“I’m John Ford and I make Westerns,” said the Maine-born filmmaker in one of the great understatements of all time. Ford didn’t just make Westerns – he was synonymous with them. But did you know that none of his seven Academy Awards were for his trademark genre? To me, that would be like Alfred Hitchcock copping Oscars for directing musicals (or any movies for that matter. The Master of Suspense went zero-for-five in his career.) In addition to scoring awards for wartime docu

I am not easily shocked by movies, but the first time I saw Angel Face , I actually yelped out loud. There are two moments in the picture that I did not see coming, and they were the best kind of a screen surprise, right up there with “I see dead people” in The Sixth Sense or “the secret” twist in The Crying Game . Needless to say, I won’t spoil what happens in Angel Face, but I will recommend that you see for yourself. Considered a flop in 1952, this offbeat sleeper’s ren

Out of the Past isn’t just a movie. It’s the archetypical film noir. At TCM.com, Felicia Feaster and John M. Miller break down the drama’s key draws: “Bitter, cynical, fatalistic and peppered with some of the best tough-guy dialogue in the genre, Out of the Past is a consummate example” of the hard-boiled flicks that flooded theaters in the 1940s and ‘50s. If you’re looking to launch your noir-ducation, it’s hard to top this on-brand fact I found at IMDB.com: Out of the Pas

In 1947, two movies dealing with antisemitism were released just four months apart. First came Crossfire in July, followed by Gentleman’s Agreement in November. Both films were critical hits. Both racked up Oscar nominations (13 between them). Both are worthy of your time. That said, I find Crossfire the more compelling of the dramas, thanks to its combo punch of riveting performances and lasting emotional impact. Crossfire casts Robert Young ( Father Knows Best ) as a ho

I’ve seen more classic boxing movies than matches in my lifetime. Golden Boy, The Set-Up, Champion, The Harder They Fall, Rocky, Raging Bull. The truth is, if I cared any less about men pummeling each other for money, it would be an effort. My limited interest is in the back stories of the big-screen boxers. Why do they fight? What compromises are they willing to make? In 1947, the New York Times spotlit the downside of the genre: “After all the assorted prizefight pictures