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I was disappointed in the movie 'Titanic', because
of the romantic fictional plot line. I was impressed by the computer
animation. My students asked me what movies I do like, since I
don't like 'Titanic'. Here is a partial list of some movies that
I do like:
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi. (Dir. Charles Barton). When I was a child in the Chicago area in the '70's, there was always an Abbott and Costello movie on Saturday morning. This was one of my favorites, along with Buck Privates.
Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Claude Raines, Basil Rathbone (Dirs. William Keighley, Michael Curtiz) It is difficult to explain why this movie is such a hoot, but maybe it's the tights.
African Queen (1951) Katherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart (Dir. John Huston) The best directed by the best. What more can I say?
After the Thin Man (1936) William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart (Dir. W. S. Van Dyke) In Chicago in the '70's you could find a Thin Man movie on TV on any Saturday. All of the plots were silly and similar, and I can't remember which was which, but the dialogue between Powell and Loy was brilliant.
Amadeus (1984) Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham (Dir. Milos Forman) I was amazed to see the actor from Animal House in a serious role! This gave me a strong sense of personal loss for Mozart's genius in a life cut short--amazing when you realize he died centuries ago.
And Now for Something Completely Different (1972) Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, Connie Booth (Dir. Ian McNaughton) The Monty Python troupe--for a long time, I couldn't hear the BBC news on PBS without laughing, because the accent reminds me of their shows. I like any movie with John Cleese and Michael Palin in it.
Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan (Dir.Michael Curtiz) Cagney is a mobster and O'Brien is a priest (as usual), and Ann Sheridan is the girl with a golden heart. A great Hollywood-'30's-period-piece.
Annie Hall (1977) Woody Allen, Diane Keaton (Dir. Woody Allen) Yeah, so he's a slime mold on wheels, but he makes good movies.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, (Dir Frank Capra) One of those movies that makes you laugh so hard it's hard to breathe.
Atomic Café (1982) Documentaries spliced together (Dirs. Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader, Pierce Rafferty) This will fuel your paranoia.
At The Circus (1939) Marx Bros., Margaret Dumont (Dir. Edward Buzzell) Groucho sings Lydia the Tattooed Lady (I can remember some of the words, and will join in if you hum a few bars).
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Bagdad Cafe (1988) Marianne Sagebrecht, Jack Palance (Dir. Percy Adlon) Offbeat foreign-made comedy that will change your assumptions about life and people.
Bambi (1942) Animated Disney studio classic (Dirs. David Hand, Perce Pierce) One of the Disney Classic series that is really a classic. Based on a book by Felix Salten, they were recently sued by his heirs for copyright infringement (the question being not "did they" but "can they get away with it"). Bambi's father is very distant, perched on a cliff, no Lamaze here...
Bank Dick (1940) W. C. Fields (Dir. Eddie Cline) Fields is incredibly funny always, and here is funnier than usual.
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello (Dir. William Asher) This is a truly stupid movie. The series of Beach movies with Frankie and Annette were afternoon movie fodder in the Chicago area, and we would always watch them, and groan.
Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et le Bête) (1946) Josette Day, Jean Marais (Dir. Jean Cocteau) Watch this BEFORE you watch the Disney animation (1991). Surreal, black and white, dreamlike, haunting treatment of the story. I love the hands holding torches in the hall. The transformation of the heroic Beast's outward appearance into beautiful form of the boorish young suitor, so his inside matches the outside, is a poetic and interesting moral.
Bedazzled (1967) Peter Cook, Dudley Moore (Dir. Stanley Donen) A fine comic duo with a fine director. An updated Faust, with Cook as the Devil and Moore as a man obsessed with Raquel Welch. One memorable vignette: Moore is made a nun so he can be near Raquel, and the holy relic at the nunnery is a pair of work boots dropped by a saint as she was lifted to heaven.
Beginning of the End (1957) Peter Graves (Dir. Bert Gordon) Giant Grasshoppers arise in the wilds of East Central Illinois, and converge on Chicago, where they climb skyscrapers and walk off into the postcard sky. Lots of sci-fi noises. Peter Graves specialized in bad sci-fi at this point in his career.
Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) W. C. Fields, Dorothy Lamour (Dir. Mitchell Leisen) Is this Kansas City, Kansas; or Kansas City, Missouri?
Big Chill (1983) William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum (Dir. Lawrence Kasdan) This is pretty good film, with good performances by all. These people were older than I was, you know.
Bigger than Life (1956) James Mason (Dir. Nicholas Ray) Cortisone: it makes you strong, vibrant, brilliant, egomaniacal, and screws up your mind. It also makes you retain water, but the movie doesn't go there.
Birds, The (1963) Tippi Hedron, Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Tippi Hedron is Melanie Griffith's mother. I will always think of Pleshette first as Dr. Hartley's wife, next as the woman with bandaged eyes in this film. Hitchcock could transform something so average and normal as a seagull or a crow into something terrifying and mysterious.
Bishop's Wife, The (1947) Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven, Monty Wooley (Dir. Henry Koster) The original film, funny and charming, with Cary as an angel (this is not an accurate religious portrayal, but engagingly popular), and David Niven as a Bishop (Anglican, I think--the marriageable sort).
Blade Runner (1982) Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Darryl Hannah (Dir. Ridley Scott) Based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (DADES) by Philip K. Dick, this film creates a nightmarish future reality that you must see. An excellent look at planned obsolescence and the idea of a genetically developed slave race. The soundtrack was by Vangellis. Many web pages are devoted to this movie and book.
Brazil (1985) Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Robert De Niro (Dir. Terry Gilliam) The overblown bureaucracy, the evil government, the ductwork, the lack of privacy, the continual plastic surgery by the mother, the tiny office cubicles where people fight over desk space, and the impersonal nature of the world are satirical statements about life in our near future. Robert De Niro plays a renegade air conditioning repairman.
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Casablanca (1942) Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet (Dir. Michael Curtiz) I don't even have to say why I like this film.
Citizen Kane (1941) Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, George Coulouris (Dir. Orson Welles) Many critics agree that this is the best movie ever made. It is a thinly veiled critique of William Randolph Hearst. Marion Davies, who was actually a talented comedian but rarely appeared in anything but costume romantic dramas, is generally accepted as the pattern for the aspiring opera singer played by Dorothy Comingore. The social commentary, the camera angles, the story telling of this movie are undoubtedly the work of a genius director and a fine ensemble cast, with a great script (by Welles and Herman Mankiewicz).
Christmas Carol (1951) Alistair Sim (Dir. Brian Desmond Hurst) The best screen adaptation of the Dicken's novelette. I especially like the stairway with the haunted horse-drawn hearse; and Marley in his chains, sitting in air, and saying, "But I see you, notwithstanding..." (in reply to Scrooge saying, "You aren't looking at me!").
Christmas in Connecticut (1945) Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet (Dir. Peter Godfrey) A sort of Martha Stewart-type columnist, Stanwyck really lives alone in a New York apartment and can't cook. Her boss invites himself to her hitherto non-existent farm in Connecticut, to spend Christmas with her "family", and also invites a soldier returning from the war. Not a great film, but entertaining.
A Christmas Story (1983) Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Peter Billingsley (Dir. Bob Clark) "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!" Jean Shepard writes about smallish town midwestern childhood in the '40's/'50's. The town is a thinly disguised Gary, Indiana. Childhood bullies and annoying siblings abound.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr (Dir. Steven Spielberg) Very unique when first released, now it seems schlocky because everybody else stole moments from it and exploited the emotional connections. The Mashed Potatoes scene is tragicomic and tense. This is a good opportunity to see Francois Truffaut, the great French director, who plays the UFO investigator.
Cocoanuts (1929) The Marx Bros., Margaret Dumont (Dirs. Joseph Stanley, Robert Florey) The first Marx Bros. movie. Silly plot, but funny dialogue.
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Alan Alda (Dir. Woody Allen) Explores fidelity, morality, ethics, and retribution. Allen plays a documentary filmmaker whose upbeat Pollyanna-esque philosopher subject, a survivor of the German WW II death camps, commits suicide. Meanwhile, Landau quietly offs his mistress and doesn't get caught.
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Das Boot (The Boat) (1982) Jurgen Prochnow, Herbert Gronemeyer (Dir. Wolfgang Petersen) Tense and suspenseful, the German WW II submarine crew is very sympathetic, so much so that the incredible climax is overwhelmingly depressing.
Dances with Wolves (1990) Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell (Dir Kevin Costner) Pretty good film, very long, and I appreciated the character played by McDonnell more than the Costner character.
Dark Victory (1939) Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart (Dir. Edmund Goulding) "Don't mind me, you just go to your conference..." A spoiled rich young woman develops a brain tumor, eventually redeems herself and marries a wonderful brain surgeon, who tells her the end will be quick and her vision will go first. Bogart is featured as a hired stable hand with an Irish accent (begorrah).
Day After, The (1983) Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams (Dir. Nicholas Meyer) American miniseries about a nuclear war and the aftermath, set in the Midwest (Kansas, forsooth). I was most frightened by the wandering bands who shoot first then eat your cows. Also, the young pregnant girl who effectively commits suicide by leaving the bomb shelter and exposing herself to fatal radiation horrified me (especially when they showed her in a makeshift hospital cot, balding and covered with brown spots).
Day at the Races (1937) Marx Bros., Maureen O'Sullivan, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont (Dir. Sam Wood) Very funny. Chico sells Groucho books for handicapping the horses in one memorable scene.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Patricia Neal, Michael Rennie (Dir. Robert Wise) Gort, Beringa! Sci-fi used as social/cultural commentary. I will always remember Patricia Neal as Roald Dahl's ex-wife, then as the single mother in this film.
Destry Rides Again (1939) Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart (Dir. George Marshall) "See what the boys in the back room will have, and tell them I died of the same!" Funny, campy, silly, suspenseful.
Devil and Dan Webster (1941) Walter Huston, Edward Arnold, James Craig, Anne Shirley, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon (Dir. William Dieterle) Walter Huston plays the devil, and is wonderful. An adaptation of the story by Stephen Vincent Benet, so it's sort of Faust with homespun logic.
Dinner at Eight (1933) Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Billie Burke, Jean Hersholt (Dir. George Cukor) A wonderful Hollywood period piece, that fascinates me mostly because I know John Barrymore had to read his lines (you'll see his eyes wander to find the writing off camera) because his alcoholism had destroyed his short term memory--but his acting ability is still astoundingly perfect.
Dracula (1931) Bela Lugosi (Dir. Tod Browning) A staple of the Creature Features late movie on WGN in Chicago. I love it when Lugosi says, "Come here."
Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Peter Sellers, Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull (Dir. Stanley Kubrick) Peter Sellers plays a demented ex-nazi/Kissinger in a wheelchair. There is the war room with the president and all of the important military folks. Slim Pickens rides a bomb ("yeehaa!). This is a montage of satirical cold war icons. Phrases like "precious bodily fluids" stick in your mind. "We'll meet again..."
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Excalibur (1981) Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicol Williamson (Dir. John Boorman) The Arthurian legends. Williamson plays Merlin, and chants the charm of making: "Anhal nathrac, urthus bethud, dockyell diendthvay," which my roommate Carol and I memorized to try to impress our Eng 105 TA. He listened and said, "That's not how Celtic would have sounded, you know..." A very gritty, lifelike, nightmarish view of the Middle Ages and the magical legends...
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Fiddler on the Roof (1971 ) Topol, Molly Picon, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey (Dir. Norman Jewison) Wonderful musical with lots of songs about growing older, watching your children begin adult life, and hopes and dreams.
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A (1966) Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, Michael Crawford, Michael Holdern, Buster Keaton (Dir. Richard Lester) Musical Comedy wonderfully transferred to the screen. Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford are fabulously funny together. Buster Keaton runs seven times around the seven hills of Rome to find his missing children. My favorite part is the recurring theme of the love potion, and the repeated schtick of the thirsty passerby thinking it's water and drinking it--very childish humor, but very effective.
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Gay Divorcée, The (1934) Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers (Dir. Mark Sandrich) Astaire loves Rogers, who is going through divorce proceedings and needs to have a "correspondent". The TV stations in Chicago used to play back to back Astaire-Rogers movies on New Years eve, and my family used to pop the popcorn and drink eggnog while playing Scrabble and watching until the wee hours... Ah, it takes me back...
Green Man, The (1957) Alistair Sim, George Cole, Terry Thomas (Dir. Robert Day) The name of the Inn where the bomb will go off... A very funny comedy. There is a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman who intones, "It beats as it sweeps as it disinfects as it cleans..." This is very funny if you have ever answered a classified ad promising to train you to be a vacuum cleaner salesman (as I did once).
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Haunting, The (The Haunting of Hill House) (1963) Julie Harris, Claire Bloom (Dir. Robert Wise) A very understated ghost story. I find the night scenes disturbing, especially the banging down the hall.
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Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Alec Guinness, Dennis Price (Dir. Robert Hamer) Before he was knighted, before he was a semi-religious figure in a cowl and robes, Alec Guinness was a gifted comedian. In this movie, Dennis Price systematically kills all of his relatives so he can inherit, and Alec Guinness plays all of the unfortunate relatives, including an amateur photographer who is killed by a booby trapped camera.
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Love (1927) Greta Garbo, John Gilbert (Dir Edmund Goulding) I remember this as ending with Garbo casting herself under a moving train, but the movie listing says it has a happy ending. I preferred it to the talkie, in any case, which talked way too much.
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Metropolis ( 1926) (Dir. Fritz Lang) Try to find the original silent without the rock music, or turn the sound down the first time you watch it. Has stylistically very interesting camera angles and lighting, with a story about a society that exploits workers.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones (Dirs. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones) So much a part of my unconscious mind that I sometimes hear the theme music behind my third eye. Memorable moments: "There's some lovely filth over here..." or later, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" "African or European?" "Here, I don't know that... AAAAAAH!"
Music Man (1962) Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Pert Kelton, Ron Howard, Paul Ford, Hermione Gingold (Dir. Morton Du Costa) "He's a Music Man!" "He's a what, he's a what?" "He's a Music Man and he sells clarinets to the kids in the town..." A con man stops at a small town in Iowa and tries to bilk the citizens and skip before he's caught, but he falls in love with Marion the madame Librarian and just can't leave. Great story, great songs, and Ron Howard with a dreadful lisp looking darned cute as a rapscallion kid.
Mouse That Roared, The (1958) Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg (Dir. Jack Arnold) This was based on a book that was very popular with people in junior high (1972-74). One of Peter Sellers' farcical socio-political commentaries. The themes and plot are somewhat similar to Romanoff and Juliet of a few years later.
My Favorite Wife (1940) Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott (Dir. Garson Kanin) Grant finally has his long-lost wife declared dead so he can remarry, when she and an Olympic Swimmer are rescued from a desert island where they have been languishing chastely for years. Joel's favorite part is when Grant is about to ride an elevator to the honeymoon suite, and catches sight of Dunne in the lobby--his tilting stare as the doors close is a classic (often imitated, never duplicated) moment in film.
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Night to Remember, A (1958) Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum (Dir. Roy Baker) Walter S. Lord based his 1955 book on first hand interviews of survivors. The night the Titanic sank is told in a realistic, gritty, understated British way. Very gripping, very sad, this movie shows the last moments of real victims as recounted by eyewitnesses. The strength of the story relies on the matter-of-fact telling of the events, and is not driven by sentiment or special effects. Kenneth More is wonderful as Lightoller, the heroic second mate.
North by Northwest (1959) Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Crop dusters and Mount Rushmore become iconographic moments. Suspense at its finest!
Nosferatu (1922) Max Schreck (Dir. F. W. Murnau) Catch me on a good day and I'll do my vampire impression. A silent classic, with great use of stop action and film magic for special effects (I love the floating coffin).
Notorious (1946) Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopodine Constatine (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Spy thriller, and we don't know whether Bergman or Grant or either or both are the good guys until the very end. Very nice camera work.
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Oklahoma! (1955) Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Rod Steiger, Gloria Grahame (Dir. Fred Zinneman) Great Music! The translation to the movie screen from the stage loses a little of the enthusiasm, and I could do without the "dream ballet sequence", but we always sing the title song when we drive our car through the state.
On the Beach (1959) Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins (Dir. Stanley Kramer) I read the book by Neville Shute several times, and I still have trouble watching the movie all the way through because it is so disturbing. The last few surviving people on the planet after a final nuclear war finally realize that no one in the Northern Hemisphere is alive, that the cloud of radiation is coming, that nothing can stop it, and they only have a few months to live. The survivors are in Australia and include a couple with their first child (they took cyanide and laid down on the beach at the end of the book).
Ordinary People (1980) Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, Timothy Hutton, Judd Hirsch, Elizabeth McGovern (Dir. Robert Redford) Based on a novel by Judith Guest, and filmed in Lake Forest, Illinois (down the road apiece from my home in Libertyville), this is an insightful story about adolescent depression and the reaction of an upper middle class family to the loss of the eldest son.
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Planet of the Apes (1968) Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter (Dir. Franklin J. Shaffner) They gave away samples of Gorilla Milk (sort of like Carnation Instant Breakfast/Ovaltine in a packet) at the premiere in downtown Chicago (I can't remember the name of the theater, but we saw Doctor Doolittle there too). Memorable moment: Heston slamming his fist into the sand in front of the buried Statue of Liberty, yelling, "Bastards!"
Princess Bride, The (1987) Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, Peter Falk, Carol Kane, Billy Crystal, Robin Wright (Dir. Rob Reiner) "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" This was based on a book that I read in college, which was actually funnier than the movie.
Producers, The (1968) Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, Estelle Winwood (Dir. Mel Brooks) A Broadway producer persuades a mousy accountant to swindle little old ladies by convincing them to sign on as backers for a Broadway flop. They find a really bad script, a really crazy playwright, and give lots of old ladies 50%--but the musical is a surprise hit, and they get in big trouble. Includes the musical number Springtime for Hitler ("Springtime for Hitler and Germany, Winter for Poland and France..."), which is a classic must-see moment.
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Rocking Horse Winner, The (1949)Valerie Hobson, John Mills, John Howard Davies (Dir. Anthony Pelissier) "There must be more money..." I seem to remember that as what the house is whispering to the young boy. He rides his rocking horse until he knows the name of the winning horse in a horse race, and there is more money and his parents seem happier, but then the house nags him more and more, until he rides himself to exhaustion. The image of the rocking horse burning on a rubbish pile at the end is very striking, and perfect. Based on a short story by D. H. Lawrence.
Roman Holiday (1953) Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck (Dir. William Wylie) Audrey is a princess trying to escape, and Peck is the newspaper reporter who is supposed to interview her. He meets her while she is pretending to be a commoner. A bittersweet comedy, very well developed.
Romanoff and Juliet (1961) Peter Ustinov, Sandra Dee (Dir. Peter Ustinov) Ustinov wrote and directed and starred in this movie. A cold war fairy tale, with the young adult children of the Russian and US of A ambassadors falling in love in a teensy free (and hitherto unallied) country.
Royal Wedding (1951) Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford (Dir. Stanley Donen) The premise is that Astaire and Powell are a sibling dance act (Astaire used to dance on Broadway with his sister Adele before he made films), and that they are going to England on a cruise ship to attend Queen Elizabeth's wedding. Along the way, both fall in love with new acquaintances, and Fred dances with a hat rack.
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Seventh Seal, The (1957) Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Andersson (Dir. Ingmar Bergman) Death plays chess with a Knight, with his life as the prize. It is the fourteenth century, and the Black Plague is always in the background. A thoughtful treatment of mortality and our place in the universe.
Showboat (1936) Irene Dunne, Alan Jones, Paul Robeson, Hattie McDaniel (Dir James Whale) Wonderful cast, wonderful production, wonderful director. "Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow, tell me I'm crazy, maybe I know, can't help lovin' that man of mine..." Commitment, infidelity, gambling addiction, miscegenation, redemption, all within the confines of one traveling showboat.
Singing in the Rain (1952) Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse (Dir. Stanley Donen) Just watch this! If you like movies and musicals, this will be your favorite movie of all time. Jean Hagen is the quintessential dumb but powerful actress, and Donald O'Connor is the best sidekick anyone could require. The "dream ballet sequence" is actually AS GOOD AS THE REST OF THE MOVIE! Perhaps you can tell that this surprises me. This movie has been referred to by so many other movies, that it is obviously part of the fabric of our culture.
South Pacific (1958) Mitzi Gaynor, Rossano Brazzi (Dir. Joshua Logan) Great music, with a self conscious storyline. Usually entertaining, but it tries too hard to be "politically correct". Songs include Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair and Bali Hi.
Star Wars (1977) Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Alec Guiness, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader) (Dir. George Lucas) "Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope..." There was nothing to match this when it came out, and it set new standards for sci-fi special effects and characterization.
Sunset Boulevard (1950) Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Jack Webb, Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, Buster Keaton, Fred Clark (Dir. Billy Wilder) A young kept man ends up dead floating in the swimming pool. The dead man shows us in flashback how the aging Norma Desmond kept him in thrall. "Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup..."
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To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Robert Duvall (Dir. Robert Mulligan) Based on the book by Harper Lee, a child's memoir of her childhood. Gregory Peck is the humble hero who defends a black man in a racially charged trial. He says that his parents told him that it was ok to shoot crows, but "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird", because they are beautiful birds that sing and don't bother crops. An unspoken analogy is made from this statement to the fate of the black man.
Threads (1985) Reece Dinsdale, Karen Meagher (Dir. Mick Jackson) British TV movie about what will happen to the world after the nuclear holocaust. Includes a mother who gives birth to mentally retarded daughter in the aftermath.
Time Bandits (1981) John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Sir Ralph Richardson, Craig Warnock, David Rappaport (Dir. Terry Gilliam) A Truly weird film.
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West Side Story (1961) Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno (Dirs. Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins) Score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. A modern retelling of the Romeo and Juliet tale, a truly great musical, with great choreography and wonderful songs, and beautifully acted by Natalie Wood as Maria who was made-up to look vaguely Puerto Rican (voiced by Marnie Nixon). Rita Moreno gives a standout performance of America ("Life is alright in America, if you're all white in America...").
Wild Strawberries (1957) Victor Sjostrom, Bibi Andersson (Dir. Ingmar Bergman) A professor journeys to a university to accept an honor, and along the way his memories and dreams reflect his life to that point.
Wizard of Oz (1939) Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, Jack Haley (Dir. Victor Fleming) Based on the book by L. Frank Baum, a fine musical, a wonderful entertainment, and an event for the entire family! They used to play this on TV once a year, at Easter time, and I had nightmares about trying to get home to see it! It was especially exciting after we got a color TV.
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Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) James Cagney, Walter Huston, Joan Leslie, Jeanne Cagney (Dir. Michael Curtiz) I used to celebrate James Cagney's birthday, and so did WGN in Chicago. They ran a whole week of Cagney movies around June 19. They always ran Yankee Doodle Dandy on July 4.
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Some information derived from 'Movies on TV and Videocassette 1993-1994' by Steven H. Scheuer. Bantam Books.
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