Slap Happy: How Hollywood Handled the Art of Face Clap
by StevenKeys | created - 25 Jun 2022 | updated - 16 Mar 2023 | Public‘Two hands clap and there is a sound, but what is the sound of one hand?’
....... Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769)
“That slap was real.” Words of Ann Blyth recalling her big movie moment on Turner Classic Movies (98) (pre-ATT), the petite, pretty 16-year old co-starring in her major film debut in play of the vicious Veda who fells film giant and Mildred-Pierce star Joan Crawford with a surprise slap that must’ve sent tremors throughout the set. And Joan wouldn’t have had it any other way, a face-clap as real a deal as one could feel, she and director Mike Curtiz the consumate film professionals who believed going all-in produced the best result and with track records to prove it. Most movie slaps were simulated, made to appear real, an artistic achievement that fooled fine and spared receivers the callomine. But when flesh-met-flesh with force, the result could be shocking. Courage wasn’t written into the players contracts but better implied if you wanted work, whether a big star like Joan, or new kid on the block from the land of Lafayette & Le-Mans. Mademoiselle Isabelle Corey (Annē) shows that same wherewithal when she comes clean to Bob-Le-Flambeur (56) (Duchesne) after spilling the beans on an upcoming heist and receives the inverted “spanking” the Pope of Montmartre had promised her, yet, “hardly blinked an eye (The-Haves).” Magnifique!
The Veda-Mildred slap may be the most famous in movie annals, fixed atop, now that the face-clap has been replaced by the fist-punch as later Classic and contemporary producers, portending advocacy, opt for overkill in mistaken belief that brazen behavior, extreme pain and humiliation will win the argument. In other words, stick it to the man and nuance be damned. But early movie makers knew better, that in verbal confrontations, a finessed physical expression (slap), one properly torqued & timed, is a better persuader, working a balance between anger & sound judgment that in real life is less likely to trigger the same or greater response, i.e., fistacuffs. A perception put to the test at the 2022 Oscars.
Slaps, of course, have landed when the cameras weren’t rolling (Mitchum on Preminger in Angel-Face) or at Hollywood haunts and homes, most taken in stride, but when it happens on a televised award gala it makes waves. That it did at the now infamous 94th Academy Awards when a petulant aggressor (Smith), lacking the most basic judgment capabiity, heard his name mentioned and handled it badly, acting with impunity in strut on stage and slapping the presenter (Rock) who’d made light of a perceived familial rivalry for that nite’s Oscar but who, rather than retaliate, took one for the team (AMPAS) so that aforementioned hell didn’t break loose. And what did the team do? They sat on their hands, of course (oy).
On social impact, it’s the Endicott-Tibbs exchange In-the-Heat-of-the-Night (67) which still stings. Character actor Larry Gates plays the paternalistic plantation owner taking great offense at being questioned by a black Philadelphia homicide detective (Poitier), and skilled medical-examiner, who’s been asked to assist in a local murder case, back-handing Tibbs in gesture, the cop quickly returning serve but, like Frazier in Fight-of-the-Century (71), Mister goes “back to the country," a slap so enraged it seems to bear the pain of 300 years in slavery & servitude. All the while, the Chief (Steiger) looks on amazed and confused.
In the funny department (yes, hand-hellos could be funny in the Classics), it is in director Sergio Leone’s My-Name-Is-Nobody (73) where his dry sense of humor is put on display when leading man Terence Hill, terrific with a gun, keeps it holstered and instead uses the fastest hands in the West to slap some manners into seriously befuddled bad guy Marc Mazza. But then you can’t go wrong with any of The-Three-Stooges film shorts, each replete with nose-twisting (Ouch), eye-poking (Ouch) and head-clonk (Ouch!).
The saddest slap, and the contenders are many, is a series of blows suffered by Faye Dunaway in Polanski’s masterpiece, Chinatown (74). Evelyn Cross Mulwray has the twisted family tree, her attacker, the well-meaning but snake-bit ex-cop-turned-PI, Jake Gittes (Nicholson) who goes out-on-a-limb yet can’t figure from where the trouble grows or will lead: “She’s my daughter (slap), she’s my sister (slap) (again).”
There are slaps that never land at all, but impactful, nonetheless. Lara Antipova (Christie) is a little bit in love and alot defensive of the just discharged Dr Yuri Zhivago (Shariff), his memory getting stabbed in the back by a big-mouth bolshevik (Kay), the nurse throwing him an angry glare with the unexpected ferocity of the fiercest face-clap.
And then there’s the slap “heard (and seen) round the world,” a planet that, at the time, hadn’t suffered this much trouble (WW2) since that meteor slammed into the Yucatan (RIP dinosaurs), thrown by another little pretty, a redhead this time (Garson), Mrs-Miniver. The British wife, mother and all-around good egg has just had her brain scrambled by a downed Nazi fly-boy (Dantine) who‘s invaded her home (Mr Pidgeon is on rescue boat for Dunkirk duty), her face-clap landing with the meta-physical force of “6 military divisions,” recalling what Winston Churchill said of the War contribution made by the MGM gem. It would take Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor (12.7.41) to bring America into the fight, FDR’s Lend-Lease and Mrs’ passionate response playing pivtol parts to put the Yanks on the launching-pad, emotionally prepared for lift-off when the call to arms could no longer be staved-off by isolationists. One high-profile slap inspires the free world in their fight against fascism, another only spurs celebrity chatter to expose a security lapse. Different days, indeed.
You probably won’t watch a movie solely for a slap, but if you happen upon these features, keep your eyes peeled as each face-clap will leave its mark, on your mind. And except for Mrs-Miniver in the top spot, the remaining order is random, not a ranking.
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1. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, War
A British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, May Whitty
Votes: 19,474 | Gross: $13.50M
2. Mildred Pierce (1945)
Approved | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden
Votes: 28,690
3. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War
A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 334,472 | Gross: $198.68M
4. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant
Votes: 83,604 | Gross: $24.38M
5. Inherit the Wind (1960)
Passed | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
Based on a real-life case in 1925; two great lawyers argue the case for, and against, a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Dick York
Votes: 32,792
6. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
PG | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
When Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.
Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains
Votes: 54,522 | Gross: $3.98M
7. The Americanization of Emily (1964)
Approved | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An American Naval Officer's talent for living the good life in wartime is challenged when he falls in love and is sent on a dangerous mission.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas, James Coburn
Votes: 5,701
8. The Great Lie (1941)
Approved | 108 min | Drama
After a newlywed's husband apparently dies in a plane crash, she discovers that her rival for his affections is pregnant with his child.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, George Brent, Mary Astor, Lucile Watson
Votes: 4,347
9. The Mortal Storm (1940)
Passed | 100 min | Drama
The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. When the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan
Votes: 6,046
10. The Opposite Sex (1956)
Not Rated | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Former nightclub singer Kay Hilliard, married 10 years and mother of a young daughter, is informed that her husband Steven is having an affair with chorus girl Crystal Allen, so she goes to Reno for a divorce.
Director: David Miller | Stars: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan
Votes: 1,964 | Gross: $6.02M
11. To Have and Have Not (1944)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Film-Noir
During World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Dolores Moran
Votes: 38,017
12. Whispering Smith (1948)
Passed | 88 min | Western
Legendary railroad detective Whispering Smith becomes convinced that old friend and colleague Murray Sinclair has joined a criminal band to loot the railroad.
Director: Leslie Fenton | Stars: Alan Ladd, Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall, Donald Crisp
Votes: 1,386
13. The Gunfighter (1950)
Approved | 85 min | Western
Notorious gunfighter Jimmy Ringo rides into town to find his true love, who doesn't want to see him. He hasn't come looking for trouble, but trouble finds him around every corner.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker
Votes: 12,533
14. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Approved | 106 min | Biography, Drama, History
A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp
Votes: 6,165
15. Flamingo Road (1949)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A corrupt small town sheriff manipulates local candidates to the state legislature but he eventually comes into conflict with a visiting carnival dancer.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet, David Brian
Votes: 3,634 | Gross: $2.26M
16. Bob the Gambler (1956)
PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After losing big, an aging gambler decides to assemble a team to rob a casino.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey, Daniel Cauchy, Guy Decomble
Votes: 13,365 | Gross: $0.02M
17. Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
Approved | 123 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
At the height of the Roman Civil War, a young Cleopatra (Vivien Leigh) meets a middle-aged Julius Caesar (Claude Rains), who teaches her how to rule Egypt.
Director: Gabriel Pascal | Stars: Claude Rains, Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger, Flora Robson
Votes: 3,141
18. Maisie (1939)
Approved | 75 min | Comedy, Drama
A showgirl stranded in a Wyoming town ends up being hired as a maid at a ranch.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Robert Young, Ann Sothern, Ruth Hussey, Ian Hunter
Votes: 691
19. Ring of Fire (1961)
Approved | 91 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
In the 1960s Oregon, two sheriff deputies arrest three teenagers for robbery but are overpowered and taken hostage while forest fires rage all around them.
Director: Andrew L. Stone | Stars: David Janssen, Joyce Taylor, Frank Gorshin, Joel Marston
Votes: 676
20. Carry on Cowboy (1965)
Not Rated | 93 min | Comedy, Western
Stodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a "sanitary engineer" (plumber) by the name of Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal! Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids - revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise...
Director: Gerald Thomas | Stars: Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey
Votes: 3,390
21. The Sidewalks of London (1938)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy
Pickpocket Libby gets support from street performer Charles, and her dancing leads to her invitation to theater patron Harley's party which in turn launches Libby's stage career while Charles keeps on struggling in the streets.
Director: Tim Whelan | Stars: Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison, Larry Adler
Votes: 1,469
22. Kiss Me Kate (1953)
Passed | 109 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An ex-husband and wife team star in a musical version of 'The Taming of the Shrew'; off-stage, the production is troublesome with ex-lovers' quarrels and two gangsters looking for some money owed to them.
Director: George Sidney | Stars: Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 6,817 | Gross: $4.38M
23. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,862 | Gross: $2.08M
24. Sinbad, the Sailor (1947)
Approved | 116 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
In medieval Persia, during the rule of Caliph Harun-Al-Rashid, Sinbad the Sailor boasts about his latest adventures to his friends.
Director: Richard Wallace | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, Anthony Quinn
Votes: 2,242
25. The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
Approved | 92 min | Comedy, Romance
A financially-strapped charter pilot hires himself to an oil tycoon to kidnap his madcap daughter and prevent her from marrying a vapid band leader.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Stuart Erwin, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 3,734
26. April in Paris (1952)
Unrated | 100 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A series of misunderstandings leads to a chorus girl traveling to Paris to represent the American theater, where she falls in love with a befuddled bureaucrat.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin, Eve Miller
Votes: 1,515
27. Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Sport
Knockout performances by Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Julie Harris highlight this hard-hitting drama of corruption in the ring. Featuring Muhammad Ali.
Director: Ralph Nelson | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris
Votes: 4,838
28. Rancho Notorious (1952)
Approved | 89 min | Western
After the murder of his fiancée, a Wyoming ranch hand sets out to find her killer.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Gloria Henry
Votes: 5,532
29. The Miracle Worker (1962)
Approved | 106 min | Biography, Drama
The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson
Votes: 20,517 | Gross: $5.45M
30. The Badlanders (1958)
Approved | 85 min | Western
Released from the Yuma Prison in 1898, ex-killer John McBain wants to go straight while ex-robber Peter Van Hoek seeks revenge but their destinies eventually converge in the mining town of Prescott.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Alan Ladd, Ernest Borgnine, Katy Jurado, Claire Kelly
Votes: 1,688
31. Johnny Angel (1945)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After a New Orleans merchant ship captain finds his father's sister ship derelict at sea, he investigates the crew's mysterious disappearance amid rumors of a smuggled gold cargo.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Signe Hasso, Lowell Gilmore
Votes: 1,233
32. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Passed | 121 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft
Votes: 283,689 | Gross: $25.00M
33. Trail Street (1947)
Approved | 84 min | Western
Bat Masterson's old friend Billy Burns convinces him to become marshal of Liberal, Kansas and help the residents fight drought and a destructive range war.
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George 'Gabby' Hayes
Votes: 829
34. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
PG | 130 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 499,396
35. The Corn Is Green (1945)
Approved | 115 min | Drama
A schoolteacher becomes the mentor of a talented young miner and seeks to get him into a university.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Bette Davis, John Dall, Nigel Bruce, Rhys Williams
Votes: 3,223
36. Midnight Run (1988)
R | 126 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton
Votes: 94,284 | Gross: $38.41M
37. Crossfire (1947)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of demobilized soldiers he met in a bar. But which one? And why?
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame
Votes: 9,709 | Gross: $1.30M
38. The Arizonian (1935)
Passed | 75 min | Western
In a film where the leading character is a composite of several American-frontier lawmen (mostly Wyatt Earp,) Clay Tallant comes to Silver City, Arizona in the 1880s and encounters ... See full summary »
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Richard Dix, Margot Grahame, Preston Foster, Louis Calhern
Votes: 200
39. The Feminine Touch (1941)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy
An author writing a book on jealousy discovers his wife is an expert on the subject.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Kay Francis, Van Heflin
Votes: 971
40. 99 River Street (1953)
Not Rated | 83 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A former boxer turned cab driver has to hide from the police when his badgering wife is murdered by the jewel thief she was having an affair with.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: John Payne, Evelyn Keyes, Brad Dexter, Frank Faylen
Votes: 3,439
41. Ride the High Country (1962)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Western
An ex-union soldier is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr
Votes: 14,846
42. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
Approved | 124 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A seductive woman falls in love with a mysterious ship's captain.
Director: Albert Lewin | Stars: James Mason, Ava Gardner, Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim
Votes: 4,744
43. Out of the Past (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming
Votes: 40,943
44. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,258,257 | Gross: $46.84M
45. Bright Eyes (1934)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
An orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Shirley Temple, James Dunn, Jane Darwell, Judith Allen
Votes: 2,471
46. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Sport
A young thief takes up long-distance running when he is sent to a borstal.
Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Michael Redgrave, Tom Courtenay, Avis Bunnage, Alec McCowen
Votes: 9,373
47. Westward the Women (1951)
Passed | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A trail guide escorts a group of women from Chicago to California to marry men that have recently begun settling there.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson, John McIntire
Votes: 3,805
48. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama
A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus
Votes: 97,994
49. A Cry in the Night (1956)
Approved | 75 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A deranged man kidnaps the nubile daughter of a police captain.
Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Brian Donlevy, Natalie Wood, Raymond Burr
Votes: 968
50. My Brilliant Career (1979)
G | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Wendy Hughes, Robert Grubb
Votes: 4,803
51. Seven Angry Men (1955)
Passed | 90 min | Biography, History, Western
Rise, fall and execution of John Brown, fanatic abolitionist.
Director: Charles Marquis Warren | Stars: Raymond Massey, Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter, Larry Pennell
Votes: 397
52. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson
Votes: 236,575
53. The Breaking Point (1950)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An otherwise moral captain of a charter boat becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Juano Hernandez
Votes: 4,408
54. Stromboli (1950)
Approved | 81 min | Drama
Karin, a young woman from the Baltic countries, marries fisherman Antonio to escape from a prison camp. But she cannot get used to the tough life in Antonio's volcano-threatened village, Stromboli.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Mario Vitale, Renzo Cesana, Mario Sponzo
Votes: 7,971
55. The Verdict (1982)
R | 129 min | Drama
An outcast, alcoholic Boston lawyer sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason
Votes: 46,007 | Gross: $54.00M
56. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson's Mouchette.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green, François Lafarge, Jean-Claude Guilbert
Votes: 22,839 | Gross: $0.04M
57. In the Navy (1941)
Passed | 86 min | Comedy
Russ Raymond, America's number one crooner, disappears and joins the Navy under the name Tommy Halstead. Dorothy Roberts, a magazine journalist, is intent on finding out what happened to ... See full summary »
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Powell, Claire Dodd
Votes: 3,213
58. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A bitter clown endeavors to rescue the young woman he loves from the lecherous count who once betrayed him.
Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ruth King
Votes: 4,295 | Gross: $0.19M
59. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
When a troupe of danseuses becomes unemployed, one of them takes up burlesque dancing while another dreams of performing ballet.
Directors: Dorothy Arzner, Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field
Votes: 3,082
60. Gilda (1946)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A small-time gambler hired to work in a Buenos Aires casino discovers his employer's new wife is his former lover.
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready, Joseph Calleia
Votes: 35,294
61. Women's Prison (1955)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A sadistic prison warden takes out her sexual frustration on her women inmates. While a caring physician tries to improve the jail's brutal atmosphere, a pair of rebellious inmates take matters into their own hands.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter
Votes: 1,153
62. Arena (1953)
Approved | 83 min | Drama, Sport, Western
Rodeo rider's marriage is endangered because of his commitment to the sport.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Gig Young, Jean Hagen, Polly Bergen, Harry Morgan
Votes: 308
63. The Strange One (1957)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Film-Noir
Students faced with an ethical dilemma about the dehumanization associated with the tradition of hazing, at a military college in the Southern United States, take matters in their own hands.
Director: Jack Garfein | Stars: Ben Gazzara, Pat Hingle, Peter Mark Richman, Arthur Storch
Votes: 1,365
64. Joan of Paris (1942)
Passed | 91 min | Drama, Romance, War
An RAF squadron is brought down over occupied France. The flyers reach Paris in spite of the fact that the youngest is injured; his wounds need treating and he must stay hidden. The Gestapo has already issued orders for their arrest.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Michèle Morgan, Paul Henreid, Thomas Mitchell, Laird Cregar
Votes: 931
65. Point Blank (1967)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the money that was stolen from him.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O'Connor
Votes: 23,252
66. A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Approved | 128 min | Drama
A substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a poor black family.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands
Votes: 9,573
67. Along the Great Divide (1951)
Approved | 88 min | Western
A U.S. Marshall and two deputies rescue a cattle rustler from a lynch mob led by a local cattle baron convinced that the rustler also killed his son.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, John Agar, Walter Brennan
Votes: 2,268
68. The Wagons Roll at Night (1941)
Approved | 84 min | Drama, Romance
After local grocery clerk rescues a baby from an escaped lion, a circus owner builds him into an attraction but balks when he falls in love with his sister.
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Sylvia Sidney, Eddie Albert, Joan Leslie
Votes: 1,209
69. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Crime
In London, four very different people team up on a jewel heist, then try to double-cross one another for the loot, complicated by their efforts to fool a very proper barrister.
Directors: Charles Crichton, John Cleese | Stars: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin
Votes: 153,981 | Gross: $63.49M
70. Raw Deal (1948)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) has taken the rap for Rick (Raymond Burr), who double-crosses him with a flawed escape plan and other means intended to get rid of him.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland
Votes: 5,611
71. Desperate Journey (1942)
Passed | 107 min | Drama, War
When the crew of a downed British bomber escape from their Nazi captors with Top Secret intelligence, they make a desperate journey to get out of Germany alive.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey
Votes: 2,592
72. Captains Courageous (1937)
G | 117 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship in the 1920s gets picked up by a New England fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas
Votes: 10,927
73. Red River (1948)
Passed | 133 min | Drama, Western
Dunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.
Directors: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson | Stars: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan
Votes: 34,415
74. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Unrated | 116 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A man is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband who believes he knows the truth about the death of her rich aunt years earlier.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas
Votes: 11,095
75. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 233,416 | Gross: $44.91M
76. Africa Screams (1949)
Passed | 79 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Two booksellers search for diamonds in Africa, along the way meeting a visually-impaired gunner, a hungry lion, and a tribe of cannibals.
Director: Charles Barton | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Clyde Beatty, Frank Buck
Votes: 4,058
77. The Last Posse (1953)
Passed | 73 min | Western
After a disgruntled rancher and his sons rob at gun-point a rival rancher, the town forms a posse to go after the culprits but the ensuing events are muddled by unclear facts, false testimony, old scores, secrets, murder and stolen money.
Director: Alfred L. Werker | Stars: Broderick Crawford, John Derek, Charles Bickford, Wanda Hendrix
Votes: 537
78. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Passed | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore
Votes: 29,987
79. Melody for Two (1937)
Approved | 60 min | Romance, Musical
Mel Lynch and his aide 'Remorse' Rumson are wheeler dealer managers for big band leader Tod Weaver. They finally get him into the big time but then must deal with competing singers Gale Starr and Lorna Wray.
Director: Louis King | Stars: James Melton, Patricia Ellis, Marie Wilson, Fred Keating
Votes: 70
80. Arabesque (1966)
Passed | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
International intrigue in London, involving an American university professor, an Arab prime minister, a ruthless businessman, a beautiful spy, and hieroglyphics.
Director: Stanley Donen | Stars: Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Alan Badel, Kieron Moore
Votes: 7,959
81. Scarlet Street (1945)
Approved | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay
Votes: 19,208
82. Wild Strawberries (1957)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance
After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 115,052
83. Rio Bravo (1959)
Passed | 141 min | Western
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson
Votes: 68,102 | Gross: $12.54M
84. Juke Girl (1942)
Passed | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Danny and Steve are migrant farm workers who wind up in Cat Tail, Florida. Cat Tail is run by Madden Packing and Danny works for Madden while Steve works for the underdog farmer named Nick.... See full summary »
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, Richard Whorf, George Tobias
Votes: 545
85. My Name Is Nobody (1973)
PG | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Western
A young, easy-going gunman worships and competes with a famed gunfighter, insisting that he must face down a gang of 150 outlaws before he can retire.
Director: Tonino Valerii | Stars: Terence Hill, Henry Fonda, Jean Martin, R.G. Armstrong
Votes: 29,587 | Gross: $0.39M
86. Gun Glory (1957)
Approved | 89 min | Western
A gunfighter defends his town when cattlemen threaten to destroy it by stampeding cattle through the farmlands.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Stewart Granger, Rhonda Fleming, Chill Wills, Steve Rowland
Votes: 901
87. The Outfit (1973)
PG | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Earl Macklin robs a bank owned by the mob, serves his prison time and is released, only to start a private war against the crime outfit that owned the bank.
Director: John Flynn | Stars: Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker, Robert Ryan
Votes: 4,812
88. The Glass Key (1942)
Passed | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy, Bonita Granville
Votes: 7,403
89. In This Our Life (1942)
Approved | 97 min | Drama
The day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.
Directors: John Huston, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan
Votes: 5,263
90. Kind Lady (1935)
Approved | 76 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Henry, a homeless artist, is invited in from the cold by Mary. Her kindness is exploited as Henry, his family and friends manipulate their way into living in her home. Mary tries to get rid of them, but they have their own scheme in mind.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Aline MacMahon, Basil Rathbone, Mary Carlisle, Frank Albertson
Votes: 652
91. The Searchers (1956)
Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
An American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond
Votes: 96,353
92. Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
Approved | 80 min | Comedy, Romance
Woman hopes to be a great singer and is encouraged by her scheming teacher. After she flops, her husband - encouraged by an amorous professional singer - tries opera and also flops.
Director: Gregory Ratoff | Stars: Loretta Young, Warner Baxter, Binnie Barnes, Cesar Romero
Votes: 250
93. On the Waterfront (1954)
Approved | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger
Votes: 165,023 | Gross: $9.60M
94. Jessica (1962)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Jealous of a beautiful widowed midwife, her female neighbors in their small Sicilian village plot her ruin by refusing to have anything to do with their husbands.
Directors: Jean Negulesco, Oreste Palella | Stars: Maurice Chevalier, Angie Dickinson, Noël-Noël, Gabriele Ferzetti
Votes: 410
95. Naughty Girl (1956)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Nightclub entertainer Jean Clery discovers too late that the 'baby' he agreed to take care of is a wild, shapely sex kitten.
Director: Michel Boisrond | Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Jean Bretonnière, Françoise Fabian, Mischa Auer
Votes: 600
96. Wintertime (1943)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Nora and her uncle get railroaded into spending the night at a broken-down hotel in Canada. After Nora falls for the handsome owner, she convinces her uncle to invest in the inn and ... See full summary »
Director: John Brahm | Stars: Sonja Henie, Jack Oakie, Cesar Romero, Carole Landis
Votes: 226
97. The Pace That Thrills (1952)
Passed | 63 min | Action, Drama, Romance
Hot shot motorcycle racer Dusty Weston takes too many chances. He and his design partner Chris Rhodes agree on almost everything, but reporter Eve Drake arrives to do a story. Both men fall... See full summary »
Director: Leon Barsha | Stars: Bill Williams, Carla Balenda, Robert Armstrong, Frank McHugh
Votes: 121
98. Jaws (1975)
PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary
Votes: 659,903 | Gross: $260.00M
99. Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951)
Approved | 107 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The triumph and tragedy of Native American Jim Thorpe, who, after winning both the pentathlon and decathlon in the same Olympics, is stripped of his medals on a technicality.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, Steve Cochran, Phyllis Thaxter
Votes: 2,302
100. When You're in Love (1937)
Passed | 110 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Artist Jimmy Hudson (Cary Grant) is stuck in Mexico unable to pay his hotel bill. Meanwhile, opera singer Louise Fuller (Grace Moore) is stuck in the same town, unable to return to the U.S.... See full summary »
Directors: Robert Riskin, Harry Lachman | Stars: Grace Moore, Cary Grant, Aline MacMahon, Henry Stephenson
Votes: 470
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