The first film in over 40 years to win five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay), Milos Forman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel stars Jack Nicholson as prisoner Randle McMurphy, who's transferred to the mental ward to avoid hard labor. McMurphy's rebellious, anti-authority ways quickly inspire his fellow patients and pit him against dictatorial Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). With Will Sampson, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif. 133 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack English.

One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon, Yojimbo, Ran)-featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune (Stray Dog, Yojimbo) and Takashi Shimura (Ikiru, the Hidden Fortress)-seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

A young woman (Meiko Kaji), trained from childhood as an assassin and hell-bent on revenge for the murders of her father and brother and the rape of her mother, hacks and slashes her way to gory satisfaction in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Japan. Rampant with inventive violence and spectacularly choreographed swordplay, Toshiya Fujita's pair of influential cult classics Lady Snowblood and Lady Snowblood Love Song of Vengeance are bloody, beautiful extravaganzas composed of one elegant widescreen composition after another. The first Lady Snowblood was a major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill saga, and both of Fujita's films remain cornerstones of Asian action cinema.