Good Movies

1. The Patriot [2000]. Worth watching over and over. Mel Gibson, as Benjamin Martin, leads a rogue group against the cruel and dastardly British in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. The action is superb and the emotional knotting up inside that it can do is amazing. Liberty and freedom are the rallying crys and America needs this more and more today. You will like the British a little bit less after watching this one.

2. The Student Prince [1954]. Edmund Purdom, backed by the voice of Mario Lanza, sings and moves his way through this glorious tale of coming of age. The snobby prince becomes and man. Heidelberg University is the place. A wonderful song-filled tale of student life.
3. Casablanca [1942]. What can one say. The judgment of the world places this one on top most of the time. Made on the fly, it turned out one of the best stories ever told. Ingrid Berman and Humphrey Bogart carry this tale of love and war over the top. Claude Raines lightens the emotional load all the way.
4. Peyton Place [1957]. My favorite book made into a great screen film. Melodrama at its best. Diana Varsi is marvelous as Alison MacKenzie. Hope Lange does an excellently troubled Salena Cross. And David Nelson not trailing his younger brother is a treat for those of that age. Lloyd Nolan is crotchety as the old town doctor. Russ Tamblyn is near totally perfect in his role as Norman. And all of this is Grace Metalious’s marvelously constructed story of small town New England life. And the view of New England is breathtaking.
5. A Summer Place [1959]. Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue overacting to the maximum in this drama of adult and teen angst set on an island off the coast of Maine. Sloan Wilson’s novel comes to melodramatic life in this exploration of the growing sexual permissiveness of America. See where it all started and how.
6. Ben-Hur [1959]. Really a story of the life and nature of Christ. A must see every Easter. And the racing seen is beyond the pale. “Remember my friend, in the arena there is no law.”
7. In Harm’s Way [1965]. John “The Duke” Wayne as John “The Duke” Wayne, wait make that Rockwell Torrey, drives this World War II drama forward. Great Pearl Harbor scenes and all the action from Wayne one needs.
8. All the Fine Young Cannibals [1960]. Natalie Wood and her future husband Robert Wagner team for this angst-filled melodrama of coming of age and finding what it all means in the shadow of parents and the conditions of life. George Hamilton and Susan Kohner ably assist moving the drama with the singing and bitter angst of Pearl Bailey coming along. The blues is the issue and what to do with them. A hard to find movie, but worth the search.
9. Scrooge (A Christmas Carol) [1951]. Alastair Sim is cast as Scourge, and does the defining job of the part. In stunning Black & White, this film brings fully home the message of the book and Christmas. The colorized version fails to capture the grimness of life in the Black & White version. One for every Christmas Eve.
10. The Egyptian [1954]. Edmund Purdom again in this tale of ancient Egypt and the single god Aton. This film captures the desperation of life and the searching we all do for meaning amongst disaster. The finding of God by other means.
11. Across the Universe [2007]. A tale of the 1960s set to Beatle music. Beautiful music, wonderful adaption of those songs, and a story suited to explaining the times. What the 19060s were about all tied in one.
12. Twelve O’Clock High [1949]. To be loved or feared as a leader is the question poses here. A great story of World War II bombers crews on our B-17s. Gregory Peck is superb.
13. Sweethearts/Naughty Marietta/Rose Marie [1938/1935/1936]. Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy sing for their people. Three great films for that warmer feeling about life. Sweethearts is their theme song based movie. Funny and a classic. Naughty Marietta is light and fun, but slightly plagued by a lack of editing skills. Rose Marie is a triumph of wonderful wilderness scenes and magnificent singing.
14. South Pacific [1958]. A tragic story with postmodern social implication, ahead of its times. The songs are the story. We all long for a Bali Hai.
15. The Ramen Girl [2008]. The late Brittany Murphy is a star in this tale of Japan and making it with all the drive and determination you can muster. You just want a bowl of ramen afterward. It will mean so much more then.
16. Midway/Tora, Tora, Tora [1976/1970]. Two great sagas of fighting the Japanese in World War II. Amc has them on all the time. Look for them around December 7 each year.
17. Auntie Mame [1958]. Rosalind Russell makes the character come alive the quotations are worth knowing. The top is: “Yes! Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!” So true. So true.
18. Mr. Roberts [1955]. Henry Fonda trapped in a ship run by maniacal James Cagney. Ensign Pulver [Jack Lemmon] on board for laughs. Management gone bizarre. The system working to turn your life to ruin. How many people can recognize that one in their life? Many people sail on the USS Reluctant every day.