An evocative score is the backdrop for 1930s Los Angeles. Nicholson is a private eye investigating the murder of Dunaway’s husband. But that’s just the tip of Towne’s unforgettable screenplay, where water rights, land deals and corruption clash with the unbearable secrets between a father and daughter on a lonely street in Chinatown. “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”

This moving Depression-era social drama based on John Steinbeck’s novel follows the hopeful migration of workers from the Oklahoma dust bowl through their subsequent disillusionment upon reaching California. Fonda’s haunting last words to his mother, “Wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there,” embody his family’s enduring spirit.

Elliot is a young boy from a broken home who discovers an extra-terrestrial creature that has been stranded on earth—light years from home. Together they form a universal friendship, and Elliot helps E.T. “phone home.”

Appointed to the US Senate because the power brokers believe they’ve got a hayseed on their hands, Jefferson Smith surprises everyone with his honesty and gravitas. Framed by the political machine that cleverly twists the truth, Smith almost waves a white flag, but Clarissa Saunders gives him a fast lesson in civics. Filibuster!!!

Vanity almost gets the best of aging actress Davis when a ruthless young hopeful worms her way into all aspects of her life. Mankiewicz’s biting script of ambition and betrayal in the New York theatre gave Davis her best role in years and some of her most memorable lines: “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!”