Schindler’s List:

Although Oskar Schindler was an unlikely figure to be an historic hero, he became exactly that, and his story has been told brilliantly in this evocative film of 1993. Schindler, the businessman, whose primary motive was to make money, spends all his fortune on saving one thousand Jews from the gas chambers of the Nazis. Starring Ben Kingsley and Liam Neeson, many consider it to be a masterpiece of the director, Steven Spielberg’s film making career.

Apocalypse Now:

This 1979 movie, takes you as much into the dark jungles of Vietnam where Benjamin L. Willard, an army captain, is sent to eliminate Walter E. Kurtz, a Colonel of the United States Army Special Forces, who is thought to have gone insane, as it takes you into the dark depths of the human psyche. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and based in large part on the novel, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, it has the brooding presence of an aging and corpulent Marlon Brando at his best, Robert Duvall in the Oscar-nominated role of Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore, Dennis Hopper in the role of a photojournalist, and of course Martin Sheen in the role of Captain Benjamin, which was based on Conrad’s character, Marlow. Apocalypse Now is the winner of the Academy Award of 1979, the Cannes Palme d’Or, and the Golden Globe.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest:

The viewer is taken into the environs of a mental hospital in this 1975 movie. It delves into the life of a man called Randall McMurphy, a convict who chooses to spend time in the hospital, rather than serve time in prison. He achieves this by feigning to be slightly crazy. The time he spends in the mental ward, the interactions he has with the other patients there, his conflicts with the insensitive and cold nurse, named Ratched, are what make this one of the best Hollywood movies. The movie went on to sweep all the major Oscar awards of that year, such as Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. Its star cast includes Jack Nicholson, Danny Devito, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Peter Brocco, Michael Berryman, and Alonzo Brown.

The Godfather:

This 1972 movie, which has won the Academy Award, based on the Mario Puzo novel of the same name, is another of my all-time favorites. With the direction given by Francis Ford Coppola, from the screenplay written by him and Puzo, the movie has some fantastic performances given by Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Diane Keaton. This crime film, spanning ten years from 1945-1955, is a chronicle of the Corleone family. No other movie made about the mafia since this movie comes anywhere close to The Godfather, in my opinion. I found the two sequels, The Godfather Part II (1974) as well as The Godfather III (1990), equally engrossing.

Psycho:

This genre defining horror-cum-suspense movie of 1960, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, has won acclaims as one of the most effective in its class. Practically all the scenes have become legends cinematically, and have gone on to spawn several remakes and sequels, none of which have managed to come anywhere close to the original. The movie is about the encounter between Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, a secretary who goes to hide at a motel after stealing from her employer, and the lonely owner of the motel, Norman Bates, played brilliantly by Anthony Perkins. Can one talk about Psycho and not mention the shower scene? It still sends shivers down my spine! It has been studied closely and has aroused endless debates about why it inspires such terror and how it was made.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

Oh, how can I ever forget the languid, gun-on-hip toting saunter of Clint Eastwood, his blue eyes crinkled against the sun, the comic effects of Eli Wallach, and the villainous depiction of Lee Van Cleef . And then there is the famous score of the film, of course, which was composed by Ennio Morricone. This 1966 film, categorized as a spaghetti Western and considered an epic, was directed by Sergio Leone. The movie’s spectacular widescreen cinematography was created by Tonino Delli Colli, the director of photography. The plot revolves around the three gunslingers who are competing with each other to locate the hidden Confederate gold, which involves gunfights, Civil War battles, hangings, violent chaos, and prison camps – all the classic themes of a great Western.

2001: A Space Odyssey:

Based partly on the short stories written by Arthur C. Clarke, particularly ‘The Sentinel’, this science fiction movie of 1968, directed by Stanley Kubrick, extensively collaborating with Clark, deals with fascinating themes like extraterrestrial life, artificial intelligence, technology, and human evolution. The special effects used in it were pioneering, and it was marked by its scientific realism, and the intriguingly equivocal sound effects and imagery used instead of the traditional techniques of narrative. Although the movie got mixed reviews when it was released, critics today proclaim it as one of the greatest movies ever made.