Favorite Films

People ask me sometimes what my favorite movie? Sounds like a fair question however it really isn’t. How many movies have I seen? Too many to count so I simply do not give a response, or I change what movie I say to different people. The other thing I do is tell them that I could probably pick a favorite movie from each genre, if there was one in particular they were thinking of. It makes it a much easier question to answer.

So here we go I will try and select from the basic categories (and ones that I add) of my favorite movies:

Action: lot of movies to go with here, and I would consider myself an action movie fan, but nothing is as classic and good as Die Hard (all of them are good). Its timeless has good one-liners (like an action movie should) and the lead actor can actually speak English (not taking away from Arnold or Stallone).

Adventure: Easy choice for me. The Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones is the man and the fact that I could probably watch this film over and over again only adds to its appeal.

Comedy: this is a tough choice because as some of you may know I do not like comedy that much, but when I do like a comedy it sticks with me. I am going to have to go with The Life of Brian. I selected it over Holy Grail, Bill and Ted, Dr Strangelove and Young Frankenstein, which would make up my hierarchy of best comedies.

Crime/Gangster: Another easy choice, Goodfellas. The Godfather, in my opinion, is overrated so I cannot pick it. Goodfellas is a great movie and any of you who haven’t seen it I highly recommend it.

Drama: another tough choice here (looks like they either come easy or hard) but Casablanca is just too good to ignore because Bogart and Bergman (hot) are just too good. Not to mention the scene that takes place in Rick’s Café Americana when the Nazis begin to sing ‘Die Wacht am Rhein’ and then in response the French (I know they are French) sing ‘La Marseillaise.’ The Germans then stop singing and it leaves the French alone singing their national anthem. The scene gives me the chills. Citizen Kane comes in second with story told through flashbacks not to mention the new innovations that Orson Wells used in the film made it cinematographically fantastic.

Epic/Historical: some are probably questioning this as a genre, but it is. Ben-Hur slides into this slot. A young Charlton Heston, Jesus, revenge… what more could you ask for. It is long, but it’s an epic.
Foreign: another that does not seem like a genre, but it fills a void where great movies (not commonly seen by us Americans) need their credit. Grand Illusion is a fantastic film, which could slide into the War genre, about escaping from WWII prisoners of war camps. Amélie is a second place finisher.

Horror: Evil Dead. Not really my genre but it has emerged as one of the biggest genres in America (just look at all the damn Saw movies). Evil Dead is a low budget horror flick that is creepy and gruesome. The plot of the movie is coherent and just does not set the film up for scary scenes but they seem to go hand and hand (directed by Sam Raimi).

Musical: Sound of Music comes right ahead of Signing in the Rain. What tipped the scales you ask? Well it has one of those scenes that gives me the chills. The scene when the Von Trapp Family is singing at the festival. They sing ‘Do-Re-Mi’ and then the Captain sings ‘Edelweiss’ with all of his fellow Austrians joining in at the end. The Nazis (I hate these guys) who are present then get the sense of nationalism in Austria will not be broken as easily as they thought. Just fantastic.

Science Fiction: Star Wars Episode IV. The original, the best… enough said.

Silent: I am a HUGE Chaplin fan (City Lights, The Kid, etc.) but when I saw Sunrise I never looked at silent cinema the same again. The movie is a story of a man having an affair with a woman, who tells him to kill her and run away with her. The man is about to go through with it but she gets away and runs to the city. He finally catches her and he cannot act on his passion because he is in a public place. They then run into the café that they met in and they begin to remember the great times that they had and they spend the day together falling in love all over again. I’ll leave it here, you want to see what happens (great ending) watch it.

War: A Bridge Too Far. It has lots of stars (Caine, Caan, Connery, Hackman, Hopkins, Redford, to name a few), a good plot line (story of Operation Market-Garden) and war.

Western: El Dorado. My dad and I use to watch this movie all the time. Wayne, Caan, and Mitchum star in the film. It’s basically a classic western, but the childhood memories add to its status on my list. The Searchers, Stagecoach (both Wayne) are also great movies.

Well there you have it, my favorite movie in each genre.