1
On the Waterfront (1954)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Budd Schulberg, Malcolm Johnson, Robert Siodmak
Cast Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb
Plot An ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.
2
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Tennessee Williams, Oscar Saul, Charles Goldblat
Cast Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter
Plot Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
3
East of Eden (1955)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer John Steinbeck, Paul Osborn
Cast James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris
Plot Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain the favor of their affectionate but strict, Bible-toting father as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.
4
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Budd Schulberg
Cast Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa
Plot Female radio reporter Marcia Jeffries turns folk-singing drifter Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes into a powerful media star who becomes utterly detestable during his meteoric rise.
5
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer William Inge
Cast Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle
Plot The love of high school sweethearts Deanie and Bud is weighed down by the oppressive expectations of their parents and society in smalltown Kansas in 1928, threatening the future of their relationship.
6
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Laura Z. Hobson, Moss Hart, Elia Kazan
Cast Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield
Plot A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.
7
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Tess Slesinger, Frank Davis, Betty Smith
Cast Dorothy McGuire, Peggy Ann Garner, Joan Blondell
Plot Encouraged by her idealistic if luckless father, a bright and imaginative young woman comes of age in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s.
8
Baby Doll (1956)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Tennessee Williams
Cast Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach
Plot An immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
9
Viva Zapata! (1952)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer John Steinbeck, Edgecumb Pinchon
Cast Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn
Plot The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of President Porfirio DÃaz in the early 20th century.
10
Panic in the Streets (1950)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Richard Murphy, Daniel Fuchs, Edna Anhalt
Cast Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes
Plot A doctor and a policeman in New Orleans have only 48 hours to locate a killer infected with pneumonic plague.
11
Wild River (1960)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Paul Osborn, William Bradford Huie, Borden Deal
Cast Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet
Plot A TVA bureaucrat comes to the river to do what none of his predecessors have been able to do - evict a stubborn octogenarian from her island before the rising waters engulf her.
12
America America (1963)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Elia Kazan
Cast Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Elena Karam
Plot A young Greek stops at nothing to secure a passage to America.
13
Boomerang! (1947)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Richard Murphy, Fulton Oursler
Cast Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb
Plot The true story of a prosecutor's fight to prove the innocence of a man accused of a notorious murder.
14
Pinky (1949)
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Director Elia Kazan, John Ford
Writer Cid Ricketts Sumner, Philip Dunne, Dudley Nichols
Cast Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters
Plot A light-skinned black woman falls in love with a white doctor, though he is unaware of her true race.
15
The Arrangement (1969)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Elia Kazan
Cast Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Deborah Kerr
Plot An adman attempts to rebuild his shattered life after suffering a nervous breakdown.
16
Man on a Tightrope (1953)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Robert E. Sherwood, Neil Paterson
Cast Fredric March, Terry Moore, Gloria Grahame
Plot A Czech circus owner/clown and his entire troupe employ a daring stratagem in order to escape en masse from behind the iron curtain.
17
The Last Tycoon (1976)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, Harold Pinter
Cast Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum
Plot F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel is brought to life in this story of a movie producer slowly working himself to death.
18
The Sea of Grass (1947)
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Director Elia Kazan
Writer Marguerite Roberts, Vincent Lawrence, Conrad Richter
Cast Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Robert Walker
Plot On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by the locals.
