Taxi Driver
Year Released: 1976 Taxi Driver stars a young Robert De Niro as a seriously unstable cab operator in NYC who gets wound up in trying to play hero to an underage prostitute. Directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese, the film was named the 31st-best ever made by Sight & Sound in 2012.
A 12-year old Jodie Foster, who played a controversial role in the film that required psychological testing and counseling before production, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her part. That was among several other nominations that year, which included Best Picture. The movie didn’t end up winning in any of the categories, though it does have a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1976.
North by Northwest
Year Released: 1959 With a nearly perfect rating of 99% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, North by Northwest is consistently listed as one of the best films in history. Of course, when you pair director Alfred Hitchcock with leading man Cary Grant, you get award winning films.
The motion picture was nominated for three Oscars including Best Film Editing and Best Art Direction. Hitchcock also won a Silver Shell Award for Best Director, which was his second after receiving the first for his work on Vertigo.
Double Indemnity
Year Released: 1944 This 1944 film noir is directed by Billy Wilder, and stars Fred MacMurray, an insurance salesman married to a woman who’d like to claim her own policy – on a dead husband. It was hailed by critics across the country upon its release, and, in 1992 it was selected by The Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Double Indemnity was nominated for seven awards at the 17th Academy Award show. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up winning in any of the categories, which included Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress. It did, however, wind up on several of AFI’s list of “Top 100s.”
Paths of Glory
Year Released: 1970 Legendary film director, Stanley Kubrick, created this 1957 war film, which tells the story of failed leadership and mishaps during World War I. The motion picture was based on the novel that holds the same title and was written by Humphrey Cobb.
Paths of Glory was considered “incontestably offensive” to France and was banned in the country. It also wound up being banned in all of the U.S military bases, both in and out of the United States. Despite the controversy, it wound up earning a number of awards and being nominated for several others, including the BAFTA for Best Film. The movie holds a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is preserved in the U.S National Film Registry.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Year Released: 1948 This 1948 American adventure movie has a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on nearly 50 different reviews. It also holds a 4/4 on Roger Ebert, and an 8.2/10 on IMDb.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre won three Academy Awards, including Best Director for John Huston, along with three Golden Globes; Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and another Best Director Award.