Anyway, his post yesterday flooded me with ideas and memories, as all good writing should. "The Godfather" always leads my list of the ten greatest films ever made. Here they are in no particular order:
- "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II," they have to be categorized as a single entry (and forget about "The Godfather Part III" unless you're perversely drawn to Sofia Coppola's inept acting)
- "North by Northwest," the height of Hitchcock's obsession with the wrong man caught in the wrong place
- "Casablanca," it's impossible to choose between this and "North by Northwest" as the purest, most rewarding example of storytelling on film ever made in the USA
- "City Lights," Chaplin labored over this movie like no other, the sweet ending never fails to make me cry
- "The Third Man," Brit Carol Reed out-Welleses Orson Welles, the last shot may be the best I've ever seen in a movie
- "An American in Paris," the combo of Gershwin and Gene Kelly is impossible to beat, Kelly may have been the greatest American athlete of the 20th Century
- "White Heat," Cagney was a movie actor's movie actor long before Marlon Brando revolutionized the art form
- "Stalag 17," I could have selected any of a half-dozen Billy Wilder movies but I settled on this
- "The Day The Earth Stood Still," no, not the recent version starring the cardboard cutout that is Keanu Reaves, this is intelligent, sophisticated, adult sci-fi
- "Fort Apache," John Ford's anti-war, anti-bigotry piece starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda - did Fonda ever overact in any scene in his entire life?
The way I see it, if you can't be entertained, uplifted, enriched, and/or educated by these movies then I suggest you stick with Adam Sandler and Kate Hudson stuff. There's plenty like it out there.
