arts & manners 6. The Godfather
A
(1972)
poor Italian immigrant comes to a powerful patron for justice when the American legal system fails him. Is Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) an empathetic savior, a symbol of American capitalism serving a distinct clientele—or just a thug with Old World manners? Francis Ford Coppola’s film singlehandedly elevated the B movie gangster flick to a work of art.
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
D
oing time for statutory rape, R. P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) plays crazy to get moved to the state mental hospital for an easy ride. But he soon finds himself superintended by the forbidding Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), who demands docility. So the anarchic McMurphy plots mutiny with his fellow “inmates.” Based on Ken Kesey’s muchbanned book, Cuckoo’s Nest is a Polaroid of a generation that refused to play by the rules of a “rigged game”—but that could not foresee the unintended consequences of making everything up as it went along.
8. Network (1976)
A
seasoned TV newsman (William Holden) watches
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as an obsessed producer (Faye Dunaway) and ruthless exec (Robert Duvall) turn the UBS network into a funhouse of live crime scenes, astrological folderol, and jeremiads by a mad prophet of mass-entertainment doom (Peter Finch). The Oscarwinning screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, considered edgy in the ’70s, underestimated the reality-TV depths to which the tube would ultimately sink.
9. The Right Stuff (1983)
“
I
for one, don’t intend to go , to sleep by the light of a Communist moon,” says LBJ in this adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s history of the early years of the Space Race. The United States, determined to beat the Soviets into orbit, puts would-be astronauts through humiliating fitness drills as the pilots fight to be more than just space monkeys. But the best flier of them all—Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard), the man who broke the sound barrier—is never even considered because he lacks a college degree. Are PR and a manufactured image of the “ideal American” more important than courage and skill?
10. Malcolm X
W
(1992)
atch Malcolm Little (Denzel Washington),
a small-time hoodlum, transform into Malcolm X, herald of the Nation of Islam’s black nationalism. Then watch Malcolm X become disillusioned as his mentor, Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr., in a remarkable performance), proves to be less than divine. A trip to Mecca leads the controversial civil rights icon to broaden his vision of race relations—and invoke the ire of his former coreligionists. This Spike Lee “joint” gave Washington his first lead actor Oscar nomination for bringing to life the man who, in very American fashion, crafted a unique identity by any means necessary.
11. Team America: World Police (2004)
W
ho better to illustrate America’s role in the war on terror than the guys who brought you South Park? Trey Parker and Matt Stone manage to both mock and celebrate the United States as world policeman as they take on jihadists, North Korean dictators, and Hollywood leftists. Conservative, anarchist, or just plain adolescent, Team America captures the more extreme aspects of Bush-era USA in puppet-populated amber.
12. The Dark Knight
I
(2008)
s Batman (Christian Bale) a Christ-like figure willing to endure public scorn to save his people or a vigilante with a messiah complex who spies on his fellow citizens 24/7, telling himself it’s for their own good? The film made a bid for all-time box office champ, demonstrating Americans’ love of supermen—and craving for security. Intercollegiate Review · Fall 2014
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