Bardot came to represent a changing France and changing world: In her 91 years, Bardot was a film star, singer, animal rights activist, and a hero of both the left and right.

Her career helped introduce the French New Wave film movement to a global audience, and introduced a new spirit of freedom, openness and beauty in global cinema.

Here are her 10 best films.

And God Created Woman (1956)

This French film is the movie that made Brigitte Bardot an international sensation.

Directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim, it was originally released under its French title, Et Dieu... créa la femme, and follows young Juliette (Bardot) an 18-year-old who stirs up attention everywhere she goes in Saint-Tropez. Her supposed hedonism includes — brace yourself! — dancing barefoot.

It became the highest-grossing foreign film ever released in the United States, earning $4 million.

In 1999, director Peter Bogdanovich credited the film with "breaking French cinema out of us art houses and into the mainstream," which also kicked open the doors for the French New Wave.

Babette Goes to War (1959)

By 1958, Bardot was the highest-paid actress in France, with nothing to prove.

Babette Goes to War (Babette s'en va-t-en guerre) was notable for highlighting her comic chops, and for being the first of the starring vehicles in which she did not appear disrobed.

Set in 1940, it's shot beautifully in French CinemaScope, and tells the story of a young Frenchwoman who inadvertently gets involved in preventing Germany's invasion of England.

The Truth (1960)

The Truth — aka La Verité — is much darker than the Brigitte Bardot movies that came before.

Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, it tells the story of Dominique (Bardot), who is put on trial after surviving an attempted murder-suicide pact that ends in the death of her lover. Dominque's story is told in flashbacks as she stands trial.

The film was even more famous for the near-tragedy offscreen: Bardot reputedly attempted suicide during the production, leading the New York Times to report at the time of its release, "probably no film in recent years, at least in France, has been subjected to so much advanced attention."

The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, called it "an amazing picture, a tour de force from all concerned" adding that it is "at once immoral, amoral and strangely moral."

The film ended up being the biggest box office success of Bardot's career, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

A Very Private Affair (1962)

It's hard not to see Louis Malle's — aka Vie privée — as mirroring Bardot's own struggles.

It tells the story of a glamorous icon named Jill (Bardot) who draws intense scrutiny from the paparazzi and struggles with the pressures of fame. It offers a very dark take on stars' efforts to live and love outside of the spotlight. Her affairs, of course, are anything but private.

The film is worth seeing just to see Bardot paired with  Marcello Mastroianni.

Contempt (1963)

For our money, the best film on this list — and one of the best films ever made. If you have time for only one Brigitte Bardot movie, watch this one.

A French New Wave classic, aka Le Mépris, this Jean-Luc Godard masterpieces stars Bardot as Camille, the bored wife of Paul, a screenwriter hired by Fritz Lang (playing himself) to adapt The Odyssey.

Arrogant American film producer Jerry Prokosch (a ravenous Jack Palance) invites Paul and Camille to visit his home, but only has room in his convertible for one passenger. Camille takes it, setting off a cycle of jealousy and despair.

The film takes a road trip to one of the most beautiful locations ever captured on film, Capri, Italy. We wish we could say things end happily in that coastal paradise.

The Ravishing Idiot (1964)

Another movie worth watching for the fascinating pairing of its leads, this Cold War comedy, aka Une ravissante idiote, pairs Bardot with Psycho star Anthony Perkins.

Perkins plays a Soviet spy who relies on his new partner, Bardot's Penelope Lightfeather, as they cavort across Europe, trying to outwit counterintelligence agents.

To give you a sense of Bardot's following at the time, it was also released in the U.S. as Agent 38-24-36.

Viva Maria (1965)

Bardot worked again with director Louis Malle on this very '60s movie that paired her with Jean Moreau. They played two women, both named Maria, who become early 20th Century revolutionaries and folk heroes.

It was seen as fairly subversive at the time, as it was seen as a nod to the student protests of the era.

Turner Classic Movies has explained that Malle wanted to subvert the tropes of buddy movies — including by making the buddies movies.

Whatever its politics, Viva Maria looks gorgeous. The costumes were the work of Pierre Cardin.

Masculin-Feminin (1966)

Brigitte Bardot only has a cameo in this Jean-Luc Godard film, making an uncredited appearance as an actress.

But it's one of the lovely surprises in a film that delights in blending fantasy and cold hard reality.

It's also nice to see Bardot in a loose, fun, endlessly unpredictable Godard film after the heartbreak of Contempt.

Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973)

Bardot reunited with ex-husband Roger Vadim for this drama, their fifth film together, which is known in French as Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme...

It's another film in which Bardo subverts expectations with a gender switch: She plays Jean, a woman who believes she has been reincarnated as Don Juan, the legendary Spanish lover.

It notably pairs Bardot with Jane Birkin, famous for films like Blow Up and La Piscine.

The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot (1973)

Also known by the even longer French title L'histoire très bonne et très joyeuse de Colinot Trousse-Chemise, this curious comedy follows a man whose happiness is interrupted by the kidnapping of his fiancee.

His search for her leads him on many thrilling adventures, including a meeting with Arabelle, who turns his life around by being played by Brigitte Bardot.

Bardot vowed that this would be her final film, and she held fast to that vow, exiting the film industry at the age of 39.

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Main image: Brigitte Bardot in Contempt. Marceau-Cocinor.

Editor's Note: Corrects main image.

We aren't talking about movies with an X rating, which are their own category. And we aren't talking about movies like Serpico, The French Connection and Mean Streets that depict sleaze but are, you know, classy about it.

We're talking about movies that ruthlessly shock and pander for the sake of good clean — or not so clean — thrills. So here we go.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

A gloriously shameless movie (starting with that title) that uses ickiness to its great advantage. It's one of the most effective and captivating horror movies ever made thanks to its hardcore atmosphere, oozing with sex and violence.

Filled with the sounds of animals and buzzing flies, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre makes clear from the start that it has no limits, even before we hear the first rev of Leatherface's chainsaw.

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975)

lsa, She Wolf of the S.S. affects high-minded ideals with a ridiculous opening card (see above), but it's all just an excuse to tell the story of Ilsa, an evil Nazi warden who wants to prove women are better at suffering than men, and should therefore be allowed to fight for Hitler.

Of course, she proves this through a series of "experiments" on women who are scantily clad, at best. Let's all say it together now: "They couldn't make this today."

A Canadian film by director Don Edmonds, it managed to get reviewed by Gene Siskel, who called it "the most degenerate picture I have seen to play downtown." We can't tell if that's a thumbs up or thumbs down.

The Driller Killer (1979)

Abel Ferrara has made some straight-up classics — including King of New York and Bad Lieutenant — but the Bronx-born director cut his teeth with The Driller Killer. (His debut was an adult motion picture in which he also performed.)

Ferrara also appeared in The Driller Killer (above) about a New York City artist who deals with his urban angst by going on a killing spree with a power tool.

The film made it onto the United Kingdom's list of "video nasties" criticized for their extreme content.

Dolemite (1975)

Look, we love Dolemite, but when the hero of the movie is a pimp, you're watching a sleazy movie.

Rudy Ray Moore's endlessly entertaining Blaxploitation icon sprang from his filthy standup comedy routines: He passed on stories of a streetwise hustler named Dolemite who explained, "Dolemite is my name and f---ing up motherf---ers is my game."

Dolemite was also a triumph of DIY, indie moviemaking — as spelled out in the recent Dolemite Is My Name, starring Eddie Murphy.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

Widely regarded as one of the best exploitation movies ever made, this Swedish film by director Bo Arne Vibenius stars Christina Lindberg as as a mute woman who endures a series of unbelievable traumas — which Vibenius isn't shy about showing onscreen.

She eventually finds herself a double-barrel shotgun and goes on a revenge mission that she — and her targets — very much deserve.

The Last House on the Left (1972)

We hate this movie, because it's so incredible effective. One of the most shameless 1970s movies of all, it has a handmade quality that makes it violence and cruelty feel all the more real.

Director Wes Craven made his debut with Last House on the Left — a story of abduction, brutality and vengeance, scored by eerie hippie music — before going on to create the classic Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream horror franchises. With all due respect to those films, they aren't remotely as scary as Last House on the Left.

Salo (1975)

Inspired by the writings of Marquis de Sade, this film by Pier Paolo Pasolini is about a group of fascists who round up a group of adolescents and do horrible things to them for 120 days. Just make a list of things that gross you out, and we promise they're in Salo.

Interestingly, Abel Ferrara, who you may remember from our Driller Killer entry, made a movie about Pasolini in 2014 about his life around the time he was making Salo.

It stars the great Willem Dafoe, a good friend and frequent collaborator of Ferrara's.

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

You probably remember the disco, but not the desperation.

Saturday Night Fever is a nuanced and gritty character study of Tony Manero (John Travolta, above) that unflinchingly depicts racism and sexual violence. Tony is deeply flawed, and no hero by today's standards, but the movie tries to win back our affection for him by the end.

For such a successful film, it's a very sleazy movie and a rough watch — but the dancing is fantastic, at least.

Piranha (1978)

One of many killer-animals movies rushed to the screen after the blockbuster success of Jaws, Piranha — unlike, say, Orca, to use one example — made no pretense of respectability. And we respect that.

A Roger Corman production through and through, this movie existed to show swimmers get attacked by toothy fish, and we love that. It's the epitome of a B movie.

But it was also important to the careers of some great filmmakers, including Corman: Six years after Piranha, Joe Dante went on to direct the massive hit Gremlins. And Piranha co-writer John Sayles would go on to make films including Eight Men Out and The Secret of Roan Inish.

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

A movie we both love and respect, The Kentucky Fried Movie is a sendup of grindhouse and sleaze that is also, itself, pretty sleazy — but in a good way. It leaves no joke unturned, and parody-movie sendups go waaay further than necessary to satirize the things they're satirizing.

The Kentucky Fried Movie is one of funniest of all sleazy movies, and it led to more mainstream, less sleazy success for director John Landis and writers David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, who would later go on to make Airplane.

Caligula (1979)

When Penthouse founder Bob Guccione set out to make a mainstream movie, the result was Caligula — a story of the indulgent Roman emperor with big names attached.

Led by rather fearless Clockwork Orange veteran Malcolm McDowell, the film stars Teresa Ann Savoy (above), as well as Helen Mirren and Peter O'Toole. But what it's best known for is its over-the-top sex scenes.

It was written by the very respected Gore Vidal, who disavowed it after director Tinto Brass substantially altered his script.

Liked Our List of Shameless 1970s Movies?

If you liked this, you might also like our list of Gen X Movie Stars Gone Too Soon.

And you might also like this behind the scenes look at The Kentucky Fried Movie.

Main image: The Kentucky Fried Movie. United Film Distribution Company

Mia and Tia (Cars, 2006)

There's no other way to say it: the twin Mazda Miatas who literally flash their headlights at Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) early in Cars are groupies.

When Lightning disappears, they start hanging around the awful Chick Hicks.

So they're not only groupies, but groupies who have terrible taste.

The Toy Story Casting Couch (Toy Story 2, 1999)

Someone at Pixar has a thing for twins.

A "blooper reel" that ran during the end credits of Toy Story 2 was edited in the #MeToo era to remove a joke where sleazy prospector Stinky Pete (voiced by Kelsey Grammar), accosts two twin Barbies — and takes the hand of one — while promising, “Y’know, I’m sure I could get you a part in Toy Story 3.”  

Barbie, of course, went on to have one of the top-grossing movies of all time. Stinky Pete, not so much.

No Bears in San Francisco (Inside Out, 2015)

Inside Out, which follows all the emotions in a young girl's head as her family moves to the Bay Area, features one character insisting, "There are no bears in San Francisco."

Another character chimes in: "I saw a really hairy guy. He looked like a bear."

Sally's Lower Back Tattoo (Cars, 2006)

Lightning McQueen realizes his love interest, a Porsche Carrera named Sally, has a bit of a wild side when he sees her rear pinstriping — the car equivalent of a lower-back tattoo.

You can disagree with the notion that lower back tattoos signify anything, but the joke was common enough around the time of Cars' release that it also popped up in a different Owen Wilson movie, 2005's The Wedding Crashers.

Hostile Takeover Bank (Cars, 2006)

Not all Pixar jokes for adults are risqué.

Cars did a cute bit of social commentary by making HTB — aka Hostile Takeover Bank — the sponsor of Lightning McQueen's greatest rival, the previously mentioned Chick Hicks. He's a notorious bad sport who will do anything to take over a lead. Or a bank, we guess.

This is our favorite joke in Cars — and we love Cars.

Buzz Lightyear's Erect Wings (Toy Story 2, 1999)

Yow. When Buzz Lightyear is so, um, impressed by cowgirl Jessie's acrobatics that his wings schwing to full attention.

This is one of those Pixar jokes so silly and well-executed that it's impossible to get upset about.

Proctology (Cars, 2006)

Cars is both a sweet kids' movie and a gentle rumination on aging, with all that it entails.

While many kids movies enlist bathroom humor, Cars includes a very different kind of joke about bodily functions.

In one of the saddest moments in the franchise, Lightning McQueen barges in on the sheriff (Michael Wallis) as he receives the car equivalent of a trip to the proctologist, courtesy of Doc Hudson (Paul Newman).

12-Step Sharks Meeting (Finding Nemo, 2003)

12-step groups in the style of AA meetings are a cornerstone of dramas, from Fight Club to 28 Days.

But they don't turn up in many kids movies, with the exception of Finding Nemo, where Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) accidentally finds her way into a movie where a group of sharks, led by Bruce (Barry Humphries) try to curb their bloodthirsty addictions.

Darkest of all, the sharks relapse during the meeting.

Laser Envy (Toy Story, 1995)

When Woody (Tom Hanks) seems jealous of Buzz Lightyear's superior firepower, Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) quips that he has "laser envy."

See also: Pixar jokes for Freudians.

Life's a Beach (Cars 3, 2017)

Lightning McQueen's new trainer, Cruz Ramirez, makes a comment that only people who remember the old Life Alert commercials will recognize as a throwback. Cruz asks, "You're old — what if you fall on this beach and can't get up?"

She's sneakily referring to the often-mocked ad where an older person comically cries out, "I've fallen and I can't get up!"

But the risque part of the joke is Lightning's response: "Life's a beach and then you drive." Kind of sounds like an old saying, doesn't?

Stripper Music (Turning Red, 2022)

The parents in Turning Red are not fans of the boy band 4*Town.

Several tell their daughters they can't go to the group's concert, and Abbys says that her mom refers to 4*Town songs as "stripper music." (She doesn't understand what that means or see what's wrong with it.)

We aren't prudes, but... weird joke for a kids' movie.

Little, Little... (Ratatouille, 2007)

In Ratatouille, Linguine (Lou Romano) struggles to explain to his colleage, Collette (Janeane Garofalo), that a little rat named Remy gives him instructions on how to make his delicious food.

First, as he struggles with the word "rat," she thinks he's confessing to a rash. But he objects.

"No," he stammers, holding his fingers about an inch apart. "I have this tiny, little, little..."

She ever so quickly glances down at his pants, before he concludes: "a tiny chef who tells me what to do!"

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All images from Pixar.

From comic icons to action stars , all have proven enduring across generations.

What do you think is the secret to their staying power?

Sally Field

Sally Field broke out in the 1965 with her starring role on Gidget (above), which she followed up with The Flying Nun, making her one of the biggest — and youngest — TV stars of the 1960s.

Since then, she's won two Best Actress Oscars — for 1979's Norma Rae and 1984's Places in the Heart — and demonstrates empathy and vast range in films from Sybil to Smokey and the Bandit to Mrs. Doubtfire to Forrest Gump to Lincoln. And of course her "You like me, right now, you like me" Oscars speech for Places in the Heart is the gold standard of award speeches.

Last year she stood out in 80 for Brady, proving she's still got comic chops — though the film note that she's still several years off from 80. She'll next appear in the upcoming Netflix film Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine appeared in Broadway musicals as a teenager in the 1950s before making her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's 1955The Trouble With Harry. She also starred in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Some Came Running (1958) and Ask Any Girl (1959) before delivering a heartbreaking, unforgettable performance in the knowing 1960 comedy The Apartment, opposite Jack Lemmon.  

She further established herself as one of the greatest stars of the 1960s with roles in The Children's Hour (1961), Irma la Douce (1963) and Sweet Charity (1969).

She would go one to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for 1983's Terms of Endearment, and to earn endless accolades for films like Steel Magnolias (1989), Postcards From the Edge (1990), and Bernie (2011).

Most recently, the now-91-year-old was a standout in the second season of Only Murders in the Building. She'll next appear in the upcoming People Not Places.

Warren Beatty

Good genes: Shirley MacLaine's little brother Warren Beatty broke out with several guest appearances on the endearing 1959-63 sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and quickly became a matinee idol with 1960's Splendor in the Grass (above), opposite Natalie Wood, which made them both huge stars of the 1960s.

In the next decades he went on a legendary run that includes Bonnie and Clyde (1967), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), The Parallax View (1974), and Shampoo (1975), then turned to directing and starring with Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981), and the fabulously weird Bulworth (1998). He won the Best Director Oscar for Reds. He co-starred with Annette Bening in 1991's Bugsy, and the two have been married for more than three decades.

Warren Beatty hasn't done much since directing and starring in 2016's Rules Don't Apply, but he's still going strong: He was in charming form when he surprisingly popped up recently in the TCM special Tracy Zooms In.

Dustin Hoffman

A breakout star in 1967's The Graduate (above), Dustin Hoffman has been consistently great since. His memorable 1960s films included Midnight Cowboy, and he's since gone on to star in films from Straw Dogs (1971) to All the President's Men (1976) to Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) to Tootsie (1982) to Rain Man (1988). He won his two Best Acting Oscars for Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man.

In more recent decades, his choices have remained consistently interesting and surprising: We especially liked his turns in Wag the Dog (1997), Runaway Jury (2003), I Heart Huckabees (2004) and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017).

He's still going strong with a slate of projects that recently included Francis Ford Coppola's ambitious latest, Megalopolis.

Ron Howard

Ron Howard broke out as young Opie on the 1960s classic The Andy Griffith Show (above) and appeared in The Music Man (1962) before going on to movie stardom in the next decade with American Graffiti (1973) — and of course further TV stardom for his role on Happy Days.

But at 69, he may be even better known for his achievements behind the camera. He's one of Hollywood's most in-demand directors and producers, known for Night Shift (1982), Splash (1984), Cocoon (1985), Backdraft (a 1991 hit starring another star of the 1960s who comes up later on this list), Apollo 13 (1995), and Frost/Nixon. (2008) And of course he won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director for A Beautiful Mind (2001).

He's one of Hollywood's most prolific producers, and one of his current projects is a recent documentary about composer John Williams, with whom he collaborated on 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story. And he just had a hilarious appearance as himself on Apple TV+'s The Studio.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster, seen above in a 1970 episode of Kung Fu, broke into the industry with a Coppertone ad at age three, and became one of the fastest-rising stars of the 1960s by earning roles on shows like Mayberry RFD, which starred her brother, Buddy, as well as The Doris Day Show, Gunsmoke and The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

She quickly proved herself a powerhouse with astonishing range, starring in Freaky Friday and Taxi Driver in 1976, when she was barely a teenager, making her one of the youngest stars of the 1970s.

In the ensuing decades, she earned the Best Actress Oscar for 1998's The Accused and 1991's Silence of the Lambs, starred in films including Nell (1994), Contact (1997), Panic Room (2004), Elysium (2013) and The Mauritanian (2021). She's also made her mark as a director with films like Little Man Tate (1991), The Beaver (2011) and Money Monster (2016).

She was just nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Nyad, and she was also our favorite part of HBO's True Detective: Night Country, for which she won a Golden Globe.

Anthony Hopkins

Foster's Silence of the Lambs co-star, Anthony Hopkins, was doing grown-up roles when she was a child star, but they're both thriving now. Hopkins' 1960s roles include The Lion in Winter (1968, as seen above) and Hamlet (1969).

His very busy subsequent decades included Magic (1978), The Elephant Man (1980), Silence of the Lambs (1991) — for which he won a Best Actor Oscar with just 16 minutes of screen time — Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997), Hannibal (2001), The Human Stain (2003), Alexander (2004) and Hitchcock (2012). Along the way he's also dropped into the Thor, Transformers and Mission: Impossible Franchises.

But perhaps his best work of all was for 2020's The Father, in which he earned his second Best Actor Oscar for his role as an octogenarian losing his faculties. He does almost everything in a role that an actor can do.

The 87-year-old's long list of awards includes four BAFTA Awards and an Olivier Award, as well as being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He recently played King Herod in the Biblical epic Mary, and his latest is the thriller Locked.

Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno had roles in the 1950s classics Singin' in the Rain and The King and I before breaking out in 1961's West Side Story (above), and becoming one of the most beloved stars of the 1960s — and today.

She's gone on to rarefied EGOT prestige by winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, one of many accomplishments in a career that also includes receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Honor, and a Peabody Award.

Her long list of credits includes 1969's Popi, 1981's The Four Seasons, 1998's The Slums of Beverly Hills, and Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of West Side Story.

in 2023, she earned laughs alongside Sally Field and the final person on this list in 80 for Brady, and turned up in Fast X. She never slows down. Her next film is the upcoming Theirs.

Kurt Russell

There's a (false) urban myth that Walt Disney's last words were "Kurt Russell." Disney rightly saw a bright future for Russell, who became one of the fastest-rising stars of the 1960s with The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (above). He soon signed a contract with Disney, starring in films like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969).

He soon because the tough guy we all know and love in films like Escape From New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Tango & Cash (1989), but proved his serious acting chops in Silkwood (1983), Backdraft (1991) and Vanilla Sky (2001). He may have been most endearing in 1993's Tombstone.

The 72-year-old's best roles lately have been in Quentin Tarantino films, including Death Proof (2007), The Hateful Eight (2015) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). He also stood out in the Fast and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises.

He recently starred in the Apple+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters alongside his son, Wyatt Russell, and he's in the brand-new Smurfs.

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood, who turns 95 at the end of this month, appeared on the TV show Rawhide at the dawn of the 1960s, and quickly established himself as one of the most iconic stars of the decade in Sergio Leone's "Man With No Name" trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966) (above).

He loomed large over the next two decades with his Dirty Harry franchise, but his greatest contribution to cinema may be his work as a director: He has four Oscars, two each for directing and producing The Unforgiven (1993) and Million Dollar Baby (2005). His other outstanding films include Mystic River (2003), Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) and American Sniper (2014).

His latest film was last year's Juror #2.

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda became one of the biggest stars of the 1960s thanks to hits like Cat Ballou, and buoyed her reputation with films like Barefoot and the Park and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (above) before the decade was over. She also ended up on a lot of dorm walls thanks to 1968's Barbarella.

But she owned the 1970s: In 1971, she won her first Best Actress Oscar for a daring turn in Klute, and won her second for 1978's Coming Home. She has also been nominated for four additional Oscars.

At 86, Jane Fonda seems busier than ever. Last year alone she starred with Sally Field in the aforementioned 80 for Brady and with Diane Keaton in Book Club: The Next Chapter, and will is providing voice acting for Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. She also recently wrapped up a long TV run on Grace and Frankie.

If you like this list, you might also like this list of Gen X Movie Stars Gone Too Soon.

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Xenomorphs have been terrifying audiences for nearly half a century since the release of Ridley Scott's 1979 Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, a member of the Nostromo crew who does battle with a horrific creature.

After nine films, including sequels, prequels and spinoffs, and now Hulu's Alien: Earth, the Alien franchise continues to elicit both fear and obsession. Alien fans are nothing if not passionate, knowing the ins and outs of the decaying yet futuristic universe.

But for non-diehard fans of Alien, here are 12 details that may not be on your radar.

David Was Influenced By Rachel From Blade Runner

David (Michael Fassbender) is the android star of Ridley Scott's two recent Alien prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

His performance was inspired by a character in one of Scott's other films, 1982's Blade Runner: He told Slashfilm in 2012 he took influence from the replicant Rachel, played by Sean Young.

“There was something in her character, a quality there that I kind of liked for David,” Fassbende said. “This longing for something or some sort of a soul at play there, a sort of vacancy also, a sort of vacant element.”

Another Unexpected Tie Between Alien and Blade Runner

Alien and Blade Runner may be set in the same universe.

In a bonus feature for Alien, the USCSS Nostromo’s dossier includes credentials for Dallas (Tom Skerritt), and they include the Tyrell Corporation – the company behind the replicants in Blade Runner.

Scott always said the films certainly have visual ties. But that bonus feature took the extra step of deepening the connection whether canon or not.

Artist Francis Bacon Helped Inspire the Xenomorph

Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon was a master of body horror. Scott and the Xenomorph’s designer, H.R. Giger, were influenced by his beautiful yet terrifying paintings.

Many see a resemblance between the gangly and chilling figure in Bacon’s 1933 painting Crucifixion and the alien in Giger’s iconic extraterrestrial design.

“We come to the conclusion that we must make the beast blind and give it a terrific set of teeth – something like the detail in Francis Bacon’s Crucifixion triptych,” Giger is quoted as saying in his obituary in The Guardian. “It was Francis Bacon’s work that gave me the inspiration of how this thing would come tearing out of the man’s flesh with its gaping mouth, grasping and with an explosion of teeth... it’s pure Bacon.”

The Eggs’ Innards Were Built With Seafood and Meat

In the original film, the eggs that produce the facehuggers are a mix of cow organs, clams, and oysters.

“In those days prosthetics weren’t that good,” Scott once told The Guardian. “I figured the best thing to do was to get stuff from a butcher’s shop and a fishmonger. You can’t make better stuff than that. It’s organic.”

When the facehugger is lit up and moving around in the egg, that’s actually Scott’s gloved hand at work.

We're showing the pleasant image of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, above, because the sight of the eggs wouldn't make it past the algorithms for some of our syndication partners that try to weed out images like the kind of stuff you'd see at a butcher shop or fishmonger.

Composer Jerry Goldsmith Didn't Enjoy Alien

Jerry Goldsmith’s spine-tingling score is masterful at evoking in fear. Ridley Scott’s sense of silence, combined with Goldsmith’s romantic approach to horror, is an audible experience as unique as the boundary-pushing visuals.

Goldsmith, though, once told the Los Angeles Reader that Alien was “one of the most miserable experiences I’ve ever had in this profession.”

He was not pleased with how his score was chopped up and rearranged for the final film. It was a constant struggle for Goldsmith, who was especially disheartened by his end credits theme getting canned. 

James Cameron Did Not Always Gel With Some on the Aliens Crew

The behind-the-scenes features for 1986's sequel Aliens are a candid treat for fans.

Creative disagreements and personality clashes are not sugarcoated or hidden in director Charles de Lauzirika’s Superior Firepower: The Making of Aliens.

The feature-length doc is a real fly-on-the-wall bonus feature that shows James Cameron and the English crew facing off at Pinewood Studios.

During work, tea time arrives. Posts are left. And Cameron is left furious, wondering where the Ridley Scott-faithful crew went. It’s just one of many battles fought during the making of Aliens. 

It Took Over a Dozen Artists to Control the Mother Queen

The fourteen-foot-tall Alien Queen was a grand puppet.

Winston and his team used hydraulics for the big mama’s movements, but it took a team of over a dozen artists to puppet the creature.

It was Cameron’s mad genius idea to put two men, Stuart St. Paul and Malcolm Weaver, in the suit operating the arms. Outside the suit, sixteen additional puppeteers kept the alien moving.

James Remar Shot Scenes as Cpl. Hicks

James Remar, known for The Warriors and too many entertaining films to list, was originally cast as Cpl. Hicks in Aliens.

Not only was he cast, but he shot a week’s worth of footage for the sequel. The Boston actor looked the military part, wielding the character’s pump-action shotgun with gusto.

Unfortunately, due to personal issues at the time, Remar departed the film. Cameron tapped his Terminator pal, Michael Biehn, to step in and play Ripley’s brother-in-arms.

The image above is of James Remar in Showtime's Dexter since, as we mentioned, he isn't in Aliens.

The Scrapped Dog-Burster

One of the more nihilistic sequences in the franchise almost went another step further. In Alien 3, a dog is infected by a chestburster and gives birth to a Xenomorph.

It’s an upsetting sequence that director David Fincher considered doubling down on with what we can only call... Xenodogs.

At one point a whippet was covered with latex. It looked horrifying enough, but once the dog started running in costume, it was deemed too ridiculous for the dour Alien 3.

There Are At Least 3 Cuts of Alien 3

Fans Made Their Own Cut of Alien 3

Alien 3 was a famously troubled production — director David Fincher, who feuded with the studio, Fox, told The Guardian in 2009, “to this day, no one hates it more than me.”)

The version released in theaters in 1992 was a box office success, but received poor reviews. In 2003, a new version called the  Assembly Cut was released without Fincher's involvement, and an updated version of it was released on Blu-Ray in 2010. The Assembly Cut received better reviews.

But fans also weighed in with a Legacy Cut, which brings the theatrical and assembly cut together with a new polish. 

The Newborn Was Different

The Newborn is the big swing in Alien: Resurrection, which led by French director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, best known for Amelie.

The hybrid between Ripley’s clone and a Xenomorph is hideous, but also polarizing with fans. It could have been even more divisive: According to One Step Beyond: Making Alien Resurrection, at one point the Newborn would have been portrayed with both male and female genitalia.

Fox, the studio, didn't love the idea, and Jeunet ultimately decided that "even for a Frenchman, it's too much."  

The Offspring in Alien: Romulus Isn’t CG

Director Fede Álvarez packed Alien: Romulus with Easter eggs and callbacks to the franchise, including the human-alien hybrid from Alien: Resurrection.

Through Álvarez’s eyes, the creature is both monstrous and uncanny — especially because it’s not a CG effect terrorizing Rain (Cailee Spaeny) in the finale – it’s 7’7” basketball player Robert Bobroczkyi playing “the Offspring.”

Under heavy prosthetics, with a CG tail and other additions, Bobroczkyi made a potentially ridiculous finale more tangible with his gigantic presence.

You can read all about the making of Alien: Romulus in MovieMaker's cover story on the film.

Main image: Alien Romulus. 20th Century Fox.

From movies to grown ups to kids classics, these will send a chill down your spine — and not from the cold weather.

Have a scary Merry Christmas.

Scrooged

Bill Murray stars in this 1988 comedy that takes a then-modern swing at Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol. Murray plays a TV executive who loses the love of his life because of his curmudgeonly ways.

But after he fires one of his employees on Christmas Eve, he gets visited by a series of ghost who show him the error of his ways.

What makes this one genuinely spooky — besides some genuinely scary ghosts — is that Murray's Frank Cross is unrepetentantly nasty almost to the very end, when he makes a seemingly manic reversal.

Krampus

This 2015 horror comedy follows the European folkloric history of Krampus, a horned anthropomorphic beast who punishes naughty children in December.

When the main family's quarreling causes a disruption in Christmas spirit, the demon comes to haunt them and they must band together to fight him off.

It stars Adam Scott, Toni Collette, and David Koechner, and was directed by Michael Dougherty.

Silent Night

This 2021 horror-comedy stars Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode as hosts of a Christmas dinner party before the end of the world.

Knowing that they're going to be killed by a cloud of deadly gas the next morning, the couple and their friends and children try to spend their last night on earth as well as they can without acknowledging the elephant in the room.

Directed by Camille Griffin, this one is as dark as it is funny.

Violent Night

In this 2022 action-comedy, Stranger Things star David Harbour plays Santa — but with a twist.

When a group of mercenaries hold a family hostage on Christmas Eve, Saint Nick comes to the rescue wielding a hammer. Turns out, he was a Viking warrior in the past named "Nikamund the Red."

I don't know about you, but that's who I would want on my side in this type of unforeseen holiday situation.

Black Christmas

The 1974 slasher Black Christmas is one of the earliest in the spooky Christmas genre. It's Canadian, actually, and directed by Bob Clark. Though it was remade in 2019, we're focusing on the original for this list.

It follows a group of sorority sisters who start receiving really creepy phone calls during winter break. When they start egging the caller on, things get serious when sorority sisters go missing and a local girl is murdered. They begin to suspect a serial killer could be on the loose.

The film helped popularize the slasher genre, and there's an added edge to this one when you realize that Bob Clark also directed A Christmas Story, one of the most beloved Christmas movies ever made.

A Christmas Story has a bleak sense of humor at times, but it isn't as bleak as Black Christmas.

Jack Frost

Among the goofiest films on this list is Jack Frost, a 1997 horror-comedy about Frosty the Snowman turned evil.

This malicious snowman is born when a serial killer has a supernatural accident on the way to his execution.

The snowman, of course, starts murdering people at an astonishing rate, leaving the snow drenched with blood.

A Christmas Horror Story

This 2015 horror-mystery features William Shatner in its cast. It's the second film on this list to feature Krampus, the folkloric demon we mentioned earlier.

But in this movie, not even Santa is safe from the creepy creature.

Directed by Steve Hoban, Brett Sullivan, and Grant Harvey, A Christmas Horror Story follows the town of Bailey Downs as evil spirits, zombie elves, and, yes, Krampus, descend upon its townspeople.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

A classic. This Tim Burton masterpiece features the voice of Chris Sarandon (and Danny Elfman during the sing-song parts) as Jack Skellington, a.k.a. The Pumpkin King, and Catherine O'Hara as his love interest Sally, a Frakensteinesque woman who was created by a mad scientist who's always trying to keep her locked up.

When Jack stumbled into a portal that transports him into Christmas-land, he becomes obsessed with recreating the holiday, Halloween-style.

But Jack finds that normal people don't necessarily like the same macabre things he does, and soon Sally needs to save the day by rescuing the real Santa.

The Lodge

Riley Keough stars in this very scary horror drama as the new girlfriend of a widower who's wife recently died.

Keough's character stays with her boyfriend's two kids alone in a remote house during a Christmas snowstorm — but they end up getting haunted by her past in a creepy cult. Things get very, very cold and very, very dark.

Directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, this 2019 NEON film also stars Jaeden Martell, Richard Armitage, Alicia Silverstone, Lia McHugh and Danny Keough.

Christmas Bloody Christmas

This 2022 horror movie, directed by Joe Begos, takes place on Christmas Eve.

It's an interesting plot that involves an animatronic Santa that is recalled for defects including murdering people with an axe.

But the robot Santa doesn't just stop at one murder, going on a bloody killing spree throughout the night.

Terrifier 3

This one just came out earlier this year. In the third movie in Damien Leone's Terrifier franchise, Art the Clown is back after his Halloween spree to ruin yet another holiday.

It makes sense that the Terrifier films would be so scary, considering that the director is named after the Antichrist character in The Omen.

This is among the scariest and most gruesome movies on our list, so be warned. It opens with a scene that spawned immediate walkouts, since it crosses a line few horror movies dare to cross.

Better Watch Out

This 2016 horror-comedy features Olivia DeJonge, who played Priscilla Presley in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, as a babysitter who has to defend herself and the 12-year-old boy she's watching during the holidays when intruders come to attack them.

The cast also features Levi Miller, Ed Oxenbould, Virginia Madsen, Seinfeld's Patrick Warburton, and Stranger Things' Dacre Montgomery.

Christmas just got a lot spookier, in other words.

If you liked this list, you might also like this list of 12 Comfort Movies to Cheer You Up No Matter What.

Editor's Note: Corrects images and headline throughout.

Main image: Better Watch Out. Well Go USA Entertainment

From hits of the anything goes 1970s to films that came out very recently — in our supposedly more pearl-clutching times — these are movies that put laughter above messages.

But sometimes they sneak in a cool message. too.

Not Another Teen Movie (2000)

A brutal but affectionate takedown of teen movies from Lucas to She's All That to Fast Times at Ridgemont High to The Breakfast Club, Not Another Teen Movie is a blitzkrieg of offense filled with sex, bathroom jokes, insane violence and surprisingly acute social commentary.

Where else can you see Chris Evans misusing a banana, white kids who pretend to be Asian, and football players split in half?

Not Another Teen Movie could cut every offensive joke and still be very funny, but it gets extra points for the sheer audacity of keeping them in.

White Chicks (2004)

Marlon and Shawn Wayans play Black FBI agents who impersonate rich white socialites to infiltrate a pompous Hamptons social scene — and break up a conspiracy. Along the way they learn how white people act when they think no one of other races are around, but also start to see the world from a woman's perspective.

If you're not offended by something in White Chicks, you aren't paying attention. The Wayans take down privileged white people, but also everyone else, and make points about our weird racial and sexual hangups along the way. White Chicks always keeps you guessing about how far it will go, and it goes pretty far.

Airplane (1980)

June Cleaver speaking jive is deeply inappropriate — and one of the funniest things that has ever happened in a movie.

God bless Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker for coming up with the idea of Barbara Billingsley delivering the line, "Oh stewardess? I speak jive." And also for the 7,000 other great jokes in Airplane, one of the all-time greatest comedies.

You can question its taste if you want to, but you'd be better off just going with the laughs. There are a lot of them.

Team America: World Police (2004)

It's impossible to take any self-righteous actor seriously after watching this puppet-movie spy thriller that despises Kim Jong-Il, but hates Sean Penn even more.

Puppet love scenes, projectile vomiting that goes on much too long, unapologetic jingoism — Team America, from the creators of South Park, is a mockery of gung-ho nationalism, but also a compelling defense of American foreign policy at its best.

There's also a fantastic metaphor involving three different body parts that we think about way more than we should.

Borat (2006)

Sacha Baron Cohen impersonates a sexist, anti-Semitic, generally clueless Kazakh journalist who makes Americans feel free to say things they wouldn't ordinarily say. He's gloriously ignorant, but his guilelessness brings out the worst in people who should know better. (And also, very occasionally, the best.)

Borat's behavior is wildly offensive, but he's so demented that you can't help but feel sorry for him, and Baron Cohen and his team manage to strike a perfect mix of revulsion and vulnerability. What's most impressive is how much of it Baron Cohen had to improvise on the fly, in tense and often dangerous positions.

The 2020 sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, is also terrific.

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

With wall-to-wall gratuitous flesh and racial humor, The Kentucky Fried Movie is the modern-day definition of problematic, but it's also a perfect time capsule of the freewheeling 1970s: It spots and skewers genres from kung-fu to Blaxploitation to women-in-prison movies in quick-hit, take-it-or-leave it sketches that are perfect sendups of a whole slew of grindhouse classics.

It's also an important movie, believe it or not — it was the breakthrough for its director, John Landis, and for its writers, the comedic team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, who would soon go on to make Airplane.

Kentucky Fried Movie is one of those comedies that Gen X kids spoke of in whispers because so many of their parents banned them from seeing it. It has a well-earned reputation for what we used to call a dirty movie. It really is, in a way that still feels subversive, wrong, and thrilling.

Also Read: The 12 Best Movie Plot Twists, Ranked

Coming to America (1988)

Are you Black, white, Jewish, Christian, African, American, young or old?

There's something to offend you in the cartoonish grotesquerie of Coming to America, in which Eddie Murphy plays people fitting into almost all of the demographics we just listed, mercilessly mocking them all.

Coming to America takes shots at royalty, the nouveau riche, and the scrappy underclass, but is most focused on gender dynamics. It's such a sharp judge of human behavior that the only appropriate reaction is awe.

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

Monty Python takes on the ultimate sacred cow: the story of Jesus. It looks as magnificent as Hollywood's biggest Biblical epics, which makes its takedown of pomposity all the more subversive and hysterical.

A great many great bits and routines darkly culminate in the deranged cheeriness of the final musical number, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."

It's all quite sacrilegious, and that's the whole point.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tropic Thunder always walks a thin line, but especially with Ben Stiller's Simple Jack character and Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor who really, really commits to playing a Black character.

The film mocks actors desperate for awards, and it's uncomfortable — but also funny. Stiller has admirably stuck to his guns, standing by his movie.

“I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder,” Stiller tweeted last year when someone erroneously said he had apologized for the film. “Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”

The Jerk (1979)

"I was born a poor Black child," Steve Martin's Navin Johnson explains at the start of this absurdist masterpiece, and it all builds up into a righteous kung-fu takedown at his hideously tacky mansion that features maybe the only time in history it's been totally OK for a white guy to scream the most offensive of all racial slurs.

No one else could have pulled of the balancing act except for Steve Martin, whose special purpose is to make us all laugh.

We won't pretend to be objective here: This is maybe our favorite movie out of all comedies, ever.

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut seeks out sympathy for the devil: We're supposed to root for Satan himself as he tries to escape an abusive relationship with Saddam Hussein.

There's also lots of violence against kids and flagrant anti-Canadian propaganda.

But of course, Canadians were too nice to get offended.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Blazing Saddles is filled with gags big and small, some of which will work for you and some of which won't. It has quite a few race-based jokes, but the film is very much on the side of Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little), a Black sheriff trying to bring progress to the Wild West.

The American Film Institute ranks Blazing Saddles as the sixth-funniest movie of all time, but director and co-writer Mel Brooks disagrees: "I love Some Like It Hot, but we have the funniest movie ever made," Brooks told Vanity Fair in 2016, not caring if you're offended.

The five films that landed ahead of Blazing Saddles on AFI's list were, from first to fifth, Some Like It Hot, Tootsie, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, and Duck Soup.

Bottoms (2023)

We're happily including Bottoms for everyone who thinks today's comedies are afraid to be funny. In fact, it's on our spinoff list from this one — 15 Shameless New Comedies That Just Don't Care If You're Offended.

Bottoms is about "teen girls who start a fight club so they can try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders,” explains writer-director Emma Seligman. It breaks a lot of rules about what kind of violence it's considered decent to present onscreen — the girls really do fight, and don't always win — and resists recent play-it-safe rules that dictate that LGBTQ+ characters have to be saintly or victimized or both.

“I think every human deserves to see a relatable, complicated, nuanced version of themselves on screen. And I don’t think that I’ve seen it enough for me to feel recognized,” says Seligman.

Liked Our List of Shameless Comedies That Just Don't Care If You're Offended?

You might also like this list of "Based on a True Story" Movies That Are Actually Pretty True or this list of 12 Rad '80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember.

Main image: The Kentucky Fried Movie.

From the ones so silly we can’t help but like them to the ones that just work.

Here we go with Bond girl names ranked.

But First, About Bond Girls

James Bond is an unabashed womanizer who sometimes finds love, sometimes strategically beds his enemies, and sometimes just can't resist fluttering eyelashes across a roulette table.

One way Bond creator Ian Fleming tried to signal that much of the spy series was tongue in cheek was by giving the many Bond girls in his novels names that ranged from puns to double entendres. Bond screenwriters have followed his fun tradition.

Sure, some Bond Girls have generic names (Pam Bouvier?) and some are silly but don’t quite work: Christmas Jones is a name designed to set up a terrible joke. But the names of Bond girls in the following slides are all diabolically good in one way or another. They're ranked from least best to best.

13 — P---- Galore

Goldfinger, the third Bond movie, doesn’t skimp on silly character names. Heck, even Auric Goldfinger has a pretty on-the-nose name for a guy who loves gold. The manservant assassin? He’s named Oddjob. Then, of course, there is the gal who leads a team of female pilots. Her name? P---- Galore. (Sites that syndicate our stories won't let us write out her first name, sorry.)

No Bond Girl name has been lampooned more than Ms. Galore's. You’re snickering right now, aren’t you? It’s beyond on the nose, and the fact that the production managed to pull it off is a surprise.

Played by Honor Blackman (above), she goes from an accomplice of the villain to being on Bond’s side. Galore almost exists as its own parody, and therefore is the most-ludicrous name in all of Bond-dom. But it's also the gold standard of silly names.

12 — Sylvia Trench

Bond’s womanizing was already there even from the beginning, but he didn’t just have a gal in every port. In fact, the same woman, played by the same actress, is in the first two Bond movies, Dr. No and From Russia with Love. That’s right, for a second there Bond had something of a semi-regular gal, and her name was Sylvia Trench.

Bond meets Trench, played by Eunice Gayson, while playing Baccarat in Dr. No. He seems to be dating her when From Russia with Love begins, but dips out on her to, you know, do the whole spy thing. While Trench never served as the Bond Girl in a movie, the fact she was in two movies as a romantic interest for Bond made it seem like she is a reasonable inclusion.

Plus, we wanted to include her, because her name is Sylvia Trench. Sylvia. Trench.

11 — Xenia Onatopp

Okay, so this is our biggest veering off from the typical idea of a Bond Girl. Xenia Onatopp is a straight-up femme fatale and villain. So much so that she gets a pretty-gnarly death in Goldeneye. A lot of the gals Bond sleeps with end up as cannon fodder in films, but to get an over-the-top action-sequence death like Xenia, you have to deliver as a baddie. And she does.

Foreshadowing the silliness of the Pierce Brosnan era of Bond, Xenia’s whole thing feels like it should have been done already. She’s a female villain in a Bond movie who is also sadist. She crushes a guy to death with her thighs. The name is delightfully dumb, particularly Onatopp.

Xenia, to be honest, is the cooler part of her name.

10 — Holly Goodhead

Moonraker is the Roger Moore era at its goofiest. It’s going for campy, but doesn’t quite get there. Moonraker is kind of a chore to watch at some moments, but it is packed with examples of Bond at his silliest. The Bond Girl in that film is a striking example of that.

Holly Goodhead is just a ridiculous name, and is indicative of the “first thought, best thought” philosophy that permeates Moonraker. She’s higher on the list than P---- Galore, though, because at least Holly is a real first name. Also, only half of her name is a double entendre.

9 — Jinx

The 007 franchise had a major casting coup when it featured Halle Berry in the same year she won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball. At least her Bond film, 2002's Die Another Day, gave her an awesome name: Jinx.

OK, technically, her name was Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson, and she teamed up with Pierce Brosnan's Bond to face off with British billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stevens) and his No. 2, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) — who also has a pretty great name.

We like the elegant simplicity — and intimidation factor — of the one-syllable Jinx.

8 — Tiffany Case

Diamonds Are Forever , while fun, feels half baked. Sean Connery returned after taking a movie off, and things did not coalesce. Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) may sound like something you’d get from Tiffany’s, but the movie hangs a lampshade on that.

The film also goes to the trouble of explaining her name: She was born prematurely at a Tiffany’s. No, no, no: Never complain, never explain.

Also Read: All 007 Bond Actors, Ranked,

7 — Solitaire

Solitaire is a nickname, but it’s a pretty cool one. It also makes sense, given that she is a tarot card reader (and also because she abstains from sex as to keep her tarot skills intact).

From context, it seems that in Live and Let Die Solitaire (Jane Seymour) does have the actual ability to see into the future with tarot. That’s weird!

We don’t get Solitaire’s real name in the film, which costs this one a little bit in our rankings.

6 — Stacey Sutton

There are a handful of Bond girls with alliterative names, but not as many as you might think. They definitely went more the “entendre” route than the “alliterative” route. There can be alliterative double entendres, though!

Stacey Sutton rolls off the tongue (not a double entendre!) better than any of the Bond girl names. Go ahead. Say it.

She can be found in A View to a Kill, the last Roger Moore movie, and is played by Tanya Roberts. That also would be a pretty good name for a Bond Girl. (We also liked Roberts as Donna’s mom on That ‘70s Show.)

5 — Anya Amasova

Much of the Bond era played out during the Cold War. On occasion Bond would find himself working alongside, and romancing, a Russian woman. Here in the middle of the rankings, we figured the best Russian Bond Girl name should be acknowledged.

Anya Amasova is alliterative, clearly Russian, but also easy enough to pronounce. Compare that to, say, Tatiana Romanova or Natalya Simonova. It’s a lot easier to wrap your head around Anya Amasova.

The Spy Who Loved Me is the most “Britain and the Soviet Union joining forces for the greater good” Bond movie, and Anya is one of the most interesting Bond girls in that we never know, up until the final frames, if she is Bond's lover or enemy or both.

4 — Doctor Madeleine Swann

The Daniel Craig era has the most continuity of any Bond era. As such, it is not surprising that in the Bond era we get the first Bond Girl who appears as a Bond Girl in two movies. Dr. Swann, played by Lea Seydoux, appears in both Spectre  and No Time to Die, and ends up being a very important person in Bond's life.

Madeleine Swann is a good name. However, and crucially, she’s Doctor Madeleine Swann. While some Bond girls are just attractive ladies getting dragged around on Bond’s adventures, Dr. Swann is something more. A significant love interest, yes, but also a substantive character.

3 — Domino Derval

Welcome to the top three Bond girl names. Finishing in third is nothing to feel bad about here, fictional character! Here’s the thing: The femme fatale in Thunderball is named Fiona Volpe, and even that fabulous name is overshadowed by Domino Derval.

Domino Derval (Claudine Auger) is sandwiched between Galore and Kissy Suzuki, which probably helps her stand out in terms of cool names. Sometimes, it is that simple. In fact, Domino Derval is probably the coolest of any Bond girl name.

So why have her third? Well, in Thunderball she is basically only called Domino. Her last name is mentioned… maybe once? That’ll leave you taking the bronze.

2 — Honey Ryder

Perhaps the best Bond girl — Ursula Andress' emerging from the waves scene basically saved Dr. No, in some tellings of the tale — and the second-best Bond Girl name.

Honey Ryder held the title for a long time. The name is original, to be sure. There aren’t a lot of women named Honey out there. However, it feels plausible, and Ryder is certainly a last name.

It’s a fun name that pops, and it certainly works for the proto Bond Girl.

1 — Vesper Lynd

Longtime Bond fans know that while Dr. No was the first Bond movie, Casino Royale was the first Bond novel — and included Vesper Lynd, a character who endured more than half a century to play a crucial role in 2006's Casino Royale, the first Daniel Craig Bond movie. She was formidably played by Eva Green.

She was also played by Ursula Andress in the Bond parody film confusingly also titled Casino Royale, and released in 1967.

Lynd has a complicated relationship with Bond, and quite a hold on 007. Maybe it's the name?

Liked Our List of Bond Girl Names Ranked?

You might also like this list of Ursula Andress Behind the Scenes Images or these 12 Rad '80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember.

Main image: Eva Green in a promotional image for Casino Royale. MGM

Editor's Note: Corrects intro.

Also, we're only counting film Jokers, and not animated ones.

Disagree? Great, that's what the comments are for. Here we go.

Joaquin Phoenix

The emperor has no clothes. We know: Joaquin Phoenix's take on The Joker in Joker was a spectacular success, bringing in a billion dollars and winning Phoenix an Oscar for Best Actor.

Well, everyone was wrong. It was painful to watch Phoenix's Joker ham it up through some nonsensical psychological condition cobbled together from superior movies like Taxi Driver and Fight Club.

Phoenix's Joker was cool visually — his emaciated body was more resonant than any of his dialogue — but his knockoff Travis Bickle felt so disconnected from any real human being that he and his movie had no stakes. He was the last thing the Joker should be: boring.

Jared Leto

What if The Joker were hot? That seems to be the odd approach to Jared Leto's Joker of Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, and Zack Snyder's Justice League. He came off like one of those sexy influencers constantly insisting that they're "deep" and "complex." Not one for subtlety — he's The Joker — he even had the word "Damaged" tattooed on his forehead.

This is a matter of personal taste, but we prefer the idea of The Joker as a miscreant who could never survive in polite society, no matter how hard he might try, who turns to The Joker persona out of desperation. Leto's Joker could have just quit crime to go into modeling.

There were some cool things about Jared Leto's Joker, for sure. He had the best clothes of any Joker, and we liked how he took fashion and tattoo inspiration from East L.A. gangsters. But maybe he should have just been a new character, not The Joker.

Barry Keoghan

2022's The Batman went in the opposite direction from Jared Leto's sexy Joker, portraying The Joker as having some kind of complicated skin condition that looks like a cross between burns and syphilis, in addition to his demented grin.

We think Barry Keoghan is one of the best actors around, but we can't abide by the decision to give him glorified cameo status as an fellow Arkham resident who cheerleads Paul Dano's (terrific) Riddler. Keoghan gets more to do in a deleted scene that really should have been in the movie.

Many versions of The Joker seems to use a pretense of comedy to mask profound despair and depression, but Keoghan's seems to be just depressed and low energy. He doesn't have the undeniable presence of the best Jokers.

He'll reportedly return in the next Batman film, and will hopefully have more to do.

Jack Nicholson

It was great to see Jack Nicholson pop up at the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary show on Sunday, reminding everyone of what a cool screen presence he's always had.

Speaking of cool: He seemed a little above Tim Burton's 1989 Batman — he didn't phone it in, exactly, but he also avoided exploring any real pain or messiness in his version of the Clown Prince of Crime. He just seemed like he was having fun.

One thing we especially like about Nicholson's Joker is that unlike all the others, he really did have pale skin and green hair, a consequence of a long dip in a huge vat at Axis Chemicals. We weren't as sold on his interest in art, which seemed like too many things, or the notion that he killed Bruce's parents, which felt a little on the nose.

Cesar Romero

Some people would deduct points for Cesar Romero's refusal to shave his mustache to play The Joker in the 1966 Batman film and the 1966-68 TV series. But we love it: It's the most Joker thing he could possibly do. It's a completely anarchic, middle-finger-to-the-world level of commitment — or refusal to commit — that is as Joker as you can get.

We also find Romero's Joker effortlessly creepy in a way no other Joker is. He's kind of suave and dashing, which makes him somehow even more grotesque. His voice, alternately sinewy and gravelly, is compelling. And his laugh is the best of any Joker's. He also had the best hair, especially when it bounced as he shook with rage.

You got the sense that he thought his whole ensemble — the purple suit, the green hair — looked good. Rather than seeming ashamed of his appearance, he seemed vain, which gave him an unnerving element of narcissism. You can say his Joker was too broad, but come on: He's a criminal who dresses like a clown to play to the cheap seats. He set the standard for all future Jokers.

Heath Ledger

Only one actor has gotten The Joker exactly right, honoring the comic-book legacy of The Joker while grounding him completely in reality. In Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger delivered a Gen X Joker, pragmatic and detached — so detached that he seems meta.

He refuses to disclose an origin story, instead offering several — one of many ways he maintains a jittery sense of perpetual menace. But the real pleasure of The Dark Knight is realizing that despite his disheveled appearance and chaotic appearance, the war-painted misanthrope is the most meticulous planner in Gotham, whether robbing a bank of staging a moral showdown between ferry passengers.

"His Joker was deeply, deeply warped and damaged, though you never find out exactly why, or what he’s really looking for," Ledger's Dark Knight co-star, Michael Caine, observes in his recent memoir. "Looking back, I think Heath’s excellence made all of us raise our game. The psychological battle between The Joker and Batman is completely riveting. Are they in any way the same? What nudges one man to do good, and the other to do evil? The Joker wants to torment Bruce by convincing him that they’re two of a kind."

Ledger earned a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. Sadly, he died before its release.

If you liked this list, you might also like this list of all 7 Batman actors ranked worst to best.

And we'd love for you to follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: The Dark Knight. Warner Bros.

But first: We're not talking about songs written for movies. We're talking about times when an artist went to see a movie and was so inspired that the artist went home and wrote a great song.

OK? Let's roll with this list of classic rock songs inspired by movies we love.

Bob Dylan — 'Motorpsycho Nightmare' (1964)

This 1964 Dylan song overtly mentions La Dolce Vita, but pulls even more from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and even name checks its star and most famous scene:

There stood Rita, looking just like Tony Perkins / She said, "Would you like to take a shower? I'll show you up to the door / I said, "Oh, no, no, I've been through this movie before"

David Bowie — 'Space Oddity' (1969)

"Space Oddity," the story of a doomed astronaut named Major Tom, was inspired by the Stanley Kubrick epic 2001: A Space Odyssey, as Bowie recounted in the book David Bowie: Starman, by Paul Trynka.

"I went stoned out of my mind to see the movie and it really freaked me out, especially the trip passage," Bowie recalled.

"Space Oddity" was rushed to radio stations in time to capitalize on the moon landing in July 1969. British television even used the song in its coverage of the historic event — because apparently none of the producers realized, at first, that the song was about an astronaut who becomes stranded.

Aerosmith — 'Walk This Way' (1975)

Mel Brooks' 1974 hit Young Frankenstein was still playing in theaters through 1975, when members of Aerosmith saw it and borrowed one of the best jokes in the film for the title of their hit "Walk This Way," as guitarist Joe Perry told The Wall Street Journal in 2014.

Brooks says in his memoir, All About Me!, that the joke was a throwback to one from vaudeville, and noted that he has re-used it several times.

Blue Oyster Cult — 'Godzilla' (1977)

Do we really have to make a case for this one?

The lyrics include:

With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound / He pulls the spitting high tension wires down /Helpless people on a subway train / Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them / He picks up a bus and he throws it back down / As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town / Oh no, they say, he's got to go /
Go go Godzilla, yeah / Oh no, there goes Tokyo /Go go Godzilla, yeah

Deep Purple — 'Why Didn't Rosemary' (1969)

Inspired by the 1968 film Rosemary's Baby by Roman Polanski and the 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin, this 1969 Deep Purple track ponders the fate of poor Rosemary (played by Mia Farrow, above), a woman impregnated with the child of the devil:

Why didn't Rosemary ever take the pill? / Laying there waiting, waiting for the kill / Oh, man won't do it but the devil will, yeah

Roxy Music — '2HB' (1972)

Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry makes no secret of the Casablanca influence on this exquisite 1972 number, which shares initials with Casablanca star Humphrey Bogart and includes in its chorus the line "Here's looking at you kid," Bogart's most famous line from the classic 1942 film.

The lyrics also, spoiler alert, give away Casablanca's ending:

Ideal love flies away now... / You gave her away to the hero

Rush — 'Cinderella Man' (1977)

This one's charmingly obvious. The 1936 classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town stars Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds, a man from Mandrake Falls, Vermont who inherits $20 million and dreams of using it to help his fellow Americans through the Depresson. Cynical newspaper reporter Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) dubs him "the Cinderella Man."

And here are the opening lyrics of Rush's "Cinderella Man":

A modest man from Mandrake / Travelled rich to the city / He had a need to discover / A use for his newly found wealth / Because he was human, because he had goodness / 'Cause he was moral they called him insane

Bonnie Tyler — 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' (1983)

Written by Jim Steinman, this 1983 hit owes an overt debt to the 1922 F.W. Murnau silent vampire film Nosferatu, which was inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula, and is one of the first vampire films.

"Its original title was 'Vampires in Love' because I was working on a musical of Nosferatu," Steinman told Playbill in 2014. "If anyone listens to the lyrics, they're really like vampire lines. It's all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love's place in the dark..."

The song ultimately did end up in a vampire musical, Dance of the Vampires, which had a short Broadway run in late 2002 and early 2003 and used "Total Eclipse of the Heart" a lot. Based on Roman Polanski's 1967 film The Fearless Vampire Killers, Dance of the Vampires has since played all over the world.

Bruce Springsteen — 'Nebraska' (1982)

Springsteen has been very open about the fact that the "the soundscape for Nebraska really came from Badlands" — Terrence Malick's film about a 15-year old girl named Holly (Sissy Spacek) who goes on a killing spree with Kit (Martin Sheen).

When Holly first appears in the film, she is expertly twirling a baton — just like the girl Springsteen describes at the start of his title track, "Nebraska":

I saw her standing on her front lawn just twirling her baton /Me and her went for a ride, sir, and ten innocent people died / From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska, with a sawed-off .410 on my lap / Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path

In the movie, they go to the Badlands of Montana, not Wyoming. But close enough.

Bruce Springsteen — 'Reason to Believe' (1982)

The closing track of Nebraska, "Reason to Believe," includes an image that is reminiscent of one of the opening images of Badlands, Kit standing over a dead dog at the side of an alley:

Seen a man standin' over a dead dog / By the highway in a ditch / He's lookin' down kinda puzzled / Pokin' that dog with a stick

Interestingly, the first single from Nebraska, "Atlantic City," was initially called "A Fistful of Dollars," like the Sergio Leone film starring Clint Eastwood. But "Atlantic City" isn't on this list of songs inspired by movies because it's based on real-life stories of organized crime, not the beloved Spaghetti Western. (Or the movie Atlantic City, for that matter.)

Metallica – 'One' (1988)

Metallica has written several great songs based on movies, but this is the band's most obvious film tribute — and the greatest.

Released on 1988's "...And Justice for All," it draws inspiration from the 1971 Dalton Trumbo anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun, based on his 1938 album of the same name. The book and film are about a patriotic young man who goes off to war and returns home blind, deaf, and limbless — trapped with his dark, desperate thoughts. Metallica liberally excerpted the film in the stunning, utterly terrifying video for "One."

The book and film were powerful enough, but in the lyrics for "One," Metallica drilled home the horror of "Johnny Got His Gun" for another generation:

Darkness imprisoning me / All that I see /Absolute horror / I cannot live / I cannot die / Trapped in myself /
Body my holding cell / Landmine has taken my sight / Taken my speech / Taken my hearing / Taken my arms / Taken my legs / Taken my soul /Left me with life in hell

Guns N' Roses – 'Civil War' (1990)

Movies are a huge part of the Guns N Roses story, as lead guitarist Slash told us in a 2022 interview — the group has been richly influenced by movies, and many, many films have been improved by Guns N' Roses songs.

But "Civil War," a fascinating product of early '90s hip-hop inspired sampling culture, is the only Guns N' Roses song to outright borrow lines from a film. The song is about a lot of things — the murders of John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King, among them — but also about the hollow justifications for war. It opens with Strother Martin's speech in 1967's Cool Hand Luke:

"What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men."

If you're racing to the comments to say Metallica and Guns N Roses are too new to be classic rock — hey, we hear you, and it took adjusting for us, too. We were in junior high when these songs came out.

But we hope you at least agree that they're instant classics, and so deserve their place on this list of classic rock songs inspired by movies we love.

Main image: Teri Garr in Young Frankstein. 20th Century Studios.

The Academy Award-winning man of few words is a craftsman whose filmmaking style is nothing if not robust and to the point. He may have hit more bullseyes than any working commercial director today.

Given the length of his filmography, of course not every movie connected with audiences — some for good reason, some for unknown reasons. Whatever the case may be, these are 12 underrated Clint Eastwood movies.

Blood Work (2002)

Based on Michael Connelly’s book and adapted by Mystic River’s Brian Helgeland, Blood Work is the cinematic equivalent of a page turner. It’s a tightly wound B-movie.

Seeing Eastwood calmly and assuredly grab a shotgun from a trunk to chase off a baddie is worth the price of admission (or rental) alone. It’s a cat-and-mouse chase between an ex-cop (played by Clint) and a killer.

Eastwood and his main co-star, Jeff Daniels, have a buoyant chemistry that nicely undercuts Blood Work’s darkness.

Changeling (2008)

Changeling left audiences and critics cold, but 17 years after its release it feels like a classic case of Eastwood finding more power in words than in guns.

Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) fights the legal system, corrupt cops, and society — like many classic Clint protagonists. But she does it without firing a shot.

The filmmaker paints her internal battles with bravura — the kind he once mostly left to his hard-charging heroes. There’s a passion to his respect for Collins’ resilience in Changeling — a compelling insight into the man and filmmaker Eastwood grew into.

Cry Macho (2021)

Eastwood hits a single with Cry Macho. It’s a road movie with simple charms and pleasures, mostly from watching the 91-year-old legend walk, talk, and drive.

The film would pair well with Bronco Billy in its breezy storytelling. Eastwood directs and stars as a cowboy tasked with bringing a kid home from Mexico, and while the plot is light as paper, there’s always a heaviness to Eastwood.

Watching him onscreen, it’s impossible not to see a walking, talking story whose every grimace tells a tale. Eastwood captivates even when he sips coffee.

Cry Macho was greeted with a muted response back in 2021, but the years might be kinder to what’s potentially Eastwood’s final performance.

Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

One of cinema’s favorite brawlers is a punching machine in this box office hit that is frequently written off as a joke.

Every Which Way But Loose is two hours of Clint throwing punches, protecting his beloved orangutan Clyde, and beating up neo-Nazis. There’s loads of entertainment value here, including a shotgun-blasting Ruth Gordon and all the hand-to-hand combat.

The bizarre “love story” between Clint and Sondra Locke holds Every Which Way But Loose back from popcorn movie greatness, but with the high-quality action and parody-level comedy, the film’s deserves a better reputation than it has.

The Eiger Sanction (1975)

Clint Eastwood is an Americana Bond with his adaptation of Trevanian’s spy novel.

Eastwood plays Jonathan Hemlock — a former agent pulled back into a pulpy world of espionage. The Eastwood film was a disappointment at the box office, and is still not exactly seen as one of his finest directorial efforts.

But it is loads of fun with spy hijinks, colorful characters, and, in usual Clint Eastwood fashion, muscular action.

When The Eiger Sanction isn’t bordering on Bond parody, it’s straight-faced thrills with timeless action and climbing sequences.

Honkytonk Man (1982)

Eastwood bares his soul in Honkytonk Man. Back in 1982, audiences weren’t taken with the filmmaker playing a sensitive artist, so he was very much playing against type.

Whether or not that resulted in tepid box office numbers, it’s a gentle gem from Eastwood. He’s noted in the past it’s one of the closer stories to a statement he’s made.

Eastwood plays a dying musician on the road with his nephew (Eastwood's son, Kyle Eastwood) to perform one last time at the Opry. With the exception of Jersey Boys, anytime Eastwood shares his love of music with audiences, the result is passion.

Juror No. 2 (2024)

Eastwood's latest, Juror No. 2, represents many of Eastwood’s strengths as a director. When he has a fine ensemble of actors and good material to support them, he can bring out the best in them.

Through Eastwood’s sharpest lens, we see characters — not performers. In the morally challenging as well as entertaining Juror No. 2, Eastwood displays relaxed confidence with a simple story of a young man (Nicholas Hoult) called to be a juror in a case in which — unbeknownst to anyone else — he has a very personal stake.

Although critically acclaimed, Juror No. 2 made little impact in theaters. Luckily, it's finding an audience on HBO Max.

Richard Jewell (2019)

Eastwood again turns his fist at those in power in Richard Jewell, a mostly true story of the wrong accused suspect in the bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Paul Walter Hauser is transfixing as Jewell, a man who saved lives after discovering pipe bombs, but became the prime suspect because of a rush to judgment.

The socially awkward Richard Jewell isn’t the average hero, but Eastwood shows that heroism comes in all forms. Even if you know the details of the true story, Richard Jewell is an all-around solid thriller with heart, worth watching for Hauser and Sam Rockwell alone.

Sudden Impact (1983)

The man who plays Harry Callahan steps behind the camera with the fourth entry in the Dirty Harry franchise.

After some hijinks in The Enforcer, Eastwood brings his iconic character down in the gutter. It is a dark turn, to put it lightly. Sudden Impact presents trigger-happy Callahan almost as a force of death in a noir-inspired sequel.

Eastwood is practically the grim reaper here, often drenched in shadows appropriate for this more gut-churning franchise entry. As in High Plains Drifter, Eastwood portrays themes of evil and menace with unshakeable intensity.

Sondra Locke’s standout performance adds depth and texture.

Is it really an underrated Clint Eastwood movie? It was a box office hit back in the day, sure, but it’s not usually noted as one of Eastwood’s more accomplished directorial efforts. We think it should be.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is beloved among Clint Eastwood fans. There’s no denying that, but when general fans and moviegoers talk about classic pictures from the man’s résumé, the Michael Cimino two-hander isn’t mentioned enough.

Clint’s made many buddy pictures, but none top Cimino’s crime film pairing a tough Clint and a hippie Jeff Bridges. Seeing these two ride alongside each other, growing as friends and criminals, is an ultimately powerful delight.

After an easygoing set-up, the ending hits like a ton of bricks. Rarely has Eastwood played devastation so well as in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

Tightrope (1984)

Arguably one of three horror movies Eastwood has made, along with High Plains Drifter and Play Misty for Me.

In Tightrope, Eastwood plays a perverse detective chasing down a serial killer in New Orleans, which means there's a lot of the jazz movie Eastwood loves. Richard Tuggle is the credited director, although Eastwood had a strong hand in the final film.

It's a film filled with jump scares, shadows, a clown, and a balloon scene that’s more IT than Dirty Harry. There's even a parade float of then-President Ronald Reagan.

White Hunter, Black Heart (1990)

Eastwood plays a version of iconic filmmaker John Huston — need we say more? Eastwood brings every ounce of his bravura and swagger to the role of John Wilson, a director prepping his latest project in Zimbabwe.

This is the film icon’s only movie about moviemaking, as well as a look at the dangers of ego. White Hunter, Black Heart was box office miss from Eastwood, but he was towering yet vulnerable in the film.

And in its skepticism about mythologizing tough guys, it set the stage for the film that may be Eastwood's masterpiece — 1992's Unforgiven.

If you like this list, you might also like this list of Stars of the 1950s Who Are Still Going Strong, which references one of the very first Clint Eastwood movies — even if we wouldn't call it one of the most underrated Clint Easwood movies.

And we'd love for you to follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: Every Which Way But Loose. Warner Bros.

Editor's note: Corrects main image and typo.

Whether from accidents, drugs or cancer, their lives were cut short in tragic ways.

Here are 15 Gen X movie stars gone too soon.

Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee was born on March 31, 1965, and died on March 31, 1993 at just 28.

Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, died of an accidental shooting on the set of his 1994 film The Crow (above).

Adding to the terrible tragedy was the fact that his beloved father died 20 years early at only 32.

River Phoenix

River Phoenix was born on August 23, 1970 and died on October 31, 1993 at just 23.

He was the Gen X actor for the duration of his short life, growing up on camera and delivering iconic performances in films from Stand By Me to Running on Empty to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to My Own Private Idaho. He died of a heroin and cocaine overdose at the West Hollywood club The Viper Room.

Phoenix is survived by a very talented family that includes his younger brother, Joaquin Phoenix.

Tupac Shakur

Tupac Shakur was born June 16, 1971 and died September 13, 1996 at just 25.

Tupac Shakur's death was a major loss to the worlds of music and film — before his death, he delivered impressive performances in films from Juice to Poetic Justice, and seemed poised to become one of the most successful Gen X actors and rappers, a performer who could convey incredible empathy and charisma both onstage and in front of a camera.

He died from injuries in a Las Vegas shooting. Earlier this year, police arrested a man they say ordered the shooting.

Chris Farley

Chris Farley was born February 15, 1964 and died December 18, 1997 at just 33.

One of the most explosively funny Saturday Night Live stars of the early '90s, Farley was legendary for his commitment to characters and bits, happily diving through walls and coffee tables to sell a joke. His pairing with fellow SNL player David Spade in 1995's Tommy Boy is pure bliss, and their reunion in the next year's Black Sheep seemed to mark the solidifying of one of the funniest Gen X comic duos.

Farley also evoked a chaotic sweetness in films like Wayne's World and his solo starring vehicle Beverly Hills Ninja (1997). Still very much "on" even when he was off-screen, he was known for wild antics and pranks like interrupting SNL castmate Mike Myers in the shower.

Following in the footsteps of his idol, John Belushi, Farley gave everything to his art. But he also developed a drug habit like Belushi's, and like his hero died of a drug overdose at 33.

For our money, he starred in perhaps the best SNL sketch of all.

Aaliyah

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born January 16, 1979 and died August 25, 2001 at only 22.

Aaliyah was already a major pop star known for hits including "If Your Girl Only Knew," "4 Page Letter" and "Are You That Somebody" when she made her feature film debut in Romeo Must Die, for which she recorded the slinky hit "Try Again."

She had been recording a music video for her song "Rock the Boat" in the Bahamas when she and eight others were killed in a private plane crash.

Her second and final film, the Anne Rice adaptation The Queen of the Damned, was released the year after her death.

Heath Ledger

The Australian actor was born born April 4, 1979 and died January 22, 2008 at only 28.

In his short life he proved himself one the most dazzling Gen X actors, starring in hits including 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot and A Knight's Tale before earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role in 2005's Brokeback Mountain.

He earned a posthumous Oscar for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight, released the summer after his accidental overdose death from medications.

Also Read: All 10 Batman Movies Ranked Worst to Best

Corey Haim

The Canadian actor and teen idol was born December 23, 1971 and died March 10, 2010 at just 38.

After breaking out in the 1984 thriller Firstborn, he starred in the iconic '80s teen films Lucas, License to Drive, The Lost Boys and Dream a Little Dream, often alongside his friend Corey Feldman, which earned them the nickname The Two Coreys. The friends starred in an A&E reality show of that title in 2007.

Haim, who had battled drug addiction throughout his adult life, died of pneumonia.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman was born July 23, 1967 and died February 2, 2014 at only 46.

He was known as a deeply committed, nuanced, and astonishingly versatile actor known for roles including The Talented Mr. Ripley, Mission: Impossible 3, the Hunger Games franchise, and Capote, for which he won the Best Actor Oscar in 2006.

He struggled with heroin addiction early in life, and successfully abstained from it for many years before relapsing. He died from mixed drug intoxication, and heroin and other drugs were reportedly found in his home.

His most frequent collaborator was writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, for whom he appeared in Boogie Knights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and The Master. Years after Hoffman's death, Anderson cast his son, Cooper Hoffman, as the lead in his 2021 film Licorice Pizza.

Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy was born November 10, 1977 and died December 20, 2009 at just 32.

The star of Clueless (above), Girl Interrupted and 8 Mile quickly established herself as one of the most likable of her stars of Gen X, moving amiably from romantic comedy to serious drama to horror, but always maintaining a bighearted demeanor.

She died at age 32 under what a coroner determined to be pneumonia, exacerbated by anemia, though the cause of death has been disputed.

Paul Walker

Paul Walker was born September 12, 1973 and died November 30, 2013 at only 40.

Best known for playing the heroic Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise, Walker was a wildly charismatic actor also praised for his roles in the teen comedy She's All That, the road thriller Joy Ride, and the diving thriller Into the Blue. But he could do serious drama as well, as he proved with 2006's Flags of Our Fathers.

Walker died in a single-vehicle collision as a passenger in a speeding Porsche while driving off from a charity event.

Luke Perry

Luke Perry was born October 11, 1966 and died March 4, 2019 at just 52.

Though best known as one of the stars of Beverly Hills 90210, he also starred in films like 1992's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 1994's 8 Seconds, and had noteworthy appearances in 1997's The Fifth Element and his final film, 2019's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (above). He also had a key role on the TV series Riverdale.

He died following two strokes.

Chadwick Boseman

Chadwick Boseman was born November 29, 1976 and died August 28, 2020 at just 43 years of age.

In his short life, he had an incredible run of successes, playing icons Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in 2014's Get on Up, and Thurgood Marshall in 2017's Marshall — demonstrating remarkable range in the process. But he was of course best known for his role as T'Challa in the 2018 blockbuster Black Panther and in three Avengers films. And he earned a posthumous Oscar nomination for his role in 2020's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Boseman died from colon cancer, which he concealed as he continued to do excellent work in film's like 2020's Da 5 Bloods.

Anne Heche

Anne Heche was born May 25, 1969 and died August 11, 2022 at just 53.

First appearing in 1993's The Adventures of Huck Finn, Heche had a remarkable run of roles in the '90s films Donnie Brasco, Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Wag the Dog. In 1998, she starred in Six Days, Seven Nights (above) and Return to Paradise. Her later roles included Catfight, My Friend Dahmer and TV shows including Everwood, Men in Trees and The Brave.

She died at a Los Angeles hospital after she was critically injured in a car crash.

Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry was born August 19, 1969 and died October 28, 2023 at just 54.

Though best known for Friends, he also had an impressive film career that included star turns in Fools Rush In (above), Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, and The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel, The Whole Ten Yards.

Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles, and his cause of death was later determined to be due to acute effects of ketamine.

Shannen Doherty

Shannen Doherty was born April 12, 1971 and died July 13, 2024, at only 53.

Though best known for TV roles — including Little House on the Prairie, Charmed, and especially Beverly Hills 90210 — Doherty was also an accomplished film actor who appeared in the Gen X classic Heathers and had a lead part in Kevin Smith's 1995 Mallrats.

Brenda Walsh, her 90210 character, was one of the most iconic Gen X TV characters, and her on-screen chemistry with Luke Perry made their characters, Brenda and Dylan, one of the most scrutinized and fascinating couples in TV history.

She also had a successful career in reality TV and continued to work hard on a wide range of projects as she battled breast cancer, first diagnosed in 2015. She died from the disease at her home in Malibu.

If you like this list, you might also like this list of 12 Old Movies That Are Still a Total Pleasure to Watch. Or you might enjoy our video version of the story you've just finished.

And we'd love for you to  follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: Shannen Doherty in Beverly Hills 90210. Fox

The couple met on the set of When Harry Met Sally, one of the films Reiner made during an incredible run in which he directed five classic movies in a span of just six years — a feat unmatched by almost anyone in the history of film.

Here they are.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

This fake rock documentary, which popularized the mockumentary format, marked an astonishing directorial debut for Rob Reiner, who had previously been best known for playing Michael Stivic, aka Meathead, on All in the Family.

Gathering the comic talents of Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shear, Reiner dismantled a slew of rock cliches in his in-depth, fly on the wall study of the incredibly pretentious fake band Spinal Tap.

Reiner was also a fantastic straight man, in his "interviews" with the bandmates. The "up to 11" scene is one of the most quoted in movie history.

Guest went on to run with the mockumentary format in several classic movies of his own, including Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind.

Stand By Me (1986)

It's a real sign of Rob Reiner's skill that he could move so swiftly from the hard laughs of This Is Spinal Tap to making one of the best coming-of-age films ever made with Stand By Me. But both films had a commitment to bluntness, truth and not sugarcoating things that made Reiner's moments of poignancy feel more earned.

A young cast led by River Phoenix tell a lived-in story of the power of friendship that cuts to the heart, resisting cheap sentiment at every turn. Stephen King's voice can be a tough one to translate to the screen, and Reiner captured his mix of Americana and grotesquerie better than anyone.

Remarkably, Reiner also made another solid movie between This Is Spinal Tap and Stand By Me: 1985's The Sure Thing is perfectly good — it's just not on the very high level of the five classic movies on this list.

The Princess Bride (1987)

The Princess Bride works as both a sendup of fairytales and as one of the best fairytales ever written, filled with twists, insights, and heart.

It operates from a baseline of skepticism, never accepting cliches or sanctimony or hero worship, and is all the more moving because of its flashes of cynicism.

With a light touch, Reiner managed to craft moments of soaring romance and adventure, never missing an opportunity for dry wit. When Reiner and screenwriter William Goldman worked together — as they also did on 1990's Misery — their craft and charm were beyond comparison.

But the real testament to the power of The Princess Bride is that anytime we start watching it, we keep watching it.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Reiner switched to another genre with this exploration of whether men and women can just be friends. It's piled with great set pieces — notably the deli scene — and incredibly quotable lines, courtesy of screenwriter Nora Ephron. It's a rom-com with no illusions.

It's striking that Reiner could so perfectly encapsulate the idiosyncrasies of writers as different as Ephron and King: Just as he was a great straight man actor in This Is Spinal Tap, he also had the humility and skill as a director to stay out of the way and let the script to the talking. Less confident directors muddy up the works with excess, and he never did.

Notably, he first saw Michele Singer on the set, he told The New York Times in 1989: “I look over and I see this girl, and ‘Whoo!’ I was attracted immediately,” he said.

Misery (1990)

Rob Reiner was admired for lovestruck movies prior to Misery — The Sure Thing, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally all felt like the works of a true romantic. But with Misery, he proved he could do ruthlessly efficient horror with the best of them, telling a story of obsession.

Working with a writerly dream team — William Goldman adapting a Stephen King book — Reiner managed a stunningly suspenseful film that played on audiences emotions with crackerjack, Hitchcockian efficiency. He found dark laughs, but also moments of pure, visceral horror, notably in the hobbling scene.

As an actor, himself, he had a terrific way with actors, and brought out perhaps the best performances of James Caan and Kathy Bates' careers. Bates deservedly won an Oscar for Best Actress, making Misery the only film based on a King book to win an Oscar.

To Be Clear

There are other Rob Reiner films that are well worth watching — notably A Few Good Men and The American President. But the five preceding classic movies are the ones we consider the absolute essential Rob Reiner films — movies that you, or anyone, would be cheating yourself not to watch.

If we had to choose one, it would be The Princess Bride. But we don't have to choose one. Rob Reiner left us a bevy of great films, the legacy of a great director with the confidence and kindness to let others shine.

Rest in Peace.

Main image: Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner and Meg Ryan on the set of When Harry Met Sally, one of the essential Rob Reiner films.

Editor's Note: Updates headline.

These 10 went out of bounds in various ways.

Let's begin.

Last Tango in Paris (1972)

A master class in how not to direct sex scenes. Thirty-year-old director Bernardo Bertolucci and 48-year-old star Marlon Brando decided the morning of the movie's most infamous sex scene to incorporate butter into it, but didn't tell 19-year-old lead actress Maria Schneider about it until the cameras were rolling.

“I wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress,” Bertolucci, who died in 2018, later said. “I wanted her to react humiliated.” Schneider, who died in 2007, said she did indeed feel violated by the scene.

When the scene received renewed scrutiny in 2016, Bertolucci clarified that Schneider was aware that the scene would be violent, and that it was in the script, but that the "the only novelty was the idea of the butter. ... And that, as I learned many years later, offended Maria. Not the violence that she is subjected to in the scene, which was written in the screenplay.” He also clarified that the sex in the film is all simulated. 

Pretty Baby (1978)

The new Hulu documentary Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby catalogues the countless ways that Hollywood men sought to sexualize Shields from an early age. The film takes its title from Pretty Baby, the Louise Malle film based on a true case of a 12-year-old, raised in a brothel, and forced into exploitation by her mother.

The film sympathizes with Shields' character, Violet, but raised understandable alarm because it shows Shields undressed. The film was deemed so problematic even by 1978 standards that it sparked countless articles debating its decency, and the British Board of Film Classification carefully debated whether it should be legal.

One dubious scene: a kiss between Shields, who was 11 at the time, and 28-year-old co-star David Carradine — though Shields said recently on The Drew Barrymore Show that Carradine was "gracious" and "protective" of her on set.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

You could write whole articles about the problems with Revenge of the Nerds, and many people have, but one of the main ones is a scene in which nerds use hidden cameras to watch sorority women in various states of undress. It's a felony, nerds.

Revenge of the Nerds, Again (1984)

The most troubling part of Revenge of the Nerds is a scene in which lead nerd Lewis (Robert Carradine), the supposed hero of the movie, wears a mask to trick a fellow student into believing he's her boyfriend. After they have sex, she's delighted by how good it was, which is the movie's way of justifying the criminal deception. Terrible lessons all around.

Sixteen Candles (1984)

Sixteen Candles is another film in which the awfulness of a character's behavior is compounded by the movie expecting us to like him. Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) is presented as the dream guy of our heroine, Samantha (Molly Ringwald). But at one point Jake passes off his unconscious girlfriend, Carloline (Haviland Morris), to another guy, Ted.

Jake tells Ted, “Have fun.” The next day, Caroline and the Ted conclude that they had sex. He asks if she enjoyed herself, and she says, “You know, I have this weird feeling I did,” which is the movie's way of justifying the guys' behavior.

Basic Instinct (1992)

Sharon Stone wrote in her memoir The Beauty of Living Twice that she was tricked into the most revealing scene in Basic Instinct by a crew member who told her she needed to remove her underwear because it was “reflecting the light.”

She said she was so shocked by the end result that she slapped director Paul Verhoeven and immediately called her lawyer — but that she eventually agreed to the release of the scene. Verhoeven later said Stone was a willing participant in the scene and "knew exactly what we were doing," which she disputes.

Stone told the Table for Two podcast earlier this year that she lost custody of her child in a 2004 court case because of her role in the film.

"I lost custody of my child," she said. "When the judge asked my child — my tiny little tiny boy — 'Do you know your mother makes sex movies?'"

She lamented "this kind of abuse by the system... that I was considered what kind of parent I was because I made that movie."

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

The two stars of 1968′s Romeo and Juliet sued Paramount Pictures in 2022 for more than $500 million over a scene they shot as teenagers. Olivia Hussey, then 15, and Leonard Whiting, then 16 and now 75, said director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, misled them by saying they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in an intimate scene, but informed them on the morning of the shoot that they would wear only body makeup.

He also told them they would be filmed in a way that would not show nudity, according to the suit. As countless ninth graders who have watched the movie in English class can attest, that isn't how it worked out.

Hussey and Whiting's suit was dismissed, but they sued again, and the second suit was also dismissed. Hussey died in 2024 at the age of 73.

Poison Ivy (1992)

We don't think depictions of bad behavior are endorsements of it, and Poison Ivy in no way suggests that there's anything OK about the relationship between Ivy (played by a then-16-year-old Drew Barrymore) and her friend's dad (a then-58-year-old Tom Skerritt).

Despite sex scenes, the film wasn't intended as gross exploitation — it even premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

Director Katt Shea has said she and Skerritt were well aware of the potential problems inherent in the relationship between Ivy and the much older character, and that she was protective of Barrymore, using a body double for her in certain scenes.

Nonetheless, she said in an interview last year: "I don't think that movie would be made today, period."

L----a (1997)

We can't even type the name of this movie, based on the masterful Vladimir Nabokov novel, without freaking out internet censors. You can blame gross people who use it as a euphemism for despicable criminal conduct.

Stanley Kubrick's 1962 adaptation of Navabov's novel proved that you didn't need to be explicit to tell the mortifyingly sad story of Humbert Humbert, who abducts and abuses his young stepdaughter, Dolores Haze, while lying to the audience and himself that it's a consensual love affair instead of a serious of horrendous crimes.

Adrian Lyne's 1997 version decided that relaxed standards in the 1990s would allow him to finally adapt Vladimir Nabokov's novel without leaving things to the imagination — but his timing was very bad. During the making of the film, President Clinton just signed the Child Pornography Prevention Act, which banned depictions of sexual activity by minors. (The Supreme Court later ruled that it was unconstitutional.)

Though Lynn was using an adult body double for 15-year-old lead actress Dominique Swain, distributors were so spooked that the film debuted not in theaters, but on Showtime.

Lynn may have just gone about the whole thing wrong: Nabokov's novel contains not a single dirty word. Kubrick's adaptation was up to the challenge of adapting it, with similar restraint, and Lyne's artistic endeavor felt unnecessary and misguided.

Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)

The film by Abdellatif Kechiche led a Cannes Film Festival jury to give the Palme d'Or prize to not only the director, but also his two lead actresses, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos. But Seydoux said soon after that the long takes of intimate scenes were "kind of humiliating sometimes, I was feeling like a prostitute."

Kechiche said of the critcism: “If Seydoux lived such a bad experience, why did she come to Cannes, try on robes and jewelery all day?” he said. “Is she an actress or an artist of the red carpet?” He also said the film shouldn't be released, because it was too "sullied." But it was released in the end.

What's the Right Way to Shoot Sex Scenes?

Look, no one's saying people can't make sex scenes or that sex scenes are inherently bad. But in recent years, directors have learned that there's a right way and a wrong way to shoot them, and that clear planning and boundaries can make for a better scene.

Here's a good essay by Lauren Greenhall, director of the new indie erotic thriller Perfectly Good Moment, about how an intimacy coordinator made the film better and more comfortable for everyone.

Liked Our List of Sex Scenes Someone Should Have Stopped?

You might also like this list of Old Movies That Are Still Terrifying Today.

Editor's note: Corrects spelling of Nabokov.

These movies of the 1950s are both great and fun.

All About Eve (1950)

Bette Davis plays a Broadway star who won't give up the spotlight, and Anne Baxter is Eve Harrington, a shrewd manipulator ready to take her place. It's a dynamic we've seen a million times since, from The Devil Wears Prada to Showgirls, but no one's done it better than All About Eve.

It also features an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe. And consider for a second how cool it is that the line, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" came just a few years into commercial air travel becoming a thing.

It won Best Picture at the Oscars, but it isn't one of those exhausting Best Picture winners that takes itself too seriously — it's a charmer from the first frames and one of the most beloved movies of the 1950s and of all time.

Singing in the Rain (1952)

A perfect vehicle for Gene Kelly's immense talents — and those of Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds (above, from left to right, are O'Connor, Reynolds and Kelly saying "Good Mornin'").

If you just remember a bunch of plucky songs and perfect dance numbers, that's fine. But Singing in the Rain is also a timeless sendup of Hollywood trend-chasing and vapidity. Lina Lamont's clueless declaration, "I gave an exclusive to every newspaper in town!" is arguably even funnier in 2023, when seemingly every news story is both "breaking" and "exclusive."

It's great to stay up late watching a movie this delightful. Maybe our favorite of all the movies of the 1950s, and that's saying something.

High Noon (1952)

In a tight 85 minutes, this classic movie — one of the all-time best Westerns — delivers a perfectly paced, utterly engrossing story of courage.

Gary Cooper plays lawman Will Kane (above left), newly married to the pacifistic Quaker Amy Fowler (above right).

When he learns that a vicious outlaw he once put away will soon return to town, looking for revenge, he'd be well within his rights to ride off into the sunset with his beautiful new bride.

But that's not what he does.

The Quiet Man (1952)

The Quiet Man is a very old-fashioned classic movie — the plot revolves largely around a dowry — but just turn off your brain and enjoy the Technicolor beauty of the unspoiled Irish countryside as John Wayne's Sean Thornton and Maureen O'Hara's Mary Kate Danaher fall madly in love.

It was filmed around the charming village of Cong, which still has a statue of Wayne. It's fun to see him a straight romantic lead instead of a grizzled cowboy, but don't worry manly men: His character's still plenty tough.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Another 1950s travelogue, Roman Holiday stars Audrey Hepburn as a princess who wants to see the world and Gregory Peck as a reporter who wants to show it to her. This is a movie fueled by happy accidents, cheerful deceptions and boundless charm.

Dalton Trumbo, often known for darker fare, was one of the writers, though the Blacklist — a scourge of the movies of the 1950s — cost him his rightful credit at the time.

But still, this classic movie endures as a testament to his greatness.

Rear Window (1954)

A Hitchcock masterpiece, and the second film on our list to star future princess Grace Kelly. This classic movie also has one of the most imitated setups of all time.

Rear Window is a fascinating, fast-moving film is about our natural inclination to pry — whether online, or, back in the day, into our neighbor's windows. Jimmy Stewart plays a news photographer sidelined by a broken leg who doesn't appreciate what a seemingly perfect thing he has going with Lisa (Kelly, above).

He ponders single life, represented by the ballet dancer Miss Torso (Georgine Darcy) and the sometimes grim compromises of co-habitation. There's a point in the film when it's absolutely impossible to guess what will happen next. And then things get really good.

It's now available on the Criterion Channel.

Vertigo (1958)

Another pairing of Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart, Vertigo is among the best classic movies ever made: In 2012, in fact, it topped the Sight and Sound list of the greatest films of all time, before it was bumped in 2022 by Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, in a major upset.

But back to Vertigo: Well worth watching just to see San Francisco in the 1950s, its the story of a former detective who has to retire early due to, well, vertigo. He falls for a captivating woman named Madeleine (Kim Novak), but she takes a fall, too — to her death.

Or so it seems. Soon he meets a woman named Judy... who looks an awful lot like Madeline. Then things get very interesting.

Godzilla (1954)

Godzilla has a very heavy, powerful messages that probably resonated more with Japanese audiences than American ones — it's about the evils of the atomic bomb, and how some weapons are too powerful to ever be used.

But even if you ignore that message, this is a crackerjack monster movie, beautifully crafted. If you associate Godzilla with a guy in a cheap-looking lizard suit, you aren't thinking of the original Godzilla.

In black and white, with ominous sound design and terrific effects (by 1954 standards), Godzilla is a 70 year-old thriller that lands harder than many of the kitschy and CGI-marred versions that followed. Of all the movies of the 1950s, it may be the most scarily resonant.

It might even be a good double feature with Oppenheimer.

Lady and the Tramp (1955)

Look, if you aren't charmed by dogs eating spaghetti, we're not sure you can be charmed. Lady and the Tramp tells a simple, always delightful story of a proper lady falling for a dog from the wrong side of the tracks who becomes a better man — um, we mean dog — in the process.

It's painterly animation is far superior to most of the cheap-looking computer animation of today — this is a true feast for the eyes.

And it inspired our favorite bit of film criticism within a movie, the roundtable debate of the meaning of Lady and the Tramp that serves as the unlikely climax of Whit Stillman's 1998 Last Days of Disco, another film that is a total delight. It's from four decades after these movies of the 1950s, but don't hold that against it.

This is our favorite of all the Disney movies of the 1950s.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

We know, war movies aren't typically delightful, but most aren't as deft and transfixing as The Bridge on the River Kwai, a movie that never follows the course you expect.

The war of wills between captured British P.O.W. Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guiness) and his honorable captor, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) is fascinating enough — both men are masterfully written and acted characters, and director David Lean shows stellar show-don't-tell restraint that is, well, captivating.

But then the film layers on the story of the charming Shears, William Holden, and you have one of the most layered yet elegant war movies of all, with a theme you'll be whistling for weeks. For our money this is the best of the war movies of the 1950s.

The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

This story of powerful columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) and ruthless press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis, above right) is as juicy as a gossip column — because it revolves around one.

Hunsecker is a powerful columnist covering nightlife around Broadway, who can make or break careers with a few words. But he's also a controlling older brother who tries to break up little sister Susan (Susan Harrison, above left) and a jazz guitarist, without leaving any fingerprints. Sidney Falco sees a sleazy opportunity and seizes it. He's a creep, sure, but a smart one, who shows us the ins and outs of a 24-7 media landscape that seems to move even faster than the one today.

This is a completely intoxicating movie, beautifully shot and magnificently acted. It's one of the greatest movies of the 1950s, but it's also timeless.

An American in Paris (1951)

Another charmer from the very start — thanks to the George Gershwin score and Gene Kelly's winning voiceover — an American in Paris, directed by directed by Vincente Minelli and written by Alan Jay Lerner — won Best Picture the year after All About Eve. But again, it's anything but pompous.

You realize how light on its feet the film will be even before you even see Kelly and Leslie Caron dance (above).

Just watching Kelly get ready in the morning — by switching his miniscule studio apartment from evening to morning mode — you know you're in incredibly good hands.

Some Like It Hot (1959)

The American Film Institute named Some Like It Hot the funniest American movie of all time, and who are we to argue with AFI?

One of the most imitated movies of the 1950s, it stars Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis, making their second appearances on this list, as well as the always great Jack Lemmon, who will certainly turn up when we make our list of delightful films of the 1960s.

And yes, we're pretty sure the Tom Hanks sitcom Bosom Buddies borrowed a few jokes from Some Like It Hot, starting with the wordplay on the poster. Plenty of other TV shows and movies have taken lessons from the Billy Wilder classic, too.

If you liked this list, you might also like this list of some of Stars of the 1960s Who Are Still Going Strong, or this list of Rad '80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember.

And we'd love for you to follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: Rear Window. Paramount.

Editor's note: Adds link to follow page.

A caveat: Even the most forward thinking movies of the 1940s trafficked in portrayals that seem retrograde and stereotypical today — though, at the time, audiences likely saw them as a neutral reflection of real life.

So yes, many of these classic movies have different expectations of men and women, for example. But the best of them — like Notorious, one of our all-time favorites — wittily usurp those expectations.

So with that, here are the films.

Casablanca (1942)

When people say they love movies of the classic movies of the 1940s, this is likely one they're most picturing.

Ingrid Bergman, who also appears later on this list in Notorious, is captivating as Ilsa Lund, a woman torn between love and her duty to fight fascism. Humphrey Bogart, as her ex-lover Rick, is as good a male lead as any movie had ever had.

But Casablanca is a movie where every single person shines, from director Michael Kurtiz to writers Howard Koch and Julius and Philip Epstein. Everyone has their favorite moment, but ours is, as you may have guessed from our last entry, "I'm shocked, shocked."

The film's treatment of Sam, the Black piano player, isn't good — but it's a lot better than the treatment of other Black characters in movies of the 1940s. Sam is a likable character, immensely talented, and very much one of the good guys.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Widely considered one of the most classic movies of all time, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane reimagines the life of real-life media magnate William Randolph Hearst, who hated it so much that he tried to minimize its theatrical run and impact.

A powerful man trying to use his wealth and the courts to strangle criticism ? To quote another movie on this list: "I'm shocked, shocked."

If you find yourself getting a little bored during the more ponderous parts, you can think about how Orson Welles released it at the age of 26, and wonder how he did that.

Double Indemnity (1944)

The most fun movie ever made about insurance, this noir extravaganza sizzles in moments like the anklet scene — aka the "how fast was I going" scene — between Fred McMurray as an insurance man and Barbara Stanwyck as a scheming client.

It never goes too fast, which somehow makes it all the more wildly seductive. It inspired many (often color) films, including 1981's very good Body Heat, but we still prefer the '40s version.

Laura (1944)

Laura could be smoothly repackaged today as an incel horror movie, or #MeToo drama: It's the story of a young, beautiful, talented executive, Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), found murdered outside her apartment.

Her story is soon recounted by columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), who became her friend and tried to use his connections to help her along the way. Would you believe that creepy older men offering to pull strings for attractive younger women — and expecting things in return — is not a recent phenomenon?

But with that setup, the twists are only beginning in Laura, which, somehow, despite its grim setup — spoiler alert — has a happy ending.

The Lost Weekend (1945)

A blunt, empathetic portrait of addiction, this film noir directed by Billy Wilder was based on Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel influenced by his own struggle with alcoholism.

Starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman, it is a frank and compelling look at talent lost to alcoholism is a template for countless addiction dramas that have come since.

Its brilliance was recognized at the time: It is one of only three films, along with 1955's Marty and 2019's Parasite — to win both the Oscar for Best Picture and Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. (It shared the Grand Prix at the first Cannes with 10 other films).

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

You've probably seen a lot of recent movies or shows (or TikToks?) about so-called influencers who pretend to live perfect lives but are very different behind the scenes. They all owe a debt to Elizabeth Lane, the protagonist of Christmas in Connecticut, played by Barbara Stanwyck in a role rather different from the one she played in Double Indemnity.

Lane is a magazine writer who pretends to live on a flawlessly maintained farm in Connecticut and is beloved for her recipes and accounts of her family and baby. But she's actually a single woman who occupies a small place in New York City.

We recently learned that Arnold Schwarzenegger once directed a basic cable remake of the film inspired in part by the success of Martha Stewart.

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

If you ever long for the good old days, watch this one to remind yourself that people of the past were anything but naive.

John Garfield makes being a drifter look like a good life choice when his character, Frank, wanders into a service station operated by the stunning Cora (Lana Turner). Unfortunately, she runs it with her husband.

Frank and Cora work out a little scheme to take care of that obstacle. It goes about as well as you'd expect if you've ever seen a noir movie of the 1940s.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

This Frank Capra gem is replayed year after year around this time for a simple reason:

It really, really holds up.

Far from a sugarcoated holiday confection, the film is blunt and evenhanded about just how much failure and struggle are part of the business of living. Its pragmatism makes its ultimately hopeful message even more resonant.

Notorious (1947)

The Alfred Hitchock films of the 1950s and '60s could get a little slow — but Notorious crackles from start to finish thanks to the presence of one of the all-time greatest actresses, and magnetic lead characters.

Ingrid Bergman is magnificent as Alicia Huberman, whose virtue and morality are in constant question. She juggles endless demands and expectations, keeping her intentions a mystery until the very end.

Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin, a U.S. agent who recruits her. When people start falling in love, things get very tricky.

Rope (1948)

Astonishly, Alfred Hitchock made his second if the classic movies on this list just a year after Notorious (and fit in another movie between them — a less-memorable film called The Paradine Case.)

Rope has a firm place in cinematic history for taking place in real time and appearing to take place over just four long single shots. Part of the fun of the film is catching the places where they're edited together.

But even aside from that cool gimmick, it is a fascinating psychological thriller about two young men who try to commit the perfect murder as an intellectual exercise. They are inspired by their prep-school headmaster, Rupert Cadell (Jimmy Stewart) and his talk of Nietzsche's Superman.

But he turns out not to approve of their demented game.

The Third Man (1949)

Joseph Cotten plays pulp novelist Holly Martins, who arrives in ghostly postwar Vienna to investigate the death of an old friend, Harry Lime. But things aren't as they seem.

The highlight is an utterly chilling monologue by Welles as he and Cotten ride a Ferris wheel and look at all the little people below.

This is one of those classic movies that is very much of its time — it was shot in the historic setting it portrays, which makes it as fascinating a movie time capsule as you'll ever see.

But the twists and grim compromises very now.

If you like this list, you might also like this list of 12 Movies of the 1950s That Are Still a Pleasure to Watch

And please  follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: A 1940s public domain image of Ingrid Bergman, star of Casablanca, Notorious and many more classic films.

Football movies aren't just about sports — they're a way to address emotions we don't always feel comfortable talking about, and cover a lot of genres, from comedy to serious tearjerkers.

And now, our list.

Brian’s Song (1971)

Brian’s Song is comparable to David Anspaugh’s Rudy in that they are both unmitigated tearjerkers. It is also comparable to Rudy in that they are both true stories. And that they both deal with not just football, but disappointment, friendship, overcoming obstacles and courage.

But Brian’s Song is different in that it does not have a happy ending. It’s the story of the bond that formed between Chicago Bears teammates Brian Piccolo and the legendary Gale Sayers. When Piccolo is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Sayers helps him through it until the end.

It's OK to cry watching this movie — or listening to it. It has one of the saddest movie scores ever by composer Michel Legrand.

Jerry Maguire (1996)

A great football movie, and almost perfect movie all around, Cameron Crowe's 1996 Jerry Maguire follows sports agent Jerry Maguire as he has an epiphany: more focus on clients, less on money.

That doesn't play well with his superagency, which fires him, leaving him with one client, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr., who won a supporting actor Oscar for his incredibly charismatic performance).

This one has plenty of drama, excellent comedic dialogue, and plenty for the romantics out there, too: Not just Jerry's fumbling relationship with adorable single mom Dorothy (Renee Zellweger), but also Tidwell's deeply committed marriage to Marcee (Regina King).

Remember the Titans (2000)

Remember the Titans is the mostly true story of football coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) as he battles racism and resentment while trying to lead the recently integrated  T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia to an undefeated season in 1971.

Boone has replaced white former coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), leading to initial tension, but they overcome their differences for the good of their community and their team.

Like all the greatest football movies, it's not just about football.

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Based on Harry Segall’s play of the same name — which has been remade on numerous occasions — this New Hollywood classics, co-directed by Buck Henry and star Warren Beatty, is virtually nothing like the Ernst Lubitsch version that preceded it in 1943. Because this is a football movie.

A perfectly written, acted and directed football movie. When quarterback Joe Pendleton is taken to heaven prematurely prior to his team going to the Super Bowl, he must do everything in his power — and heaven’s — to procure a new body, convince his old coach of who he really is, buy his old football team and insert himself as its star quarterback.

We know: Yikes! But it’s not nearly as convoluted as it sounds.

North Dallas Forty (1979)

Another quality football movie from the golden age, North Dallas Forty is the semi-fictional account of a pro football team (based on the Dallas Cowboys teams of the early 1970s).

It is brash, loud and irreverent and gives a completely unrelenting look at the mostly unglamorous life of a professional football player.

The Best of Times (1986)

This is an often-overlooked gem of a football movie. You will watch it and then ask yourself, “Why did I like that so much?”

The answer is, because it was written by Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, Tin Cup), and Ron Shelton can turn out a whale of a sports movie. Doesn’t mater what sport it is.

This one happens to be about football and is perfectly cast with Kurt Russell as the strapping yet aging ex-high school quarterback with an attitude problem and Robin Williams (at his understated and mellowed-out best) as the nerdly ex-high school receiver with a chance to redeem himself for the pass he didn’t catch.

Rudy (1993)

TriStar Pictures

This is the true story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, and undersized kid who works his way on to the Notre Dame football squad. Okay, so it’s not the most cerebral football movie on the panel, but so what? What it lacks in sophistication it more than makes up for in heart and spirit.

Plus, it’s written by Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh, two seasoned pros at crafting feel goodsports movies (Hoosiers, The Game of Their Lives).

Oh, and guys: The goosebumps on your arm and lump in the throat you’ll experience when watching the ending are just precursors to a much larger disorder known as… bawling your eyes out.

The Program (1993)

The Program is one of those movies that college guys get a hold of and watch religiously for four years, then sever ties with permanently after they graduate. A story of camaraderie (and bad behavior) on and off the football field, it tackles steroids, domestic abuse, alcoholism, success-driven coaches and basic male machismo.

It’s kind of like a non-humorous and less chipper Necessary Roughness, except it’s damn entertaining, if not completely irrelevant.

Friday Night Lights (2004)

Peter Berg's film about a high school football team that lights up life in Odessa, Texas is a staggering, emotional story, immaculately shot, that captures why people love football — and how crushing the game can be, in every sense.

It benefits a lot from a pulsing soundtrack that includes Explosions in the Sky and Public Enemy.

It's based on the nonfiction book by Buzz Bizzinger, which also, of course, inspired the excellent TV series of the same name. (And if you like Friday Night Lights, you might also like Berg's latest project, the fact-based opioid epidemic drama Painkiller.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Oliver Stone injects that special Oliver Stone energy into this story of Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx), a pro quarterback who rises from mediocrity to primetime, and his ability (or inability) to deal with instant success at the highest level of his profession.

But it's Al Pacino quickly gets possession of the movie — this is one of roles movies where he does his screaming thing a lot, but it's justified and totally works.

Cameron Diaz is also great as the new owner of the Miami Sharks.

The Longest Yard (1974)

The Longest Yard was shot during the golden age of the football movie—the 1970s, an era which still produced an original idea every now and then.

The story of an ex-pro quarterback (Burt Reynolds) who leads a group of prison inmates in a game against the prison guards, it features one-dimensional characters, but characters you care about and root for nonetheless.

This is not to be confused with the Adam Sandler remake of the same name, as there are several differences between the two movies, including an opening domestic violence scene in the original that would make Ike Turner recoil.

The Waterboy (1998)

Adam Sandler plays meek waterboy turned fearsome linebacker Bobby Boucher Jr. in this gleefully ridiculous — but strangely moving — story set in the football stadiums and bayous of Louisiana.

Rob Schneider almost steals the whole thing with one line: "You can do it!" He would go on to repeat it again and again across many Adam Sandler movies.

And Fairuza Balk is terrific as always, this time playing Bobby's love interest with a criminal past.

Knute Rockne, All American (1940)

The only film on this list to star a future U.S. president, Knute Rockne All American also opened Hollywood's eyes to the incredible cinematic potential of football.

Based on a true story, it features Ronald Reagan, as dying Notre Dame halfback George Gipp. In the most memorable scene, he asks his coach, Knute Rockne, to tell his teammates to "win one for the Gipper" — a line Reagan skillfully resurrected as president.

And we invite you to follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: The Waterboy. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Bow wow down to these, the greatest talking dog movies we've ever seen.

Strays (2023)

The first of two Will Ferrell films on this list, this not-for-kids film is an R-rated film about a dog (Ferrell) who assembles a pack in search of vengeance when his owner commits the ultimate betrayal.

Again: Not for kids!

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)

In this remake of Disney's 1963 The Incredible Journey, two dogs and a cat voiced by Don Ameche, Michael J. Fox and Sally Field are separated from their human family and must overcome miles of wilderness to reunite.

The ending is one of greatest in the history of talking dog movies, and of film itself.

Balto (1995)

Balto is a true story, kind of: It's the lightly fictionalized story of a half-wolf half-dog who carries an essential serum from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska at the height a 1925 diphtheria outbreak.

Balto is notable for the exceptional vocal talents of Kevin Bacon, Bridget Fonda, Bob Hoskins and Phil Collins (Hopkins plays a goose and Collins a pair of polar bears). It's also intriguing to hear the voice of Winnie the Pooh, Jim Cummings, play way against type by voicing the vain and villainous Steele.

Balto II: Wolf Quest, in which Balto and Jenna's daughter embarks on a vision quest, is one of the wildest movies we've ever seen in or out of the talking dog movie genre.

Air Buddies (2007)

Our sole complaint about the beloved Air Bud franchise is its initial failure to give voice to Buddy, aka Air Bud, the hero Golden Retriever who becomes a basketball star, because, as it turns out, there's no rule preventing a dog from playing basketball.

Air Buddies, released nearly a decade after 1997's Air Bud, corrects the original film's misstep by finally allowing Bud's five pups, the Air Buddies, to talk. No explanation is given and none is needed. The poster celebrates the achievement with the tagline, "They Shoot. They Score. They TALK!"

Air Buddies is also the final film to feature Don Knotts, further securing its place in film history.

Scooby Doo (2002)

This very Gen X, big-budget live-action/CGI mashup is a fascinating watch for a host of reasons. First, it's co-written by James Gunn, who would go on to make the greatest of all talking raccoon movies with Guardians of the Galaxy, before becoming the head of DC Films and making Superman.

It also features the very strong cast of Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and Neil Fanning as Scooby Doo.

It also manages to retain the funky '70s vibes of the cartoon Gen Xers grew up with, and, like the best Scooby Doo episodes, is kind of scary. Also great is 2004's Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, a very memed movie to this day,

Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023)

A curious revamping of the Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups special episode, the latest addition to the legacy of talking dog movies similarly involves a meteor that bestows superpowers on Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Skye, Rubble, Zuma, and, eventually, Liberty.

It also features the introduction of a new generation of hero pups, Nano, Mini and Tot.

Featuring an all-star cast that includes Kristen Bell, James Marsden, and Taraji P. Henson, the film is also notable for a soaring Christina Aguilera number that highlights Skye's majestic arc: Her discovery that even though she was once the runt of the litter, there is truly no meteor too big or pup too small.

A Dog's Purpose (2016)

The frequently reincarnated dog at the center of this Lasse Hallström epic may not talk — in the movie — but he talks to us, via the voiceover of Josh Gad.

Mixing insights into the meaning of life with food reviews ("Why does food taste so much better in the trash?"), A Dog's Purpose was invented for one purpose only: To make you cry your eyes out.

Isle of Dogs (2018)

At long last, auteur Wes Anderson turns his keen eye to the world of talking dogs in Isle of Dogs. But all is not well: The film takes place in a world in which the fictional Japanese city of Megasaki has banished dogs to a place called Trash Island.

Even with that name, it still sounds better than a place without dogs. The film features the formidable vocal talents of Courtney B. Vance, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Yoko Ono, and other actors who are pretty good... for non-dogs.

101 Dalmations (1961)

The greatest talking dog movie of all, expect perhaps for Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmations chronicles the romance of Pongo and Perdita, the birth of their 15 — no 14 — no 15 pups, and the unlikely chain of events that brings 84 additional dalmations into their family.

It is the first film to portray, on film, the Twilight Bark.

There are also some humans in it, too, who sing some pleasant-enough songs.

Summer of Sam (1999)

Spike Lee's magnificent examination of cross-cultural paranoia reaches its hallucinogenic crescendo of insanity when a black dog walks into David Berkowitz's hovel and announces, with slow-building rancor, "I want you to go out and kill. Kill. KILL."

It's one of the best things we've ever seen in a movie.

Lady and the Tramp (1955)

The gold standard of talking dog movies, this swooning Disney masterpiece is a low-key, patiently paced charmer notable for its deft characterizations, first-rate music, painterly animation, and deep layers of subtext.

We discover something new to enjoy about this film every time we watch it, which is more often than you'd expect.

Anchorman (2003)

The second Will Ferrell film on this list may not seem, on first glance, to be a talking dog movie. But it is.

When all is lost, who is it who saves Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) and Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) from a bear mauling? A dog, of course.

Baxter, who earlier in the film heroically eats a wheel of cheese, returns Lazarus-like from a watery grave to speak (via subtitles) to the mama bear and establish a shared connection: the bear known as Katow-jo. Through Baxter's diplomacy, sanity is restored.

If you like this list, you might also like this list of 10 Gen X Film Stars Gone Too Soon.

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Main image: A Dog's Purpose. Universal.

We know, it's nowhere near St. Patrick's Day. We love these films set on the Emerald Isle all year long.

Here we go.

The Quiet Man (1952)

When it comes to films set in Ireland, even all these decades later, The Quiet Man is still the most notable of the bunch. Also, arguably, the most successful. Director John Ford won Best Director for the 1952 film. It was his fourth win, which is the record (and nobody alive has more than two). The Quiet Man was nominated for Best Picture as well, but did not win.

John Wayne plays Sean Thornton, a retired boxer who returned from America to Ireland, where he was born. His time in the United States helps the plausibility in terms of why John Wayne sounds like, you know, John Wayne. Sean falls for a redheaded lass named Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara). However, it’s Victor McLaglen, who plays Mary Kate’s overbearing brother, who got an Oscar nomination.

The village of Cong, one of the locations, still has a statue of John Wayne in character.

The Commitments (1991)

Set among working-class folks in Dublin, the movie is about a young music lover who gets some locals together to form a soul group, the titular Commitments.

There’s a feel-good, underdog story here, but The Commitments' biggest impact in the United States was when it came to the music. The film’s soundtrack hit number eight on the Billboard charts and went triple platinum.

The film features Irish people singing the songs of Black artists, which may feel to some like cultural appropriation. But the film makes a case for music being a unifying force for all underdogs.

The Secret of Kells (2009)

Even animated films can be set in Ireland! The fantasy film is about the real Book of Kells, though the story itself is fictional. Fantasy movies rarely are factually accurate.

The Secret of Kells is a period piece as well. It’s set in ninth-century Ireland and features a lot of Viking elements as well. The animation is lush and distinct, vital for crafted a well-received animated fantasy film.

Indeed, The Secret of Kells was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, but lost to Up.

Hunger (2008)

You might think Hunger – the debut feature film of British director Steve McQueen, set in Northern Ireland — maybe shouldn't count as one of the best films set in Ireland, since Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

Well: Hunger's heart is very much with Ireland. It's the true story of Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands (Irish-German actor Michael Fassbender) who led a hunger strike to protest the British government’s refusal to recognize he fellow IRA inmates as political prisoners.

The Criterion Collection notes that the film is at times "purely experiential, even abstract, a succession of images full of both beauty and horror." It is ultimately about not just Ireland, but people held captive everywhere, and the ways they assert their humanity.

McQueen went on to win the Best Picture Oscar for Twelve Years a Slave.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

When a director is iconic, in time basically all the “other” films in their filmography start to become considered “underappreciated” and secret classics. Stanley Kubrick is no different. After film fans have said all there is to say about The Shining or Full Metal Jacket, what do you do? You start to turn to the other movies.

Nowadays, both Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon are lauded to no end by movie buffs. The former was the last of his career, but Barry Lyndon arrived when his potential seemed limitless.

Ryan O’Neal plays the titular Irish ne’er-do-well, and even back in the day, Barry Lyndon was considered magnificently well-crafted. It won Oscars for score, art direction, costume design, and cinematography.

The film is not fast-paced, but sneaks up on you, with a darkly sardonic message about class. Its dry wit and melancholy are typical of the best Irish storytelling tradition.

My Left Foot (1989)

The now-retired Daniel Day-Lewis was nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards six times, and won three times. His first win came for My Left Foot, a biopic focused on Christy Brown, a real Irish artist with cerebral palsy who created art with his foot, which he had the motor skills to control.

Obviously, there is an intense “business” to the performance, but Day-Lewis excels. Knowing what we know about his dedication to his craft, one can only imagine how he was on set. Also, let’s not overlook the rest of the cast. Brenda Fricker also won Best Supporting Actress for My Left Foot.

Jim Sheridan, the film's Irish director, also made many other excellent films, including In the Name of the Father and In America.

Once (2007)

Glen Hansard was part of the ensemble of The Commitments. The musician by trade — he leads the band The Frames — he was a natural choice to star in Once — especially given that former Frames bassist John Carney wrote and directed the film.

Once is about an Irish busker (Hansard) and g Czech flower seller (Markéta Irglová) who meet and fall in love over music. It is best known for “Falling Slowly,” the lilting, then driving power ballad that went on to win Best Original Song at the Oscars.

If you like a small-scale, personal story, and like watching charming musicians being charming, Once is the movie for you.

Ryan’s Daughter (1970)

Few made old-school epics as successfully as David Lean. He directed two Best Picture winners, Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, as well as Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India.

With Ryan’s Daughter, he took his mastery to the Emerald Isle.

Set during World War I, the film stars Sarah Miles as a married Irish woman who has an affair with a British soldier. This is a problem, not just because she’s married, but because her village is mostly populated by Irish nationalists. While Robert Mitchum’s casting as an Irishman was perhaps not ideal, Miles was nominated for Best Actress, and John Mills won Best Supporting Actor.

Brooklyn (2015)

Sure, the film is called Brooklyn, so you may be skeptical about it being an “Irish” movie. However, the action begins in Enniscorthy, Ireland. Saoirse Ronan – who screams “Ireland” – plays a young woman who decides to emigrate from her small Irish town to the titular New York borough.

Her experience as an Irish immigrant in America is key to the film, but the crux of Ronan’s character’s conflict is whether or not to stay in Brooklyn or return to her Irish hometown. Indeed, Ireland looms over all of the film.

Also, Ronan is a great actress. She earned her second of four Oscar nominations for Brooklyn. She’s just entering her thirties. What a star.

Waking Ned Devine (1998)

Overseas, it was released as Waking Ned, but in North America, the title was Waking Ned Devine. You may remember seeing ads for it, or hearing buzz about the quirky, low-budget Irish comedy film. Indeed, it became an unexpected hit in the United States, owing to its breezy charm.

It’s high concept, to be sure, the kind of movie that probably would be treated with skepticism now. Somebody in a tiny Irish village has won the National Lottery. It turns out to be local recluse Ned Devine, who also died upon finding out he won. Thus begins a ploy by a few of the townsfolk to try and claim Ned’s prize for themselves.

But, you know, in a charming way.

Sing Street (2016)

For even more charm, we recommend the thrilling Sing Street, a story of an Irish schoolboy Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who dreams of starting a rock band an impressing the glamorous Raphina (Lucy Boynton). Luckily for us, it's set in the 1980s, so all of the songs are inspired by the likes of Duran Duran and Hall & Oates.

The songs get better and better as Conor and his bandmates figure out their sound, culminating in the pop perfection of "Drive It Like You Stole It," one of the bounciest, catchiest songs in any movie ever.

This is the second film on our list by the great John Carney, and we could have added more — including the recent Flora and Son, starring Eve Hewson as a single mom who bonds with her teenager through music. (Here's our interview with Carney and his songwriting partner Gary Clark.)

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

“Breezy” is a word you would never use to describe The Banshees of Inisherin, or any of Martin McDonagh’s work. The playwright turned writer-director of film is about as misanthropic and cynical as they come. And yet, people love his work.

The Banshees of Inisherin is a movie that involves self-mutilation that still managed to make more than double its budget at the box office and earned eight Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture.

It won zero of them, but maybe it was too dark for the 2022 Oscars, when people coming out of a pandemic were just looking for things to celebrate? McDonagh’s bitter story of a friendship falling part is excellent, but in no way nice or fun.

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Main image: Brooklyn. Lionsgate.

But these 1960s movies remain a pleasure to watch after all these years.

Here they are, in no particular order.

Valley of the Dolls (1967)

We didn't say we were making a list of the best films of the 1960s — just the most enjoyable.

Sure, Lawrence of Arabia might be better and more important than Valley of the Dolls, but you'll have much more fun watching this dishy, wildly over-the-top adaptation of the sensational Jaqueline Susann bestseller.

Barbara Perkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate star as young women struggling to make it in the entertainment industry, who are driven to pill-popping by the demands and bad men all around. It received critical pans, but it's a fabulous time capsule of the supposedly swingin' — but actually often dark — 1960s. Watching the film makes you dream of the long, thriving cinematic career Sharon Tate should have enjoyed.

It's noteworthy that revered critic Roger Ebert wrote the screenplay for the film's 1970 sequel, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, after collaborating on the story with Russ Meyer.

The Apartment (1960)

You'll find yourself saying again and again through this cool-eyed comedy: They made this in 1960? Its setup — a young clerk has to loan out his apartment to executives who use it for secret trysts with vulnerable women — is grim even by modern standards.

And yet the movie is still a pleasure, because you quickly find yourself quickly rooting hard for the irresistible Shirley MacLaine and begrudgingly heroic Jack Lemmon (above). You don't have to look hard to find a very modern metaphor here about refusing to take it from the man.

MacLaine, Lemmon, director Billy Wilder and screenwriter IAL Diamond reunited three years later for Irma la Douce, which revisited some of the themes of The Apartment.

Breathless (1960)

This Jean-Luc Godard classic works as a critique of film as a medium — the plot is almost throwaway, and the jump cuts expose the artificiality of everything — or you can enjoy it as a completely unchallenging romp through Coolsville. Every frame is beautiful.

Breathless is one of those old movies that still feels hipper than anything today.

And it's one of the most relevant 1960s movies today — the great Richard Linklater has a new film about the making of Breathless, called Nouvelle Vague, now streaming in Netflix.

Psycho (1960)

Psycho will rid you of any ideas that old movies are stodgy and dull. It's a very juicy thriller from the jump: Janet Leigh's Marion Crane is a good girl gone bad who steals from her boozy boss to flee across the Arizona desert to the arms of her deadbeat boyfriend. Then she meets the psycho of the title.

Yes, the expository ending is a letdown, but it speeds along until the final moments. Consider that when Psycho came out, many people didn't know what a psycho was.

Psycho made sure they didn't forget.

West Side Story (1961)

A soaring musical with real emotional stakes, West Side Story (directed by directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins) is a swirl of color, dance and song that will completely transport you from any doldrums you may be feeling.

The stellar cast includes Richard Beymer as Tony, Rita Moreno (right) as Anita, and Natalie Wood (left) as Maria.

Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, it's a stunner from beginning to end.

Also Read: 10 Movie Sex Scenes Someone Should Have Stopped

L----a (1962)

Pretty much the epitome of a movie that wouldn't be made today. We can't even print the title without setting off filters at some of the sites that publish our stories. But the film is a pleasure because of how elegantly director Stanley Kubrick balances grim humor, tragedy and drama while somehow staying within the bounds of decency.

Adapted from the supposedly unfilmable Vladimir Nabakobv novel that famously doesn't use a single dirty word, the film stars James Mason as the pathetic Humbert, who constantly expects understanding and sympathy for his repugnant predilections and is instead met with disgust — especially from the audience. But Kubrick is skillful enough not to jab us in the ribs or tell us how to feel — the facts speak for themselves.

Sue Lyon, 15 when the film premiered, plays the 12-year-old title character with dignity and verve, selling us on the awful tragedy of her situation without melodrama. And Peter Sellers is a jolt of nasty fun as Quilty, Humbert's main antagonist, who is every bit as gross as he is, but even sneakier.

A Hard Days Night (1964)

A total charmer, this portrayal of 36 hours in the madcap lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo captured Beatlemania at its peak.

Rather than settling in for a fly-on-the-wall documentary approach, the Fab Four keep working to make us laugh, poking droll fun at their own fame.

Directed by Richard Lester, it earned two Academy Award nominations, including for Alun Owen's screenplay, which managed to make everything feel light and unscripted.

Dr Stangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Stanley Kubrick is at his most darkly acerbic in this satire of a war-mad world, in which civility and a supposedly honorable sense of purpose belie a passionate desire to bomb your opponents to ash.

It also has a stellar cast of Kubrick favorites, including Sterling Hayden and Peter Sellers in multiple roles.

Sellers also gets to deliver the movie's most memorable line: "Gentlemen — you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

The American Film Institute ranked it as number three on its list of the funniest American films.

Also Read: The 15 Funniest Comedies We've Ever Seen

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)

This grown-up exploration of the literally swingin' '60s finds the title characters (played by Robert Culp, Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould, and Dyan Cannon, respectively) exploring the ins and outs of matrimony.

After attending a very '60s retreat, Bob and Carol open up their marriage, and soon encourage their more conservative friends to do the same. But the film ends with a nonverbal, open-to-interpretation conclusion to the tune of Burt Bacharach's gorgeous "What the World Needs Now," sweetly sung by Jackie DeShannon.

Bonus: Culp (above left, with Wood) wears a very 1960s outfit at one point that would later inspire costumes worn by Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Rafal Zawierucha – playing Roman Polanski — in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Barbarella (1968)

For a very different approach to sci-fi, take in this spacey romp starring Jane Fonda as a fashionable heroine on a mission to stop Durand Durand, whose name would later inspire that of one of our favorite pop bands.

The movie is being remade with Sydney Sweeney, and we're very curious how a very '60s time capsule will fare with a modern update.

It's also striking to note that it came out in the same year as the next film in our gallery, which had a very different take on life in space.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Like zombie movies? You can thank George Romero's low-budget, high-impact masterpiece, which feels unnerving and fast-moving even by today's seen-it-all standards. Somehow it still feels fresh, in spite of all its imitators.

Perhaps that's because of how it was made: This is as indie and seat-of-your-pants as filmmaking gets. Romero made it for a mere  $125,000, with an unknown cast - yet the execution was so good that it made back nearly 250 times its budget at the box office.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

This classic movie is still so essential to film history that it was parodied in the opening of last year's biggest hit, Barbie.

But it's also a pure pleasure, if you're willing to surrender yourself to a very 1960s trancelike state and examine the big questions of why we're here and where we're going. Among its fans was David Bowie, who credited it as the inspiration for his breakthrough song "Space Oddity."

The third Stanley Kubrick film on this list is one of the greatest cinematic pleasures of the 1960s, or of any decade.

French writer Paul (Michel Piccoli) is enlisted to work with Fritz Lang (played by the real Fritz Lang) on an adaptation of The Iliad.

Contempt (1963)

The second Jean-Luc Godard film on this list.

Screenwriter Paul and his wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) are invited to the home of arrogant American producer Jeremy Proko (Jack Palance), BUt Proko's car only has room for one passenger. And so begins a period of intense agony for Paul.

Contempt is one of the most gorgeous movies ever made. The visuals are sumptuous, including of Casa Malaparte, the seaside home on Capri, Italy where key scenes occur. And "Camille's Theme," by Georges Delerue, is so stirring that Martin Scorsese borrowed it for Casino.

Liked This List of Old Movies of the 1960s That Are Still a Pleasure to Watch?

You might also like our recent list of 1950s classic movies that are still a total delight or this list of Rad '80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember.

Main image: Contempt. Embassy Pictures

And some of them didn't even do that.

Here we go.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

You know that whole happy ending at the end of Return of the Jedi? This movie ruins it by revealing that Han and Leia went on to have a whiny child, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who spoiler alert, kills his dad.

Yes: The movie kills an iconic character for the sole purpose of establishing Kylo Ren as a baddie to be reckoned with — and of course to free Harrison Ford from an altogether embarrassing affair.

The movie sets out to pass the lightsaber to a new generation, but none of the new characters feel authentic or interesting.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Probably the worst Star Wars movie ever made, which is really saying something. A completely incomprehensible mess that includes two out-of-nowhere, unearned and uninteresting twists (spoilers): 1. The Emperor is still alive, somehow; and 2. He is the grandfather of Rey (Daisy Ridley)

This lame revelation isn't enough to make poor, underwritten Rey more interesting. Then there's an appalling return of Han Solo (let the dead rest) some talk of possession, and a lot of nonsense, ending the Skywalker Saga with a pathetic whimper.

By the way, we're fine with the middle film in the new trilogy, The Last Jedi. Mark Hamill was great in it, and we appreciated director Rian Johnson's efforts to broaden the Star Wars universe and show us how regular folks view the conflict between our heroes and the Empire. It wasn't a bad sequel at all, especially considering that it was sandwiched by two borderline-unwatchable movies.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Harrison Ford is one of our favorite actors, ever, and we're sorry to include another of his films on this list. But: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny feels like an exercise in "we can do this, so we should," even though the Indiana Jones ended very satisfactorily with Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade more than three decades ago.

Yes, technically, that's Indiana Jones cracking wise and cracking his whip, but the thrill is gone.

We even preferred Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which also probably shouldn't have been made.

Batman & Robin

For our money, this is perhaps the worst movie ever made, when you consider how good it could have been vs. what it turned out to be. It had a red-hot cast including Arnold Schwarzenegger (above), George Clooney, Alicia Silverstone and Uma Thurman, plus Batman, maybe the single-best character in American fiction, and a budget of more than $125 million.

So there are no excuses for the debacle that resulted: Weird costumes, cartoonish execution, and Mr. Freeze puns that are, in retrospect, the only worthwhile part of the movie, in a so-bad-they're-good kind of way.

But don't take it from us, take it from George Clooney, who gets many points for honesty: "When I say ‘Batman and Robin’ is a terrible film, I always go, ‘I was terrible in it,” Clooney told GQ in 2020. “Because I was, number one. But also because then it allows you the ability to say, ‘Having said I sucked in it, I can also say that none of these other elements worked either.’ You know? Lines like ‘Freeze, Freeze!’”

Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

Exactly one good thing came from the third Jaws sequel: Michael Caine's quote about doing the movie for the money.

In his 1992 memoir, What's It All About, Caine wrote of the film:

"I have never seen the film but by all accounts it was terrible. However I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

Sometimes bad sequels that should never be made beget nice houses for actors we like, so that's a silver lining.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

The first Ant-Man is one of the best Marvel movies because of its goofy charm and low stakes. This bad sequel throws out everything that made the original so likable in favor of a gloomy, weightless journey through CGI hell with a villain (Kang, played by Jonathan Majors) who has a confusing set of powers and limitations.

It's humorless and boring, despite the presence of Bill Murray, whose arrival in the Marvel Cinematic Universe should have felt like a much bigger event.

The Thor and Captain America franchises yielded some sequels that were superior to the original. Not so with Ant-Man.

Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

If the star of the movie doesn't come back, you probably have a bad sequel on your hands. The exit of Keanu Reeves — and lame decision to relocate the movie from the streets to the sea — should have made this a non-starter.

To her credit, Sandra Bullock has expressed public regret for coming back to the franchise minus Reeves, telling Variety she is "still embarrassed" she appeared in it: "I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island.”

Even Willem Dafoe (pictured), taking over crazy man duties from original Speed baddie Dennis Hopper, couldn't save this.

Caddy Shack II (1988)

The original Caddyshack couldn't help but be funny thanks to the presence of three brilliant comedy stars — Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield — under the guidance of one of the greatest comedy directors, Harold Ramis.

But Caddyshack II put the comedic onus on Jackie Mason, peppering things up with special appearances by Chase and another Saturday Night Live alum, Dan Aykroyd. Ramis came back to write, but it wasn't enough. The original Caddyshack in one of the most quoted movies of all, and Caddyshack II just isn't. It's the epitome of a bad and unnecessary sequel.

Also: Roman numerals, Caddy Shack II? Really?

American Psycho 2: All-American Girl (2002)

American Psycho, based on the 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, was often considered unfilmable due its mix of graphic violence and esoteric humor — until Mary Harron cracked it magnificently with her outstanding film adaption in 2000.

Two years later, distributor Lions Gate cheapened the original film with this baffling bad sequel starring Mila Kunis and William Shatner. Abandoning all the social satire of American Psycho, the film stars with a young girl murdering Bateman, and subsequently becoming a killer herself.

Unsurprisingly, it was based on a script that initially had nothing to do with American Psycho, but was misguidedly linked to it to capitalize on the success of the Mary Harron film.

Don't blame Kunis, who has expressed regrets:  "When I did the second one, I didn't know it would be American Psycho II," she told MTV News. "It was supposed to be a different project, and it was re-edited, but, ooh ... I don't know. Bad."

The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix Reloaded was fine. The Merovingian, Persephone, and The Twins were all cool additions to the Matrix mythology, and the car chase with The Twins was excellent.

But does anyone remember a single thing that happened in The Matrix Revolutions, the third film in the original trilogy? The magic was long exhausted by that point, raising the question of whether the whole Matrix franchise should have been left at the original film, which is basically flawless.

2021's The Matrix Resurrections, meanwhile, is so detached from the other films that it almost feels more like a reunion special than a film. It's not a good or bad sequel, it's just there.

Highlander II: The Quickening

The original Highlander was a wild, way-better-than-it-needed-to-be celebration of '80s excess. A very cool movie filled with visual delights, courtesy of director Russell Mulcahy, one of the greatest of all music video directors.

Highlander II is almost universally derided as a baffling misstep, despite the return of Mulcahy and Highlander stars Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert.

According to the documentary Highlander II: Seduced by Argentina, the film suffered due to conflicts between Mulcahy and the film's bonding company, and the bonding company took control of the final film. The original deserved better than this bad sequel.

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Main image: Batman and Robin. Warner Bros.

But the following films actually deserve remakes. Some had great concepts that didn't quite translate to the big screen, and others come from source material that simply deserves expansion.

These are the rare films that truly deserve remakes that could fulfill their potential.

Black Widow (1987)

The original Black Widow — not to be confused with the Marvel movie starring Scarlett Johansson — is a terrific neo-noir about a Department of Justice official (Debra Winger) who becomes obsessed with a mystery woman (Theresa Russell) who seems to have a habit of killing her husbands.

So why the remake? Why mess with a good thing?

In this case, it's because the original Black Widow has a sapphic subtext that couldn't be fully explored in the 1988 film. But in these more openminded times, a Black Widow remake could more openly explore the full nature of the the women's interest in one another.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The original League of Extraordinary Gentleman, adapted from the comics by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, has one of the coolest concepts of any movie: A group of old-time literary characters, including Allan Quatermain, Nemo, Mina Harker, Dorian Gray, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and Tom Sawyer, band together for steampunk adventures in the Victorian Era.

The film suffered from poor reviews and a bit of an imbalance between the characters: Sean Connery was by far the biggest name, playing Quatermain, but his high salary prevented the filmmakers from casting similarly big stars to play the other key roles.

Imagine a modern adaptation stocked with a balanced mix of stars who also excel as character actors, like Cate Blanchett, Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale, Daniel Kaluuya, Bill Murray... you get the idea.

We'd actually love to see this IP in the hands of Wes Anderson.

John Carter (2012)

One of the oldest pieces of IP, based on the works of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter was adapted as a 2012 film that bombed.

Almost all of Burroughs' stories in the John Carter series included "of Mars" in the title, and calling the film simply John Carter did nothing to tell audiences what it was about. That was just the start of the film's marketing issues — the Washington Post's Michael Cavna said the film was one of Hollywood's "biggest marketing flops ever."

Taylor Kitsch was a good John Carter, but the film failed to explain what was special about John Carter — a century-old piece of sci-fi that influenced almost every sci-fi project that followed, including Star Wars. It should have been treated as an epic cinematic presentationo of a literary classic — like the Lord of the Rings movies — but instead it elicited shrugs.

The film also had a massive price tag, which means it's unlikely anyone will take another swing at it anytime soon. But this was a case of the underlying material being good, and the flaws being in the execution.

World War Z (2013)

World War Z is a cool movie, and a totally serviceable zombie action story, led by Brad Pitt. It also did great box office, earning more than $500 million.

But the 2006 Max Brooks novel upon which the film is based is far superior: It uses a zombie outbreak as a pretext to analyze and critique geopolitics, various societal failures, and human nature itself. It's a total page turner with a lot to say.

World War Z could easily be a multi-season HBO series in the vein of Game of Thrones. Its surface-level similarities with HBO's The Last of Us and AMC's The Walking Dead may hurt it — or help.

The Hollywood Reporter says an update of World War Z is on the priority list for potential reboots or remakes for Paramount, since it under new ownership.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

The 2017 film was inspired by the French science fiction comics series Valérian and Laureline, written by Pierre Christin, illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières. The series has been beloved since it debuted in 1967, but something was lost when Luc Besson translated it to the big screen.

The film follows Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) as they travel to Alpha, a city inhabited by thousands of species from different planets, and face a threat that could destroy the universe.

Besson, who personally financed and funded the roughly $180 million film, had previously made the delightfully crazy sci-fi epic The Fifth Element, so hopes were high.

But Valerian failed to impress at the box office, and critical reviews were mixed, though many appreciated that Besson had at least taken a big swing.  A. O. Scott of The New York Times said the film "feels as if it were made up on the spot, by someone so delighted by the gaudy genre packaging at his disposal that he lost track of what was supposed to be inside."

Perhaps someday Valerian, like The Fifth Element, will be regarded as a wildly fun watch. Either way, someone should take another shot at it.

Gaslight (1944)

Given the ubiquity of the term "gaslighting," perhaps someone should remake the 1940 British film that popularized the term — the 1944 American version, starring Ingrid Bergman (above). Both are based on the 1938 play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton.

All are about a young woman whose husband slowly tricks her into believing she is insane — a concept that is more relevant than ever at a time when reality is constantly bent by politicians, social media, artificial intelligence... the list goes on.

A remake of Gaslight might make us all nostalgic for an era when only our loved ones made us question our sanity.

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)

One of the highlights of Jaws, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, comes when sea captain Quint (Robert Shaw) recounts the true story of the USS Indianapolis.

After delivering the atomic bomb used to bomb Hiroshima, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese Imperial Navy. Roughly 300 crewman sunk with the ship in the Philippine Sea, while the rest spent five days in shark-infested water, fighting for their lives.

It was almost the basis of Jaws 2, which Spielberg once envisioned as a prequel. He would have done an amazing job. It could also be a modern-day Christopher Nolan movie with a A-list cast — a kind of spiritual sequel to his film Oppenheimer.

But the version of the story we've seen so far is Mario Van Peebles' USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. It bombed, and received negative reviews that mostly criticized the CGI sharks. Honestly, it isn't bad. Nicholas Cage is good as Captain Charles B. McVay III, the real-life figure who faced a court martial for losing his ship.

But the story could be better told. The film spends relatively little time on the central drama — the men trying to survive shark attacks — and too much time in a military court proceeding.

If it's ever remade, we'd welcome Cage back in the lead.

Betrayed (1988)

The second Debra Winger movie on our list of deserving remakes, Betrayed follows her playing an FBI agent who infiltrates a farming community to learn who is responsible for the murder of a Jewish radio host.

Soon she falls for Gary Simmons (Tom Berenger) the seemingly very decent and kind local father suspected of the crime. She begins to believe the FBI is wrong about him. But he turns out to be a monster when he takes her hunting — and the target is a Black man.

Betrayed has one of the best movie setups — a person infiltrates a group and then becomes troublingly sympathetic to those being infiltrated – but the calibration and structure of the film feels off. The lack of prominent non-white characters also feels strange, leaving the very tricky racial dynamics mostly in the hands of white people.

Still, we love the idea of a modern reworking of the film at a time when white supremacists often barely bother to hide their beliefs.

Logan's Run (1976)

We love Logan's Run's very 1970s vision of a future in which everyone is killed at the age of 30 in order to preserve scare resources. The film is one of the best at pulling off the trick of introducing an apparent utopia that soon proves to be a dystopia.

Current cynicism — or is it realism? — about the state of the world make this a perfect time for an update.

There was a brief Logan's Run TV show in 1977, and plans for a Logan's Run movie remake a decade ago, with Ryan Gosling and X-Men screenwriter Simon Kinberg attached at various points. But past reboot incarnations face a few obstacles.

First, the success of the X-Men spinoff movie Logan could create some brand confusion, and Gosling is now 44, even if he looks younger.

Still, this is one of those remakes we think would both fascinate modern audiences and draw much-deserved attention to the original.

The Dark Tower (2017)

Steven King's Dark Tower series encompasses eight novels and a novella — enough for a very long series.

Unfortunately, the 2017 film adaptation, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, carves things down to the very bare essentials. While we always appreciate a tight 95-minute runtime, in this case the story expunges all the asides and backstory that makes King's Dark Tower series so compelling.

Luckily, a Dark Tower TV series is in development from Mike Flanagan, a master of King adaptations. Unfortunately, Flanagan is very busy — his recent projects include the just-released King adaptation The Life of Chuck.

If you like this list of movies that deserve remakes, you may also like our list of 15 Classic Movies That Have Never Had Sequels or Remakes — and Never Should.

And we'd love for you to follow us, for more stories like this.

Main image: Jenny Agutter in a publicity image for Logan's Run. United Artists.

Editor's Note: Corrects main image.

Whether out for themselves, their mother countries, or even, sometimes, James Bond, Bond girls add mystery, style and stakes to stories of glamour and espionage. (And yes, we recognized the term “Bond girls” is anachronistic, but we think it’s been grandfathered into the movie lexicon — it even has its own Wikipedia entry.)

As we await the next Bond film — from Dune director Denis Villeneuve — let's look back on some of the women who made past James Bond movies so memorable.

Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in Dr No (1962)

Though she was preceded onscreen by Sylvia Trench and Miss Taro, Honey Ryder, a Jamaican shell diver played by a dubbed Ursula Andress, is widely considered the first Bond girl.

Perhaps it’s because of her unforgettable entrance in Dr. No, emerging from the ocean in a white bikini and belt, bearing shells.

Her chemistry with Bond is one of the driving forces in Dr. No, the film that spawned one of the most successful and longest-running of all film franchises.

Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova in From Russia With Love (1963)

The first Bond sequel found Bond traveling to Turkey to help Soviet consulate clerk Tatiana Romanova — played by Daniela Bianchi, with Connery above.

Of course, this being a Bond movie, sparks fly. But Tatiana is, of course, a pawn in a plan by SPECTRE to enact vengeance against Bond for some things that happened in Dr. No. But the pawn soon becomes the key player in the film.

She was Miss Universo Italia and first runner up at Miss Universe 1960 before becoming one of the most famous Bond girls. And in 1967, she appeared opposite Connery’s brother, Neil Connery, in Operation Kid Brother, a Bond spoof.  

Honor Blackman as Ms Galore in Goldfinger (1963)

Honor Blackman, rehearsing an infamous fight scene with Sean Connery, above, has perhaps the most famous name of any of the Bond girls — and we’re not even sure we can print it here given the cautious sensibilities of some of our syndication partners.

Suffice it to say that Blackman, who was also known for the TV series The Avengers, is one of the most iconic Bond girls of all — a woman who could very much hold her own against Bond, or anybody.

Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson in Goldfinger (1964)

Shirley Eaton played Jill Masterson, aide to the villain who gives Goldfinger its title. When she spends a night with Bond, he enacts a cruel but colorful vengeance: Having her killed via “skin suffocation” from being painted gold.

The image was iconic enough to land Eaton on the cover of LIFE magazine for its November 6, 1964 issue.

If you’re wondering, it took about 90 minutes to apply all that gold paint. The task fell to makeup artist Paul Rabiger, who also worked on the Bond movies Thunderball, You Only Live Twice and From Russia With Love.

Claudine Auger as Domino in Thunderball (1965)

Claudine Auger earned the titles of Miss France Monde 1958 and became first runner up in the 1958 Miss World compeition before landing the role of Dominique “Domino” Derval in Thunderball, the fourth Bond film.

Her chemistry with Sean Connery, onscreen and behind the scenes, should be obvious.

She later starred in the 1966 World War II drama Triple Cross, and, in 1968, appeared with fellow Bond girl Ursula Andress in the Italian comedy Anyone Can Play.

Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe in Thunderball (1965)

Luciana Paluzzi as SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe helped create the template for the Bond femme fatale. She’s one of the fiercest early Bond girls.

Her later roles included playing as a Southern belle in the 1974 film The Klansman — with her voice dubbed — for Thunderball director Terence Young.

Diana Rigg as  Tracy di Vicenzo in Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Diana Rigg (left) is the first of the Bond girls to be arguably more famous than her co-star: She had already the lead of The Avengers when she was cast as new Bond George Lazenby’s partner in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Lazenby, an Australian model, played Bond just once before Connery returned for Diamonds Are Forever.

Rigg also holds the distinction of being the only woman to marry Bond — though, horribly, she was murdered moments after their wedding, making On Her Majesty’s Secret Service perhaps the biggest bummer of all Bond movies.

Still, Rigg did very well — her many post-Bond roles included playing  Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones. And she played a crucial part in Edgar Wright’s 2021 Last Night in Soho, which was completed just before her death.

Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver in Live and Let Die (1972)

Live and Let Die, the first film to feature Roger Moore as Bond, was produced at the height of the Blaxploitation trend and has several attempts at nods to Black culture, including the casting of Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver, who is the first Black woman to be romantically entwined with 007 onscreen.

One could argue that Jane Seymour’s Solitaire is the most prominent of the movie’s Bond girls, but we don’t have a picture of Jane Seymour posing behind the scenes by a pinball machine in one of the most gloriously 1970s images ever, so.

Maud Adams as Andrea Anders and Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

Oh wait, we may have found a more 1970s image. We hope you’ll forgive us for the fact that not one but two Bond girls are in this photo. Maud Adams, left, played Andrea Anders in The Man With the Golden Gun, and returned to play the title character in a 1983 Bond film we don’t think we can name here for reasons previously mentioned.

Meanwhile, Britt Ekland, right, played Mary Goodnight. Mary as been derided for being kind of clumsy as Bond girls go — but also praised as one of the most fashionable. Don’t blame Ekland for the writing. Director Guy Hamilton has said in audio commentary for the film that she was so “elegant and beautiful that it seemed to me she was the perfect Bond girl.”

And yes, that’s Fantasy Island star Hervé Villechaize, who also starred in the film, hanging out with Moore, Adams and Ekland.

Barbara Bach as Major Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Perhaps reflecting the advances of the women’s liberation movement, Soviet spy Major Anya Amasova is one of the most coolly capable of all the women in Bond movies — though even she needs an assist against the hulking Jaws (Richard Kiel).

Almost to the final seconds of The Spy Who Loved Me, we don’t know if Amasova loves Bond or wants to kill him or both.

Grace Jones as May Day and Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill (1985)

In the last of the Roger Moore Bond movies, Tonya Roberts (right) — best known at the time for Charlie’s Angels — plays the heiress of an oil company who tries to fend off the advances of the evil Max Zorin (Christopher Walken).

But the coolest character in the movie is May Day, Zorin’s lover and chief assassin, played by Grace Jones (left). She’s one of the most memorable of all Bond characters, and even kind of gets to die a hero.

Carey Lowell as License to Kill (1989)

Timothy Dalton became the new James Bond in the late ’80s, when fears of HIV/AIDS were very prevalent and an effort was made to tone down 007’s promiscuity. That meant fewer, but more memorable, female counterparts, including the charismatic Carey Lowell as pilot and DEA informant Pam Bouvier, who helps James battle a drug lord. (Why was Bond messing with cocaine kingpins instead of mad scientists? It was the ’80s.)

Lowell went on to be known for playing smart and capable characters in many other roles, including as Jamie Ross in Law & Order.

Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Tomorrow Never Dies is most noteworthy for being the movie that introduced Malaysian action star Michelle Yeoh to Western audiences, a quarter-century before she won Best Actress for her role in 2022’s Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Yeoh plays Wai Lin, a supremely capable Chinese agent.

Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones in The World Is Not Enough (1999)

She may be best known for reality TV today, but Denise Richards had two excellent back-to-back appearances in Starship Trooper (1997) and Wild Things (1988) before joining the Bond franchise to play an oddly named nuclear physicist.

She holds her own against terrific 007 Pierce Brosnan, but her name seems like a setup for the worst line ever to appear in a Bond movie: “I thought Christmas only comes once a year.” Blech.

Halle Berry as Giacinta ‘Jinx’ Johnson in Die Another Day (2002)

Halle Berry is another Bond girl who at least matched her Bond co-star in stardom: At the time of the film’s release, she had just won a Best Actress Oscar for 2001’s Monsters Ball.

It was the final Pierce Brosnan movie, but Berry basically hijacked it with her sheer watchability, and not just by paying homage to Ursula Andress’ entrance in Dr. No.

Eva Green as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale (2006)

Vesper Lynd is widely recognized as one of the greatest of all Bond girls, if not the greatest: She breaks the heart of Daniel Craig’s Bond in this film, and he never quite recovers.

Besides being the most glamorous British Treasury agent of all, Lynd is a smooth operator who keeps everyone guessing until the very end — especially Bond.

Ana de Armas as Paloma in No Time to Die (2021)

Ana de Armas isn’t in No Time to Die for very long — just long enough to steal the whole movie.

Dressed in evening wear, her Cuban secret agent shoots it out with Bond in a Havana fight scene that is one of the best set pieces in any Bond film.

Can she be the next 007?

Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann in SPECTRE and No Time to Die (2021)

Léa Seydoux is a standout among Bond girls — or Bond women, as we should probably call them in the modern age. Her character is the only woman to be the female lead in two Bond films, and the only woman known to have a child with him.

Besides On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, No Time to Die is the biggest bummer among Bond films. But Swann and her daughter, Mathilde, provides glimmers of light.

Liked These Images of 20 Bond Girls Behind the Scenes?

You might also enjoy these behind the scenes images of Goldfinger.

Main image: Eva Green in Casino Royale. MGM

The star of Casablanca, Notorious and other masterpieces — and three-time Oscar winner — was born in 1915 in Stockholm to a Swedish father and German mother. She went on to become one of the most iconic actors of all time, starring in many films that still feel as relevant today as they were decades ago.

Let's look back at just five of them.

Casablanca (1942)

Stunningly time when it was released at the height of World War II, Casablanca has somehow never gone out of style — because of its celebration of freedom and resistance, yes, but also because of its crackling dialogue and the unmatched chemistry between its leads, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.

She plays Ilsa Lund, who one night in Casablanca enters the Rick's Cafe, which just so happens to be owned by her ex-lover, Rick Blaine. The problem: She's now with Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) a Czech Resistance leader battling the Nazis.

Rick and Ilsa still have strong feelings for each other, but must ultimately decide whether to act on them or sublimate them for the greater good. Bergman and Bogart make it feel like a very difficult choice — which makes the film's final outcome all the more heroic.

A Best Picture winner, Casablanca has only gone up since in the appraisal of most film lovers.

Notorious (1946)

Another film tied to World War II, Notorious finds Ingrid Bergman playing Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a German war criminal who is enlisted by U.S. agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) to help infiltrate a group of Nazis who fled to Brazil after World War II.

Things become complicated when she's asked to seduce one of the targets — even after she and Devlin have apparently fallen for each other.

For much of the film, Alicia — and Bergman — keep her loyalties very much in question. Bergman and director Alfred Hitchcock walk an impressive narrative tightrope in a fast-moving, elegant thriller featuring one of the most complex female leads in cinematic history. Notorious is one of her three collaborations with Hitchcock, the others being 1945's Spellbound (1945), and 1949's Under Capricorn.

Gaslight (1944)

Adapted from Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light — and remaking the British film Gaslight — this American version finds Bergman playing Paula Alquist Anton, whose husband (played by Charles Boyer) manipulates her into believing she may be insane.

It's another demanding role for Bergman, who must maintain the audiences sympathies through a state of manipulated confusion, and Oscar voters rewarded her with the first of her two Oscars for Best Actress. (She won again in 1956 for Anastasia, and won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Murder on the Orient Express in 1974.)

Like Casablanca — scenes of which still turn up frequently as memes — Gaslight remains so influential in modern expression that "gaslight" remains a modern term for people accused of manipulating reality.

Stromboli (1950)

The neorealist drama Stromboli is a pleasure to watch at a surface level: It tells the story of a Lithuanian woman (Bergman) who meets an Italian man (Mario Vitale) at an internment camp, and journeys with him to his home island, which is very different than she expects.

Stromboli is even more fascinating when you keep in mind the behind the scenes story of the film. It was born from Ingrid Bergman writing a letter to director Roberto Rossellini, saying she wanted to work with him. They set up a production company and funding through RKO and its owner, Howard Hughes.

But their collaboration went much further — they began a romance during the film that led to the birth of their daughter, actress Isabella Rossellini.

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

The Agatha Christie adaptation Murder on the Orient Express would be captivating for the casting alone, and Bergman is a standout. She won an Oscar — her third — for Best Supporting Actress.

The rest of the cast included another woman famously paired with Bogart onscreen, Lauren Bacall — Bogart and Bacall were also married for more than a decade — as well as a who's who of stellar actors, including Sean Connery, just emerging from his run of James Bond films; Jacqueline Bissett, Michael York, Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Anothony Perkins, and many more. It's fascinating to see so many screen icons mix it up.

Bergman died eight years later, of breast cancer on her 67th birthday in 1982. But she continued to work, and shine, until the end.

If you liked this list, you might also like this list of Classic 1940s Movies That Are Still a Pleasure to Watch.

And we invite you to follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: Ingrid Bergman in Notorious. RKO Radio Pictures

Editor's Note: Corrects main image.

Not Another Teen Movie (2000)

One of our favorites 2000s comedies is a pitch-perfect sendup of '80s and '90s comedies: Not Another Teen Movie is brutal takedown of teen movies from Lucas to She's All That to Fast Times at Ridgemont High to The Breakfast Club, but it's obvious its creators love teen movies and really know their stuff.

There's lots of sex and violence and racial humor, yes, but it's almost always in service of making fun of the sex and violence and racism of '80s teen movies. The one shockingly violent joke — which ends with a pipsqueak bisected football player declaring "I'm a hero!" Is one we think about often. And we love the cameos from the likes of Mr. T and Molly Ringwald.

Not Another Teen Movie could cut every offensive joke and still be very funny, but it gets extra points for the sheer audacity of keeping them in.

White Chicks (2004)

Marlon and Shawn Wayans play Black FBI agents who impersonate rich white socialites to infiltrate a pompous Hamptons social scene — and break up a conspiracy.

Yeah, it's a broad setup. But the movie fully seizes on its funny premise when the duo learn how white people act when they think no one of other races are around — and start to see the world from a woman's perspective.

If you're not offended by something in White Chicks, you aren't paying attention. The Wayans take down privileged white people, sure, but they also make some sharp observations about weird racial and sexual hangups, leaving no one unscathed.

It's one of those 2000s comedies that has aged better than anyone expected, a few jokes aside.

America: World Police (2004)

It's hard to say who or what this comedy hates the most: xenophobia, Kim Jong-Il, or Matt Damon.

The creators of South Park missed at the box office with this one, but they were right and audiences were wrong.

It's a masterpiece of smart-dumb moviemaking, especially a scene in which a drunk explains U.S. foreign policy with a disgusting metaphor about three body parts.

And the musical numbers are absolutely top-notch. This is one of our favorite 2000s comedies and one of the most ridiculously audacious comedies ever made.

Borat (2006)

By far the best movie on this list — and there are a lot of great 2000s comedies — Borat is the story of sexist, anti-Semitic, generally clueless Kazakh journalist whose idiocy puts everyday Americans at ease enough to say some truly horrible things.

Sacha Baron Cohen's unbelievably good, mostly improvised acting makes you laugh, but also lament the open prejudice he encounters. His feigned guilelessness brings out the worst in people, and makes us wonder how we would behave in their shoes.

Somehow we end up feeling sorry for Borat, but even sorrier for the state of things. The 2020 sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, is also terrific.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tropic Thunder viciously and hilariously lampoons Hollywood self-importance at every turn, but especially with Ben Stiller's Simple Jack character and Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor who really, really commits to playing a Black character.

Though some people have accused the movie of insensitivity, Stiller has admirably stuck to his guns.

“I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder,” Stiller tweeted when someone erroneously said he had apologized for the film. “Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”

John Tucker Must Die (2006)

John Tucker Must Die criticizes the womanizing ways of its lead character (Jesse Metcalfe) while also making him look... pretty cool.

It also offers a female empowerment narrative — a bunch of girls John Tucker has wronged team up to enact revenge — while simultaneously sexualizing its young characters in a way that was very typical of Maxim-era 2000s comedies. A classic case of Hollywood having it both ways.

Here's how little the John Tucker team cares if you're offended about their movie aging badly: A generation later, they're working on a sequel.

Wedding Crashers (2005)

The Wedding Crashers revolves around the main characters (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) deceiving women in order to sleep with them. There's also a bit about a gay son who is basically a sexual predator.

Sure, the guys get their comeuppance and learn to change their scamming ways. But we're still asked to root for them — what a couple of scoundrels! — until the turnaround.

As star Isla Fischer told the Herald Sun: "'I'm not sure that a Wedding Crashers sequel would work in the Time's Up movement."

Knocked Up (2007)

Knocked Up, one of the biggest hits of all 2000s comedies, follows Seth Rogen as a fairly unmotivated guy whose hookup with a Type A TV journalist (Katherine Heigl) leads to an unexpected pregnancy. They opt to try to make it as parents.

There are crass jokes all over the place, but that's not the issue. Heigl said in a 2008 Vanity Fair interview that she found the film "a little bit sexist" because it "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight," while the men are "lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys."

She also said “it exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a b----; why is she being such a killjoy?”

Rogen told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 that he felt "betrayed" by her comments, and writer-director Judd Apatow said in 2009 on Howard Stern that he expected to get an apology from Heigl that never came.

Shallow Hal (2001)

Shallow Hal is a big fat joke that even one of its stars, Gwyneth Paltrow, has criticized in retrospect. It's about a man named Hal (Jack Black) who falls under a spell that causes him to only see a woman's inner beauty.

As a result, many conventionally attractive but cruel women appear fat, while the kindly but heavyset Rosemary (Paltrow in a fat suit) appears lithe and flawless. The internal logic of the movie is that skinny is better.

It's also easy to be offended at the notion that larger women would throw themselves at the average and shallow Hal if only he would pay them the slightest bit of attention. It turns up often on lists of 2000s comedies that didn't age well.

Brüno (2009)

With same-sex issue a big and divisive issue in the 2004 presidential campaign — and its long-overdue 2015 legalization very much on the horizon — the 2000s were a very big decade for jokes about gay panic.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat followup sets out to lampoon homophobia the same way Borat mocked xenophobia — he plays a charater who is so silly and lacking self-aware that the unsuspecting real people he entraps feel free to let down their guard and say incredibly ignorant things.

But Brüno is such an exaggerated and stereotypical character — as well as an inconsiderate buffoon, sexuality aside — that's it's easy to understand why he often freaks people out. Are they always offended by his being gay? Or perhaps by his frequent rude-at-best attempts to cross their boundaries?

Which isn't to say Brüno isn't funny. Every once in a while he finds the perfect target and executes his points perfectly. We think often of the ridiculous self-defense scene and the showstopping line, "How do you defend yourself against the man with two d-----s?

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)

The whole point of Chuck and Larry is to dance around dicey issues, and it delivers.

Released before the aforementioned 2015 Supreme Court decision that made same-sex marriage the law nationwide, it's the story of two New York firefighters, Chuck (Adam Sandler) and Larry (Kevin James) who pretend to be gay so that Larry's children can be beneficiaries of his life insurance policy. (Just go with it.)

Things get tricky when Chuck falls for their lawyer, Alex (Jessica Biel) and gains her trust under the falsehood that he's gay. And the gay panic jokes galore — were ubiquitous and risque in 2000s comedies — just seem dated now.

Liked This List of Shameless 2000s Comedy Movies That Don't Care If You're Offended?

You might also like 12 Poppin’ 2000s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember or this list of Shameless '90s Comedies That Don't Care If You're Offended.

Main image: I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Universal Pictures.

Think we missed one? Let us know.

Here we go.

John Tucker Must Die (2006)

This movie is absolutely a product of its time. Beneath a thinly veiled attempt at criticizing womanizer character John Tucker, the movie really serves more to glamorize him and make him out to be cool for dating so many women at the same time.

I understand that the movie is supposed to be about women teaming up together to defeat a common enemy, which is nice, but there is wayyyy too much sexualization of high school aged girls in this movie.

However, it does barely squeak past the Bechdel test, which is requires three things to pass: 1. It has to have two (named) female characters who 2. talk to each other 3. about something other than a man.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)

Whew — where to begin? We all love Adam Sandler, but this movie has a lot of elements that would never be accepted today.

To name a few, two straight men pretending to be gay in order to abuse the system is problematic for obvious reasons, and the countless gay jokes aren't funny anymore by today's standards; Rob Schneider in yellow face; Sandler's character acting predatory towards Jessica Biel's character, who trusts him because she thinks he's gay, when in reality, he's ogling her.

Waiting... (2005)

Let's start with this line: "Hey there Natasha, how's my favorite minor doing today?" Ryan Reynolds' character asks a hostess. "I'm only a minor for another week," she says.

Let that give you a taste of the sexism, homophobia, and misogyny in this movie. While it has its funny moments that many who have worked in the restaurant industry will find relatable, there are a shocking amount of jokes and scenes about sexual harassing women at work, pursuing minors sexually, and using foul words like the F slur that we won't repeat here.

This 2000s movie has not aged well at all.

What Women Want (2000)

This movie isn't as outright problematic as some others on this list, but it still has some very outdated ideas about women.

The plot revolves around Mel Gisbon's character, a suave and successful man who magically gets the power to hear women's thoughts. He soon realizes that virtually all the women in his life can see right through him, and don't find him as charming as he thinks he is. However, there are some lame bits, like the scene in which the entire joke just the fact that Mel Gibson is wearing pantyhose. Now that gender fluidity and dressing in drag is much more accepted in society, these parts fall flat.

Gibson's character is also way too easily forgiven by the women in his life, including by his daughter, who views him as an absentee father until he shows up to her prom one single time to help her, as if that makes him some kind of hero.

The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)

This movie is beloved by many, but watching it again, you might notice that a lot of the jokes have not aged well. Revolving around Steve Carrell's character Andy, who has never had sex at the age of 40, the film revolves around his friend's attempts to help him lose his virginity.

There are jokes about women not being able to drive, a lot of misogynistic remarks, and even a problematic scene where Catherine Keener's character Trish gets angry when Steve Carrell's character Andy refuses to have sex with her. Yes, we know, it's a comedy classic — but there are a lot of parts that just aren't as funny as they used to be.

Bring It On (2000)

It only takes about 10 seconds of watching just the trailer for this movie to see that it's all about sexualizing teenagers. It also uses the R-slur and a big plot point about white cheerleaders stealing Black cheerleaders' work.

Though it's considered a classic teen movie, you could never have a scene today with a high school cheerleader going topless at a football game and call it comedy.

The Hangover (2009)

Another comedy classic that has some scenes that are really uncool today. Perhaps the worst is the scene that revolves around Ed Helms' character being disgusted when he finds out that the sex worker he had a relationship with is actually a trans woman.

Helms and Bradley Cooper's characters make a big show of being grossed out when the realize that Yasmin Lee's character Kimmy is actually a trans woman. Now, this scene is really hard to watch.

Wedding Crashers (2005)

Much of the plot of Wedding Crashers revolves around the main characters lying to and deceiving women in order to sleep with them. There's a racist grandmother, sex that is not consensual, and jokes about gay men being predators.

Even Isla Fisher, who has a role in the movie as a virgin who becomes obsessed with Vince Vaughn's character after they sleep together (also unfunny), told the Herald Sun: "'I'm not sure that a Wedding Crashers sequel would work in the Time's Up movement."

Crash (2004)

One could argue that this one never aged well to begin with, but it did win the best picture Oscar over Broke Back Mountain. It's since been criticized for its shallow take on racial issues.

The main complaint is that Crash presents the idea that racism can be cured and absolves white characters of their horrible past too easily, like Matt Dillon's police officer character who assaults Thandiwe Newton's character but is forgiven later because he saves her from a burning car.

There's also the scene when Sandra Bullock's racist character is seemingly absolved because she falls down a flight of stairs, and also decides to be nice to a Latina maid — as if that makes all the problematic things she did before somehow okay.

Knocked Up (2007)

The plot of Knocked Up follows Seth Rogen as a loser-type who sleeps with Katherine Heigl's hard-working TV journalist character. When she gets pregnant, they decide to try to stay together and be co-parents.

But Heigl doesn't feel that the film was fair to women. She notably said in a 2008 Vanity Fair interview that she found the film "a little bit sexist" because it "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys."

She also said “it exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy?”

Her co-star Seth Rogen and director Judd Apatow seem to disagree, however. Rogen told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 that he felt "betrayed" by her comments, and director Judd Apatow said in 2009 on Howard Stern that he expected to get an apology from Heigl that never came.

Shallow Hal (2001)

This movie is one giant fat joke, and it's been widely criticized for that, including by star Gwyneth Paltrow, who wore a fat suit for it. She called acting in the film a "disaster," and its easy to see why when you consider the plot of this film. Jack Black's character Hal is put under a spell that allows him to see only women's "inner beauty", causing conventionally attractive but mean-hearted women to appear fat but kindhearted women to appear thin, and therefore, by this movie's standards, beautiful. 

That carries with it the mistaken implication that thinness goes hand in hand with good qualities like kindness, while fatness is synonymous with bad qualities. Hal starts dating Paltrow's character, Rosemary, who is, in reality, fat, but who appears thin only to him.

Further fat-shaming in the film includes but is not limited to: a scene when Jason Alexander's character tries to "rescue" Hal from speaking to fat women at a club; referring to Rosemary as a "rhino"; a scene in which Rosemary jumps into a pool causes a splash so large that it cast a small child into a tree. We rest our case.

Liked This List of 2000s Movies That Didn't Age Well?

You might also like 12 Poppin’ 2000s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember

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Main image: Bring It On. Universal Pictures

We saw almost all of them in theaters. Of course these things are subjective, so please let us know if you think we missed something.

And now, onto the '90s movies.

Kids (1995)

It's hard to oversell how worked up some people were about Kids in 1995, because of how bluntly the film portrayed sex and drugs.

It's a rarity among coming-of-age '90s movies in that it isn't focused on a high school — because its characters spend all their time on the street, in parks, in bodegas, in houses where parents aren't home, doing things they shouldn't be doing.

Directed by Larry Clark, and written by Harmony Korine when he was barely older than his teenage subjects, Kids helped launch the career of two of the most iconic Gen X actresses, Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson (above). It also has one of the most excellent soundtracks ever, anchored by Folk Implosion's "Natural One."

By the way, that thing Chloe Sevigny is using in the photo? That's a public phone. People used to scrounge for change for the privilege of sharing a dirty phone. Whenever people tell you everything was better in the '90s, consider that this was a common method of contacting your friends.

Pump Up the Volume (1990)

Christian Slater plays a pre-internet edgelord who uses a pirate radio station to vent his teen angst and play some cool rebellious music.

LIving in a Phoenix suburb, he's known by day as Mark, a bookish high school student who struggles to make friends. But at night, he becomes Hard Harry, a kind of Gen X shock jock who rails against parental hypocrisy and unleashes the full fury of... Leonard Cohen?

That musical selection is one of many tip-offs that Harry is secretly a sensitive soul, driven more by sadness than rage. Pump Up the Volume is one of the most fascinating '90s movies because it felt almost instantly dated once the internet came into wide use — no one needed a pirate radio signal anymore to share their uncensored thoughts.

But it's hard not to see a blueprint for our modern lives, in which we sometimes behave one way in the real world, and another online.

Freeway (1996)

If you think of Reese Witherspoon mostly as a producer-star of inoffensive rom-coms family dramas, go see Freeway, and buckle in. A very dark, very '90s retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, it's one of our favorite mostly forgotten '90s dark comedies — and the '90s was maybe the best decade for dark comedies.

Witherspoon plays an illiterate runaway, fleeing from the authorities after the arrest of her sex worker mom and abusive stepdad, who somehow lands in an even worse situation when she accepts a ride on her way to her grandmother's house. She's been targeted, it turns out, by Big Bad Wolf, aka Bob Wolverton, a creep played by a vanity-free Kiefer Sutherland.

Their loaded supporting cast includes Den Hedaya, Amanda Plummer, Brooke Shields, Bokeem Woodbine and Brittany Murphy. Wow.

It was produced by Oliver Stone, because of course it was.

Also Read: 12 Shameless '90s Comedies That Just Don't Care If You're Offended

Can't Hardly Wait (1998)

Is Can't Hardly Wait a Gen X movie, or millennial movie? It's stacked with Gen X rising or soon-to-be stars, including Ethan Embry, Lauren Ambrose, Seth Green, Melissa Joan Hart and of course Jennifer Love Hewitt (above), who anchors the whole thing.

And while the soundtrack is very Gen X — it's named for a Replacements song, and features showstopping needle drops by Run-DMC and Guns N Roses — the characters are right on the blurry line between two generations, at the end of a relatively carefree decades for suburban teens. They don't know it, but they're about to enter a much scarier decade and world.

It's one of the most breezy and fun '90s movies, taking its cues from '80s teen movies. But it's also fascinating. We think about Can't Hardly Wait all the time when we think about the years when you're relatively free of responsibility, and all the problems you make for yourself as you set out into the world.

Its writers-directors, Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, also made a terrific Gen X satire that's on our list of Smart Movies Disguised as Dumb Movies.

Dazed and Confused (1993)

A similar question: Is Dazed and Confused a Baby Boomer movie? Or a Gen X movie? It's stacked with Gen X actors, from Ben Affleck to Parker Posey to Matthew McConaughey, but is set on the last day of school in 1976, arguably Baby Boomer territory.

Richard Linklater, who wrote and directed the film, was inspired by his own Texas youth. Born in 1960, and a Gen X icon since the news media seized on his 1990 film Slacker to help define a generation, he isn't sure what generation he falls into.

"We called oursvelves Busters," Linklater told MovieMaker in 2022. "We were the end of the boom, beginning of Gen X."

Whatever the case, he took the wisdom of the past and the energy of the future to make a timeless movie that resonates across decades. McConaughey's reprehensible but hilarious line about high school students perfectly captures the paradox of movies: We get older, the movies that raised us stay the same.

Hangin' With the Homeboys (1991)

A lot of '90s movies present an America that is mostly white, suburban, and affluent. The main characters of Hangin' With the Homeboys are well outside that demo, and the film provided a fun, smart, endearing look at a quartet of four young men from the Bronx, two Black and two Puerto Rican, who go looking for a night of fun and end up confronting their futures.

Directed by Joseph Vasquez, it has a light touch and a stellar cast including Mario Joyner, Doug E. Doug, Nestor Serrano and John Leguizamo. Critically acclaimed, it missed with audiences but later got plenty of VHS play.

Quentin Tarantino has said one of the best things about Dazed and Confused is that you feel like you're hanging out with the characters, and that's very true of Hangin' With the Homeboys, too.

Election (1999)

There was something incredibly funny and profound about seeing Ferris Bueller himself, Matthew Broderick, turn into one of those teachers Ferris tormented. Adding to the joys of Election is that he isn't bedeviled by a slacker or rebel, but by the most type A of achievers, Tracy Flick, played to perfection by Reese Witherspoon.

Election is one of those high school movies we're almost everyone is smarter than they let on and no one is as nice, or naive, as they seem. Is it possible to make a movie that feels as dark as actual high school? Director Alexander Payne, working off the novel by Tom Perrotta, proved it was very possible.

We're also very excited for the adaptation of Perrotta's 2022 election sequel, Tracy Flick Can't Win, a novel that found the now-adult Flick in the unenviable position of high school administrator.

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

"You can do that?" was the frequent reaction to Baz Luhrmann's brazenly 90s — but surprisingly faithful — adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Dispensing with old costumes and settings to put his star-crossed lovers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) in hyper-modern (for the time) Verona Beach, he made the bold and daring decision to barely touch The Bard's dialogue. Or, even more daringly, to go for long stretches without it.

Thanks to the music of Des'ree, The Cardigans, and many more, this is an utterly intoxicating movie, especially if you happened to be a 90s teenager in love. Not every song still works, but the ones that do — most notably Des'ree's "Kissing You" — really do.

Empire Records (1995)

The story of a record store perhaps on the brink of sale to a corporate chain, Empire Records is a time capsule of a time when "selling out" was recognized as a bad thing. It boasted an irresistible cast, including Ethan Embry, Debi Mazar, Rory Cochrane, Renée Zellweger, and Liv Tyler, as well as an even more irresistible song in Edwyn Collin's '60s/'90s mashup "A Girl Like You."

It failed miserably at the box office — Variety brutally called it "a soundtrack in search of a movie" — but has since become a cult classic. Sometimes a soundtrack (and a bevy of future stars) is enough. Is it a '90s movie that was too true to itself? Or one of those '90s movies that felt too in the zeitgeist?

Also, for people who weren't around in the 90s: "Selling out" was the concept of abandoning the things that made you or your art cool in order to make money. It's what we're doing at this very moment by writing photo galleries instead of making four-track demos in our bedroom.

Cruel Intentions (1999)

At a time when 18-year-olds are routinely infantilized, this movie feels like all kinds of wrong — but we love it. What sick genius thought of remaking Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses with a bunch of high schoolers?

The credit goes to Gen X writer-director Roger Kumble, who gave a clearinghouse of Gen X actors – notably Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Selma Blair — their first shot at darker, more grown-up roles. (Reese Witherspoon was already an old hand at this thing, having broken out with the aforementioned Freeway.)

The movie artfully manages to be extremely dirty without being explicit, a smart line-trading given that it was targeted at people the same age as the characters.

And it inspired a 2024 revamp, because of course it did.

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)

Speaking of lines: Todd Solondz seems to live for laying down challenges some audiences will just refuse to cross, and his indie classic Welcome to the Dollhouse was one of the first to make that clear. (At one point the movies title was F-----s and R-----s, two words everyone who was every on an elementary-school playground in the 1980s heard an awful lot.)

Another product of the '90s movies indie boom, Welcome to the Dollhouse was the breakout for Heather Matarazzo, who plays the unpopular Dawn "Wiener Dog" Wiener, a girl so desperate for contact she agrees to meet up with another kid who threatens to assault her. Things only get darker from there.

But Solondz's next film, the stunning Happiness, went even further.

The Craft (1996)

Teeming with style and a don't-talk-about-it-just-do-it brand of girl power, The Craft became a surprise 1996 hit, even if it paled in cultural impact to the other big 1996 Neve Campbell high school horror movie, Scream.

A sequel to The Craft came and went in 2020, which wasn't, let's be honest, the best year to release a movie. But the original still holds up spectacularly, especially its blunt, ahead-of-its time take on bullying.

The cast, meanwhile, is spectacular, including Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, Rachel True, Christine Taylor and Campbell's Scream castmate, Skeet Ulrich. Just watch it. It's one of the teen '90s movies that holds up the best.

Wild Things (1998)

A delightfully twisty high school noir with as many dark surprises as a swamp, the Florida-set Wild Things features Denise Richards and Neve Campbell as very different high school students who get involved in a very complex situation we don't want to reveal too much about here.

It flirts with being exactly the right kind of exploitive trash, but it's equal opportunity exploitive thanks to a wonderfully gratuitous scene involving Kevin Bacon.

The stellar cast also includes Matt Dillon and Bill Murray. Some people may clutch your pearls throughout Wild Things, but no one will be able to deny being shockingly entertained.

If you liked this list, you might also like this list of Gen X Movie Stars Gone Too Soon or this list of 80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember.

And we'd love for you to follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: Dazed and Confused. Gramercy Pictures.

Yes, we know what you're thinking: How can anyone narrow it down to just seven?

We did our best, and came up with the following.

7. Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story (2023)

Try as we might, we can't find a better movie title than that of the ripped-from-the-headlines Lifetime film Amish Stud, which is drawn from the screen name that Eli Weaver (Luke Macfarlane) used to meet women in chatrooms.

The film follows the wayward Eli as he plots with his mistress to murder his wife, to the horror of his conservative Amish community, which is strongly opposed to using the internet, and more specifically using the internet for online dating, and especially to using the internet for online dating that leads to the murder of one's spouse.

The movie has its sexy moments before the killing.

6. Sex Drive (2008)

Sex Drive seems like one of those Old Hollywood classics in which they thought of the title first and built the movie around it. And what a movie.

The plot concerns a young man named Ian (Josh Zuckerman) who meets a woman online (don't worry, he's not Amish, no rules are broken yet) and embarks on a long road trip to meet her. He's joined by his best friends Lance (Clark Duke) and Felicia (Amanda Crew, a perfect Cute Brunette Friend in an '80s Movie, except in a 2000s movie.)

The sexy Amish stuff comes into play when the gang has car trouble, and a sarcastic Amish guy named Ezekiel (Seth Green, great as always) provides some help. Lance soon meets an Amish girl named Mary (Alice Greczyn).

But here's the twist: When Lance learns that his dalliance with Mary could lead to her being shunned, Lance chooses to stay with her, and they marry. Lance sports an Amish beard at the end, strongly suggesting that he has adopted Mary's way of life. And so this sex drive turns out to be a love drive.

It's not only one of the sexiest movies about the Amish, but also one of the most pro-Amish.

5. Amish Affair (2024)

Not content to rest on the laurels of Amish Stud, Lifetime delved back into the Amish erotic thriller subgenre with another ripped-from-the-headlines bodice ripper, Amish Affair.

The film tracks the passionate barnyard trysts between Hannah (Mackenzie Cardwell) and Amish also-stud Aaron (Ryan McPartlin) after he welcomes her into his home to help with his ailing (and inconvenient) wife.

Lines are crossed, questions are raised, and, as so often happens in these situations, rat poison is dispensed.

This Lifetime original received a mostly positive reception, though one YouTube user commented, "OMG! We Amish are so not like this! LOL." It was probably Eli Weaver.

4. Deadly Blessing (1981)

We know, we know: Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing, as everyone remembers, isn't technically about the Amish. It's about the Hittites, a very Amish-like sect. (WesCraven.com notes that the film "is set in Amish Country, at a local farm, where a woman's husband is mysteriously killed by his own tractor!")

But the Hittite stuff feels like a fig leaf covering up the fact that the sect is intended as an obvious stand-in for the Amish. This slasher film, which landed between the early mayhem of Craven classics like Last House on the Left and the commercial success of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, relies heavily on the appeal of its scantily clad actresses (including Sharon Stone in an early role) as they deal with an evil incubus. (Though really, is there any other kind?)

There's lots of Biblical imagery, including an icky scene with a snake in a bathtub. It combines titillation and terror, in classic slasher tradition, but with some religious extremism thrown in. We can understand why the Amish probably wouldn't want to be connected with it, and its ickier aspects explain why it's only fourth on this list.

Also: Stone grew up in a part of Pennsylvania not far from Amish country, which makes us like Deadly Blessing more.

3. The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)

Though it's set in the 1920s, you can really feel the '60s swinging through The Night They Raided Minsky's, one of many films that had fun with the changing sexual mores of the year that followed the Summer of Love. Minsky's was also one of the first films to pit the plain Amish against the constant temptations of the outside world.

A pure romp, the film follows Britt Eckland as Rachel Schpitendavel, a young Amish woman hoping to make it in New York City with dance numbers inspired by the Bible. Through a series of complicated events, she ends up performing her chaste numbers at a burlesque show. When her furious Amish father tries to drag her offstage, ripping her clothes, she accidentally invents a new kind of entertainment.

The people involved in The Night They Raided Minsky's are A-list all the way, and include producer Norman Mailer, director William Friedkin (who would go on to direct The Exorcist), and actors Jason Robards, Elliott Gould and Denholm Elliott. The latter would go on to appear in two Indiana Jones films with a gentleman who stars in the next film on our list.

2. Witness (1985)

A basically perfect movie, Witness is rather chaste by the standards of the sexiest movies about the Amish. Of course it wasn't the first film to juxtapose the plain lifestyle of the Amish with the sultriness of the big city, but it is one of the first to do it with respect.

There's a passionate, beautifully shot makeout scene between Rachel (Kelly McGillis) and Philadelphia cop John Book (Harrison Ford) before the big fight with the English who come to invade Rachel's idyllic community to get her son, Samuel (Lucas Haas), who has witnessed a murder. The scene is as effective as it is because of the restraint leading up to it: John and Rachel's silent assignation is naturalistic, cathartic and entirely convincing.

Witness follows a lot of Hollywood tropes — the fish out of water, the mismatched lovers — and yet it works completely because everyone, from Ford to McGillis to director Peter Weir, commits and tries to give the Amish depth and dignity, instead of just treating them as comic foils.

But this isn't a list of the best movies about the Amish — it's a list of the sexiest movies about the Amish. Which brings us to No. 1 on our list.

1. Kingpin (1996)

For our money, Kingpin is one of the funniest Farrelly brothers films, and has a proud spot on our list of '90s Comedies That Just Don't Care If You're Offended.

It follows bowling burnout Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) as he attempts to exploit Amish bowling savant Ishmael Boorg (Randy Quaid). But he must compete with Claudia (Vanessa Angel) who uses her considerable wiles to both corrupt and liberate the naive Ishmael. Some of the most memorable scenes in Kingpin come when Claudia uses the aforementioned wiles to help her boys on the bowling circuit by distracting their opponents.

What makes Kingpin so satisfying is how all three main characters, despite their intense differences and flaws, ultimately uplift one another. As in many Farrelly brothers films, the tawdrier parts of life lead to wholesome outcomes.

Liked Our List of the 7 Sexiest Movies About the Amish?

Did we miss one of your favorite sexiest movies about the Amish? Please let us know in the comments.

You may also like this list of 11 Shameless Movies That Glamorize the Devil, including Bedazzled, above, which somehow manages to be one of the sexiest movies around, despite lacking any Amish.

Main image: The Night They Raided Minsky's. United Artists.

Here are 12 behind the scenes images of her on the set of the first 007 film.

Let's go.

But First

Yes, Ursula Andress, who plays Honey Ryder in Dr. No, is preceded onscreen by Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson, left) and Miss Taro (Zena Marshall, above center).

Both make great contributions to the film, but Ryder (Andress, above right) is the much more significant and iconic character.

On the floor, of course, is Sean Connery as James Bond, in a Dr. No publicity photo.

Enter Bearing Shells

Honey Ryder's job is shell diving, and appropriately she enters Dr. No bearing shells.

If her opening costume in the film — a white swimsuit and belt — seems a little revealing, consider that in the Ian Fleming film upon which Dr. No is based, she only wears the belt.

Thanks for your decorum, Dr. No. Though we suspect 1963 censors may also have factored into the decision.

'It Was Going to Be a Low-Budget Flop'

The shells sequence, in which Ryder emerges from the ocean singing "Underneath the Mango Tree" — and Connery's Bond joins in — turned around the expectations for the film.

"‘It was going to be a low-budget flop,’" says Blanche’s son Chris Blackwell, son of Ian Fleming's muse and love, Blanche Blackwell, in the new Nicholas Shakespeare book Ian Fleming: The Complete Man. "It all changed when we watched the rushes of Ursula Andress emerging from the sea."

He added: "It was electrifying. We suddenly felt, 'Gosh, we’ve got a movie.’"

'Shooed Off Like Little Boys'

According to Shakespeare's book, Fleming almost spoiled a take of the iconic beach scene. He was leading two friends on a walk along Laughing Waters — the name of the beach where the scene was filmed — and almost walked into the shot.

Director Terence Young yelled at them to "Lie down!" which they did. Shakespeare writes: "The composer Monty Norman had arrived in Jamaica to write the music and he watched Young shout at them — ‘They were shooed off like little boys.’ Ian and his friends were left lying behind a dune, forgotten, until someone remembered to release them an hour later."

That's Andress with Ian Fleming, above.

'This Bikini Made Me Into a Success'

In addition to boosting Dr. No — thereby launching the 007 franchise — the scene helped Andress' acting career.

She later said: "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr No as the first Bond girl I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent."

She offered the quote after finding the bikini in an attic and putting it up for sale through Christie's in 2001. It fetched over $52,000.

She and the bikini are seen above with Dr. No director Terence Young, center, and Sean Connery.

Language

Andress, who is Swiss, speaks several languages — English, French, German, and Italian — but the producers opted to dub her dialogue with the voice of Nikki van der Zyl and her singing voice with that of Diana Coupland.

She's seen above with Connery and Young.

Chemistry, Raw Chemistry

Of course, she didn't just stand out in a single scene. The publicity photos for Dr. No is the radiant, transcendent chemistry between Connery and Andress. Which was exactly the idea.

"He was very protective towards me, he was adorable, fantastic," Andress said in a 2020 interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera after Connery's death at 90. "He adored women, He was undoubtedly very much a man.''

'My First Film and Maybe My Last'

Andress told Corriere della Sera that when she joined the film, “I didn't know Sean, and I thought it would be my first film and maybe my last.

"But instead it took off, the chemistry between us worked and it was the perfect combination.”

At Sea

She added in the Corriere della Sera story : “We spent many evenings together and he would invite me everywhere, Monte Carlo, London, New York, from when we met until now we always remained friends. Friends, friends.'"

She was married to John Derek during the filming of Dr. No.

More Andress and Sean Connery on the Dr. No Set

The actors show off their athleticism and chemistry while frolicking on a Jamaican beach during filming.

Nice work if you can get it.

Ursula Andress and Sean Connery in 'A Very Small Budget Production'

Did they have any idea people would be watching their movie and writing about them, more than 60 years later? Or did it just seem like a fun, beachy spy thriller? You have to wonder.

 ''It was a very small budget production and I agreed to do it thinking not many people would see it," Andress told Corriere della Sera.

More Connery and Andress

Andress won the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year in 1964 for her appearance in Dr. No.

The next year, Andress, who is now 88, appeared opposite another icon, Elvis Presley, in Fun in Acapulco.

She would later go on to star in films including 4 for Texas (1963), She (1965), The Southern Star , The Fifth Musketeer (1979), Clash of the Titans (1981) and more.

More Bond

But she wasn't completely done with Bond. In 1967, she starred as Vesper Lind opposite David Niven, playing the "original" James Bond, in the spy parody Casino Royale, based on the first Ian Fleming book about 007.

The book, of course, was also the basis for a much more serious Bond film, starring Daniel Craig as Bond and Eva Green as Vesper Lind. 

Liked These 12 Ursula Andress in Dr. No Behind the Scenes Photos?

You might also like this excerpt from Ian Fleming's excellent Ian Fleming biography about casting Connery as Bond, or this list of 10 Gen X Movie Stars Gone Too Soon.

Main image: Dr. No. All photos from the United Artists 1962 publicity campaign for the film.

Editor's Note: Corrects formatting and main image.

Also: These aren't the sweetest or most romantic or most important comedies — but they are, for our money, the funniest comedies. The ones that really made us laugh, and weren't out to save the world.

Here we go.

The Jerk (1979)

Steve Martin’s character in The Jerk isn’t really a jerk at all — sweet-natured and naive Navin Johnson is one of the most lovable protagonists we’ve ever seen, even when he becomes a bigshot.

One could argue that all of The Jerk is just a setup to the kung-fu smackdown that occurs when some nefarious real estate developers loop Navin into their racist business plan. His screamed reaction is politically incorrect and passionately anti-racist at the same time — totally cathartic and naive and beautiful. We love this movie.

We also love The Jerk for finding room for an extended, pointless stretch that features the line, “I’ve heard about this — cat juggling!”

Airplane (1980)

“Oh stewardess? I speak jive,” says Barbara Billingsley in one of the millions of absurdist, anarchic jokes in this parody of disaster movies that plays every situation, no matter how impossible, completely straight.

No other movie has a higher jokes-per-minute ratio, and most of them are good. Some are absolutely brilliant.

This belongs near the top of any list of the funniest comedies.

Top Secret! (1984)

David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker followed up their massive hit Airplane! with this very strange comedies that is a parody between a cross between an Elvis movie and a war movie. Even Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker consider it a bit of a misfire — there aren’t many jokes at the beginning, and you can’t blame audiences for not understanding what exactly is being satirized.

But the setup is just an excuse for a series of absolutely brilliant sight gags, like the backwards library scene, the moving train station scene, and the tunnel gag. The more you like esoteric and obscure jokes (sorry, Ford Pinto) the more you’ll like Top Secret! This is a movie where you need to constantly watch the background, because there’s almost definitely something ridiculous happening.

We also love the songs, and Val Kilmer’s outstanding performance as the American singer Nick Rivers — though he has said that when he made the movie, he was a little embarrassed to be making something so silly.

One of the things that makes us consider this one of the funniest comedies is that so many people will never get it.

Coming to America (1988)

A spectacular display of Eddie Murphy’s talents, Coming to America comes for everybody of every demographic, and heaven help you if you can’t take a joke. Murphy’s Prince Akeem plays straightman, mostly, to a cavalcade of self-owning weirdos.

The movie presents a version of New York where almost everyone is a scammer on some level — freeing up Murphy and Arsenio Hall to play a barrage of questionable characters.

But the movie has a good heart: Akeem has a fundamental decency whether living the life of a rich man or poor man, and his desire for a true partner keeps us invested through all the lunacy. It’s one of the funniest comedies and one of the most thoughtful.

Best in Show (2000)

Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap, in which Christopher Guest was one of the stars, introduced the rich comic power of the documentary format, but Guest’s 1996 Waiting for Guffman is the movie that made it so ubiquitous for the next decade.

We could have put a lot of Christopher Guest movies on this list, but we gave the edge to Best in Show because of Jennifer Coolidge’s monologue about talking or not talking for hours.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

We had to get Monty Python in here somewhere. This sendup of Arthurian legend films is packed with silliness disguised as intense seriousness, a Python specialty.

It also marks the directorial debut of Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, who shared directorial duties — a practice that seems to lend itself to great comedy movies, as the number of co-directed films on this list will hopefully illustrate.

We love the Trojan Rabbit, the Knights Who Say “Ni!,” the coconuts, the French Taunter, and especially Eric Idle (above) saying “Message for your, sir!”

There’s Something About Mary (1998)

Our favorite of the many funny Farrelly Brothers comedy movies is built around Cameron Diaz as the magnetic Mary, whose kindness, cool and beauty make her the obsession of almost every man she meets.

But the one we’re all rooting for is Ben Stiller’s Ted, who survives a harrowing high-school dance disaster involving franks and beans to remain Mary’s most devoted admirer.

The Farrellys once told screenwriter William Goldman that while some people think that bathroom scene is the one that makes audiences root for Ted, they think it’s actually his decision to seek out Mary even after Matt Dillon’s shady P.I., Pat Healy, has lied that she’s living a depressing life.

Also, the hair gel scene (above).

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

We laughed very, very hard through this movie as we watched it in a theater one night with zero expectations. Its total commitment to self-serious lunacy immediately won us over.

Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is the only reasonable human being in a San Diego news media chock-full of blowhards and buffoons, none more ridiculous than Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy. Standout scenes include the teleprompter showdown, the jazz flute scene, Baxter talking to a bear, and of course the news anchor rumble.

But our single favorite scene may be Brian Fanta (Paul Rudd) musking up. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

One of the things we most respect about this Mel Brooks comedy is how hard it kicked open the door for many of the other comedies on this list.

Packed with jokes that would never fly in a modern comedy movie, it tells the story of a Black sheriff (Cleavon Little) trying to protect a town full of people whom his friend the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder, right) describes as “simple farmers… people of the land, the common clay of the New West. You know: morons.”

Co-written by Richard Pryor, it’s a smart mockery of bigotry. And the whole thing is worth watching just to see Mongo punch a horse.

Tommy Boy (1996)

Chris Farley and David Space established themselves as one of our favorite comedy movie duos before Farley’s death cut short their partnership after just two movies — Tommy Boy and the also-funny Black Sheep.

Farley’s earnest sweetness and Spade’s wry cynicism make for a perfect road trip movie filled with jokes we think about every day — fat guy in a little coat, “Why I suck as a salesman,” and “what’d you do?”” especially.

And we couldn’t relate more to the scene that ends with Farley and Spade crying along to the Carpenters’ “Superstar.” We love this movie.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

We love the weirdness of Mike Myers’ time-traveling, swinging ’60s spy movie satire: Austin Powers is a gloriously ridiculous character, and the movie is basically a joke delivery system for Myers’ observations about such arcane subjects as henchmen and maneuvering tight parking spaces.

What makes the whole movie work is the excellent Elizabeth Hurley as Austin’s extremely competent modern-day partner Vanessa Kensington. But we’re also all in on the many stupid puns, goofy visual gags, and Dr. Evil demanding the shocking sum of one millllion dollars.

One of our criteria for funniest comedies is smart-stupid humor, and Austin Powers has it. Yeah baby.

Office Space (1999)

Is there a more quoted movie in the last 25 years than Office Space? Mike Judge’s masterpiece finds Ron Livingston leading an ensemble cast that also includes the outstanding Gary Cole and Jennifer Aniston and steals its central plot from Superman III.

That’s OK — they own it. It’s all just an excuse for fantastic riffs about TPS reports, pieces of flair, bad cases of the Mondays, and your O face. Though it was initially slept on, audiences who watched it on cable or DVR quickly recognizes it as one of the funniest comedies ever made — especially to people who’ve had the misfortune to work in an office.

Mmmm. Yeah.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

We don’t know if we’ve ever laughed harder during a movie than we did during Borat, a savage prank on Americans who foolishly allow themselves to feel superior to the ignorant journalist played by Sacha Baron Cohen.

We love even the throwaway lines: “Not so much,” “king in the castle,” “like a real man.”

And the buying cheese scene that somehow didn’t make it into the movie is one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen.

If you liked this list, you might also like this list of the 13 Strangest Movies We’ve Ever Seen (which could include Top Secret!, now that we think about it.)

And if you have a movie you think should be on our list of the funniest comedies, let us know.

And we invite you to follow us for more stories like this.

Main image: Elizabeth Hurley in Austin Powers, one of the funniest comedies we’ve ever seen.

Editor's Note: Corrects main image and formatting.