Adapted from an award-winning novella by science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison, A Boy And His Dog has won a cult following of its own for its offbeat, sardonic look into the future.

It has a creepy power all its own.

It's about ordinary people living in the shadow of nagging, day-to-day racism, and about the music that reminds them of what's right with the world rather than what's wrong.

Though the story is a hackneyed one--the rise of an itinerant to a position of power--Cagney is so dynamic that he rivets the viewer's attention.

This story of an extramarital fling that turns into a nightmare begins as a well-crafted psychological thriller but degenerates into a misogynistic thrill-fest in its closing moments.

LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON had many faults and yet, as the song goes, "with all it's faults, we love it still."

Friedkin's Sorcerer is just as gripping and spine-tingling an adventure film as The Wages of Fear and, at times, surpasses the original film with breathtaking photography and a superb use of sound (the scene on the bridge is truly amazing). The musical score by German electronic experimental band Tangerine Dream is brilliant and haunting. The eerie electronic music adds immeasurably to the overall effect of the film, complementing the exotic imagery perfectly.

The famed Medfield campus is the site for another romp courtesy of Walt Disney and producer Bill Anderson. The film, which pokes fun at the hype put out by cereal companies, has some of the students discovering a formula to give humans super strength.

Gorgeous and menacing at the same time.

Stallone creates a thoroughly enjoyable character, constantly hustling and delivering a nonstop stream of chatter, showing the kind of engaging work he was capable of early in his career.

Adapted (with some changes) by Roald Dahl from his famous children's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka creates a marvelous world as close to heaven as any kid can imagine and never talks down to its young audience. The film is sometimes dark in its tone but by the end (when Wonka's motives and true nature are revealed) it is fabulously uplifting.

Clever, exciting, and fun, The Last Starfighter boasts good performances by Guest and Preston, and a literate, funny script that highlights the real story: not the space war that only Guest can win but the difficulty of leaving home, family, and security for a totally new life when the opportunity presents itself.

It honestly delivers the goods without all the preachy moralizing about violent entertainment and cultural ruin.

Works best as an illustration of the way conspiracy theories serve to weave threads of order, however fantastic, during moments of incomprehensible upheaval.

Occasionally overrated as a writer but consistently underrated as a director, Towne does a marvelous job resurrecting all the seedy jumble of the long-gone Bunker Hill neighborhood.

Klapisch's use of split screens, fragmented images and nouvelle vague-ish editing would be annoying if it weren't so in keeping with the youthful exuberance his characters haven't quite lost.

John Curran's pretty melodrama rubs off a few of the barbed edges from W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel about love and infidelity in a time of cholera, but no matter: the centerpiece is Naomi Watts' outstanding portrayal of an adulteress redeemed.

The story, a romance with an interesting detective twist, is combined with exquisite caricatures of both humans and dogs.

It's slick, romantic, funny (Close has a great rapport with her beer-guzzling, foul-mouthed mentor, Robert Loggia), intriguing, and filled with excellent performances.

The film's resolution is both haunting and satisfying.

Moore and Harrelson are very well cast.

Eastwood has a deep love and understanding for the genre, and it shows in every frame of PALE RIDER. The supernatural elements of the story are incidental and handled in a restrained, subtle manner that does not distract from the story but enhances it, bringing another dimension to the oft-told tale. Eastwood the director has delivered a thought-provoking, well-crafted western.

A slick, stylish sequel to Harper (1966), this private-eye film has Newman reprising the role of Ross MacDonald's cool gumshoe, Lew Harper.

Preminger's heavy-handed adaptation of a Broadway triumph combines gorgeous music with risible lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; the project is saved by a terrific cast.

Only those who find the subject matter utterly disinteresting will be turned off by Brown's devoted, almost fanatical, approach. Otherwise, the film has a low-budget charm that won it many admirers in and out of the surfing community.

The first feature for director-cowriter Fran Rubel Kuzui, TOKYO POP manages to be entertaining despite its thin story line, mainly because of its striking visuals and the kooky charm of the leads.

Neither Ketchum nor the filmmakers take an exploitative approach to the material; their focus is the way the youngsters' petty cruelty erupts into murderous sadism.

It's a well-produced yearbook that will one day bring back sweet memories for the cast and fans, but probably won't be of interest to anyone who wasn't part of the scene.