1. "The Shop Around the Corner"(1940)
Jimmy Stewart firmed up his fame(pre-George Bailey, pre-WWII heroism) in this romantic comedy charmer that goes down as the first good film of the 1940s. Remade(loosely) by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in 1998's "You've Got Mail".
2.
"Gentleman Jim"(1941) James Corbett was the second heavyweight champion in boxing history(1892-1897), and the sport's first refined, intelligent figure. Fight fans should find his rousing rise entertaining and informative. It's easy to see why Errol Flynn was one of the era's essential leading men.
3.
"They Were Expendable"(1945) I admit, I'm occasionally reluctant to watch "old movies". A swaggering John Wayne is usually enough to win me over. This Navy drama(his third starring role for friend-and-mentor John Ford) was right in the Duke's wheelhouse.
4.
"Operation Pacific"(1951) One could argue that John Wayne was the greatest movie star of all time. His Golden Age output is astounding. Once again, it's WWII, it's in black-and-white, and I didn't mind one bit.
5.
"The Harder They Fall"(1956) Humphrey Bogart lives up the the hype. The "Casablanca" star brings all the gruff charisma you'd expect to his final film role(he succumbed to esophageal cancer the following year), as a conflicted sportswriter faced with dangerous corruption in the shady world of boxing.
6.
"Inherit the Wind"(1960) If you're under the age of 50, you probably don't know anything about Spencer Tracy. Let's change that. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" director Stanley Kramer was known for smart, progressive films. This engaging Southern-set legal drama is no exception.
7.
"Seven Days in May"(1964) Two greats for the price of one. Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster square off in this John Frankenheimer Cold War thriller that I preferred to his much-more-famous previous directorial effort, "The Manchurian Candidate".
8.
"Joe"(1970) This mildly-controversial holdover from the hippie era was a micro-budgeted breakthrough for future "Rocky" director John G. Avildsen. A 23 year old Susan Sarandon(in her film debut) and Peter Boyle's acid-tongued title character drew me into Norman Wexler's Oscar-nominated screenplay, that now serves as a microcosm of an America that's sadly still all too familiar.
9.
"The Offence"(1973) This dark British police drama from director Sidney Lumet isn't nearly as well-known as his most celebrated works("12 Angry Men", "Serpico", "Network"), but it's situations and themes are as recognizable as ever. The late, great Sean Connery shines as a crazed cop during an intensely-protracted interrogation with a child killer(Ian Bannen). There's isn't a trace of James Bond in here.
10.
"Scarecrow"(1973) Al Pacino and Gene Hackman hit the road as a pair of dirty drifters in this downbeat "Midnight Cowboy"-style drama, from "Panic in Needle Park" director Jerry Schatzberg. This is the kind of somber, ambiguous slow-burner that could only exist in the '70s, with two acting titans at the top of their games.
11.
"The Prisoner of Second Avenue"(1975) Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft are a cash-strapped New York couple in this crackling Neil Simon-scripted comedy that couldn't attract many paying customers in the summer of "Jaws", but now feels uniquely suited to our current predicament.
12.
"Straight Time"(1978) Dustin Hoffman is dynamite as a downtrodden ex-con in Ulu Grosbard's gripping and grossly-underappreciated crime drama. U.S. prisons get a lot of repeat business, as this sobering story shows us in often-unnerving detail. It's about time you saw this one.
13.
"The Long-Riders"(1980) This hearty Walter Hill Western had the misfortune of coming out a week before "The Empire Strikes Back", but deserves your attention the next time you're scrolling through HBO/HULU's menu. David, Robert and Keith Carradine, Dennis and Randy Quaid, and Stacy Keach gallop through the aftermath of the Civil War as the James-Younger gang. There will be bullets and bloodshed.
14.
"Southern Comfort"(1981) While we're on Walter Hill, he made another bad-ass movie that the whole world slept on the following year. A squad of National Guardsmen(Keith Carradine, Powers Booth, Peter Coyote, Fred Ward) are terrorized by killer Cajuns in a Louisiana swamp. Their struggle to survive is better than whatever you watched last night.
15.
"Commando"(1985) Arnold Schwarzenegger's eighth best movie is still cooler than anything Dwayne Johnson ever did. The Austrian Oak has some baggage(mostly bad movies after 1996, Republican politics), but his prime years brought brawny thrills like nobody's business.
16.
"Nomads"(1986) John McTiernan made his directorial debut with this eerie low-budget horror thriller that contains some of the atmosphere and tension that would later burst out of his late '80s classics "Predator" and "Die Hard". Pierce Brosnan(in his first notable film role) is a French anthropologist perplexed by a mysterious L.A. street gang. Cool ending.
17.
"Family Business"(1989) If you can accept Sean Connery and Dustin Hoffman as father and son, Sidney Lumet's comic caper about a family of crooks is another criminally-overlooked entry in both of their filmographies. Matthew Broderick brings up the rear as the buttoned-up grandson that shouldn't be following in their footsteps.
18.
"Bird on a Wire"(1990) Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn both looked great and were great big movie stars as lovers on the run in this energetic action-comedy from director John Badham("Saturday Night Fever"). I swear, this movie was on cable at least twice a week for ten or fifteen years. That's no accident.
19.
"The Hard Way"(1991) John Badham was in the zone when he paired up Michael J. Fox and James Woods to search for a NYC serial killer(a very creepy Stephen Lang, perhaps auditioning for "Avatar"). The two wildly-dissimilar stars bounce right off each other, in one of the better buddy actioners.
20.
"The Player"(1992) Director Robert Altman("MASH", "Nashville") made an unlikely comeback with this sharp showbiz parody about a movie studio executive(Tim Robbins) dodging death threats and the ridiculous demands of a sleepless, success-obsessed industry. Every equally-disillusioned critic in the country was glad to have him back.
21.
"Death and the Maiden"(1994) Roman Polanski is problematic, there's no doubt about it. But his tight direction can't be ignored, nor can this bleak drama about delayed retribution that boasts strong performances from Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, and Stuart Wilson.
22.
"Eye for an Eye"(1996) Sally Field doesn't get talked about enough when all-time great actresses are discussed. She's effortlessly good in almost everything, including John Schlesinger's gloriously-trashy revenge thriller opposite an absolutely diabolical Kiefer Sutherland. Pair this one up with 1990's "Pacific Heights"(also from Schlesinger, also an hour and 40 minutes) for a fun double feature.
23.
"The Apostle"(1997) Writer-director Robert Duvall pulled triple duty, and gave one of his best performances as a crazed Christian hiding out in the deep South in this probing character study that I only discovered a few years ago, which probably means that you have yet to.
24.
"He Got Game"(1998) Spike Lee's love letter to basketball is a battle of wills between a high school NBA hopeful(a surprisingly good Ray Allen) and his felon father(a gruff and always game Denzel Washington). This is back when Lee scored more often than not.
25.
"Summer of Sam"(1999) Speaking of Spike, he populates his sweaty summer of '77 with as many colorful characters and curse words as you'd expect, in his NYC-set drama that now feels like a spiritual precursor to Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino, and Adrien Brody all held my attention as they bicker and dodge the bullets of sinister serial killer David Berkowitz.
26.
"Hollow Man"(2000) Paul Verhoeven's retreat from Hollywood filmmaking was a loss for lovers of glossy action and FX. Kevin Bacon's evil invisible man stalks Elisabeth Shue(we miss seeing her front-and-center too), in this innovative thriller that can stand right next to "Robocop", "Total Recall", and "Starship Troopers".
27.
"61"(2001) Director Billy Crystal's reverance for the NY Yankees comes through in this feel-good HBO sports movie about the home-run race and friendly rivalry that developed between rock-star slugger Mickey Mantle and the much-more reserved Roger Maris, both well played by Thomas Jane and Barry Pepper.
28.
"City by the Sea"(2002) Robert De Niro's quiet authority lifted up this low-key but effective drama about an NYPD veteran and his homeless junkie son(a 23 year old James Franco, with all the potential in the world).
29.
"Tears of the Sun"(2003) "Training Day" director Anthony Fuqua's potent direction and the bald stoicism of a rain-soaked, still-relevant Bruce Willis made this military-men-on-a-mission actioner the first worthwhile movie released in 2003.
30.
"Kinsey"(2004) Let's talk about sex, with Liam Neeson. The king of geriatric action once played interesting roles, like taboo-busting sexologist Alfred Kinsey, whose groundbreaking research started important conversations in the '40s and '50s. I wish he'd do more of that.
31.
"Black Snake Moan"(2006) Christina Ricci admitted herself that she's too weird for mainstream movie stardom. So, I guess all of us weirdos are going to have to go to our rooms and enjoy her chained-up Southern sexpot and a sweaty Sam Jackson doing some good work for a change.
32.
"Death Proof"(2007) Quentin Tarantino's worst movie is still miles better than what the average director can come up with. Audiences didn't 'get' his joint homage to '70s trash with Robert Rodriguez, originally titled "Grindhouse". Just skip right over to a killer Kurt Russell and the colorful young actresses(Vanessa Ferlito, Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead) he stalks and terrorizes on a wicked road trip.
33.
"Interview"(2007) Sienna Miller could've been a big star. That's my main takeaway from this talky indie about an anxious actress and the journalist that thinks he's above writing about her. Another is that her costar Steve Buscemi is a very capable writer-director.
34.
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"(2007) Sidney Lumet's farewell features Philip Seymour Hoffman in full desperate and depraved mode(how much do we miss this guy?). Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney also enhance this tragic, crime-filled tale of a family in freefall.
35.
"Burn After Reading"(2008) More offbeat brilliance from the Coen brothers. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, and John Malkovich all furthered their reputations in a black comedy I can barely describe. Just watch it.
36.
"Revolutionary Road"(2008) Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are married, but NOT in the way "Titanic" superfans wanted them to be. This sobering 1950s-set drama was never going to light up the box office, despite admirable performances, Oscar-nominated Costumes/Production Design, and Roger Deakins' cinematography. "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes(Kate's then-husband) has to be considered one of our best directors, and "Road" certainly reinforces that notion.
37.
"Brothers"(2009) Tobey Maguire was terrific as a traumatized Marine failing to re-adjust to civilian life in "My Left Foot" director Jim Sheridan's simmering exploration of PTSD. Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal provide strong support.
38.
"Foxcatcher"(2014) A barely-recognizable Steve Carell disappeared into the role of an oddball multimillionaire obsessed with Olympic Wrestling in "Moneyball" director Bennett Miller's eerie fact-based drama. Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo also turn in award-worthy work as battling brothers Mark and Dave Schultz, two of the sport's best in the '80s and '90s. One of the most unjustly-ignored films of 2010s.
39.
"Walk"(2015) How is Joseph Gordon-Levitt not a major star? It doesn't seem right. Director Robert Zemeckis("Back to the Future", "Forrest Gump") used his trademark non-intrusive FX wizardry to tell the incredible true story of a French daredevil's tightrope exploits in between the Twin Towers in 1974. Ridley Scott's blockbuster "The Martian" kept potential patrons from walking alongside him.
40.
"The Founder"(2016) Michael Keaton's comeback is one of the most pleasant surprises in recent memory. His ruthless capitalist Ray Kroc made us a fast food nation, and John Lee Hancock's absorbing account of the McDonald's mastermind should've been marketed correctly as a "Social Network"-style commentary on Trump's America(it didn't help that the Weinsteins were involved). This is one of the best films of the decade.
