American Great Works List: Film

Title	Topics	Rating and Reason
2001 A Space Odyssey (1968) D: Kubrick	Space, the nature of humanity	G: Animal violence
Annie Hall (1977) D: Allen	Romance, life in the modern world	PG-13: Sensuality, language
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, BW) D: Wyler	Life and America after World War	NR: Some drama
Bringing Up Baby (1938 BW) D: Hawks	Romantic comedy	G
Casablanca (1942, BW) D: Curtiz	Drama, America’s role in the world	PG: Violence, implied sensuality
Citizen Kane (1941, BW) D: Welles	The American Dream, American politics	NR: Implied sensuality
City Lights (1931, BW) D: Chaplin	Wealth and poverty	NR: Slapstick violence
Days of Heaven (1978) D: Malick	Life in the American Midwest	PG: Mild sensuality, violence
Double Indemnity (1944) D: Wilder	Crime, how a person becomes a criminal	NR: Implied sensuality, violence
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (BW 1964) D: Kubrick	Man’s reliance on machines, the Cold War, nuclear winter	NR: Implied sensuality, violence
Duck Soup (1938, B&W) D: McCarey	Commentary on nationalism, comedy	G: Innuendo, comedic violence
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) D: Speilberg	Accepting the “other”	PG: Violence, language
The General (1926, BW, Silent) D: Keaton	The Civil War, railroads	NR: Mild slapstick violence
The Gold Rush (1925, BW, silent) D: Chaplin	The American Dream, Alaska	NR: Some violence
Gone with the Wind (1939) D: Fleming	The South, The Civil War, Reconstruction	NR: Some violence, innuendo, language
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, BW) D: Ford	The Great Depression	NR: Some violence
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, B&W) D: Capra	The purpose of life	G: Drama
Jaws (1975) D: Speilberg	Nature, wildness	PG: Violence, language
King Kong (1933, B&W) D: Cooper	Nature, wildness versus civilization	PG: Violence, innuendo
Maltese Falcon (1941) D: Huston	Crime in America	NR: Some violence
Modern Times (1936, BW, Silent) D: Chaplin	The Great Depression, Industrialism	G: Comedic drug use
The Night of the Hunter (1955, BW) D: Laughton	Extremism, religious fanaticism, The American South,	NR: Some violence
On the Waterfront (1954, BW) D: Kazan	Labor unions and disputes, the role of religion	NR: Violence, sensuality
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) D: Spielberg	Adventure	PG: Violence, sensuality
Rear Window (1954) D: Hitchcock	Suspense, observation	PG: Violence, sensuality
The Searchers (1956) D: Ford	The American West and Native Americans, racism	NR: Violence
Singin’ in the Rain (1952) D: Donen	American entertainment and the movies	NR: comedic violence
Some Like it Hot (1959, BW) D: Wilder	Gender roles, 1920s, the Mafia, Prohibition,	NR: Gender differences
Star Wars (1977) D: Lucas	Space, fantasy	PG: Violence
Swing Time (1936 BW) D: Stevens	Wealth and poverty	NR
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, BW) D: Mulligan	The South, racism	PG: Violence, Drama
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) D: Huston	Greed, the US/Mexico border	PG: Violence
Vertigo (1958) D: Hitchcock	The nature of the mind	PG: Suspense
Wizard of Oz (1939) Cukor, et. Al.	Fantasy	G