West Bloomfield Township Public Library

The Godfather

The Corleone Family nearly falls from power in America but rises to observe the passage of rites from father to son. There is a balance between family life and the ugly business of crime in which they are engaged

Casablanca

In World War II Morocco, seething with European refugees desperate for passage to neutral Lisbon, only a world-weary and bitter nightclub owner can help his former lover and her Resistance-hero husband escape from the Nazis

Raging bull

A biographical film about psychologically destructive, violent middleweight champion Jake La Motta

Singin' in the rain

"Silent movies are giving way to talking pictures, and a hoofer-turned-matinee idol is caught in that bumpy transition, as well as his buddy, prospective ladylove and shrewish co-star"--Container

Gone with the wind : 2-DVD edition

An epic story of the South's fight to maintain its way of life during the Civil War years. Scarlett O'Hara and her family are amongst the ladies and gentlemen at the Twelve Oaks Plantation's ball before the Civil War begins. Scarlett's love for one man keeps her from seeing the love that another man truly has for her. As the South finally crumbles around her, Scarlett devises a way to overcome starvation in order to save herself and her family

Lawrence of Arabia

Presents the story of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), the heroic and troubled man who organized the Arab nations to fight the Turks in World War I and then, having reached a pinnacle of power in Mideast politics, retired to postwar military obscurity

Vertigo

Contains 14 motion pictures directed by Alfred Hitchcock, originally released between 1942 and 1976

The Wizard of Oz

This groundbreaking classic is based on the popular novel by L. Frank Baum. Includes nearly 5 hours of extras and an all-new sing-along feature

City lights. 1-DVD edition

The most cherished film by Charlie Chaplin is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street and mistakes him for a millionaire. Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive beauty of the pre-talkie form

The searchers

Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards, an Indian-hater who believes more in bullets than words. He's out to find his young niece, who's been taken captive by the renegade Comanches who massacred her family

Star Wars : the original trilogy

Science fiction tales of derring-do, heroism and romance. Set in the distant past, they relate the adventures of Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo as they battle the forces of the evil Imperial Army

2001 : a space odyssey

A space voyage to Jupiter erupts in disaster when the ship's computer goes mad. Includes commentary by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, documentary - 2001: The Making Of A Myth, 4 featurettes, audio-only interview with Stanley Kubrick, and trailer

Sunset Blvd.

Pursued by creditors, Joe swerves into a driveway of a seemingly abandoned Sunset Boulevard mansion. He finds Norma, an ex-screen queen dreaming of a dramatic comeback and her husband/servant living there. She takes a fancy to Joe and, learning that he is a scriptwriter, persuades him to help her with her comeback screenplay. Being broke he accepts. He falls in love with a young script reader, but Norma breaks up their romance. Thinking she is mad, he tries to leave, but Norma kills him in a scene which she believes is the highlight of her comeback movie

The graduate

Benjamin Braddock has just finished college and is already lost in a sea of confusion and barely contained angst when he becomes sexually involved with the middle-aged mother of the young woman he's dating

On the waterfront

An ex-fighter gets a job working on the gang-ridden waterfront under a crooked gangster boss

It's a wonderful life . 2-DVD edition

George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all and it's Christmas! As the angels discuss George, his life is shown in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn't been for all of his good deeds over the years. Will Clarence be able to convince George to return to his family and forget suicide?

Chinatown

Private eye Jake Gittes, living off the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-war Southern California is hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair. Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together for one, unforgettable night in Chinatown

Some like it hot : 1-DVD 50th anniversary edition

Two unemployed musicians accidentally witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and flee to Miami disguised as female musicians in an all-girl band

The grapes of wrath

The migration of the Joad family to California from their dust-bowl farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression

E.T. : the extra-terrestrial . 1-DVD edition

An alien arrives on Earth and befriends Elliott, who saves him from scientists and gets him back home

To kill a mockingbird

Gregory Peck plays a southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The way in which it captures a time, a place, and above all, a mood, makes this film a masterpiece

High noon

This is the classic tale of a lawman who stands alone to defend a town of cowardly citizens against a gang of revenge-seeking criminals. In the greatest showdown in the history of cinema, the lawman stands to lose not only the town but his new wife

Double indemnity . 1-DVD edition

An insurance salesman and an unhappy wife conspire to murder her husband and collect his insurance policy

Apocalypse now redux

A United States Army officer/trained assassin is sent into the depths of a southeast Asian jungle to seek out a renegade colonel and terminate his command during the Vietnam War

The Maltese falcon

After the death of his partner, San Francisco private eye Sam Spade is dragged into a quest for a priceless statuette

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs : 2 disc edition

The beautiful and kindhearted princess Snow White charms every creature in the kingdom except one, the Queen, her jealous stepmother. When the Magic Mirror proclaims Snow White as the fairest one of all, she must flee into the forest. There, she befriends the lovable seven dwarfs, Doc, Sneezy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy and Dopey. The Queen finds Snow White and tricks her with an enchanted apple. Only the magic of true love's kiss can save her

Annie Hall

Woody Allen's semiautobiographical portrait of his amorous, but ultimately mismatched, relationship with co-star Diane Keaton. Allen uses satire and comedy to portray this "nervous romance" for modern times

The bridge on the River Kwai

British soldiers captured by the Japanese during World War II are forced to construct a strategic railroad bridge which a commando team is instructed by the British High Command to destroy

The best years of our lives

Recounts the problems faced by three returning veterans of WWII as they attempt to pick up the threads of their lives. Captain Derry is returning to a loveless marriage, Sergeant Stephenson is a stranger to a family that's grown up without him, and sailor Parrish is tormented by the loss of his hands

The sound of music

Julie Andrews lights up the screen as Maria, the spirited young woman who leaves the convent to become a governess to the seven young children of Captain von Trapp, an autocratic widower whose strict household rules leave no room for music or merriment

King Kong

Carl Denham is a filmmaker and entrepreneur who leads an expedition to Skull Island. The island is a place where time has stood still. The natives pay homage to the one whom they revere as "Kong", and who is, indeed, king of the island. Denham, together with his beautiful starlet, Ann Darrow, and the crew of the ship, investigate the strange ritual being performed on the island by its native population. Ann finds herself captured by the natives and is to become the bride of the mysterious "Kong." The ship's first mate, Jack Driscoll, who is in love with Ann, manages to rescue her from the clutches of "Kong". Denham then arranges to capture the creature, whom he calls "King Kong" and takes him back to New York

Bonnie and Clyde

A mixture of comedy and brutal violence, this film is based on the exploits of the notorious American outlaws of the 1930's, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

Midnight cowboy

Joe Buck moves to New York from Texas to make his fortune servicing women. Instead, he's conned into partnering up with small-time huslter Ratso Rizzo. Living together on the tattered edges of society, these two outcasts develop an unlikely bond that helps them transcend their cruel existence

The Philadelphia story

A sophisticated romantic comedy about a rich, spoiled socialite who learns some things about who she is and what she really wants on the eve of her second marriage

Shane

A drifter and retired gunfighter assists a homestead family terrorized by an aging cattleman and his hired gun

It happened one night

Opposites attract with magnetic force in this romantic road-trip delight, about a spoiled runaway socialite and a roguish man-of-the-people reporter who is determined to get the scoop on her scandalous disappearance. The first film to accomplish the very rare feat of sweeping all five major Oscar categories (best picture, best actor, best actress, best director, and best screenplay), is among the most gracefully constructed and edited films of the early sound era

Rear window

As a photographer with a broken leg, Stewart takes up the fine art of spying on his Greenwich Village neighbors during a summer heat wave. Things really begin to get hot when he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife and buried the body in a flower garden. He actively enlists the help of his girlfriend to investigate the highly suspicious chain of events. Events that ultimately lead to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in film history

The lord of the rings. The fellowship of the ring

Elderly hobbit Bilbo Baggins relinquishes possession of a golden ring possessing magical powers to Frodo, his youthful heir. Charged with casting the ring into the fires from which it was forged, the young hobbit begins an arduous trek across Middle-earth, accompanied by a stalwart band including his best friend Sam, the mercurial wizard Gandalf, the warrior Aragorn, and the blustery Gimli, among others. Opposed by the treacherous sorcerer Saruman and the demonic emissaries of Sauron, the Dark Lord, this ever-embattled Fellowship makes its way slowly toward the dark land of Mordor

West Side story . 1-DVD edition

This musical sets the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of the rivalry of two street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, in New York of the 1950s. A young woman who is sister to the Sharks leader has her first taste of love with the former head of the Jets

The deer hunter

Tracks a group of steelworker pals from a Pennsylvania blast furnace to the cool hunting grounds of the Alleghenies to the lethal cauldron of Vietnam. Shows what happens to friendship and courage under stress

MAS*H

Classic American war comedy focusing on the antics of three army surgeons during the Korean war, who develop a lunatic lifestyle to help them handle the horrors encountered everyday in their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

North by northwest

An ad executive is mistaken for a spy by foreign agents

Jaws . 2-DVD edition

A man-eating shark causes havoc off the Long Island coast and three men join together to hunt and destroy it

Gold rush

The Little Tramp searches for gold and love in the Klondike. Includes both a restored version of the original 1925 silent film, and the 1942 re-issue, the latter featuring a new score and narration written and spoken by Charles Chaplin

Nashville

Nashville interweaves the stories of 24 characters over 5 days during a political rally in the capital of country music

Duck soup

In this political satire, Groucho is Rufus T. Firefly, the hilarious dictator of mythical Freedonia, while Harpo and Chico are commissioned as spies by his political rival

Sullivan's travels

A successful Hollywood director disguises himself as a bum and sets off to see America from the bottom up. In the midst of the brutality and despair, he makes a valuable discovery-- that what the downtrodden need most is laughter

American graffiti

Four teenagers come of age in 1962 on the last summer night before they go off to college, jobs, or the army

Cabaret

Sally Bowles, an American cabaret singer in 1930s Berlin, becomes involved in the rise of the Nazi party

Network

A television newscaster's mental breakdown turns him into a celebrity when the network tries to profit from his illness

The African Queen

Thrown together at the outset of World War I, the spinster sister of a British missionary and the derelict captain of the launch, The African Queen, determine to pilot the boat down an unchartered river in an effort to destroy a German gunboat which prevents invasion by British forces. Setting: German East Africa in 1914

Indiana Jones and the raiders of the lost ark

Indiana Jones, an archeologist, embarks on a thrilling quest to locate the mystical Ark of the Covenant. Accompanied by his fiesty ex-flame Marion Ravenwood, Indy must discover the Ark before the Nazis do, and he has to survive poison, traps, snakes and treachery to do so

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? . 1-DVD edition

A couple is invited to the home of a professor and his sharp-tongued wife, and are treated to verbal battles by their hosts

Unforgiven

Bill Munny is who is a retired, once ruthless killer-turned-hog farmer is flat broke. He is a widower with two young children to tend to and feels he has no choice but accept on last bounty hunter mission to find and kill 2 young gunslingers who brutalized and cut up the face of a local prostitute. Bill teams up with his old partner Ned and the cocky greenhorn, The Schofield Kid. The three men soon find out this bounty has many more obstacles to over come besides just finding and killing these men. Little Bill is the town sheriff of Old Whiskey who keeps a tight hold on what goes on in his town and outlaws all fire arms within the city limits. He has little respect for assassins and hired guns and enforces his law with the most brutal of measures

A clockwork orange

"Stamping, whomping, stealing, singing, tap-dancing, violating, Derby-topped hooligan Alex has a good time -- at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Stanley Kubrick's future-shock vision of the Anthony Burgess novel"--Container

Saving Private Ryan : 1-disc edition

Captain John Miller must take his men behind enemy lines to find Private Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Faced with impossible odds, the men question their orders. Surrounded by the brutal realities of war each man searches for his own answer and the strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honor, decency and courage

The Shawshank redemption. 2-DVD edition

City banker Andy Dufresne arrived at Shawshank Prison in 1947. Convicted of two brutal murders, he received a double life sentence. Within the confines of the prison, Andy forms an unlikely friendship with the prison "fixer" Red. He also becomes popular with the Warden and the prison's guards, as Andy is able to use his banking experience to help the corrupt officials amass personal fortunes. With the extraordinary twist in the tale, Andy finds that survival comes down to a simple choice: get busy living or get busy dying

In the heat of the night

A small town Southern sheriff finds himself in an uneasy alliance with a big-city black homicide detective as they investigate a murder

Forrest Gump

The story follows the life of low I.Q. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) and his meeting with the love of his life Jenny. The film chronicles his accidental experiences with some of the most important people and events in America from the late 1950's through the 1970's including a meeting with Elvis Presley, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, fighting in Vietnam, etc. The problem is, he doesn't realize the significance of his actions. Forrest comes to embody a generation

All the President's men . 2-DVD edition

True story of the Watergate break-in that led to the political scandal of the decade

Modern times

When his boss demands more speed and efficiency, Chaplin goes crazy from his repetitious assembly line job. Primarily a silent film with music and sound effects, but occasional voices emanate from radios and television screens

The wild bunch . 2-DVD special edition

Outlaws on the U.S.-Mexican border face the march of progress, the Mexican army and a gang of bounty hunters led by a former member as they plan to rob a U.S. Army train

The apartment

An ambitious office clerk plans to get ahead by lending out his apartment to his boss, but falls in love with the boss's girlfriend

Spartacus

Spartacus is the bold gladiator slave who leads a massive slave revolt against Imperial Rome in this epic true account of man's eternal struggle for freedom

Titanic . 2-Disc edition

A timeless love story born of tragedy that created an international phenomenon. This epic masterpiece is destined to sweep audiences anew into the journey of a lifetime

Easy rider

Two motorcyclists travel across the U.S. in search of the "real" America. And find it

A night at the opera

A New York scandal, a riot on a ship, and an evening of insanity in a concert hall are some of the problems resulting from Groucho's outrageous business schemes. The goal is to bring Milan's finest opera stars to Manhattan

Platoon

Follows young Chris Taylor who arrives in Vietnam and quickly discovers that his worst enemies are not just the Viet Cong, but gnawing fear, physical exhaustion, and the anger growing within himself

12 angry men

Depicts a jury of men who must decide the fate of a teenage boy who has murdered his abusive father. The jurors are from all walks of life, and bring with them their own opinions, prejudices, fears, and personal demons

Bringing up Baby

An heiress determined to catch a zoologist uses her pet leopard, Baby, to get his attention

The Sixth sense

A noted child psychologist attempts to help a frightened 8 year old boy who is experiencing terrifying visions of the dead

Swing time

Fred Astaire plays a gambler intent on raising $25,000 in New York in order to marry his fiance back home. Romantic complications occur when he meets dancing teacher, Ginger Rogers

Sophie's choice

A drama set in post-World War II Brooklyn revolves around Sophie, a Polish Catholic beauty who survived Auschwitz, her lover, Nathan, and Stingo, a would-be writer. As the three grow closer, Stingo discovers the captivating and moving truths that each harbor

GoodFellas . 1-disc edition

A young man grows up in the mob and works hard to advance himself through the ranks, enjoying the life of the rich and violent

The French connection

Two tough New York City narcotics detectives learn of a scheme to smuggle a large quantity of heroin inside an automobile shipped from France

Pulp fiction : Collector's edition

Clever, dark film that tells 4 separate stories that are gradually brought together. Involved are two low-rent hit men, their boss and his sexy wife, a prizefighter and a pair of desperate robbers

The last picture show

A bittersweet drama of the social and sexual mores in small-town 1950s Texas

Do the right thing : 2-disc edition

"The hottest day of the year explodes onscreen in this vibrant look at a day in the life of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. A portrait of urban racial tensions sparked controversy while earning popular and critical praise,"--Container

Toy story

An astonishing world where toys play while their owners are away. Woody is a pull-string cowboy doll and is the leader of the toys until the latest, greatest action figure, Buzz Lightyear, enters the picture. When the toy rivals are separated from their owner, they learn to put aside their differences and work as a team to get back home to the boy they love

AFI 100 Years...100 Movies (Movies)