My Favorite Movies

Be warned forthwith there is very little in common between this epic biopic of William Wallace and the true history. The Battle of Stirling was fought on a bridge. There was no way Wallace could get close to the Princess of Wales. Wallace and Longshanks died years apart. That being said, this is a stirring portrayal of a man all but crushed under the rule of Edward I (known as 'the Hammer of the Scots') and was all the stronger for it. Gibson's portrayal of the legendary Scottish hero covers the gamut of emotions...subtle to shy, loving to angry, mischevious to murderous. He keeps his friends (Gleeson as Hammish and O'Hara as Stephen) close for the comic relief and his enemies (the great Patrick McGoohan as Edward) closer for the plot to continue. The battle scenes are among the most true-to-form for the graphic and gory violence of medieval warfare. Now if only they could have filmed the damn thing in Scotland, it would have been perfect.

How far down is rock bottom? If you're a banker, falsely accused (and convicted) of killing his wife and sentenced to the prison hellhole that is Shawshank Penitentiary for the rest of your life, you've pretty much reached it...so where else is there to go but up? In this adaptation of a story from Stephen King's 'Different Seasons', Tim Robbins, as Andy DuFresne, seems to be a little more wise to the ways of the prison world than he lets on and quickly latches up to the yard's go-to guy, 'Red' Redding (Morgan Freeman). Together they eek out an existence somewhere between the 7th and 8th Levels of Hell, making deals with Malebolge like the sadistic Capt. Hadley (Clancy Brown) and the hipocritic Bible-beater Warden Norton (Bob Gunton). I was particularly moved by the side-storyline of poor prison librarian Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore), who has been incarcerated for so long that his freedom, in the form of parole, becomes a Hell of a different kind that he cannot deal with. When it becomes apparent that Andy in indeed innocent and the prison officials cover it up with murder, his means of escape is among the most satisfying in movie history.

Let's get several things about this slapstick clear...this is arguably one of the best written, put-together with an all-star cast, never a dull moment movies that ever came out of the tepid early 1970s. Streisand, as Judy Maxwell, was at the top of her game, sultry, seductive, well-tanned (the bubble bath should prove that) and unbelievably dry-wit Yiddish...plus her singing was at a minimum, leaving room for more jokes. Ryan O'Neal, as the bumbling music doctor Howard Bannister, showed everyone he had a funny bone after such a depressing breakout in 'Love Story' two years earlier (there is even an in-joke at the end of the film...watch for it!). This also proved to be a boon for Kenneth Mars as the narcisstic Hugh Simon, Austin Pendleton as dim but well-meaning host Fredrick Larabee and Madeline Kahn in her big-screen debut as Howard's neurotic fiance, Eunice Burns. Also look for cameos from Randy Quaid, John Hillerman, Mabel Albertson (in her final role), 'Blazing Saddles' standout Liam Dunn, 'Boss Hogg' Sorrell Booke and...ha ha oh dear...a Chinese dragon.

This is the only movie I paid seven times to see when it hit the theatres. This can be explained several ways:
a) I was enraptured by the soundtrack by Queen.
b) I loved the exuberance of the actors who went into this knowing that tongue was firmly placed in cheek, especially Max Von Sydow as Ming the Merciless, Peter Wyngarde as the smooth gold-metallic Klytus and Brian Blessed as Vultan, overexuberant leader of the Hawkmen.
c) I had a crush on Melody Anderson at the time, but it was all but smashed by the exotic Ornella Muti as Aura.
d) The torture scene with (c)...definitely the torture scene.
e) I had no life.

I originally saw this re-enactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor at one of those round 'Cinema 150' theatres with the screen that went a third of the way around the room.
This was supposed to be THE ultimate take on the 'Day of Infamy' with David Lean directing the U.S. side and Akira Kurosawa directing the Japanese side. When Kurasawa learned Lean had nothing to do with the film, he intentionally got himself fired from production. The people at the helm became Richard Fleischer (known for 'Fantastic Voyage' and 'Dr. Doolittle') for the U.S. and Kinji Fukasaku ('The Green Slime') and Toshio Masuda (nothing I recognize) for the Japanese.
All in all, that was about the worst thing about the movie. It seemed to move along quite well with the Americans missing this essential piece of intelligence and the Japanese taking advantage of weather to launch an almost perfect attack that kept the U.S. naval presence at a minimum for nearly half of 1942.
There were some parts that were memorable...the 'Nevada' band playing the 'Star-Spangled Banner' in double-time after the first bomb fell, the planes trying (and failing) to take off before being strafed to shreds, the group of bombers (and a flying student and teacher) breezing through the mass of Zeroes and Bettys straight into the Second World War. Then again, there are parts that will never be forgotten because Hollywood won't let us...they keep using the same shots over and over again in other war movies like 'Midway' and 'The Final Countdown' and TV shows like 'Black Sheep Squadron'.
Another plus, if you want to call it that, is that Shogo Shimada, as Ambassador Nomura, had an accent that was a bit too think, so his voice was dubbed over by the great Paul Frees.
The film didn't do too well in America, but did gangbusters in Japan...go figure. I do wish the directors would have taken the advantage of having veteran actor Logan Ramsey in the film. After all, his dad was the actual Lt. Commander at Pearl who issued the famous warning 'Air Raid, Pearl Harbor...This is no drill'. That would have been cool.

This is the National Lampoon as I remember...not the 'Vacation'-style pratfalls and body function jokes, but the irreverent, authority-bashing, crude, slightly racist, overtly sexist, catch-as-catch-can so-sick-it's-funny humor (or is it 'That's not Funny, that's Sick?').
Larry Kroger ('Amadeus' star Tom Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst) want to pledge a college fraternity, but the only one who will take them is the worst one on the Faber College campus, the infamous Delta Tau Chi. From then on Kroger and Dorfman, now renamed 'Pinto' and 'Flounder', learn all about life, love, heavy drinking, road trips and occasionally looting the Food King with their new frat brothers, including 'Boon', 'Otter', 'D-Day', 'Stork' and 'Bluto'.
This end result proved to be beyond its wildest expectations, becoming the third-highest grossing film of the year, behind only 'Superman' and 'Grease'. Toga parties became the rage. College became popular again. John Belushi became a household name. Kevin Bacon reached his first degree of separation. The repercussions are still being felt to this day. Sadly, the likelihood of this level of madcap being reached again has proven to be few and far between.

Depending on your definition of 'heavy metal', the movie may fit the bill perfectly even if the soundtrack doesn't.
Black Sabbath (even with Ronnie Dio) I can see setting the tone for this animated film. The same with Blue Oyster Cult. Maybe even Sammy Hagar if I squint my eyes. But not Journey. Not Stevie Nicks. Not even Cheap Trick and ESPECIALLY not Devo!
The premise of the animated film centers around a glowing green ball called the Loc-Nar that is supposed to be the embodiment of evil. It comes back from space to kill a little girl's father and terrorize her with stories of its past. From being found at an archeological dig to a futuristic cabbie ('Harry Canyon') to a gothic battle between two demigogs and a heroic nerd-turned-muscle-man sans clothing ('Den') to a trial aboard a space station ('Captain Sternn'), the globe then moves to WWII ('B-17'), the Pentagon and into deep space ('So Beautiful and So Dangerous') to finally end back on Earth at the edge of a barbarian takeover ('Taarna').
Many of the voices you know: John Candy, Joe Flaherty and Eugene Levy (from SCTV), Rodger Bumpass and Doug Kenney (from the National Lampoon), Robert Romanus ('Fast Times at Ridgemont High') and the great John Vernon ('Animal House's Dean Wormer).
The animation moves back and forth from cartoonish to neo-realism, a lot like the Japanese 'Robot Carnival'. A lot of it is not for the squeamish and none of it is for children. For its time, it did a lot to explore areas normally confined to Saturday morning and take them into the night.

I really had my aspirations set for this film. I could have cared less that it was written and directed by Michael Crichton ('Westworld', 'Jurrasic Park' 'ER', etc.). It didn't matter that Tom Selleck was in it, or even eye-candy like Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley. Not Stan Shaw, whom I liked in 'Tough Enough'. Not even G.W. Bailey, who was able to sneak away from the first 'Police Academy' movie for this (as it turned out, 'Academy' was the 6th highest grosser that year).
What was important to me was that my hero, Gene Simmons, was in it. This would be his first major role since 'KISS meets the Phantom of the Park'.
Can you see why I was hoping for a little more? As it turned out, it wasn't nearly as bad by that standard, but Lord, it wasn't good.
Selleck plays Jack Ramsey, a futuristic cop with acrophobia and a thing for electronic crime and criminals. He runs afoul of some gagetry that seem to have minds of their own and decidedly don't like some people enough to try and kill them. Some further investigating turns up a geek-minded criminal mastermind named Charles Luter (Simmons) who comes complete with a special gun with bullets that will literally hunt you down and little spider-robots that shoot acid.
Simmons was not overtly heavy-handed as Luther, but it's apparent no one ever gave him lessons on restraint. It's as though he still wore the Demon make-up underneath his suave suit and cropped hair. When pitted against Selleck, the good guy-bad guy conflict could not have been any more black and white than if it appeared in the daily comics page.
As a science-fiction fan, I was sorely disappointed, but as a Kiss fan, I was all right with the end product. I suppose it goes without saying this film really made me reassess what I thought I liked and what I really liked.

A beautiful girls goes skinny dipping at night. The cellos start that stacatto music. You know something's going to happen...and it will be bad.
Steven Spielberg gives his all into this landmark film. The horror, the nausea, the pathos, the excitement, the action...is it any wonder this was one of the biggest block-busters of all time? It's because it was worth it.
A series of gruesome attacks on swimmers before the big 4th of July holiday on Amity Island has town sheriff Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) pondering exactly what is out there in the water. Problem is he is under the thumb of the financially-motivated mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) to clean this stuff up before the crowds get to the beach and start spending that vacation money. Garnering the help of his wife (Lorraine Gary) he gets wise-cracking oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and crusty sea captain Quint (Robert Shaw) to head out to sea in search of the unknown.
It was never just about the shark. It was Brody's inability to catch on with the Amity regulars. It was Vaughn's desire to keep the beaches open or face a very lean winter. It was Hooper's need to prove himself to Brody and Quint. It was Quint's need to avenge his fellow sailors for what happened in WWII. It was the shark's need to eat and make little sharks.
It was darn near the perfect horror movie. You cared about the characters enough to cringe when the music started up.

'I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?' -Phil Connors

Narcissistic TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) has to attend the Groundhog Day ceremony in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and put up with cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) and cute but green producer Rita (Andie McDowall). Phil goes through the motions, does his thing and tried to leave, but a winter storm arrives early and forces him to spend another night. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds the clock has turned back and he has to relive the day over again....and again...and again!

You will remember this movie mostly because it replays every scene over and over again. 'I Got You, Babe'...stepping in the ice puddle...Ned Ryerson...'Gonna see the Groundhog?'...It can get to anyone after a while and poor Phil is no exception. The apparent simple plot starts going south as Phil becomes more despondent over his unending situation and the movie transcends mere comedy to become a cinematic classic.

Sci-fi buffs can't get enough of discussing the implications of living the same day over and over with no repercussions. One thing is certain...Bill Murray took a giant leap from 'Caddyshack' and 'Ghostbusters' by taking a one-dimensional selfish grump and turning him into someone you actually care about. Through Phil's eyes, we also see the rest of the cast as more than people filling a screen. McDowall's Rita changes from eye candy to a legitimate romantic interest. Supposed sceen-filling extras like former SNL members Robin Duke and Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill's brother, if you didn't know) and comic relief like Elliott and Stephen Tobolowsky (as Ned 'the Head' Ryerson) actually have pasts and dreams and aspirations. You start to care about just about everyone and, at the same time, start hoping Phil does everything right to finally get on to the next day.

Don Knotts took some time out of his busy schedule as Barney Fife to head out to sea in this quasi-animated tale of Henry Limpet, a milquetoast 4-F who has an obsession with his piscatorial friends, much to the consternation of his wife Bessie (Carole Cook, bearing a sharp resemblance to Maureen O'Hara) and best friend George Stickle (the gregarious Jack Weston). The obsession gets so great that a visit to Coney Island has Henry finally jumping off the pier to his apparent death, only to be revived (and animated) as a near-sighted fish. Near run-ins with sharks, octopi and other carnivorous beasties soon has him high-tailing it for a sunken freighter, an overamourous lady-fish (Elizabeth McRae) and a crusty hermit crab (legendary voice actor Paul Frees).
Since the movie is set during World War II, it stands to reason Henry wants to follow his pal George in the Navy and discovers a unique way to find those nasty Nazi subs. But what to do about his new life as a fish and his old life (and wife) still in Flatbush?
Knotts not only gave empathy to Henry Limpet as a human, but it also carried through to his animated fish form. One may not have had much sympathy for Bessie and George for how they treated Henry early on, but it becomes apparent they both have a genuine love for the little guy. The cast bounces perfectly off the expert Warner Brothers animation team (especially Robert McKimson and Maurice Noble) to present a fish tale worth remembering.

A kind note to the Flixter peers who host this wonderful site...take a careful look at the cast list for this film pictured above. You have to hit the 'additional cast' button to find the lead actor, ex-wrestler Roddy Piper. I think he deserves a little more than that.
Piper, as John Nada, is a drifter going from job to job, working his hardest and keeping his nose clean until he runs across a pair of Ray-Bans that do more than block UV radiation. His 'convincing' of co-worker Frank (Keith David) to try his shades on is one of the best wrestling matches ever taken out of the squared circle and put on the big screen. Now granted, some of the dialogue may have been taken from the WWE ('Life's a bitch and she's back in heat'), but the overall feel of the film is pure Carpenter...eerie, uncomfortable, dark and overwhelming at times. Maybe the Undertaker would have been better suited for this movie.

Imagine sitting in a movie theatre watching the sadistic rape and beating of an innocent 10-year-old African-American girl. Now imagine you're white, sitting in the movie theatre with a 90-percent black audience watching the sadistic rape and beating of an innocent 10-year-old African-American girl. That happened to me. It was not pretty.
Then again, this adaptation of John Grisham's novel isn't supposed to be.
Carl Lee Hailey (Jackson) was pushed to the limit and beyond by the sadistic goons who were all but assured of a slap on the wrist for nearly killing his daughter and took vengence into his own hands in full view of everyone who mattered. Now the question is...how do you defend a man who just committed double-murder and was proud of it? That task falls to fledgeling attorney Jake Brigance (McConaughey), with a little help from his smarmy partner (Platt), a sardonic law student (Bullock) and a mentor-turned-sot (Donald Sutherland). Set against him is a no-nonsense 'hanging judge' (Patrick McGoohan at his Southern-drawling best), a conniving D.A. (Spacey at his smug best) and Keifer Sutherland (drawing from 'Stand By Me' and 'Lost Boys' to be his most evil).
Everyone involved was at their A-game. The tension was palpable, the emotions were up to near breaking and the courtroom drama was on par with anything Perry Mason could have mustered.

'The Big Country' is intended to be an allegory about the Cold War with well-to-do rancher Major Henry Terrell (Charles Bickford) in the guise of Dwight Eisenhower (by the way, why the demotion from General?) and the crusty but strangly fair Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives) as Nikita Khrushchev. Also on hand are the seconds-in-command with Terrell's hard-bitten major domo Steve Leech (Charleton Heston) and Hannassey's bully-coward son Buck (Chuck Connors).
Into the middle of the fray rides calm, cool James McKay (Gregory Peck), originally to marry Terrell's daughter (Carroll Baker at her stuck-up best), but finds life in the war zone not to his liking and instead saddles up with schoolmarm Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons), whose property holds a waterway desired by both factions. Out of the fryng pan...
Besides the fact this is a great stand-up Western with lots of gunfights, brawls, ambushes, romance, cattle and the other 8.5 yards, there is an ulterior motive to my fondness for this film.
It has to do with a song from the cartoon 'Ren and Stimpy' called 'Happy Happy Joy Joy'.
The 'singer' is a character named Stinky Wizzleteats, almost a picture-perfect parody of Ives, who steals the movie (as well as a Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe) as Hannassey. In between the singing, Stinky espouses with a few seemingly random phrases that, as it turns out, were all taken from Ives' character in this movie.

'If you ain't the mother and father of all liars.'
'...Teach your grandmother to suck eggs.'
'I told you I'd do it, but you didn't believe me!'

All in all, a top-notch gem for veteran director William Wyler.

This is one of those movies my mom turned me on to while compiling her list of top-rated movies to have in her collection.
Based on a story by Eugene O'Neill, 'Voyage' centers around a freighter called the 'Glencairn', filled with an assortment of rough and tough sailors just trying to survive from one port to the next in the early days of World War II.
You would think with John Ford at the helm and John Wayne in the credits, it would be more rough and tumble, but you are never far from the fact it's...this is important...based on stories by Eugene O'Neill. You know, 'The Iceman Cometh', 'Desire Under The Elms', etc., so you know there's loads and loads of pathos and bathos abounding. In fact, this movie is an amalgam of four O'Neill plays, including the one for which the movie took its name.
Wayne is not your basic American sailor. In fact, he's a Swede named Ole Olsen, complete with Scandinavian accent. Being only a year or so removed from his great breakout film 'Stagecoach', one wonders if he was pushing a little not to be typecast as a cowboy. It didn't work, but that's not saying he did a bad job.
Wayne, along with Barry Fitzgerald (who would later pair with Wayne in the immortal 'The Quiet Man') Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter and the rest made up a ensemble cast that thoroughly captured the lives of sailors who scratched their way through (not always surviving), wondering whether the next port would be their last.

This movie actually got me in trouble for openly admiring the work of Martin Scorsese on a live radio talk show. My admiration was followed by a caller who was convinced I was going to Hell for blasphemy.
Based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, the movie centers around Jesus on the cross in his final throes of life and supposes what if Satan picked that moment to reveal one more temptation, as a follow-up to our Savior's 40 days in the desert. This time, Jesus is presented with not a city of gold or the world at his feet, but life continuing as a normal man, with a wife (Mary Magdalene, played by Barbara Hershey), children, a regular job...everything any normal man would want in life. Trouble is Jesus was not by any stretch of the imagination a normal man. His rejection, and the world's salvation, is assured.
Apparently, a lot of people didn't get the memo and condemned the movie for its depiction of Jesus having sex with Mary Magdalene without seeing the rest of the film to its conclusion. A shame, really. It really does have a happy ending for everyone involved.

As the story goes, author Evelyn Waugh ('Brideshead Revisited') was so offended by the hypocrisy of the American film and funeral industries while attending a service at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles he came up with the storyline for this movie.
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British poet Dennis Barlow (American Robert Morse) jorneys to L.A. to visit his uncle, Hollywood artist Sir Francis Hinsley (Sir John Gielgud), who is wallowing in his quest for some refinement in the degredation of Tinseltown. Finding himself on the outs with the bigwigs, Sir Francis ends his life by hanging himself over his swimming pool. In preparing for his funeral, Dennis comes across the Whispering Glades Cemetery and sweet, naive Aimee Thanatogenous (Anjanette Comer), along with a mixture of other individuals whose workings within this business borders on the outre.
Barlow's jorney through this milieu of quiet distinguished wackos who always refer to the dead as 'the loved one' (hence, the movie's title) pushes the envelope of taste as the passing of a military big-wig gives enigmatic cemetery chief Reverend Wilbur Glenworthy (Jonathan Winters) the idea for a magnanimous send off.
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Cameos abound in this film with loads of Hollywood names playing against type like perrenial good-guy Roddy McDowall as spoiled producer's son D.J. Jr., the flamboyant Liberace in a simple suit as demure casket salesman Mr. Starker, tough-guy Rod Steiger as the effeminate make-up artist to the dead stars, Mr. Joyboy, comic Milton Berle as harried husband to a wife mourning a lost pet, future singer-songwriter Paul Williams as teen whiz-kid Gunther Fry (despite the fact he was 25 at the time) and hard-bitten Lionel Stander as newspaper advise columnist Guru Brahmin.
On paper, 'The Loved One' stood to offend a lot of people and entertain lots more. Sadly, it didn't do either.