The Park Library Logo

Video: Feature Films

Absence of Malice
Staring:
Paul Newman and Sally Field
Director: Sydney Pollack
Genre: Drama, Romance
"Paul Newman plays the son of a long dead Mafia boss who is a simple liquor warehouse owner. Frustrated in his attempt to solve a murder of a union head, a prosecutor leaks a false story that Newman is a target of the investigation, hoping that he will tell them something for protection. As his life begins to unravel, others are hurt by the story. Sally Field, the reporter, is in the clear under the Absence of Malice rule in slander and libel cases. Knowing nothing to trade to the prosecutors, Newman must regain control of his life on different ground."

All the King's Men
Staring:
Broderick Crawford, John Ireland and Sadie Burke
Director: Robert Rossen
Genre: Drama
"All The King's Men is the story of the rise of politician Willie Stark from a rural county seat to the spotlight. Along the way, he loses his initial innocence, and becomes just as corrupt as those who he assaulted before for this characteristic. Also included is the romance between one of his "right hand women" and the up-and-coming journalist who brings Stark to prominence."

All the President's Men
Staring:
Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
"In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. They find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself."

Big Carnival, The
Staring: Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling
Director:
Billy Wilder
Genre:  Dram, Film-Noir
"One of several literary and artistic works based on events surrounding the 1925 entrapment and death of W. Floyd Collins in Sand Cave, Ky."

Birth of a Nation, The
Staring: Lillian Gish, Ralph Lewis and Henry B. Walthall
Directors:
D. W. Griffith
Genre:  Drama, History, War
"Based on a play called "The Clansmen," D.W. Griffith's three-hour Civil War epic traces the development of the Civil War itself, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan through the lives of two families."

Broadcast News
Staring:
William Hurt, Albert Brooks, and Holly Hunter
Director: James L. Brooks
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
"Basket-case network news producer Jane Craig falls for new reporter Tom Grunnick, a pretty boy who represents the trend towards entertainment news she despises. Aaron Altman, a talented but plain correspondent, carries an unrequited torch for Jane. Sparks fly between the three as the network prepares for big changes, and both the news and Jane must decide between style and substance."

Call Northside 777
Staring:
James Stewart
Director: Henry Hathaway
Genre: Film-Noir, Crime, Drama
"In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. O'Neal to look into the case. For some time, O'Neal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong."

Citizen Kane
Staring:
Georgia Backus, Fortunio Bonanova, Sonny Bupp, Ray Collins, Dorothy Comingore
Director: Orson Welles
Genre: Drama, Mystery
"Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance. Love it or hate it, this is the Gold Standard by which all other films are judged."

Deadline U.S.A.
Staring:
Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter and Ed Begley
Director: Richard Brooks
Genre: Drama, Crime
"Ed Hutcheson, tough editor of the New York 'Day', finds that the late owner's heirs are selling the crusading paper to a strictly commercial rival. At first he sees impending unemployment as an opportunity to win back his estranged wife Nora. But when a reporter, pursuing a lead on racketeer Rienzi, is badly beaten, Hutcheson is stung into a full fledged crusade against the gangster, hoping Rienzi can be tied to a woman's murder...in the 3 issues before the end of 'The Day.'"

Day the Earth Caught Fire, The
Staring: Janet Munro, Leo McKern and Edward Judd
Director:
Val Guest
Genre:  Sci-Fi
"In a deserted newsroom Peter Stenning writes the biggest news story the world has ever known: 'Within the next few hours the world will know whether this is the end or another beginning' The combining jolt of nuclear test explosion carried out by the Americans and the Russians has shifted the Earth's orbit and it is now racing towards the sun.  Chaos mounts. But four super bombs exploded simultaneously might halt the catastrophic progress. Will the world be doomed or saved?"

Face in the Crowd, A
Staring:
Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal
Director: Elia Kazan
Genre: Drama
"Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes is a hobo. Discovered by Marcia Jeffries, he will become a very famous TV star. His success gives him more and more power. That power will corrupt him, turning him from a sympathetic singing vagabond into a cynical and power-thirsty egotist."

Foreign Correspondent
Starring: Joel McCrea and Laraine Cay
Genre: Thriller
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
"Johnny Jones is an action reporter on a New York newspaper. The editor appoints him European correspondent because he is fed up with the dry, reports he currently gets. Jones' first assignment is to get the inside story on a secret treaty agreed between two European countries by the famous diplomat, Mr. Van Meer. However things don't go to plan and Jones enlists the help of a young woman to help track down a group of spies."

Front Page, The
Starring: Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
Director: Billy Wilder
Genre:
Comedy
"Hildy Johnson is the top reporter on a Chicago newspaper during the 1930s. Tired of the whole game he's determined to quit his job to get married. His scheming editor, Walter Burns, has other plans though. It's the day before guilty (but insane) murderer, Earl Williams, is due to go to the gallows and Burns tempts Johnson to stay and write the story."

Good Morning Vietnam
Starring: Robin Williams
Director: Barry Levinson
Genre:
Comedy, Drama, War
"A new Disc Jockey is shipped from Crete to Vietnam to bring humor to Armed Forces Radio. He turns the studio on it's ear and becomes wildly popular with the troops but runs afoul of the middle management who think he isn't G.I. enough. While he is off the air, he tries to meet Vietnamese especially girls, and begins to have brushes with the real war that never appears on the radio."

Good Night, and Good Luck
Starring: David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, Jeff Daniels and Robert Downey Jr.
Director: George Clooney
Genre:
Drama, History
"In the early 1950's, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred W. Friendly decided to take a stand and challenge McCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history."

His Girl Friday
Starring: Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
Director: Howard Hawks
Genre:
Comedy
"Editor Walter Burns is about to lose his star reporter and former wife, Hildy, but not without a fight.  The crafty newsman gets Hildy one last big story about murderer Earl Williams, but the plot goes awry as William's friend, the mayor, and his mother get tied up in Walter's tangled web."

Hucksters, The
Staring: Clark Gable and Deborah Kerr
Director:
Jack Conway
Genre:  Drama
"As Victor Norman, Clark Gable plays a returning World War II vet looking for a job with an advertising agency. He succeeds, landing a good position with a nice salary, but soon finds out that ethics and integrity are in short supply in the rarefied world of corporate advertising. With a big soap account on the brink of leaving the ad agency, things get a bit desperate as the agency struggles to hang onto the company's business. They round up a war widow for an endorsement, and their client is temporarily happy, but soon Gable finds the man to be a harsh and demanding taskmaster. This acerbic comedy may seem a little thin by today's standards, but some of the commentary on the gullibility of the American buying public is still pretty fresh half a century later. Sydney Greenstreet excels as the tyrannical, somewhat disgusting head of the soap firm, and Deborah Kerr makes her American screen debut as Gable's war-widow love interest. --Jerry Renshaw"

I Love Trouble
Starring: Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte
Genre: Comedy
Director:
  Charles Shyer
"She's green and eager. He's seasoned and jaded. They're reporters for rival Chicago newspapers assigned to cover the same story. He offers tips and advice; she scoops him. Then, their snappy patter, repartee, and ripostes get romantic even as their competitive juices overflow. Will corrupt scientists at a chemical company whose goats give cancer-causing milk kill the cub and the columnist, or will they escape with their lives and their by-lines to hear wedding bells?"

Junction Boys, The
Staring: Tom Berenger
Directors:
Mike Robe
Genre:  Drama, Sport
"Story of Bear Bryant's first summer as head football coach at Texas A&M. Bear takes his charges out onto the scorched plains and sees who survives."

Keeper of the Flame
Starring: Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn
Genre: Drama
Director:
  George Cukor
"War correspondent stumbles on a little known fact that an honored American war patriot had in fact worked for the Fascists; wife urges writer to expose the facts for history."

Killing Fields, The
Starring: Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor, Craig T. Nelson and John Malkovich
Director: Roland Joffé
Genre:
Drama, History, War
"Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist convering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in."

Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, The
Staring: Angela Winkler, Mario Adorf and Dieter Laser
Directors:
Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta
Genre:  Drama
"Katharina Blum is a young handsome German maid. She meets Ludwig, and they fall in love at once. They spend the night together. In the morning, the police bursts in her flat, looking for Ludwig : he is a terrorist. But he was no longer here. Katharina is arrested, humiliated, suspected to be a terrorist herself, dragged in the mud by the newspapers... A plea for democracy and individual rights."

Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, The
Staring: Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones and Fredric March
Director:
Nunnally Johnson
Genre:  Drama
"An ex-soldier faces ethical questions as he tries to earn enough to support his wife and children well."

Mean Season, The
Staring:
Kurt Russell and Mariel Hemingway
Director: Phillip Borsos
Genre: Crime, Thriller
"Malcolm Anderson is a reporter for a Miami newspaper. He's had enough of reporting the local murders and so promises his school teacher girlfriend (Christine), they'll move away soon. Before Malcolm can hand in his notice, the murderer from his latest article phones him. The murderer tells Malcolm that he's going to kill again. The phone calls and murders continue, soon Malcolm finds that he's not just reporting the story, he is the story."

Medium Cool
Staring:
Robert Forster and Verna Bloom
Director: Haskell Wexler
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
"John Cassellis is the toughest TV-news-reporter around. He becomes an expert in reporting about violence in the ghetto and racial tensions. But he discovers that his network helps the FBI by letting them look at his tapes to find suspects. When he protests he is fired and goes to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago."

Meet John Doe
Staring:
Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck
Director:  Frank Capra
Genre:  Comedy, Drama
"As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed 'John Doe,' who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate 'Doe.' Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up 'John Doe' philosophy starts a whole political movement. At last everyone, even Ann, takes her creation seriously...but publisher D.B. Norton has a secret plan."

Natural, The
Staring:
Robert Redford
Director: Barry Levinson
Genre: Drama, Sport
"An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league in this magical sports fantasy. With the aid of a bat cut from a lightning struck tree, Hobbs lives the fame he should have had earlier when, as a rising pitcher, he is inexplicably shot by a young woman."

Network
Staring:
Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch and Robert Duvall
Director: Sidney Lumet
Genre: Drama
"In 1975 terrorist violence is the stuff of network nightly news programming and the corporate structure of the UBS television network is changing. Meanwhile, Howard Beale, the aging UBS news anchor, has lost his once strong ratings share and so the network fires him. Beale reacts in an unexpected way. We then see how this affects the fortunes of Beale, his coworkers (Max Schumacher and Diana Christensen), and the network."

Newsies
Staring:
Robert Duvall and Ann-Margret
Director: Kenny Ortega
Genre: Musical
"Starring Academy Award winner Robert Duvall and screen favorite Ann-Margret, here's the story of a courageous group of newsboys who become unlikely heroes when they team up to fight an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon.  Determined to make their dreams come true, they find the courage to challenge the powerful!"

Paper, The
Staring:
Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid and Robert Duvall
Director: Ron Howard
Genre: Comedy, Drama
"Henry Hackett is the editor of a New York City tabloid. He is a workaholic who loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. Also, publisher Bernie White faces financial straits, and has hatchetman Alicia Clark, Henry's nemesis, impose unpopular cutbacks. Henry's wife Martha, a hugely pregnant former reporter of his, is fed up because he has so little time for his family. He is therefore considering an offer from Paul Bladden to edit a paper like the New York Times, which would mean more money, shorter hours, more respectability...but might also be a bit boring for his tastes. But a hot story soon confronts Henry with tough decisions."

Pelican Brief, The
Staring:
Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Drama
"Two Supreme Court Justices have been killed. Now a college professor, who clerked for one of the two men, who's also having an affair with one of his students, is given a brief by her, that states who probably, wanted to see these two men dead. He then gives it to one of his friends, who works for the FBI. When the FBI director reads it, he is fascinated by it. One of the preseident's men who read it, is afraid that if it ever got out, the president could be smeared. So, he adivises the president to tell the director to drop it, which he does. But later the professor and the girl were out and he was drunk and when he refused to give her the keys she stepped out of the car. When he started it, it blew up. She then discovers that her place has been burglarized and what was taken were her computer and her disks. Obviously, her brief has someone agitated. She then turns to her boyfriend's friend at the FBI, he agrees to come meet her but before he does someone shoots him and takes his place. At the meeting, he was about to kill her when someone shoots him. She then decides to turn to Gray Grantham, an investigative reporter, who was contacted by someone who says he has info on the killings but backed out at the last minute. He then meets her and tells her what her brief is, and basically, the man she suspects is a good friend of the president, who is trying to manipulate the outcome of a trial that is now before the Supreme Court. Grantham tells her that her brief can harm the president and all what they have are theories, he asks her to help him but she wants to leave the country. When Grantham's editor tells him that they have nothing that he should drop cause the man she implicated is extremely powerful. Grantham's about to drop it when she says that she will help him. But can they stay alive?"

Philadelphia Story, The
Staring:
Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and James Stewart
Director: George Cukor
Genre: Comedy, Romance
"Philadelphia heiress Tracy Lord throws out her playboy husband C.K. Dexter Haven shortly after their marriage. Two years later, Tracy is about to marry respectable George Kittredge whilst Dexter has been working for "Spy" magazine. Dexter arrives at the Lord's mansion the day before the wedding with writer Mike Connor and photographer Liz Imbrie, determined to spoil things."

Scoop
Staring: Denhom Elliot, Nicola Pagett and Michael Maloney
Director:
Gavin Miller
Genre: Comedy, Satire
"The year is 1938 and the approaching thunder of war in the fictional East African country of Ishmaelia is echoed on the front pages of leading Fleet Street newspapers. A case of mistaken identity sends William Boot, a mild-mannered wildlife writer to Ishamaelia as a foreign correspondent. 'Scoop' relates Boot's hilarious escapades as he beats the rest of the press to a world scoop that is emblazoned across the front pages of the 'Daily Beast' and turns Boot into a reluctant hero."

Seabiscuit
Staring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper
Director:
Gary Ross
Genre: Drama, History, Sport
"A half-blind ex-prizefighter (Maguire) and mustang breaker (Cooper) team up with a millionaire (Bridges) and his rough-hewn, undersized horse, Seabiscuit. The men bring Seabiscuit incredible heights, helping him earn Horse of the Year honors in 1938. Based on a true story."

Shattered Glass
Staring:
Hayden Christensen
Director:  Billy Ray
Genre:  Crime, Drama, Thriller
"This film tells the true story of fraudulent Washington, D.C. journalist Stephen Glass (Christensen), who rose to meteoric heights as a young writer in his 20s, becoming a staff writer at "The New Republic" for three years (1995-1998), where 27 of his 41 published stories were either partially or completely made up. Looking for a short cut to fame, Glass concocted sources, quotes and even entire stories, but his deception did not go unnoticed forever, and eventually, his world came crumbling down..."

Silkwood
Staring: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell and Cher
Director:
Mike Nichols
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller
"Fairly accurate recounting of the story of Karen Silkwood, the Oklahoma nuclear-plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate."

Story of G.I. Joe, The
Staring: Robert Mitchum and Burgess Meredith
Director:
William A. Wellman
Genre: Biography, Drama, War
"War correspondent Ernie Pyle joins Company C, 18th Infantry as this American army unit fights its way across North Africa in World War II. He comes to know the soldiers and finds much human interest material for his readers back in the States. Later, he catches up with the unit in Italy and accompanies it through the battles of San Vittorio and Cassino. He learns from its commanding officer, Lt. (later Capt.) Bill Walker of the loneliness of command, and from the individual G.I.'s of the human capacity to survive drudgery, discomfort, and the terror of combat."

Sweet Smell of Success
Staring: Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis
Director:
Alexander Mackendrick
Genre: Drama, Film-Noir
"J.J. Hunsecker, the most powerful newspaper columnist in New York, is determined to prevent his sister from marrying Steve Dallas, a jazz musician. He therefore covertly employs Sidney Falco, a sleazy and unscrupulous press agent, to break up the affair by any means possible."

Under Fire
Staring: Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman and Joanna Cassidy
Director:
Roger Spottiswoode
Genre: Drama, War
"Nicaragua 1979: Star photographer Russel Price covers the civil war against president Somoza. Facing the cruel fighting - people versus army - it's often hard for him to stay neutral. When the Guerillas have him take a picture of the leader Rafael, who's believed to be dead, he gets drawn into the happenings. Together with his reporter friends Claire and Alex he has to hide from the army."

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Staring: Jane Mansfield and Tony Randall
Director:
Frank Tashlin
Genre: Comedy
"When ad copywriter Rock Hunter hears the Stay-Put Lipstick account is leaving for another agency, he gets the bright idea of asking movie star Rita Marlowe to endorse the product.  Known as the 'girl with the kissable lips,' Rita agrees on one condition -- that Rock pretend to be her lover so she can make her boyfriend jealous.  It's just the first of many obstacles Rock faces on his meteoric climb to success."

Year of Living Dangerously, They
Staring: Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver
Director:
Peter Weir
Genre: Romance, Drama, War
"Guy Hamilton is a journalist on his first job as a foreign correspondent. His apparently humdrum assignment to Indonesia soon turns hot as President Sukarno electrifies the populace and frightens foreign powers. Guy soon is the hottest reporter on the story with the help of his photographer, half- Chinese dwarf Billy Kwan, who has gone native. Guy's affair with diplomat Jill Bryant also helps. Eventually Guy must face some major moral choices and the relationship between Billy and him reaches a crisis at the same time the politics of Indonesia does."

Copyright 2003 - The Park Library - School of Journalism and Mass Communication - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill