It is an indictment of modern civilization that it deems movies like Elmer Gantry among its best. Bullfeathers. Who ever wanted to watch Elmer Gantry again? That's the test. Either that, or you are so haunted by one viewing that you don't DARE watch the film twice.
Here are my top 30.
I'm not a professional movie critic, and have only seen a fraction of those movies listed by such critics, so you'll probably think these are wrong, too. (Not to mention my low and easily-satisfied tastes.)
But that's why we've left space below for you to correct me.
(29) True Grit (John Wayne version)
(28) Bladerunner
(27) Mission
(26) Casablanca
(25) Elephant Man (Not one I want to see again, but one I will never forget.)
(24) Lethal Weapon (What can I say? Mel Gilson and Danny Glover make me laugh.)
(23) Up
(22) Gran Torino
(21) Omega Man
(20) A River Runs Through It
(19) Mrs. Doubtfire
(18) Few Good Men
(17) Return of the King (Still remember watching this final movie in a theater in Chungking, and the audience breaks into applause as the Riders of Rohan sweep down with horns blazing to save Minis Tirith.
(16) Shawshank Redemption
(15) Lawrence of Arabia (If you don't like the story, just listen to the grand music and sweeping desert scenes.)
(14) Good Will Hunting
(13) Star Wars: Warrior Koalas in the Redwoods
(12) Mary Poppins
(11) Braveheart
(10) Star Wars: Original (That first blast of John Williams let you know it was going to be good.)
(9) Some Like it Hot. (Here's my version with Donald Trump and that kiss-up pastor in Dallas.)
http://christthetao.blogspot.com/2016/07/fisherman-reports-rift-between-trump.html
(8) Matrix (Just the first one.)
(7) Airplane. (Laughs concentrated more tightly than customers on an economy flight.)
(6) Fiddler on the Roof. (Transmutes sadness into joy.)
(5) Good, the Bad, the Ugly.
(4) It's a Wonderful Life.
(3) Forrest Gump.
(2) Pinocchio. (Beyond belief that they could create such a beautiful film from hand-drawn cartoons.)
(2B) (So I can't count!) Spirited Away.
(1) The Sound of Music.
2 comments:
In no particular order:
The Wizard of Oz--No matter how many times I've seen it, if I know it's about to be rebroadcast I'll try to catch at least a few of the scenes. The early sepia-toned scene of Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with Toto's help is one of cinema's greatest creations.
Duck Soup--The Brothers Marx at the zenith of their zaniness. Night at the Opera is a close second.
Raiders of the Lost Ark--The original and still the best of the series. Practically every scene has become a classic.
The Godfather I and II--Coppola did the near-impossible by enriching and expanding the first movie with the second, much the same way as his friend Lucas did with The Empire Strikes Back.
Oklahoma!--The ballet sequence ruins the pacing, but the rest of it, and especially the songs, is maybe the best American musical ever put to film.
Far from complete, but those are some additional can't/shouldn't-miss movies.
Thanks. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is beautiful, though there's something about the movie as a whole that has always rubbed me the wrong way, at times.
I agree about Oklahoma -- haunting music. Raiders? Maybe.
Never been a fan of gangster movies, though I accept the consensus that these are brilliantly done. (One of my 12th grade American Lit students made up for months in the hospital with TB, by reading Godfather I, 7-800 pages, and he liked it.) Haven't seen the other two.
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