Film Generations

To cineastes of the 20th century, Ingmar Bergman was a fixture on the Mount Rushmore of World Cinema. His cultural presence receded in the decades following his death but Gen Z interest in his films, driven by streaming and Letterboxd, is suddenly on the rise. We couldn’t wait to pick one of his most challenging movies to see how it plays to a younger audience. Persona (1966), made smack-dab in th...

On the heels of last episode’s Double Indemnity (1944), Film Generations examines the 1981 film noir Body Heat, an update of the genre for the then youthful baby boom generation. This was the directorial debut of writer/director Lawrence Kasdan, an unknown who leapt into prominence when he co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back (now Star Wars V) and Raiders of the Lost Ark in the same year.  Among Body...

Double Indemnity, as much as any other movie, invented the film noir genre and is possibly the most imitated, spoofed and remade classic of all time. Yet, on re-watching it, we as hosts were  truly surprised: Double Indemnity defies expectations, and as much as being a template for the Film Noir genre it helped birth, it is also a template for the singularly witty and cynical voice of the great Bi...

Fresh off his surprise hit M*A*S*H, Robert Altman headed out to the snowy Northwest with stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie to make this quirky anti-western whose reputation grew along with Altman’s career.  Our young panel was divided on this one, from the 1971 depiction of sex workers to the to the hyper-realist flourishes that have informed yet remain at odds with American filmmaking in 202...

Frequently named by filmmakers and critics as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir’s classic tale of French soldiers in a World War I German POW camp and their daring escape is now almost 90 years old. Its importance to film history is certain — but is it still fun to watch?  While much of Grand Illusion is unique, especially its bittersweet farewell to the pre-WWI European aristocrati...

In 1976 All the President’s Men was released to an audience eagerly awaiting Hollywood’s take on the story of the decade: the Washington Post investigation that led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. The all-star team of producer Robert Redford, screenwriter William Goldman and director Alan Pakula had the task of adapting a highly complicated best-seller by reporters Bob Woodward and Car...

A firecracker that initially fizzled with audiences but has increasingly crackled with succeeding generations of film lovers, Sweet Smell of Success today boasts a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Defying genre expectations, it has been described in the media as a film noir, a crime thriller, a comedy, a satire, a character study, and a drama. By any measure, this poison pen letter to the glitzy wor...

After The Godfather (1972) became arguably the most successful movie of all time, a sequel was unavoidable, and sequels are always inferior to the films they follow. Or are they? Our hosts and our panelists alike grapple with the legacy of this giant 1974 classic and the inevitable comparisons to the original. Has history singled out a winner? And do viewers approaching these films for the first t...

The Godfather (1972) is one of the very few movies to achieve supremacy both critically and commercially. Breaking all box office records upon its release, it now regularly appears on lists of the top ten films of all time. But while it surprised everyone 53 years ago, it’s now a well-worn part of culture where a young person is guaranteed to have experienced it as a meme before ever seeing the mo...

La Dolce Vita (1960) marked a huge milestone in world cinema: the passing of Italian neo-realism to a new generation less steeped in war and poverty, more affluent and optimistic, and hungry for a taste of all the glamour that television, rock n roll, and 7-day-a-week PR would bring. Yet the film was rooted in the old world, with its powerful criticism of crumbling morals and the increasing shallo...

This unlikely sci-fi classic burst on the scene in 1968, surprising critics and audiences alike, spawning 4 sequels, 2 reboots, a TV series, and a slew of images and phrases that have permeated world culture. Younger generations have absorbed many of its touchstone memes whether they’ve seen the film or not, but how do they react to the film itself?  Has its rubber masks and paper mâché sets dated...

On the heels of Annie Hall, which catapulted Woody Allen from the role of a beloved thinking-man’s clown to the highest echelons of cinema, the writer/director/star made Interiors, an excellent film which nonetheless baffled even his most ardent fans. He came back to comedy with 1979’s Manhattan, the beginning of a string of 35 films in 35 years, all written and directed by Allen, and all pushing...

Agnès Varda’s docufiction about a troubled – and troubling – young homeless woman roaming the French countryside was singular when released in 1985, but it anticipated a slew of 21st century films depicting women marginalized by their rejection of traditional roles. The film does not, however, cater to contemporary political morality. She is neither a hero nor a villain, nor are the people who try...

In 1999, David Fincher’s Fight Club opened to bad reviews and disappointing box office. 25 years later, it widely considered one of the best, most entertaining films of the last quarter century, a perennial 800-pound gorilla in the world of internet chat. It solidified the reputation of David Fincher, an auteur who (like many) has put his work ahead of any efforts to promote his image as an artist...

In 1947 RKO studios made a surprise classic with OUT OF THE PAST, directed by journeyman Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas and Jane Greer near the start of their careers.  For film noir fans, this movie’s reputation has never stopped growing since.  Combining snappy dialogue, a double-crossing femme fatale and an unusual flashback structure, this sexy and suspenseful movie...

Horror films do not typically win Academy Awards but Ruth Gordon won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the Upper West Side NYC witch-next-door in the terrifying thriller that defined lead actress Mia Farrow’s career, Rosemary’s Baby.  Based on the best-selling novel by Ira Levin and cementing the legendary status of director Roman Polanski, this movie was a huge box office hit and gener...

One of the highest regarded silent films, The General appears as #18 on AFI’s most recent list of the greatest American films of all time. Yet, the film flopped in its initial release, fell into the public domain in 1954 when the studio didn’t even bother to renew the copyright, and didn’t appear anywhere on AFI’s original list. Why was this seminal comedy neglected so long, only to end up canoniz...

Following the big budget failure of Dune, director David Lynch went back to his surrealistic roots with a controversial vision of American suburbia’s dark underbelly, Blue Velvet.  This movie put actors Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern on the map as a young couple searching for clues, featured Isabella Rossellini as a sexually blackmailed lounge singer, and revived the career of counter-culture icon...

1941’s outrageous screwball romantic comedy, The Lady Eve brought together three of Hollywood’s most dynamic and unstoppable forces: Barbara Stanwyck, in her peak year with five starring roles, including also Ball of Fire (Oscar nominated for Best Actress), and Meet John Doe; Henry Fonda, hot off his award-winning turns in Grapes of Wrath and Young Mr. Lincoln; and perhaps riding highest of all, P...

In 1969 this audacious western drove a nail into the coffin of the old studio system, recasting the West along with classic Hollywood stars including William Holden and Robert Ryan into a newly violent, gritty and cynical image reflective of the Vietnam War era. The movie was a huge success and had a major impact on the Baby Boomer generation. But 54 years later, after numerous filmmakers have bui...

Known for the better part of its 82 years as the greatest movie ever made, can Citizen Kane still live up its reputation with today’s generation?  Everything revolutionary about the film - its deep-focus cinematography, experimental editing, innovative sound design and non-linear storytelling - has all been imitated hundreds of times. So is this movie only great because it was ahead of its time, o...

In 1929 Luis Buñuel conspired with fellow surrealist Salvador Dalí to make what has become perhaps the most famous short film in cinema history, Andalusian Dog (Un Chien Andalou) a film that shocked the public, was nearly banned in France, and won these 2 provocateurs a devoted audience.  Five decades later, near the end of a distinguished film career, Buñuel made the Oscar-winning hit, The Discre...

Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, with Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, and an unforgettable performance by drill sergeant R. Lee Ermey, opened to middling reviews in 1987 but has since become a cultural icon to war critics and soldiers alike. Today’s panel of young film lovers includes both a Marine and Navy veteran. Their perspective, alongside the civilians on the panel, make...

Frank Capra is well-known for such top-ranked classics as It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life.  However, his 1941 film, Meet John Doe, starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, deserves more love. It’s often very funny but deals with some of the darkest issues of American democracy and demagoguery.   While sometimes labelled corny, its chara...

This 1991 film, the first high-budget female buddy comedy/thriller/road movie, exploded into the cultural scene with a powerful mix of female empowerment, violence, comedy and moral dynamite. It’s initial release sparked cultural arguments across the media about whether the movie endorsed violence against men or simply gave their heroines the type of story arc previously reserved only for male sta...