Classic era movies with an exclamation point in their title:

• Murder! (1930) – as if an Alfred Hitchcock thriller needs one, this early drama from the director features Herbert Marshall (in his first sound film) as a gentleman actor who’s convinced that an actress (played by Norah Baring) is innocent of the titled crime.
• Hi, Nellie! (1934) – this first of four screen versions of the Roy Chanslor story features Paul Muni as the editor of a newspaper who finds himself bumped down to serving as the lovelorn columnist after a dispute with his boss. This Dear Abby-type column’s byline is Nellie Nelson, so the other employees jeer this (Mervyn LeRoy-directed) comedy drama’s title phrase each time the former editor passes through the newsroom.
• Viva Villa! (1934) – among the ten films nominated for Best Picture (in a weak year) by the Academy, this fictionalized biography of the Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa, whose name was shouted lovingly (e.g. “long live”) by his troops and other supporters, features Wallace Beery in the title role, and an Oscar nominated adaptation from screenwriter Ben Hecht. David O. Selznick produced while Howard Hawks (uncredited) and then Jack Conway directed.
• Ah, Wilderness! (1935) – this Clarence Brown family comedy-drama also had Beery top-billed among a terrific cast that included Lionel Barrymore, Aline MacMahon, Eric Linden, Cecilia Parker, Spring Byington, Mickey Rooney, Charley Grapewin, Frank Albertson, Edward Nugent, and Bonita Granville (among others). It’s based on the Eugene O’Neill play of the same name.
• My Son, My Son! (1940) – is a melodrama about a writer (played by Brian Aherne) and his overindulged offspring (Louis Hayward), about whom the father questions, then exclaims the film’s title after he learns of his son’s appalling actions.
• Hangmen Also Die! (1943) – this first of several World War II dramas to use the punctuation mark was directed (and co-written & co-produced) by Fritz Lang, who was also responsible for one of the only films with a single letter as its title, M (1931). This one begins with the off-screen assassination of the Nazi General (dubbed the “hangman” for his brutal tactics) in charge of Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia, whose citizens resist and unite to protect the identity of the culprit (Brian Donlevy) despite overwhelming pressure from the Gestapo.
• So Proudly We Hail! (1943) – actress Paulette Goddard earned her only Academy recognition (a Supporting Actress nomination) playing one of several nurses that serves in Bataan during perilous conditions in the early years of the Pacific campaign; Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake also star.
• Tomorrow, the World! (1944) – playing a Hitler Youth that comes to live in the United States with the American family of a professor (Fredric March; Betty Field plays a teacher that’s also his fiancee, Agnes Moorehead is his sister and Joan Carroll, his daughter from a previous marriage) that was a friend of his Nazi-executed father, Skip Homeier reprised his role from the Broadway play to declare his German leader’s famous (and this drama’s title) phrase.
• Objective, Burma! (1945) – Alvah Bessie’s only Oscar nominated story was directed by a master of such action dramas, Raoul Walsh, and hence stars his frequent collaborator Errol Flynn; the title gives the plot away.
• Viva Zapata! (1952) – Anthony Quinn won his first of two Best Supporting Actor Oscars opposite Marlon Brando’s second of four consecutive Best Actor nominated performances as the titled Mexican rebel leader from the last of John Steinbeck’s three Oscar nominated stories.
• Take the High Ground! (1953) – Millard Kaufman earned his first Oscar nomination for this story and screenplay about army boot camp; Richard Widmark plays a stereotypical tough sergeant charged with getting the recruits in shape and Karl Malden plays his more agreeable assistant. Russ Tamblyn and Steve Forrest are among the cliched collection of “worthless dogs” that are urged on by their sergeant’s (titled) command.
• Oklahoma! (1955) – the last line of this Rodgers & Hammerstein musical’s title song spells out the state’s name, letter by letter, before it’s shouted (and followed by “yeah!”).
• Cry Terror! (1958) – Rod Steiger plays a domestic terrorist-extortionist; he and his cohorts (Angie Dickinson, Neville Brand, and Jack Klugman) kidnap a married couple (James Mason & Inger Stevens) and their preschool daughter during this thriller written, directed, and co-produced (with his editor wife) by Andrew L. Stone.
• I Want to Live! (1958) – Susan Hayward won her Oscar playing death row inmate Barbara Graham in this biographical drama about the woman who pleaded and fought (unsuccessfully) to escape California’s gas chamber.
• Hatari! (1962) – reportedly means “danger!” in Swahili and refers to the type of work that animal trappers (like John Wayne’s character) in Africa perform in order to provide zoos with inventory. Howard Hawks directed the action in this adventure comedy drama notable for Russell Harlan’s Oscar nominated Color Cinematography and Henri Mancini’s song “Baby Elephant Walk”.
• McLintock! (1963) – actor Wayne plays the title character in this hilarious comedy Western which also features Maureen O’Hara, as his estranged wife, and his son Patrick as a tough surrogate that’s interested in his comely daughter (Stefanie Powers).
• Oliver! (1968) – Mark Lester plays the titled boy surnamed Twist in this Oscar winning (musical) adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic story, directed by Carol Reed and featuring Ron Moody as Fagin, Oliver Reed as Bill Sykes, and Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger (among others).

What other classic movie titles can YOU think of which feature “an exclamation point”?