Top Ten Films of all Time!!

[Susiebell]

What are your top ten films?

[saucycobblers]

Films?? Now you're talking my language 

The 10 films I'd take to a desert Island, that i know I could watch over and over, that would get me through any mood imaginable are...

In no particular order...

Brokeback Mountain (well, duh...)
The Shawshank Redemption
The Bridges of Madison County
Saturday Night Fever
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Billy Liar
Mildred Pierce
Gallipoli
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

(But then again, how could i do without...
Wings of the Dove
Muriel's Wedding
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Alien
Rear Window
and so many more!

Only 10 - that is WAY harsh!! )

[Kd5000]

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN on so many levels

SOLARIS (!972) great philosophical science fiction

MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (original) shocking revelation, excellent suspense

CRASH, HAH! GOT YOU

VERTIGO, best Hitchcock film, it's been said that SOLARIS borrowed a bit from this film in so much as how real is a replica if she looks, talks, dresses likes the original.

HOWARDS END yep it humorless, but the characters are great.  Like BBM, much use of symbolism.  The old house represents England.  The characters represent their respective class.

ROMEO AND JULIET (1968)  the most popular Shakespeare film ever on cinema. It was a blockbuster and with good reason.

CHINATOWN great film noir.  Complicated plot with a dark secret at the center.  Acting doesn't get much better. Nicholson and Dunaway are great

BONNIE AND CLYDE.  GReat gangster film.  So much style for this sort of film. French new wave I think they called it.

2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY.  The grandfather of science fiction film. 

THE LITTLE FOXES.  Older movie, based on the Lillian Hellman play.  Greed in the Deep South. Betty Davis is at her best.

[David In Indy]

TITANIC - I'm sorry. I absolutely LOVE this movie and I could watch it over and over again.

BENNY AND JOON - I totally agree with you Susie. I love this movie and I have the DVD. Johnny Depp was absolutely loveable in it. His character was so sweet, shy and gentle. Mary Stuart Masterson and Aidan Quinn were very good in the movie too. I felt so sorry for Benny (Aiden Quinn) when his goldfish died!  I can't help it. I feel so bad for him.

THE CORN IS GREEN I love both the 1946 version with Bette Davis and the 1979 version with Katharine Hepburn. I think I like the 1979 version a little more, because I am a HUGE Katharine Hepburn fan!

ON GOLDEN POND Brilliant movie!

HARRY POTTER ALL of them!

THE COLOR PURPLE This is another film I can watch over and over. Tragic, sad and beautiful. I have the DVD too!

FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL I love ANYTHING Hugh Grant is in! But this would be a very good movie even without him!

NOTTING HILL Surprise! Hugh Grant again! 

BELOVED Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. SCARY!!!! It's a shame it did so poorly at the theater. The acting is brilliant. I have the DVD and I catch something new and different everytime I watch it.

FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH Sean Penn was hysterical in this movie! I love it!

**********************************************************

Honorable Mentions.....

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN 

THE SHINING

HOME ALONE

THE AFRICAN QUEEN

DESK SET (Katharine Hepburn movie)

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER

BRINGING UP BABY

BOYS ON THE SIDE I love Drew Barrymore.

MUSIC AND LYRICS I have the DVD! 

MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS Wonderful movie!

MUSIC OF THE HEART Meryl Streep

HOOSIERS Of Course!

BREAKING AWAY

REVENGE OF THE NERDS You gotta love those nerds! That was actually a very sweet movie.

GHOST

GALLIPOLI Brilliant Australian movie.

WITNESS

DANCES WITH WOLVES I love Kevin Costner and I appreciated the honest attemt at portraying Native Americans in a positive way.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE I love Anne Rice. I have many family members in the New Orleans area and I have traveled there numerous times. It's fun to watch the movie and pick out all the various places I recognize. And Brad Pitt was just soooo damn sexy in that movie! 

MASTER AND COMMANDER I love ANY movie with big ships in it; especially those old sailing ships!

THE WIZARD OF OZ Hey, I'm gay!! 

NORTH AND SOUTH This is actually a mini series that aired on television, so I'm not sure if it's fair to list it here. But I will anyway! 

SIMON BIRCH Sweet and cute.

THE GREEN MILE Very disturbing, but the acting was brilliant.

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

HOPE FLOATS Sandra Bullock, Gena Rowlands and Harry Connick Jr were all very good in this movie.

FOR KEEPS This is the ONLY movie I've seen with Randall Batinkoff in a starring role. Cute movie.

PRETTY IN PINK

DRIVING MISS DAISY I am a big Jessica Tandy fan. She and Morgan Freeman were brilliant in this movie.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

ST. ELMO'S FIRE

The list just goes on and on and on and on and on doesn't it? 

[dot-matrix]

 
Sorry Susie, I adore movies....to me they are like peanuts, can't eat just one!  So here is a list of my current favorites ...the top ten are in order...after that nope 


My personal fav's

1. To Kill a Mockingbird 2. Brokeback Mountain 3. Billy Elliott 4. Dead Poet's Society 5. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the orginal w/Gene Wilder) 6. Silence of the Lambs 7. The Birds 8. Priest 9. Shawshank Redemption 10. Frist Star Wars Trilogy 11. Lord of the Rings Trilogy 12. Truly, Madly, Deeply 13. Mulan 14. Latter Days 15. Driving Miss Daisy 16. Phantom of the Opera 17. Donnie Darko 18. A Home at the End of the World 19. The Green Mile 20. The Childrens Hour 21. The Mission 22. Street Car Named Desire 23. The Uninvited (1944) 24. The Haunting (1963) 25. The Innocents (1966) 26. All This and Heaven Too 27. The Joy Luck Club 28. Road to Perdition 29. Master and Commander 30. Rosemary's Baby 31. Mrs Miniver 32. Little Women (1994) 33. Pride & Prejudice (1995)

34. Searching for Bobby Fisher 35. Auntie Mame (1958) 36. Strictly Ballroom 37. FRIED GREEN TOMATOES 38. The Unforgiven (1960) 39. Long Days Journey into Night(1962) 40. The Lion in Winter 41. The Glass Menagerie (1973) 42. A Moon for the Misbegotten (1975) 43. Belle et la bête, La (1946) 44. The Color Purple 45. Million Dollar Baby 46. Sense and Sensibility 47. Gods and Monsters 48. Good Will Hunting 49. Erin Brockavich 50. Little Man Tate 51. The Illusionist 52. The Queen 53. The Others 54. 3:10 to Yuma (2007) 55. Secretary 56. Pan's Labrynth 57. Beautiful Thing 58. The Horatio Hornblower Series (1998-2003) 59. North by Northwest 60. IL postino 61. Tea with Mussolini 62. Steel Magnolias 63. Rabbit Proof Fence 64. Two Hands 65. Silence of the Lambs 66. Benny and Joon 67. Brideshead Revisited 68. The Corn is Green (thanks David! ) 69. The Education of Little Tree (thanks again David) 70. The Ice Storm 71. Maurice 72. Wilde 73. Tom Brown's School Days 74. Chairots of Fire 75. Big Eden

[David In Indy]

Great selections Dottie! 

Here's a few more to add to my honorable mentions list....

WHITE SQUALL Another ship movie!

DAZED AND CONFUSED For ANYONE who grew up in the seventies, this one is for YOU! Hysterical!

ARTHUR Totally funny movie. Dudley Moore was a legendary actor. I miss him.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER Can you believe I actually used to disco dance? White suit and everything! 

STEEL MAGNOLIAS Love it. Love it. Love it.

THE BOUNTY Another ship movie! Mel Gibson was sexy in this movie!

GODS AND MONSTERS Thanks for reminding me about this one Dottie! I haven't seen it in years, and nearly forgot about it! Wonderful movie.

E.T. Cute and lovable movie. Who couldn't love little ET?

THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE This one should have probably been in my top 10... or top 11! Excellent movie about a White/Cherokee youngster growing up in 1930's Tennessee. Beautiful, cute and emotional movie.

THE BASKETBALL DIARIES Dark, disturbing and haunting true story about the dangers of drug abuse. Leonardo DiCaprio did a wonderful job as the lead actor in this film.

CANDY Another disturbing story of drug abuse, this one from Australia featuring our very own Heath Ledger!

That's all for now, I guess..... until I think of some more! 

[souxi]

My fave films of all time(and there might be more than 10 are:)

The Accused
The Blue Lamp  (great British classic)
The Glenn Miller Story
Van Helsing
Salems Lot
National Lampoons Animal House. (funniest film I ever saw)
Two Brothers (about the tigers)
Happy Feet
Bugs Life
Monsters Inc
The Incredible Journey(the orginal version of Homeward Bound and the best)
The Magnificent Seven
The Great Escape
1000 Heros

[Kerry]

There are more, but these are my top 10:

1. Brokeback Mountain

2. Beautiful Thing

3. Maurice

4. The Ghost & Mrs Muir (1947)

5. Alexander (2004)

6. Cabaret

7. The Sum of Us

8. My Fair Lady

9. Death in Venice

10. Priest

Crikey, I didn't realise until I listed them, that 8 have a gay theme! 

Guess my secret's out!        

[Kd5000]

So I guess this group doesn't like foreign language films?  It becomes easier to watch when you have already seen it once and don't have to miss the scense because you are reading  the subtitles.  I rent these highbrow films (CRITERION COLLECTION) from the Public Library and I have a hard time not being distracted.  I rarely finish watching one. Bergman films are always checked out.    Anybody a fan of Bergman or any of the many famous Italian directors.  I was going to start a thread of favorite foreign language films. But I don't think I have a top ten.   

Silent films are even harder.  I really did love Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, La   by  Carl Theodor Dreyer.  I'm not religious, but the film did move me.  I strongly recommend it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019254/

[Brown Eyes]

Here are 12 of my favorites in no particular order (except BBM is definitely no. 1).


Brokeback Mountain

City Lights (1931, Charlie Chaplin)- it's phenomenal and very surprising.  I highly recommend it if you've never seen it.  It's also a great Chaplin film to start with if you've never seen a full Chaplin film before.

The Haunting (1963 with Julie Harris)- one of the best scary movies of all time

Bound

Maurice

Mrs. Dalloway

Lost in Translation

The Hours

The Royal Tenebaums

Far from Heaven

Bringing Up Baby

Rear Window

[ifyoucantfixit]

       My top ten favorite movies................
    Starting with My favorite, and the rest in no particular order....

    Brokeback Mountain.

    Shawshank Redemption

    The Oxbow Incedent

    The African Queen

    Casablanca

    The Usual Suspects

     Last Tango in Paris

     Schindlers List

     My fair Lady

     Grapes of Wrath

[Brokeback_Dev]

my top ten in no order except the first one

Brokeback Mountain

Pulp Fiction

9 1/2 weeks

Romeo and Juliette

Gone With the Wind

The Good Girl

Thelma and Louise (mostly because it was my first exposure to Brad Pitt)

Schindlers List

Titanic

And really any action movie

[David In Indy]

Thanks for reminding me about Gone With The Wind Dev! I can't believe I forgot about that one! Definately one of my very favorites. And thanks to Susie and David for reminding me about Amadeus, another one of my favorite movies I forgot about. There are so many of them, and I can't seem to remember them all.

I also like

AS GOOD AS IT GETS Greg Kinnear did an excellent job playing a gay man in that movie. So did Cuba Gooding Jr. And I am not a big Jack Nicholson fan, but I really did like him in this movie. I have the DVD and I pull it out and watch it sometimes. I can't seem to grow tired of this film. I love it! 

[ifyoucantfixit]

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN on so many levels

SOLARIS (!972) great philosophical science fiction

MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (original) shocking revelation, excellent suspense

CRASH, HAH! GOT YOU

VERTIGO, best Hitchcock film, it's been said that SOLARIS borrowed a bit from this film in so much as how real is a replica if she looks, talks, dresses likes the original.

HOWARDS END yep it humorless, but the characters are great.  Like BBM, much use of symbolism.  The old house represents England.  The characters represent their respective class.

ROMEO AND JULIET (1968)  the most popular Shakespeare film ever on cinema. It was a blockbuster and with good reason.

CHINATOWN great film noir.  Complicated plot with a dark secret at the center.  Acting doesn't get much better. Nicholson and Dunaway are great

BONNIE AND CLYDE.  GReat gangster film.  So much style for this sort of film. French new wave I think they called it.

2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY.  The grandfather of science fiction film. 

THE LITTLE FOXES.  Older movie, based on the Lillian Hellman play.  Greed in the Deep South. Betty Davis is at her best.

great list...lots of my favs too

[ifyoucantfixit]

saw the trailer for Chinatown on the giant screen in the Castro...boy would i love to see it there...what a magnificent movie...definately on my top twenty

[moremojo]

Silent films are even harder.  I really did love Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, La   by  Carl Theodor Dreyer.  I'm not religious, but the film did move me.  I strongly recommend it.

Falconetti's performance as Joan is magnificent...surely one of the great performances of film history. This isn't my favorite Dreyer work, but it's certainly a masterpiece.

[moremojo]

There are so many movies that I love intensely, but my ten choices here reflect those specimens that combine an uncommonly fine mastery of form with rich and enduring emotional content. Listed in chronological order:

Otona no miru ehon - Umarete wa mita keredo (1932), directed by Yasujiro Ozu. Ozu's masterpiece, an alternately funny and sad story of the disillusionment of youth and the reconciliation to a compromised but still vital existence. A summit of film art.

Dekigokoro (1933), directed by Yasujiro Ozu. The most beautiful depiction of a father-son relationship I know of in cinema.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), directed by Vincente Minnelli. A perennially charming fantasy of an America that never existed. Endlessly watchable.

Ordet (1955), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Carnal love marries spiritual love, culminating in one of the most magnificent endings in film history.

Gertrud (1964), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Dreyer's testament, a story of the overriding importance of love in life.

Au hasard Balthazar (1966), directed by Robert Bresson. A strange parable of man's cruelty to animals and his fellow man. A work of rich, understated beauty, and one of the most important films ever made.

Der Tod der Maria Malibran (1972), directed by Werner Schroeter. Ecstasy on film. Dreams haunted by the sights and sounds of love and loss.

The Scenic Route (1978), directed by Mark Rappaport. One of the finest depictions of complex adult relationships I have encountered in cinema, wedded to a fine and playful visual sensibility.

Tong nien wang shi (1985), directed by Hsiao-hsien Hou. Perhaps the single greatest film made anywhere in the 1980's. Impeccably nuanced and quietly beautiful portrait of a family's disentegration in an intractably troubled and contested corner of the world.

Brokeback Mountain (2005), directed by Ang Lee. The transfiguring power of love found, lost, and remembered. The single most important film yet made.

[brokeplex]

1) Double Indemnity
2) Maltese Falcon
3) The Black Rose
4) The Fountainhead
5) The Day the Earth Stood Still
6) High Noon
7) Chinatown
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
9) The Mark of Zorro (1941 version)
10) Brokeback Mountain

[moremojo]

WOW! Impressive list Moremojo ... I couldn't even pronounce most of those!  I'd like to see some of them, but they don't look like the sort of films that get shown too often on Satellite TV!

Thanks, Susie. I know that Otona no miru ehon - Umarete wa mita keredo (which is known in English-language discourse as I Was Born, But...) is available on DVD, and, here in the States, Meet Me in St. Louis, Ordet, and Gertrud are shown from time to time on Turner Classic Movies. The Scenic Route was released in videocassette format some years ago, but I don't know how easy it would be to find that.

But amazingly, probably the most obscure of my choices, Der Tod der Maria Malibran (The Death of Maria Malibran, in English translation), is available for complete and free downloading from the following website:

http://www.ubu.com/film/schroeter.html

The streaming quality here is not the greatest, and the film is presented without any English subtitles, but the full film is there--remarkable for a difficult, avant-garde (but potentially very rewarding) work such as this.

[moremojo]

Thanks for the info moremojo .... is that downloadable one a German film?

Jawohl! Actually, though, a few lines are in English, and if you and your dad watch it, be prepared for a film that is primarily non-narrative for its first half--understanding here can be challenge quite apart from the issue of language! Nonetheless, a masterpiece, in my opinion.

[David In Indy]

But amazingly, probably the most obscure of my choices, Der Tod der Maria Malibran (The Death of Maria Malibran, in English translation), is available for complete and free downloading from the following website:

For some reason that makes me think of that sentence from the Bram Stoker's "Dracula" novel.

"Denn die Todten reiten schnell".

 

[David In Indy]

I've thought of another 10 films that I love!  That brings my total to 40 ... who's dum idea was it to limit it to ten anyway?? 


Hmmmmmmm ... I'm sure there's more!

Susie     

MORE MOVIES SUSIE!!! 

You're starting to remind me of the Energizer Bunny.... you just keep going and going and going.... 

[David In Indy]

OY Mister! Have you ever heard the expression "...could talk for England"? ... Well I was their inspiration!!

Susie  

 

[David In Indy]

And yet all I hear is ble ble ble blaaaaaaah .... ble ble ble blaaaaaah ....

Susie

Maybe Chrissi, Anke or Dagi could help me out here, but I think Denn die Todten reiten schnell means "For the Dead travel fast". Spooky!

*cold chill*

Spooky spooky SPOOKY!! 

[David In Indy]

I'll ask Dagi some time ... brilliant film by the way .... very scary and unsettling .... and I hated that pointy little thing on his thumb for piercing through their veins *shudder* but excellent all the same ... and Brad Pitt was a bit-of-alright in it too!

Susie  

Have you read the book The Historian ... I recommend it if you want to poo your pants!!!

I'm not sure if that phrase was mentioned in the movie or not. It might have been. I remember reading it in the original novel, and it gave me cold chills. There's something very spooky about it.

I haven't read The Historian Susie. I'll check it out sometime. 

[moremojo]

I'm not sure if that phrase was mentioned in the movie or not. It might have been. I remember reading it in the original novel, and it gave me cold chills. There's something very spooky about it.

That line makes me think of an intertitle from the 1922 silent classic Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (directed by the great F.W. Murnau, and essentially a film adaptation of Stoker's novel), where, at the moment Hutter arrives at the count's castle, "The phantoms came to meet him." I'm not sure if this line was found in Stoker's original novel.

[David In Indy]

Yeah, I love those old Dracula movies! I'm a big fan of the 1931 version too. But the novel is my very favorite. I haven't read it in years. Maybe I'll get it out and read it for Halloween! 

I just thought of two more movies to add to my list!

FIELD OF DREAMS Kevin Costner (Melissa would KILL ME if she read my list and didn't see this movie on there! It's one of her favorites too, she told me.)

SUMMERTIME 1950's Katharine Hepburn movie filmed in Venice, Italy. Hysterical! Katharine Hepburn at her comedic best!  I love the scene where she falls into the canal!   

[Penthesilea]

Maybe Chrissi, Anke or Dagi could help me out here, but I think Denn die Todten reiten schnell means "For the Dead travel fast". Spooky!

*cold chill*

Spooky spooky SPOOKY!! 

Actually you translated it very good. Literally it's "For the Dead ride fast".
To be a bit smart-alecky here: "die Toten" is written with only a t in the middle 

 

[David In Indy]

Actually you translated it very good. Literally it's "For the Dead ride fast".
To be a bit smart-alecky here: "die Toten" is written with only a t in the middle 

 

I knew you would help me Chrissi!   

Thanks baby!

[mvansand76]

1.      Brokeback Mountain
2.      Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away)
3.      Brief Encounter
4.      Cinema Paradiso
5.      Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6.      The Untouchables
7.      Maurice
8.      Monster's Ball
9.      Una Giornata Particulare
10.    Christmas Vacation

[southendmd]

SUMMERTIME 1950's Katharine Hepburn movie filmed in Venice, Italy. Hysterical! Katharine Hepburn at her comedic best!  I love the scene where she falls into the canal!   

David, I loved SUMMERTIME also.  I found it more sad than funny, though. 

Here's my list.  I'm using "watchability" as my criterion.  These I could--and have--seen over and over again.

Brokeback Mountain duh.

Casablanca never disappoints. So stirring.

The Wizard of Oz brings out the little kid in me.

Diva  by Jean-Jacques Beneix was the first film I was obsessed over.  And it's a story of obsession.

Some Like it Hot by Billy Wilder is the funniest film ever made.  Tony Curtis: "Who's the lucky girl?"  Jack Lemmon (wistfully):  "I am."

Field of Dreams is such a tear-jerker for me.

Mon Oncle d'Amerique by Alan Resnais got me interested in psychiatry.

What's Up, Doc? by Peter Bogdonavich with Barbra and a delicious Ryan O'Neal manages to distill every slapstick film ever made.

The Hours is a masterpiece.

A Christmas Memory based on Truman Capote's short story with the brilliant Geraldine Page.

[ifyoucantfixit]

       If we are getting to have more choices.  here is my 11-20

       Arthur,,,,wondererful and lasting movie...I still watch it again and again...
      
       Gone With the Wind

       Chinatown

       Psycho

       2001 A Space Odyssey

       The Godfather two....and one

        Titanic

        The Unforgiven

        Full Metal Jacket,,,,Platoon     because they told the story !!!            

        Jarhead....same reason.

        The sands of Iwo Jima.  same reason...we need to remember the sacrifices.

[David In Indy]

Here's another one....

THE LONG LONG TRAILER Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

Anyone who has ever tried to tow an RV behind their car or truck will LOVE this movie! 

I loved Madge Blake's cameo as Aunt Anastasia. "OH MY ROSES!! MY BEAUTIFUL ROSES!!!!"   

[moremojo]

Here's another one....

THE LONG LONG TRAILER Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

Anyone who has ever tried to tow an RV behind their car or truck will LOVE this movie! 

I loved Madge Blake's cameo as Aunt Anastasia. "OH MY ROSES!! MY BEAUTIFUL ROSES!!!!"   

Yes, wonderful movie! Thanks for reminding me of this one, David. I loved the sequence where Desi and Lucille make the perilous, nerve-shattering trek over the mountain, with the trailer overloaded, unbeknownst to Desi's character. As someone who is phobic about heights, I can relate to that, but I love how the sequence can make you laugh at the characters' fear, and thus helps you laugh at yourself.

[David In Indy]

Yes, wonderful movie! Thanks for reminding me of this one, David. I loved the sequence where Desi and Lucille make the perilous, nerve-shattering trek over the mountain, with the trailer overloaded, unbeknownst to Desi's character. As someone who is phobic about heights, I can relate to that, but I love how the sequence can make you laugh at the characters' fear, and thus helps you laugh at yourself.

What made it even funnier was she had the entire trailer full of rocks!! 

Remember that? Crazy movie!! 

[David In Indy]

Yes, wonderful movie! Thanks for reminding me of this one, David. I loved the sequence where Desi and Lucille make the perilous, nerve-shattering trek over the mountain, with the trailer overloaded, unbeknownst to Desi's character. As someone who is phobic about heights, I can relate to that, but I love how the sequence can make you laugh at the characters' fear, and thus helps you laugh at yourself.

I also loved the scene where she's trying to fix dinner while the trailer is moving! She ended up wearing most of it.  

[moremojo]

I also loved the scene where she's trying to fix dinner while the trailer is moving! She ended up wearing most of it.  

Oh wow, David, you are bringing all those details back to life for me! I'm gonna have to see if I can rent this one sometime.

Did you know the director was Vincente Minnelli, the same man who helmed Meet Me in St. Louis? No wonder I love these two films so much.

[David In Indy]

Oh wow, David, you are bringing all those details back to life for me! I'm gonna have to see if I can rent this one sometime.

Did you know the director was Vincente Minnelli, the same man who helmed Meet Me in St. Louis? No wonder I love these two films so much.

I didn't know that Scott! But it helps to explain why both of these films are so good! 

I should have added LOVE STORY (1970 I think) to my list.

Tear jerker. Whew!! 

[southendmd]

Field of Dreams

I never got this one. 

Try watching it with your father...I did once.



A Christmas Memory

But I got this one.  I thought of mentioning it on my list.  Technically, it's a made-for-TV special.  I figured I'd save it for a "Favorite Holiday Specials" thread (which has probably already been done).  Whatever.  It's wonderful. 

It kinda reminds me of "Brokeback Mountain." Both started as short stories; both were then filmed and rather faithfully followed the original stories; both were about outsiders who developed a deep, loving relationship in the rather short time they were together, a relationship that made their hard lives happier. 

I saw on IMDb that a sequel of sorts was made in 1967 called "The Thanksgiving Visitor" http://imdb.com/title/tt0324218/.  I've never heard of nor seen it before.  Also according to IMDb, there was a remake of this one starring Patty Duke, http://imdb.com/title/tt0135187/.  I don't know how I missed it, but I don't know that I would have liked it much. 

Since I live in New York City, it's always been on my list of things to do to visit the Museum of TV and Radio often, but I never seem to get around to it.  I should take a day off and go in the coming months to see this one and its sequel.  Part of me fears that I will be overwhelmed by all that's available to me there and just short circuit.  I get that way in Blockbuster or the public library. 

How it's not a perennial classic like "It's a Wonderful Life" is beyond me.  I'd love to see it and "The Thanksgiving Visitor" released on DVD.  I can't imagine what kind of legal crap would prevent its release. 

I highly reccommend everybody see "A Christmas Memory."  At least read the short story.  You can find it on the internet in its entirety by doing a simple search on the title and Capote.  You won't be sorry. 

Kelly, I know I was technically cheating with this one, but I love it nonetheless.  I found it on VHS for 99cents at my local video store.  It's not Christmas without watching this film.

"The Thanksgiving Visitor" was a later short story, good but not as powerful as "A Christmas Memory".  I didn't know it had been filmed.  Thanks for that.  I'll look for it. 

[Rayn]

Some will agree some will not and I'm sure each of us has their own list they can make... Here's mine just for fun:  They are the top ten best so all are equal to each other within the top ten.. i.e. # 1 is no better than # 7.

1. A Room with A View. Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter ...Director: James Ivory, Awards: 3 Academy Awards, nominated for 8 total, it was Merchant-Ivory's first big hit /  E.M. Forster's turn-of-the-century novel about Edwardian manners and in my humble opinion, a "flawless film"... if anything human can be flawless!

2. Gone with The Wind. Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Director: Victor Fleming, Awards: 10 Academy Awards.

3. A Thin Red Line. ( A personal favorite, the "anti-war-war movie",  Starring: Nick Nolte, Sean Penn and many other great actors. Director: Terrence Malick, Awards: Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, it won none, but personally I thought it better than Saving Private Ryan which got 5 Oscars.

4. Gandhi Starring: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen ...Director: Richard Attenborough, Awards: 8 Academy Awards.

5. Brokeback Mountain  Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger ...Director: Ang Lee. Awards:  3 Academy Awards Winner

6. Ben Hur  Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins ...Director: William Wyler, Awards: 11 Academy Awards.

7. Lawrence of Arabia  Starring: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness ...Director: David Lean, Awards: 7 Academy Awards.

8. A Street Car Named Desire  Starring: Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Director: Elia Kazan, Awards: 4 Academy Awards.

9.  The Lion in Winter. Starring: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, and in his film debut Anthony Hopkins, Director: Anthony Harvey, Awards: 7 Academy Awards.  I love this film because the family was soooooo dysfunctional... like mine!  LOL

10. The Wizard of Oz  Starring: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan et al , Director: Victor Fleming, Awards: 2 Academy Awards: it was nominated for best picture that year but lost to Gone with the Wind, of course, but still a history making and wonderful film.


There you have it, yes, I go for serious drama and classics in film, but have room for fantasy and music too... who can forget Dorothy and her pals.  I haven't looked at all at what other people said, so you got an honest list from me without influence from others, but I will look at others just for the sheer interest and joy of it.  I do love movies!

[southendmd]

I checked the links:  there was a 1967 version of "The Thanksgiving Visitor" also with Geraldine Page, by the same filmmakers as "A Christmas Memory" which was done in 1966.  Truman Capote narrates both of them.  

Patty Duke's version is a 1997 remake of "A Christmas Memory" that was probably a really bad idea.

I wouldn't call "The Thanksgiving Visitor" a sequel; it's simply another short story with some of the same characters, but written about ten years later.  I was once given a nice little boxed book with both stories for Christmas.  It even includes a copy of the photograph of little Truman and Aunt Sook that is mentioned in the story.

[loneleeb3]

Well, here are some of my fav's in no particular order except for #1 and well, we all know that one! LOL

Brokeback Mountain
The Punisher
To kill a Mockingbird
A Member of the Wedding
Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte
Auntie Mame (with Rosiland Russell)
Imitation of life
Wuthering Heights
The Secret Garden
To Live and Die in LA
Beverly Hills Cop
Casablanca
Arsenic and Old lace (Carey Grant)
Wizard of OZ
Shennandoah
It's a wonderful life
Harvey
Donnie Darko
Mr Destiny
The Color Purple
Gome with the Wind
The Time Machine (The old one not the latest one)
The Stand (Miniseries but I love it)
The Song Catcher
Dances with Wolves
Thunderheart
The treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Education of Little tree
Tombstone
Young Guns
Ground Hog Day
Indiana Jones (the first 2)
Star Wars (all of them.)
Coevette Summer ( I love Annie Potts)
Steel Magnolias
Because of Winn Dixie
Delores Claiborne
Thats all I can think of right now!

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Dang friend, that is a great list, well they all are, here is mine, no particular order:

1. Nobody's Fool
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. Boondock Saints
4. Big Fish
5. Gone With The Wind
6. Yellow Submarine
7. Fried Green Tomato's
8. To Kill a Mockingbird
9. African Queen
10. Delores Claiborne
11. Harold and Maude
12. Angela's Ashes
13. Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
14. The Color Purple
15. Latter Days
16. Long Time Companion
17. Next Stop Wonderland
18. Lords of Flatbush
19. Fargo
20. Reservoir Dogs

[Kerry]

Well you've managed to make a list afterall honey ... sort of!  I've noticed that quite a few of you have mentioned the film MAURICE, I really must watch that one!!

You must see "Maurice," Susie. It's so very, very (gay) Edwardian British!   

It's my 3rd favourite film of all time, right after "Brokeback Mountain" (1st) and "Beautiful Thing" (2nd). I don't think anyone else has mentioned "Beautiful Thing." Have you seen it, Susie? If not, I can recommend it to you. It's a beautiful gay love story, set in modern, working class London. It's exceptional. Don't miss it!     

[JCinNYC2006]

Honorable mention:

<snip>

32,  Amadeus     Wonderful music and a cute Tom Hulce.

33,   Omega Man  1971.   Charlton Heston minus the Apes.

34,   Planet of The Apes.   1968.   The one with the apes.  And a great ending!

35,   Maurice    The first gay flick I ever saw.   Magnificent!

I'm sure there are more!

Wow, The Omega Man!  I didn't know anyone else knew that one, I remember being so creeped out by it.  This scary vision of a bleak future, Heston falling into the fountain.  I liked him in a loincloth in Planet, especially pre-NRA.  I had such a crush on Tom Hulce, I love how he played the Hunchback.  And oh god, Maurice, what you can say about Maurice, except, Now we shan't ever be parted....it's finished....

[ifyoucantfixit]

      Maybe we should start a separate thread for our favorite Christmas movies....I love
A Christmas story, with the the boy wanting the Red Rider bbgun and his dad winning the Leg lamp...The little brother, dressed up so tight he cant move...That is a true gem..
      I think its my familys favorite, we watch it several times thru the holidays...great humor.

      

[David In Indy]

      Maybe we should start a separate thread for our favorite Christmas movies....I love
A Christmas story, with the the boy wanting the Red Rider bbgun and his dad winning the Leg lamp...The little brother, dressed up so tight he cant move...That is a true gem..
      I think its my familys favorite, we watch it several times thru the holidays...great humor.

      

[JCinNYC2006]

Here's my list.  I'm using "watchability" as my criterion.  These I could--and have--seen over and over again.


Diva  by Jean-Jacques Beneix was the first film I was obsessed over.  And it's a story of obsession.

Diva was the first foreign film I saw, I cut class and watched it by myself.  It made me want to go to Paris so bad, and I loved le postman in the movie.  One of the instrumental tracks, Sentimental Walk, is one of my all time favorite pieces of music.  Awesome.

[dot-matrix]

      Maybe we should start a separate thread for our favorite Christmas movies....I love
A Christmas story, with the the boy wanting the Red Rider bbgun and his dad winning the Leg lamp...The little brother, dressed up so tight he cant move...That is a true gem..
      I think its my familys favorite, we watch it several times thru the holidays...great humor.

      

Well if you're talking Christmas Movies..We love Ralphie & his quest for his BB Gun too at our house...but my favorite. the one that we watch several times between Thanksgiving and Christmas is Prancer.  I know this little girl, I UNDERSTAND this little girl.  It reminds me so much of my own childhood in a lot of ways.

[southendmd]

Diva was the first foreign film I saw, I cut class and watched it by myself.  It made me want to go to Paris so bad, and I loved le postman in the movie.  One of the instrumental tracks, Sentimental Walk, is one of my all time favorite pieces of music.  Awesome.

Hey Juan!

I'm so glad someone else loves Diva.  "Sentimental Walk" is beautiful; at one time, I managed to figure how to play it on the piano. 

Ah, young love, and Paris at dawn...

[loneleeb3]

9.  The Lion in Winter. Starring: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, and in his film debut Anthony Hopkins, Director: Anthony Harvey, Awards: 7 Academy Awards.  I love this film because the family was soooooo dysfunctional... like mine!  LOL

Good call Rayn,
How could I have forgotten this one!
One of my favorite lines form any movie!
Katherine Hepburn saying "They'll be pork in the trees by morning"!!!
What a great movie!

[Dagi]

I'm so glad someone mentioned Harold and Maude!   

Gary

Love it! Love love love it!

other movies I love:

Maurice

The Color Purple

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

A Fish named Wanda

Sommersturm (Summerstorm)

Beautiful Thing

Braveheart

Catch me if you can

American Beauty

The Door in the Floor

Der Schuh des Manitu

Jade Scorpion (Woody Allen)

Tristan and Isolde

I'm sure I forgot one or the other....

[moremojo]

That's it!  I have GOT to see Harold and Maude!  What's it about?  NO! Don't tell me!

Susie 

Okay, then...it'll be a nice warm surprise! 

[Dagi]

Warm ey?  Sounds interesting!  I hope you're not talking about what I think you're talking about!

Susie

  Seems Scott has quite a reputation here!

It´s a beautifully told lovestory about a very uncommun couple, it´s about growing up and listening to your heart, and about so much more...I´m sure you´ll love it!

Dagi

[moremojo]

Warm ey?  Sounds interesting!  I hope you're not talking about what I think you're talking about!

Susie

There's a very brief clip from Harold and Maude on this Youtube compilation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FExqG6LdWHU

[moremojo]

Just to add a bit more to your enticement, Susie--The young man, Harold, played by Bud Cort, comes from an extremely privileged, pampered background, but finds no meaning in his emotionally frigid world, and dwells on thoughts of death and suicide (thus the compulsive visits to strangers' funerals). He is a deliberate thorn to his staid, genteel mother (played superbly by Vivian Pickles), who does her best to ignore all her son's attempts to shock and frighten her. The old woman, Maude, played so memorably by veteran actress Ruth Gordon, is as much in love with life as Harold is with death. She opens his eyes onto different perspectives on the world and its people.

This may all sound quite grim, but the film is actually a charming comedy. There is a great musical soundtrack by Cat Stevens that captures all the gentle allure of the early Seventies counterculture of which this film became an emblem. The screenplay is by Colin Higgins, and the film was directed by Hal Ashby, one of the most interesting directors working in the brave new world that was American cinema in the 1970's. 

[brokeplex]

Just to add a bit more to your enticement, Susie--The young man, Harold, played by Bud Cort, comes from an extremely privileged, pampered background, but finds no meaning in his emotionally frigid world, and dwells on thoughts of death and suicide (thus the compulsive visits to strangers' funerals). He is a deliberate thorn to his staid, genteel mother (played superbly by Vivian Pickles), who does her best to ignore all her son's attempts to shock and frighten her. The old woman, Maude, played so memorably by veteran actress Ruth Gordon, is as much in love with life as Harold is with death. She opens his eyes onto different perspectives on the world and its people.

This may all sound quite grim, but the film is actually a charming comedy. There is a great musical soundtrack by Cat Stevens that captures all the gentle allure of the early Seventies counterculture of which this film became an emblem. The screenplay is by Colin Higgins, and the film was directed by Hal Ashby, one of the most interesting directors working in the brave new world that was American cinema in the 1970's. 

Oh, yes..one of my favorites. "Harold and Maude" is a movie I enjoy watching in the same setting as "The Loved One" who can forget Miss Thanatogenis or Mr Joyboy?

[Ellemeno]

I'm definitely not saying that most of these are the best films ever made, just that I love watching them.

Brokeback Mountain
Lone Star
Parenthood
Desk Set
The Player
Grand Canyon
The Anniversary Party
Roxanne
Get Shorty
No Way Out
The Joy Luck Club
When Harry Met Sally
The Birdcage
Sneakers
The Firm
Ocean's Eleven (new one)
Heaven Can Wait
The Jungle Book (Disney animated version)
Far From Heaven
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
In and Out
The Good Girl
Orange County
Soapdish
Waitress
Bread and Tulips
The Straight Story
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Red Violin
Lonesome Dove
An American in Paris
Gentleman's Agreement
Friends with Money
Best in Show
Moonstruck
My Dinner with Andre
Three Days of the Condor
Spy Game
Groundhog Day
To Catch a Thief
Working Girl
Spanglish
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

[David In Indy]

I just watched Seven Years In Tibet the other day. I haven't watched it in a long time. I had forgotten how much I love that movie.

[Shasta542]

Oh Clarissa, I love so many of those films on your list, Parenthood, Moonstruck and Groundhog Days, to name but a few!!  We should definitely have a girly night together, with a box of chocolates, a bottle of wine and a bucket of popcorn!

Susie 

That sounds so fun, Susie!!! I love Romy and Michelle, Roxanne, When Harry Met Sally.......great list, Elle!! Let's have the movie night at Susie's house, so I can see Charlie   (and England) !!!    

[saucycobblers]

I love 'The Seventh Seal' too. It has the reputation of being a serious film, which it is, but it's also very funny and has a really earthy, bawdy sense of humour about it