"Here's My Top Ten," I Said. "But Darling,I Prefer Fourteen," She Replied. Aug 07 '01    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Movies 1776 From $8 Alias - The Complete Fifth Season From $20 The Bottom Line Some movies have great acting, some boast a great screenplay, others are blessed with a great director. All great films do what they are supposed to do. Here's the list, alphabetically speaking. All the President's Men (1976)- Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Robards, Hal Holbrook. Redford and Hoffman play Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein, un-covering the Watergate scandal. The charisma of the lead duo and the episodic plot make this an interesting film, and the subject makes it important. Robards, who portrayed editor Ben Bradlee, won an Oscar for Best Suporting Actor. The film was awarded the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and was nominated for Best Picture. Jane Alexander was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Alan Pakula for Best Director. Annie Hall (1977)- Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Paul Simon. New York Jew Alvy Singer recounts his romance with the WASP title character. This is a comic masterpiece from the best of the genre. The balcony scene and the movie-line scene are classics. It won Oscars for Best Picture, Actress Keaton, Director Allen, and Original Screenplay. Allen was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. Casablanca (1942)- Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet. Set in Morocco during World War Two, this classic film depicts a love triangle as well as the battle between Allied sympathizers and the Nazis. It won Oscars for Best Picture, Screenplay, and Director Michael Curtis. Bogart (club owner Rick Blaine) was nominated for Best Actor and Rains (Louie) for Best Supporting Actor. Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1958)- Paul Newman, Liz Taylor, Burl Ives, Jack Carson, Judith Anderson, Madeleine Sherwood. Tennessee Williams wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the fatally ill Big Daddy (Ives) and his money-hungry family. Newman plays his son and ex-football star Brick and Taylor portrays sexy Maggie, Brick's wife. The acting is superb, and the gritty dialogue is also memorable. The film received several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Director Richard Brooks, Actor Newman, and Actress Taylor. Chariots of Fire (1981)- Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Alice Krige, Ian Holm, Nigel Havers, Nicholas Farrell, Daniel Gerroll. This film is based on the real-life battles of U.K. runners Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams on their way to the 1924 Olympics. It won Oscars for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Costume Design, and Original Score by Vangelis. Holm was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, as was Hugh Hudson for Best Director. Citizen Kane (1941)- Orson Welles, Buddy Swan, Joseph Cotten, Sonny Bupp, Ray Collins, Harry Shannon. This pseudo-biography of William Randolph Hearst is a classic character study, as well as a commentary on the corrupting power of wealth. It won an Oscar for Original Screenplay, and garnered nominations for Best Picture, Director Welles, and Actor Welles. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)- Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Alan Ruck, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey. This is a laugh-fest about three high school students who spend a ditch day wandering Chicago. It is full of funny lines and amusing scenes. Watch for a Charlie Sheen cameo. From Russia With Love (1963)- Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya. The second 007 flick features James Bond in Istanbul and then on the Orient Express, battling SPECTRE for a Russian de-coding device. The villains are nasty yet believable. Bianchi delivers as a pretty Russian agent. The Godfather (1972)- Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Jams Caan, Richard Conte, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire. Francis Ford Coppola directed this tale about the Corleone family, based on the Mario Puzo novel. It won Oscars for Best Picture, Actor Brando, and Original Score. Coppola was nominated for Best Director, as were Pacino, Caan, and Duvall for Best Supporting Actor. The Godfather II (1974)- Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire. The continuation of the Mafia family saga features flash backs to a young Vito Corleone (De Niro) in New York, contrasted with the struggles of son Michael (Pacino), who has shifted the base of power to Lake Tahoe. The film won the Best Picture Oscar, as well as Best Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Director Francis Ford Coppola, and Supporting Actor De Niro. Oscar nominees included Pacino for Best Actor, Michael Gazzo and Lee Strasberg for Best Supporting Actor, and Shire for Best Supporting Actress. In the Name of the Father (1993)- Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson, John Lynch, Corin Redgrave. This is the searing factual account of Gerry Conlon, who is among those wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the 1974 Guildford pub bombing. His father is later imprisoned as an accomplice. The film does an excellent job of exposing British abuses of innocent people, but was robbed of the Best Picture Oscar by the more P.C. Schindler's List. It did receive several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Actor Day-Lewis, Supporting Actor Postlethwaite, Supporting Actress Thompson, and Director Jim Sheridan. Pulp Fiction (1994)- John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel Jackson, Bruce Willis, Eric Stoltz, Ving Rhames, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Christopher Walken. Quentin Tarantino directed this film set that is centered around three basic plot lines. The all-star cast, stylish filming, and unusual characters make this a modern classic. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Nominations included Best Picture, Director Tarantino, Actor Travolta, Supporting Actor Jackson, and Supporting Actress Thurman. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)- Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Wolf Kahler, Denholm Elliott, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey. This blockbuster hit was directed by Stephen Spielberg. Ford plays Indiana Jones, an archaeologist in the 1930's who is recruited by the U.S. government to find the Lost Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. Opening in a Peruvian jungle, this action-packed film later moves to Egypt and beyond. It won a few minor Oscars, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director (Spielberg). Rocky (1976)- Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers. This is the classic under-dog story of Rocky Balboa, a South Philly club fighter who gets his dream shot at the heavy-weight title. It won the Best Picture Oscar and John Avildsen walked away with the Oscar for Best Director. Nominations included Stallone for Best Actor and Original Screenplay, Shire for Best Actress, and both Young and Meredith for Best Supporting Actor. Yo! Adrian!!!

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