Top 100 Movies you must Watch... 51- Paths of Glory

1957 Film

8.5/10-IMDb

93%-Rotten Tomatoes

Release date: December 20, 1957 (USA)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Running time: 88 minutes

Initial DVD release: May 15, 2001

Screenplay: Calder Willingham, Stanley Kubrick, Jim Thompson

Description

The film begins with a voiceover describing the trench warfare situation of World War I up to 1916; immediately following this is a scene in which General George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou), a member of the French General Staff, asks his subordinate, the ambitious General Mireau (George Macready), to send his division on a suicide mission to take a well-defended German position called the "Anthill". Mireau initially refuses to comply, citing the impossibility of success and the danger to his beloved soldiers, but when Broulard mentions a potential promotion, Mireau quickly convinces himself the attack will succeed.

Mireau proceeds to walk through the trenches, addressing his men. He asks several soldiers, "Ready to kill more Germans?" He throws one soldier out of the regiment for showing signs of shell shock, which Mireau denies exists, blaming the soldier's behavior on cowardice. Mireau leaves the detailed planning of the attack to the 701's Régiment Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), despite Dax's protests that the only result of the attack will be to weaken the French Army with heavy losses for no benefit. Mireau does not relent.

During a nighttime scouting mission prior to the attack, a drunken lieutenant named Roget (Wayne Morris) sends one of his two men ahead as a scout. Overcome by fear while waiting for the scout's return, he lobs a grenade and retreats. The other soldier — Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker) — finds the body of the scout, killed by the grenade. Having safely returned, he confronts Roget, but Roget denies any wrongdoing, and falsifies his report to Colonel Dax.

The next morning, the attack on the German position proceeds, beginning with a first wave of soldiers, and with Dax leading, but ends in disaster. None of the men reach the German trenches, and one-third of the soldiers (B Company) refuse to leave their own trench because of heavy enemy fire. Mireau, enraged, orders his own artillery to open fire on them to force them onto the battlefield. The artillery commander refuses to fire on his own men without written confirmation of the orders. Meanwhile, Dax returns to the trenches, and tries to rally B Company to join the battle, but as he climbs out of the trench, the body of a retreating French soldier knocks him down. It becomes obvious that the attack has failed.

To deflect blame for the failure, Mireau decides to court martial 100 of the soldiers for cowardice. Broulard convinces him to reduce the number to three, one from each company. Corporal Paris is chosen because his commanding officer, Lt. Roget, wishes to keep him from testifying about his actions in the scouting mission. Private Ferol (Timothy Carey) is picked by his commanding officer because he is a "social undesirable." The last man, Private Arnaud (Joe Turkel), is chosen randomly by lot, despite having been cited for bravery twice previously.

Dax, who was a criminal defense lawyer in civilian life, volunteers to defend the men at their court-martial. Unfortunately, the entire trial is a farce and can accurately be described as a "kangaroo court" as the rights of the accused are repeatedly violated. For example, there is no specific and formal statement of the charges against them at the commencement of the trial, no verbatim stenographic record of the trial proceedings is being created, and compelling evidence which would support acquittal of the defendants is not permitted to be heard. In his closing statement, Dax challenges the court's authenticity, and requests mercy, saying, "Gentlemen of the court, to find these men guilty would be a crime to haunt each of you till the day you die." Nonetheless, the three men are sentenced to death.

Later, Dax, aware of the reason Roget picked Paris to be executed, appoints Roget to have charge of the executions. Horrified, Roget protests, but Dax dismisses him curtly from his quarters.

Captain Rousseau (John Stein), the artillery commander who had earlier refused Mireau's order to fire on his own men, arrives to tell Dax about the order. Dax then crashes a formal ball where he privately informs Broulard of Mireau's treachery, providing sworn statements by witnesses, but is brusquely dismissed.

The next morning, the three condemned men are led out into a courtyard, among soldiers from all three companies and senior officers. Arnaud, injured during a desperate outburst in prison, is carried out on a stretcher and tied to the execution post. A sobbing Ferol is blindfolded. Paris is offered a blindfold by Roget, but refuses. Roget meekly apologizes to Paris for what he has done, eliciting an ambiguous response. All three men are then shot and killed by the firing squad.

Following the execution, Broulard has breakfast with the gloating Mireau. Dax enters, invited by Broulard. Broulard then reveals that Mireau will be investigated for the order to fire on his own men. Mireau leaves angrily, declaring that he has been made a scapegoat. Broulard then offers Dax Mireau's command, suggesting that the whole nasty affair of events had been an plan by Dax to get a promotion all along. Disgusted, Dax turns down the promotion, and Broulard and Dax exchange comments about each other's personality.

After the execution, some of Dax's soldiers are happily partying, unaware that orders have come for them to return to the front line trenches immediately. Dax lets the men enjoy a few minutes while his face hardens as he returns to his quarters.

. Wikipedia

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Top 100 Movies you must Watch... 46- The Shining

1980 Film

8.5/10-IMDb

90%-Rotten Tomatoes

Release date: May 23, 1980 (USA)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Screenplay: Diane Johnson, Stanley Kubrick

Awards: Saturn Award for Best DVD or Blu-ray Collection, Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor

Description

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) arrives at the Overlook Hotel to interview for the position of winter caretaker, with the aim of using the hotel's solitude to work on his writing. The hotel itself is built on the site of a Native American burial ground and becomes completely snowed in during the long winters. Manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) warns him that a previous caretaker developed cabin fever and killed his family and himself. Jack's son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), has ESP and has had a terrifying premonition about the hotel. Jack's wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), tells a visiting doctor that Danny has an imaginary friend called Tony and that Jack has given up drinking because he had hurt Danny's arm after a binge.

The family arrives at the hotel on closing day and is given a tour. The African-American^[7] chef Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) surprises Danny by telepathically offering him ice cream. He explains to Danny that he and his grandmother shared this telepathic ability, which he calls "shining". Danny asks if there is anything to be afraid of in the hotel, particularly Room 237. Hallorann tells Danny that the hotel itself has a "shine" to it along with many memories, not all of which are good. He also tells Danny to stay out of Room 237.

A month passes; while Jack's writing project goes nowhere, Danny and Wendy explore the hotel's hedge maze. Wendy becomes concerned about the phone lines being out due to the heavy snowfall and Danny has more frightening visions. Jack, increasingly frustrated, starts acting strangely and becomes prone to violent outbursts.

Danny's curiosity about Room 237 gets the better of him when he sees the room's door open. Later, Wendy finds Jack, asleep at his typewriter, screaming while in the midst of a horrifying nightmare. After she awakens him, he says he dreamed that he had killed her and Danny. Danny then shows up with a bruise on his neck and visibly traumatized, causing Wendy to accuse Jack of abusing Danny. Jack wanders into the hotel's Gold Room where he meets a ghostly bartender named Lloyd (Joe Turkel). Lloyd serves him bourbon on the rocks while Jack complains to him about his marriage.

Wendy later tells Jack that Danny told her that a "crazy woman in one of the rooms" tried to strangle him. Jack investigates Room 237, where he encounters the ghost of a dead woman, but tells Wendy he saw nothing. Wendy and Jack argue about whether Danny should be removed from the hotel and a furious Jack returns to the Gold Room, now filled with ghosts having a costume party. Here, he meets the ghost of the previous caretaker, Grady (Philip Stone), who tells Jack that he must "correct" his wife and child.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Hallorann has a premonition that something is wrong at the hotel and takes a flight back to Colorado to investigate. Danny starts calling out "redrum" frantically and goes into a trance, now referring to himself as "Tony".

While searching for Jack, Wendy discovers his typewriter; he has been typing endless pages of manuscript repeating "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" in different layouts. She is confronted by Jack, who threatens her before she knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat. She manages to drag him into the kitchen and lock him in the pantry, but this does not solve her larger problem; she and Danny are trapped at the hotel since Jack has sabotaged the hotel's two-way radio and snowcat. Later, Jack converses through the pantry door with Grady, who then unlocks the door, releasing him.

Danny writes "REᗡЯUM" in lipstick on the bathroom door. When Wendy sees this in the bedroom mirror, the letters spell out "MURDƎЯ".^[8] Jack begins to chop through the door leading to his family's living quarters with a fire axe. Wendy frantically sends Danny out through the bathroom window, but it will not open sufficiently for her to fit through it herself. Jack then starts chopping through the bathroom door as Wendy screams in horror. He leers through the hole he has made, shouting "Here's Johnny!", but backs off after Wendy slashes his hand with a butcher knife.

Hearing the engine of the snowcat Hallorann has borrowed to get up the mountain, Jack leaves the room. He kills Hallorann in the lobby and pursues Danny into the hedge maze. Wendy runs through the hotel looking for Danny, encountering several ghosts and a huge cascade of blood from an elevator. Meanwhile, Danny walks backwards in his own tracks and leaps behind a corner, covering his tracks with snow to mislead Jack, who is following his footprints. Wendy and Danny escape in Hallorann's snowcat, while Jack freezes to death in the hedge maze.

In a photograph in the hotel hallway dated July 4, 1921, Jack Torrance smiles amid a crowd of party revelers.

. Wikipedia

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Top 100 Movies you must Watch... 39- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

1964 Film

8.6/10-IMDb

100%-Rotten Tomatoes

4.6/5-Amazon.com

Release date: January 29, 1964 (USA)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Cinematography: Gilbert Taylor

Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, Terry Southern

Description

United States Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper is commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, which houses the SAC 843rd Bomb Group equipped with B-52 bombers. The 843rd is currently on airborne alert, in flight just hours from the Soviet border.

Ripper orders his executive officer, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the RAF, to put the base on alert, asserting that it is not a drill. He also instructs Mandrake to issue Wing Attack Plan R to the aircraft. The alert is sent to the patrolling aircraft, including one piloted by Aircraft commander Major T. J. "King" Kong and his crew. All the aircraft commence an attack flight on Russia, and lock out unauthorized external communications through the CRM 114 Discriminator.

Mandrake discovers that no order for war has been received, and tries to stop Ripper, who locks them both in his office. Ripper reveals to Mandrake that he believes the Soviets have been using fluoridation of United States' water supplies to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of Americans.

At the Pentagon, General Buck Turgidson briefs President Merkin Muffley in the "War Room" along with several other top officers and aides about the attack. Muffley is shocked to learn that such orders could be given without his authorization, but Turgidson reminds him that the issued Plan R allowed such an action as a way of defending against a Soviet first-strike attack on Washington D.C. Turgidson reports that his men are trying to cycle through every CRM code to issue the stand-down order but this could take over two days. Muffley orders Turgidson to storm the base and seize Ripper, though Turgidson warns that Ripper may have already alerted his men to this possibility.

Gen. Turgidson attempts to convince Muffley to let the attack continue, as their first strike on the Soviets would wipe out the majority of the Soviet missiles, and the little they could retaliate with would only cost a few million American lives. Muffley refuses, and instead brings in the Soviet ambassador Alexei de Sadeski (Peter Bull) to get Soviet premier Dimitri Kisov on the "Hot Line". The President alerts the Premier, who is drunk, to the situation, and authorizes the USSR to fire upon the US planes to stop the attack.

After a heated discussion, the ambassador explains that the Soviet Union has created a doomsday device consisting of 50 buried bombs with "Cobalt Thorium G" set to detonate should any nuclear attack strike their country; the Soviets had conceived of this after reading a New York Times article claiming the United States was also working on such a device. The President's wheelchair-bound scientific advisor, former Nazi Dr. Strangelove, is skeptical, noting that a doomsday device would only be an effective deterrent if everyone knew about it. Sadeski admits they had plans to reveal its existence the following week at a Soviet party conference, in honor of the Premier "who loves surprises."

Aircraft commander Major T. J. "King" Kong riding the bomb.

U.S. Army airborne forces arrive at Burpelson, but as predicted, the base's troops consider the troops to be Soviets in disguise and open fire. Despite many casualties, the Army forces eventually overtake the base. Before he can be restrained, Ripper shoots himself. Colonel "Bat" Guano forces his way into Ripper's office. He initially suspects Mandrake of being an enemy, but Mandrake convinces him otherwise.

Mandrake identifies the proper CRM code from Ripper's desk blotter doodles, and SAC is able to contact the bomber planes and send them away from Soviet air space. The War Room celebrates. However, Sadeski reports that of the four planes that the Soviets had believed shot down, they cannot account for one of them - that of Major Kong. A surface to air missile had ruptured the fuel tank and caused the CRM aboard Kong's plane to self-destruct, leaving the crew no way to receive the counter-order. President Muffley gives the plane's original destination to the Soviets, to allow them to concentrate on finding it. However, due to the fuel loss, Major Kong has changed the destination to a closer high-priority target, an ICBM complex at Kodlosk.

On approaching the new target, the crew discovers that the bomb release mechanism has been damaged. Major Kong repairs the damage, but ends up falling out of the plane along with the bomb; he straddles the bomb and rides it like a rodeo cowboy as it falls and detonates.

While discussing the after-effects of the activation of the doomsday device, Sadeski notes that, within ten months, the surface of the earth will be uninhabitable. Dr. Strangelove recommends that the President gather several hundreds of thousands of people, with a high female-to-male ratio, to live in deep mineshafts in order to escape the radiation, and to then institute a breeding program to allow the United States to repopulate the surface after a hundred years have passed. Gen. Turgidson warns that the Soviets will likely do the same, and worries about a "mineshaft gap".

At this point, Dr. Strangelove suddenly shouts that he has a plan, and miraculously gets up from his wheelchair, takes a few halting steps and shouts, "Mein Führer! I can walk!" The film then cuts to a montage of nuclear detonations, accompanied by Vera Lynn's recording of "We'll Meet Again", indicating the end of the world in a nuclear holocaust.

. Wikipedia

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