Previous attempts to capture J.R.R. Tolkien’s sweeping fantasy epic were either scuttled or, in Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 rotoscoped animation, half-hearted. When director Peter Jackson sought to translate Tolkien’s three books constituting “The Lord of the Rings” into two movies, New Line Cinema in its infinite wisdom (and to its extraordinary financial benefit) suggested three films. Makes sense!
The first, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” was a stunner, artfully crafting a fantasy world of elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs, demons and men battling over the fate of the One Ring, whose mystical creator, the Dark Lord Sauron, sought to control all life in Middle-Earth. The performances are terrific (beyond what one would hope for from a widescreen action spectacle), and the New Zealand locations are jaw-dropping. Nominated for 13 Academy Awards, it won four Oscars, including for its ravishing cinematography and visual effects, and for Howard Shore’s lustrous music – the first chapter of his “Rings” trilogy, which is still the best film score of the 21st century.
“The Murder of Fred Hampton” (1971)
Howard Alk’s 1971 documentary starts as a profile of the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, following the 21-year-old Fred Hampton as he advocates both non-violence and armed militancy, building a coalition to tackle poverty and fight police brutality. But during production, Hampton and fellow Black Panther Mark Clark were killed by police, and so Alk turned his camera onto the crime scene to investigate their deaths. The finished film would contradict the official version of the shooting, exposing a police cover-up.
“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984)
Wes Craven had already made a name for himself in the horror genre with “The Last House on the Left,” “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Swamp Thing,” when he directed this imaginative slasher film about a child killer murdered by neighborhood vigilantes. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) would then reappear, armed with quips and razor-blades, in the dreams of victims to exact his revenge.
With a cast that included Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley and Johnny Depp, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” was a smash that scared up a stream of sequels, while establishing Freddy as a true icon of horror cinema. He even went toe-to-toe with another horror franchise star, Jason of “Friday the 13th,” in a 2003 matchup.
“Pink Flamingos” (1972)
Not all entrees in the National Film Registry are what you would call in good taste. In fact, Baltimore filmmaker John Waters would run from such a description, as his 1972 underground cult comedy is a celebration of really bad taste, exhilaratingly so. “Pink Flamingos” tells the tale of Babs Johnson (played by the drag queen Divine), who has been named “the filthiest person alive” by a tabloid paper, and about the other aspirants to the title who scheme to dethrone her. But as the film’s final, scatalogical scene demonstrates, no one can out-filth Babs. You have been warned.
