A manmade boy with scissors for hands finds a troublesome mixture of acceptance and rejection in the outside world. [Dir: Tim Burton/ Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Vincent Price/ 100 min/ SciFi-Fantasy, Comedy, Romance/ Social Tolerance] This film is a wonderful cinematic fable with a kindhearted message about the treatment of “different” people. The character … [Read more...]
Improper Conduct (1984)
WINNER: 12TH INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL WINNER: TOP 25 LIBERTARIAN DOCUMENTARIES Cuban refugees detail Castro’s persecution of “undesirables” in Improper Conduct. [Dir: Nestor Almendros, Orlando Jimenez Leal/ 112 min/ Documentary-Educational, Foreign Language/ France/ In Spanish with English subtitles/ Anti-Socialism, Sexual Liberty, Social Tolerance/ A.k.a. Conducta … [Read more...]
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE: BEST PICTURE The interracial marriage of a black man and a young white woman tests the boundaries of their parents’ enthusiasm for racial tolerance. [Dir: Stanley Kramer/ Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier/ 108 min/ Drama/ Social Tolerance] Father: “I happen to believe -- I happen to know they wouldn’t have a dog’s chance, not in … [Read more...]
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE: BEST PICTURE A small-town lawyer defends an innocent black man accused of rape. [Dir: Robert Mulligan/ Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford/ 131 min/ Drama/ Social Tolerance] Social tolerance is the theme here, as events in a southern Depression-era town are used to show a young girl’s development of a live-and-let-live attitude toward those … [Read more...]
Victim (1961)
WINNER: TOP 25 LIBERTARIAN FILMS When a young gay man in 1960s Britain commits suicide rather than face an inquiry regarding (then illegal) homosexual activity, a closeted bisexual barrister avenges his death and fights the law responsible for it. [Dir: Basil Dearden/ Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price / 100 min/ Drama, Thriller/ Britain/ Government as Bigot, Sexual … [Read more...]
Harvey (1950)
WINNER: TOP 25 LIBERTARIAN FILMS A woman tries to have her eccentric brother institutionalized. Credits for Harvey: [Dir: Henry Koster/ James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake/ 104 min/ Comedy/ Psychiatry & Force, Social Tolerance] Elwood P. Dowd is a gentle, harmless person. He’s kind to all he meets and sees the good in everyone and everything. But … [Read more...]
Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: BEST PICTURE A journalist researches an article on anti-Semitism by pretending to be Jewish. Credits for Gentleman's Agreement: [Dir: Elia Kazan/ Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Celeste Holm/ 118 min/ Drama/ Social Tolerance] Nowadays social tolerance films are common fare, not to mention Oscar-bait, but long before there was Philadelphia or even To … [Read more...]
Intolerance (1916)
A series of short dramas, recounting instances of intolerance and abuse of power through the ages. Intolerance credits: [Dir: D.W. Griffith/ Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh/ 177 min/ Drama-SILENT/ Social Tolerance] Note: the full documentary can typically be found online via YouTube or Google search. “Our play is made up of four separate stories, laid in … [Read more...]