Columbia Pictures (USA): 161

The comedy drama film The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988) is the brainchild of writer and director Ron Nyswaner. Rupert Marshetta, the son of a miner, is a precocious and misunderstood character. He has dropped out of high school and feels out of place in his small town. Rupert’s frustration with his parents, Gary and Pam, stems from their rocky relationship. He also harbors strong feelings for Carla, an older woman who runs an old-fashioned ice cream stand along the roadside. Carla shares a daughter with her ex-boyfriend Joe, a state trooper. When Gary reveals to Rupert that he views himself as the king of ...

The American crime comedy film, Happy New Year (1987), directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Peter Falk, follows two aging thieves named Nick and Charlie on their last heist before retirement in ritzy Palm Beach, Florida. Their target is the well-guarded Harry Winston jewelry store, which has high-tech security. Edward, the store’s manager, unknowingly welcomes a disguised Nick, posing as an elderly customer looking for an expensive gift for his terminally ill wife. Meanwhile, dressed as his true self, Nick meets Carolyn, a sophisticated and attractive woman who ...

Ridley Scott’s Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) is an American neo-noir romantic thriller that follows socialite Claire Gregory as she attends a party and art show hosted by her long-time friend, Winn Hockings. Her boyfriend, Neil Steinhart, joins her for the evening. Meanwhile, newly appointed NYPD detective Mike Keegan is at a separate party in another part of town. Tensions arise when Winn is confronted by his former partner, Joey Venza, who is upset that Winn didn’t come to him for money to fund his new art studio. The altercation takes a deadly turn when Venza stabs Winn in front of Claire. As she ...

Stand by Me (1986) is a coming-of-age drama film directed by Rob Reiner, based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body. In 1985, writer Gordon ‘Gordie’ Lachance reads a newspaper article about the fatal stabbing of his childhood friend, Chris Chambers. He reminisces about an incident from when they were 12 years old, searching for the body of Ray Brower alongside their friends Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio, during Labor Day weekend in1959 near Castle Rock, Oregon. As a child, Gordie’s parents were preoccupied with the death of his older ...

The Karate Kid Part II (1986) is an American martial arts drama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. Following their defeat in the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament, a furious John Kreese attacks his student, Johnny Lawrence, in the parking lot. Miyagi steps in and nonchalantly disables Kreese before comically tweaking his nose and leaving. Humiliated, Johnny and his friends abandon Kreese and Cobra Kai. Later on, after Daniel’s senior prom, he confides in Miyagi that his girlfriend Ali has left him for a football player at UCLA. Soon ...

Silverado (1985) is an American Western film, produced and directed by Lawrence Kasdan and written by both Kasdan brothers. While resting in a remote shack, the cowboy Emmett is surprised by three armed men who he ultimately defeats, gaining possession of a horse. His next plan is to meet up with his brother Jake in Turley before visiting their sister Kate in Silverado, then continuing on to California. On the journey to Turley, Emmett comes across Paden, who is stranded in the desert and robbed of all his belongings. Emmett offers Paden one of his extra horses and they ...

Ivan Reitman directed the American supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters (1984), which was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. After their first encounter with a ghost at the New York Public Library, Columbia University parapsychology professors Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler are fired by the university dean due to the lack of credibility in their paranormal research. Undeterred, the trio establishes ‘Ghostbusters’, a service for investigating and eliminating paranormal activity from an ...

The American martial arts drama film, The Karate Kid (1984), follows the story of 17-year-old Daniel LaRusso and his mother Lucille as they move from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, Los Angeles. Their apartment’s handyman is a humble Okinawan immigrant named Mr. Miyagi, who quickly becomes a friend to Daniel. At a beach party the next day, Daniel befriends Ali Mills, a high school cheerleader. However, Ali’s ex-boyfriend and top student at the Cobra Kai dojo, Johnny Lawrence, becomes jealous and repeatedly bullies Daniel with the help of his gang members Bobby Brown, Tommy, Jimmy, and Dutch. On Halloween night after a retaliation from Daniel involving water ...

Body Double (1984) is an American neo-noir erotic thriller film directed, co-written, and produced by Brian De Palma. Struggling actor Jake Scully has recently lost his role as a vampire in a low-budget horror film after his claustrophobia thwarts shooting. Following this unfortunate event, Scully finds himself homeless after breaking up with his cheating girlfriend, who owns their shared residence. At a method acting class, Scully confides in fellow student Sam Bouchard about his fears and the root cause of his claustrophobia during childhood. Their conversation leads to an invitation for Scully to house-sit for ...

A Soldier’s Story (1984) is an American mystery drama film directed and produced by Norman Jewison. The screenplay was written by Charles Fuller, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. Set during World War II in 1944, the film follows the events surrounding the death of Master Sergeant Vernon Waters, a Black soldier at Fort Neal in Louisiana. While many believe he was killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan due to his race, others are skeptical. Captain Richard Davenport, a Black officer from the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, is tasked with investigating the case, despite objections from ...

The American supernatural horror film Christine (1983), directed and co-scored by John Carpenter, is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. It follows the impact of a classic red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine on the lives of Arnie Cunningham, his friends, family, and teenage enemies. This car seems to have a mind of its own and a possessive personality that negatively influences Arnie. In 1957, at a Detroit car factory, the Fury shuts its hood on a worker’s hand and later kills another worker for dropping ash on its seats. Twenty years ...

The Big Chill (1983), an American comedy-drama directed by Lawrence Kasdan, follows a group of University of Michigan alumni and close friends as they gather at the Tidalholm plantation in Beaufort, South Carolina for the funeral of their friend Alex Marshall, who died by suicide. They all stay with Sarah and Harold Cooper during their visit. Along with Alex’s girlfriend Chloe, the group includes Sam Weber, a television actor; Meg Jones, a former public defender now working as a real-estate attorney; Michael Gold, a journalist for People magazine; Nick Carlton, a Vietnam vet struggling with drug addiction; Karen ...

Neighbors (1981) is a film adaptation of Thomas Berger’s novel, featuring the story of Earl Keese, a mild-mannered middle-class suburbanite. His uneventful routine is disrupted when a young couple, Vic and Ramona Zeck, become his new neighbors. As soon as they move in, they begin imposing on the Keese household. Earl becomes increasingly frustrated with Vic’s loud and enthusiastic personality, while Ramona attempts to seduce him multiple times. Despite Earl’s efforts, he cannot prove that the Zecks are intentionally causing trouble. To make matters worse, his wife Enid and daughter Elaine are not much ...

All That Jazz (1979) is a musical drama film directed by Bob Fosse. It follows Joe Gideon, an ambitious theater director and choreographer, as he tries to balance staging his latest Broadway musical, NY/LA, and editing a Hollywood film he has directed called The Stand-Up. Despite being an alcoholic and a driven workaholic who chain-smokes cigarettes, Joe also has a reputation for being a womanizer who constantly flirts and engages in sexual encounters with different women. His morning routine involves playing Vivaldi while taking Visine, Alka-Seltzer, and Dexedrine before looking himself in the mirror and saying, ...

The film The China Syndrome (1979), directed by James Bridges, follows a television reporter named Kimberly Wells and her colleagues Richard Adams and Hector Salas as they visit the Ventana nuclear power plant near Los Angeles. During their visit, they witness a turbine trip and emergency shutdown. Shift Supervisor Jack Godell notices an odd vibration in his coffee cup and responds to high water levels by removing water from the core. However, the gauge remains high even as more valves are opened to dump water. Another operator sees a second gauge showing low water levels. Godell taps the first gauge, causing it to ...

1941 (1979) is an American war comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. On Saturday, December 13th at 7:01 a.m., an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine commanded by Akiro Mitamura surfaces off the coast of California, six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. With the goal of destroying something “honorable” in Los Angeles, Mitamura sets his sights on Hollywood. Meanwhile, a tank crew from the 10th Armored Division led by Sergeant Frank Tree and including Corporal Chuck ...

The American drama film The Front (1976) takes place during the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s, when individuals in the entertainment industry were deemed unemployable due to allegations of Communist sympathies or affiliations. Written by Walter Bernstein and directed by Martin Ritt, the film features Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, and Michael Murphy. In 1953 New York City, television writer Alfred Miller is unable to find work ...

The American neo-noir psychological vigilante film Taxi Driver (1976) follows Travis Bickle, a chronic insomniac and lonely man in New York City. To cope, he takes a job as a night shift taxi driver and frequents adult movie theaters while keeping a diary filled with aphorisms. However, he becomes disillusioned with the city’s crime and urban decay, yearning to rid ‘the scum off the streets’. Along the way, Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy, who works as a campaign volunteer for Senator Charles Palantine’s presidential bid. After visiting her at the campaign office and asking her out for coffee, she agrees and confesses to feeling a special ...

The psychological horror film, The Collector (1965), follows a socially-awkward young man named Freddie who purchases a 17th-century farmhouse with his football pools winnings. Amateur entomologist Freddie spends his time capturing butterflies and has amassed quite the collection. His obsession leads him to stalk Miranda Grey, a bourgeois London art student. One day, he follows her into a pub in Hampstead and abducts her on the street using chloroform. When Miranda wakes up, she finds herself in Freddie’s stone cellar, which he has furnished with a bed, clothing, painting tools, and an electric heater. Confused and fearful, she assumes she has been taken for ...

Lilith (1964) is an American drama film by Robert Rossen, starring Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg. It marks Rossen’s final work and is based on J.R. Salamanca’s novel. The story takes place at Chestnut Lodge, a private mental institution in Rockville, Maryland. A trainee occupational therapist named Vincent Bruce becomes captivated by Lilith Arthur, an alluring and artistic patient with schizophrenia. Lilith reminds ...