100 Best Movies (21-30)

Double Indemnity (1944)
So oft-imitated it should be old hat by now, but no--mix together the ruthlessness of the script, the director, and the film's femme fatale star, and what you get is a poisonous cocktail that still has real kick to it.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
A classic black comedy about the Cold War. Stanley Kubrick's icy gallows humor is hyperbolic but dead-on accurate about the various species of crazed extremists who handled the Bomb back when it looked like we might be lobbing it momentarily.

The Elephant Man (1980)
Quite an odd film to come from Hollywood, where physical beauty is the town religion. David Lynch's true story of John Merrick, a legendarily ugly man with an exquisitely gentle soul despite all the misfortune and cruelty visited on him, makes you cry all the tears Merrick's kind doctor doesn't.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The best of the Star Wars trilogy. All the fun-filled archetypes are in top form, and a perfect balance is achieved between special effects and story, humor and emotion, and giddy action and dim-bulb philosophy.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
By now, backlash has set in, claiming this movie's no Wizard of Oz. They're wrong.

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A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Power-crazed media figure comes to regret helping an ungrateful unknown to become a star. A film so close to our own experience at Movieline, we have to go lie down now.

Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Bob Rafelson tops our list of filmmakers with only one movie in 'em, but that one movie is a corker. Some people cannot buy Jack Nicholson as a piano virtuoso, but we have trouble getting past the early scenes depicting Jack as an oil rigger. From then on, smooth sailing.

Funny Face (1957)
Power-crazed media figure comes to regret helping an ungrateful unknown to become a star. A film so close to our own experience at Movieline, we have to go lie down now.

Gallipoli (1981)
One of the two best anti-war films ever made, starring a young Mel Gibson, whose outrageous good looks seduce you right into the heart of the battle.

Gigi (1958)
A gloriously gilded easter egg of a movie. Despite the sugary trimmings, it's bracingly tart to the taste.

100 Best Movies, Part 4 (31-40)

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