About 10 years ago, someone asked me to do a list of my favorite films. Following is that list, with comments added.
Just for the heck of it, my five favorite films in 15 different categories (not in order, although favorite in each category is in boldface). Unless otherwise noted, if it is a movie that has been made more than once, the original version is assumed. One further note: If one of your favorites is not included, it’s possible that I haven’t seen it.
ACTION/ADVENTURE: Die Hard, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Rock, The Abyss, Armageddon.
This was a tough call at the time, and I’m going to bump “Armageddon” and replace it with another cheese fest, “Con Air.” Cusack to Cage: “So what are you going to do now?” Cage: “I’m going to save the f**king day.” One of the earlier movies to prove the point that movies are always better with Steve Buscemi.
COMEDY (FUNNY): Animal House, American Graffiti, Night Shift, My Favorite Year, Used Cars.
All five of these are movies I loved, but I’m going to shock myself and bump “Night Shift” and replace it with “Talladega Nights.” One of the best throwaway lines is grandson Walker telling grandfather Reese Bobby, “Somebody didn’t love you enough when you were little,” and Reese replying with “Good call.”
COMEDY (SATIRE): Bedazzled, Best in Show, Lord Love a Duck, The Loved One, Smile.
In my book, five classics. I do think “Saved” and “American Dreamz” are worth honorable mention.
DRAMA: The Godfather Part II, The Grapes of Wrath, Casablanca, To Kill a Mockingbird, True Confessions.
Really difficult to leave the original “Godfather” off the list, but I love all five of the ones mentioned. Just consider it the first half of “Godfather II,” the only sequel to top the original since the New Testament.
FANTASY: The Wizard of Oz, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, It’s A Wonderful Life, Streets of Fire, Peggy Sue Got Married.
I’m going to bump “Peggy Sue” — albeit reluctantly — for a brilliant movie that could fit into one of three or four different categories — “Cloud Atlas.” It’s a wonderful movie with Hugh Grant — yes, Hugh Grant — as a cannibal chieftain and Tom Hanks as a transplanted aborigine.
FOREIGN: After Life, Shall We Dance, The Wild Child, Il Postino, Changing Times.
No hue changes here, but “Belle de Jour” replaces “Il Postino.”
GUILTY PLEASURES: Joe vs. the Volcano, Real Men, Hanover Street, A Small Circle of Friends, Stealing Home.
As much as I like “Stealing Home,” it is really not a good movie. I’ll swap it out for one of Melanie Griffith’s best movies, “Shining Through.”
HORROR: Dawn of the Dead, Freaks, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein.
Four of my five picks here are pre-World War II. The big change here is a movie I actually forgot 10 years ago. Drop “Dracula,” bump “Dawn of the Dead” to second and add as the best the great British anthology film, “Dead of Night.”
MUSICALS: West Side Story, The Music Man, Bye Bye Birdie, Woodstock, Singin’ in the Rain.
No changes here.
ROMANCE: Love Actually, Notting Hill, Windy City, Blume in Love, The Electric Horseman.
Bump the last one and add a recent rom-com I have come to love, Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo in “Just Like Heaven.”
SCIENCE FICTION: Blade Runner, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET: The Extraterrestrial, When Worlds Collide.
Bump the last one and sub in the 2009 reboot of “Star Trek.”
SPORTS: Bulll Durham, Field of Dreams, Bang the Drum Slowly, A League of Their Own, Rocky.
I think “Hoosiers” needs to be in there. Replace “Bang the Drum Slowly.”
THRILLERS: North by Northwest, The Birds, Vertigo, The Maltese Falcon, Dead Again.
Three by Hitchcock, four that are more than 50 years old. Great, great movies.
WAR: Testament, On the Beach, Gallipoli, The Human Comedy, The Best Years of Our Lives.
Five movies I love.
WESTERNS: Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Magnificent Seven, The Searchers, Little Big Man.
Five more great movies.