What’s leaving Criterion at the end of September

~ Lincoln Spector

Here’s a selection of films that will disappear from The Criterion Channel at the end of September. Most of them are very worth watching.

By the way, a lot of Roger Corman flicks will disappear at the end of the month. Seems to me that the Corman movies (which are usually cheap horror), should have been kept around for October.

Full recommendations

A+ The Last Picture Show (1971)

Peter Bogdanovich’s masterpiece just may be the bleakest coming-of-age movie ever made. The two young men at its center, inherently nice guys, have no prospects and no real ambitions. They live in a depopulated town that looks like it will blow away with the next windstorm. College isn’t an option. Even sex is a confusing and often embarrassing experience. Made in 1971 and set about two decades earlier, the film refuses to make the 1950s nostalgic. Read my A+ appreciation.

A+ Paths of Glory, (1957)

Stanley Kubrick doesn’t just show us that war is hell. He illustrates how helpless men go through that hell for the benefit of rich and powerful men. When an impossible mission inevitably fails, the officers who planned the fiasco get off the hook by arranging for three enlisted men to be tried for cowardice – convictions and executions are foregone conclusions. After all, three executions are easier than admitting the generals’ mistakes. Kirk Douglas plays the honorable officer who tries to help the enlisted men. Read my A+ report.

A Chan Is Missing (1982)

A cab driver can’t find his friend and business partner – the Chan of the movie’s title. So, the cabbie and his nephew set out to find the missing Chan, who may not want to be found. Perhaps Chan owes money to the cabbie. Wayne Wong’s breakthrough film is more than just a mystery. As the cabbie tries to find Chan and people who know him, the film gives us a view of San Francisco’s Chinatown…or at least the Chinatown of 1982.

A The Apartment (1960)

Billy Wilder won a Best Picture Oscar for this serious comedy about powerful men exploiting those working below them. Jack Lemmon gave one of his best performances as a minor white-collar worker who rises in the company by loaning his apartment to company executives. These married men need a private place for hanky-panky with their mistresses. With Fred MacMurray as the top exploiter and Shirley MacLane as the woman he exploits and Lemmon loves. Read my Blu-ray review.

B+ The Perfect Candidate (2019)

This Saudi Arabian political drama catches the country as it moves into the 20th century (but not quite the 21st). When we first meet Maryam, she’s driving and wearing a hijab. She’s a woman and a doctor, and some patients don’t believe that people can be both. When she runs for town council, she upsets almost everyone, especially her musician father. A look at a part of Saudi Arabia we never get to see, centered around a likable heroine.

B+ Killer’s Kiss, (1955)

Stanley Kubrick’s second film just may be the best-looking movie made on a very tiny budget. He raised money from friends and family, cut corners all over, and yet the result is something special. Kubrick shot the picture as well as wrote, directed, and edited it, and it’s one of the best-looking noirs ever. The fight scenes are striking and powerful. But there’s nothing original or special about the hackneyed story. After this movie, all of his films were made with Hollywood money, and would be based on published novels (with the arguable exception of 2001).

B The Last Seduction (1994)

In the old days of cinema censorship, even in the darkest noir, you knew that the femme fatale would get her punishment. But by the 1990s, that evil woman just might get away with it. In The Last Seduction, Linda Fiorentino plays a femme fatale who uses her sexuality to amass a very large amount of money. It’s easy – all the men are horny and stupid. Other films probably worth watching

These are not all of the films that will disappear come October. Here is the full collection of films that will go away.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Lincoln Spector

Lincoln Spector writes about cinema, technology, and cinema technology. From 1986 through 2008, he wrote Gigglebytes, the first technology-oriented humor column. From 1977 through 2016, he wrote PC World's Answer Line column and blog.