Appreciating all that makes America special

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What’s the greatest American film of all time? Can’t decide? Well then, what’s your favorite movie? Do you love the classics, or ignore anything before 1980? Comedies, courtroom dramas, casts of thousands – we have them all at Great American Things.


Film: The Thin Man

Posted by on Apr 29, 2010 in Film | 1 comment

I owe a lot of my love for classic films to my wife, and one of the treasures that she helped me to discover was The Thin Man. Based on a...

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Music: Great Movie Songs

Posted by on Apr 25, 2010 in Film, Music | 1 comment

This recognition isn’t for songs that were incorporated into a movie’s soundtrack, but for songs that made their debut in a...

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Film: The Sting

Posted by on Apr 14, 2010 in Film | Comments Off on Film: The Sting

Paul Newman (Great American Things, May 17, 2009) and Robert Redford co-starred in two blockbuster movies, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance...

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Film: Ben-Hur

Posted by on Apr 3, 2010 in Film | 1 comment

Charlton Heston is more closely associated with this role than any other in his celebrated career. The part of Judah Ben-Hur was originally...

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Film: Little Shop of Horrors

Posted by on Mar 20, 2010 in Film | Comments Off on Film: Little Shop of Horrors

This listing is for the 1986 movie, adapted from the stage musical by writer Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, which was itself...

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Film: The Sixth Sense

Posted by on Mar 8, 2010 in Film | Comments Off on Film: The Sixth Sense

“I see dead people.” One of the best-known taglines in movie history also summed up the main storyline in four words. The Sixth...

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Film: Toy Story

Posted by on Mar 1, 2010 in Film | Comments Off on Film: Toy Story

This post honors Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999), both of which are among the best animated features of all time. In the original,...

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Film: Casablanca

Posted by on Feb 14, 2010 in Film | Comments Off on Film: Casablanca

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.” It’s the movie that made Humphrey...

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Film: Groundhog Day

Posted by on Feb 2, 2010 in Film | Comments Off on Film: Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is a brilliant movie. Once you get past its quirky premise, that a man has to live one day – Groundhog Day – over...

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Film: Raising Arizona

Posted by on Jan 31, 2010 in Film | 1 comment

This movie would have been featured here before now, but I’ve already included a couple of Coen Brothers films (O Brother Where Art...

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