April 24, 1913: With The Bangville Police, the Keystone Kops arrive on scene. Though they’ll last only a few years, they’ll become synonymous with Mack Sennett‘s studio.
April 27, 1930: From Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, Lewis Milestone films All Quiet on the Western Front, a harsh look at the futility of war.
April 27, 1956: Stateside audiences get their first look at Japan’s biggest “star” with the U.S. release of Godzilla, King of the Monsters.
April 23, 1971: Melvin Van Peebles‘ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song opens and will go on to jump start the “blaxploitation” film movement.
April 25, 1971: George C. Scott wins the Best Actor Oscar for Patton, but in a statement declines the award, calling the system “a meat market.”
April 28, 1972: Ralph Bakshi‘s Fritz the Cat, based on Robert Crumb’s comic and the world’s first X-rated cartoon feature, debuts in New York.
April 22, 1991: 1960’s Spartacus is reissued, now containing a double-entendre-filled bathhouse scene with Tony Curtis and Laurence Olivier.
April 23, 1992: Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, responsible for the Apu trilogy and other classics, dies in Calcutta at age 70.