noon (1952)
34. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
35. It Happened One Night (1934)
36. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. Double Indemnity (1944)
39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
40. North by Northwest (1959)

41. West Side Story (1961)
42. Rear Window (1954)
43. King Kong (1933)
44. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
45. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
46. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
47. Taxi Driver (1976)
48. Jaws (1975)
49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

51. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
52. From Here to Eternity (1953)
53. Amadeus (1984)
54. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
55. The Sound of Music (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. The Third Man (1949)
58. Fantasia (1940)
59. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

61. Vertigo (1958)
62. Tootsie (1982)
63. Stagecoach (1939)
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
65. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
66. Network (1976)
67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
68. An American in Paris (1951)
69. Shane (1953)
70. The French Connection (1971)

71. Forrest Gump (1994)
72. Ben-Hur (1959)
73. Wuthering Heights (1939)
74. The Gold Rush (1925)
75. Dances with Wolves (1990)
76. City Lights (1931)
77. American Graffiti (1973)
78. Rocky (1976)
79. The Deer Hunter (1978)
80. The Wild Bunch (1969)

81. Modern Times (1936)
82. Giant (1956)
83. Platoon (1986)
84. Fargo (1996)
85. Duck Soup (1933)
86. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
87. Frankenstein (1931)
88. Easy Rider (1969)
89. Patton (1970)
90. The Jazz Singer (1927)

91. My Fair Lady (1964)
92. A Place in the Sun (1951)
93. The Apartment (1960)
94. Goodfellas (1990)
95. Pulp Fiction (1994)
96. The Searchers (1956)
97. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
98. Unforgiven (1992)
99. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Resources:

American Film Institute (6/16/1998). AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies (original version)
American Film Institute (6/20/2007). AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films of All Time (10th anniversary edition)

Saturday, January 24, 1998

50 years ago: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the ultimate exercise in greed-based paranoia, released

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Released: January 24, 1948

Studio: Warner Bros.

Genre: western/film noir/adventure

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 5.01 Worldwide: --

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 51.30 Worldwide: --

Directing: John Huston

Screenwriting: John Huston

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Alfonso Bedoya

Review:

This “taut psychological drama” ^A98 was director and screenwriter John Huston’s “finest hour.” ^ML This “excellent adaptation of B. Traven’s tale” ^LM “of lustful greed, treachery, paranoia and suspicion” ^FS “and human nature at its worst” ^LM is “the ultimate exercise in greed-based paranoia.” ^ST The movie, “both an adventure and Western,” ^A07 is “a classic which many critics feel is one of the best films ever made.” ^VD

In a bid against typecasting, Huston cast the usually “heroic” ^RS Humphrey Bogart as Fred Dobbs (Bogart) is “a down-on-his-luck thief” ^ST and “a greedy, deranged, selfish bastard who distrusts everyone.” ^FS He and another drifter, “an innocent, honest young Curtin (Holt),” ^FS take a construction job where they meet Howard (Huston), “a wise and experienced, fast-talking, grizzly, toothless” ^FS “old-time gold prospector.” ^VD Walter Huston, the director’s father, delivers “a stellar performance” ^A98 in “one of his best parts on film.” ^A07

They “take their earnings and head into the hills” ^VD “of Tampico, Mexico, for that elusive pot of gold.” ^A07 They’re doing well until they cross paths with Gold Hat (Bedoya) and his Mexican bandits. Soon “a new ‘partner’ and greed cause the plan to unravel.” ^VD “Dobbs suspects the others are conspiring against him, with his subsequent actions eventually leading to his demise.” ^ST The movie “ends with an ironic climactic scene when the wind blows the gold dust away.” ^FS

This was one of the first films shot almost entirely outside of the United States in Mexico. ^MSN John Huston delivers a cameo as an American tourist toward the beginning of the film and a young Robert Blake appears selling lottery tickets. The movie “later provided the framework for a classic episode of The Simpsons.” ^ST