This week’s pick is a fantastic film from director, George Stevens. A Place In The Sun stars Montgomery Clift as a young factory worker with an ambition to one day join the social elite. Through a family connection, he gets to know a beautiful young socialite played by Elizabeth Taylor. As he begins to rise within the company and in social standing, the two fall in love, but when his factory worker girlfriend ends up pregnant, everything he ever wanted is in jeopardy. What’s a young man to do?

This film truly shows you the power of movies to make you feel something. When Montgomery Clift is outside the gate of a mansion watching everything he ever wanted inside, you feel it how badly he wants it. It especially resonates with me because I feel like I’m just outside the gate of everything I’ve ever wanted having to drive by the studios every few days without being able to go in.

Then later in the film when he has finally begun to achieve his dream, he is in danger of losing everything. He has one opportunity to save it all by doing one morally reprehensible act. At this point in the film you so identify with him that you actually find yourself wanting him to do it. It’s amazing how this film manipulates your emotions in this way. It shows you just what we’re all capable of given the right circumstances. Scary.

Coming in at #92 on the original AFI Top 100 list, A Place in the Sun was nominated for Best Picture and won 6 Academy Awards including Best Director for George Stevens (his first) and Best Screenplay. It’s a must see.

Place in the Sun, A (1951) – Sunday, April 11 at 5:45pm EST
An ambitious young man wins an heiress’s heart but has to cope with his former girlfriend’s pregnancy.
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere Dir: George Stevens BW-122 mins, TV-PG