Hollywood Steps Out!

Remember this Warner Brothers cartoon?
If ever there was a night where all these stars were in Ciro's at the same time, I would break the laws of time travel to be there.




Here's a list of appearances that I can name (and some I can't):

1. Mary Pickford?
2. Douglass Fairbanks?
3. Adolphe Menjou
4. Actress?
5. Cary Grant
6. Garbo (as a big-footed cigarette girl)
7. Edward G. Robinson
8. Ann Sheridan (the Oomph Girl)
9. Chaplin?
10. Fatty Arbuckle?
11. Bette Davis is absent
12. So is Kate Smith
13. So is the cast of Dagwood
14. Johnny Weismuller
15. Is the hatcheck girl anybody famous?
16. Is Ayn Rand checking her fur?
17. James Cagney
18. Humphrey Bogart
19. George Raft
20. Garbo again
21. Harpo Marx
22. Clark Gable and a mystery woman
23. Bing Crosby and a jockey with horse
24. Leopold Stokowski
25. Jimmy Stewart
26. Dorothy Lamour
27. Clark Gable cruising his mystery woman
28. Tyrone Power
29. Sonja Henning
30. Frankenstein
31. Larry, Moe, and Curly
32. Oliver Hardy... and twin blondes.
33. Dancing couple? Lauren Bacall?
34. Mickey and Judy
35. Lewis Stone as Judge Hardy
36. Clark Gable still cruising
37. Bing Crosby and his gambling problem
38. Miss Sally Rand and her bubble dance.
39. Kay Kayser
40. I can only name 2 of these five gents- William Powell and Wallace Beery
41. Peter Lorre
42. Henry Fonda
43. J, Edgar Hoover... saying 'G' over and over.
44. Another group of 5 that I only know two of: Boris Karlof and Buster Keaton
45. Don't know who comes up to the group
46. I know I should know this one- but can't figure it out.
47. The Invisible Man
48. Harpo's back!
49. Finally Groucho appears.

Can you pick out the stars?

Lance's Werthwhile Top 5- Dramas

Hello Werthwhile followers!

If there's one question I get when I'm out and about more than any other- well more than, "How do you stay looking so young?"- it is "What are your top ten favorite movies?"
I wish I could answer that. I am a fan of so many movies for so many different reasons, that it's just hard to narrow it down to ten. My favorite movies are like my children. I couldn't pick one or two above the others. I couldn't live with myself if I had to tell one of my kids, "You're the best-est!"  and another, "You're ugly."

But I can't deny you wonderful folks my wise cinema guidance, so I've decided to break the Top 10 Movie Favorites Idea down to Top 5 and into genres so that it's easier for you to swallow. Now these lists are not definitive. There will always be a buttload of good movies that I don't talk about- and if you ask me after I've had three vodka tonics, I could give a totally different list. I also might be saving a couple gems for a future category. But one thing you can be sure of, you won't go wrong with any of the five that I talk about

So to start us off- let's go with the category of Lance's Werthwhile Top 5 Dramas!

1.) The Color Purple (1985)

Have you heard of this director named, Steven Spielberg? As prolific as Hitchcock and as superb a showman as DeMille, Spielberg, whether loved or loathed, is one of the most recognizable living American directors. He has been making movies since 1971, some of which (Jaws (1975), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) , and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)) have become cultural touchstones and the gold standard for popular American film. Heck! He even shot an episode of Night Gallery (1970) with Joan Crawford!

Many people are grossed-out by Spielberg's over-sentimental story-telling and schmaltzy cinematic tricks. But I'm a sucker for it. If a movie makes me choke up and bawl- it has somehow hit all the right movie g-spots in me- and I think that's what good movies should do. The Spielberg movie that makes me cry on cue three times is my favorite- The Color Purple.

Based on the equally stunning novel by Alice Walker, the film follows Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), a young black woman in rural Georgia in the early 1900's. Celie's life is a steady stream of tragedy: raped by her father, her children taken away from her at birth, married off  to an abusive husband, and her beloved sister driven away from her in a hail of stones. But Celie somehow endures and falls in love with juke joint chanteuse Shug Avery (Margaret Avery), giving her life a shimmy she never knew. The film is full of stunning vistas, touching moments, and great performances. The Quincy Jones score is evocative and beautiful- and makes me get all tear-y when I hear it on my i-Pod. In short- it's a typical Spielberg masterpiece.

The film was highly touted and the lesbian love scene (however slight it was compared to the book) caused a loud hub-bub. When the film earned eleven Academy Award nominations, it was assumed it would make Oscar history. It did- by being the most nominated film to not win a single award. It's  too bad- because I personally prefer Color Purple to Out of Africa. Oh well. Spielberg went on to make plenty of successful movies, Whoopi launched a movie career, and Oprah- well she's Oprah.

2.) Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Lots of film folk point to Easy Rider (1969) as being the film that changed American movies- ushering in a new, independent era. But there is a better movie released at the same time, that I think can easily be called the first shot fired in a new American cinema, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy. 

Joe Buck (Jon Voight) is a young country boy with dreams of fame and fortune in the big city. Wearing his cowboy hat, boots, and fringed jacket, Joe gets off a bus at Port Authority with the intention of taking Manhattan by storm with his good looks and charm. Instead, he meets washed-up con-artist and grifter Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) who puts him up in an abandoned apartment building that is days away from the wrecking ball- much like these two disillusioned, lost men. The performances from Voight and Hoffman are unforgettable. Hoffman went from playing a confused, clean-cut college grad in The Graduate (1967) to a dilapidated, coughing derelict- proving he was one of the most exciting young actors of the time.

The film was shot in New York City with the grit, grime, and sleeze of the real city oozing out of the frame. The film doesn't shy away from the unsavory acts that some people had to do to get by- which originally earned it an X Rating from the MPAA. Schlesinger (who was a Brit) was able to take the realism coming out of foreign films at the time and apply it to an iconic American city- and the iconic American Dream- and expose both for the disappointment that they can be. The film took home three Oscars including Best Picture. I dare you to watch it and not hum the ear-worm theme song "Everbody's Talkin'" by Nilsson for the next three days,

3.) Network (1976)

People often say this or that film is prescient. Network is prescient. Directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky, the film starts with bad news. Veteran news anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch whose untimely death meant he won the first posthumous competitive Oscar) is told his sagging program ratings have made him disposable. Beale then announces on live television that he is going to kill himself on his final telecast. The ratings skyrocket and Beale becomes a sort of cultural televangelist flailing against the government, industry, and pop culture.

What makes this film such a great crystal ball is that it shows the ridiculous lengths a corporate-run news industry will go to to get ratings. It foreshadows not only the 24 hour news channels that build every story up to epic, life-threatening proportions until the next story comes along, but also the reality entertainment craze that has us watching the mental breakdowns of housewives, bachelors, and Kardashians everywhere.

The film is flawlessly paced with a career-best performance from William Holden and fantastic turns by Faye Dunaway, Ned Beatty, and Beatrice Straight. Straight won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for what amounts to five minutes of screentime, but the film lost Best Picture to Rocky. I will be peeved about that forevs.

4.) Caged! (1950)

When I say the words "women's prison film" you probably think of scantily clad women showering and shiv-ing each other in front of butch guards. Caged! is so much more than that. Marie Allen (a pre-Sound of Music Baroness Eleanor Parker) is arrested for driving the getaway car for her armed-robber hubby. It's a bad day for her because her husband is killed and in her pre-lock-up physical, she discovers she's pregnant. It only gets worse from there.

Caged! is different from the typical women's prison film because the elements of bitch-ery and lesbianism aren't played for shocks or laughs. They are real parts of the prison system that ultimately degrades the women it is supposed to rehabilitate.

The cast in this movie are not pretty ingenues who have had their hair styled to look "unfortunate." This cast is chock full of character actresses with lined, scarred faces and bodies that look as if they have led lives on the wrong side of the tracks. It's a form of realism that you don't see often in films of this era especially with actresses.

Parker is a revelation, slowly losing her humanity until she becomes one of the animals in the zoo. Hope Emerson as the ward boss is a physical mountain who dominates her scenes with her hands on her hips and a lipstick scowl on her face. The great Agnes Moorehead rounds out the cast as a progressive prison warden whose hopes for these girls keep getting dashed by the system. Both Parker and Emerson were nominated for Oscars for their work.
Don't get me wrong. There are some good laughs here with gems lines like, "Line-up tramps!" But when I saw this film for the first time at Film Forum, my jaw hurt from hanging open. It's my favorite unexpected find.

5.) Meet John Doe (1941)

When people rattle off their favorite Frank Capra films, It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) often top the list. But I'm most fond of another Capra classic called Meet John Doe. Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is a newspaper writer who's given a pink slip. She's so mad, she writes her final column about a "John Doe" letter she received from a man who due to all the ills of the world has vowed to kill himself on Christmas Eve (Capra must love Christmas) by throwing himself off the roof of city hall. There's just one problem. There is no John Doe. Clever Ann made up the letter herself. When the readership of the paper explodes over the column, Ann and the paper have to come up with someone to play Mr. Doe to keep the papers selling.

Enter Gary Cooper as an ex-baseball player who has fallen on hard times and is willing to play the part for enough money to buy a donut and get back on the rails with his hobo pal, The Colonel (irrepressibly gruff Walter Brennan). With his down-to-earth, homespun rhetoric, John Doe becomes a symbol for the American Everyman, igniting a political movement he doesn't wish to be part of.

Capra was always obsessed with American society- its politics and influences, and John Doe deftly illustrates not only the needs of the people, but how those needs can be used by greedy politicians to gain power. He seems to say we need a populist movement- but the very existence of such a movement means those needs will be ground-up within the political machine. He offers no jingoistic answers here- and in fact warns us to fear anyone who speaks in slogans and political platitudes. "Make America Great Again!" anyone?

Stanwyck does what she does best- playing a feisty gal who can turn on the waterworks when it's called for. Cooper's skill at playing a simple man is done so beautifully in this picture, you can't help but love him. We all want to be Stanwyck clutching him on top of that snowy city hall, begging him not to jump.




So those are my Top 5 Dramas. What are yours?

Hollywood Frame by Frame

Here at Lance's Werthwhile Movies Blog I not only like to talk about classic movies- but I also like to talk about books about classic movies. 

I just recently finished up Karina Longworth's Hollywood Frame by Frame. Have you ever wondered about the history of still promotional photography of Hollywood movies? Longworth has. Her theory is that as movies and the studio system (as well as photography technology) changed so too did the way that studio photographers shot specific film productions for publicity. As cultural views of stars and the movies evolved, the ways studios promoted those stars and movies evolved. Staged pictures shot in portrait studios gave way to more relaxed candid shots of stars as well as shots of actual filming. Makes sense. Unfortunately the contact sheets that Longworth shows aren't great examples of her point. 

The uncharacteristically relaxed and smiling candid shots of James Dean from the set of Giant (1956) are similar to the candid shots of a pre-superstardom Madonna smiling and laughing having a drink at Danceteria during the filming of Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). The portraits of Audrey Hepburn and Cat for Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) are as glamorously staged  as the portraits of Faye Dunaway's fashion shots for The Thomas Crown Affair- a year after the American verite movement was born.

The frame-by-frame shots of Sissy Spacek having blood dumped on her in Carrie (1976) hold the same stop-motion fascination as the shots of Robert De Niro getting punched in Raging Bull (1980). What's missing is a sense of the dramatic change that Longworth discusses within the pictures themselves. But perhaps this illustrates a point that Longworth doesn't explicitly make- While film styles and stars change- how we connect with them does not. Talented photographers of very different eras were able to grasp what made a star or a movie exciting and were able to capture it on film- whether it was staged or candid, on 35mm or a Polaroid. With the digital film revolution, it sounds like the contact sheet is dead. But I'd be willing to bet that the promotional pictures stored on hard drives and memory sticks of today's photographers are probably very similar to the shots depicted in Hollywood Frame by Frame.

Happy Birthday, King!

 From the early 1930's until his death in 1960, the undisputed king of the silver screen was jug-eared rogue, Clark Gable. Before the birth of the Method and the death of the studio system, Gable ruled the Hollywood roost. His presence in a movie was, for a time, a surefire guarantee to send ticket sales soaring. Women wanted to be hauled up a staircase by him, and men hoped to achieve his mastery of masculinity so they could haul their own women. Even little Judy Garland crooned him a love song. His romances on and off the screen were fodder for the gossip columns. He is believed to have fathered a love child with Loretta Young out of wedlock, had a long-standing affair with co-star Joan Crawford, and married his match in Hollywood beauty Carole Lombard. Her death in a plane accident in 1942 devastated Gable, and added mourning widower to the Gable persona. His life became even more like one of his Hollywood movies when he enlisted in the Air Force and flew missions in World War II, becoming a real-life American hero.

While Gable was a male ideal in the golden era of Hollywood, his masculinity was different from those of his cowboy contemporaries. Gable seemed equally at home in a tux or a pair of a dungarees, moving easily between the two classes. He was like a mixture of John Wayne and William Powell. His real talent seemed to be to mesh so well with some of the strongest actresses of the period- in fact, it's hard to think of Gable without his leading ladies. Where the more solitary men like Wayne and Spencer Tracy came off as images of singular manhood, Gable was masculine because he went toe-to-toe with feisty, powerful women, and came out as their equal.

On what would have been his 115th birthday, here is a list of some of my favorite Clark Gable films:

Night Nurse (1931)
Gable's breakout role was as Nick, a dick-y chauffeur for a messed-up rich family (a role James Cagney turned down due to his rising stardom). Nick's not terribly lovable in this- he knocks out Barbara Stanwyck for chrissakes. But there was something about him that stood out, and after this picture, MGM groomed Gable for stardom. The film is dark with drunks and attempted infanticide- and Pre-Code Stanwyck is always a treat.

Red Dust (1932)
The pairing of Gable with MGM blonde bombshell Jean Harlow is cinema magic. Gable is rubber plantation manager Dennis Carson who willingly hosts smartmouth hooker, Vantine (Harlow) during the rainy season. Vantine has hopes of keeping Dennis' attentions until married goody-goody, Barbara Willis  (the beautifully uptight Mary Astor) shows up and piques Dennis' libido. The sexual tension is palpable in this love triangle and as the typhoon rages so do these lovers. Gable and Harlow became good friends on this film and he was co-starring with Harlow when she died suddenly during the making of Saratoga (1937). For those of you who recoil at Asian stereotypes, watch out for Willie Fung as an inane, cackling functionary.

It Happened One Night (1934)
Winner of five Oscars including the only win for Gable, It Happened One Night is an iconic Hollywood comedy that lives up to the hype. Claudette Colbert and Gable are evenly matched as a runaway heiress and a newspaperman who is desperate to get the story. Directed by cinematic master Frank Capra, the movie blends a comedy of classes, a road movie, and a screwball romance. Who can forget Colbert hiking up her skirt to grab a ride on a country road? Or Gable wearing no undershirt in a hotel room divided by a sheet? Legend has it that the scene killed the undershirt industry because men everywhere went undershirt-less like Gable- but that's probably a lot of PR puffing.

Gone with the Wind (1939)
While the earnest search for the actress to play Scarlett O'Hara filled every possible newspaper column and radio minute, the search for Rhett Butler was much easier. Producer David O. Selznick wanted Gable from the beginning so all he had to do was convince his father-in-law Louis B. Mayer to loan out his biggest star to play the role. Mayer acquiesced for a high price and the rest, as they say, is history. The making of GWTW is as much an epic as the movie itself. Books have been written on the subject and the legends have been proved and disproved time and time again.

I'll only say this- Gable seems flawlessly comfortable in the role and with his formidable co-star, Vivien Leigh. It's probably a combination of his acting talent and the director. Gable was keen to get Victor Fleming to replace "women's director" George Cukor. Maybe he was worried the women's performances would overshadow him under Cukor's guidance (he'd acted with strong women before to no complaint), maybe he was uncomfortable working with a "fag" director (the most swishy item of gossip suggested that Gable was once a callboy and Cukor knew it), or maybe he was just very comfortable with Victor Fleming, having already worked with him on the wildly successful Red Dust. Whatever the reason, it is impossible to imagine anyone else saying, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", as he exits one of the greatest screen romances ever made.

Strange Cargo (1940)
Strange is the operative word. This film is about a bunch of prisoners who escape a French penal colony and brave a jungle and the ocean to find freedom. Seems like a typical action film, right? Well what if one of the escapees turns out to be Jesus? And what if the prisoners bring along Joan Crawford? Can Jesus and Joan sit in the same boat? In their eighth and final film together, Crawford and Gable spark wonderfully with verbal barbs and slaps to the face before clinching embraces. Crawford said that Gable was the greatest actor because he had balls. And she should know. Crawford claimed that when Carole Lombard died, Gable turned to her for comfort. Watching Gable and Crawford on-screen you can sense that there was indeed a deep bond between these two "tough-guys."

The Misfits (1961)
Marilyn Monroe used to fantasize when she was a child that Clark Gable was her father. So it must have been a titch surreal for Monroe when Gable was cast as her lover in her husband, Arthur Miller's movie. Monroe was ecstatic to work with Gable, but it didn't take long for Monroe's demons, drug abuse, and disintegrating marriage to overwhelm the production. Gable is rumored to have said, "Working with Marilyn on The Misfits nearly gave me a heart attack." He died twelve days after shooting ended of a heart attack.
This is the last completed film of both Gable and Monroe who died in August of 1962 of a drug overdose. For that reason alone, it is a memorable piece of film history. But there is something more to the picture. There is an ethereal quality to it- almost as if these two huge stars were already entering the dreamland of their posthumous legends. At the end they drive into the desert night towards the star-filled horizon- right where they belonged.

NYC Movie Weekend!

One of the things I love most about living in New York City is the number of theaters that show classic films around the city. Now don't get me wrong- there are fewer options than when I first got here over twenty years ago. But there are still several theaters left that give you the opportunity to see classic films on big screens.

Here are some fun goings-on that are happening this weekend:

Coen Brothers Film Festival at Film Forum

If one was going to make a list of modern auteurs, Joel and Ethan Coen would rank high with their distinctive blend of dark comedy and human tragedy. Starting in 1984 with the grisly Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan have worked together to find the humor in murder, kidnapping, and bowling. Film Forum is hosting fifteen of their best from Friday 1/29 through Thursday, 2/4, ending with their newest star-studded film, old Hollywood homage Hail, Caesar! I can't wait to find out who has kidnapped Baird Whitlock!

My favorites?

Blood Simple (1984)
Raising Arizona (1987)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
And of course their most recognized film, Fargo (1996), but that stopped showing on Thursday, so you'll have to rent that one if you don't already own it. Everyone owns a copy of Fargo, right?

The Landmark Loew's Jersey brings you the news

The Landmark Loew's Theater in Jersey City is an old movie palace that has seen better days, but valiant volunteers have been working hard to step-by-step restore this gem to its former glory. It has a long way to go- but the old movie organ works and the screen is huge. So it's always a good time to get on the PATH train and see an old movie.

This and the following weekend are dedicated to movies about mass media and they are kicking off the festival with an Elia Kazan classic, A Face in the Crowd (1957). This film will wow you. It charts the career of "Lonesome" Rhodes (a surprising Andy Griffith), a former jailbird who sings his way into a radio and then TV empire. There's no Mayberry sheriff here as a beloved folk hero turns into a megalomaniac bent on becoming a political kingmaker. I'd say this film was prophetic if it weren't for the fact it was based partially on entertainer Arthur Godfrey. But all one needs to do is look at the television clown running for president now to understand that this movie is barely fictional. Amazing cast includes the always stellar Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau, and introduces Lee Remick with a baton.
If this weekend doesn't work for you- try next weekend when The Landmark is showing the equally amazing Ace in the Hole (1951) and Network (1976).
Seriously, these three movies are all must-sees.


Catch the vibes of Dr. Phibes!

If classic, camp horror films are more your speed, go to the tres alternative movie house, Anthology Film Archives where The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) will scare the laughs right out of you. Care of schlock movie house American International, this gem stars the Crown Prince of Horror, Vincent Price as the titular doctor who is seeking revenge on the nine doctors who were responsible for the death of his beloved wife. To make sure he wasn't just Vincent Price being creepy, the plot adds the twist that he can't speak and his voice has to come from a weird victrola-thing that he attaches to his neck. Not weird enough? How about if he wears a mask that looks like the heavily powdered face of Price, but in reality, he's horribly burned underneath? Still not enough? What if instead of just tracking down and killing these dudes, he kills each of them according to one of the biblical plagues? What if he has a hot assistant named Vulnavia? Not even the venerable Joseph Cotton can bring any seriousness to the proceedings- but that's okay. This movie is a hoot- and if you don't believe me- check out the trailer.

Well that's what's going on in movie theaters in NYC this weekend. Go see a classic movie! Or stay at home with a plastic organ and your burned face.

The History of Hollywood Fan Mags

This may surprise my readers, but I'm not the hugest fan of fan culture. Don't get me wrong, once they're dead I love to dig into the life history of a legitimate Hollywood personage. But until then, I'm not terribly interested in who they're dating, what restaurants they eat at, or what their man cave looks like. That being said, the history of the fan magazine is intimately linked to Hollywood history and many of the decisions made at these publications had huge impacts on how movies were marketed and made, and the careers of film actors and actresses great and small.

The Guardian's Pamela Hutchinson has written a great story about the birth of Photoplay Magazine- a veritable who's who and what who did in Hollywood from 1910 right up until the 1980's. There are some interesting tidbits about silent film greats Florence Lawrence, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Theda Bara, Gloria Swanson, and Fatty Arbuckle to name a few. At the end of the article is a link to the Media History Digital Library. Several lifetimes would be insufficient to leaf through all the film reviews, star "confessions", and unbelievable advertisements that are contained here. But since I have to do important things like write this blog, I'll settle for just looking at the magazines with Joan in them.

Happy Birthday, Cool Hand!

Paul Newman. The man has so much universal appeal that just saying his name seems enough to describe him. Everyone knows how beautiful he was- those crystal blue eyes, that smirk, that figure. His screen acting was second only to Brando's at the time with nine Academy Award nominations for acting including a win for The Color of Money (1986). His Newman's Own product line was more than a vanity salad dressing project. It funded many charities including his Hole in the Wall Gang Camp that gives hope and joy to seriously ill children and their families. His political activism was something he was proud of- bringing his star power to address racial and gay issues. And his loyalty to friends was absolute.

When William F. Buckley Jr. called Gore Vidal a queer on live television, Newman was waiting for him back in his dressing room and apparently ripped Buckley a new one. Of course Vidal had called Buckley a pro-crypto Nazi but that's a discussion for another post. Paul Newman was a Hollywood star who seemed so casual about himself, that we felt he was one of us- even if there was no way we could be anything close to Paul Newman. 

On what would have been his 91st birthday, here are some of my favorite Newman classics.

Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)- Great early role with Newman playing real-life pugilist Rocky Graziano. Newman looks great in a pair of boxing trunks- but more importantly is able to convey the rage and despair of a trapped man.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)- There may never be a more ravishing pair of leads than Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. They are so sexy it seems impossible that they don't rip each other's clothes off and make a Little Dandy right there in that brass bed. But that's part of the genius of the casting- if these two aren't screwing there is something wrong- and that tension drives this Tennessee Williams classic.

The Hustler (1961)- Newman is effortlessly cool as a pool player who has the balls to take on the unbeatable champ, Minnesota Fats (a rare dramatic turn from Jackie Gleason). A pre-Carrie Piper Laurie is sensational as a drunken, gimpy girlfriend.

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)- This movie is sort of a reunion for the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof creatives with Richard Brooks directing a script based on a Tennessee Williams play. Geraldine Page as washed-up actress Alexandra del Lago steals the film, but part of Newman's grace as an actor was his ability to allow his co-stars to shine.

Hud (1963)- Newman is perfect as Hud, a shiftless cowboy who has not figured out what to do with himself in his small Texas hometown. The fact that you don't hate him by the end of the movie is a testament to his likability. James Wong Howe's Oscar-wining black and white cinematography is breathtaking and co-stars Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas took home statues as well for their tremendous performances. Younger brother Lonnie's (Brandon De Wilde) idolatry of Hud adds a gay subtext- something Brick and Skipper might have appreciated.

Cool Hand Luke (1967)- Newman again plays a charismatic scamp who takes unfair, abusive imprisonment in stride, becoming a legend in the process. There's no failure to communicate here. Newman is the king.

The Sting (1973)- In the second (and final) pairing of Newman and Redford, the hot-shot chemistry between these two Hollywood stars sparks off the screen. Either one of these actors could have hogged this movie- but their sense of play and sly one-upmanship instead creates the perfect caper team. Robert Shaw and Eileen Brennan add to the Depression Era antics under the slick direction of George Roy Hill.

The Towering Inferno (1974)- Newman is only one of the many stars that populate the sky of this Irwin Allen disaster classic. Not quite as fulfilling as The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Towering Inferno still explodes with its share of corny dialogue and "which star will burn next?" plot twists. But seriously, I'd be happy to burst into flames if I could be tied to a pillar in a room with Newman, Steve McQueen, and William Holden.

The Verdict (1982)- Newman is washed-up, sodden lawyer Frank Galvin who gets a chance to redeem himself with a case that sheds light on a questionable death at a Catholic hospital. Newman knocks it out of the park and if it weren't for the super stiff competition that year (including winner Ben Kingsley for Ghandi, Jack Lemmon for Missing, Dustin Hoffman for Tootsie, and Peter O'Toole for Man of the Year) Newman would have taken home his first Oscar. Currently in Oscar hot water, Charlotte Rampling is great as a shady sedcutress.

Road to Perdition (2002)- In a career where Newman mainly played lovable scamps, his role as Irish mobster John Rooney strains our ability to like this dark, vindictive character. But no one in this stylized Sam Mendes action/drama comes out clean- not even leading man Tom Hanks. Newman earned his final Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor.

What's your favorite Paul Newman Movie?