The films for this course will be chosen from among those listed below...
| Film | Year | Director | Writer(s) | Starring | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolis | 1927 | Fritz Lang | Fritz Lang, et al | Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, et al |
87 |
| Modern Times | 1936 | Charlie Chaplin | Charlie Chaplin | Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard |
87 |
| The Day The Earth Stood Still | 1951 | Robert Wise | Harry Bates, Edmund H. North |
Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal |
92 |
| Forbidden Planet | 1956 | Fred Wilcox | Irving Block, Alan J. Adler, et al |
Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, et al |
98 |
| Desk Set | 1957 | Walter Lang | Henry Ephron, Phoebe Ephron, et al |
Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn |
103 |
|
The Prisoner (Arrival, Checkmate, The General) |
1967 | various | various | Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, et al |
55 min/episode (17 episodes) |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey | 1968 | Stanley Kubrick | Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick, et al |
Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, et al |
139 |
| The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | 1969 | Robert Butler | Joseph L. McEveety | Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, et al |
94 |
| Colossus: The Forbin Project | 1970 | Joseph Sargent | James Bridges, et al | Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, et al |
100 |
| Silent Running | 1972 | Douglas Trumbull | Steven Bochco, Michael Cimino, et al |
Bruce Dern | 89 |
| Westworld | 1973 | Michael Crichton | Michael Crichton | Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, et al |
88 |
| The Conversation | 1974 | Francis Ford Coppola | Francis Ford Coppola | Gene Hackman, et al | 113 |
| Star Wars | 1977 | George Lucas | George Lucas | Mark Hamil, et al | 121 |
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture | 1979 | Robert Wise | Alan Dean Foster, Harold Livingstone, et al |
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, et al |
132 |
| The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy | 1981 | Alan Bell | Douglas Adams, John Lloyd |
Simon Jones, David Dixon, et al |
33 min/episode (6 episodes) |
| Blade Runner | 1982 | Ridley Scott | Philip K. Dick, Hampton Fancher, et al |
Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, et al |
117 |
| Tron | 1982 | Steven Lisberger | Steven Lisberger, Bonnie MacBird, et al |
Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleiter, et al |
96 |
| Wargames | 1983 | John Badham | Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes |
Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, et al |
114 |
|
2010 (related to 2001 above) |
1984 | Peter Hyams | Arthur C. Clarke, Peter Hyams/TD> | Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, et al |
116 |
|
The Adventures of Buckeroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension |
1984 | W.D. Richter | Earl Mac Rauch | Peter Weller, John Lithgow, et al |
116 |
| Electric Dreams | 1984 | Steve Barron | Rusty Lemorande | Lenny von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen |
95 |
| The Terminator | 1984 | James Cameron | James Camerson, Gale Anne Hurd, et al |
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, et al |
108 |
| Brazil | 1985 | Terry Gilliam | Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown, et al |
Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, et al |
142 |
| Real Genius | 1985 | Martha Coolidge | Neal Israel, Pat Proft, et al |
Val Kilmer, William Atherton, et al |
108 |
| Flight of the Navigator | 1986 | Randal Kleiser | Mark H. Baker, Michael Burton, et al |
Joey Cramer, Howard Hesseman, et al |
90 |
| Short Circuit | 1986 | John Badham | Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson |
Ally Sheedy, Steve Gutenberg, et al |
98 |
| Max Headroom | 1987 | Francis Delia, Janet Greek |
Steve Roberts, et al | Matt Frewer, Amanda Pays, et al |
57 |
| Robocop | 1987 | Paul Verhoeven | Michael Miner, Edward Neumeier |
Peter Weller, Nancy Allen |
102 |
|
Decalogue (episode I) |
1988 | Krzysztof Kieslowski | Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz |
Henryk Baronowski, Wojciech Klata |
55 |
| Red Dwarf | 1988-... | various | various | Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, et al |
30 min/episode (52 episodes) |
| The Lawnmower Man | 1992 | Brett Leonard | Stephen King, Brett Leonard, et al |
Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan |
140 |
| Sneakers | 1992 | Phil Alden Robinson | Phil Alden Robinson, Lawrence Lasker, et al |
Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, et al |
126 |
| The City of Lost Children | 1995 | Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
Gilles Adrian, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, et al |
Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, et al |
112 |
| The Ghost in the Shell | 1995 | Mamoru Oshii | Kazunori Ito, et al | animated | 82 |
| Star Trek: First Contact | 1996 | Jonathan Frakes | Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, et al |
Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, et al |
110 |
| Armitage III: Polymatrix | 1997 | Takuya Sato | Chiaki Konaka | animated | 90 |
| Dark City | 1998 | Alex Proyas | Alex Proyas | Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, et al |
100 |
|
Enemy of the State (related to The Conversation above) |
1998 | Tony Scott | David Marconi | Gene Hackman, Will Smith, et al |
131 |
| Serial Experiments Lain | 1998 | Ryutaro Nakamura | Chiaki Konaka | Kaori Shimizu, et al | 24 min./episode (13 episodes) |
| Star Trek: Insurrection | 1998 | Jonathan Frakes | Rick Berman, Michael Piller, et al |
Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, et al |
103 |
| You've Got Mail | 1998 | Nora Ephron | Miklos Laszlo, Samson Raphaelson, et al |
Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan |
119 |
| Bicentennial Man | 1999 | Chris Columbus | Isaac Asimov, et al | Robin Williams, Sam Neill, et al |
130 |
| eXistenZ | 1999 | David Cronenberg | David Cronenberg | Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, et al |
97 |
| The Matrix | 1999 | Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski |
Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski |
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, et al |
136 |
| Office Space | 1999 | Mike Judge | Mike Judge | Gary Cole, Jennifer Aniston, et al |
90 |
| The Thirteenth Floor | 1999 | Josef Rusnak | Daniel F. Galouye, Josef Rusnak, et al |
Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, et al |
100 |
| A.I.: Artificial Intelligence | 2001 | Steven Spielberg | Brian Aldiss, Ian Watson, et al | Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, et al |
146 |
| Minority Report | 2002 | Steven Spielberg | Philip K. Dick, Scott Frank, et al | Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, et al |
146 |
Please e-mail me if you have suggestions of other (reasonably good) films in which computing/technology plays an important role, especially if the film's portrayal of the technology is significantly different from those I have listed above. I am especially interested in hearing about films that portray computers in an unconditionally positive light (e.g., utopian films, campy horror films, etc.).