Secretary: A young woman struggles to keep her job. With Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Alien - Miners pick up a hitchhiker then kill him.
Silver Streak - Scatman Crothers battles hippies on a train.
Aliens - Corporate traitor enacts a matricidal plot.
Alien[sup]3[/sup] - A small group of prison inmates seeks salvation.
Alien: Resurrection - From the creator of Firefly, a story of love, technology, and what it means to be human.
Alien vs. Predator - A woman strikes up an interracial relationship with a tall, rugged stranger.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem - Residents of a small town react violently to the arrival of foreigners.
Serenity - Space pirates battle an evil government*
- just like in PotC:AWE
Tootsie: Unemployed actor starts crossdressing, and likes the results.
Dances with Wolves: After the Civil War, a Union soldier accepts a remote posting, and studies a wolf’s behaviour.
Field of Dreams: An Iowa farmer hears voices that nobody else can; and against the wishes of his brother, follows their instructions.
Scent of a Woman: A man and his young male aide get a room for the weekend in New York City.
Nitpick - it didn’t become historic until after their visit.
Well, for two similar threads there are
[ul]
[li]One sentence summaries that miss the point started in 2003 (revived in 2009) by the still-active 3trew[/li][/ul]
and the shorter
[ul]
[li]Descriptions that do not do the movie justice from 2006.[/li][/ul]
This happens fairly frequently on DishNetwork’s onscreen guide. One that I saw a couple of days ago:
The Manitou: A fortune-teller hires a medicine man to get a 400-year-old shaman off his girlfriend’s back.
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - three singers travel across Australia for work.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - unlikely alliances form during the American Civil War.
Combining getting the big picture wrong with spoilers:
The Empire Strikes Back - Despite their differences, a father (voiced by James Earl Jones) and son (Mark Hamill) are reunited.
Indiana Jones and the last crusade: 2 men, 1 cup.
Apologies if this invokes any images.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Indy goes up against a cult whose leader is a real heart-breaker.
To continue the Indiana Jones thing:
Raiders Of The Lost Ark - teacher finds old container, lets French guy open it.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of he Crystal Skull - aliens exist
(spoilered in case someone who hasn’t yet seen it, actually wants to.)
A young girl dreams of stealing, taking narcotics, homicide and regime change.
Wizard of Oz
A poor man is lucky enough to get the crap beat out of him.
Rocky
A white supremacist overcomes adversity to rebuild an institution of oppression.
Gone with the Wind
A fugitive cheats on her husband, threatens to kill her ex-lover and helps shutdown a popular local business before skipping town.
Casablanca
The Bridge on the River Kwai Documentary on bridge construction techniques and working conditions in 1940s Burma.
Midnight Express - Travelogue; “railroading” in Turkey.
Die Hard: An estranged husband kills a dozen men in an LA office building.
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge–Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward really stretch their acting muscles by playing a married couple.
Goldfinger: British civil servant issues warnings on the danger of firing a gun on a plane.
The Godfather: Poor Italian immigrant strikes it rich, helps godson win a coveted movie role.
2001, A Space Oddysey: Starving vegetarians learn the advantages of eating red meat.
Tora, Tora, Tora: Japanese messenger delivers a telegram to Army base.