Brooklyn 1944. Despite being the same age, having grown up within blocks of each other, and both being Jewish, late teens Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter don’t really know each other – knowing each other only by name and by sight – as Orthodox Danny stays largely within his own Hasidic community, which is just fine in Reuven’s mind. An incident between the two which on the surface threatens to tear them even further apart instead blossoms into a friendship between the two. They begin to learn more and more about the other and their lives, which for Danny includes becoming a rabbi, solely as it is a several generations old family calling. In Reb Saunders’ mind, he who rules his family by strict Hasidic traditions, Danny becoming the next rabbi in the family is not even a question, despite Danny, deep in his heart, wanting other secular pursuits which he has not told his father. Conversely, Reuven has modern sensibilities, being raised in a two-person household by his widowed academic …
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Drama
Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952) David Lean, Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick, Drama, Romance, War
Tony successful fighter pilot during World War II marries into the family of a wealthy oil magnate who also designs airplanes. The movie traces the company’s attempt to break the sound barrier, as well as tensions between father and daughter. Lots of footage of early 50s jet aviation in Great Britain as well as shots of the Comet airliner, world’s first jet passenger plane.
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Big Jake (1971) George Sherman, John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O’Hara, Action, Crime, Drama, Western
The McCandles ranch is run over by a gang of cutthroats led by the evil John Fain. They kidnap little Jacob McCandles and hold him for a million dollar ransom. There is only one man who is brave enough and smart enough to bring him back and that man is Big Jake.
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Devil’s Canyon (1953) Alfred L. Werker, Virginia Mayo, Dale Robertson, Stephen McNally, Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Western
Ex-marshal Billy Reynolds, sent to state prison for killing two men in self defense, learns that killer Jessie Gorman, brother of the two men Billy shot, is in the same prison and vows revenge. Complicating matters further is the incarceration of Gorman’s girlfriend Abby who helps Gorman plan an escape while at the same time is unsuccessful hiding her feelings for Reynolds.
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Sirens (1993) John Duigan, Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Sam Neill, Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young reverend and his wife are on the way from England to Australia to minister to their flock. The bishop asks him to visit an eccentric artist prone to sexual depictions and requests that he voluntarily withdraw a controversial work call “Crucified Venus” from his show. The minister, who considers himself a progressive, is shocked at the amoral atmosphere surrounding the painter, his wife, and the three models living at his estate. The minister’s wife is troubled also, and has to deal with latent sexual urges while trying to remain loyal to her husband.
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Romper Stomper (1992) Geoffrey Wright, Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie, Crime, Drama
Nazi skinheads in Melbourne take out their anger on local Vietnamese, who are seen as threatening racial purity. Finally the Vietnamese have had enough and confront the skinheads in an all-out confrontation, sending the skinheads running. A woman who is prone to epileptic seizures joins the skins’ merry band, and helps them on their run from justice, but is her affliction also a sign of impurity?
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The Stunt Man (1980) Richard Rush, Peter O’Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey, Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Thriller
While on the run from the police, Steve Railsback hides in a group of moviemakers where he pretends to be a stunt man. Both aided and endangered by the director (Peter O’Toole) he avoids both the police and sudden death as a stuntman. The mixture of real danger and fantasy of the movie is an interesting twist for the viewer as the two blend in individual scenes.
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Topsy-Turvy (1999) Mike Leigh, Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Dexter Fletcher, Biography, Comedy, Drama, Musical
After their production “Princess Ida” meets with less-than-stunning reviews, the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking. Their friends and associates attempt to get the two to work together again, which opens the way to “The Mikado,” one of the duo’s greatest successes.
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Dirty Love (1988) Joe D’Amato, Valentine Demy, Cully Holland, Lisa Lowenstein, Drama, Erotic
Valentine Demy and Susan Little star in this erotic tale of a young girl who sets off from the suburbs of New York City to seek fame as a dancer on Broadway. She finds that her exuberant body brings her into contact with many different facets of the Broadway nightlife, with sex as the dominant factor.
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Hi-Jacked (1950) Sam Newfield, Jim Davis, Marcia Mae Jones, Sid Melton, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A truck driver stops on a rainy road at night to help a stranded motorist, but it turns out to be a ruse–he is attacked, knocked out and his truck stolen. Since he has a criminal record, the police immediately suspect he’s involved in the hijacking, and their suspicions are reinforced later when he is discovered–unknown to him–to be hauling stolen merchandise. He realizes he is being set up as a fall guy by the organization behind the truck hijackings, and he and a friend set out to determine who is trying to set him up, and why.
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