BOB BARON'S HOMEPAGE
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My e-mail address is baronb@mesacc.edu I enjoy teaching a variety of classes here at Mesa Community College:
My office, a compendium of dear, discarded, and dislocated memorabilia (many involving the Holiday season, including a Christmas village), is located in the Liberal Arts Building, Room 10. I can be reached at 480-461-7611 and messages left at that number. |
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My early years were spent in Buffalo, New York at St. Valentine's Elementary School and Canisius High School battling blizzards. I played on a variety of baseball teams at first base. Later I attended the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB), after pursuing an engineering degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At UB, I received my BA, 2 Masters degrees, and a Ph.D. The teachers who had the greatest influence on me, and to whom I am still deeply indebted, were Steve Fleischer and Alan Spiegel. Eventually I taught at UB, where I also served as Director of Housing and Student Activities at an arts-oriented college subdivision called College B (my handy metal detector helped me find my car in countless snowstorms). Later I worked at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City (a great city for jazz and friendly people) where I taught 9 different courses while serving also as Director of the Re-Entry Program and Student Activities. I have suffered through 4 straight Super Bowl losses by the Buffalo Bills. I collect unusual ties, sports shirts, and drinking mugs. I am fortunate to have been raised by two caring and supportive parents who served as ideal role models. San Diego, Sedona, Venice, and aboard a Disney Cruise are my favorite places. I like penguins. If there is one theme in my teaching approach it is probably to find relevance, to try to relate the abstract ideas we learn in class to real life concerns, so people can use what they learn to try to make sense of life. Since I am very much aware that different students learn in different ways, I tend to use a variety of videos, DVD's, slides, movies, CD's, and commercials in my classes. I occasionally show pictures in class of my cute kids - Taylor and Blake - who play, respectively, guitar and drums. I have 2 great brothers and one wonderful sister with whom I used to perform piano duets as a child, our high point being our version of "The Happy Farmer." I am also married to a beautiful, intelligent, and highly personable woman, Destin. I especially welcome students who like to participate, who like to share their ideas with the rest of us. I might not agree with everything you say, but I will salute you for having the courage to air your views candidly. I also favor small group activities so students get to know each other and feel more comfortable in class. Although I have approximately 202 students in my classes each semester, I will learn each and every name eventually.
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Publications (and near misses) I have been published in a variety of forums from The Chronicle of Higher Education to The Baylor Educator to The Educational Record to The CJC Journal of Research and Practice to Postscript. A story describing a dream I had about being attacked by ducks was to be published by a reputable literary journal until for some reason it suddenly went bankrupt. I have written 6 unproduced screenplays and 2 unpublished novels (maybe in my next lifetime). Once I co-authored a comic strip about student life for a college newspaper with a current auteur, Jim Paul. I have written a number of songs dating back to when I played alto sax and conga drums in a band called Pale Fire (I can play only Christmas carols on my acoustic guitar but thus far no one has offered me a record deal, although my rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlepeople" ranks up there with the best; I'm better on the drums). Currently an esteemed colleague (with whom I went to Woodstock), Jim Karasiewicz, and I are seeking a publisher for our Sassy the Squirrel children's books (maybe in another lifetime as well).
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| Class Schedule: |
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| Monday Wednesday Friday
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Tuesday Thursday 9:00 ENG 102 10:30 HUM 210 1:30 HUM 205 3:00 HUM 215 |
Links:
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Gallery:
Students often ask me which books and films have influenced me the most over time, and which they might enjoy if they are just starting to read or watch movies. The following works are those that have made the greatest impact on me and probably helped me become the person I am today (along with other obvious influences like great parents, a fantastic wife and caring family, devoted friends, and societal conditioning). This is not meant to imply necessarily that I agree with the messages espoused by all of these works; in fact, the opposite may be true at times, because I may have realized as I was experiencing them that this was NOT the way to go. I should also note that some of the ones listed here were read or viewed at different developing stages of my life, and while they might have opened wide the eyes of a callow youth, I'm not sure how I would respond to them today (2012).
| Written Works |
Movies |
Movies (cont'd) |
| The Set-up |
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| The Seven Samurai |
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| The Seventh Seal |
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| The Silence |
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| The Sixth Sense |
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| A Ghost of a Chance by Bob Baron (my action-packed, crowd-pleasing screenplay set in Niagara Falls, read and rejected by bigwigs at Warner Brothers and thus far unproduced - anyone in Hollywood reading this?) |
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The Story of G.I. Joe |
| The Tao of Steve |
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| About Schmidt A Day in the Country |
The Terror of Tiny Town |
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| Adrift |
The Truman Show |
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| A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss |
Aguirre, Wrath of God |
The Wanderers |
| Adventure, Mystery, and Romance by John G. Cawelti A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals by Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten |
All That Jazz |
The War of the Worlds |
| Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light by Patrick McGilligan A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud A Light in August by William Faulkner |
Amarcord |
The Whole Town's Talking |
| All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque All That I Have by Castle Freeman |
American Time Capsule |
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl |
| America's Women: 400 years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins |
And Now For Something Completely Different A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies |
The World of Apu Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman |
| Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt |
Apollo 13 A River Runs Through It A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Avatar |
Time After Time 39 Steps |
| Animal Farm by George Orwell |
Awakenings |
Titanic |
| Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson |
Babe |
To Kill a Mockingbird |
| As I Walked Out One Evening by W. H. Auden A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson A Woman's View by Jeanine Basinger |
Back to the Future |
Tokyo Story |
| Back in the World by Tobias Wolff The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein |
Badlands |
Tootsie |
| Biocosm By James Gardner A Blessing by James Wright |
Bang the Drum Slowly |
Touch of Evil |
| Brave Dames and Wimpettes by Susan Isaacs |
Barbershop |
Treasure of the Sierra Madre True Grit (2010) Twelve Angry Men 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| Brave New World by Aldous Huxley |
Beauty and the Beast |
Un Chien Andalou Unstoppable |
| Cannery Row by John Steinbeck |
Bedazzled (1967) |
Used Cars |
| Carnival Evening by Linda Pastan |
Before Sunrise |
Usual Suspects |
| Catch-22 by Joseph Heller |
Before Sunset |
Vertigo |
| Cathedral by Raymond Carver |
Being John Malkovich |
Videodrome |
| Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. |
Big Fish The Big Lebowski |
Visions of Light |
| Changes by Gail Sheehy Charlatan by Pope Brock |
Blue Vinyl |
Wayne's World |
| Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck Cinema Nirvana by Dean Sluyter |
Born on the 4th of July |
Westward the Women |
| City of Light by Lauren Belfer Closely Watched Films by Marilyn Fabe |
Boyz 'n the Hood |
What's Opera, Doc? |
| Cult Movies by Danny Peary |
Broadcast News |
When Harry Met Sally |
| Dad by William Wharton |
Brother From Another Planet A Bronx Tale A Bug's Life |
Wild Strawberries |
| Damage by Josephine Hart |
Cabaret |
Witness |
| Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life by Steve Stewart Williams The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown |
Carnival of Souls (1964) |
Wizard of Oz |
| Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller |
Casablanca |
Women in Love |
| Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas |
Children of a Lesser God |
Woodstock |
| Dostoevsky, Kierkegard, Nietzsche, and Kafka by William Hubben |
Citizen Kane |
Word Wars |
| Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson |
City Lights |
Yankee Doodle Dandy |
| Dracula by Bram Stoker |
City Slickers |
Young and Innocent |
| Dune by Frank Herbert |
Clash by Night |
Young at Heart |
| Enjoyment of Laughter by Max Eastman Evil: A History of a Bad Idea by William Hart |
Contact |
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| Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa |
Cops |
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| Fatal Vision by Joe McGinnis |
Crimes and Misdemeanors |
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| Femininity by Susan Brownmiller |
Crying Game |
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| Figure From a Classical Tragedy by Jack Anderson |
Dark Star |
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| Film As Art by Rudolf Arnheim |
Day for Night |
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| Film/Cinema/Movie by Gerald Mast Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter |
Dead Man Walking |
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| First Aid at 4 A.M. by Christopher Bursk |
Dead of Night |
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| First Freedom by Robert Downs |
Defending Your Life The Descendants |
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| Floating Off the Page by Ken Wells |
Donnie Darko |
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| Frankenstein by Mary Shelley |
Don't Look Now |
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| Freakonomics by Steven Leavitt and Stephen Dubner |
Double Indemnity |
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| Frida by Hayden Herrera |
Duck Amuck |
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| Getting Even by Woody Allen |
Duck Soup |
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| Ghosty Men by Franz Lioz |
E.T. |
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| Give Me a Break by John Stossel The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti |
Eraserhead |
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| Great Books by David Denby |
Even Dwarfs Started Small |
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| Hardcore by Jim Thompson |
Everybody Says I Love You The Fabric of he Cosmos |
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| Higher Education by William C. DeVane |
Fat City |
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| Ideas and Men: The Sory of Western Thought by Crane Brinton I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry |
Fatal Attraction |
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| Importance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pear |
Father of the Bride |
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| Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer |
Fear of a Black Hat |
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| Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer |
Fight Club The Fighter |
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| It's Getting Better All the Time by Stephen Moore and Julian Simon |
Fishheads 500 Days of Summer |
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| Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious by Sigmund Freud |
Frank Film |
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| Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy |
Frankenstein (1931) |
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| Keaton by Daniel Moews |
Friendly Persuasion |
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| Life: The Movie by Neal Gabler |
Funny Farm |
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| Lilydale by Elizabeth Wicker |
Gabriel Over the White House |
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| Little Big Man by Thomas Berger Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination by Susan Douglas |
Gates of Heaven (NOT Heaven's Gate) |
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| Look at Me by Jennifer Egan |
Ghost |
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| Looking by W.D. Snodgrass |
Ghost and the Darkness |
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| Love is Hell by Matt Groening |
Ghost World |
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| Love, Medicine, and Miracles by Bernard Siegel |
Grand Canyon |
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| Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold |
Groundhog Day |
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| Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert |
H .M. Pulham, Esq. |
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| Magic Man by Bob Baron (another vibrant screenplay, still available) |
Hannah and Her Sisters |
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| Making Movies by Sidney Lumet |
Heaven Can Wait (1978) The Help |
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| Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung |
Hero (Chinese) |
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| Man in Full by Thomas Wolfe |
High Noon |
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| Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl |
His Girl Friday Horrible Bosses |
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| Margaret Mead and Samoa by Derek Freeman Marriage Confidential by Pamela Haag |
Hour of the Wolf |
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| Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury |
Images |
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| Martin Luther King by Marshall Frady |
In America |
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| Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka |
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) It Happened Tomorrow |
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| Middle Passage by Charles Johnson |
It's a Gift |
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| Middlemarch by George Eliot |
It's A Wonderful Life It's Complicated |
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| Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield |
Jaws |
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| Movie Made America by Robert Sklar |
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring |
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| Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf |
JFK |
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| Native Son by Richard Wright |
Johnny Guitar |
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| Night Driving by Dick Allen 1984 by George Orwell |
Junior Juno |
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| No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre |
King of Masks The King's Speech |
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| Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky |
Kiss Me Deadly |
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| On Liberty by John Stuart Mill Open by Andre Agassi |
Kramer vs. Kramer |
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| Patrimony by Philip Roth |
Kundun |
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| Projected Fears by Kendal Phillips |
La Jetee |
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| Prologue to the American System of Higher Education by E.D. Duryea |
Last Picture Show |
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| Rats, Lice, and History by Hans Zinsser |
Last Tango in Paris |
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| Realms of Meaning by Philip Phenix |
Life is Beautiful |
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| Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser |
Lifeguard |
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| Reel Women by Ally Acker |
Little Big Man |
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| Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust |
Local Hero |
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| Resurrection by Leo Tolstoi |
Lost in America |
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| Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill |
Love Me Tonight Lucky:If Money Can't Buy Happiness |
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| School is Hell by Matt Groening |
Manhattan Murder Mystery |
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| Seeing Through Movies by Mark Crispin Miller |
Me Myself I (NOT Irene) |
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| Self Made Man by Norah Vincent |
Meet Me in St. Louis |
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| Seven Theories of Human Nature by Leslie Stevenson |
Menilmontant |
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| Siddhartha by Herman Hesse |
Meshes of the Afternoon Me, Them and Lara Midnight in Paris |
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| Silent Movies by Neal Sinyard |
Mildred Pierce |
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| Skywalking by Dale Pollock |
Million Dollar Baby |
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| Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. |
Miracle on 34th Street |
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| Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson |
Modern Times |
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| Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg |
Monkey Business (1931) |
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| Star Wars: The Magic of Myth by Mary Henderson |
Monty Python and the Holy Grail |
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| Stepin Fetchit by Mel Watkins |
My Darling Clementine |
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| Suits Me by Diane Middlebrook |
Nashville |
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| Taking Laughter Seriously by Jack Morreall |
Night and Fog |
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| Telling It Again and Again by Bruce Kawin |
Night at the Opera |
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| Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy |
Night of the Hunter |
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| The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler |
Night of the Living Dead |
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| The Alexandria Quarter by Lawrence Durrell |
Nights of Cabiria |
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| The Alienist by Caleb Carr |
North by Northwest |
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| The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris |
Now, Voyager |
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| The American College and University by Frederick Rudolph |
O Lucky Man! |
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| The American Way by Edward Kearny, Mary Ann Kearney, and Jo Ann Crandall |
On Golden Pond |
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| The Areopagitica by John Milton |
One A.M. |
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| The Art of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto |
One Week |
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| The Autobiography of Malcolm X |
Onibaba |
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| 'The Autobiography of Santa Claus as told to Jeff Guinn |
Open City |
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| The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath |
Ordinary People |
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| The Bible |
Our Hospitality |
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| The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker |
Our Lady of the Sphere |
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| The Book by Alan Watts |
Outland |
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| The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky |
Paper Moon |
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| The Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill |
Parenthood |
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| The Castle by Franz Kafka |
Pee Wee's Big Adventure |
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| The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger |
Picnic at Hanging Rock |
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| The Christmas Box by Richard Evans |
Places in the Heart |
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| The Cinema of Frank Capra by Leland Poague |
Platoon |
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| The Cinema of Generation X by Peter Hanson |
Pleasantville |
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| The Collected Short Stories by Franz Kafka |
Psycho |
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| The Color Purple by Alice Walker |
Pulp Fiction |
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| The Comic Mind by Gerald Mast |
Purple Rose of Cairo |
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| The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoi |
Quiz Show Radio Days |
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| The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber |
Raising Arizona |
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| The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown |
Ransom |
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| The Dark Side of Genius by Donald Spoto |
Ratatouille |
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| The Dehumanization of Art by Ortega Y. Gasset |
Real Life |
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| The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker |
Rebel Without a Cause |
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| The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominique Bauby |
Red Desert |
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| The Dwarf by Paar Lagerkvist |
Remains of the Day |
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| The Fifties by David Halberstam |
Round Up |
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| The Film Experience by Roy Huss and Norman Silverstein |
Rush |
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| The Films of John Ford by J. A. Place |
Safe |
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| The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom |
Saving Private Ryan |
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| The Floating Opera by John Barth |
Serpico |
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| The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov |
Seven Chances |
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| The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken |
Shawshank Redemption |
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| The Girls in their Summer Dresses by Irwin Shaw |
Sherlock Jr. |
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| The Grand Tour by Ron Miller and William Hartman |
Shine |
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| The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald |
Signs |
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| The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers |
Silence of the Lambs |
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| The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien |
Singin' in the Rain |
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| The Hollywood Studios by Ethan Murdden |
Sleuth |
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| The Immortalist by Alan Harrington |
Small Steps-Big Strides |
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| The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud |
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
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| The Keep by Jennifer Egan |
Something About Mary |
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| The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoi |
Sorcerer |
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| The Language Police by Diane Ravitch |
Stagecoach |
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| The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin |
Star Wars |
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| The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien |
Station Agent |
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| The Lottery by Shirley Jackson |
Strangers on a Train |
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| The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot |
Street of Shame Tabloid |
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| The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann |
Take the Money and Run |
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| The Meaning of Life by Hugh Moorhead |
Targets |
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| The Misanthrope by Moliere |
Terminator |
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| The Movies in Your Mind by Harvey Greenberg |
Testament |
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| The Munchkins Remember by Stephen Cox |
Texas Chainsaw Massacre |
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| The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris |
The Band Concert |
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| The New Hollywood Cinema by Geoff King |
The Bicycle Thief |
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| The Rise of the Image and the Fall of the Word by Mitchell Stephens |
The Cameraman |
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| The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck |
The Castle (Australian) |
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| The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne |
The Citadel |
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| The Search by Bob Baron (still another screenplay just waiting to be made into a hit movie) |
The Conformist |
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| The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad Sexual Paradox by Susan Pinker |
The Decalogue |
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| The Shining by Stephen King |
The Elephant Man |
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| The Silent Clowns by Walter Kerr |
The Fearless Vampire Killers |
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| The Story of Utopias by Al Morton |
The Fireman's Ball |
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| The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth |
The French Lieutenant's Woman |
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| The Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters |
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| The Story of Hollywood by Barry Norman |
The Godfather I and II |
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| The Story of Utopias by Lewis Mumford |
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly |
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| The Street by Ann Petry |
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas |
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| The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn |
The Gunfighter |
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| The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell |
The Incredibles |
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| The Trial by Franz Kafka |
The Invisible Man (1933) |
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| The Unicorn by Nancy Hathaway |
The Killing |
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| The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettleheim |
The Lady Vanishes |
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| The Vanishing Hitchhiker by Jan Harold Brunvand |
The Lion in Winter |
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| The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta |
The Maltese Falcon |
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| The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman |
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance |
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| Theory of the Avant Garde by Renata Poggioli |
The Man Who Would Be King |
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| Three Views of Man by Robert Nye |
The Manchurian Candidate |
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| To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee |
The Music Box (1932) |
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| To the Virgins to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick |
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| Tolstoi by Henri Troyat |
The Navigator |
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| Tragedy and Comedy by Walter Kerr |
The Projectionist |
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| Understanding Movies by Louis Giannetti Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer |
The Red and the White |
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| Utopia by Ian Todd and Michael Wheeler |
The Right Stuff |
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| Utopias and Utopian Thought by Frank Manuel |
The Ruling Class |
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| Villette by Charlotte Bronte |
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| Walden Two by B. F. Skinner |
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| War and Peace by Leo Tolstoi |
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| Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen |
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| Watership Down by Richard Adams |
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| Whispers by Dean Koontz Whistling in the Dark by Leslie Kagan |
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| Who Are You People? by Shai Caudron |
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| Why Things Bite Back by Edward Tenner |
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| Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson |
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| Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne |
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| Women Who Love Too Much by Robin Norwood Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias by Don Van Natta Jr. |
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| || Email & Classes || Bio & Publications || Ofc hours & Schedule || Links || Gallery || Books & Movies || |