List of Suggested Films for Research Assignment
*Students interested in selecting films not listed below should consult with their TAs.*
Films screened in their entirety during class are not eligible.
A useful source for all American feature films is the American Film Institute’s Catalog. Please consult this before you begin research on your final paper:
http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/
Sixties
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960)
BUtterfield 8 (Daniel Mann, 1960)
Blast of Silence (Allen Baron, 1961)
The Misfits (John Huston, 1961)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards, 1961)
West Side Story (Robert Wise, 1961)
Judgment at Nuremberg (Stanley Kramer, 1961)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan 1962)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
Charade (Stanley Donen, 1962)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)
How The West Was Won (John Ford, 1962)
The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, 1963)
Cleopatra (Joseph Mankiewicz, 1963)
The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)
Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964)
The Fall of the Roman Empire (Anthony Mann, 1964)
Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964)
Mary Poppins (Disney, 1964)
The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)
Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)
Doctor Dolittle (Richard Fleischer, 1967)
The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich, 1967)
In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison, 1967)
Bullitt (Peter Yates, 1968)
Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968)
Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
The Odd Couple (Gene Saks, 1968)
Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968)
Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969)
Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper 1969)
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (Sydney Pollack, 1969)
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, 1969)
Seventies
M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, 1970)
Love Story (Arthur Hiller, 1970)
Catch-22 (Mike Nichols, 1970)
Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970)
Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby 1971)
Shaft (Gordon Parks, 1971)
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971)
Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
Klute (Alan Pakula, 1971)
The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)
The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich 1971)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
Super Fly (Gordon Parks, 1972)
Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972)
Deep Throat (Jerry Gerard, 1972)
Pink Flamingos (John Waters, 1972)
The Last House on the Left (Wes Craven, 1972)
American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973)
Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973)
The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973)
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
Sisters (Brian De Palma, 1973)
A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
Foxy Brown (Jack Hill, 1974)
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese, 1974)
The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974)
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974)
Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
Shampoo (Hal Ashby, 1975)
Three Days of the Condor (Sydney Pollack, 1975)
Obsession (Brian De Palma, 1976)
Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976)
All The President’s Men (Alan Pakula, 1976)
King Kong (John Guillermin, 1976)
Rocky (John Guilbert Avildsen, 1976)
Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)
Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1976)
The Deer Hunter (Michael Ciminio 1977)
Coming Home (Hal Ashby, 1977)
Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)
Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977)
The Wiz (Sidney Lumet, 1978)
Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
Superman (Richard Donner, 1978)
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978)
Dawn of the Dead (George Romero, 1978)
Animal House (John Landis, 1978)
Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton, 1979)
Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)
Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
Norma Rae (Martin Ritt, 1979)
Bush Mama (Haile Gerima, 1979)
Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)
Eighties
Raging Bull (Martin Scorcese, 1980)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, 1980)
Cruising (William Friedkin, 1980)
The Elephant Man (David Lynch 1980)
Friday the 13th (Sean Cunningham, 1980)
Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980)
Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
Polyester (John Waters, 1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982)
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
Rambo: First Blood (Ted Kotcheff, 1982)
Liquid Sky (Slava Tsukerman, 1982)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982)
Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982)
King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1983)
Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983)
Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks, 1983)
The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 1983)
National Lampoon’s Vacation (Harold Ramis, 1983)
Risky Business (Paul Brickman, 1983)
Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984)
Purple Rain (Prince, 1984)
Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)
Sixteen Candles (John Hughes, 1984)
Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984)
Blood Simple (The Coen Brothers, 1984)
Ghostbusters (Harold Ramis, 1984)
Strangers Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985)
Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack, 1985)
The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985)
Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985)
Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes, 1986)
Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)
She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee, 1986)
Top Gun (Tony Scott, 1986)
Mala Noche (Gus Van Sant, 1986)
Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch, 1986)
Manhunter (Michael Mann, 1986)
Robocop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
The Untouchables (Brian De Palma, 1987)
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987)
Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)
Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987)
Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987)
Dirty Dancing (Emile Ardino, 1987)
Wall Street (Oliver Stone, 1987)
Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner, 1987)
Coming to America (Jon Landis, 1988)
Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)
Rain Man (Barry Levinson, 1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Robert Zemeckis, 1988)
Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988)
Beetlejuice (Tim Burton, 1988)
Blue Steel (Kathryn Bigelow, 1989)
Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone, 1989
sex, lies, and videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989)
Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989)
The Little Mermaid (Disney, 1989)
Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 1989)
Dead Poet’s Society (Tom Schulman, 1989)
Batman (Tim Burton, 1989)
When Harry Met Sally (Rob Reiner, 1989)
Nineties
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, 1990)
Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven, 1990)
Metropolitan (Walt Stilman, 1990)
Miami Blues (George Armitage, 1990)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990)
Dances With Wolves (Kevin Costner, 1990)
Slacker (Richard Linklater, 1991)
Boyz N The Hood (John Singleton, 1991)
My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991)
Thelma and Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991)
The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
Beauty and the Beast (Disney, 1991)
JFK (Oliver Stone, 1991)
The Color of Love (Melissa Pearson, 1991)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
Malcolm X (Spike Lee, 1992)
Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley, 1992)
Single White Female (Barbet Schroeder, 1992)
A Few Good Men (Rob Reiner, 1992)
The Living End (Gregg Araki, 1992)
Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992)
The Player (Robert Altman, 1992)
Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara, 1992)
Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)
Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993)
Sleepless in Seattle (Nora Ephron, 1993)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme, 1993)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993)
Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993)
Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 1993)
Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994)
Reality Bites (Ben Stiller, 1994)
Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994)
True Lies (James Cameron, 1994)
The Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
Friday (F. Gary Grey, 1995)
Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone, 1994)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995)
Apollo 13 (Ron Howard, 1995)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995)
Kids (Harmonie Korine, 1995)
Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)
To Die For (Gus Van Sant, 1995)
12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995)
The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)
Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)
Basketball Diaries (Scott Kalvert, 1995)
Se7en (David Fincher, 1995)
Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven, 1995)
The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996)
Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe, 1996)
Swingers (Doug Liman, 1996)
Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1996)
Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996)
Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)
The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996)
The Birdcage (Mike Nichols, 1996)
Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996)
Mission: Impossible (Brian De Palma, 1996)
Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
The Game (David Fincher, 1997)
Men in Black (Jerry Sonnenfeld, 1997)
L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997)
Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997)
Boogie Nights (P.T. Anderson, 1997)
The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, 1997)
Armageddon (Michael Bay, 1998)
Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998)
Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998)
Buffalo ’66 (Vincent Gallo, 1998)
The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)
There’s Something About Mary (The Farley Brothers, 1998)
Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998)
Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998)
The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
Rush Hour (Brett Ratner, 1998)
Pi (Darren Aronfsky, 1998)
Bulworth (Warren Beatty, 1998)
Election (Alexander Payne, 1999)
The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999)
Boys Don’t Cry (Kimberly Peirce, 1999)
The Matrix (Andy and Lana Wachowski, 1999)
The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze, 1999)
Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
The Iron Giant (Brad Bird, 1999)
Magnolia (P.T. Anderson, 1999)
The Blair Witch Project (Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, 1999)
2000s
Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)
Memento (Chris Nolan, 2000)
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)
Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronfsky, 2000)
Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000)
High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)
Bambozzled (Spike Lee, 2000)
A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard, 2001)
Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
In The Bedroom (Todd Field, 2001)
AI: Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
Fast and the Furious (Rob Cohen, 2001)
Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002)
Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
Punch-Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson, 2002)
Spiderman (Sam Raimi, 2002)
The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002)
The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman, 2002)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Nia Vardalos, 2002)
Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski, 2003)
Lost in Translation (Sophia Coppola, 2003)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003)
Monster (Patty Jenkins, 2003)
Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004)
Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004)
Ray (Taylor Hackford, 2004)
Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
Saw (James Wan, 2004)
The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Charlie Kaufman, 2004)
Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005)
Jarhead (Sam Mendes, 2005)
Capote (Bennett Miller, 2005)
A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
Sin City (Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, 2005)
Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach, 2005)
United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006)
The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)
Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)
A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, 2006)
Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006)
Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007)
There Will Be Blood (P.T. Anderson, 2007)
I’m Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007)
Grindhouse (Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, 2007)
No Country For Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007)
Milk (Gus Van Sant, 2008)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
Iron Man (John Favreau, 2008)
Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008)
Up (Disney-Pixar, 2009)
Public Enemies (Michael Mann, 2009)
Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmush, 2009)
Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
Precious (Lee Daniels, 2009)
Up In The Air (Jason Reitman, 2009)
A Single Man (Tom Ford, 2009)
DOCUMENTARIES
Primary (Robert Drew, 1960)
The Connection (Shirley Clarke, 1962)
Dead Birds (Robert Gardner, 1965)
The Endless Summer (Bruce Brown, 1966)
Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967)
Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke, 1967)
Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967)
High School (Frederick Wiseman, 1968)
In the Year of the Pig (Emile de Antonio, 1968)
Medium Cool (Haskell Wexler, 1969)
Salesman (Albert and David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)
Gimme Shelter (Albert and David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)
Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1970)
On Any Sunday (Bruce Brown, 1971)
Reminisces of a Journey to Lithuania (Jonas Mekas, 1971/2)
The Winter Soldier (Barbara Kopple, 1972)
Hearts and Minds (Peter Davis, 1974)
Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman (Jill Godmilow and Judy Collins, 1974)
Christo’s Valley Curtain (Albert and David Maysles, 1975)
Grey Gardens (Muffie Meyer and all, 1975)
Welfare (Frederick Wiseman, 1975)
Underground (Emile de Antonio, 1975)
Harlan County U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
Union Maids (Julia Reichert, 1976)
Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (Peter Adair et. al., 1977)
The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (Connie Field, 1980)
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (Les Blank, 1980)
Ornette: Made in America (Shirley Clarke, 1984)
The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein, 1984)
Streetwise (Martin Bell, 1985)
Sherman’s March (Ross McElwee, 1986)
Landscape Suicide (James Benning, 1986)
Who Killed Vincent Chin? (Renee Tajima-Peña and Christine Choy, 1987)
Eyes on the Prize (Henry Hampton, 1987)
Roger & Me (Michael Moore, 1989)
Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, 1989)
The Civil War (Ken Burns, 1990)
Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990)
Madonna: Truth or Dare (Alek Keshishian and Mark Aldo Miceli, 1991)
Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America (Craig Baldwin, 1992)
In and Out of Africa (Lucien Taylor and Ilisa Barbash, 1993)
Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994)
Crumb (Terry Zwigoff, 1995)
Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996)
The Celluloid Closet (Rob Epstein, 1996)
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (Errol Morris, 1997)
Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002)
Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, 2002)
The Fog of War (Errol Morris, 2003)
Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, 2004)
An Inconvenient Truth (David Guggenheim, 2006)
Taxi to the Dark Side (Alex Gibney, 2007)
Man On Wire (Simon Chinn and James Marsh, 2008)
Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez, 2013)
EXPERIMENTAL AND AVANT-GARDE:
Flaming Creatures (Jack Smith, 1963)
Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1964)
Blowjob (Andy Warhol, 1964)
Empire (Andy Warhol, 1964)
Dog Star Man (Stan Brakhage, 1961-1964)
Go Go Go (Marie Menken, 1964)
Fuses (Carolee Schneemann, 1965)
Castro Street (The Coming of Consciousness) (Bruce Baillie, 1966)
T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (Paul Sharits, 1968)
Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son (Ken Jacobs, 1969)
Walden: Diaries, Notes and Sketches (Jonas Mekas, 1969)
Serene Velocity (Ernie Gehr, 1970)
Fog Line (Larry Gottheim, 1970)
Zorns Lemma (Hollis Frampton, 1970)
(nostalgia) (Hollis Frampton, 1971)
Lost, Lost, Lost (Jonas Mekas, 1976)
No No Nooky T.V. (Barbara Hammer, 1987)
Visions in Meditation (Stan Brakhage, 1989-90)
Side/Walk/Shuttle (Ernie Gehr, 1991)
Study of a River (Peter Hutton, 1996-1997)
She Puppet (Peggy Ahwesh, 2001)
Seasons… (Phil Solomon and Stan Brakhage, 2002)
Decasia (Bill Morrison, 2003)
RR (aka Railroad) (James Benning, 2007)
Landfill 16 (Jennifer Reeves, 2011)
The Invisible World (Jesse McLean, 2012)
Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel, 2012)
American Cinema 