Paths of Glory: Seething with Rage
Kirk Douglas. Photo: United Artists ”The paths of glory lead but to the grave”. Famous words from Thomas Gray’s 1751 poem ”Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”. Author Humphrey Cobb…
Barry Lyndon: Life of a Doomed Man
Photo: Warner After A Clockwork Orange (1971), Stanley Kubrick became interested in adapting a novel from the 1800s, William Makepeace Thackeray’s ”Vanity Fair”. When he found out that a TV…
Eyes Wide Shut
After attending a Christmas party that results in an argument with his wife (Nicole Kidman), New York doctor Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) leaves their apartment and is ultimately tempted to…
2001: How the Solar System Was Won
Photo: MGM I remember watching this film for the first time when I was a teenager, or perhaps 20 years old. When it was over, I was so stunned and…
The Shining: Hotel of Horrors
Jack Nicholson. Photo: Warner Ten years ago, a friend of mine and I had a nerdy contest where we decided to crown the greatest horror movie ever made. After plenty…
Clockwork Orange: Hanging With Your Droogs
Malcolm McDowell. Photo: Warner Author Anthony Burgess allegedly complained that this film adaptation of his novel became so talked-about that it overshadowed everything else he did. Director Stanley Kubrick's film…
Dr. Strangelove: Bombs Away!
Peter Sellers. Photo: Columbia When Stanley Kubrick decided to turn Peter George’s Cold War novel “Red Alert” into a movie, he must have thought the material was too outrageous to…