“3:10 to Yuma”

“Anatomy of a Murder”

Director Otto Preminger brought a new cinematic frankness to film with this gripping crime-and-trial movie shot on location in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where the incident on which it was based had occurred. 

“The Augustas”

In his 16-minute film, Scott Nixon, a traveling salesman based in Augusta, Ga., documents some 38 streets, storefronts and cities named Augusta in such far-flung locales as Montana and Maine. 

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

Truman Capote believed that Marilyn Monroe would have been perfect for the film and judged Audrey Hepburn, who landed the lead, “just wrong for the part.” Critics and audiences, however, have disagreed.

“A Christmas Story”

The holiday classic is based in part on Jean Shepherd’s 1966 compilation of short stories titled In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, which originated on his radio and television programs. 

“Dirty Harry”

Clint Eastwood starred as rogue Police Inspector Harry Callahan in director Don Siegel’s action-packed, controversial paean to vigilante justice.

“The Times of Harvey Milk”

The 1985 Oscar winner for best documentary feature vividly recounts the life of San Francisco’s first openly gay elected city official. 

“The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight”

At more than 100 minutes, the documentary about the May 1987 championship fight between in which Bob Fitzsimmons beat "Gentleman" Jim Corbett (pictured) was the longest film ever released to that point. It generated an estimated $750,000 in income during the several years that it remained in distribution.

“A League of Their Own”

Bitty Schram and Tom Hanks were player and coach in the heartfelt 1992 comedy-drama that focused on the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. It was during the scene pictured that Hanks delivered the oft-quoted line, "There's no crying in baseball!"

“The Matrix”

Influenced by Hong Kong action films and Japanese anime, the Wachowskis' mind-bending drama changed sci-fi filmmaking with its wild video effects and production design. It starred, from left: Joe Pantoliano, Laurence Fishburne, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.

“Sons of the Desert”

Stan Laurel, left, and Oliver Hardy starred in this riotous 1933 comedy of fraternity and marital mishaps, which ranked among the top 10 box-office hits after its release. Film scholars and fans consider it to be the duo’s finest feature.

“The Spook Who Sat by the Door”

Based on a controversial best-selling novel by Sam Greenlee and with a subtly effective score by jazz legend Herbie Hancock, The Spook Who Sat by the Door presents the story of a black man hired to integrate the CIA who uses his counter-revolutionary training to spark a black nationalist revolution in America’s urban streets. Some commentators lambasted the film for its sanctioning of violence, and United Artists pulled the movie from theaters after a successful three-week run.

“Two-Lane Blacktop”

The film follows two obsessed but laconic young operators of a souped-up 1955 Chevy (singer-songwriter James Taylor and Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson) as they engage in a cross-country race with a 1970 Pontiac GTO, whose loquacious, middle-aged driver (Warren Oates) continually reinvents his past and intended future. 

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel was frequently adapted to early movies but always with white actors in the lead roles — until this 1914 version, said to be the first feature-length American film that starred a black actor: Sam Lucas, who had played the lead in an 1878 stage production.