Top Ten Films
February 2! It’s Groundhog Day. Local radio says the groundhog saw his shadow so there’ll be six more weeks of winter. If the rest of winter is like recent days we’re all going to be stir crazy.
But Groundhog Day brought something else to mind – the movie starring Bill Murray, one of my Top Ten films of all time as Groundhog Day keeps repeating for him. He woos a woman and robs an armoured truck among other activities.
I got thinking about my top ten movies of all time of which I give Groundhog Day a full-hearted position. Here are the others:
Have to have an Elvis movie so I pick Jailhouse Rock. Except I’ve always wondered about the line “number 47 said to number 3, you’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see.” Did Elvis realize he was promoting homosexuality?
Number 3 got on my list when I was 12. I went to an afternoon matinee showing the usual suspects: The Three Stooges and Hopalong Cassidy. When those were over, the manager came on stage and announced that if anyone’s parents told them to come home after the matinee, now was the time. A girl hauled her little brother up the aisle but the rest of us stayed for Rebel Without A Cause starring James Dean. So that’s what life ahead will look like, we all thought, car racing and wild women.
Number 4 is probably on everyone’s list: The Godfather. Need I say more?
Number 5 is another thriller, Rear Window, to my mind the best of Alfred Hitchcock’s work. James Stewart watches his neighbours in the quadrangle outside his apartment window. He sees many sights, but did he just see a murder? You’ll have to watch to find out if it was.
Number 6: Just about anything with Jack Nicholson, the most nominated male actor at the Academy Awards. We recently watched Chinatown, a movie you can see every few years and always find much that you missed before.
Number 7 is the original Frankenstein with Boris Karloff. Once was enough for me.
Number 8 is Steel Magnolias mostly for Dolly Parton but also the entire manic gang of women.
Number 9 is On The Waterfront even though Marlon Brando mumbles incoherently most of the time. “I could have been a contender.” He is.
Number 10 is a Canadian movie, Goin’ Down the Road.
What are your faves?
Wow, what a difficult game. I had to come up with different criteria for choosing.
1. Wizard of Oz. Hands down favourite. How many movies do you love every time you watch it, and I have watched this one a lot, both at the movies and on television, as a child and as an adult. I have a VHS and a 70th anniversary DVD edition sitting on my office shelf.
2. The Great Escape. An ensemble cast, and bittersweet. I also remember rewatching with my younger son, Harrison, when he and I were living together; he loves older movies.
3. American Graffiti. The greatest soundtrack(!) and ensemble cast. A high school movie for me.
4. Big Red. This stands in for any number of animal Disney movies (Incredible Journey, Old Yeller, etc.). I would have tagged along with my sister to see this one at a matinee in North Bay when I was a preschooler. I barely remember that, but then saw it again when I worked for Park and Rec showing Saturday matinee movies to kids in the early 70s (imagine getting paid to entertain kids, work a film projector and show old Disney movies!). I am a red head, after all. This Disney features a lot of French Canadian actors and some of it was filmed in Quebec.
5. The Graduate. My mother and I used to go to the movies together. My mother had already seen it, so she knew what it was about. She took me when I was ten, and didn’t understand half of it.
6. The Rowdy Man. My Canadian/Newfoundland entry. Gordon Pinsent wrote and stars.
7. Return of the Pink Panther. Because there has to be a Peter Sellers comedy on this list.
8. Fargo. I thought there should be a mystery/thriller/police procedural on this list. Could have gone with Chinatown, but I chose this one for its black humour. Frances McDormand is fantastic.
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas. I need an animated movie that I watched over and over with my boys. Could have been any of the Disney animated revival movies (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Lion King) or an early Pixar movie like Toy Story, but Tim Burton’s whimsical animation is wonderful. Catherine O’Hara performed the voice of ingenue Sally.
10. The Dark Knight. I need a stand in for all the superhero movies I have seen, particularly with my oldest son, Gregory. Probably should be a Marvel one, because he started reading Marvel comics at about the same age that I did. Heath Ledger’s Joker makes the difference in this one.
Let’s make it an even dozen.
11. Limelight. I remember seeing it as the last film at a fantastic Charlie Chaplin film festival – although not his last film, it really is a farewell. Lots of people don’t like this talkie – it IS over the top — but I remember loving it.
12. Shall We Dance. This is the first movie I remember watching (admittedly on a small screen) with Alison. A romantic comedy featuring ballroom dancing; also a lovely and memorable monologue by Susan Sarandon about the meaning of marriage. Little did we know…
Going for my longest response yet!