Films: Titles

On this page, every answer is the title of a film.

1986 film based on a 1959 book, set in Soho and Notting Hill in 1958; stars Eddie O'Donnell, Patsy Kensit, David Bowie, James Fox		Absolute Beginners
1989 fantasy directed by Terry Gilliam; Robin Williams plays the King of the Moon: The Adventures of		Baron Munchausen
Main characters are Charlie Allnut and Rosie Sayer; title craft sinks the German gunboat Louisa with a torpedo		The African Queen
Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Kane (John Hurt), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Ash (Ian Holm), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) are the six crew members who don't survive; the only one that does is Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)		Alien
2001: critically acclaimed, award–winning French romantic comedy, starring Audrey Tatou as a Paris waitress who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better while dealing with her own isolation (English title)		Amélie
Stars Richard Gere as a male prostitute who is framed for murder (1980)		American Gigolo
1944: Gene Kelly dances with Jerry Mouse		Anchors Aweigh
Greta Garbo's first talkie (1930)		Anna Christie
1979: troops attack a village, supported by helicopters, to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries – played on loudspeakers attached to the helicopters		Apocalypse Now
1944 – a black comedy, based on a stage play of the same title: stars Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, a writer who discovers that the aunts who raised him are serial murderers, ministering to lonely old bachelors by ending their "suffering"		Arsenic and Old Lace
2019: briefly overtook Avatar as the highest–grossing film ever		Avengers: Endgame
Set in the fictional town of Hill Valley; central character Marty McFly (series of three films)		Back to the Future
1996: starring Pamela Anderson as the eponymous comic book hero(ine); generally panned by critics, one of whom pointed out that the plot seemed to ape that of the 1942 classic Casablanca		Barb Wire
1975: stars Ryan O'Neal, directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on a novel by W. M. Thackeray		Barry Lyndon
1925 silent, directed by Eisenstein: dramatised account of a 1905 mutiny against Tsarist officers on a ship of the Russian navy. Includes a famous scene of a massacre (of dubious grounding in reality) on the Primorsky Stairs in Odessa (since renamed Potemkin Stairs as a result); includes a sequence of a baby in a pram careering down the deserted stairs (since frequently copied)		Battleship Potemkin
1988: the second film directed by Tim Burton – a fantasy comedy, in which a recently deceased couple (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) become ghosts haunting their former home, and contact the title character (Michael Keaton) – an obnoxious and devious "bio–exorcist" from the Netherworld – to scare away the new inhabitants		Beetlejuice
Features the fictional Hounslow Harriers Football Club		Bend it Like Beckham
2008: stars Brad Pitt as the title character who ages in reverse – also Cate Blanchett: The Curious Case of		Benjamin Button
2011 British comedy–drama, based on a novel by Deborah Moggach: features Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Penelope Wilton as a group of pensioners moving to a retirement hotel in India whose eager young proprietor is played by Dev Patel		The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
1999: based on a novella by Isaac Asimov; stars Robin Williams as an android that becomes more and more human over the course of 200 years		Bicentennial Man
1998 Coen Brothers production: Jeff Bridges plays an LA loser, a.k.a. The Dude, who is mistaken for a millionaire with the same name		The Big Lebowski
1984: Napoleon Bonaparte, Billy the Kid, Socrates, Sigmund Freud, Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln and Ludwig van Beethoven are all portrayed in		Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
1963: Tom Courtenay works for undertakers Shadrach & Duxbury		Billy Liar
2014: multiple Oscar winner (2015), subtitled The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance		Birdman
1962: a largely fictionalised version of the life of Robert Stroud, a US federal prison inmate		Birdman of Alcatraz
1990: stars Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, took its title from a Leonard Cohen song		Bird on a Wire
1963: directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier: stars Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren; set in the real–life seaside town of Bodega Bay, California (although the story was set in Cornwall)		The Birds
2001: stars Nicole Kidman as a Russian mail–order bride		Birthday Girl
2001: directed by Ridley Scott and based on a book of the same title by Mark Bowden, with an "ensemble" cast led by Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor, about the real–life attempt by the US military in 1993 to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid		Black Hawk Down
1929: Hitchcock's tenth film, often cited as the first British talkie		Blackmail
1974: has been said to satirise the racism obscured by myth–making Hollywood accounts of the American West, with the hero being a black sheriff in an all–white town		Blazing Saddles
1966: David Hemmings plays a character said to be based on the photographer David Bailey		Blow–Up
1930: the first feature–length German all–talkie film, shot simultaneously in German and English–language versions; the film that shot Marlene Dietrich to stardom, and introduced her signature song, Falling In Love Again (Can't Help It)		The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel)
Woody Allen, 2013: stars Cate Blanchett as a rich Manhattan socialite who falls on hard times and has to move into her working class sister's apartment in San Francisco		Blue Jasmine
1950: introduced Dixon of Dock Green (played, as in the subsequent TV series, by Jack Warner) who is murdered by a teenager played by Dirk Bogarde		The Blue Lamp
1980: title characters Jake and Elwood		The Blues Brothers
Includes cameo appearances by Steven Spielberg, John Landis (the director), Joe Walsh, Chaka Khan and Frank Oz, as well as James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin in speaking roles
2009 British comedy about a fictitious pirate radio station (Radio Rock)		The Boat that Rocked
1993: directed by Jennifer Lynch (daughter of David Lynch, of Twin Peaks fame); attracted controversy when first Madonna and then Kim Basinger backed out of the title role (eventually taken by Sherilyn Fenn)		Boxing Helena
1978: Laurence Olivier stars as Ezra Lieberman (who was based on Simon Wiesenthal), and Gregory Peck as Dr Josef Mengele		The Boys from Brazil
Audrey Hepburn wore the famous "little black dress" – sold at Christies in 2006 for £450,000 – in		Breakfast at Tiffany's
2006 rom–com starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn		The Break–Up
English title of Jean–Luc Godard's seminal 1960 film À Bout de Souffle		Breathless
2001: Shazzer (a friend of the title character, played by Sally Phillips) is said to be based on the director, Sharon Maguire – who is a friend of the author in real life		Bridget Jones's Diary
Jeffrey Archer and Salman Rushdie made cameo appearances as themselves
1977: epic WWII film, based on a book of the same title by Cornelius Ryan, with an all–star cast including Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O'Neal, and Robert Redford (see also The Longest Day)		A Bridge Too Far
1945: screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one–act play Still Life		Brief Encounter
2003: stars Jim Carrey as a TV reporter who complains to God that He is not doing His job properly, and is offered the chance to take on the job for a week		Bruce Almighty
1998: computer animated parody of Aesop's fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper		A Bug's Life
1968 Steve McQueen film, best remembered for its car chase around the streets of San Francisco		Bullitt
1956: Cheree (Marilyn Monroe) sings That old black magic – already a standard		Bus Stop
A Groovy Kind of Love: revived by Phil Collins in		Buster
2013: Cecil Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker, is the central character of		The Butler
1960 Oscar winner: title is the name of the telephone exchange whose answering service is used by the protagonist (played by Elizabeth Taylor)		BUtterfield 8
Described in 2002 by BBC critic Jamie Russell as "The first musical ever to be given an X certificate ... and [the film that] reinvented the musical for the Age of Aquarius"		Cabaret
1963 film starring Bob Hope, mainly set in Africa: the only non–Bond film by EON Productions, the "official" Bond film producers		Call me Bwana
1981: stars Burt Reynolds – one of several films inspired by a record–breaking real–life drive from New York to Los Angeles in 1933		Cannonball Run
Named after a prominent headland on the coast of North Carolina; originally 1962, starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum; remade in 1991 starring Nick Nolte and Robert de Niro		Cape Fear
1977: a mission to Mars has to be faked after the actual mission was aborted; Elliot Gould stars		Capricorn One
Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo are central characters in		Casablanca
Director Brian Singer got the title The Usual Suspects from
1965 comedy Western: stars Jane Fonda in the title role, a would–be schoolteacher who hires hires a legendary gunfighter (Kid Shelleen) to help protect her father from the hired killer (Tim Strawn) who is threatening him; Shelleen and Strawn, who turn out to be brothers, are both played by Lee Marvin, who won the Best Actor Oscar for the dual roles; Nat 'King' Cole and Stubby Kaye appear as wandering minstrels, billed as "Shouters" – a kind of Greek chorus		Cat Ballou
2002: stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a skilled forger, and Tom Hanks as an FBI agent obsessed with tracking him down		Catch Me If You Can
1965 debut of director John Boorman: featured the Dave Clark Five; the title song gave them their fourth Top Ten hit		Catch Us If You Can
1958: stars Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman as husband and wife Maggie and Brick Pollitt – based on a Tennessee Williams play		Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1963 romantic comedy thriller, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn; famous title song by Henry Mancini; remade in 2002 as The Truth about Charlie		Charade
1979: stars Jack Lemmon as a shift supervisor at a nuclear power plant, and Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas as a reporter and a cameraman who discover a cover–up after the plant comes close to a meltdown; released twelve days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania		The China Syndrome
1970: loosely based on historical events; stars John Wayne in the title role, and features Glenn Corbett as Pat Garrett and Geoffrey Deuell as Billy the Kid		Chisum
Eponymous motor car has the registration GEN 11 (the closest to GENIE that British regulations would allow when the book was written); Truly Scrumptious is the female lead character – and the subject of a song – but isn't in the book; central family visits the central European country of Vulgaria		Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Laurel & Hardy film (1940) starring Peter Cushing		A Chump at Oxford
American: working title of (1941)		Citizen Kane
Stars John Cleese as Brian Stimson, a successful but obsessive headmaster		Clockwise
Sony computer–animated sci–fi comedy (2009, based on a children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett): central character Flint Lockwood invents a machine that turns water into food		Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
1955: a highly–fictionalised account of a raid on German cargo shipping by British Royal Marines, in December 1942, when Special Boat Service commandos infiltrated Bordeaux Harbour using folding kayaks (Operation Franklin)		The Cockleshell Heroes
2003: drama set in the American Civil War, based on a best–selling 1997 novel by Charles Frazier		Cold Mountain
1965: stars Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar – based on the novel by John Fowles		The Collector
1985: directed and co–produced by Steven Spielberg, based on a novel by Alice Walker; stars Whoopi Goldberg and featured a young Oprah Winfrey		The Color Purple
1997: stars Mel Gibson as a taxi driver with eccentric views, and Julia Roberts as the government lawyer who becomes involved in his life		Conspiracy Theory
2005: stars Ralph Fiennes as Justin Quayle, a low–level British diplomat based in Kenya, and Rachel Weisz as his wife Tessa (who is murdered early on in the film); based on a novel by John le Carré, which in turn was loosely based on a true story		The Constant Gardener
1967: title character, played by Paul Newman, is sent to prison for cutting the heads off parking meters; earns the admiration of his fellow prisoners by eating 50 hard–boiled eggs in an hour, to win a bet made on the spur of the moment		Cool Hand Luke
1993: loosely based on the true story of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team's debut in competition during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary		Cool Runnings
1984: crime drama, directed by Fancis Ford Coppola, starring Richard Gere, centred on (and named after) a famous Harlem nightspot of the 1930s		The Cotton Club
1990: lead character (played by Kevin Costner) befriends a dog called Two Socks		Dances with Wolves
1993: Kevin Kline plays a US president, and also an employment agent who impersonates him		Dave
1945: influential British horror film: produced by Ealing Studios, in compendium format; best remembered for the ventriloquist's dummy sequence, starring Michael Redgrave		Dead of Night
2017: critically–acclaimed British satirical comedy, directed by Armando Ianucci; set in the Soviet Union in 1953		The Death of Stalin
1958: starred Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier as two escaped prisoners who are chained together and so must co–operate ("despite their mutual hatred") in order to survive		The Defiant Ones
1985: co–stars Rosanna Arquette as Roberta Glass, and Madonna in the title role		Desperately Seeking Susan
Hitchcock, 1954: stars Ray Milland as retired tennis champion Tony Wendice, who discovers that his socialite wife Margot (Grace Kelly ) has been having an affair		Dial M for Murder
1988: set on Christmas Eve in the Los Angeles headquarters of the (fictional) Nakatomi Corporation; both interior and exterior scenes were filmed at Fox Plaza, the headquarters of 20th Century Fox in Century City, LA (which was under construction at the time); consistently voted as one of the best Christmas films of all time, despite (or perhaps because of) its violent content		Die Hard
1967: about a bunch of convicted criminals assembled to carry out a patently suicidal mission to kill senior German officers on the eve of D–Day; stars include Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson		The Dirty Dozen
1994: Michael Douglas is accused of sexual harassment by Demi Moore, but counter–sues		Disclosure
1964: a black comedy, satirising Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union		Dr. Strangelove
Loosely based on the 1958 novel Red Alert, by Welsh author Peter George – although the novel lacks the black comedy element
Stars Peter Sellers in three roles, including US President Merkin Muffley
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is the subtitle (or alternative title) of
Jack D. Ripper (a paranoid, psychotic US general, played by Sterling Hayden) appears in
Ends with images of a series of nuclear explosions, accompanied by Vera Lynn singing We'll Meet Again
2004: stars Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller as rival gym owners; subtitle A True Underdog Story; credited with reviving interest in the sport that gave it its title		Dodgeball
1975: stars Al Pacino as an inept bank robber. Working title Heist; eventual title came from the opening stage direction		Dog Day Afternoon
The original Paparazzo was a character in		La Dolce Vita
The Marx Brothers' seventh film (1933), and the last to feature Zeppo – now widely considered to be their best; Laurel & Hardy used the same title in 1927; banned by Mussolini		Duck Soup
1971: Steven Spielberg's first feature film as director		Duel
1976: based on a Jack Higgins' novel; stars Michael Caine as a German officer plotting to capture Winston Churchill		The Eagle has Landed
1955: based on a novel by John Steinbeck; the only James Dean film released in his lifetime		East of Eden
1987 drama starring Anne Bancroft as writer Helen Hanff and Anthony Hopkins as book dealer Frank Doel (based on a play of the same name, which in turn was based on Hanff's memoir of their correspondence)		84 Charing Cross Road
1967 Swedish film (telling the tragic, true story of a Danish circus performer) – most famous for its use of the Andante from Mozart's 21st piano concerto		Elvira Madigan
1998: spy–thriller about a group of US agents conspiring to kill a congressman and trying to cover up the murder – stars Will Smith as Robert Clayton Dean, a lawyer who unwittingly gets caught up in the conspiracy		Enemy of the State
1981 American film, set during World War II, about Allied prisoners of war who play an exhibition match of football against a German team		Escape to Victory
Stars Henry Thomas (aged 10), Robert MacNaughton (15), Drew Barrymore (6), and Dee Wallace as their mother; working title A Boy's Life		E. T.
1982: the second film to feature Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot (after Death on the Nile); set on the North York Moors and in a fictional Mediterranean country based on Albania, although the novel on which it was based was set in Devon		Evil Under the Sun
1973 film, based on a 1971 novel of the same title by William Peter Blatty		The Exorcist
1964 Cold War drama, directed by Sidney Lumet: had a similar plot to Stanley Kubrick's satire Dr. Strangelove, released in the same year		Fail Safe
1980: directed by Alan Parker, starred Irene Cara as Coco Fernandez; title song won the Best Original Song Oscar, and the score won Best Original Score		Fame
1996: Coen Brothers black comedy thriller, stars William H. Macy as a car dealer who hires a pair of inept criminals to kkidnap his wife, and Frances McDormand as the pregnant sheriff who investigates		Fargo
1987 psychological thriller: the origin of the phrase "bunny boiler"		Fatal Attraction
Title shared by three films: one starring Ryan O'Neal as a sports writer who develops an obsession with gambling (1985), one loosely based on Nick Hornby's best–selling football fan's memoir of the same title, starring Colin Firth (1997), and a US adaptation of the 1997 film, about baseball, starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon (2005)		Fever Pitch
1989: Kevin Costner plays a farmer who builds a baseball ground in his cornfield		Field of Dreams
1997: a "spiritual successor' to A Fish Called Wanda (1988) – both star John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Palin (but in different roles)		Fierce Creatures
1999: stars Edward Norton and Brad Pitt as two "disassociated personalities" of the same character; poorly received at first, but later became a cult classic		Fight Club
1991 comedy drama, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams: took its title from the keeper of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend		The Fisher King
Sergio Leone's 1964 remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo; features a feud between the Baxters and the Rojos in the Mexican border town of San Miguel – made Clint Eastwood an international star		A Fistful of Dollars
1956 science fiction film based on The Tempest		The Forbidden Planet
The first film to be copyrighted in the US (Edison, 1894)		Fred Ott's Sneeze
1981: stars Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons – nominated for 5 Oscars		The French Lieutenant's Woman
2001: stars Johnny Depp, based on a graphic novel about Jack the Ripper		From Hell
1953: depicted shocking conditions in the US army at the time of Pearl Harbor; also featured a famous lingering kiss on a beach between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr; won 8 Oscars		From Here to Eternity
1987 – directed by Stanley Kubrick: Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (played by R. Lee Ermey) is an iconic character in; poster features an army helmet with the words "Born to Kill" painted on it, with a CND logo		Full Metal Jacket
Gaz, Dave, Gerald, Lumpah, Guy and Horse are the main characters in		The Full Monty
1999 sci–fi spoof (a parody of Star Trek in particular) featuring a group of actors from a cancelled television series, who become involved in real–life intergalactic adventures; stars Tim Allen as the dashing Commander, Sigourney Weaver as the glamorous Communications Officer, and Alan Rickman as the alien Science Officer		Galaxy Quest
1982: one scene involved 250,000 extras (said to be a record)		Gandhi
1997: a genetically inferior man (Ethan Hawke) assumes the identity of a superior one (Jude Law) in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel; Uma Thurman plays Hawke's work colleague and love interest; tagline "There is no gene for the human spirit" (critically well–received, but a box office flop; now has a cult following)		Gattaca
1926 Buster Keaton classic, based on the true story of an incident of the American Civil War: features the capture of a train by Union volunteers; the title is the name of the train		The General
1971: classic British gangster movie, starring Michael Caine as a London–based gangster who returns to Newcastle–upon–Tyne to avenge his brother's death; based on the novel Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis, itself based on a real–life murder of 1967		Get Carter
Playwright John Osborne plays the Newcastle gangland boss; also features a memorable cameo from Britt Ekland, and Bryan Mosley (better known as Alf Roberts in Coronation Street) being beaten senseless and thrown from the top of a multi–storey car park by the title character
1990 blockbuster about the relationship between Sam Wheat, a banker, and Molly Jensen, a potter; featured Unchained Melody (sung by the Righteous Brothers)		Ghost
Title characters are Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz and Dr. Egon Spengler (played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis respectively) – later joined by Winston Zeddemore (played by Ernie Hudson)		Ghostbusters
The Ectomobiles (a series of assorted vehicles) were used as transport in
Theme song was a No. 2 hit in 1984 (same year as the film's release) for Ray Parker Jr.
1970 documentary of the notorious Altamont Free Concert of 1969, featuring the Rolling Stones, showing the actual murder of a fan		Gimme Shelter
1956: Jayne Mansfield in the title role; Julie London had a supporting role, and sang Cry Me a River which would become her signature song; Little Richard sang the title song, and had a US & UK Top Ten hit with it		The Girl Can't Help It
Adapted by David Mamet from his Pulitzer prize winning play; stars Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin as four real estate agents (1992)		Glengarry Glen Ross
Charlie Chaplin tucked into a meal of boiled shoe, in		The Gold Rush
Blondie, Angel Eyes and Tuco are the title characters in (1966 film)		The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1990: details the rise and fall of real–life New York mobster Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta, in his best–known role)		Goodfellas
2005 historical drama, co–written by and starring George Clooney, about the conflict between Senator Joseph McCarthy and the journalist and broadcaster Edward R. Murrow		Good Night, and Good Luck
1985: comedy adventure starring Sean Astin (best known as Sam Gamgee) and Josh Brolin, centres on the search for the lost fortune of One–Eyed Willie		The Goonies
Best Picture Oscar winner, 1932: stars Greta Garbo, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore; defined a genre, by following the activities of various people in a large busy place		Grand Hotel
Released in Italy as Brilliantina! (1978 film)		Grease
1940: Charlie Chaplin's first true talking picture – the first one that he spoke in (ends with the notorious monologue in which he declaims his personal political views and opinions). See also Modern Times		The Great Dictator
1963: cast includes James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Gordon Jackson, Steve McQueen, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson and James Coburn		The Great Escape
The first Western (1903)		The Great Train Robbery
1999 film based on a Stephen King story, starring Tom Hanks, set on Death Row in a US prison in the 1930s		The Green Mile
1984: begins with a small boy (Billy Peltzer) being given a weird pet (a mogwai) named Gizmo as a Christmas present		Gremlins
1992: Bill Murray plays a TV weatherman who lives through the same day several times before he finally 'clicks' with Andie MacDowell; set in the real Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney		Groundhog Day
1993: Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau reunited for the sixth time, as two curmudgeons – 25 years after The Odd Couple		Grumpy Old Men
The ninth and last film that Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy made together (1967; Tracy died 17 days after completion of filming)		Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
2016: Coen Brothers comedy, set in 1950s Hollywood, starring Josh Brolin as the real–life 'fixer' Eddie Mannix, trying to trace film star Baird Whitlock (played by George Clooney) who vanished during filming		Hail, Caesar!
1988: directed by John Waters, set in Baltimore, Maryland in 1962; adapted as a musical that opened on Broadway in 2002		Hairspray
Cast included Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown, drag queen Divine (who died three weeks after release), Debbie Harry, Ricki Lake, Jerry Stiller (father of Ben), Ric Ocasek and Pia Zadora
1950 comedy: stars James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd – a middle–aged, amiable eccentric; the title character is his best friend – an invisible rabbit, 6' 3" tall		Harvey
1988, starring Wynona Ryder and Christian Slater: title comes from the fact that three of the four central characters have the same first name; since adapted into a musical and a television series		Heathers
1978 Warren Beatty film, a remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan – but not related to its 1943 namesake		Heaven Can Wait
1980: directed by Michael Cimino, with an ensemble cast led by Kris Kristofferson; based on a war between cattle owners and rustlers that took place in Wyoming, 1889–93, which has become a highly mythologized and symbolic story of the Wild West; cost $42 million to make, but took only $3 million – one of the biggest box office flops ever, leading eventually to the collapse of United Artists		Heaven's Gate
1968 British sex comedy, based on a novel by Hunter Davies: starred Barry Evans as a sixth–form school student desperate to lose his virginity, and Judy Geeson as his dream girl; title song was a Top Ten hit for Traffic in 1967; also included music by the Spencer Davis Group		Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
1965 film about a raid on a heavy water plant in Norway, during World War II; stars Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris		The Heroes of Telemark
1952: Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is forced to face a gang of vengeful killers alone, after failing to persuade any of his fellow citizens to help him; the plot unfolds in real time		High Noon
Title is the time at which the train (bringing released prisoner Frank Miller) will arrive
Howard Hawks's 1940 remake of the classic newspaper comedy The Front Page, with the pivotal role assigned to a woman (Rosalind Russell) rather than a man		His Girl Friday
Steven Spielberg's 1991 adaptation of the Peter Pan story		Hook
The Marx Brothers' sixth film (1932), and the last but one to feature Zeppo: title is a term used in the 1920s and 30s to mean 'nonsense'		Horse Feathers
1998: stars Robert Redford as an animal trainer who helps a teenager (played by Scarlett Johanssen) and her horse recover from a tragic accident		The Horse Whisperer
Basil Rathbone's first Sherlock Holmes film		Hound of the Baskervilles
1955 film of which Cabaret was a musical version		I Am a Camera
2007: Will Smith is accompanied by a German shepherd dog called Samantha.  Emma Thompson plays Dr. Alice Krippin, creator of the cancer cure that inadvertently kills 90% of humanity		I Am Legend
1969: romantic comedy, filmed on location throughout Europe, features many cameo appearances and stars Suzanne Pleshette and Ian McShane; title inspired by a New Yorker cartoon by Leonard Dove		If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
1960s film, starring William Shatner, with dialogue entirely in Esperanto		Incubus
Stars Robert Redford, Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson; won the Golden Raspberry award for the worst film of 1993		Indecent Proposal
2015 Pixar animation: set in the mind of a young girl called Riley Andersen		Inside Out
2014: tells the story of a search for water through a wormhole in space		Interstellar
2014: Seth Rogan satirical comedy, about two American journalists who set up an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong–un, and are recruited by the CIA to assassinate him; led to reprisals, both actual and threatened, from groups believed to be linked to the North Korean regime		The Interview
2007: stars Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron; based on a true story, the title is a reference to the place where David fought Goliath (1 Samuel 17:2)		In the Valley of Elah
2011: stars Justin Timberlake; set in a future where people are engineered to live for only one year after their 25th birthdays		In Time
Starring Noel Coward and John Mills; based on the exploits of HMS Kelly – the destroyer commanded in the early years of WWII by Lord Louis Mountbatten (in the film the ship is named HMS Torrin)		In Which we Serve
Features a getaway chase involving three Mini Coopers; ends with a bus balanced on the edge of a cliff; Michael Caine, Benny Hill, Rossano Brazzi and Noel Coward all stars		The Italian Job
1949 Warner Bros "behind–the–scenes" musical comedy, with cameo appearances by many directors and stars including Ronald Reagan		It's a Great Feeling
1963 film that had over 50 stars		It's a Mad (x4) World
George Bailey, an embittered idealist (played by James Stewart) considers suicide on Christmas Eve, but is helped by his guardian angel, Clarence Oddbody, to see how important he is to his family and community		It's a Wonderful Life
Tarantino's third film (1997 – after Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, before Kill Bill): title character is an airline flight attendant involved in smuggling		Jackie Brown
1985: starred Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close, as a man accused of murdering his wife and the lawyer hired to defend him		Jagged Edge
1963: mythological adventure fantasy, directed by Don Chaffey: noted for its stop–motion animation by Ray Harryhausen, including iconic fight scene featuring seven skeleton warriors		Jason and the Argonauts
1927: the first feature–length film with talking sequences; based on Samson Raphaelson's play Day of Atonement, a biography of Al Jolson		The Jazz Singer
1986 films based on a novel by Marcel Pagnol – plot centres on a subterranean spring in Provence		Jean de Florette
		Manon des Sources
1996 comedy drama, starring Tom Cruise as the eponymous sports agent – also the "breakout" role for Renee Zellwegger: famous for catchphrases such as "Show me the money", "You complete me", "Help me to help you", "You had me at hello"		Jerry Maguire
2012 Disney live action film, based on A Princess of Mars (1912), the first book in the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs; title character is the hero of the stories – mysteriously transported to Mars in 1866 as Earth's resources dwindle		John Carter
1967: set in Swinging London, features early appearances from Oliver Reed and Michael Crawford		The Jokers
1969: schoolteacher Mr. Sugden (played by Brian Glover) pretends to be Bobby Charlton when showing off his football skills		Kes
1948: guests at a Florida hotel seek shelter from an approaching hurricane. Directed by John Huston; stars Humphrey Bogart as army veteran Frank McCloud, Edward G. Robinson as gangster Johnny Rocco, and Lauren Bacall as war widow Nora Temple		Key Largo
2010 (and 2013 sequel): Aaron Taylor–Johnson plays Dave Lizewski, a teenager who sets out to be a real–life superhero (whose name is the title of the film)		Kick–Ass
1962: Elvis Presley played a boxer in		Kid Galahad
Stars Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo, a.k.a. The Bride or Black Mamba		Kill Bill (vols 1 & 2)
Elvis Presley's fourth film, and the last in black & white: based on Harold Robbins's novel A Stone for Danny Fisher – Elvis plays Danny Fisher		King Creole
Originally made in 1933; remade in 1976 and 2005. Title character is found on Skull Island		King Kong
1942: the film that made Ronald Reagan a star – despite the immortal line, "Where's the rest of me?"		Kings Row
1964: Elvis Presley plays two roles – US Air Force lieutenant Josh Morgan, and his hillbilly cousin Jodie Tatum		Kissin' Cousins
2019: critically–acclaimed murder mystery starring Daniel Craig as master detective Benoit Blanc; Netflix bought the right to two sequels, the first of which was Glass Onion (2022)		Knives Out
1986 fantasy directed by Jim Henson, starring David Bowie as the Goblin King		Labyrinth
2015: screenplay by Alan Bennett, based on a memoir by him, starring Maggie Smith as the title character (Miss Mary Shepherd)		The Lady in the Van
1938 Hitchcock thriller, based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins, by Ethel Lina White; starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave, and May Whitty as the title character, Miss Froy; remade in 1979 starring Cybill Shepherd, Elliot Gould and Angela Lansury; also made for television by the BBC in 2013		The Lady Vanishes
1988: written and directed by Ken Russell, starring Amanda Donohoe and Hugh Grant; based on the last novel written by Bram Stoker		The Lair of the White Worm
1992: stars Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Lawrence Angelo; shares its title with a Stephen King short story, but has only one scene in common with it		The Lawnmower Man
2004: stars Daniel Craig (2 years before his debut as Bond) as a London underground character known only as XXXX		Layer Cake
1992 comedy–drama: a fictionalized account of the real–life All–American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL); stars include Geena Davis, Madonna, Tom Hanks		A League of Their Own
1995: Nicholas Cage won an Oscar for his role as alcoholic Ben Sanderson		Leaving Las Vegas
2001 comedy starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, about her struggles to be taken seriously; spawned a sequel and a musical		Legally Blonde
2000 Will Smith film about a young man coming to terms with his spiritual demons through the medium of golf; felt by some to be racially insensitive		The Legend of Bagger Vance
Emmet Brickowski – voiced by Chris Pratt – was the lead character in (the biggest–grossing film of 2014 in the UK)		The Lego Movie
1987 (and sequels): title is a reference to the deliberate recklessness of the lead character (Martin Riggs, played by Mel Gibson)		Lethal Weapon
1944 "survival film" for which Alfred Hitchcock received his second Oscar nomination; starred Tallulah Bankhead in one of her rare award–winning film roles (if not her only one)		Lifeboat
1952: Charlie Chaplin directed, stars, and wrote the script and music; Buster Keaton also appeared		Limelight
1968: based on a Broadway play by James Goldman; stars Peter O'Toole as Henry II and Katharine Hepburn as his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitane; also marks the film debuts of Anthony Hopkins (as Richard the Lionheart, the future Richard I) and Timothy Dalton (as King Philip II of France)		The Lion in Winter
1931: Edward G. Robinson played a gangster modelled on Al Capone		Little Caesar
1976: stars Michael York and Jenny Agutter; set in a dystopian 23rd century society where the population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by killing everyone who reaches the age of 30		Logan's Run
1962: epic WWII film, based on a book of the same title by Cornelius Ryan, with an all–star cast including John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Richard Todd, Richard Burton, Rod Steiger and Kenneth More (see also A Bridge Too Far)		The Longest Day
1987 comedy–horror, with Kiefer Sutherland as the leader of a gang of teenage vampires; title comes from Peter Pan		The Lost Boys
1956: stars Richard Egan and Debra Paget, also featured a certain Hollywood debutant (the only film that he appeared in where he didn't get top billing), and was originally going to be called The Reno Brothers		Love Me Tender
1978: directed by Richard Attenborough, stars Anthony Hopkins as ventriloquist Charles 'Corky' Withers who is unable to control his dummy Fats (even off–stage!)		Magic
Orson Welles's second film as director (released in July 1942, 14 months after Citizen Kane) – based on a Pulizer prize–winning novel by Booth Tarkington		The Magnificent Ambersons
1955: Will Lockhart (James Stewart) is		The Man from Laramie
1986: based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon – stars Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecktor (sic)		Manhunter
1976: stars David Bowie as an alien who crash lands on Earth		The Man who Fell to Earth
Bob Lawrence (Peter Lorre, 1934) and Dr. Ben McKenna (James Stewart, 1956) – in two versions made by Alfred Hitchcock – are		The Man who Knew Too Much
1962: Ransom "Rance" Stoddard (James Stewart) is		The Man who Shot Liberty Valance
1975 (based on a short novel by Rudyard Kipling): stars Sean Connery as Daniel Dravot, Michael Caine as Peachy Carnehan, and Christopher Plummer as Kipling		The Man who Would Be King
Laurence Olivier tortures Dustin Hoffman by drilling into his tooth		Marathon Man
1996 sci–fi comedy, directed by Tim Burton, based on a cult trading card series of the same name (originally issued in 1962); Slim Whitman's Indian Love Call is used as the last line of defence, as it makes the aliens' heads explode		Mars Attacks!
1985: stars Eric Stoltz as a facially disfigured teenager; Cher won Best Actress at Cannes for her role as his mother		Mask
1994: stars Jim Carrey as Stanley Ipsey, a hapless bank clerk who aquires super–powers		The Mask
1992: stars Sean Connery as a biochemist searching for a cure for cancer in the rainforest of South America		Medicine Man
1998: stars Anthony Hopkins as billionaire media mogul Bill Parrish, and Brad Pitt as Death, who comes to visit him in the guise of a young man who has just died in a road accident		Meet Joe Black
1979 disaster movie, stars Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Trevor Howard, Henry Fonda		Meteor
Joe Buck and Enrico 'Ratso' Rizzo are the main characters in		Midnight Cowboy
1932 starring W. C. Fields and Susan Fleming; and 1939 starring Betty Grable		Million Dollar Legs
Kathy Bates (in an Oscar–winning role) plays an obsessive fan of an author (James Caan)		Misery
1936: the first film in which Charlie Chaplin's voice was heard (he sang a song, with nonsense words, but didn't speak). See also The Great Dictator		Modern Times
Bob Hoskins won Best Actor at Cannes, 1986, for		Mona Lisa
2011: based on a 2003 non–fiction book of the same title, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team's attempts to assemble a competitive team on a limited budget, by sophisticated use of statistics and the recruitment of undervalued players; stars Brad Pitt as general manager Billy Beane, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as manager Art Howe		Moneyball
Marx Brothers, 1931: they play four stowaways on an ocean liner		Monkey Business
2009 Dreamworks animation: Susan Murphy (a.k.a. Ginormica – voiced by Reese Witherspoon), a normal young human woman, is struck by a radioactive meteor on her wedding day, causing her to mutate and grow to a height of 49 feet 11 inches (15.21 m)		Monsters vs. Aliens
1985 sci–fi comedy: Mel Smith co–wrote and stars		Morons from Outer Space
1963 remake of My Secret Wife (1940); stars Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen; title song was a hit for Doris Day		Move Over, Darling
2005: stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a married couple – they admitted to falling in love during filming, and later married		Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Agatha Christie murder mystery, filmed in 1974 starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, and in 2017 starring Kenneth Branagh (who also directed)		Murder on the Orient Express
1994 Australian cult comedy, set in the coastal town of Porpoise Spit: title character is a gauche young single woman obsessed with the music of Abba		Muriel's Wedding
1970: based on an acclaimed book by Gore Vidal, but often named as one of the worst films ever made; stars Raquel Welch as a trans–sexual who goes to Hollywood and embarks on a campaign of outrageous sexual adventures		Myra Breckinridge
2005: Sandra Bullock plays an innocent woman who is hunted by the police because of a computer error		The Net
1953: film–noir thriller, starring Marilyn Monroe as a femme fatale scheming to murder her husband, played by Joseph Cotten		Niagara
1936 documentary, produced by the GPO Film Unit, about a train from London to Scotland; ends with a "verse commentary" of the same title, by W. H. Auden; score by Benjamin Britten		Night Mail
1957 British horror film: stars Dana Andrews as an American psychologist investigating a satanic cult suspected of more than one murder; but best known today for the line "It's in the trees ... it's coming!" – heard at the start of Kate Bush's Hounds of Love		Night of the Demon
1955: the only film directed by Charles Laughton – a film noir thriller, starring Robert Mitchum as a serial killer who poses as a preacher and charms an unsuspecting widow (Shelley Winters) to get his hands on $10,000 in stolen bank loot, hidden by her executed husband; poorly received on release, it's now considered to be a classic of the genre and even one of the best films of all time		The Night of the Hunter
1964: directed by John Huston, based on a play by Tennessee Williams: stars Richard Burton as a priest (the Reverend Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon) who is driven to desperate measures after being accused of trying to seduce a 16–year–old girl		The Night of the Iguana
1980: Dolly Parton stars, and had a hit with the theme song		9 to 5
2007: based on the 2006 novel of the same title by Cormac McCarthy, which took the title from the opening line of the 1926 poem Sailing to Byzantium, by W. B. Yeats		No Country for Old Men
1959, directed by Hitchcock: advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill, played by Cary Grant, is an innocent man pursued across the USA by agents of a mysterious organization; includes being attacked by a crop–spraying aeroplane, and climaxes on Mount Rushmore; also stars Eva Marie Saint and James Mason		North by Northwest
The first film based on Bram Stoker's Dracula (F. W. Murnau, 1922)		Nosferatu
1999: stars Hugh Grant as Will Thacker, owner of the Travel Book Co. (an independent bookshop)		Notting Hill
Parody of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: 1963 original stars Jerry Lewis in the title role; in the 1996 remake (and 2000 sequel), Eddie Murphy plays seven parts, including the title character (Sherman Klump) and several male and female members of his family; also a 2008 computer–animated 'sequel' to the 1963 original, in which Lewis reprises his role and the protagonist is his grandson		The Nutty Professor
2000, Coen Brothers comedy satire, loosely based on The Odyssey: starring George Clooney, set in Mississippi during the Great Depression; follows the adventures of three convicts after they escape from a chain gang		O Brother, Where Art Thou?
1999: stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Dern and Chris Cooper; based on the book Rocket Boys, but the film was given a different title (an anagram of the original – in order to appeal more to women		October Sky
1954: starred Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, and Rod Steiger as his brother Charlie 'the Gent'		On the Waterfront
1991: begins with Sylvester Stallone (in the title role) promising his dying father (Kirk Douglas) that he will give up his life of crime (remake of a 1967 French film)		Oscar
1973: based on the 1971 novel Addie Pray, by Joe David Brown; central characters are con–man Moses 'Moze' Pray and 9–year–old orphan Addie Loggins – played by Ryan O'Neal and his daughter Tatum, also aged 9		Paper Moon
Features a double role (twins) played by Hayley Mills in 1961 and Lindsey Lohan in the 1998 remake		The Parent Trap
Controversial 2004 epic, directed by Mel Gibson, covering the last twelve hours in the life of Jesus; all dialogue in reconstructed Aramaic, vernacular Hebrew, and Latin		The Passion (of the Christ)
1986: Kathleen Turner stars as a woman on the verge of divorce who gets transported back to her high school days		Peggy Sue Got Married
Tracy Lord, C. K. Dexter Haven, Macauley Connor: characters in		The Philadelphia Story
High Society (1956 – starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra) was a remake of (1940 "screwball comedy", starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart)
1975 Australian film about the mysterious disappearance of a group of schoolgirls from a popular beauty spot (based on a 1967 novel of the same title)		Picnic at Hanging Rock
1959: stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson as Jan Morrow and Brad Allen, who share a phone line		Pillow Talk
Two 2022 releases: one (directed by Guillermo del Toro) won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the other (Robert Zemeckis) won a Razzie for Worst Remake, Rip–Off or Sequel		Pinocchio
1987: comedy about two incompatible businessmen who meet in a taxi in New York; one of them (Steve Martin) is trying to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving, aided and abetted by the other (John Candy)		Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Woody Allen asks Humphrey Bogart for advice, in		Play it again Sam
1971: stars Clint Eastwood as a disc jockey stalked by an obsessive fan		Play Misty For Me
2004 computer–animated fantasy film: Tom Hanks voices six parts, including the central character – a boy who has lost faith in Santa Claus		The Polar Express
1972 disaster movie about a cruise ship that turns upside down in the Mediterranean; stars Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters		The Poseidon Adventure
Marilyn Monroe stars with Laurence Olivier in		The Prince and the Showgirl
1975: black comedy, based on a play by Neil Simon, stars Jack Lemmon as a New York advertising executive who loses his job and his sanity, and Anne Bancroft as his devoted but long–suffering wife		The Prisoner of Second Avenue
1994 film: John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson play a pair of hitmen		Pulp Fiction
1985 Woody Allen film about a character leaving a film (of the same name) to spend time with a hapless waitress (played by Mia Farrow)		The Purple Rose of Cairo
1967 Hammer film: supposed alien artefacts are discovered during the construction of Hobbs End underground station in London. (In the 1958 TV series it had been Hobbs Lane, where it was an office block that was being built but there were references to strange events during the construction of an underground station of the same name nearby in 1927)		Quatermass and the Pit
2000: stars Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis de Sade		Quills
1951 epic, based on a Polish novel of 1896: starring Robert Taylor as a Roman patrician and Deborah Carr as a Christian woman who falls in love with him; features several historical and Biblical characters, including Peter Ustinov as Nero and Finlay Currie as St. Peter		Quo Vadis
2005 adventure comedy about a talking zebra that became a star of horse racing		Racing Stripes
1970: stars Jenny Agutter and Sally Thomsett as sisters Roberta and Phyllis, and Gary Warren as their brother Peter		The Railway Children
1988: Charlie Babbitt discovers that his father has died and left his multi–million–dollar estate to his autistic brother		Rain Man
Raymond Babbitt is the title character
"It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic" – co–producer Sir Lew Grade on (1980 film)		Raise the Titanic!
1963: stars Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson		The Raven
1954, directed by Hitchcock: stars James Stewart, whose character is confined to a wheelchair throughout		Rear Window
1940: directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier; stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine		Rebecca
1948: directed by Howard Hawks, starred John Wayne and Montgomery Clift: a fictionalised account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail		Red River
1992: gang members address each other as Mr. Blonde, Mr. White etc.		Reservoir Dogs
2015: based on the novel by Michael Punke, stars Leonardo di Caprio as the real–life American frontiersman Hugh Glass (c. 1783–1833); title is a word meaning a corpse that has come back from the grave to haunt the living		The Revenant
2002: stars Tom Hanks as 'hit man' Michael Sullivan		The Road to Perdition
1987: title character is a cyborg crimefighter played by Peter Weller		Robocop
1976 (and sequels): title character has a wife called Adrian and a brother–in–law called Paulie; Mickey Goldmill is a central character in		Rocky
Alfred Hitchcock's first colour film (1948)		Rope
1979: loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin; Bette Midler stars as the central character		The Rose
1987: starring Steve Martin and Darryl Hannah, based on the story of Cyrano de Bergerac (by Edmond Rostand)		Roxanne
2000: stars Samuel L. Jackson as a US Marine colonel accused of massacring civilians		Rules of Engagement
1923: Harold Lloyd hangs from the hands of a clock		Safety Last
1977: the Faces and the Barracudas are rival gangs; central character is Tony Manero		Saturday Night Fever
2013: tells the story of Walt Disney's quest to obtain permission to film Mary Poppins		Saving Mr. Banks
Steven Spielberg film (1998) set in the D–Day landings		Saving Private Ryan
Stars Al Pacino as Cuban immigrant (to Miami), Tony Montana (1983)		Scarface
Controversial Derek Jarman film of 1976, about an early Christian martyr; the first film where all of the dialogue was in accurate Latin		Sebastiane
Subtitle of the 2011 Tintin film, directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson		The Secret of the Unicorn
1989: stars Richard Pryor as a blind man and Gene Wilder as a deaf man		See No Evil, Hear No Evil
1995 'neo–noir thriller' – stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives David Mills and William Somerset, Kevin Spacey as the villain John Doe, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Mills' wife Tracy		Seven (Se7en)
1957 (written and directed by Ingmar Bergman): a medieval knight (played by Max von Sydow) plays chess with Death, who has come to take his life		The Seventh Seal
1955 rom–com: features Marilyn Monroe's iconic skirt–raising scene		The Seven Year Itch
1968 British–made Western starring Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot; also features Jack Hawkins as an English aristocrat and Eric Sykes as his butler		Shalako
1949 Western, starring John Wayne: title comes from a popular US marching song (which was adapted for use in the film)		She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Martin Scorsese's 2008 documentary of two Rolling Stones concerts in New York (also includes archive footage)		Shine a Light
The 2012 documentary Room 237 (screened at Cannes and Sundance) is about interpretations and perceived meanings of (1980 film)		The Shining
1989: Pauline Collins plays the title role, a frustrated Liverpool housewife who talks to the kitchen wall, but finds romance on a Greek holiday (screenplay by Willy Russell, based on his play)		Shirley Valentine
2001 (sequels 2004, 2007, 2010): based on a 1990 fairy tale by William Steig		Shrek
1952: plot involves turning a silent film entitled The Dueling Cavalier into a musical entitled The Dancing Cavalier, in order to compete with The Jazz Singer		Singin' in the Rain
1992 thriller starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh as flatmates		Single White Female
1992: a cabaret singer on the run from the Mafia (played by Whoopi Goldberg) ends up training a choir of nuns		Sister Act
1977: stars Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop, the ageing player–coach of a struggling ice hockey team		Slap Shot
1972 mystery starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine, based on a play by Anthony Shaffer; remade 2007 with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, starring Michael Caine and Jude Law		Sleuth
1981 comedy satire in which Julie Andrews appeared topless (directed by her husband Blake Edwards)		S.O.B.
1970 "revisionist Western": Buffy Sainte–Marie took the title song to No. 7 in the UK charts		Soldier Blue
Hollywood's 1993 remake of the French film The Return of Martin Guerre		Sommersby
1965: John Wayne and Dean Martin were two of (there were four altogether)		The Sons of Katie Elder
1982: based on an acclaimed novel by William Styron; Meryl Streep stars as an Auschwitz survivor		Sophie's Choice
1996: a fantasy on what basketball star Michael Jordan did between his premature retirement in 1993 and his comeback in 1995; involves live action and computer animation		Space Jam
1945: Hitchcock directed, Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck stars as a psychoanalyst and the manager of a mental hospital (respectively); Salvador Dali designed a dream sequence		Spellbound
1997: features Richard E. Grant, Roger Moore, Meat Loaf, Barry Humphries, Richard O'Brien, Michael Barrymore, Jools Holland, Richard Briers, Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in supporting or cameo roles, and Peter Sissons, Jonathan Ross, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Bob Geldof and Bob Hoskins as themselves		Spice World
1984: Daryl Hannah played a mermaid in		Splash
Stars Janet Gaynor 1937, Judy Garland 1954, Barbra Streisand 1976, Lady Gaga 2018 (each playing different characters in different plots)		A Star is Born
2006 film about University Challenge – adapted by David Nicholls from his novel of the same title		Starter for Ten
1945 Robert Mitchum film, title inspired the name of a toy (the toy was known in the UK as Action Man)		The Story of G. I. Joe
2016: British comedy–drama, based on an autobiographical book of the same title by James Bowen		A Street Cat Named Bob
2015: the first film to be granted permission to film in the Houses of Parliament		Suffragette
1963: a group of London Transport bus mechanics, led by Don (Cliff Richard), borrow a double–decker bus (an AEC Regent III RT, not a Routemaster) for a tour of Europe. Same title as a 1948 film starring Mickey Rooney, based on Eugene O'Neill's play Ah, Wilderness!		Summer Holiday
Acclaimed 1974 thriller, starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, about the capture of a New York Subway train and its passengers; remade in 2009 starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta		The Taking of Pelham 123
1989: 'buddy cop action comedy' starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell in the title roles (first names Ray and Gabriel)		Tango & Cash
1976: a dysfunctional Vietnam veteran (Travis Bickle, played by Robert de Niro) works himself up to a violent confrontation with the pimps who work the New York streets. Directed by Martin Scorsese; also stars Jodie Foster (aged 13 at time of release) as teenage prostitute Iris 'Easy' Steensma		Taxi Driver
1999 US rom–com, starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew		Ten Things I Hate About You
2007 film, loosely based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! (Central character Daniel Plainview, played in the film by Daniel Day–Lewis)		There Will Be Blood
1969 drama about dance marathons in Los Angeles during the Depression; stars Jane Fonda		They Shoot Horses Don't They
1949: set in Vienna, one of its most memorable scenes is filmed on the Big Wheel (Ferris Wheel) in the Prater Amusement Park		The Third Man
The first non–French film to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes
1944: based on a play of the same title by Noel Coward – the title coming from John of Gaunt's famous speech in Shakespeare's Richard II; tells the story of the Gibbons family, living in a London suburb during the inter–war years; stars Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, Stanley Holloway and John Mills		This Happy Breed
1984: spoof documentary ("if you will, rockumentary") about a fictional English heavy metal band: stars American actors Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as band members David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel		This Is Spinal Tap
1986 comedy Western: stars Steve Martin as Lucky Day, Chevy Chase as Dusty Bottoms, and Martin Short as Ned Nederlander		Three Amigos
2006: a fictionalised retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae (fought in 480 BC), based on a comic book series of the same title; starreed Gerard Butler as King Leonidas of Sparta		300
1975: stars Robert Redford as a CIA agent caught up in a power struggle within the agency, Faye Dunaway as a woman he takes hostage and then forms a relationship with, and Cliff Robertson as a senior CIA officer		Three Days of the Condor
1987: Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson were the eponymous stars of		Three Men and a Baby
1959: stars John Mills as a police superintendent, and his daughter Hayley as a young girl who witnesses a murder		Tiger Bay
1996: stars Kevin Costner as golf pro Roy McAvoy		Tin Cup
1995: stars Nicole Kidman as a ruthlessly ambitious TV weather girl		To Die For
1967 detective film starring Frank Sinatra in the title role – based on the novel Miami Mayhem by Marvin H. Albert		Tony Rome
1986: stars Tom Cruise as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Kelly McGillis as Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood, Anthony Edwards as Nick "Goose" Bradshaw		Top Gun
1964: based on Eric Ambler's novel The Light of Day; the film takes as its title the name of the palace of the Ottoman emperors, from which a gang (Melina Mercouri, Maximilian Schell, Peter Ustinov) steal an emerald–encrusted dagger		Topkapi
1967: stars Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray, an unemployed engineer (from British Guyana, via California) who takes up a teaching post at North Quay Secondary School in the tough East End of London; Suzy Kendall (who married Dudley Moore the following year), Lulu and Judy Geeson appear as three of his pupils		To Sir, With Love
1990, remade in 2012: based on the short story We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale, by Philip K. Dick		Total Recall
1974: Robert Wagner, Robert Vaughn and Richard Chamberlain all died; O. J. Simpson rescued Fred Astaire's cat		The Towering Inferno
1986 low–budget horror film with a central character named Harry Potter – with suspicious similarities to the J. K. Rowling series		Troll
John Wayne, Glenn Campbell and Kim Darby (1969); Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld (2010); Mattie Ross (played by Darby in 1969 and Steinfeld in 2010) is the principal female character in		True Grit
1990: directed by Anthony Minghella, stars Juliet Stevenson as Nina, an interpreter, and Alan Rickman as Jamie, a cellist		Truly, Madly, Deeply
1989 comedy: the title pair were Tom Hanks and a Bordeaux or French Mastiff		Turner and Hooch
1957: none of the characters are named, until the very end when two of them exchange surnames (Davis and McCardle)		12 Angry Men
2013 (Best Picture Oscar winner 2014): based on a book, published in 1883, with the subtitle Narrative of Solomon Northop		12 Years a Slave
Series of modern–day Vampire movies, 2008/09/10, based on a best–selling series of books by Stephanie Meyer		The Twilight Saga
1988: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito play Julius and Vincent Benedict		Twins
1990 sequel to 1974's Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson and Harvey Keitel: gives its name to a poker hand (pair of jacks)		The Two Jakes
1970 Western starring Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine		Two Mules for Sister Sara
1968: based on a short story by Arthur C. Clarke – written in 1948, first published in 1951, and entitled The Sentinel		2001: A Space Odyssey
Opens with a much–parodied 'Dawn of Man' sequence
1998 film about glam rock		The Velvet Goldmine
1992 Best Picture Oscar (also Best Director): set in the town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, in 1881		Unforgiven
1995: follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), a small–time con man who is one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. In his convoluted story, the main antagonist is a mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Sozé, who is never seen		The Usual Suspects
1982: musical comedy, starring Julie Andrews as a woman who pretends to be a man working as a female impersonator; directed by her husband Blake Edwards		Victor/Victoria
1965: a group of Allied PoWs conduct a daring escape by hijacking a freight train and fleeing through German–occupied Italy to Switzerland; stars Frank Sinatra as a pilot shot down over Italy, and Trevor Howard as the senior British officer in the PoW camp		Von Ryan's Express
1995: critical and commercial flop, starring Kevin Costner; allegedly cost £1.3 million per minute to make		Waterworld
1934 'screwball' musical comedy, based on J. M. Barrie's play The Admirable Crichton; stars Bing Crosby, Carole Lombard, George Burns and Gracie Allen		We're Not Dressing
1987: Bette Davis's penultimate film, also staring Lilian Gish		The Whales of August
1963: title said to be the words used by Warren Beatty to answer the telephone to his female friends		What's New, Pussycat?
2000: stars Mel Gibson as an unreconstructed advertising executive who finds, after electrocuting himself in his bath, that he can read women's minds		What Women Want
1996: stars Sean Bean as Jimmy Muir (who starts off as a factory worker); named after a "half decent" football magazine		When Saturday Comes
1987 animation based on a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs: voices of John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft as James and Hilda Bloggs, a retired couple living in a cottage in rural Sussex		When the Wind Blows
1996 Academy Award winning documentary, featuring the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, for the world heavyweight boxing title, fought in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October 1974 – the so–called 'Rumble in the Jungle'		When We Were Kings
1951: sci–fi adventure about an expedition to the planet Zyra, to save the human race when Zyra's star Bellus collides with Earth		When Worlds Collide
1968: Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton co–stars in		Where Eagles Dare
Released as Tight Little Island in the USA and Whisky a–Go–Go in France		Whisky Galore!
1992: stars Woody Harrelson as Billy Hoyle – a former college basketball player who makes a living by hustling players of "streetball" (street basketball), who assume he can't play well because he is white – and Wesley Snipes as Sidney Deane – a talented but cocky player who is twice beaten by Billy		White Men Can't Jump
1966: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor star as a married couple		Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1973: cult horror movie starring Edward Woodward as police sergeant Neil Howie and Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle		The Wicker Man
Remade in 2006 with Nicholas Cage as the policeman (renamed Edward Malus)
Gave its name to a ride at Alton Towers, opened in 2018
1978: Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris star as mercenaries		Wild Geese
1985 sequel about an attempt to spring Rudolf Hess from Spandau prison		Wild Geese II
1968 western starring Charlton Heston and Donald Pleasance		Will Penny
1950: tells the story of a prized rifle that passes from one ill–fated owner to another, parallelling a cowboy's search for a murderous fugitive		Winchester '73
1985: Lukas Haas plays a young Amish boy who sees a murder being committed – stars Harrison Ford as the investigating detective (his only Oscar nominated role)		Witness
1969: features a famous nude wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed		Women in Love
1982: stars Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver; set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno; based on a novel of the same title by Christopher Koch; title is a translation of an Italian phrase used by Sukarno in his speech in 1964 on the 19th anniversary of independence (Tahun Vivere Pericoloso); Linda Hunt won Best Supporting Actress for her breakthrough performance as the male dwarf Billy Kwan; banned in Indonesia until 1999		The Year of Living Dangerously
1968 cartoon: features Jeremy Hillary Boob – a strange, furry man with a blue face, pink ears and a rabbit's tail, voiced by Dick Emery – and Old Fred (a.k.a Young Fred), an old sailor voiced by Lance Percival		Yellow Submarine
1998 romcom: stars Tom Hanks as Joe Fox, and Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly (their third collaboration); based on the 1937 play Parfumerie by Miklós László, which was previously filmed in 1940 as The Shop Around the Corner, starring James Stewart – which in turn was remade in 1949 as a musical, In the Good Old Summertime, starring Judy Garland		You've Got Mail
2012: a not–particularly–historically–accurate account of the search for Osama Bin Laden (2001–11); according to director Kathryn Bigelow, the title is "a military term for 30 minutes after midnight, and it refers also to the darkness and secrecy that cloaked the entire decade–long mission."		Zero Dark Thirty
2001: stars Ben Stiller as a dim–witted but good–natured model who becomes involved in a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia		Zoolander

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24