Here are some of the best movies ever made in the USA.
Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
Jimmy Stewart becomes obsessed with Kim Novak, and after her death he becomes even more obsessed with her lookalike. Because this is a Hitchcock movie, all is not what it seems.
Scarface by Howard Hawks, 1932
The gangster movie’s gangster movie. Paul Muni plays a barely disguised Al Capone, who had just been sent to jail when the film came out, in a terrifying (but also kind of alluring) story of the wages of sin.
Back to the Future by Robert Zemeckis, 1985
Time travel movies are always fun, but none is as fun as this one. Michael J. Fox goes back in time to arrange his parents’ meeting, but things go wrong when his eventual mother thinks he’s cute. He also invents rock ‘n’ roll.
In the Heat of the Night by Norman Jewison, 1967
A lot of films attempted to address the issue of race during the Civil Rights era, but this was the best. Sidney Poitier is a tower of strength as a Philadelphia cop who reluctantly teams with racist sheriff Rod Steiger to solve a murder.
Annie Hall by Woody Allen, 197
New York nebbish falls for California goddess, but their mutual insecurities eventually drive them apart. The characters seem so real and so funny, because they are only slightly fictionalized versions of Allen and lead actress Diane Keaton.
Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin, 1936
Chaplin’s blistering satire of the era is also one of his funniest works. From the opening sequence, in which his tramp is abused by machines, to the final walk into the sunrise, the film is insightful and uproarious.
The Silence of the Lambs by Jonathan Demme, 1991
Anthony Hopkins is the obvious standout here as a true psychopathic murderer who gives his expert advice to a young FBI Academy student, but watch Jodie Foster in her scenes of utter terror. The acting is a thing of beauty.
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