Favorite Movies
"Forbidden Planet".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet
This 1956 science fiction film stands out like a gem among such 1950's works. The special effects actually hold up even by today's standards, and the actors are top notch. A very young Leslie Nielsen plays a serious role, and Anne Francis and Walter Pidgeon also star, but you will likely recognize Warren Stevens and Jack Kelly too. Aside from some brief silly sub-plots, the story is thought provoking and based on the Shakespearean play, "The Tempest". It's the 23rd century, and an earth made saucer shaped starship has travelled 16.7 light years to reach the Altair star system in order to investigate what happened to an earlier expedition 20 years before. It turns out there are only two survivors, a philologist Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira. There are also artifacts and machinery of an advanced extinct civilization called the Krell, whose writings Morbius has been able to partially translate enough to build the remarkable Robby the robot. What destroyed the Krell so quickly? What destroyed the rest of the crew from the prior mission, and not Dr. Morbius or his wife (who passed away from natural causes) and daughter? And why is there suddenly again a monster loose upon the planet surface that attacks the current crew? The plot explores the nature of the subconscious and its implications. For the period, this film is truly exceptional.
"The Sting".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sting
Released in 1973 and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, with Robert Shaw playing the villain. A great story, good supporting cast, and fine music. I love the scene after the poker game on the train where Newman outsmarts Shaw who's trying to cheat him on the last hand. Shaw's sidekick has rigged the deck so Newman gets four three's and Shaw four nine's. With such good hands the betting is stiff. At the showdown, to Shaw's amazement, Newman turns over four jacks. Back in the coach the sidekick says they can't let Newman get away with this, and Shaw replies, "What was I supposed to do? Call him for cheating better than me in front of the others?" A great film!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Pi_(film)
Released in 2012, this Ang Lee film is a beautiful survival story on multiple levels. I love the quote near the end: "I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye."
"The Godfather"
Oscar winning 1972 crime family masterpiece, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It was at one time the highest grossing film. I also recall reading the Mario Puzo novel on the bus going back to graduate school from my family home in New York. Some of the movie lines have become classics, such as making an offer he can't refuse. And don't forget, "Drop the gun, take the cannolis."
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"
Based on a John le Carré novel, there is a spy at the highest level of the British secret service, but who is it? Gary Oldman as Smiley is called out of a forced retirement to track him down. Great supporting cast including Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch. I should add there is also a good version of this story in a seven part 1979 mini-series starring Alec Guiness (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy_(miniseries) )
"The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy.
This consists of three movies by Peter Jackson, released from 2001 to 2003, and based on the immortal work by J. R. R. Tolkien. The movies do an excellent job of conveying the story and are fairly faithful to the book, though of course the book contains much more than the film can. I have enjoyed the book since I first read it in high school, and was happy to see such a great version appear on the screen.
"The Thing" (1982) and "The Thing" (2011)
The 2011 film is actually a prequel to the events that take place in the 1982 film, and the former ends exactly where the 1982 film begins. Both films are based on the short story by John W. Campbell, Jr. titled "Who Goes There?" There may be a bit too much gore here and there, but the underlying story is that a Norwegian Antarctic expedition has uncovered a flying saucer and a frozen occupant that had been buried in the ice for many years. The occupant is inadvertently thawed out, and it turns out it has the ability to replicate itself by taking over, and mimicking almost perfectly, any large enough host organism, be it dog or human. So how to tell the real from the copy? Paranoia and trust issues obviously emerge among the small groups isolated at the south pole. And can this organism be prevented from escaping into the world, and eventually taking all of it over? The 1982 film was directed by John Carpenter and starred Kurt Russell. The 2011 film starred Mary Elizabeth Winstead. It's interesting to trace the influence of events that perhaps led John Campbell to write the story. His mother had an identical twin who often visited them and who disliked John. John was unable to tell them apart, and was frequently coldly rebuffed by the person he took to be his mother.
"The Blues Brothers"
A 1980 musical comedy by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Akroyd. The music is great including cameo appearances by several outstanding musical stars (Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown, Cab Calloway) and outstanding acting stars (Carrie Fisher and John Candy). The locale is the Chicago area. And at the very end of the film there is a short cameo appearance by a very young Steven Spielberg. Great fun movie.
"Psycho"
A 1960 horror film by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. This film was quite shocking at the time. I remember back in those days that at local theaters people often went to see films at any time they wanted. They came in somewhere in the middle of the film, then left after the film started over again and reached where they came in. However theaters were forced to ban that practice for this film because of the critical nature of the ending. Parts of "Psycho" have become famous, like the Bates Motel and the shower scene. A shock filled masterpiece by a great director.
"Rear Window"
Another Hitchcock film, this one from 1954, and starring Grace Kelly and James Stewart, along with Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr (before he became Perry Mason). Stewart is stuck at home with a broken leg, and amuses himself by spying on his neighbors through the back window of his apartment. But he starts to notice some things that bother him. A man's wife leaves but without taking some of her things. A small dog who takes to snooping about the garden suddenly ends up killed. A great thriller by the famous director.
"The Matrix"
The first (1999) of a trilogy of films by the Wachowski Brothers based on the interplay between a virtual reality world alien machines have created for most of humanity and from whom they harvest energy, and the heroes who have penetrated beyond that reality to fight the machines. Keanu Reeves stars as Mr. Anderson or Neo. And a great performance by Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith.
"Dr. Strangelove"
A 1964 black comedy by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in multiple roles along with George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, Sterling Hayden and James Earl Jones. A renegade Air Force general has given the "go code" for his B-52 bomber wing to attack the Soviet Union. The president and generals struggle to find ways to recall the fleet (though some want to use this as a pretext for launching an all out surprise attack), but have to work around the fact that in a wartime setting the fleet will only accept coded messages and the renegade general (who commits suicide) is the only one who knew the three letter code. The story line sounds grim but the movie is more satire than serious, with Peter Sellers having some of the best scenes. The film ends with the haunting World War II song, "We'll Meet Again" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We%27ll_Meet_Again). An interesting look back to the cold war days.
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
Another Stanley Kubrick film, this one from 1968. The film has been described as an epic. It's a bit slow paced in parts, but takes us from prehistoric man, to the moon, to a voyage to Jupiter. A black monolith of obviously alien origin has been dug up on the moon, and beamed a signal to Jupiter. Earlier in the film we see prehistoric man also discovering a monolith, so it has apparently had an effect on human evolution. A voyage to Jupiter is launched to investigate, with the ship under the control of the intelligent HAL 9000 computer. As they near Jupiter, the supposedly flawless HAL 9000 starts to develop problems and the two active crewmen (the rest are in hibernetic sleep) need to deal with it. The film was noted for its realistic portrayal of space flight among many other things. The ending is a bit hard to understand, but if you have patience this is an excellent film to watch. The film has won many awards you can read about in the link above if interested.
"Predator"
A 1987 science fiction film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, it has the distinction of having two future state governors in its cast (Arnold for California, and Jesse Ventura for Minnesota). The real threat is revealed slowly over the course of the film. I feel it's unfortunate there are also some vulgar jokes along the way that detract from the film. Arnold leads a special forces unit into Central America to rescue hostages. Soon however it turns out there is much more going on. A solid action film marred by vulgarity in a few places.
"The Ninth Gate"
A 1999 thriller by Roman Polanski and starring Johnny Depp. Depp plays Dean Corso, an unscrupulous rare book dealer who is assigned by Frank Langella to track down two other copies of a book he has acquired to see what the differences, if any, are. The book was supposedly written by the devil and perhaps gives the owner some supernatural power, but Langella's copy is not working. Corso leaves New York to travel to Spain, Portugal and Paris to investigate and finds some engravings in each book are key. An interesting film with some good background music.
"Casino Royale"
I liked Daniel Craig in this 2006 James Bond film based on Ian Fleming's first Bond novel. As usual there is plenty of action, and some serious time at the poker table. Mads Mikkelsen is excellent as the villain, Le Chiffre.
"Murder on the Orient Express"
There have been several film versions of this famous Agatha Christie mystery, including a 2017 version starring Johnny Depp (among others). However I definitely enjoyed the 1974 version. A glance at the picture above shows how many top stars were in the cast, including Albert Finney, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York and Jacqueline Bisset. Albert Finney is excellent as the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. The story is loosely based on the famous Lindbergh kidnapping of 1932 (the book was published in 1934). A man is found murdered overnight in his compartment, and the train has become stuck in a snowdrift. Poirot investigates the murder while we all wait for the train to be rescued. Martin Balsam supplies some comic relief as a director of the train line who, after each Poirot interview, declares that suspect the guilty one. Poirot tackles the case effectively, a case in which there are too many clues and too many suspects. At the end, Finney's summing up of the evidence and the evasive stories he's heard is excellent. Very enjoyable version of the story.
"Witness for the Prosecution"
This is the 1957 version with a cast of stars (Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Elsa Lanchester). The story is based on an Agatha Christie play of the same name. Laughton plays Sir Wilfred, the barrister who takes on the case of a young American (Power) accused of murdering a 56 year old matron who took a liking to him. Dietrich plays Power's wife whom he rescued from a war torn Germany and brought back to England. Laughton is outstanding in the role, sneaking a cigar or brandy against the wishes of his doctor and nurse (Lanchester - who was his wife in real life since 1929). The courtroom and pre-trial scenes have a nice mix of drama and humor. And being a Christie story you can suspect more is going on than you think.
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