When the Lights Go Down by Pauline Kael
The films she reviews in that book.
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167 titles
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsBurt LancasterHelmut BergerSilvana ManganoA reclusive retired professor is faced with confronting modernity when a group of vulgar youths led by an obnoxious marchesa take up residence in his unused upper residence.
- DirectorWalter HillStarsCharles BronsonJames CoburnJill IrelandThe saga of a drifter who turns to illicit bare-knuckle boxing in Depression-era New Orleans.Hard Times
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsRobert RedfordFaye DunawayCliff RobertsonA bookish CIA researcher in Manhattan finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
- DirectorMichael RitchieStarsBruce DernBarbara FeldonMichael KiddA social comedy about a beauty pageant for young Californian women, held annually in Santa Rosa, and how it affects the locals and participants.
- DirectorHoward ZieffStarsJeff BridgesAndy GriffithDonald PleasenceDuring the 1930s, Lewis Tate aspires to be the next great American Western writer. When he travels to California, he's recruited by Bert Kessler, a Hollywood unit manager, to star in a series of low-rent Westerns.Hearts of the West
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsMalcolm McDowellAlan BatesFlorinda BolkanNe'er-do-well Captain Harry Flashman (Malcolm McDowell) is coerced by Otto Von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) into impersonating a Prince.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsBruno S.Walter LadengastBrigitte MiraA young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsIsabelle AdjaniBruce RobinsonSylvia MarriottThe story of Adèle Hugo's unrequited love for a lieutenant.
- DirectorBerry GordyTony RichardsonJack WormserStarsDiana RossBilly Dee WilliamsAnthony PerkinsTracy, an aspiring designer from the slums of Chicago puts herself through fashion school in the hopes of becoming one of the world's top designers. Her ambition leads her to Rome spurring a choice between the man she loves or her newfound success.
- DirectorStuart MillarStarsJohn WayneKatharine HepburnAnthony ZerbeMarshal Rooster Cogburn unwillingly teams up with Eula Goodnight to track down her father's murderers.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsMichael YorkRichard AttenboroughTrevor HowardAt a British Regimental party in Colonial India, the widow of Captain Scarlett is assaulted in the garden, and she accuses one of the newly arrived junior Lieutenants of the crime.
- DirectorSidney PoitierStarsSidney PoitierBill CosbyCalvin LockhartTwo Atlanta men raise funds for their charity by rigging boxing matches in New Orleans, but their tricks attract the mob's attention.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeBobitaSandhya RoyAs food shortages reach catastrophic proportions, Gangacharan attempts to preserve his privileged situation while his generous wife Ananga conversely tries to help and support the community.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsUlrik ColdJosef KöstlingerIrma UrrilaThe story of the prince Tamino and his zestful sidekick Papageno, who are sent on a mission to save a beautiful princess from the clutches of evil.
- DirectorHerbert RossStarsWalter MatthauGeorge BurnsRichard BenjaminA vaudeville duo agree to reunite for a television special, but it turns out that they can't stand each other.
- DirectorJoan Micklin SilverStarsSteven KeatsCarol KaneMel HowardIn 1896, a Russian Jewish woman immigrates to New York's Lower East Side to reunite with her Americanized husband, but has difficulty assimilating.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsCathryn HarrisonTherese GiehseAlexandra StewartTo escape a gender war, a girl flees to a remote farmhouse and becomes part of an extensive family's unusual, perhaps even supernatural, lifestyle.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsRoger DaltreySara KestelmanPaul NicholasComposer and pianist Franz Liszt (Roger Daltrey) attempts to overcome his hedonistic life-style while repeatedly being drawn back into it by the many women in his life and fellow composer Richard Wagner (Paul Nicholas).
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.
- DirectorFrank PerryStarsJeff BridgesSam WaterstonElizabeth AshleyTwo drifters, of widely varying backgrounds, rustle cattle and try to avoid being caught in contemporary Montana.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsGlenda JacksonMichael CaineHelmut BergerA marriage crisis between a writer and his wife leads her to flee to Germany and eventually return with another man, through whom the writer is going to overcome his writer's block.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsLouis SeignerRoland BertinMichael LonsdaleIn occupied France during World War II a German officer is murdered. The collaborationist Vichy government decides to pin the murder on six petty criminals. Loyal judges are called in to convict them as quickly as possible.
- DirectorGene WilderStarsGene WilderMadeline KahnMarty FeldmanThe younger brother of the consulting detective tries to steal Sherlock's glory by solving an important case assisted by an eccentric Scotland Yard detective and a lovely but suspicious actress.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsGene HackmanLiza MinnelliBurt ReynoldsA trio of rum-runners during prohibition in the 1930s engage in a menage-a-trois after business hours.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsSean ConneryMichael CaineChristopher PlummerIn 1880s India, two former British soldiers decide to set themselves up as Kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsJames CaanRobert DuvallArthur HillMike Locken, who works for a private security firm affiliated with the C.I.A., is betrayed by his partner and left apparently crippled for life.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsGeorge C. ScottAnne BancroftWilliam AthertonA chronicle of the Hindenburg disaster in which a zeppelin burst into flames.
- DirectorDavid GilerStarsGeorge SegalStéphane AudranLionel StanderThe son of famous detective Sam Spade carries on the family tradition of getting involved with the Maltese Falcon - and with the people who will stop at nothing, including murder, to get it.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsBurt ReynoldsCatherine DeneuveBen JohnsonAt the instigation of a grieving father, a Los Angeles cop investigates the suspicious circumstances of a girl's apparent suicide.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsLenny BakerShelley WintersEllen GreeneThe ups and downs of life as experienced by a group of aspiring young artists in the early Fifties New York.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsGiancarlo GianniniFernando ReyShirley StolerThe defense of honor, a strong value in Neapolitan society, and its effects on the life of everyman Pasquale Frafuso.
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsJames BrolinJill ClayburghAllen GarfieldA biography about the love affair between 1930s Hollywood superstars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.
- DirectorAndré TéchinéStarsJeanne MoreauMichel AuclairMarie-France PisierIn the 1930s, we follow the story of the laundress Berthe who marries the eldest son of a bourgeois family.
- DirectorNorman PanamaStarsElliott GouldDiane KeatonPaul SorvinoElliott Gould and Diane Keaton take out a lease on love with an option to buy in this glossy romantic comedy costarring Paul Sorvino, Victoria Principal and Candy Clark. Unhappily divorced after 10 years of marriage, Les Bingham (Gould) finally convinces his ex-wife Katie (Keaton) to give him another shot. Reluctantly agreeing to a legal arrangement instead of a wedding vow, Les signs a six-month contract, unaware his lawyer (Sorvino) also loves Katie and plans to use the wiles of their sexy neighbor (Principal) to bust up the Binghams for good. Cowritten and directed by Norman Panama (How to Commit Marriage), I Will... I Will... For Now was produced by George Barrie, CEO of Fabergé. A musician-turned-businessman, Barrie would produce over a dozen films, earning Oscar nominations for "All That Love Went to Waste" (A Touch of Class, 1973) and "Now That We're in Love" (Whiffs, 1975), two songs he wrote with Sammy Cahn.
- DirectorDonald WryeStarsJack LemmonRay BolgerSada ThompsonA vaudeville entertainer approaches middle age still not having attained success or stardom.
- DirectorClaude SautetStarsYves MontandMichel PiccoliSerge ReggianiThree friends face mid-life crises. Paul is a writer who's blocked. François has lost his ideals and practices medicine for the money. The charming Vincent faces bankruptcy and his wife, from whom he's separated, wants a divorce.
- DirectorJohn ByrumStarsRichard DreyfussJessica HarperBob HoskinsA young, once-great Hollywood film director refuses to accept changing times during the early 1930s, and confines himself to his decaying mansion to make silent porn flicks.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsSean ConneryAudrey HepburnRobert ShawRobin Hood, aging none too gracefully, returns exhausted from the Crusades to woo and win Maid Marian one last time.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsJodie FosterScott BaioFlorence GarlandThe classic gangster story of Bugsy Malone told with an all-child cast.
- DirectorSam O'SteenStarsPhilip Michael ThomasIrene CaraLonette McKeeThree sisters form a singing group in 1950s Harlem, but success threatens to ruin their relationship forever.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsGeorges DesmouceauxPhilippe GoldmannNicole FélixThe lives of a motherless boy, who is just starting to get interested in women, and his physically abused friend, who lives in poverty, are mixed with more or less innocent childhood experiences and challenges of a number of children.Small Change
- DirectorMartin RittStarsWoody AllenZero MostelHerschel BernardiIn 1953, a cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanLaurence OlivierRoy ScheiderAfter the shocking murder of his older brother, a New York history student finds himself inexplicably hounded by shadowy government agents on the trail of a Nazi war criminal who is trying to retrieve smuggled diamonds.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsYehudi MenuhinNoël FavrelièresAnthony HerbertExplores the subject of atrocities during wartime, especially during World War II and the Vietnam War.
- DirectorGeorge Stevens Jr.StarsWoody AllenAlan ArkinMartin BalsamA compilation of scenes from 83 films, divided into 5 segments: The Land, The Cities, The Families, The Wars, The Spirit.
- DirectorAlain TannerStarsMyriam BoyerJean-Luc BideauMiou-MiouA look at the lives of several men and women in their 30s as they confront the slim gains of the "revolutionary" sixties.
- DirectorJohn KortyStarsJack LemmonGeneviève BujoldJames WoodsAlexander Main, a bail bondsman, falls for one of his "customers", a pretty gypsy girl, Maritza, who's been accused of murder.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsEdith CleverBruno GanzEdda SeippelA German Marquise has to deal with a pregnancy she cannot explain and an infatuated Russian Count.
- DirectorMichael SchultzStarsRichard PryorFranklyn AjayeSully BoyarA comedic take on the daily life of car-wash employees, chronicling their hopes, fears, joys, dreams, and tribulations, and meeting some eccentric customers along the way.
- DirectorHerbert RossStarsAlan ArkinVanessa RedgraveRobert DuvallTo treat his friend's cocaine induced delusions, Watson lures Sherlock Holmes to Sigmund Freud.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLiza MinnelliIngrid BergmanCharles BoyerA simple young woman helps eccentric old countess deal with her old age and she introduces the young woman to a world of upper class society.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRoy ScheiderRobert ShawRichard DreyfussWhen a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsJohn WayneLauren BacallRon HowardA dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsRichard HarrisGale SondergaardGeoffrey LewisThe English gentleman known as Horse, returns to the American west to save his adopted Indian tribe from extinction.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn CazalePenelope AllenThree amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsDavid BowieRip TornCandy ClarkAn alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsGlenda JacksonDaniel MasseyYvonne MitchellThe life of the great actress, Sarah Bernhardt.
- DirectorRichard C. SarafianStarsSean ConneryCornelia SharpeAlbert PaulsenInfluential Arab diplomat becomes the target of numerous assassination attempts, after he announces his plan to make peace with Israel by letting them join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (O.P.E.C.).
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsSissy SpacekPiper LaurieAmy IrvingCarrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsSylvester StalloneTalia ShireBurt YoungA small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsRobert De NiroTony CurtisRobert MitchumF. Scott Fitzgerald's novel is brought to life in this story of a movie producer slowly working himself to death.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsFaye DunawayWilliam HoldenPeter FinchA television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsDavid CarradineRonny CoxMelinda DillonThe early life of Woody Guthrie as a vagabond folk singer.
- DirectorJeanne MoreauStarsLucia BosèFrancine RacetteCaroline CartierSarah, an actress nearing 40, has invited the woman who has been her best friend for 16 years and two younger women to her vacation retreat in Provence. There are the simple pleasures of lounging in adjacent hammocks, the sun, the food, conversations about men. This is prologue for what happened a year ago in Paris with a man Sarah has long taken for granted as a platonic friend. She had just finished a film, also finishing her liaison with the director, and was about to get an award and start work on a new film and begin a romance with a German writer.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsJeff BridgesCharles GrodinJessica LangeA petroleum exploration expedition comes to an isolated island and encounters a colossal giant gorilla.
- DirectorFrank PiersonStarsBarbra StreisandKris KristoffersonGary BuseyA has-been rock star falls in love with a young, up-and-coming songstress.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsPeter SellersHerbert LomLesley-Anne DownAfter escaping from an insane asylum, the bonkers Charles Dreyfus sends 26 assassins on the trail of the forever bumbling Inspector Clouseau.
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsGene WilderRichard PryorJill ClayburghOn a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsRyan O'NealBurt ReynoldsTatum O'NealBuck and lawyer Leo accidentally get into movie production in the early days (1910).
- DirectorBarbara KoppleStarsJohn L. LewisCarl HornNorman YarboroughA heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.
- DirectorJames FargoStarsClint EastwoodTyne DalyHarry GuardinoInspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan reluctantly teams up with rookie Inspector Kate Moore to foil a terrorist organization made up of disgruntled Vietnam veterans.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsDirk BogardeEllen BurstynJohn GielgudA dying writer bases his last book on his own perception of his family.
- DirectorRobert BentonStarsArt CarneyLily TomlinBill MacyA grumpy semi-retired private investigator partners with a quirky female client to catch the people who murdered his partner.
- DirectorMichael Lindsay-HoggStarsGlenda JacksonMelina MercouriGeraldine PageIn a Philadelphia convent, two nuns battle it out to be elected to the position of head abbess, and neither is about to let anything stand in the way of getting what she wants.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsJane FondaGeorge SegalEd McMahonWhen a successful, middle-class couple finds themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
- DirectorJohn BerryAlfred ViolaStarsMarlo ThomasCharles GrodinIrwin CoreyDramedy of a native New York married couple who splits up in an attempt to rediscover their sanity.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsDonald SutherlandTina AumontCicely BrowneGiacomo Casanova uses his sexuality to find his place in life amid eccentric and strange characters.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanMichael OntkeanStrother MartinA failing ice hockey team finds success with outrageously violent hockey goonery.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsGeorge C. ScottDavid HemmingsGilbert RolandAn isolated sculptor is visited by his three sons just before the start of WWII.
- DirectorAlan RudolphStarsKeith CarradineSally KellermanGeraldine ChaplinThe lives and romantic entanglements of a group of young adults who have achieved "overnight" success in Los Angeles.
- DirectorClaude GorettaStarsMarlène JobertGérard DepardieuDominique LabourierA manufacturer of furniture sees his business go down and decides to rob banks to pay his staff. Het gets romantically involved with one of his victims.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherLuke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
- DirectorMarguerite DurasStarsMarguerite DurasGérard DepardieuIn this most talky and personal of films, director Marguerite Duras and actor Gerard Depardieu do an on-camera read-through of a movie script. Occasionally, the director comments about the characters or their motivations, and sometimes the actor does. That's all -- there is no action, there are no location shots, no one pretends to be anything else. The script itself tells about an encounter between a blank-slate of a woman hitchhiker, and a communist truck driver. As the reading progresses, Duras comments bitterly about the failed ideals of communism and the glorious revolution that will probably never happen.
- DirectorRobert M. YoungStarsBruce DavisonJosé PérezNathan GeorgeA child molester sent to prison finds that criminals exact harsher justice than society.
- DirectorPaolo TavianiVittorio TavianiStarsOmero AntonuttiSaverio MarconiMarcella MichelangeliThe son of a shepherd embarks in the quest of emancipating himself from a tough lifestyle that his condition and his father force on him.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsAl PacinoMarthe KellerAnny DupereyBobby Deerfield, a famous American race car driver on the European circuit, falls in love with the enigmatic Lillian Morelli, who is terminally ill.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsJane FondaVanessa RedgraveJason RobardsAt the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
- DirectorEttore ScolaStarsSophia LorenMarcello MastroianniJohn VernonTwo neighbors, a persecuted journalist and a resigned housewife, meet during Hitler's visit to Italy in May 1938.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsDennis HopperBruno GanzLisa KreuzerTom Ripley, who deals in forged art, suggests a picture framer he knows would make a good hit man.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsDiane KeatonRichard GereTuesday WeldA dedicated schoolteacher spends her nights cruising bars, looking for abusive men with whom she can engage in progressively extreme sexual encounters.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsPaul Le MatCandy ClarkBruce McGillThe interlaced stories of several characters in a small town united by their use of CB (citizen's band) radio.Handle with Care
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsRobert De NiroGérard DepardieuDominique SandaThe epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth-century Italy as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.1900
- DirectorKen RussellStarsRudolf NureyevLeslie CaronMichelle PhillipsIn 1926 the tragic and untimely death of a silent screen actor caused female moviegoers to riot in the streets and in some cases to commit suicide.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsRichard BurtonPeter FirthColin BlakelyA psychiatrist attempts to uncover a troubled stable boy's disturbing obsession with horses.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsThérèse LiotardValérie MairesseRobert DadièsThe lives of Pomme, an aspiring singer, and Suzanne, a struggling mother, as they search for their own identity in 1970s France.
- DirectorHerbert RossStarsAnne BancroftShirley MacLaineMikhail BaryshnikovWhen her daughter joins a ballet company, a former dancer is forced to confront her long-ago decision to give up the stage to have a family.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRichard DreyfussFrançois TruffautTeri GarrRoy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsCharles DennerBrigitte FosseyNelly BorgeaudBertrand Morane's burial is attended by all the women the forty-year-old engineer loved. We then flash back to Bertrand's life and love affairs, told by himself while writing an autobiographical novel. A film about romantic relationships, the need to charm, and the literary creation.