A rollicking 1967 Burt Kennedy work, stars John Wayne and features an ingeniously planned heist plot. [21 May 1995, p.6]

A meditation on aging, friendship, betrayal and coming to terms with life's profound contradictions, interspersed with antic humor and some of the greatest battle scenes ever filmed. [01 Jan 2016, p.E4]

This witty and tender 1966 gem remains as timeless and fresh as ever.

If in Bresson's films nothing ever seems out of place or superfluous it's because he strove to find the essential truth of the image. Not an image or sound is wasted -- or offered up in self-glorification -- and from such seeming simplicity there arises a world of feeling.

The 1966 version of the much-remade Foreign Legion warhorse is more violent, less romantic and less watchable than others -- and its stars (Doug McClure, Telly Savalas) aren't exactly Gary Cooper (who was in the 1939 film) either. [08 Apr 1988, p.16]

From our current vantage point, the film's appeal has less to do with surrealism than nostalgia. It's a movie that potently evokes bygone attitudes and aesthetics -- a relic of the age of pre-digital effects, a product of both Cold War paranoia and midcentury techno-utopianism. [03 Jun 2007, p.E19]

Director Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back) moves the comedic action along at a rapid- pace. [02 Jul 2006, p.E13]

An emotional horror story, both the play and the film triggered controversy and challenged the status quo.

Cleverly written by William and Tania Rose, it's become a cold-war curio. [28 May 1989, p.2]

The glossy Stanley Donen thriller offers one surprise after another and lots of romantic byplay between Peck and Loren, including a sensational shower scene. [30 Sep 1990, p.85]

With a lovely, evocative score composed by Satyajit Ray, Shakespeare Wallah is a tribute to the gallantry, talent and courage of the Kendals. Its gentle humor, however, has a Chekhovian cast.

The wonderful thing about Band of Outsiders is that the daring elements that jazzed audiences then have the same power to intoxicate all these years later.

Remains a timeless, major work of a master.

The film now seems less urbane and innovative, more coldly flashy and bluntly affected -- full of sound and Furie, signifying little. [2 June 1987, p.Cal-1]

Notable for its on-screen vigor and two off-screen bits of drama: star John Wayne's recovery from lung cancer and supporting player Dennis Hopper's reunion with Hathaway after their legendary 78-take standoff in the 1958 From Hell to Texas. [23 Jul 1989, p.2]

Like a preliminary sketch for a vast and splendid mural, it unfolds Fellini's wonderful vision of life in all its joy and sadness, hope and fear, triumph and defeat, that emerges fully in the later movies. [20 May 2004, p.E13]

When the film stays simple, and concentrates on the actors--as in Juano Hernandez's withering bit as the old man who wants to talk--it's almost great. [28 July 1996, p.74]

The last great action movie filmed in black and white. [04 Nov 1994, p.F17]

It enables us to recapture exactly the delightful sensations felt all those years ago when we and the world were young and exciting together.

This may not be exact history, but it certainly makes an impression.

From Russia with Love, the second of the Bonds, remains one of the best. It finds Sean Connery's 007 going up against a diabolical Lotte Lenya and a psychopathic bleached blond, Robert Shaw. All the usual ingredients have been blended in just the right proportions under Terence Young's direction. [10 Apr 1988, p.2]

Even if the story of a widower (the great Chishû Ryû) and his daughter weren’t such a naturally compelling variation on Ozu’s themes of family, devotion and sacrifice, the exquisite balance of hues and textures in every shot would render it essential viewing.

Glaciers might be melting, the polar caps might be crumbling, but not even the passage of half a century has taken the frozen edge off this brilliantly icy film.

A terrific campy wallow from 1964 starring Bette Davis as twins. And double the Davis means double the fun. [08 Aug 2004, p.E14]

After suffering through two screenings of Dr. Strangelove, I would sooner drink hemlock.... To me, Dr. Strangelove is an evil thing about an evil thing; you will have to make up your own mind about it.

Elia Kazan drew from the experiences of his own uncle in this profound and exhilharating 19th-Century immigrant saga, made in 1963 and expressing passionately a love of this country. [27 Feb 1994, p.6]

Structurally, High and Low, which is remarkable in many ways--the camera work alone could serve as a primer in film technique--is quite a departure for Kurosawa.

There are plenty of brawls -- the stars end up in a mud pit and O'Hara runs through the town in her undergarments with Wayne on the case -- along with romance and fun. McLintock! certainly isn't subtle, but it was and is one of Wayne's most popular vehicles. [09 Oct 2005, p.E13]

Polanski over-thinks much of this film -- in the same ways that many of us may over-think the details at these moments. He reaches for a psychological instead of an active tone. But the movie still has a taut and creepy impact, like a bug crawling up your arm. [25 Oct 1991, p.F29]

Tom Jones is a product of the excesses as well as the experimentalism of its time: Some of the style quirks are just silly, and there's a tiresome nudge-nudge, wink-wink quality to much of the humor. It's well worth a repeat visit, though. [25 Oct 1989, p.F11]

Norman Jewison directed, but overall it's surprisingly labored, with that cheesy, set-bound look of a lot of many early '60s Universal pictures. [25 Mar 1988, p.22]

One of the most entertaining escape movies ever made, a rousing 1963 big-scale production directed by John Sturges and written by James Clavell. [12 May 1991, p.4]

A minor but enjoyable romp. [03 Mar 1991, p.66]

It's pure soap opera, but the race sequences are pretty impressive. [19 Sep 2007, p.E6]

A rare Williams comedy, this featherweight 1962 version, directed by George Roy Hill, is made palatable by the performances of Jane Fonda and Jim Hutton as newlyweds. [27 Apr 2003, p.29]

The Manchurian Candidate proves that its fascination is intact. [12 Jan 1998, p.C1; Re-Release]

Arguably one of the best translations to film of any Broadway musical. [15 Nov 1991, p.F26]

Lolita may be a flawed adaptation, but it's still a great movie. While the film fails to capture the compulsive, microscopically detailed obsession of Nabokov's antihero, Humbert Humbert, it does explore (sometimes shockingly, even now) a kind of sexual destruction in frank (and often hilarious) ways. [30 Jan 1992, p.11]

The Road to Hong Kong was the last of the Hope-Crosby "Road" pictures, and even though a lot stiffer in the joints than the others, well worth watching -- especially for Peter Sellers' wacky scene. [07 Dec 1990, p.F20]

Despite studio indifference, this was perhaps the one time in his career Sam Peckinpah enjoyed an uncomplicated, nearly universal critical response: The movie was instantly hailed as a modern Western classic. [18 May 1997, p.81]

Just like the play, the first half is a delicious, hotel-room-set duel of desperate characters, while the second half goes awry. [01 Dec 1989, p.F18]

Saucy, sophisticated 1961 comedy. [26 Apr 1996, p.F22]

One of the scariest films ever made. Deborah Kerr gives one of her greatest performances as a rather high-strung governess. [15 Aug 2003, p.18]

It's an ode to heroism, idealism and romance that still sweeps us away.

I daresay most spectators will also find the pull of this film irresistible. The — hardest — problem faced by its adapters must have been one of intangibles — how to make an essentially ballet-opera form believable as realistic cinema — and they have all but licked it. West Side Story never quite shakes off an aura of pretentiousness but its portentousness is stronger and that is all to the good.

Its reflection of the Westerns makes it more accessible to an American audience than some of his other movies and, although his characters have complicated moral shadings typical of Kurosawa films, Yojimbo can be enjoyed on a surface level. The simple plot moves and carries you along. [11 Apr 1991, p.13]

A silly action-adventure written and directed by the master of movie disasters, Irwin Allen. It stars a stiff Walter Pidgeon as the admiral of a U.S. nuclear submarine whose mission is to save the Earth from the Van Allen radiation belt that has caught on fire. [24 Jul 2002, p.2]

A charming comedy, liberally laced with slapstick. [26 Dec 1986, p.27]

A consummate entertainment rich with the romantic atmosphere of Paris in the 1950s. Coming at a turning point in French cinematic history, it drew upon several major talents - director Louis Malle, star Jeanne Moreau, cinematographer Henri Decaë, musician Miles Davis - and achieved near-legendary results with all of them.

A brilliantly conceived epic fable.

About 30 years ahead of its time, Blast of Silence follows a hit man (Baron) who heads to New York over the holidays and finds the Christmas spirit interfering with his killer instincts. [13 Apr 2008, p.E10]

Cruella De Vil dominates the film: With her booming voice (provided by Betty Lou Gerson) and extravagant gestures, she leaves a trail of shattered glass and frazzled nerves wherever she passes. [12 July 1991, p.F12]

Despite an undercurrent of rebellion against adult attitudes, the point of view about sex is so conservative that the film could have been shown at PTA meetings without a murmur of protest. [25 Nov 1990, p.62]

Trumbo's dialogue has its corny moments, purple patches and inevitable preachy passages, and the cast is jarringly uneven...but on the whole Exodus is a formidable accomplishment embracing suspense, danger, passion, romance, politics, religion, intrigue, sacrifice and bravery in an entertaining fashion for 3 1/2 hours. [10 Sep 1998, p.F12]

An eerie, atmospheric horror film. [08 Aug 2004, p.E14]

Tony Richardson’s 1960 The Entertainer, based on the John Osborne play, is a cultural event of the first importance.

The endearing Judy Holliday's last film, 1960's Bells are Ringing, may not be her best, but it's definitely worth tuning in. [29 Dec 1996, p.4]

A scathing, ingeniously funny 1960 portrayal of corporate corruption and backstairs sex. [18 March 1988, p.C24]

A movie like Ben-Hur, while almost never stirring or imaginative in the way that the true epics of Griffith or Gance or Kurosawa are, nevertheless has a basic appeal.

Sitting through Plan 9 From Outer Space can be torture for film purists, whose cinematic souls well may be soiled by Edward D. Wood Jr.'s banzai extravaganza of bad taste, bad execution and bad results. [24 Sep 1992, p.12]

The film has a marvelous first half. All of Zinnemann's best qualities -- tact, taste, integrity, quiet intellect and idealism -- shine through in the convent scenes, as does the acting. However, good as Peter Finch is (as an agnostic doctor), the second half seems hurried, over-reticent. [25 Mar 1988, p.22]

A warm and largely amusing family film. [18 Oct 1987, p.5]

A rambling fat memoir about a soldier returning home to a Midwestern city, where his roughhouse, bravura ways tear the delicate social fabric apart, has lots of sleazy, low-life glamour on the screen. Scenarist John Patrick and director Vincente Minnelli made it work in this memorable 1959 film.

The movie is sheer soap opera, but fine writing by Terence Rattigan (upon whose play it is based) gives the melodrama meaning. And a cast sure to make any movie lover swoon (David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth and Wendy Hiller) takes the poignancy to levels that are sometimes painful to watch. [07 Oct 1993, p.17]

The Oscar-winning Mon Oncle, in which Tati returned as Hulot, finds the filmmaker in a no less humorous, yet more critical, mood. [02 Feb 1995, p.F4]

Richard Brooks adapted and directed this superbly acted though watered-down -- all references to homosexuality were deleted -- 1958 version of Williams' popular 1955 play. [30 Apr 2006, p.E14]

An audacious, brilliantly twisted movie, infused with touches of genius and of madness. A disturbing meditation on the interconnected nature of love and obsession disguised as a penny dreadful shocker. [13 Oct 1996, p.C5]

Long considered one of the ultimate drive-in movies, the granddaddy of both "The Last American Hero" and "Smokey and the Bandit," this black-and-white drama is still entertaining if you take it in the raffish, off-slant, what-the-hell spirit with which star-producer Robert Mitchum obviously intended it. [09 Dec 1988, p.24]

A taut, well-acted World War II sub drama starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster and directed by Robert Wise. [27 May 1999, p.F50]

No amount of repeated viewings can dull the edge of its sinister ambience or soften the visual excitement Welles brought to this quintessentially cinematic film. [Director's Cut]

Cheesy but entertaining 1957 thriller. [29 Oct 2003, p.E5]

This is one of those rare birds: a well-done biopic that does justice to its famous subject. [11 Mar 1994, p.F24]

A small western gem.

The film, directed by Leo McCarey, is almost a shot-by-shot remake of his 1939 hit "Love Affair," with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne, but this version sparkles thanks to Grant and Kerr's crackling chemistry. [15 Jan 2008, p.E11]

Coop is too long in the tooth as the rich rogue, but Hepburn and the Parisian locales make this worth watching. [13 Feb 1997, p.F43]

A near-classic, balanced evenly between camp and carnality.

Deliciously addictive. [12 Jul 2001, p.18]

Todd and Anderson's Around the World in 80 Days is an overstuffed, star-crammed affair, but it's also a sly charmer. [11 Jun 1992, p.14]

Gorgeous landscapes and paintings provide respite from the film’s overwrought emotion.

The term classic gets tossed around a lot, but few films ever actually fall within its definition. John Huston's 1956 production of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, coolly received by critics when it first came out, now falls within the parameters -- a model of its kind. [03 Sep 1993, p.F23]

Like “Stray Dog” and “Drunken Angel,” it illuminates a reeling society while telling a story of deep human emotion.

It's not hard to see why this paranoid fable on the dangers of conformity would prove irresistible to generations of storytellers, given its capacity for alternative interpretations and double meanings, its ability to reflect a larger cultural and political relevance no matter the period.

A haunting, elegaic reverie of a movie; its opening battle scenes recalling John Ford’s cavalry westerns.

The music is memorable, Michael Kidd's choreography is energetic and the cast is game. But there's a certain spark missing that would have transformed it from good to great. [25 Apr 2006, p.E2]

It is one of the simplest of Bunuel's films but is also among his most powerful and subtle. [17 Sep 1995, p.6]

Zinnemann doesn't seem to know he is directing a Great Broadway Musical. The result is a well-staged drama that just happens to have great songs in it. [16 Dec 1994, p.F26]

A brilliant mixture of laughter and pathos with delightful performances from Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell (in his last role) and Jack Lemmon, who received an Oscar as the enterprising Ensign Pulver. [24 Dec 1998, p.F12]

A powerfully cinematic modern allegory of love and fear. [20 Oct 1987, p.3]

Capturing the pain and humor of genuine childhood feelings requires far more subtlety and skill, and this emotional depth makes Lady and the Tramp a timeless film that audiences will still enjoy 31 years from now.

Marty is a must-see picture. [11 Jan 1956, p.6]

Not only one of Kazan's richest films and Dean's first significant role, it is also arguably the actor's best performance. [10 June 2005, p.E12]

The draggiest of the Crosby holiday vehicles. Even the usually manic Danny Kaye is reduced to a kind of nagging Man Friday. There are some good tunes, though (Berlin was in on this one, too). [19 Dec 1991, p.12]

Ava Gardner in the role of her career (Humphrey Bogart isn't bad either) and writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz at the top of his form. [03 Dec 2006, p.18]

As unspoiled in its key elements as the day it was made, "On the Waterfront" is indisputably one of the great American films, its power undiminished. Even more today than half a century ago, it demands to be seen.

It's an ingeious thriller, all right, in the science-fiction tradition of "War of the Worlds" and "It Came From Outer Space" -- with a bit of "The Naked Jungle" thrown in. [19 Jun 1954, p.12]

With its inspired sight gags and comic mishaps, the deceptively artless-seeming "Mr. Hulot's Holiday" is as blissful as a sunny day at the beach. [02 Feb 1995, p.F4]

De Toth never makes a false move, never lets up a breakneck pace and gets sensational performances from one of those amazing casts we once took for granted in Hollywood pictures. [13 Aug 1998, p.F16]

A drive-in classic that is one of the most cherished horror pictures of the '50s. [30 Oct 1997, p.F17]