American roulette

A challenge has been circulating around the internet to list ten films “that you could use to explain the U.S.A. to a foreigner who has never been here. Not the best American films, and not ones that give a direct history lesson, but the ones that say something about us.” For what it’s worth, here are mine (in no particular order, other than the one that’s already on top):

Thunder Bay (1953, Anthony Mann) The organized rape of the ecosystem and James Stewart drenched in oil, ringing his hands with champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

The Crowd (1928, King Vidor) Utopian dreams gone to shit for an idealist unable to knuckle under to The System.

Slither (1972, Howard Zieff) People with names like Kitty Kopetsky and Dick Kanipsia dodge black vans — these would be gas-guzzling SUV’s if made today — in the name of wealth beyond their wildest dreams with “Mary Had a Little Lamb” rocking on the soundtrack.

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The Sweet Smell of Success (1957, Alexander Mackendrick) The coagulation of hearts and minds. Humiliation and contempt in the school of hard knocks, via Ernest Lehman as filtered through Clifford Odets.

The Next Voice You Hear (1950, William Wellman) God pulling in big ratings on radio. We Americans take our media very seriously.

Thelma and Louise (1991, Ridley Scott) The ceaseless twenty-four-hour assault of pumped and persuasive machismo.

The Hucksters (1947, Jack Conway) Advertising and sexual con games, and an early prediction of David Mamet.

Lord Love a Duck (1966, George Axelrod) I’ll bet that you never knew Holden Caulfield once made a movie in Hollywood.

Fury (1936, Fritz Lang) Knee-jerk reactions and mob mentality. For more Langian despair, see Human Desire (1954).

Intruder in the Dust (1949, Clarence Brown) Faulkner asks, are all men created equal? See also: The Intruder (1962, Roger Corman) in which William Shatner takes a cab to “Nigger Town.”

…What are some of yours?