The best American movies of all time

You may think it impossible to list the best American movies of all time, but here we highlight just a few.

Groundhog Day by Harold Ramis (1993)

Bill Murray stars in this classic comedy as a weatherman condemned to spend the rest of his life living the same day over and over again. The only way to turn his situation around is if he changes his ways and earns the love of the female character played by Andie MacDowell.

Beauty and the Beast by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (1991)

When Disney added their magic to this French classic, it was an instant hit. With beautiful songs and lively characters, this film is charming and perfect for the entire family.

GoodFellas by Martin Scorsese (1990)

Considered Scorsese's best film, GoodFellas is a look at the life of the Mafia, including what it takes to become part of it and what it needed to leave. Ray Liotta and Robert DeNiro star in the film, but Joe Pesci could quite possibly be the real star of the show.

Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg (1998)

Even after the film’s release over twenty years ago, Saving Private Ryan still features some of most intense war footage ever shot, but best of all is the storyline about a group of soldiers who give their lives so that one solider they don't even know may live.

Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola (1979)

This film looks at the Vietnam War and is pure genius. It stars Martin Sheen as an Army assassin who is sent to kill a colonel, played by Marlon Brando, who has gone rogue.

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Why The Classics Keep Selling

With no shortage of new authors making their marks in the literary world, and with an ever expanding library available at out very fingertips thanks to self publishing and ebooks, it may be tempting to think that the classics have fallen out of favor and that sales should be dwindling. That thought would be incorrect. Despite an ever expanding landscape of literature, not to mention visual and auditory media competing for our attention, the classics are thriving and copies keep flying off the shelves. Here are two big reasons why the classics just keep selling.

TV and film adaptations. It may be that Hollywood is short on ideas, or it may just be that they know what sells, but regardless of the reasons more of the classics are being adapted into TV and film than ever before. Content providers turned content producers like Netflix and Amazon are only adding to the trend, as each seeks to up their output in an effort to attract a larger audience.

Publishers are playing with new cover designs. Re-release after re-release, publishers had been sticking to the same old stale book covers that we’ve all come to associate with the classics. Recently, however, publishers such as Penguin, OUP, Everyman and Vintage have been experimenting with radical new looks, designs, and branding strategies. Their efforts appear to be bearing fruit, as younger generations appear to be buying up the books as much for their visual appeal as for their content.

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