Thursday, April 30, 2009
I've taken a bit of license in updating this list - the original didn't have a single Bruce Lee movie on it and somehow or another Blackhawk Down failed to make the cut. Why isn't Saving Private Ryan isn't on the list? Sorry team - the realism on that one went out as soon as they stepped off that beach. Sure, I wasn't in the WWII but this I can tell you: honking on at the top of your lungs while patrolling through German-infested territory is NOT how it's done - S.L.
CASABLANCA
A remarkable piece of Allied wartime propaganda, Casablanca takes place in unoccupied French Morocco during the early years of World War II. The film won three Academy Awards; Best Picture, Best Director, and Writing Adapted Screenplay.
Humphrey Bogart plays American soldier-of-fortune Rick Blaine - the original haunted anti-hero. His nightclub, "Rick's Café Américain", is infested with intrigue; "I stick my neck out for nobody." This was back in the day when people actually dressed in style; Rick holds court and holds his own amongst a collection of desperadoes, ne’er-do-wells and outright criminals, decades before James Bond adopted the dinner-jacket as a personal trademark.
BLACKHAWK DOWN - This one could have been subtitled Modern Urban Close Quarter Combat Tactics Techniques and Procedures. Filmed in Morocco, and named after the Special Mission version of the US Army's workhorse helicopter - the MH-60 Blackhawk - the choppers themselves are the real stars of this film. The US Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment cooperated fully with the production of this film. Actual veterans of the Battle of Mogadishu advised and played as extras. Every soldier must see this film.
CALIGULA - "When in Rome . . ." this is Penthouse founder Bob Guccione's depiction of the most sexually depraved society of all time at it's most extreme (I included this one on a dare.) The Roman Empire was never portrayed in more vivid realism - if you want to see Rome, see this movie.
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - An English guy who fought the Turkish, Lawrence was a candidate for Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder Poster Boy. A fantastic true story, an incredibly well-made movie experience.
LORD JIM - Joseph Conrad's masterpiece brought to screen. Another Conrad-inspired story made this list, do you know which one?
ENTER THE DRAGON - One of the world's greatest warrior philosophers, Bruce Lee's spark burned too bright and crashed to earth far too soon. This kitschy 70s-era film serves as a showcase for his incredible prowess.
YOJIMBO - Akira Kurasawa's version of For a Fistful of Dollars. A ronin samurai who goes by the nom-de-guerre Yojimbo (Toshiro Mifune) wanders into town terrorized by scumbags. His swords and black kimono are his credentials; the terrified townspeople beg the silent stranger to save them. Yojimbo obliges, hacking the scumbags to bits. It's what he does . . .
APOCALYPSE NOW - a.k.a. Best War Movie of All Time (BLACKHAWK DOWN is a close second for this title); War is stupid, and dodging bullets cannot be replicated in a theater, so why not go all-out insane and make it a good show?
BEN HUR - 11 - count 'em - ELEVEN Academy Awards; the chariot race alone is worthy, and then there's the sea battle.
THE GREEN BERETS - (or just about any movie with John Wayne) Based on a true story, it demonstrates the bias of the left media 40 years ago - they should update it for Iraq/Afghanistan and re-release it; nothing has changed with left-wing media bias.
I took a little poetic license here, dropped CITIZEN KANE and RAN so I could fit ENTER THE DRAGON and BLACKHAWK down into there and even still I didn't get a single Clint Eastwood movie onto the list. Just goes to show you can't come up with a definitive list of best movies and keep it anywhere under a hundred . . . OK thats the challenge Team - help me build a list TOP ONE HUNDRED MOVIES OF ALL TIME. Cheers - S.L.
The Longest Day (or the Longest Movie, if you like).
ReplyDeleteBlazing Saddles
2001-A Space Odyssey
Robin Hood (Errol Flynn and Olivia Dehavilland-who doesn't like "campy")
I have more, but that's probably my allotment.
Go tell the Spartans
ReplyDeleteShane
The first one that came to mind was The Battle of Britain. Too many other good movies to list. Most are 30+ years old. The golden age of Hollywood ended about that time.
ReplyDeleteAnd How the West Was Won.
ReplyDeleteI offer two candidates for consideration:
ReplyDeleteboth are John Wayne movies, although in one he is second billing and the other, he is upstaged by another actor:
They Were Expendable, with Robert Montgomery, an actual PT boat skipper in WW2- Montgomery's role as Squadron Cmdr of PT boats in the P.I. at the outbreak of the war and the subsequent actions is a textbook example of courage.
Red River, a classic western; w/ John Wayne & Mongomery Clift. The quintessential cattle drive. The tension between Clift & Wayne as the two cowboys driving a herd of cattle north, not backing down from man & nature, is worth the time to watch.