Forrest Gump (1994), The Deer Hunter (1978), The Mirror (1975), Fail-Safe (1964), Jules and Jim (1962), Duck Soup (1933), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Stock Footage movies.
Storyline: Mary Keaton, Vivian Kirkwood (née Revere), and Ruth Westcott have just run into each other having not seen each other in ten years since they graduated from Public School 62 together, and become friends of sorts in their re-acquaintance. Their intervening lives went much as probably would have been predicted when they were in public school: Mary, the troublemaker who almost didn't graduate with her class, spent some time in a reformatory but went straight and became a showgirl; Vivian, the popular beauty with a charmed life, married wealthy and renowned lawyer Robert Kirkwood, the two with an adolescent son, Robert Jr.; and Ruth, the quiet, hard-working, smart one, who became a stenographer. While Mary's life took a positive turn since her reformatory years, Vivian has come to the realization that she is unhappy with her life, its path a little too easy in its predetermination. She realizes she probably never loved Robert. Her quest for pleasure, with a blessing of sorts from Robert who doesn't want his wife, whom he still loves, to be as distant as she seems, will affect Mary, as well. Their collective destinies may be foreshadowed by an old wives' tale about three sharing a single match, from which the film takes its name.—Huggo (updated by R.M. Sieger)
Plot Keywords: pre code film, childhood friend, drug addiction, suicide, kidnapping, divorce, gangster ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: February 4, 1974, Patty Hearst, granddaughter of William Randolph Heart, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), who first demanded a prisoner swap for Hearst, then, as it failed, demanded $6 million worth of food for the poor of the Bay Area.—Ulf Kjell Gür
Plot Keywords: independent film, archive footage, change, cinema, criminal, fugitive, government ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In Reno a man kills a girl he likes and her boyfriend out of jealousy; it may not be the first time. A woman whose divorce has just come through finds the bodies then decides not to become involved. The two meet next day on the train to San Francisco unaware of this link between them. They are attracted to each other, and the relationship survives his marriage to her half-sister for money and status. It even survives the woman discovering that he was the murderer, though she may not realize how easily someone who has killed this way before can do so again.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: biblical quote, train conductor, taxi, taxi driver, stock footage, roulette wheel, police officer ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Elderly schoolteacher Nora Trinell, waiting to meet presidential nominee Dewey Roberts, recalls him as her student back in 1916 and his relation to Dan Hopkins, the man she married and lost.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: based on play, flashback, governor, inspiration, loss of job, newspaper reporter, newspaper story ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Fields wants to sell a film story to Esoteric Studios. On the way he gets insulted by little boys, beat up for ogling a woman, and abused by a waitress. He becomes his niece's guardian when her mother is killed in a trapeze fall during the making of a circus movie. He and his niece, who he finds at a shooting gallery, fly to Mexico to sell wooden nutmegs in a Russian colony. Trying to catch his bottle as it falls from the plane, he lands on a mountain peak where lives the man- eating Mrs. Hemogloben. When he gets to the Russian colony he finds Leon Errol (father of the insulting boys and owner of the shooting gallery) already selling wooden nutmegs. He decides to woo the wealthy Mrs. Hemogloben but when he gets there Errol has preceded him. The Mexican adventure is the story that Esoteric Studios would not buy.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: fire engine, russian accent, script, surrealism, car chase, maternity ward, police escort ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In late Victorian London, Jack the Ripper has been killing and maiming actresses in the night. The Burtons are forced to take in a lodger due to financial hardship. He seems like a nice young man, but Mrs. Burton suspects him of being the ripper because of some mysterious and suspicious habits, and fears for her beautiful actress niece who lives with them.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
Plot Keywords: lodger, suspicion, manhunt, suicide, fog, music hall, throat slitting ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: He was a riverboat pilot, newspaper reporter, penniless prospector, would-be entrepreneur, loving family man, world traveler, pomposity burster and raconteur. Then he passed away on April 21, 1910 at age 75 shorty after Halley's Comet returned as he predicted. This turns out that the man who created adventures for Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and a Connecticut Yankee led a mighty adventurous life himself. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) said, "Truth is a very valuable thing. I believe we should be economical with it." And that sets the tone for what follows: a biography about the immortal humorist's life from Hannibal boyhood to Big River exploits to global literary lion and more.—Michael Crew <m.crew@bbcnc.org.uk>
Plot Keywords: based on play, cigar smoking, saga, episodic structure, honor, based on true story, 1860s ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Private investigator Bradford Galt has moved to New York from San Fransisco after serving a jail term on account of his lawyer partner Tony Jardine. When he finds someone is tailing - and possibly trying to kill him, Galt believes Jardine is behind it. As he finds there is rather more to it, he is increasingly glad to have his attractive new secretary Kathleen around, for several reason.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: actor shares first name with character, white suit, taxi driver, taxi, loyalty, cigarette smoking, nightclub ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Dave Purvis takes pride in being unknown to the law, though famed among fellow crooks as a planner He plots a holdup in meticulous detail; but things go wrong, a cop and two robbers are killed, and Purvis hides out with the money while Lieut. Cordell, friend of the dead cop, investigates. Purvis's new getaway plan shows promise, but may have one tiny flaw.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: hold up, gunfight, dock, theatre, alias, hostage, armed robbery ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: World War II drama where the action centers around a single maneuver by a squad of GIs in retaliation against the force of the German Siegfried line. Reese joins a group of weary GIs unexpectedly ordered back into the line when on their way to a rest area. While most of the men withdraw from their positions facing a German pillbox at the far side of a mine-field, half a dozen men are left to protect a wide front. By various ruses, they manage to convince the Germans that a large force is still holding the position. Then Reese leads two of the men in an unauthorized and unsuccessful attack on the pillbox, in which the other two are killed; and when the main platoon returns, he is threatened with court-martial. Rather than face the disgrace, and in an attempt to show he was right, he makes a one-man attack on the pillbox.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: year 1944, loner, comrade, 1940s, self sacrifice, trench, landmine ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: On December 6, 1941 nine B-17 bomber set off on a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii. One of the bombers, the Mary Ann, is commanded by 'Irish' Quincannon. The bombardier, Tommy McMartin, has a sister living in Hawaii and the co-pilot, Bill Williams, is sweet on her. The men are all highly professional with the exception of aerial gunner Joe Winocki, a bitter man who has every intention of leaving the army air corps. They arrive at Hickam Field on the morning of December 7, just as the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor and other military facilities. All of the men prepare to face the enemy, including Winocki whose attitude changes quickly. The bomber and its crew will participate in many missions but not all will survive.—garykmcd
Plot Keywords: parachute, aircraft carrier, sneak attack, sergeant, saboteur, navigator, military hospital ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Anne Shirley, an orphan, is adopted by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to help with their farm work. However, they accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: character name as title, adopted daughter, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, saving a life, young love, orphan girl, horse and buggy ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Overly shy cowboy Gene inherits a meat-packing plant, then faces stiff competition from snooty Ann Randolph, rival owner determined to do him in.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: actor shares first name with character, gunfire, inheritance, jail, lawyer, rancher, sabotage ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Cameron Poe, a highly decorated United States Army Ranger, came home to Alabama to his wife, Tricia, only to run into a few drunken regulars where Tricia works. Cameron unknowingly kills one of the drunks and is sent to a federal penitentiary for involuntary manslaughter for seven years. Cameron becomes eligible for parole and can now go home to his wife and daughter. Unfortunately, Cameron has to share a prison airplane with some of the country's most dangerous criminals, who took control of the plane and are now planning to escape the country. Cameron has to find a way to stop them while playing along. Meanwhile, United States Marshal Vincent Larkin is trying to help Cameron get free and stop the criminals, including Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom.
Plot Keywords: diabetic, explosion, person on fire, las vegas nevada, airplane accident, revenge, psychopath ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are "The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta." Searching for answers, Rigby encounters assorted low-lifes: dangerous men and women who were the hallmarks of the classic detective movies of the 40's and 50's. Filming in black and white allows scenes from old movies to be cut into this film. It is through this process that Rigby's assistant is none other than Philip Marlowe himself.
Plot Keywords: henchman, loss of father, newspaper, puppy, secretary, shot through a door, silhouette ...
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