Cast and Crew:  Brad Bird (Director); Tim McCanlies (Screenwriter); Ted Hughes (Novel); Pete Townshend (Producer); Michael Kamen (Music); Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, Christopher McDonald, John Mahoney

What It’s About: During the Cold War, a boy discovers and protects a giant mechanical man from the paranoid government who will stop at nothing to destroy the alien robot.

Why Watch it Today?: Director Brad Bird, who would later go on to direct The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, celebrates his 55th birthday today. Today’s film takes place in 1957, the year of Bird’s birth.