John Carpenter's "The Thing," the classic 1982 sci-fi/horror film, was voted by fans into the 2025 National Film Registry. One of the film's surprise stars was Jed, the part wolf/part dog who plays a key role in the movie's plot. Richard Masur, who played Jed's handler in the movie, recalls the joy and fear of working with such a "big, beautiful" but wild animal. Jed went on to other roles in Hollywood, playing the title character in "White Fang" and "White Fang 2."
Amy Heckering's 1995 comedy, "Clueless," was one of the defining films of decade and was just inducted into the National Film Registry. But even as the director of another generational favorite from the 1980s, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Heckerling didn't see it coming while writing and working on the film. And that title? She got it from her babysitter.
Wes Anderson's touching 2014 film, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," joins the National Film Registry this year. Anderson and his team used the Library's vast collection of hand-tinted European photographs from before World War I to help create the titular hotel's distinctive look.
The 2025 National Film Registry is out today, showcasing a group of 25 films spanning 118 years and including fan favorites such as “The Thing,” “Clueless,” “The Big Chill” and “The Incredibles.” The Library’s annual addition to the list of films to be preserved for their cinematic and cultural heritage starts with the 1896 silent film, “The Tramp and the Dog,” and stretches to the 2014 Wes Anderson picture, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”
Johnathan Larson and Leonard Bernstein had huge successes on Broadway, from "West Side Story" to "Rent." Their vibrant careers are preserved in the Library's Music Division, showcasing their generational talents.
Almost forgotten now, Kay Aldridge was the "The Serial Queen" in the 1940s, turning up in popular cliffhanger serials that were shown on Saturday afternoon matinees just before the main feature. She was also one of the “ten most photographed girls in the world," appearing on the cover of at least 44 major magazines, in hundreds of advertising ad campaigns and in 25 films -- all in just 9 years. She left Hollywood for a happy second life, mostly on the coast of Maine. After she died in 1995, her daughter put together a wonderful scrapbook, now preserved at the Library, that narrates a small-town girl’s ascent to fame. And a little bit of fortune.
If that haunting music in the season finale of "Severance" on Apple TV+ sounded familiar, that's because "The Windmills of Your Mind" has been around for 57 years, won an Oscar and has been recorded by more than 300 artists the world over. Lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, the husband-and-wife duo, wrote "Windmills" with composer Michel Legrand. In a legendary career, they won three Oscars and were finalists another 16 times, not to mention their four Emmys and two Grammys. In the Library's collections, we look at their lyrics sheets and interviews to see how they and Legrand combined to put together "Windmills."
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” went without a song for years, from the tail end of the Depression through World War II and nearly until the midcentury before a musician named Johnny Marks began to consider it. Marks studied music in college in the 1920s, penned a good song or two for Guy Lombardo’s orchestra in …
In his epic “El Norte,” award-winning filmmaker Gregory Nava charted the tragic journey of siblings Enrique and Rosa from Guatemala to Los Angeles in pursuit of the American dream. The 1983 film was inducted into the Library's National Film Registry in 1995 and still resonate in this Hispanic Heritage Month, two decades into a new century. It's one of the highlights of the Library's work in preserving Latino films.
