Jerry Maguire

Winner : Vintage Film of 1996

Director: Cameron Crowe

Screenwriter: Cameron Crowe

Integrity never looked so good. In Cameron Crowe’s original and genre-defying film, Jerry Maguire is a man who won’t sell his soul to have it all; he wants to earn it the hard way. Filled with great performances and cameos, it’ll make you laugh, cry, cheer for touchdowns, and search for the kwan in your life.

Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Jay Mohr, Jonathan Lipnicki, Renée Zellweger, Tom Cruise

IMAGE ©SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

Swingers

Winner : Zeitgeist Film of 1996

Director: Doug Liman

Screenwriter: Jon Favreau

Probably the film that produced more catchphrases per budget dollar in history. Trent Walker (Vaughn), the alpha-swinger, tries everything (Drinks! Girls! Vegas!) to coax his best friend Mike (Favreau) out of a post-break-up malaise. The low-rent digs, the beat-up cars and the constant rejection paint a candid portrait of life for Trent’s not-yet-famous (or never will be) entourage, and the film makes you happy it worked out for so many involved.

Starring: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn

IMAGE © MIRAMAX

Set It Off

Director: F. Gary Gray

Screenwriter: Takashi Bufford, Kate Lanier

Four friends pool their knowledge from their low-wage jobs to plan a bank robbery that will get them out of the projects. Getting an audience to cheer for a successful bank robbery is always a feat, but Set It Off’s brilliant cast pulls it off multiple times in succession.

Starring: Jada Pinkett Smith, Kimberly Elise, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox

IMAGE ©Warner Bros.

Shall We Dance?

Director: Masayuki Suo

Screenwriter: Masayuki Suo

Despite his successful career and loving family, a disconsolate Tokyo salaryman finds new meaning in a secret life of ballroom dancing. As midlife crises go, his trips to the studio are easier to hide than a sports car, but then there are wardrobe malfunctions to consider. A 2004 American remake starring Richard Gere is almost as good, but one of the original film’s great pleasures – getting a glimple of Japanese culture – was lost in the translation.

Starring: Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari

IMAGE ©MIRAMAX

Bound

Director: The Wachowskis

Screenwriter: The Wachowskis

It’s unlikely we’d have ever seen anyone trapped in The Matrix if not for the success of this art-house debut by the Wachowskis, who wrung buckets full of noir style out of every blood-soaked dollar in their budget. The plot: A gangster’s moll and her new lesbian lover hope to steal enough cash from the Mafia to escape the cages their lives have become. Both Joe Pantoliano and Meg Tilly have said Bound offered their best roles ever.

Starring: Gina Gershon, Jennifer Tilly, Joe Pantoliano

IMAGE ©NBCUniversal

Scream

Director: Wes Craven

Writers: Dan Sullivan and Fred LeBow

20 years, three sequels, multiple parodies and a Netflix series later, we still hear from horror fans, film critics and academics that Scream “deconstructed” and “revitalized” the genre for its fans. For the other 90% of the population, Scream was simply the first slasher movie worth paying to see in the theater (especially for the guys who finally found a willing female to accompany them). Having seen the 25-odd films referenced by Scream may heighten one’s appreciation, but this star-studded thrill ride stands on its own.

Starring: Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Drew Barrymore, Jamie Kennedy, Matthew Lillard, Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich

IMAGE ©MIRAMAX

Sling Blade

Director: Billy Bob Thornton

Screenwriter: Billy Bob Thornton

“Write what you know” is a common axiom, and it’s moving to consider Billy Bob Thornton’s own impoverished childhood here in the rural Arkansas of Sling Blade, where self-sacrifice goes unrecorded but creates opportunities for the young and innocent. Many critics used “Southern” to describe it, but it’s much bigger than that.

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, James Hampton, John Ritter, Lucas Black

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Trainspotting

Director: Danny Boyle

Screenwriter: John Hodge

A film that will make it seem kinda okay if your kids turn out like Seth Rogen, Trainspotting is darker than Fargo and, in terms of nail-biting action, is the polar opposite of the dull hobby of its title (which appears in the source novel by Irvine Welsh but not the film). The film simultaneously propelled Ewan McGregor to stardom and millions of young people away from ever trying heroin. A sequel is coming in 2017.

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle

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Fargo

Director: Joel and Ethan Coen

Screenwriter: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

No character in Fargo is terribly bright, but then any law student can tell you that most criminals are tripped up by their own sheer stupidity. Here, a suburban Minneapolis car dealer, facing exposure for his white-collar crimes, arranges to have his wife kidnapped for ransom, and, oh geez, it doesn’t turn out real good. Enter Marge Gunderson, heavy with child beneath her Brainerd Police parka, who follows the trail of blood all the way to Moose Lake.

Starring: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy

IMAGE ©Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

Emma

Director: Douglas McGrath

Screenwriter: Douglas McGrath

After the success of Clueless in 1995, it seems audiences were ready for the real thing. One of two Emma adaptations released in 1996 (Kate Beckinsale starred in the other, for British television), the more comical of the two casts is led here by Gwyneth Paltrow, who tries on her flawless RP accent for the first time.

Starring: Alan Cumming, Ewan McGregor, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette

IMAGE ©MIRAMAX

Seven

Winner : VINTAGE FILM OF 1995

Director: David Fincher

Writers: Andrew Kevin Walker

"There are some things that you see, and you can't unsee them," explains Joaquin Phoenix to Nicolas Cage in the 1998 film 8mm, and you can't help but think he's leading him down a dark alley to see a midnight screening of Seven. Ostensibly a clichéd police procedural - a retiring detective on his last case breaks in his hotshot new partner - Seven, er, proceeds to scare the living daylights out of you.

Starring: Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman

While You Were Sleeping

Winner : ZEITGEIST FILM OF 1995

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Writers: Daniel G. Sullivan, Fredric Lebow

Boy wakes up from a coma, meets girl pretending to be his fiancée. Ex malo bonum: it's Sandra Bullock. When you're disappointed by the latest formulaic rom com, it's likely because it wasn't half as good as While You Were Sleeping, which is one of the reasons the formula exists.

Starring: Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Sandra Bullock

To Die For

Director: Gus Van Sant

Writers: Buck Henry

The trailer tells you up front that Nicole Kidman is going to inveigle some teenagers into murdering her husband; the only surprises here are the amazing performances by the entire cast, including career-making turns from Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck.

Starring: Illeana Douglas, Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Nicole Kidman

Clueless

Director: Amy Heckerling

Writers: Amy Heckerling

As if Clueless wouldn’t be on the shortlist for a VFA. Hello? It, like, totally launched the careers of Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, and Brittany Murphy. It's based on one of those Tracy Austin books, which are totally classic. In conclusion, it would be like the Pismo Beach disaster if it didn't win.

Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Stacey Dash

Before Sunrise

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan

The first chapter in what The Week called "the most important cinematic love story of all time." For the romantic at heart, it also ends with a cliffhanger - thank goodness there's a sequel.

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

The Usual Suspects

Director: Bryan Singer

Writers: Christopher McQuarrie

Named after a line from Casablanca, this $6 million noir thriller took only 35 days to shoot. Once it hit theaters, everyone was asking: Who is Keyser Söze? The answer was the spoiler of the decade - and 20 years later it would still spoil the fun of watching it again with a first-timer.

Starring: Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin

12 Monkeys

Director: Terry Gilliam

Writers: David Peoples, Janet Peoples

Yet again, only Bruce Willis can save the world. And yet again, the traffic is a b**** as he travels back in time to stop a deadly virus from being released. Brad Pitt's role puts him in a mental institution, but he comes out of it with his first major award nominations.

Starring: Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, David Morse, Madeleine Stowe

Apollo 13

Director: Ron Howard

Writers: William Broyles, Jr., Al Reinert

Apollo 13 was beaten out for several awards by a film about a 13th-century warrior, but that was then (1995). Today, just like in the movies, it's only the astronauts who have survived. And it's arguable that Apollo 13 was the first film, with or without a spaceship, to launch a thousand corporate seminars on leadership and problem-solving.

Starring: Bill Paxton, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks

Sense and Sensibility

Director: Ang Lee

Writers: Emma Thompson

The last of the Jane Austen-derived films to hit the screen in 1995, this is the one that a) wasn't set in a high school, b) doesn't have Colin Firth, but c) was nominated for literally (in the way Jane would have meant it) so many accolades that they have their own Wikipedia page.

Starring: Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet

© 1995 Castle Rock Entertainment

Mr. Holland’s Opus

Director: Stephen Herek

Writers: Patrick Sheane Duncan

"I got dragged into this gig kicking and screaming," says the title character, and this is how many kids felt when their parents made them watch this character-building story of a high school music teacher's 30-year career. Mr. Holland touches the lives of generations of students and makes his mark in the end - just like this film: a home-library staple your parents saw, then you saw, and that you’ll someday show to your kids.

Starring: Glenne Headly, Jay Thomas, Olympia Dukakis, Richard Dreyfuss, William H. Macy

Top Gun

Winner : Vintage Film of 1986

Director: Tony Scott

Screenwriter: Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.

In Top Gun, men don’t wear pink or have preppy nicknames; they wear green and have bad-ass call signs: Maverick. Cougar. Iceman. Viper. And just like the hotshot pilots onscreen, the filmmakers ooze confidence in the opening scene’s subtitle: “Indian Ocean. Present Day.” Meaning, “Not 1986, but whenever you happen to be watching this, there are insanely good-looking men defending you against the commies.” (And they do their own singing.) Perhaps the most-quotable film in history, Top Gun convinced a lot of guys to enlist – and even more to start hitting the gym.

Starring: Anthony Edwards, Kelly McGillis, Meg Ryan, Tom Cruise, Tom Skerritt, Val Kilmer

IMAGE © PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Winner : Zeitgeist Film of 1986

Director: John Hughes

Screenwriter: John Hughes

30 years after James Dean, Ferris Bueller redefined (and refined) rebellion: Stealing a Ferrari to visit an art museum, dine on pancreas, and attend a cultural parade – all while remaining an angel in his parents’ eyes? A high school senior without a car or a letter jacket, Ferris teaches us all of the right reasons to be popular. Homages to the film’s minor characters – Ben Stein’s teacher, Charlie Sheen’s delinquent, Edie McClurg’s secretary – return to our screens year after year (recognize anyone in Stranger Things?), but there’s never been another Ferris.

Starring: Alan Ruck, Charlie Sheen, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey, Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara

IMAGE © PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Hoosiers (Best Shot)

Director: David Anspaugh

Screenwriter: Angelo Pizzo

Focusing on the fundamentals – running, dribbling, passing – is the key to winning at basketball, especially if you get the right players on your team. Hoosiers applies this principle to film-making, with a solid underdog script and key performers in the right positions: Gene Hackman, as the coach with a checkered past seeking redemption, and Dennis Hopper as the drunken has-been, hit every mark and sink every shot. Based on the true story of Milan High School’s triumphant 1953-54 season and set in the rural Indiana region that gave the world Chuck Taylor. [Released as Best Shot in the UK]

Starring: Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper, Gene Hackman

IMAGE ©MGM

Little Shop of Horrors

Director: Frank Oz

Screenwriter: Howard Ashman

Like the bloodthirsty plant growing in the titular shop, this is a story that keeps coming back to life. First filmed in 1959 by shlockmeister Roger Corman for just $28,000 (with VFA winner Jack Nicholson as the dental patient), Little Shop was revived as an off-Broadway musical in 1982 before becoming this bigger-than-Aliens-budget extravaganza. In 2016, the musical is touring again in the United Kingdom – making Audrey’s, like Ripley’s, a 57-year journey.

Starring: Ellen Greene, Rick Moranis, Steve Martin and the voice of Levi Stubbs

IMAGE ©Warner Bros.

Pretty in Pink

Director: Howard Deutch

Screenwriter: John Hughes

With girls named Andy and Benny, boys named Steff and Duckie, and the most epic fail of a lip-synching serenade in history. If nothing else, this film helped normalize Eighties androgyny and those weekly outings to see Rocky Horror. Watching high schoolers talk openly about class differences, then asking Andrew Dice Clay for advice, we are reminded how truly confusing it is to be a teenager.

Starring: Andrew McCarthy, Annie Potts, James Spader, Jon Cryer, Molly Ringwald

IMAGE ©Paramount Pictures

Jean de Florette

Director: Claude Berri

Screenwriter: Claude Berri, Gérard Brach, Marcel Pagnol

Talk about unintended consequences: The French government backs the most expensive films ever made in the country – this and its sequel, Manon des Sources – to celebrate French heritage and culture, only to see them become runaway hits in the UK, precipitating a mass invasion of Brits buying up houses in Provence. Vraiment!

Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu, Yves Montand

IMAGE ©MGM

Platoon

Director: Oliver Stone

Screenwriter: Oliver Stone

What happens when an upper-class American teenager drops out of university and signs up to fight in Vietnam? Oliver Stone knows, because he did just that. In Vietnam, his actions earned him a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and several other medals. His screenplay and film about those events, made against the odds in a Vietnam-weary era, were equally decorated by the awards committees.

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe

IMAGE ©MGM

Blue Velvet

Director: David Lynch

Screenwriter: David Lynch

To paraphrase from the (far) lesser 1990 film Crazy People: “This movie won’t just scare you. It will [mess] you up for life.” Thirty years later, David Lynch’s thrilling neo-noir tale of evil in suburban America – with breakthrough roles for MacLachlan and Rosselini – retains its shock value. Having barely broken even on its release, it’s now on pretty much every best-ever list and in pretty much every film lover’s library.

Starring: Dennis Hopper, Hope Lange, Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern

IMAGE ©StudioCanal

Aliens

Director: James Cameron

Screenwriter: James Cameron

The second half of possibly the best one-two punch in cinematic history, Ellen Ripley’s adventures took science fiction, horror, and women of action from the world of the “B movie” to the world of the red carpet. Such a perfect blend of acting, action and special effects is rarely seen, especially with a budget of only $18 million (compare to $25 million for The Golden Child that same year) – but like Ripley in this sequel, Aliens faces more than one tough competitor for a VFA.

Starring: Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein, Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Sigourney Weaver

IMAGE ©Twentieth Century Fox

Stand by Me

Director: Rob Reiner

Screenwriter: Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon

It was the summer of ’59. In search of a dead body (and local glory), four pre-teen boys of widely varying size and disposition march into the wilderness and discover they have many things in common – including dysfunctional families, a love of vomit jokes, and hatred for the local high school gang leader Ace (Kiefer Sutherland at age 19). Based on a Stephen King novella with a different title and a (slightly) less happy ending.

Starring: Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton

IMAGE ©Columbia Pictures

Back to the Future

Winner : VINTAGE FILM OF 1985

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Writers: Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis

Huey Lewis hits, DeLoreans, paisley-lined jean jackets, shoebox-sized camcorders, people calling an SUV a "four-by-four" ...indeed, the blockbuster that recreated the 1950s so perfectly is now a time capsule of the 1980s. Back to the Future's greatest merit - being good clean fun - has never gone out of style.

Starring: Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Michael J. Fox

St. Elmo’s Fire

Winner : ZEITGEIST FILM OF 1985

Director: Joel Schumacher

Writers: Carl Kurlander, Joel Schumacher

Long before asking which Friends character they had become at 30, Gen Xers asked themselves which of the St. Elmo's crew they hoped to be at 22. Beyond the "right now" (then) of seeing all of these John Hughes High alums together, St. Elmo's Fire introduced the world to Andie MacDowell (her first speaking role - is she ever in a bad movie?) and delivered a blast from the coming-of-age past by casting Martin Balsam as a concerned dad.

Starring: Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham, Rob Lowe

Mask

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

Writers: Anna Hamilton Phelan

Other than the Cannes festival, which gave Cher its Best Actress award, the brilliant performances in Mask were otherwise overlooked by most awards committees. Critics loved this true story about a disfigured teenager (Eric Stoltz) growing up with a drug-dependent mom and her biker gang.

Starring: Cher, Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliott

The Goonies

Director: Richard Donner

Writers: Chris Columbus

The 10th-highest grossing film the year it was released, The Goonies has since become a cult classic and one of the most-watched 1985 films today. Talk of a sequel that would reunite the entire cast has been ongoing since the pre-Obama era.

Starring: Corey Feldman, Jeff Cohen, Jonathan Ke Quan, Josh Brolin, Martha Plimpton, Sean Astin

Fright Night

Director: Tom Holland

Writers: Tom Holland

Fearing for his life, an earnest teenager seeks out an eccentric old bachelor to ask for help…it sounds a bit like Back to the Future – but then this one has vampires. A crossover hit that spawned a comic book series, a video game, a sequel, a Bollywood version and a 2011 remake with Colin Farrell, Fright Night remains a requirement in the core curriculum of comic horror.

Starring: Amanda Bearse, Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale

Witness

Director: Peter Weir

Writers: Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley

This is the barn burner with the barn raising that Roger Ebert said "Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud to make," and not only for Kelly McGillis's turn as the ice blonde Amish widow. With killer performances from from Harrison Ford, McGillis, Danny Glover, Lukas Haas, and Viggo Mortensen (in his film debut).

Starring: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas

The Color Purple

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Menno Meyjes

This outstanding period drama introduced us to Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Spielberg's serious side. Alice Walker's novel, from which the screenplay was adapted, won the Pulitzer Prize, but the film version was shut out at the Oscars - tying the record for the most nominations (11) without a statue.

Starring: Adolph Caesar, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong, Whoopi Goldberg

The Breakfast Club

Director: John Hughes

Writers: John Hughes

The gold standard of modern teen movies, in which every character is a fish out of water. Proof that a film "written, directed and produced by" the same guy can be absolute magic, The Breakfast Club will make even the straightest arrows want to spend a Saturday in detention. In the Chicago suburbs. Without a smartphone.

Starring: Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Paul Gleason

Brazil

Director: Terry Gilliam

Writers: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown

Leave it to Terry Gilliam - the genius behind VFA-shortlisted films from 1975, 1985 and 1995 - to invent the "dystopian future comedy" genre. With a plot as complicated as the bureaucracy it satirizes, Brazil is a daring (and sometimes disturbing) work of art that has stood the test of time.

Starring: Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Helmond, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro

Better Off Dead

Director: Savage Steve Holland

Writers: Savage Steve Holland

"This is a real bad movie," said the late, great thumb-pointer Roger Ebert, adding, "if I had totally forgotten it I'd be a happy man." (Perhaps "I want my two dollars back" would have been funnier.) His co-Caesar at the time, Gene Siskel, also turned his thumb down on national television. It lasted only a month in theaters, but Better Off Dead gained new life, and a cult following, in rentals. Today, this semi-black comedy is a fan favorite and the best seller of John Cusack's teen movies.

Starring: Diane Franklin, John Cusack, Kim Darby

Rocky

Winner : Vintage Film of 1976

Director: John G. Avildsen

Screenwriter: Sylvester Stallone

Boxing movies are like apple pies and martinis: they're all made from a simple formula – yet you always remember who made the best one. Written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, Rocky took only about a month and a million dollars to produce. With the release of Creed in 2015, it may be the longest running film franchise after James Bond – but 40 years later, will it last 15 rounds against the competition for a VFA?

Starring: Burgess Meredith, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire

IMAGE © MGM

Taxi Driver

Winner : Zeitgeist Film of 1976

Director: Martin Scorsese

Screenwriter: Paul Schrader

Young people: This movie is the reason your parents a) respect Robert De Niro’s acting, and b) are afraid of New York. Don’t even watch the trailer – it’s full of spoilers. Lavishing additional praise on this masterpiece seems unnecessary today – not only has Taxi Driver stood the test of time, but pretty much everyone involved (Scorsese, De Niro, Foster, Keitel, Brooks, writer Paul Schrader…) is still doing major film work 40 years later – leaving us to wonder how it failed to win more awards.

Starring: Albert Brooks, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, Peter Boyle, Robert De Niro

IMAGE © COLUMBIA PICTURES

Logan’s Run

Director: Michael Anderson

Screenwriter: David Zelag Goodman

It’s the year 2274, and the government’s motto has changed from In God We Trust to Don’t Trust Anyone Over Thirty – the birthday on which citizens must report to die in a high-tech ceremony called Carrousel, lest they be hunted down by the brute squad known as the Sandmen. A secret society of pretty blondes hopes to escape this fate by reaching a place called Sanctuary, which Sandman Logan 5 is sent to destroy. Partially filmed at the Hulen Mall in Fort Worth, which today has a huge FOREVER 21 store.

Starring: Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Jenny Agutter, Michael York, Richard Jordan

IMAGE ©MGM

Murder by Death

Director: Robert Moore

Screenwriter: Neil Simon

The likes of Nick and Nora Charles, Charlie Chan, Sam Spade, Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple – vintage film characters all – are at once suspects and sleuths at the scene of an English country house murder mystery, hosted by Truman Capote. Neil Simon’s script both parodies and deconstructs the classic crime-solving literature.

Starring: Alec Guinness, David Niven, Eileen Brennan, Elsa Lanchester, James Coco, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Peter Sellers, Truman Capote

IMAGE ©Columbia Pictures

All the President’s Men

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Screenwriter: William Goldman

It’s said that “Washington is Hollywood for ugly people,” but this film makes you thankful that there were journalists willing to cover the place like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, played here by the slightly better-looking Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman (who has a prodigious memory for telephone numbers), when President Nixon was up to no good. Generation Xers were particularly grateful for the VHS version, which finally explained in two action-filled hours why, in the summer of 1973, their cartoons were bumped from the airwaves for 300 hours of Watergate hearings.

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam, Robert Redford

IMAGE ©Warner Bros.

The Omen

Director: Richard Donner

Screenwriter: David Seltzer

When a child has the power to control others’ minds – getting them to commit murder or suicide, for example – a hopeful parent would think they could channel it towards something positive (say, admission to an Ivy League school); otherwise, it is difficult to understand how the popularity of the baby name Damien more than doubled in the three years following the release of The Omen. One of the top five box office hits of 1976, this Antichrist-in-a-cradle film spawned some sequels that weren’t so much evil as bad.

Starring: Billie Whitelaw, David Warner, Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Leo McKern

IMAGE ©Twentieth Century Fox

Carrie

Director: Brian De Palma

Screenwriter: Lawrence D. Cohen

The first of his stories to be made into a movie, Carrie was anything but scary for Stephen King, who sold the Hollywood rights for $2,500 and was so unknown at the time that they misspelled his name in the trailer. John Travolta, in his first big-screen role, also smiles through to the end. One of those rare horror films that breaks out of its niche, Carrie found an audience with everyone who was teased by the popular kids in high school.

Starring: Amy Irving, John Travolta, Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, William Katt

IMAGE ©MGM

Network

Director: Sidney Lumet

Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky

When a news anchorman (Finch) is given two weeks’ notice because of poor ratings, he does something unusual to attract more viewers: he looks into the camera and says he will kill himself on live television in the coming days. Enter the director of programming (Dunaway), who plays a bit of hardball to keep America glued to the set long enough to get her next promotion. Still a brilliant satire, it’s only sad so many real networks seem to have adopted it as a straightforward how-to guide.

Starring: Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, William Holden

IMAGE ©MGM

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Director: Clint Eastwood

Screenwriter: Philip Kaufman, Sonia Chernus

There was a showdown at sundown on the set of Josey Wales one day, and Clint Eastwood won: he had the director fired and then got behind the camera himself to save the Western genre. On the surface it looks like all the others – cowboy hats, horses, six-shooters, revenge – but Josey Wales was actually on the cutting edge of (red) rock: Union soldiers weren’t the good guys, and Native Americans were cast in two key roles.

Starring: Chief Dan George, Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Keams, John Vernon, Sam Bottoms, Sondra Locke

IMAGE ©Warner Bros.

The Shootist

Director: Don Siegel

Screenwriter: Miles Hood Swarthout, Scott Hale

The Shootist opens with a quick-draw, greatest-hits montage from John Wayne’s 45-year career starring in Westerns. What follows – appropriately – is the Duke’s final film appearance, as the aging gunslinger J.B. Books. Past his prime, Books retires to a Carson City boarding house to live out his final days quietly, but the locals have other plans for him.

Starring: Harry Morgan, James Stewart, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Richard Boone, Ron Howard

IMAGE ©Paramount Pictures

Jaws

Winner : VINTAGE FILM OF 1975

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Peter Benchley

Jaws requires no synopsis, so here’s the backstory: A guy was browsing through Cosmopolitan (he had his reasons) and saw a positive review of this book by first-time novelist Peter Benchley; one thing led to another, and the book became became Steven Spielberg’s ur-blockbuster that changed Hollywood forever.

Starring: Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Winner : ZEITGEIST FILM OF 1975

Director: Jim Sharman

Writers: Richard O'Brien, Jim Sharman

A platoon of LGBT space aliens wreak havoc on the lives of the Perfect Couple. Barry Bostwick, the straight man in this comedy, gets his comeuppance repeatedly; as his fiancé, Susan Saradon is the Sears Catalog come to life. But it’s Tim Curry who steals the show (along with everybody’s clothes). It’s the longest continuous release in cinematic history (40 years and counting). It’s the quintessential midnight movie. And it has Meat Loaf.

Starring: Barry Bostwick, Meat Loaf, Nell Campbell, Patrica Quinn, Richard O'Brien, Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry

The Stepford Wives

Director: Bryan Forbes

Writers: William Goldman

There's a reason everyone knows what a "Stepford Wife" is, and it's not the 2004 flop with Matthew Broderick and Nicole Kidman - it's this 1975 classic based on Ira Levin's satirical novel about when happens when a clique of clever men try to create a suburban utopia for themselves. Despite a teaser campaign urging women to see it "...before your husband does," the film grossed only $4 million at the box office, but - perhaps a harbinger of the Fifty Shades craze – it gained new popularity after the invention of a certain nobody-knows-what-I'm-looking-at-but-me device called the VCR.

Starring: Katharine Ross, Nanette Newman, Patrick O'Neal, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Tina Louise

The Wind and the Lion

Director: John Milius

Writers: John Milius

1904: Kidnapped by Sean Connery in Morocco, Candace Bergen develops a touch of Stockholm syndrome while waiting for the American president to send in the Marines to rescue her (because there are German, British, and French troops in the way – how international). Ridiculous as this sounds, it's based on a true story known as the Perdicaris Incident, and the film remains a top seller that's loved by fans.

Starring: Brian Keith, Candice Bergen, John Huston, Sean Connery

The Return of the Pink Panther

Director: Blake Edwards

Writers: Frank Waldman, Blake Edwards

Blake Edwards directs to a Henry Mancini score, and a British actor makes fun of the French - but it's hardly Breakfast at Tiffany's meets Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Still, it stands on its own as perhaps the original "reboot" - Peter Sellers has abandoned the role of Inspector Clouseau for 11 years (can you guess who played him in between?) before bringing the franchise back to life.

Starring: Burt Kwouk, Catherine Schell, Christopher Plummer, Peter Sellers

Operation: Daybreak (The Price of Freedom)

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Writers: Ronald Harwood

A gripping WWII action-drama that tells the true story of the plot to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, a.k.a. The Butcher of Prague. Unsuccessful at the box office, the film has developed a strong following since its DVD release in 2010. As two Czech sergeants who see the mission through to its unforgettable end, Daybreak stars Anthony Andrews (of Brideshead Revisited ) and Timothy Bottoms (of The Last Picture Show ).

Starring: Anthony Andrews, Martin Shaw, Timothy Bottoms

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Director: Miloš Forman

Writers: Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman

Leading a multiracial ensemble cast, the leading man (Jack Nicholson) is a statutory rape convict in a mental hospital whose inmates are psychologically and physically tortured by the sadistic Nurse Ratched. Adapted from Ken Kesey's novel, Miloš Forman's film swept the awards in 1975-6. Pretty much everyone agrees it’s among history’s greatest films, but would it be your first choice to watch tonight?

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Director: Terry Gilliam

Writers: Monty Python

The highest-grossing British film of 1975 was nominated for pretty much nothing in its day, but then there's never been an award for the film most likely to make your beverage come out your nose with laughter. With killer rabbits, holy hand grenades, and vast tracts of land, The Holy Grail also offers a historical context for the Anglo-Franco hostilities to be heard leading up to this year's "Brexit" referendum.

Starring: Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Director: Chantal Akerman

Writers: Chantal Akerman

You’ve probably never heard of this masterpiece of Belgian cinéma, but it’s been trending since its DVD release. What happens is that Jeanne, a single mother, works by day as a lady of the night (while her son is at school). And then – well, we won’t spoil it. The New York Times called it the “first masterpiece of the feminine in the history of the cinema”. And The Village Voice named it the 19th greatest film of the 20th century (neither Cuckoo’s Nest nor Dog Day made the top 100). If you can find a copy, it might be worth a watch before casting your vote.

Starring: Delphine Seyrig, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Jan Decorte

Dog Day Afternoon

Director: Sidney Lumet

Writers: Frank Pierson

To pay for his pre-op lover’s sex change operation, a man robs a bank in Brooklyn (who ever said the 1970s weren’t progressive?). Based on a true story, Dog Day Afternoon is a must-see, never-forget film. Its director (Sidney Lumet), leading man (Al Pacino), and supporting actor (Chris Sarandon) were beaten out by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for all of the top awards at the time, but will the verdict be the same 40 years on?

Starring: Al Pacino, Charles Durning, James Broderick, John Cazale

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Winner : Vintage Film of 1966

Director: Sergio Leone

Screenwriter: Mickey Knox

Critics panned it. American awards committees ignored it. Today, the final installment in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy is not only considered a classic Western but one of the greatest films of all time. Like its predecessors, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, the film has an Ennio Morricone soundtrack and stars Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name.

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef

IMAGE © MGM/UA

How to Steal a Million

Winner : Zeitgeist Film of 1966

Director: William Wyler

Screenwriter: Harry Kurnitz

In Mad Men-era Paris, two American men fight for possession of a statuette of Venus by Cellini (that may be a fake), then over Audrey Hepburn (who never is). The men’s grey flannel suits provide a neutral backdrop for Ms. Hepburn, who appears in a series of dazzling Givenchy outfits. A hit with critics and audiences, this comic art-heist film wasn’t nominated for a single statuette of its own – until the Vintage Film Awards, that is.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Eli Wallach, Peter O'Toole

IMAGE © 20TH CENTURY FOX

Alfie

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Screenwriter: Bill Naughton

Because of its taboo plotline (abortion is frankly discussed), several A-list actors turned down the role of Alfie Elkins, a Cockney Casanova on the make in Swinging London, but newcomer Michael Caine seized the opportunity to charm a bevy of British babes – and the awards committees.There’s little for modern men to learn about seduction here, save that when that someone comes up for a coffee you might try putting on the film’s outstanding jazz soundtrack by Sonny Rollins.

Starring: Michael Caine, Millicent Martin, Shelley Winters, Vivien Merchant

IMAGE ©Paramount Pictures

Blowup

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

Screenwriter: Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Edward Bond

This day-in-the-life tale of a fashion photographer in Swinging London – models, sex, drugs, groovy bands, more sex – was filmed with a level of shameless candor that made it a must-see (“Antonioni’s camera never flinches,” boasts the trailer). The fact that most of the performers are playing versions of themselves (including Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) adds to the unaffected vibe. Another English-language debut from a European director, this one was called the year’s best film by The New Yorker, Life, Time, and Newsweek. Filmmakers have been borrowing heavily from Blow-up for 50 years, not least the Austin Powers franchise.

Starring: David Hemmings, Gillian Hills, Jane Birkin, John Castle, Sarah Miles, Tsai Chin, Vanessa Redgrave, Veruschka

IMAGE ©MGM

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Director: Mike Nichols

Screenwriter: Ernest Lehman

There are lots of poorly-made black-and-white films made to scare people away from certain things (taking drugs, going to prison, driving drunk) and then there’s this great movie that scares people away from entering into a bad marriage; why is it the only one not shown in public schools? Set off-campus in a New England college town, a professor (Richard Burton) and his wife (Elizabeth Taylor) put on a master class in marital discord.

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, Richard Burton, Sandy Dennis

IMAGE ©Warner Bros

Fahrenheit 451

Director: François Truffaut

Screenwriter: Jean-Louis Richard, François Truffaut

This adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel represented two firsts in Truffaut’s oeuvre: color film and English dialogue. Upon its release, both critics and audiences had mixed feelings, and it wasn’t a big box office success. Today, it is perhaps the most-watched 1966 film worldwide – has the film improved with age, or is it merely watched by millions of adolescents hoping to avoid required reading in middle school?

Starring: Julie Christie, Oskar Werner

IMAGE ©Universal Pictures

The Battle of Algiers

Director: Gillo Pontecorvo

Screenwriter: Gillo Pontecorvo, Franco Solinas

The Algerian War of Independence from France (1954-62) makes few appearances in American classrooms, yet this highly-decorated and unforgettable film about a key battle between colonial French forces and the FNL has been a required course for adults who make war: It was screened at the Pentagon in following the invasion of Iraq, and shown to counter-insurgency trainees in the Argentine military. Banned in France for five years, quality reels (and DVDs) were in short supply until 2004.

Starring: Jean Martin, SaadiYacef

IMAGE Copyright by respective production studio and/or distributor.

Andrei Rublev

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

Screenwriter: Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Rublev may not be a household name, but he is among the most famous painters of Orthodox icons and frescoes (he did parts of the Kremlin, for example). If you’re setting your expectations for a medieval-period Pollack or Basquiat, prepare to be impressed: This is a film about artistic expression under an oppressive 15th-century Moscow regime – created under an oppressive 20th-century Moscow regime that barred its release domestically as well as its entry into competitions abroad.* Director Andrei Tarkovsky, who narrowly missed this year’s shortlist for 1986’s The Sacrifice (Offret), is someone film lovers should know about.

Starring: Anatoly Solonitsyn, Nikolai Grinko, Nikolai Sergeyev

IMAGE ©Columbia Pictures

A Man for All Seasons

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Screenwriter: Robert Bolt

Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Thomas More, Cardinal what’s-his-name…it’s all a blur from school, and you’d never pass that quiz again – unless you let Orson Welles, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Shaw and Paul Scofield burn in onto your brain. Telling a 500-year-old story, this film beat out Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for several top awards – 50 years further on, is it still the must-see film of 1966?

Starring: Orson Welles, Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw

IMAGE ©Columbia Pictures

Persona

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Screenwriter: Ingmar Bergman

On the surface, Persona is the story of two women: A nurse is assigned to take care of a famous actress who has, for unknown reasons, lost her ability to speak. By the time it ends, what’s it’s all about is open to interpretation (and there’s been a lot of that). As one would expect, there are plenty of dark themes here – but for those who have never watched a Bergman film, this is perhaps his most accessible and publicly loved work.

Starring: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann

IMAGE ©Svensk Filmindustri

Thunderball

Winner : VINTAGE FILM OF 1965

Director: Terence Young

Writers: Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins

Probably the movie Don Draper was watching: SPECTRE has stolen two atomic bombs and wants NATO to pay £100 million (go ahead, point that pinkie) to get them back. 007 to the rescue. It's got a jetpack, a shark tank, and a villain (Blofeld) who's back 50 years later.

Starring: Adolfo Celi, Claudine Auger, Luciana Paluzzi, Molly Peters, Rik Van Nutter, Sean Connery

Cat Ballou

Winner : ZEITGEIST FILM OF 1965

Director: Elliot Silverstein

Writers: Walter Newman, Frank Pierson

The Farrelly Brothers have called Cat Ballou their favorite film, and it's not just because there's something about Jane Fonda (it was actually Lee Marvin, playing two roles, who won all the trophies from L.A. to Berlin). The original spoof of the Western genre, Cat also features Nat King Cole’s final screen appearance.

Starring: Dwayne Hickman, Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan

The Sons of Katie Elder

Director: Henry Hathaway

Writers: William H. Wright, Allan Weiss, Harry Essex

Returning to Texas for their mother's funeral, four brothers find themselves in a dispute with the locals; treachery and gunfighting ensue. Still a top seller, Katie Elder's all-star cast includes a young Dennis Hopper as the villain's son.

Starring: Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, John Wayne, Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson Jr.

Shenandoah

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers: James Lee Barrett

A Western set on the East Coast: In 1864, a Virginia farmer forbids his sons to fight in the Civil War...but then the war comes to them. With Jimmy Stewart, Doug McClure, and Katharine Ross (Elaine in The Graduate ) in her screen debut. A hit Broadway musical version of the film opened in 1975 and ran for 1,050 performances.

Starring: Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, James Stewart, Katharine Ross, Patrick Wayne, Rosemary Forsyth

The Great Race

Director: Blake Edwards

Writers: Arthur A. Ross

It's the Model T era in Technicolor: Rival daredevils, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon vie for the round-the-world prize - and for the affections of suffragette photjournalist Natalie Wood. In the process, the Americans destroy 4,000 pies and a little bit of Paris (inspiration for Team America?), all to another fine score from Henry Mancini.

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis

For a Few Dollars More

Director: Sergio Leone

Writers: Luciano Vincenzoni

Two bounty hunters join forces to bring down a notorious criminal known as El Indio. A spaghetti western shot in Spain, you could call it the Empire Strikes Back of Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" trilogy. Though nominated for no major awards (not even for Ennio Morricone's score), For a Few Dollars More is inarguably a classic of the genre.

Starring: and Gian Maria Volonté, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef

The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze)

Director: Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos

Writers: LadislavGrosman, JánKadár, ElmarKlos

During the Nazi occupation, residents of a small Slovak town react unexpectedly when a young "Aryan" carpenter is assigned to take over the local button store from its owner, an aging Jewish woman. Unforgettable.

Starring: Hana Slivková, Ida Kamińska, Jozef Kroner

Doctor Zhivago

Director: David Lean

Writers: Robert Bolt

David Lean's epic film spans World War I, the Russian Revolution and the Stalin era, with as many cast members as a Russian play has clouds of grey. Adjusted for inflation, two 1965 films are among the highest grossing films of all time - The Sound of Music and this film, both of which won five Oscars.

Starring: Alec Guinness, Geraldine Chaplin, Julie Christie, Omar Sharif, Ralph Richardson, Rod Steiger, Tom Courtenay

A Thousand Clowns

Director: Fred Coe

Writers: Herb Gardner

An unemployed writer (Robards) strives to prove to a Social Services agent (Harris) that he's a capable guardian for his nephew, while avoiding taking a normal job. Martin Balsam, playing the writer's agent, shines as always.

Starring: Barbara Harris, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Director: Carol Reed

Writers: Philip Dunne

Worried about his legacy, "Warrior Pope" Julius II commissions a reluctant Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel. Julius leads his army against the enemy while the artist pursues his task with passion; only the Contessina de'Medici, in a series of dazzling costumes, manages to distract them from time to time.

Starring: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison