Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times is his last Little Tramp picture and a commentary on the financial situation during the Great Depression. The Little Tramp has difficulty adjusting to the industrialized world as he works in a factory and attempts to help an orphan girl, Ellen Peterson (Paulette Goddard), as she escapes from the police. The Tramp works on an assembly line that causes him to have a nervous breakdown in the film's most famous scenes. Another high point occurs when he sings a gibberish song, "Je Cherche Après Titine," or as Chaplin's version was known, "The Nonsense Song," at the cafe where Ellen works as a dancer. This scene serves as a fitting final tribute to the character as Chaplin's voice is heard in a film for the first time.

Michael Mann's Thief is a rare neo noir that captures the style of early noir without sacrificing any of the substance and power of the genre. Based on the 1975 novel, The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar , written by a real-life jewel thief, it captures the drama of hard-lived characters making the wrong decisions based on personal codes of honor. The characters are realistic and well cast and the acting is top notch. The relationship between Frank (James Caan) and Jessie (Tuesday Weld) works because Frank emotionally bares his soul to her. He needs an anchor to leave his criminal life behind and pins his hopes on her. His one last heist leaves him alone again after he is double crossed. The final long take of Frank walking down the sidewalk after dispatching his enemies is poignant and memorable.