Everyone has their own favorite movies, and quite often they tend to consider those movies the best ones ever made.
I’ve done my own lists before, but I had a different idea for this post. I looked through my DVDs and tried to find films that I love that not all that many people knew or remembered. In recognition of the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, I made a Sweet Sixteen of movies I love that you may or maybe not know.
Three are foreign films, two of them in languages other than English.
In alphabetical order, here they are:
“After Life” (1998) — My favorite Asian film ever, although it just edges out the original “Shall We Dance.” This Japanese film posits the idea that when we die, if we are going to what we might call the good place, we go to a sort of way station. We then have a week to consider the life just ended. We look back on our experiences and choose the very happiest day we ever had. Then we relieve that particular day again and again for all eternity.
“Blume in Love” (1973) — Considered one of director Paul Mazursky’s lesser films, it was billed as a love story for guys who cheat on their lives. George Segal plays a divorce leader who is caught cheating on his own wife. He loses her and then spends the rest of the movie trying to win her back. A wonderful supporting turn by Kris Kristofferson.
“Four Friends” (1981) — One of the few good movies made about the ’60s, Craig Wasson plays Danilo, a Yugoslavian boy who emigrated to America at a very young age. He comes of age in the ’60s and he and his friends experience much of the historical events we think of when we remember that decade. Jodi Thelen, the female lead, never had the career I expected she would.
“Gallipoli” (1981) — This is the second of the three foreign films on my list. It’s a war film about the World War I battle that in many ways gave Australia its separate identity from Great Britain. Along with “Mad Max,” this was the film that introduced Mel Gibson to American audiences.
“The Hot Spot” (1990) — Dennis Hopper’s film is a great example of film noir, and it has two wonderful actresses early in their careers. Both Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly exude sex appeal and Madsen in particular overwhelms Don Johnson. It’s a movie that isn’t easy to locate, and in fact the DVD I have is a European edition.
“The Human Comedy” (1943) — One of two films on my list made during World War II about the American home front during that war. Mickey Rooney was the biggest star in Hollywood at the time, and there were several other big stars — Van Johnson and Donna Reed — in smaller roles. This was one of the films that showed what our armed forces were fighting for.
“Miracle Mile” (1988) — Other films in the ’80s on this subject got more attention, and “Testament” was a truly wonderful one on PBS, but “Miracle Mile” was pretty good itself. Anthony Edwards plays a musician who answers a wrong number in the middle of the night to learn that ICBMs are on the way and will destroy Los Angeles in 90 minutes.
“My Favorite Year” (1982) — A minor hit in 1982 that was one of the very funniest movies of its time, starring Peter O’Toole and Joseph Bologna in a story of the early days of television. Mel Brooks was only the producer although Mark-Linn Baker was essentially a Mel Brooks character in his first writing job in television. Hilarious from beginning to end.
“Pastime” (1990) — Maybe the best of all the baseball movies that never found an audience, this is the story of an aging pitcher in the low minor leagues who takes a talented young black pitcher under his wings. A wonderful little film with six Hall of Famers in small roles — Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew, Bob Feller, Duke Snider, Don Newcombe and Bill Mazeroski.
“Putney Swope” (1969) — A very special late ’60s guerrilla film of sorts, director Robert Downey Sr. satirizes advertising and race relations when he has an ad man who is the token black man in an advertising agency take over the business. It was wonderfully raunchy for its time, especially in the ad sports Truth and Soul Inc. creates.
“Runaway Train” (1985) — Jon Voight and Eric Roberts as convicts who escape from a maximum-security prison in Alaska and find themselves on a train heading off into the wilderness without an engineer in the locomotive. A surprising supporting role by Rebecca DeMornay, who had been a real sex symbol in “Risky Business” but here was a railroad worker with no sex appeal at all.
“Since You Went Away” (1944) — There aren’t very many three-hour films that I have watched a dozen times or more, but I have always been fascinated by the World War II home front. This story of a mother and her two daughters living in a Midwestern city in 1943 with the man of the house off to war. So much of this story rings true, from shortages and rationing to men missing or killed in action. World War II may have been the last time og true American unity.
“Starting Over” (1979) — Maybe Burt Reynolds’ most overlooked leading role, a man whose marriage fell apart because his wife wanted to be a professional singer. He tries to start a new relationship with divorcee Jill Clayburgh, and of course there are ups and downs before the inevitable happy ending.
“Tous les Matins du Monde” (1991) — A brilliant French film about the story of Monsieur de Sainte Colombe, grand master of the viola da gamba and professor of Marin Marais, prestigious musician in the court of the Sun King. A truly lovely film. The title translates as all the mornings of the world (occur just once).
“Waking the Dead” (2000) — The dramatization of Scott Spencer’s novel about a young man running for Congress after losing the woman he loves in a terrorist bombing. The story is of him trying to recover and at the same time believing she is still alive, Another wonderful performance by Jennifer Connelly as the doomed girl.
“Windy City” (1985) — This might be one of the most obscure films on the list, but it’s also one of my favorites. I’m not sure there are any better movies about youthful friendships that continue into adulthood. John Shea and Kate Capshaw are wonderful in the leads. “It’s about a guy who believes in happy endings.”