The Frontier, the Natural World & American Life
by apjrtheme | created - 31 Aug 2011 | updated - 19 Feb 2013 | PublicAmerica has always loved the frontier—and conquering it. What exactly is the frontier? What role does the frontier play in shaping modern American life? What are today’s frontiers and how will they be conquered— or will they be? What are the American and global implications and after‐effects of conquering them? How has our attitude toward the natural world changed in the last 100 years? How do different segments of society prioritize the needs people with the protection of the natural world?
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1. Black Robe (1991)
R | 101 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warring parties and harsh winter conditions.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Aden Young, Sandrine Holt, August Schellenberg
Votes: 7,667 | Gross: $8.21M
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,879 | Gross: $56.95M
3. Blade Runner (1982)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos
Votes: 823,406 | Gross: $32.87M
4. The China Syndrome (1979)
PG | 122 min | Drama, Thriller
A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.
Director: James Bridges | Stars: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady
Votes: 33,050 | Gross: $51.72M
5. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,995
6. The Gold Rush (1925)
Passed | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman
Votes: 118,682 | Gross: $5.45M
7. Grizzly Man (2005)
R | 103 min | Documentary, Biography
A devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Werner Herzog, Carol Dexter
Votes: 61,909 | Gross: $3.17M
8. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
PG | 96 min | Documentary
Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.
Director: Davis Guggenheim | Stars: Al Gore, Billy West, George Bush, George W. Bush
Votes: 85,225 | Gross: $23.81M
9. Little Big Man (1970)
PG-13 | 139 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Native Americans and fighting with General Custer.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam
Votes: 37,908 | Gross: $31.56M
10. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
R | 120 min | Drama, Western
A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, William Devane
Votes: 27,663 | Gross: $8.20M
11. Modern Times (1936)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford
Votes: 259,576 | Gross: $0.16M
12. My Darling Clementine (1946)
Passed | 97 min | Drama, Romance, Western
After their cattle are stolen and their brother murdered, the Earp brothers have a score to settle with the Clanton family.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs
Votes: 25,766
13. October Sky (1999)
PG | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen
Votes: 98,085 | Gross: $32.48M
14. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
PG | 135 min | Drama, Western
Missouri farmer Josey Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George, Bill McKinney
Votes: 79,877 | Gross: $31.80M
15. The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Western
When a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn
Votes: 24,961 | Gross: $1.64M
16. The Right Stuff (1983)
PG | 193 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid
Votes: 65,367 | Gross: $21.50M
17. The River (1984)
PG-13 | 124 min | Drama
A farming family battles severe storms, while taking a valiant stand against a bank foreclosure and a powerful land grabber.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek, Shane Bailey, Becky Jo Lynch
Votes: 7,717 | Gross: $11.49M
18. The Searchers (1956)
Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
An American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond
Votes: 96,338
19. Shane (1953)
Not Rated | 118 min | Drama, Western
A weary gunfighter in 1880s Wyoming begins to envision a quieter life after befriending a homestead family with a young son who idolizes him, but a smoldering range war forces him to act.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde
Votes: 44,161 | Gross: $20.00M
20. Stagecoach (1939)
Passed | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine
Votes: 53,790
21. Thelma & Louise (1991)
R | 130 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Two best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two women escape for the crimes they committed.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen
Votes: 173,289 | Gross: $45.36M
22. There Will Be Blood (2007)
R | 158 min | Drama
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds, Martin Stringer
Votes: 641,402 | Gross: $40.22M
23. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,465 | Gross: $5.01M
24. The Social Network (2010)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara
Votes: 759,061 | Gross: $96.96M
25. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
R | 160 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Robert Ford, who has idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the resurgent gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 192,866 | Gross: $3.90M
26. Avatar (2009)
PG-13 | 162 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez
Votes: 1,386,886 | Gross: $760.51M
27. There Will Be Blood (2007)
R | 158 min | Drama
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds, Martin Stringer
Votes: 641,402 | Gross: $40.22M
28. PressPausePlay (2011)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary, Music
A documentary that explores how the digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way.
Directors: David Dworsky, Victor Köhler | Stars: Apparat, Ólafur Arnalds, Scott Belsky, Robyn Carlsson
Votes: 1,519
29. 127 Hours (2010)
R | 94 min | Biography, Drama
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Sean Bott
Votes: 401,529 | Gross: $18.34M
30. True Grit (2010)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin
Votes: 357,626 | Gross: $171.24M
31. Windfall (2010)
Not Rated | 83 min | Documentary, Drama
Wind power... It's green... It's good... Or is it? Windfall exposes the dark side of wind energy development when the residents of a rural upstate New York town consider going green.
Director: Laura Israel | Stars: Scott Alexander, Frank Bachler, Ron Bailey, Sue Bailey
Votes: 323 | Gross: $0.01M
32. Floored (2009)
Not Rated | 77 min | Documentary
For some people, risking everything is nothing.
Director: James Allen Smith | Stars: Bobby Ansani, Jeff Ansani, Ron Beebe, Chris Felix
Votes: 503
33. Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon (2006)
Not Rated | 72 min | Documentary
A documentary about a rural Oregon timber town and a rift between conservatives and liberals that threatens to put an end to a 40-year-old scholarship plan that pays the college tuition for... See full summary »
Director: Peter Richardson
Votes: 127
34. Something Ventured (2011)
Not Rated | 84 min | Documentary, Biography, History
The story of how a few individuals built an industry that would go on to finance nearly all of the major advancements in technology in the past 50 years with companies such as Atari, Genentech, Apple, Intel and more.
Directors: Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine | Stars: Bill Bowes, Herbert Boyer, Po Bronson, Nolan Bushnell
Votes: 797
35. Revolution OS (2001)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary, Comedy
While Microsoft may be the biggest software company in the world, not every computer user is a fan of their products, or their way of doing business. While Microsoft's Windows became the ... See full summary »
Director: J.T.S. Moore | Stars: Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Eric Raymond, Bruce Perens
Votes: 2,622 | Gross: $0.00M
36. Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip (2003 TV Movie)
TV-G | 107 min | Documentary, Adventure, History
The saga of Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first man to cross the United States by automobile--in 1903!
Director: Ken Burns | Stars: Keith David, Tom Hanks, Adam Arkin, Tom Bodett
Votes: 594
37. Sweetgrass (2009)
Unrated | 101 min | Documentary, Adventure, Western
In the summer of 2003, a group of shepherds took a herd of sheep one final time through the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, in the extreme north-west of the United States. It was a journey ... See full summary »
Directors: Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Votes: 1,106 | Gross: $0.21M
38. Vanishing of the Bees (2009)
Not Rated | 87 min | Documentary, History
This documentary takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee.
Directors: Maryam Henein, George Langworthy | Stars: Elliot Page, Bret Adee, Dennis Cardoza, Henri Clement
Votes: 1,196
39. The Last Mountain (2011)
PG | 95 min | Documentary
A coal mining corporation and a tiny community vie for the last great mountain in Appalachia in a battle for the future of energy that affects us all.
Director: Bill Haney | Stars: Susan Bird, Don Blankenship, Ron Burris, Jenna Bush Hager
Votes: 310 | Gross: $0.12M
40. Man on a Mission: Richard Garriott's Road to the Stars (2010)
Not Rated | 83 min | Documentary
The story of legendary computer game developer Richard Garriott's spaceflight in October 2008.
Director: Mike Woolf | Stars: Sergey Brin, Mike Fincke, Renita Fincke, Helen Garriott
Votes: 133 | Gross: $0.01M
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