My Favorite Movies
At last I tackle the ultimate mundane exercise of listing my favorite movies. Until now I have been able to resist the temptation but last night I was reminded of several obscure films and decided that a list of my favorite films might be unique enough to inflict it on the world. Most of these films are old friends which I have viewed many times, hence the "favorite" designation.
Unlike my other lists I am making this one entirely for myself. I don't expect anyone to read it.
Several of these films are too depressing for frequent viewings yet are such inspired creations that I have included them in the list. A few would fit better in a list of my favorite cult films but they will reside here until I create such a list.
Unlike my other lists I am making this one entirely for myself. I don't expect anyone to read it.
Several of these films are too depressing for frequent viewings yet are such inspired creations that I have included them in the list. A few would fit better in a list of my favorite cult films but they will reside here until I create such a list.
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- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStarsSean ConneryPeter FinchClaudia CardinaleTorn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his failed 1928 Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.This has held the #1 spot on my imaginary favorite list for many years. It might drop a bit in the rankings were I to do a reassessment but for now I'll keep it at the top.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsW.C. FieldsKathleen HowardJean RouverolA henpecked New Jersey grocer makes plans to move to California to grow oranges, despite the resistance of his overbearing wife.Simply perfect.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsGwyneth PaltrowJoseph FiennesGeoffrey RushThe world's greatest ever playwright, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.Not only have I enjoyed countless viewings of this pretty much perfect film but I have come to regard it as the standard for best movie ever made. Part of my delight is that it beat out Saving Private Ryan (the film that would be at the very top of my Most Overrated Film list - if I had one) for the Best Picture Oscar.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJeff BridgesJohn GoodmanJulianne MooreJeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.Another pretty much perfect film that I never tire of watching. I simply get it.
- DirectorVadim PerelmanStarsUma ThurmanEvan Rachel WoodEva AmurriA woman's survivor's guilt from a Columbine-like event 15 years ago causes her present-day idyllic life to fall apart.Great storytelling technique.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsBud CortShelley DuvallSally KellermanAn introverted loner living in the bowels of the Astrodome plots to develop - with the aid of a mysterious guardian angel - a pair of wings that will help him fly.The film that inspired this list. This was Robert Altman's favorite of all the films he made - it was definitely his most "out there" and that is saying something.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsKeith CarradineKaren BlackRonee BlakleyOver the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated people prepare for a political convention.Remarkably entertaining film with great original music and terrific supporting performances, especially Ronee Blakley and Barbara Harris. Like Brewster McCloud it has a great ending - great endings being Altman's signature.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
- DirectorFrank PerrySydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterJanet LandgardJanice RuleA man spends a summer day swimming as many pools as he can all over a quiet suburban town.Absolutely haunting film, I was stunned the first time I saw it.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsGrant WilliamsRandy StuartApril KentAfter Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.Simply transcends the genre.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsCary GrantPriscilla LaneRaymond MasseyMortimer Brewster, a Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage, risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things grow complicated when he learns that his beloved maiden aunts Abby and Martha are serial murderers.Never gets old - Jack Carson's understated comedy is priceless.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.Holding up rather nicely.
- DirectorRichard ErdmanStarsJohn AstinPat CarrollHans ConriedThe brothers, a couple of ne'er-do-wells, turn a sleepy mining town upside-down in their search for quick riches.As funny as "The Big Lebowski" but something I don't have to share with the world.
- DirectorDick PowellStarsRobert MitchumCurd JürgensDavid HedisonDuring WWII an American destroyer discovers a German U-boat, and in the ensuing duel the American captain must draw upon all his experience to defeat the equally experienced German commander.Best war film ever. A great ending.
- DirectorBernhard WickiStarsVolker BohnetFritz WepperMichael HinzIn 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.Best anti-war film ever.
- DirectorKen AnnakinAndrew MartonGerd OswaldStarsJohn WayneRobert RyanRichard BurtonThe events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.I never tire of watching this one.
- DirectorFrank OzStarsBill MurrayRichard DreyfussJulie HagertyA successful psychotherapist loses his mind after one of his most dependent patients, an obsessive-compulsive neurotic, tracks him down during his family vacation.An almost perfect comedy.
- DirectorJessica SharzerStarsKristen StewartElizabeth PerkinsRichard HagermanA teenager is traumatized into silence after a disastrous summer party.I totally connected to this one and it probably changed my life. But all that is too personal to expect the average viewer to feel the same strong connection.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsMichael RedgraveTom CourtenayAvis BunnageA young thief takes up long-distance running when he is sent to a borstal.A film too depressing for frequent repeat viewing but with a terrific ending.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsRay MillandJean PetersPaul DouglasA scientist discovers a formula that makes a baseball which is repelled by wood. He promptly sets out to exploit his discovery.Terrific baseball movie that somehow skirts its ethical issues.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.Contains American cinema's greatest scene, the truckers at the diner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jxLp9PHvDQ&t=13s
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanMichael OntkeanStrother MartinA failing ice hockey team finds success with outrageously violent hockey goonery.Wonderful.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsSidney PoitierRod SteigerWarren OatesA black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.Another almost perfect film.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsDorothy McGuirePeggy Ann GarnerJoan BlondellEncouraged by her idealistic if luckless father, a bright and imaginative young woman comes of age in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s.The book is wonderful, the film is actually better.
- DirectorPaul NewmanStarsJoanne WoodwardNell PottsRoberta WallachMiddle-aged misfit Beatrice Hunsdorfer struggles to raise her two daughters, popular epileptic Ruth and promising science student Matilda, in this film version of Paul Zindel's stage play.Even more than the play it points you toward a philosophy to cope with life.
