101 Cinematic Reasons Why I Love the ‘50s

1.     The first film I ever remember receiving was Cinderella. It is and was and will remain one of my favorite movies of all time. By far my favorite Disney.

2.     The fact that Sidney Lumet purposefully made the jury deliberation room physically smaller as shooting progressed

3.     Hitchcock’s pioneering use of the dolly zoom shot in Vertigo

4.     Jeff Jefferies blasting Thorwald with blinding camera flashes

5.     J.J. Hunsecker posting up in a bar with a rotatory phone like a badass

6.     “Madness…Madness.”

7.     The fact that All About Eve is as good as you’ve heard

8.     Same with From Here to Eternity

9.     The fact that Plan 9 from Outer Space is as bad as you’ve heard

10.  Same with Glen or Glenda

11.  The opening shot of Touch of Evil

12.  James Dean redefining acting with three perfect performances

13.  The poker cameos in Sunset Blvd.

14.  L-O-V-E on one hand, H-A-T-E on the other

15.  Cary Grant being force fed a bottle of liquor

16.  Henry Fonda throwing his matching switchblade onto the table

17.  The fact that one decade spawned all of these quotes:

18.  “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night.”

19.  “You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.”

20.  “I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.”

21.  “Stelllaaahhhhhhh!”

22.  “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

23.  “That’ll be the day.”

24.  “You’re tearing me apart!”

25.  Gus Gus

26.  The close-enough real timeness of High Noon

27.  Jim Stark’s red leather jacket

28.  Ben Gazzara’s cold, steely performance in Anatomy of a Murder

29.  The fact that one dude is responsible for all of these:

30.  Kim Novak as Judy Barton

31.  Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster

32.  Watching James Dean in Giant, wondering if that’s what the real man would’ve looked like

33.  John Cassavetes releases his first film, Shadows, resulting in as influential a film career as I can recall

34.  The fact that the two best male acting performances I have ever seen were in movies released in 1951

35.  The first is Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire

36.  Followed by Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun

37.  The 32 impossibly painful (but wholly necessary) minutes that make up Night and Fog

38.  The pickpocket scenes in Pickpocket

39.  The absurd rationalization of the men in charge in Paths of Glory

40.  Cary Grant diving to avoid a crop duster

41.  Dozens of marching soldiers whistling “Colonel Bogey” in unison

42.  Every single second of Johnny Guitar, one of the most criminally under-discussed films out there

43.  “I love you. I've loved you since the first moment I saw you. I guess maybe I've even loved you before I saw you.”

44.  A very young, very badass, very lethal Jack Palance in Shane

45.  The fact that the Ben-Hur chariot race will remain forever iconic

46.  Marty. It’s just so… whimsical.

47.  “I’m the one who should be ashamed. I don’t understand my own soul.”

48.  The faultless execution of Kubrick’s The Killing. A film immeasurably ahead of its time.

49.  Same with Rashomon. So superb and advanced.

50.  June 21, 2008: My life is forever altered after watching my first Bergman.

51.  That film was The Seventh Seal, which will always and forever be the most important film I have ever seen.

52.  Now, seriously, look at this filmography:

53.  The impossible sexiness of Harriet Andersson in Summer with Monika

54.  The quirky dynamics of Smiles of a Summer Night, Bergman’s final “early film”

55.  The year 1957, in which two of cinema’s most essential films were released by the same man

56.  Those being The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries

57.  “All along the line, there’s nothing by cold and death and loneliness.”

58.  “I met Death today. We are playing chess.”

59.  Max von Sydow’s physical reveal in The Magician

60.  This poor bastard:

61.  Paul Newman’s performance as Brick Pollitt, which, for whatever reason, often goes unmentioned

62.  The final shot of Ace in the Hole

63.  Dean Martin as Dude

64.  The plot simplicity of Strangers on a Train

65.  The final shot of Seven Samurai. As evocative an image as I’ve ever seen.

66.  Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco: the best role of his career

67.  Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker: the best role of his career

68.  “No one tells a lie after he’s said he’s going to tell one.”

69.  This:

70.  This:

71.  And this:

72.  Leigh as Blanche, Hunter as Stella, Malden as Mitch and, of course, number 35

73.  Sinatra’s perfect performance as Private Angelo Maggio

74.  A blonde woman singing “The Faithful Hussar” for a bunch of soldiers

75.  The fact that four women were nominated for acting Oscars for All About Eve…

76.  …even though none of them won.

77.  Sterling Hayden as Dix Handley

78.  As much as I hate to admit it, Gene Kelly spinning on a streetlight is just… perfect.

79.  The curtain revealing Debbie Reynolds

80.  “Your Honor, I don't think I can dignify this… creature with any more questions.”

81.  Angela Vickers – may or may not be Elizabeth Taylor’s best

82.  Every single lasting frame of Tokyo Story

83.  The composition of this shot:

84.  Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina

85.  Giulietta Masina as Cabiria

86.  The jump cut of Eva Marie Saint being pulled up off a cliff, to her being pulled into bed. That’s how you fucking edit film.

87.  Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier chained together

88.  The bathtub corpse floating to life in Diabolique

89.  The final shot of The 400 Blows 

90.  The impeccably defined act structure of Ikiru

91.  Really, Ikiru is as fine a character study made in the ‘50s

92.  “Put 'em together and what have you got bibbidi-bobbidi bibbidi-bobbidi bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.”

93.  Hepburn and Bogart trying to get the boat freed

94.  “You’re a killer?” “Partly, I’m a cop.”

95.  The tracking trench shots in Paths of Glory 

96.  The final, epic, laborious, glorious battle of Seven Samurai

97.  “Tell mama, tell mama all.”

98.  “Shane! Come back!”

99.  “Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.”

100.                 “All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.”

101.                 “They move away from the dawn in a solemn dance, away towards the dark lands, while the rain cleanses their cheeks of the salt from their tears.”

'50s Answers

2. 12 Angry Men

4. Rear Window

5. The Sweet Smell of Success

6. The Bridge on the River Kwai

12. East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, Giant

14. The Night of the Hunter

15. North by Northwest

16. 12 Angry Men

18. All About Eve

19. On the Waterfront

20. The Sweet Smell of Success

21. A Streetcar Named Desire

22. Some Like it Hot

23. The Searchers

24. Rebel Without a Cause

25. Cinderella

27. Rebel Without a Cause

30.-31. Vertigo

40. North by Northwest

41. The Bridge on the River Kwai

43. A Place in the Sun

47. Rashomon

57. Wild Strawberries

58. The Seventh Seal

60. Sawdust and Tinsel

61. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

63. Rio Bravo

66.-67. The Sweet Smell of Success

68. Rashomon

69.-71. The Night of the Hunter

72. A Streetcar Named Desire

73. From Here to Eternity

74. Paths of Glory

77. The Asphalt Jungle

78.-79. Singin’ in the Rain

80. Anatomy of a Murder

81. A Place in the Sun

83. The Wages of Fear

84. La Strada

85. Nights of Cabiria

86. North by Northwest

87. The Defiant Ones

92. Cinderella

93. The African Queen

94. Touch of Evil

97. A Place in the Sun

98. Shane

99. The Day the Earth Stood Still

100. Sunset Blvd.

101. The Seventh Seal

101 Cinematic Reasons Why I Love the ‘60s
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