Dignan (Owen Wilson) dreams of being an accomplished career criminal. Anthony (Luke Wilson) is trying to put his life back together after a severe bout of exhaustion. Bob (Robert Musgrave) has a car. After a successful bookstore robbery, everything seems to be going according to Dignan's master plan until the three friends hideout at a roadside motel. After a day on the lam, Bob has to go home and Anthony falls in love with the housekeeper. Dignan will have to work fast if he is to impress Mr. Henry (James Caan) and pull off the job of a lifetime. Directed by Wes Anderson. With Lumi Cavazos. Categories: Comedy, Crime, Romance. Year: 1996
1996 in Bottle Rocket
Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) is trying to do the right thing. An army officer haunted by a command mistake, he is selected to assess a helicopter commander's eligibility for the Medal of Honor. Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) died in a heroic rescue attempt of a downed chopper and appears to be a hero. As Serling investigates, conflicting accounts from her crew cause him to question her actions. Directed by Edward Zwick. With Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty and Matt Damon. Categories: Action, Drama, War. Year: 1996.
1996 in Courage Under Fire
John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a US Marshal protecting Dr. Lee Cullen (Vanessa L. Williams), a scientist for an enormous weapons manufacturer. Soon to testify about a conspiracy within her company, Cullen must follow Kruger into hiding to protect both of their lives as they realize that the plot extends beyond her corporation's walls. Directed by Chuck Russell. With James Caan, James Coburn, Robert Pastorelli, Andy Romano. Categories: Action, Drama, Thriller. Year: 1996.
1996 in Eraser
When terrorists hijack an airplane flying to Washington, D.C., intelligence expert David Grant (Kurt Russell) convinces the military to let him accompany a crew of soldiers boarding the plane in mid-air and rescue its passengers. When the team discovers a bomb aboard, Grant must race against time to subdue the terrorists and dismantle the explosives. Directed by Stuart Baird. With Steven Seagal, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt and Joe Morton. Categories: Politics, Action, Adventure, Thriller. Year: 1996.
1996 in Executive Decision
Karen McCaan (Sally Field) falls apart after the horrible rape and murder of her young daughter, Julie (Olivia Burnette). After the police deny her request to hold Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland), the suspect in the case, Karen decides to take matters into her own hands. While her quest for revenge is temporarily delayed by her husband Mack (Ed Harris), Doob's return convinces Karen that she must defend her family using any means necessary. Directed by John Schlesinger. With Joe Mantegna, Beverly D'Angelo and Darrell Larson. Categories: Drama, Thriller. Year: 1996.
1996 in Eye for an Eye
Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) is a professional baseball player at the top of his game. After a move to the San Francisco Giants is followed by the worst performance of his career, an obsessed fan named Gil Renard (Robert De Niro) decides to help Bobby recover his game by whatever means necessary. Directed by Tony Scott. With Ellen Barkin, John Leguizamo, Benicio Del Toro and Kurt Fuller. Categories: Thriller, Sports. Year: 1996.
1996 in The Fan
Three high-school girls (Hedy Burress, Sarah Rosenberg, and Jenny Shimizu) are sexually abused by their biology teacher. But they don't do anything about it until a mysterious new girl named Legs (Angelina Jolie) shows up. She is much tougher than the rest of them and leads them all to take revenge against the teacher. But now that the girls have started to rebel, where will it stop? Directed by Annette Haywood-Carter. With Jenny Lewis. Categories: Drama. Year: 1996.
1996 in Foxfire
Professional criminals Seth (George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Quentin Tarantino) kidnap a family and hijack their RV, after a bloody robbery in Texas. Once across the border into Mexico, the Geckoes take the former pastor (Harvey Keitel), his teenage daughter (Juliette Lewis) and adopted son (Ernest Liu) to a rough biker bar where they need to pay off a debt. But, as night falls, it becomes apparent that the bar caters to a clientele with a taste for human blood. Directed by Robert Rodriguez. With Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo. Categories: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller. Year: 1996.
1996 in From Dusk Till Dawn
Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler), a failed hockey player, takes his powerful drive to the PGA tour in order to save his grandmother's (Frances Bay) home. Accustomed to the aggresion and bravado of hockey, Happy shows his emotions on the fairway, and quickly becomes a fan favorite. But, as his skills improve, long-time pro Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) begins to see Happy as a threat to his quest for the tour championship, and sets out to squash Happy and preserve the sanctity of the game. Directed by Dennis Dugan. With Julie Bowen, Carl Weathers, Allen Covert, Bob Barker, Kevin Nealon and Ben Stiller. Categories: Comedy, Sports. Year: 1996.
1996 in Happy Gilmore
After world-weary card shark Sydney (Philip Baker Hall) meets John (John C. Reilly), a reckless, down-and-out gambler, he takes the downtrodden young man under his wing and shows him how to exploit the casino perk system. Years later, the surrogate father and son enjoy being successful gamblers, until John falls for a troubled cocktail waitress (Gwyneth Paltrow) and gets mixed up with an untrustworthy stranger (Samuel L. Jackson). Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. With Philip Seymour Hoffman. Categories: Crime, Drama, Thriller. Year: 1996.
1996 in Hard Eight
George (Harvey Keitel) and Nathalie (Cameron Diaz) are recently married and on vacation at a quiet island retreat. When Natalie's ex-lover Kent (Billy Zane) shows up and sweeps her off her feet, the stage is set for a fiasco of epic proportions. Directed by Jim Wilson. With Craig Sheffer and Shay Duffin. Categories: Comedy, Thriller. Year: 1996.
1996 in Head Above Water
When worldwide communications systems go haywire and an enormous unidentified object is spotted orbiting Earth, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), an MIT graduate who works at a cable company, decodes a hidden message and discovers that aliens are planning to destroy major cities around the world. When Levinson's prediction come true, the survivors of the US attacks, including Marine Corp. fighter pilot Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), converge on Area 51 and try to formulate a plan to prevent the aliens from enslaving the human race. Using a captured alien spacecraft and a ragtag squadron of volunteer pilots, the survivors take flight on July 4th to fight for their freedom. Directed by Roland Emmerich. With Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, Margaret Colin and Vivica A. Fox. Categories: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller. Year: 1996.
1996 in Independence Day