The 10 Best Films of the 1950's

Here is a continuing look at my picks of the best films of each decade. The 1950's brought some hard ships to theater owners with television revolutionizing the country. Suddenly adults were staying at home watching the likes of Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar and Jackie Gleason among others. Hollywood stood up and took notice and began making smaller budget films geared towards younger audiences.

Soon theaters and drive-ins (which would become increasingly popular as the decade progressed) were inundated with sci-fi and horror films. While most of them were cheap looking and badly made, a handful of them stood out to become classics and have stood the test of time. Some of those titles include "The Thing," "The Day The Earth Stood Still," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Them!" and to a lesser degree "Forbidden Planet" and "The Blob" (Steve McQueen's film debut).

Teenage rebellion and the birth of rock and roll marked what the 1950's were all about. New stars such as Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley and James Dean fit into the mold of the tough young man who stood up to anyone and everyone but still had a soft side buried deep inside.

Adults didn't stop going to the movies altogether as Westerns remained popular as well as epic dramas and movie musicals but it became clear for the first time that the target audience had shifted.

John Wayne, Jerry Lewis and James Stewart were the top 3 box office stars of the decade.

Here are my choices for the ten best films of the 1950's listed in alphabetical order.

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI - David Lean's blockbuster epic was a battle of wills as British prisoners in a Japanese prison camp build a bridge and the plans to destroy it come hell of high water. Lean benefited from not using miniatures but using a real bridge (built specifically for the movie) and real trains. The air of realism raised the level of this epic spectacle to Academy Award winner. William Holden and Alec Guinness (Best Actor) lead a large international cast.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY - One of the best war films ever made was this tale of Army life in Hawaii just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Director Fred Zinnemann combined several personal stories including Montgomery Clift falling in love with a prostitute (Donna Reed); lieutenant Burt Lancaster having an ill-advised affair with his superior's wife (Deborah Kerr); a tough talking, fast acting sergeant (Frank Sinatra) who makes enemies with the wrong person (Ernest Borgnine) with the shocking and unexpected attack on our country. The battle sequences are first rate but are undermined by the interesting and thoroughly well written stories of each character. The top-notch performances led to nominations for all but Borgnine with Reed and Sinatra winning.

MARTY - Hot off his villainous role as Fatso in "From Here to Eternity," Ernest Borgnine went the opposite direction completely to play the title character, an overweight and lonely butcher who still lives at home with his mother. One night while out with his equally lonely best friend, Marty runs into a schmuck who pays him to take an unattractive date he wants to ditch home. Soon enough Marty gets to know her and falls in love. Paddy Chayefsky adapted his simple, straightforward script from his television play and this little film that could would go on to win Oscars for Best Picture, Actor, Director and Screenplay. It was the only film to first be a TV drama and then go on to win Best Picture.

MISTER ROBERTS - Henry Fonda gave one of his greatest performances in the title role (which he originated on Broadway) as a soldier on a WWII cargo ship who is going crazy having to deal with an eccentric captain (James Cagney) when his greatest desire is to see combat action. William Powell (in his last role) as the ship's doctor and Jack Lemmon (winner Best Supporting Actor) as the happy-go-lucky Ensign Pulver are also terrific in this comedy/drama that started with the great John Ford as director but was replaced by Mervyn LeRoy. Much to the film's benefit the transition from one director to another is seamless and unnoticeable.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST - No list from the 1950's can be complete without an Alfred Hitchcock film. Here the "master of suspense" places Cary Grant as an everyman who, thanks to mistaken identity, is suspected of being either a murderer by police or a double agent by spies. The film, co-starring James Mason, Eva Marie Saint, Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau is filled with many memorable set pieces, most notably the crop dusting chase and the climatic chase on the face of Mount Rushmore. For sheer excitement and adventure Hitchcock was never better then he was here.

PATHS OF GLORY - At age 28 director Stanley Kubrick made this, his fourth film and first hit, a powerful study of the futility of war (a common Kubrick theme) about a French general in WWI who orders his troops on a suicide mission and, when they fail, orders three of his men to be executed for cowardice. This frightening study of the perils of war has only grown more powerful as years have passed with Kirk Douglas, as the troop's commander, giving perhaps his greatest performance. This was the film that would allude to the greatness Kubrick had in him.

RIO BRAVO - Much like Hitchcock, one cannot do a list like this without including one of the biggest stars of all time in John Wayne. This film is arguably his best as he stars as a sheriff trying to keep a killer jailed while the killer has outside connections planning to break him out. Assisting Wayne as best as they can are Dean Martin as the town's drunken deputy, gimpy old man Walter Brennan and the still green Ricky Nelson. This was the quintessential Howard Hawks western that, oddly enough, was a flop at the time of release and is now regarded as a classic.

SOME LIKE IT HOT - Billy Wilder's classic farce has been regarded as the greatest comedy ever made and it is hard to argue that point. Set in the 1930's the film stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as musicians who witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and have to join an all-girl band to escape their pursuers. This all seems to be fine at first until Marilyn Monroe enters the picture and soon Curtis finds himself playing another role (that of a Cary Grant-like aristocrat) trying to woo her. Further complications arise when millionaire Joe E. Brown falls for Lemmon's female disguise. The film is filled with big laughs after big laughs and concludes with one of the greatest last lines of all time.

TOUCH OF EVIL - Orson Welles directed this powerful tale of murder and police corruption in a small, sleazy Mexican border town. Welles, looking bloated and unhealthy plays a seedy cop at odds with policeman Charlton Heston while Heston's wife (Janet Leigh) is played as a pawn. The film is noteworthy for Welles' incredible opening shot that is an unbroken for four minutes as the camera moves from one character to another while leading to the murder that the movie will focus on. At the time of its completion the film was taken away from Welles and re-edited (against the wishes of Heston as well) with even the opening unbroken shot disrupted by the film's credits. In the late 80's over 50 pages of notes made by Welles were found to restore the film to his vision and it is this version that was re-released in the 90's and it is this version I place on the list.

12 ANGRY MEN - Sidney Lumet's powerful drama, set in one room, tells the story of a jury of 12 men trying to decide the fate of a young man accused of murder. At first it seems open and shut until Henry Fonda steps forward not so eager to convict without more evidence. Soon enough Fonda tries to sway the jurors that perhaps their initial reaction to convict was premature. Terrific writing by Reginald Rose, based on his play, highlights this film that elicits conversation long after its conclusion. Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden and Robert Webber are among the other actors giving strong performances.