The Big Lift 1950  N/R, 120 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: George Seaton
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Paul Douglas, Cornell Borchers, Bruni Lobel, O.E. Hasse, Danny Davenport
Post-World War II Berlin was divided into sectors, and in 1948 the Soviet Union blockaded the allied sector with the intent of taking over all of Berlin. The Berlin airlift was the response, and this is the story of that major event as seen through the eyes of two Air Force Sergeants (Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas). Shot entirely on location in West Berlin, much of the actual conditions were captured in this film–making it, in reality, a semi-documentary.
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Freud 1962  N/R, 118 min.
Genre: Drama
aka: Freud: The Secret Passion
Director: John Huston
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Larry Parks, Susannah York, Susan Kohner, Eric Portman, Fernand Ledoux, David McCallum, Rosalie Crutchley, David Kossoff, Eileen Herlie
The early years of Sigmund Freud's great career, leading to the development of psychoanalysis, are portrayed in this film with Montgomery Clift as Freud.
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 From Here to Eternity 1953  N/R, 118 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Ernest Borgnine, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed, Philip Ober, Jack Warden, Mickey Shaughnessy, Harry Bellaver, John Dennis, Merle Travis, George Reeves, Tim Ryan, Claude Akins
This is the story about Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr) and the men she encounters while looking for a break from her loneliness as an Army wife. From the quiet Hawaiian nights to the earth-shaking December 7th bombing of Pearl Harbor, this story's characters are pawns in the hands of fate. The movie won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra), and Supporting Actress (Donna Reed). It was also nominated for five Oscars, including Best Actress (Kerr) and two for Best Actor (Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift).
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 The Heiress 1949 N/R, 115 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: William Wyler
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Ralph Richardson, Montgomery Clift, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Mona Freeman, Ray Collins, Selena Royle, Russ Conway, Harry Antrim, Betty Linley, Paul Lees, David Thursby
Set in mid-1800s' New York City, this is the story of a plain-looking young woman (Olivia de Havilland) who is pursued by a handsome man (Montgomery Clift) because of her fortune. An interfering father (Ralph Richardson) determines to ruin the relationship and, in the process, his daughter as well. Olivia de Havilland won the Academy Award for her performance. The film also won three other Academy Awards and was nominated for four others, including Best Picture, Supporting Actor ( Ralph Richardson) and Director.
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 I Confess 1953  N/R, 95 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne, Dolly Haas, O.E. Hasse, Judson Pratt, Henry Corden, Charles Andre, Gilles Pelletier, Roger Dann, Oliva Legare, Nan Boardman, Carmen Gingras, Albert Godderis
A priest, Father Michael Logan (Montgomery Clift), hears the confession of church sexton Otto Keller (O.E. Hasse) who whispers, "I killed a man." Logan is bound by the laws of the Confessional and cannot reveal Keller's name. Police inspector Larrue (Karl Malden) finds circumstantial evidence and accuses Logan of the murder. Logan is brought to trial and is released due to lack of evidence; however, he loses his good reputation. But, later events just might clear his name.
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 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961   N/R, 190 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner, Ed Binns, Werner Klemperer, Torben Meyer, Kenneth MacKenna
This classic film about the Nazi war crimes as they were presented at the trial at Nuremberg is spellbinding from start to finish. Spencer Tracy plays the compassionate, yet intelligent, American judge, Maximilian Schell excels as the defense attorney, and Burt Lancaster plays the role of the German judge on trial who chose to give in to Nazi threats. Academy Awards were received for Best Actor (Maximilian Schell) and Best Writing; the film was nominated for nine others, including. Best Actor (Spencer Tracy), Director, Supporting Actress (Judy Garland), and Supporting Actor (Montgomery Clift). 1 User Review
| User Review |
| | Prettry much as "important" as it thinks it is | 1fatts 04/05/2007 | Be wary of "important" movies. The cast and crew, the critics and pundits can become so wrapped in the aura of the message that needs to be imparted to a waiting world that the human story is lost and we find ourselves being barraged by sanctimonious monologues or, worse, symbolism piled on symbolism to express the truth that words cannot express. (Honestly, did anyone really understand the last ten minutes of 2001?)
But this movie is better than that. It doesn't escape it all, I suppose, but the center of the thing is the consideration of what is evil and what is decency, played out on a stage of characters who give it humanity.
I have considered -- rather often, actually -- what has traveled best in this film in the last forty-five years and what has traveled less well. It is the underplaying that still holds us, the messages not spoken but shown on faces and in motions. Maximilian Schell's defense attorney is all words and logic, which, at its best moments, serve as a counterpoint to the quiet humanity which the destroyed reflect and the innocent portray. It was an Academy Award well deserved. I don't think Tracy ever did better work. Montgomery Clift's short scene is among the most moving ever filmed. Dietrich, Garland, so many others do such fine work.
Richard Widmark, on the other hand, is too theatrical, as is Burt Lancaster, Werner Klemperer and too many others. It is the writing and the direction, but most of all, it is the strain of taking on the issue.. It was 1961, and Hollywood was finally putting on film the question of the guilt of the Holocaust. It WAS important. The writing was honest enough to cast shadows of complicity over Western big business, Cold War Political Fears, the growing willingness of a war-weary world to turn a blind eye to last year's injustice and the suffering of those too unimportant to be represented. The responsibility, the scope of all that, and, no doubt, the pride of all that led to too much Hollywood is the writing and direction.
Yet, on the whole, "Judgment" remembers to focus on the people and not the speeches, and that rescues the film and redeems it. It is still, even after nearly half a century, shocking, complex and deeply thought provoking.
And, yes, it is important. How important? I don't think anyone should be allowed to graduate high school without having seen this film and discussed it with a knowledgeable, sensitive adult -- not only as a "Holocaust" discussion, but as the starting point for the question of why good people allow evil into the world and what, if anything, moral people can do to stand against it. |
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Lonelyhearts 1958  N/R, 101 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Vincent J. Donehue
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Robert Ryan, Myrna Loy, Dolores Hart, Maureen Stapleton, Frank Maxwell, Jackie Coogan, Mike Kellin, Frank Overton, Onslow Stevens
Based on Nathaniel West's novel, this is a fair representation of his story about Adam White (Montgomery Clift) who takes on the "Miss Lonelyhearts" column for his newspaper. Maureen Stapleton received an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress.
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 The Misfits 1961 N/R, 124 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: John Huston
Cast: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Thelma Ritter, Eli Wallach, Kevin McCarthy, James Barton, Estelle Winwood, Denis Shaw, Marietta Tree
A new divorcee, Roslyn Tabor (Marilyn Monroe), befriends some cowboys and falls in love with one of them–Gay Langland (Clark Gable)–in this story written by Monroe's husband, Arthur Miller. Gable's and Monroe's last film.
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A Place in the Sun 1951 N/R, 122 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Raymond Burr, Keefe Brasselle, Fred Clark, Herbert Heyes, Shepperd Strudwick, Frieda Inescort
A tragic love triangle occurs when George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) falls in love with wealthy Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor); however, his girlfriend Alice (Shelley Winters) becomes pregnant, presenting a rather large obstacle! This is a remake of 1931's "An American Tragedy," which is the title of Theodore Dreiser's story. The film won six Academy Awards, including one for Best Director (George Stevens), and nominations were received for Best Picture, Actor (Montgomery Clift), and Actress (Shelley Winters).
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Raintree County 1957 N/R, 187 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint, Nigel Patrick, Lee Marvin, Rod Taylor, Agnes Moorehead, Rhys Williams, Walter Abel, Tom Drake
Johnny Green's great score adds to the enjoyment of this film. This is a Civil War epic about Southern belle Susanna Drake (Elizabeth Taylor) whose life and psyche are severely disturbed by events surrounding her Midwest existence. The film received four Oscar nominations, including Best Actress (Taylor) and Musical Score.
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Red River 1948 N/R, 133 min.
Genre: Western
Director: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson
Cast: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, Coleen Gray, John Ireland, Noah Beery Jr., Harry Carey, Harry Carey Jr., Paul Fix, Chief Yowlachie, Hank Worden, Mickey Kuhn, Hal Taliaferro, Shelley Winters
A cattle baron, Tom Dunson (John Wayne), has built up a huge estate, but trouble brews when his adoptive son Matt (Montgomery Clift)–who Tom had rescued as a boy (Mickey Kuhn) from an Indian raid–is not quite ready to put up with the hardships involved in moving cattle to the railroad in Abilene. Matt has just returned from the Civil War and stampedes and pressures of the cattle drive on a difficult route cause tension for Matt, and he is driven to the point of confrontation with his father. One of the best Westerns of the 1940s.
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The Search 1948 N/R, 105 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Ivan Jandl, Jarmila Novotna, Aline MacMahon, Wendell Corey, Mary Patton, Ewart G. Morrison, William Rogers, Claude Gambier, Leopold Borkowski
This is the story of a child who was one of many displaced by events of World War II. While his mother (Jarmila Novotna) tirelessly searches for him, Karel's (Ivan Jandl) friendship with an American soldier gives him needed emotional support. Clift and Director Zinnemann received Oscar nominations and Ivan Jandl was awarded an Honorary Award for outstanding juvenile performance.
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Suddenly, Last Summer 1959 N/R, 112 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Mercedes McCambridge, Albert Dekker, Gary Raymond, Mavis Villiers, Joan Young, Patricia Marmont, Maria Britneva
Sebastian was a sensitive, gay poet whose premature death haunts his cousin, Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor). To keep a dark secret, Sebastian's mother (Katharine Hepburn) plots to have a lobotomy performed on Catherine to ensure her loss of memory of the event. Both Taylor and Hepburn received Academy Award nominations as Best Actress for this film.
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Terminal Station 1953 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance
aka: Indiscretion of an American Wife
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, Gino Cervi, Richard Beymer, Paolo Stoppa, Nando Bruno, Clelia Matania, Enrico Viarisio, Giuseppe Porelli, Maria-Pia Casilio, Patti Page, Gigi Reder
American housewife Mary Forbes (Jennifer Jones) is enjoying her stay in Rome–complete with Italian lover Giovanni Doria (Montgomery Clift)–when they are caught making love in an empty railroad car and are arrested. Now comes the probability that word of the indiscretion will get back to Mary's husband. What is Mary to do?
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Wild River 1960 PG, 110 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet, Albert Salmi, Jay C. Flippen, James Westerfield, Frank Overton, Bruce Dern, Pat Hingle, Malcolm Atterbury
As a TVA official of the 1930s, Chuck Glover (Montgomery Clift) tries to convince Ella Garth (Jo Van Fleet) to sell her home (which is located on an island in the Tennessee River) and allow plans for the government's development of power and transportation on the river proceed.
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The Young Lions 1958 N/R, 170 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Maximilian Schell, May Britt, Barbara Rush, Lee Van Cleef, Dora Doll, Parley Baer
This film does an excellent job of examining Nazi beliefs and how one young German soldier (Marlon Brando) becomes disillusioned with the cause for which he fights.
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| 1. The Big Lift (1950)
2. Freud (1962)
aka: Freud: The Secret Passion
3. From Here to Eternity (1953)
4. The Heiress (1949)
5. I Confess (1953)
6. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
7. Lonelyhearts (1958)
8. The Misfits (1961)
9. A Place in the Sun (1951)
10. Raintree County (1957)
11. Red River (1948)
12. The Search (1948)
13. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
14. Terminal Station (1953)
aka: Indiscretion of an American Wife
15. Wild River (1960)
16. The Young Lions (1958)
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