Films That Should Be In The National Film Registry
Films For Which I Think I Can Make A Valid Argument That They Are Sufficiently Culturally, Historically &/Or Aesthetically Significant & So Belong In The Registry.
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- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsAndie MacDowellJulianne MooreTim RobbinsThe day-to-day lives of several suburban Los Angeles residents.
- DirectorDesmond NakanoStarsJohn TravoltaHarry BelafonteKelly LynchIn an alternative America where African-Americans and White Americans have reversed cultural roles, a white factory worker kidnaps a black factory owner for dismissing him over perceived disdain.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsPaul NewmanSally FieldBob BalabanWhen a prosecutor leaks to a Miami reporter that a liquor wholesaler is suspected in the murder of a union head, the man's life begins to unravel.
- DirectorJeffrey BloomStarsLouise FletcherVictoria TennantKristy SwansonChildren are hidden away under an attic by their conspiring mother and grandmother.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMeryl StreepBruce WillisGoldie HawnWhen a fading actress learns of an immortality treatment, she sees it as a way to outdo her long-time rival.
- DirectorTodd SolondzStarsJennifer Jason LeighEllen BarkinStephen Adly GuirgisAviva is thirteen, awkward and sensitive. Her mother Joyce is warm and loving, as is her father, Steve, a regular guy who does have a fierce temper from time to time. The film revolves around her family, friends and neighbors.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsWalter MatthauRobert ShawMartin BalsamFour armed men hijack a New York City subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. The city's police are faced with a conundrum: Even if it's paid, how could they get away?
- DirectorStephen ChiodoStarsGrant CramerSuzanne SnyderJohn Allen NelsonAliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsMatthew BroderickReese WitherspoonLoren NelsonA high school teacher meets his match in an over-achieving student politician.
- DirectorBilly RayStarsHayden ChristensenChloë SevignySteve ZahnThe story of a young journalist who fell from grace when it was discovered he fabricated over half of his articles from the publication The New Republic magazine.
- DirectorErle C. KentonStarsCharles LaughtonBela LugosiRichard ArlenA mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsCary GrantPriscilla LaneRaymond MasseyA Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.
- DirectorSteven ShainbergStarsJames SpaderMaggie GyllenhaalJeremy DaviesA young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.
- DirectorJohn Carl BuechlerStarsMichael MoriartyShelley HackNoah HathawayA wicked troll king in search of a mystical ring that will transform him to human form invades a San Francisco apartment complex where a powerful witch lives.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsClint EastwoodPatrick McGoohanRoberts BlossomAlcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
- DirectorEric TillStarsAlan ArkinMariette HartleyMonica ParkerA couple fights for justice to get their injured daughter out of a foster care center.
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsKaren BlackOliver ReedBurgess MeredithA family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsRichard DreyfussJohn CassavetesChristine LahtiKen Harrison is an artist who makes sculptures. One day he is involved in a car accident, and is paralyzed from his neck down. All he can do is talk, and he wants to die. In hospital he make friends with some of the staff, and they support him when he goes to trial to be allowed to die.
- DirectorJosh AronsonStarsJaime Leigh AllenJemma BrahamFreeda CatIf you could make your deaf child hear, would you? Academy Award-nominated Sound and Fury follows the intimate, heart-rending tale of the Artinians, an extended family with deaf and hearing members across three generations. Together they confront a technological device that can help the deaf to hear but may also threaten deaf culture - and their bonds with each other. For Peter Artinian and his wife, both of whom are deaf, a surgical ear implant for their five-year-old daughter Heather means a choice between two worlds - an unfamiliar hearing world and the deaf world, a robust culture in its own right united by a uniquely visual and artistic language. Heather Artinian - precocious, vivacious, and avidly curious about implant surgery - is caught between her deaf parents and her hearing grandparents, as they argue passionately about her future. The debate is sometimes silent, but by no means quiet. When all is done, Sound and Fury speaks volumes about the choices we make and the battles we fight in order to be heard..
- DirectorKirby DickStarsKirby DickKimberly PeirceDarren AronofskyKirby Dick's exposé about the American movie ratings board.
- DirectorPenn JillettePaul ProvenzaStarsGeorge CarlinDon RicklesChris RockOne hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.
- DirectorVincent GalloStarsVincent GalloChristina RicciBen GazzaraAfter being released from prison, Billy is set to visit his parents with his wife, whom he does not actually have. This provokes Billy to act out, as he kidnaps a girl and forces her to act as his wife for the visit.
- DirectorAnthony HarveyStarsGeorge C. ScottJoanne WoodwardJack GilfordIn a Manhattan psychiatric hospital, a man convinced that he is Sherlock Holmes is treated by a female doctor who happens to be named Watson.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsOrson WellesPamela FranklinLee PurcellMr. Cato is the head of a witches' coven in the town of Lilith, where he needs the powers of Lori Brandon to raise his son from the dead.
- DirectorJames FrawleyStarsJoseph BolognaStockard ChanningJohn BeckA nuclear powered bus driving cross-country, from New York City to Colorado, is destined for disaster due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the oil lobby.
- DirectorKen AnnakinAndrew MartonGerd OswaldStarsJohn WayneRobert RyanRichard BurtonThe events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.
- DirectorKurt NeumannStarsDavid HedisonPatricia OwensVincent PriceA scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.
- DirectorIrvin S. Yeaworth Jr.Russell S. Doughten Jr.StarsSteve McQueenAneta CorsautEarl RoweAn alien lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyFredric MarchGene KellyBased on a real-life case in 1925; two great lawyers argue the case for, and against, a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsTom EwellJayne MansfieldEdmond O'BrienA gangster hires a down-and-out press agent to make his airheaded girlfriend a singing star.
- DirectorBoaz DavidsonStarsLawrence MonosonDiane FranklinSteve AntinPizza delivery boy Gary, loudmouth David and hunky Rick are three high school students out to lose their virginity any way they can. Gary falls for transfer student Karen, who gets involved with Rick.
- DirectorSavage Steve HollandStarsJohn CusackDavid Ogden StiersKim DarbyAfter his girlfriend ditches him for a boorish ski jock, Lane decides that suicide is the only answer. However, his increasingly inept attempts bring him only more agony and embarrassment. Filled with the wildest teen nightmares.
- DirectorMichael LehmannStarsWinona RyderChristian SlaterShannen DohertyAt Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.
- DirectorAdrian LyneStarsMichael DouglasGlenn CloseAnne ArcherA married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsMichael DouglasRobert DuvallBarbara HersheyAn ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
- DirectorTed WildeStarsHarold LloydAnn ChristyBert WoodruffHarold "Speedy" Swift, a fan of Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees, saves from extinction the city's last horse-drawn trolley, operated by his girlfriend's grandfather.
- DirectorHerk HarveyStarsCandace HilligossFrances FeistSidney BergerAfter a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.
- DirectorMichael WinnerStarsCharles BronsonHope LangeVincent GardeniaA New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered by street punks. In self-defense, the vengeful man kills muggers on the mean streets after dark.
- DirectorShane CarruthStarsShane CarruthDavid SullivanCasey GoodenFour friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsRutger HauerTerry O'QuinnBrandon CallA blind Vietnam vet, trained as a swordfighter, comes to America and helps to rescue the son of a fellow soldier.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsPeter TorkDavy JonesMicky DolenzThe Monkees frolic their way through a series of musical set pieces and vignettes containing surreal humor and anti-establishment social commentary.
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsDonald SutherlandBrooke AdamsJeff GoldblumWhen strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsCarol BurnettGlenda JacksonJames GarnerA parody and satire of the U.S. political scene of the time, "HealtH" is set at a health-food convention at a Florida luxury hotel, where a powerful political organization is deciding on a new president.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDennis WeaverJacqueline ScottEddie FirestoneA business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsHugh GrantGene HackmanSarah Jessica ParkerA young doctor confronts a famous colleague when he learns about the true methods of his work.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsWoody HarrelsonCourtney LoveEdward NortonThe story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsJennifer Jason LeighStephen LangBurt YoungSet in Brooklyn during the 1950s against a backdrop of union corruption and violence. A prostitute falls in love with one of her customers. Also a disturbed man discovers that he is homosexual.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsPeter WellerNancy AllenDan O'HerlihyIn a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
- DirectorTom MooreStarsSissy SpacekAnne BancroftEd BerkeA mother and daughter spend a night together after the daughter reveals that she will kill herself by the end of it.
- DirectorGlenn Gordon CaronStarsDebra WingerDennis QuaidArliss HowardTwo brothers with the secret power of starting fires with their minds, reunite after years apart, only to find conflict with their differing lifestyles.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsJohn TravoltaNancy AllenJohn LithgowA movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
- DirectorDavid DillehuntStarsStephanie BauderLizzie CieslukJim ClarkeThe first and only feature length documentary about the cult-classic children's television series, 'You Can't Do That on Television.' Featuring interviews with more than two dozen cast and crew members, images, footage, and tons of memorable moments. The slime is back!
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenJanet MargolinMarcel HillaireThe life and times of Virgil Starkwell, inept bank robber.
- DirectorTom RopelewskiStarsRichard AlexanderKirstie AlleyJohn LarroquetteThe luxurious villa of yuppie couple Mark and Jessie Bannister is overrun by loads of uninvited guests who turn the house upside-down and nearly destroy it.
- DirectorDave PowersStarsJohn RitterJoyce DeWittPriscilla BarnesDr Miller, a psychiatrist from the hospital, tells Terri he is stressed out. Terri invites him to dinner at her place to get a break from his patients. Misunderstandings arise when Jack and Janet think he is an escaped mental patient.
- 1959–196425mTV-PG8.1 (2.7K)TV EpisodeDirectorAbner BibermanStarsCollin Wilcox PaxtonRichard LongPamela AustinIn a future society, everyone must undergo an operation at age 19 to become beautiful and conform to society. One young woman desperately wants to hold onto her own identity.
- DirectorBill PlymptonWhy do dogs bark at such innocent creatures as pigeons and squirrels... what are they afraid of? This film answers that eternal question.
- 1979–200426mTV-Y7.6 (35)TV EpisodeDirectorGeoffrey DarbyStarsKevin KubusheskieDarryll LucasLes LyeWith her castmates following an ever-changing stream of fashion trends, Christine manages to remain always a step behind the times.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsBill PullmanCathy TysonZakes MokaeAn anthropologist goes to Haiti after hearing rumors about a drug used by black magic practitioners to turn people into zombies.
- DirectorLarry CharlesStarsBill MaherTal BachmanJonathan BouldenBill Maher's take on the current state of world religion.
- DirectorAlbert LamorisseStarsPascal LamorisseSabine LamorisseGeorges SellierA red balloon with a mind of its own follows a little boy around the streets of Paris.
- DirectorJim WynorskiStarsKelli MaroneyTony O'DellRussell ToddA group of young shopping mall employees stay behind for a late night party in one of the stores. When the mall goes on lock-down before they can get out, the robot security system malfunctions, and goes on a killing spree.
- DirectorStephen SayadianMark S. EspositoStarsAndy NicholsPaul McGibboneyMichelle BauerIn the future, humans are divided into Sex Negatives and Sex Positives. The negatives get sick if they have sex so they go to Cafe Flesh to see positives who are forced to perform on stage for the negatives. Lana is a positive who everyone thinks is a negative and she must decide whether to come clean or not.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsFrederic ForrestTeri GarrRaul JuliaA couple has a fight after living together 5 years in Las Vegas. They go out and celebrate 4th of July, each with a new partner. Breakup?
- DirectorJonathan MostowStarsBruce WillisRadha MitchellVing RhamesSet in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.
- DirectorArchie GottlerStarsMoe HowardLarry FineCurly HowardThe stooges join the "Women Haters" club and vow to have nothing to do with the fair sex. Larry marries a girl anyway and attempts to hide the fact from Moe and Curly as they take a train trip.
- DirectorSteve AndersonStarsDrew CareyBilly ConnollyBill MaherA documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartJohn DallFarley GrangerTwo men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.
- DirectorPeter GodfreyStarsAngela LansburyRaymond BurrDick ForanA lawyer suffers a guilt complex after getting a murder acquittal for his client, and then finding out she did commit the crime.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsMaggie SmithGordon JacksonRobert StephensAn eccentric Scottish schoolteacher's extravagantly romantic ideas about life--and love--overly impress her young pupils and bring her into conflict with her school's conservative headmistress.
- DirectorMarv NewlandBambi is contentedly nibbling the grass, seemingly unaware of his impending encounter with Godzilla. What will happen when the two finally meet?"Bambi Meets Godzilla"
- DirectorMark NeveldineBrian TaylorStarsJason StathamAmy SmartCarlos SanzProfessional assassin Chev Chelios learns his rival has injected him with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsPeter SellersJean SebergWilliam HartnellAn impoverished backward nation declares a war on the United States of America, hoping to lose, but things don't go according to plan.
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsNicole KidmanChristopher EcclestonFionnula FlanaganIn 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.
- DirectorSeth HoltStarsBette DavisWendy CraigJill BennettThere's just something not quite right when Bette Davis stars as an English nanny. And is her 10-year-old charge an emotionally disturbed murderer or just an insolent brat?
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsMel BrooksMarty FeldmanDom DeLuiseA film director and his strange friends struggle to produce the first major silent feature film in forty years.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsHenry WinklerSally FieldHarrison FordA Vietnam veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder breaks out of a VA hospital and goes on a road trip with a sympathetic traveler to start a worm farm in California with his fellow veterans.
- DirectorGary SinyorStarsDavid ArtusKevin FurlongNicholas SelbySpoofs Merchant-Ivory films: Aunt Agnes (Prunella Scales) tries to force Emily (Georgina Cates) to marry boring Cedric Trilling (Robert Portal) by taking her to Italy and India in hopes will forget about handsome George (Sean Pertwee).
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsMel BrooksJohn CandyRick MoranisA star-pilot for hire and his trusty sidekick must come to the rescue of a princess and save Planet Druidia from the clutches of the evil Spaceballs.
- DirectorLee PhilipsStarsLinda BlairMartin SheenJeanne CooperAn escaped mental patient kidnaps an illiterate teenage farm girl and takes her to his mountain hideaway, where they become friends--and, eventually, lovers.
- DirectorTom NaughtonStarsPeter PaddonTom NaughtonChareva NaughtonA comedian replies to the "Super Size Me" crowd by losing weight on a fast-food diet while demonstrating that almost everything you think you know about the obesity "epidemic" and healthy eating is wrong.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
- DirectorChristopher GuestStarsKevin BaconJennifer Jason LeighEmily LongstrethFilm school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.
- DirectorJán KadárStarsAlan ArkinRoger E. MosleyMorgan WoodwardA disturbed, but highly intelligent man is sent to a criminally insane hospital to serve time and rehabilitate. But when he arrives, he discovers it's in fact a closed world where brutality is an everyday occurrence.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsDonald SutherlandMary Tyler MooreJudd HirschThe accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.
- DirectorRobert MooreStarsPeter FalkAlec GuinnessPeter SellersFive famous literary detective characters and their sidekicks are invited to a bizarre mansion to solve an even stranger mystery.
- DirectorWilliam WiardStarsRobert HaysPam DawberZohra LampertWhen Kirby inherits only one thing from his millionaire uncle: a pocket watch that can stop time. Only the bad guys know that he has it and will do anything to take it from him. But they don't know that he's found the girl of his dreams, and she's got a sense of humor that, when combined with the watch, is devastating.
- DirectorJeffrey BlitzStarsAngela ArenivarUbaldo ArenivarJorge ArenivarSpellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee.
- DirectorTony WharmbyStarsMeredith BaxterDavid Ogden StiersVictoria SnowEvery night the boy dreams he is someone else. Someone in danger. A crazy woman is after him. A woman who cannot have a son of her own. A story about a kidnapped boy, who finds out that the people he thought were his parents are his kidnappers. The film is about his escape and search for his home.
- DirectorDouglas HickoxStarsVincent PriceDiana RiggIan HendryA Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.
- DirectorCarl ReinerStarsSteve MartinKathleen TurnerDavid WarnerA brain surgeon marries a femme fatale whose life he saved, causing his life to turn upside down. Things go even more awry when he falls in love with a telepathic brain.
- DirectorDaniel MannStarsBruce DavisonElsa LanchesterSondra LockeA social misfit uses his only friends, his pet rats, to exact revenge on his tormentors.
- DirectorRobert McKimsonStarsMel BlancBea BenaderetRobert C. BruceA scientist invents the portable hole, only to have a thief steal his samples to go on a crime spree.
- DirectorFriz FrelengStarsMel BlancBugs and Daffy are vaudevillians competing for praise from the audience. They love Bugs no matter what; just the opposite for Daffy.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsJim CarreyKate WinsletTom WilkinsonWhen their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
- 1975– 1h 30mTV-147.4 (116)TV EpisodeDirectorDave WilsonJames SignorelliStarsMiskel SpillmanElvis CostelloAl FrankenThe show was notable for Elvis Costello and the Attractions beginning their song "Less than Zero" about British wartime fascist leader Oswald Mosley then quickly stopping it, with Elvis announcing "I'm sorry, Ladies and Gentlemen, there's no reason to do this song here". This apparently led to Costello's being barred from SNL for over 10 years.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyThe Enterprise encounters a gigantic energy draining space organism that threatens the galaxy.
- 1987–199722mTV-PG7.7 (679)TV EpisodeDirectorGerry CohenStarsEd O'NeillKatey SagalDavid GarrisonA TV aerobics instructor tries to get the Bundys in shape, but instead he becomes sedentary and dies of a heart attack after eating junk food.
- DirectorTom DeSimoneStarsLinda CarolWendy O. WilliamsPat AstA new group of girls arrives at Pridemore Juvenile Facility, where the brutal warden plays favoritism with a few, and treats the rest like animals. But one girl is not taking this horrible treatment lying down.
- DirectorSam NewfieldStarsBilly CurtisYvonne Moray'Little Billy' RhodesAn evil gunslinging midget comes to terrorize the good little people of Tiny Town. The townspeople organize to defeat him, and zany antics ensue.