They say High Noon is popular with presidents: Reportedly, it was the favorite movie of Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, and Bill Clinton, who allegedly screened it 17 times during his tenure. Being the commander in chief of the free world is a lonely job – Clinton jokingly called the White House "the crown jewel in the federal penal system.” No wonder Oval Office occupants can relate to the Oscar-winning story of a marshal (Gary Cooper) who must confront a vengeful enemy al

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

Few 75-year-olds have aged as gracefully as All About Eve . With biting wit undiminished by time and a performance for the ages by Bette...

In 1932, MGM invented a new concept in filmmaking. At the time, studios rarely assigned more than two big names to the same script. They...

Behold a trio of lesser-known titles that may have eluded your classic film radar, but they’re definitely worth a look: The Set-Up (1949)...

The Best Years of Our Lives opened on November 21, 1946 and became an instant classic. Critics lavished praise. Moviegoers mobbed...

Troops, tanks, bullets, bombs. They’re all essential wartime tools. But in 1942, world leaders acknowledged that a mere movie called Mrs....

Humphrey Bogart told Orson Welles that he was shooting “the worst picture I’ve ever been in.” Ingrid Bergman pleaded with director...

Studios during Hollywood’s Golden Age were often typecast, just like their actors. MGM specialized in high-gloss escapism. Universal...