This swashbuckling nautical adventure, starring the incomparable Douglas Fairbanks, made film history as one of the first full features shot entirely in Technicolor. Here, he plays a nobleman who wants to revenge his father's murder, so he boards a pirate vessel disguised as one of the thieving, villainous rapscallions, and sets about achieving his goal. On the high seas, the athletic Fairbanks provides a no-holds barred, rip-roaring, stunt-filled voyage -- complete with a one-man takeover of a merchant ship. Featuring live accompaniment on the Barton Organ! Not rated. 94 minutes.
Sponsored by AT&T.

The classic film about alienated and rebellious youth that made James Dean an indelible icon. "Rebel without a Cause" focuses on a teenage social outcast searching for his identity. His dysfunctional parents (a milquetoast father and a cantankerous mom) can't help him and he shuns any form of authority. The young man only finds solace in the company of two fellow teenage misfits, but even they aren't able to prevent tragedy from befalling this reckless and uncontrollable anti-hero. Natalie Wood also stars. Rated PG-13. 111 minutes.

Gary Cooper is Hollywood's perfect hero, the very embodiment of integrity and grace in this greatest of Westerns. As a newly married town marshal, he must balance an innate sense of justice and duty with loyalty to his beautiful new--and pacifist--bride (Grace Kelly) when he is left by an ungrateful town to face a gang of deadly outlaws alone. As we watch spellbound, film time is real time as the showdown grows ever closer. Rated PG. 85 minutes.
Sponsored by Borders.

Audrey Hepburn became a star with this film, in which she played Princess Anne, weary of protocol and anxious to have some fun before she is mummified by "affairs of state." On a diplomatic visit to Rome, Anne escapes her royal retainers and scampers incognito through the Eternal City. She happens to meet American journalist Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), who, recognizing a hot news story, pretends that he doesn't recognize her and offers to give her a guided tour of Rome. Naturally, Joe hopes to get an exclusive interview, while his photographer pal Irving (Eddie Albert) attempts to sneak a photo. And just as naturally, Joe falls in love with her. Not Rated. 118 minutes.
Sponsored by Scoot Around Town.

Catchy musical numbers, famous cameos, and a surprise wedding keep this third Muppet movie lively and fun for kids and parents alike. When the Muppets come to Broadway to find a producer for their musical, disappointment is the only result. Discouraged, the gang leaves New York and goes its separate ways while Kermit, his dream still alive, continues the search for a producer. With the help of a pack of rats who cook at a diner, Kermit signs up an enthusiastic producer and calls his friends back to New York. But when Kermit disappears before the musical opens, the rest of the Muppets must decide whether the show must go on. Featuring cameo appearances by Liza Minnelli, Joan Rivers, and Gregory Hines, among many others. Rated G. 94 minutes
Sponsored by Gretchen's House Child Development Centers.

After learning to play guitar and sing during a stint in the Big House, a minor-league punk kid becomes a rock star, with a little help from a beautiful agent. But the pressures of fame wear him down. Considered by many to be Elvis Presley's best film because of its eerie narrative prescience, noirish setting, and quality songs, especially the poolside performance of "You're So Square." Rated PG. 96 minutes.
Sponsored by Main Street Area Association.

In Fritz Lang's startling and exquisite film M, fear stalks the streets of Berlin in the form of a serial murderer whose grisly accomplishments are so heinous even the criminal minds of the underworld want him dead. Filmed in post-Weimar Germany during the infancy of the Nazi state, this tale of moral depravity serves not just as an allegory for the need of justice for all, but as an ominous foreshadowing of the sort of societal hysteria that leads to cultural witch hunts. M was one of Peter Lorre's (Casablanca) first major film roles. Not Rated. 99 minutes.
Sponsored by Red Hawk Bar & Grill.

In this appealing sequel to THE THIN MAN, Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) return home to Nob Hill, San Francisco, from their detective adventures in New York to find a murder among their very own family. One murder leads to another, and the quick-quipping sleuths and their faithful dog, Asta, are soon buried under a wealth of conflicting clues. The Thin Man films remain one of the few detective series to successfully combine murder with comedy - watch for a young Jimmy Stewart, who turns up the charm and the laughs in a supporting role. Rated PG. 112 minutes.
Sponsored by Ascalon Films and Mitten Artworks.

A riveting American story about a former musical ingénue whose gift becomes a burden to him as he grapples with the implications of his choices in work, relationships, and family. Jack Nicholson stars as Bobby Dupea, a gifted man who hasn't discovered a way to fully express his talent or found his place in the world--and maybe never will. Bobby is a classic misfit--disillusioned about being a musician, unhappy as an oil rigger, and unable to make a commitment to his girlfriend, Rayette, who hopes for marriage. When he visits his family home on Puget Sound after a long absence, things don't get better. When Bobby sets his sights on his brother's fiancée, Catherine Van Ost (movingly played by the beautiful Susan Anspach), things seem to be getting better--that is, until Rayette arrives and Bobby realizes he is caught in a collision between his two lives. Rated R. 98 minutes.
Sponsored by TDS Metrocom.

Known for making films about familial relationships, director Ang Lee surprised everyone with this martial arts epic. Based on a novel by Wang Du Lu, the film starts with the revenge plot common in the wuxia stories that Lee loved as a child, then adds a feminist twist. Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is a legendary martial artist who has decided to pass on his sword, the Green Destiny, to a friend. Soon afterward, the sword is stolen by a masked female, setting in motion events that test the bonds of family, love, duty, and sisterhood. Cheng Pei Pei, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi also star. Famed action choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping stages jaw-dropping zero-G fights across rooftops, rivers, and bamboo trees, while Yo-Yo Ma punctuates the fisticuffs with dramatic cello solos. Rated PG-13. 120 minutes. Mandarin with subtitles.

Alfred Hitchcock chose to cast his favorite leading lady of the time, Grace Kelly, as the embattled Margot Wendice. In the film Margot is a wealthy heiress whose playboy husband, Tony (Ray Milland), recognizes his dependence on his wife's fortune. When Tony begins to suspect he is losing Margot's affection to writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), he also begins to fear he will lose her wealth. This leads the callous husband to craft a plan for his wife's death. However, when the plan goes awry, Tony is quick to turn circumstance into a second opportunity to destroy his wife. It wasn't Hitchcock's preference to shoot DIAL M FOR MURDER in Warnercolor 3D (the cameras were large and unwieldly), and the film is seldom screened in 3D, but Hitchcock's use of the technique is notable for its service to the story rather than just being a gimmick. Rated PG. 105 minutes.
Sponsored by Bennett Optometry.

Starring Peter Fonda as Wyatt (alias Captain America) and Dennis Hopper (who also directed) as Billy, it traces the hippie duo's adventures as they mount their seriously chopped hogs on a journey to find the real America en route to Mardi Gras. In Arizona, they visit a commune whose members are having a tough time, and in a small Texas town they're jailed for joining a parade. But they're quickly sprung by an ACLU lawyer, the quirky, hard-drinking George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), who accepts their offer to join them on the trip to New Orleans, eager to visit the best whorehouse in the South. Nicholson is exceptional in his breakthrough role--and the startling, stunning ending is a shocker. Rated R. 95 minutes.
Sponsored by American Harley-Davidson.

Steve Martin plays the role of Rigby Reardon, an inept private eye who comes to the aid of a wealthy and beautiful heiress. The film is cleverly interspliced with clips from classic detective films of the past. Rated PG. 88 minutes.

Sergei Eisenstein's film of the famed Odessa revolt has been one of the landmarks of cinema since its release. Commissioned by the government to commemorate the failed uprising of 1905, it's without stars or even actors in the usual sense, exemplifying the collectivism it celebrates. The Battleship Potemkin has just returned from the war with Japan, its crew near mutiny because of brutal treatment and bad rations. When they're served maggot-infested meat one morning, the sailors finally rebel. Aside from CITIZEN KANE, perhaps the most perfectly constructed film ever made, the film's vision of tyranny and rebellion remain as powerful today as it was in 1925. Not Rated. 66 minutes.
Sponsored by 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.

World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz's classic love story. Colorful characters abound in Casablanca, a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe. Humphrey Bogart plays Richard "Rick" Blaine, a cynical but good-hearted American whose café is the gathering place for everyone from the French Police to the black market to the Nazis. When his long-lost love, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), Rick is pulled into both a love triangle and a web of political intrigue. Ilsa and Victor need to escape from Casablanca, and Rick may be the only one who can help them. The question is, will he? Rated PG. 102 minutes.
Sponsored by UM Credit Union.