85% (3)  West Side Story  153 min,  Not Rated,  [Crime, Drama, Musical, Romance]  [Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise]  [23 Dec 1961]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 76%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 94%,   Metacritic: 86%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 10 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 11 nominations.
Actors:  George Chakiris, Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, Russ Tamblyn
Writer:  Ernest Lehman (screenplay), Arthur Laurents (book), Jerome Robbins (play)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb  Website     Language:  English, Spanish    Country:  USA
Plot:  West Side Story is the award-winning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, "Romeo and Juliet". The feuding families become two warring New York City gangs- the white Jets led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. Their hatred escalates to a point where neither can coexist with any form of understanding. But when Riff's best friend (and former Jet) Tony and Bernardo's younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love. Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away. Then the Sharks and Jets plan a rumble under the highway - whoever wins gains control of the streets. Maria sends Tony to stop it, hoping it can end the violence. It goes terribly wrong, and before the lovers know what's happened, tragedy strikes and doesn't stop until the climactic and heartbreaking ending.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This romantic musical update of 'Romeo and Juliet' won ten Oscars. The tale of a turf war between rival teenage gangs in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen and the two lovers who cross battle lines has captivated audiences for four decades. The Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein score is just one of the reasons.
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87% (2)  The Young Girls of Rochefort  125 min,  G,  [Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance]  [Jacques Demy]  [11 Apr 1968]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 77%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 98%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, George Chakiris, Jacques Perrin
Writer:  Jacques Demy
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  French, English    Country:  France
Plot:  Delphine and Solange are two sisters living in Rochefort. Delphine is a dancing teacher and Solange composes and teaches the piano. Maxence is a poet and a painter. He is doing his military service. Simon owns a music shop, he left Paris once month ago to come back where he fell in love 10 years ago. They are looking for love, looking for each other, without being aware that their ideal partner is very close... A film whose scenario is much less important than its feeling of euphory, according to the director Jacques Demy.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Romance begins busting out all over in Rochefort. A fair is being organized, giving the town an air of excitement and effervescence. Twin sisters Delphine, a dance teacher, and Solange, a pianist and a composer, dream of making it big in the world of music. The sisters, like many in Rochefort, including a dashing American pianist, are looking for love, without realizing that their ideal partners are right before their eyes.
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64% (1)  633 Squadron  102 min,  Approved,  [Drama, War]  [Walter Grauman]  [11 Jul 1964]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 64%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Cliff Robertson, George Chakiris, Harry Andrews, Maria Perschy
Writer:  James Clavell (screenplay), Howard Koch (screenplay), Frederick E. Smith (novel)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English, German    Country:  UK, USA
Plot:  633 Squadron has enjoyed an unqualified string of successes. Their luck changes when they are assigned to bomb a German rocket fuel plant, in Norway which is guarded by heavy anti-aircraft defences, and the plant is considered bomb-proof. Their nearly impossible mission is further complicated by a German air raid, the difficult approach to the target and the capture and torture of the underground leader who is assisting the squadron.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Cliff Robertson's a combat-weary pilot whose R.A.F. squadron is ordered to destroy a Nazi rocket fuel plant tucked deep into a Norwegian fjord. The bomb run is a logistical nightmare because the planes must run a gantlet of anti-aircraft batteries before reaching their target. Based on a true story, the movie co-stars George Chakiris and Harry Andrews.
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63% (1)  Kings of the Sun  108 min,  APPROVED,  [Adventure, Drama, History, Thriller]  [J. Lee Thompson]  [18 Dec 1963]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 63%,   External Reviews
Actors:  George Chakiris, Richard Basehart, Shirley Anne Field, Yul Brynner
Writer:  Elliott Arnold (story), Elliott Arnold (screenplay), James R. Webb (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel.
Rotten Tomatoes:   In this drama, a young man becomes the new Mayan king after his father is killed in war. He moves his tribe from Mexico to the coast where he must do battle with a local chief of a different tribe. During the fight, the chief is wounded. The opposing king's betrothed helps him recuperate and the two leaders decide to live in peace until the Mayan king's old nemesis, determined to destroy the Mayans appears and attacks them. The king and the local chief join forces to stop him. The fight results in the death of the chief who tried to protect his new friend, the king.
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54% (1)  Flight from Ashiya  100 min,  [Adventure, Romance, Drama]  [Michael Anderson]  [25 Mar 1964]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 54%,   External Reviews
Actors:  George Chakiris, Richard Widmark, Suzy Parker, Yul Brynner
Writer:  Elliott Arnold (novel), Elliott Arnold, Waldo Salt
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  Japan, USA
Plot:  Flight from Ashiya is a 1964 film about the U.S. Air Force's Air Rescue Service, flying out of Ashiya Air Base, Japan. In this fictionalized film set in the early 1960s, a flight crew's mission is to rescue a life raft of Japanese civilians stranded in rough seas. The Airplane used in the film was the HU-16 Albatross, A flying boat.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Elliott Arnold wrote the novel upon which he and Waldo Salt based their screenplay. When an American rescue team is sent near the coast of Japan during a typhoon, three men on the team must contend with their own past experiences. Each man's traumatic event is retold via flashback: Sgt. Mike Takshima (Yul Brynner) is still overcome with grief from the death the woman he loved (Daniele Gaubert), Sgt. John Gregg (George Chakiris) feels guilty for a past rescue mission gone tragically awry, and Col. Glenn Stevenson (Richard Widmark) suffers from the loss of his wife and child who died in a Japanese prison camp. It is Stevenson's problem which is the most significant as he professes hatred against the very people he is assigned to save. Suzy Parker and Shirley Knight are also featured in this adventure-drama from director Michael Anderson. Shot on location in Japan.
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