They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)

The title alone was a good warning that this would not be uplifting. When I noted the Depression setting and the year of release, when unhappy endings were all the rage, there could be no doubt. But my curiosity about the high ratings got the better of me.

The story focuses on a 1932 California dance marathon, a staple of the era I'd never heard of before. For weeks, couples -- 102 to start -- seek a cash prize by dancing for hours a day (mostly at a mellow pace), occasionally mixing it up with a joint speed-walking race that eliminates the last three pairs to cross the finish line. As time wears on, the remaining contestants aren't looking so good, and neither is the contest itself.

Julia (1977)

Every so often, I move all the entries on my Netflix queue with a listed wait time to the top and see what comes next. If not for this method, I might have put Julia off indefinitely. How often am I in the mood for a dark-looking '70s drama whose title is a woman's name? Still, it had acting awards, an Academy Best Picture nomination, and direction by the seemingly underrated Fred Zinnemann, so I'd have to see it eventually.

In the '30s, Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda) is a rather famous writer, thanks in part to schmoozing with the even more famous Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards). But an old friend, Julia (Vanessa Redgrave), recruits her for a mission that would normally go to a non-Jewish nobody: smuggling funds for the resistance in Nazi territory. Julia's too injured to do the task herself. It's too bad they couldn't meet again under better circumstances; indeed, meeting at all is iffy....