My Favorite Movies

One of the best movies of all time... one of my favorites, and probably in my Top 5. Coming out a year before Neil Armstrong's landing on the Moon, Kubrick's vision of Space is quite accurate compared to most. This movie is an adventure, but also quite silent and cerebral. So it probably isn't for everybody.

The genre of the western film has been much revered in Americana. Of course, there's a particular subset of this genre that was distinctive not only due to the fact that they were being made my Italian filmmakers, but also in tone and the themes presented. Thus is the genre of the Spaghetti Western, marked by the use of Spain as a substitute for the American West, and also marked by the much darker portrait of the Wild West than most other western films.

The film is noted for both its excellent intro and ending. The intro is classic. Three men gather in a train station, awaiting the arrival of Harmonica (Bronson). The scene captures boredom at its very essence. The noises and silence is enough to drive these cowboys mad. Yet it paints a bleak and realistic portrait of the time. Eventually, Bronson arrives and in a classic scene, does away with all of them. Ultimately, he's after Frank (Fonda) for a undisclosed reason that is revealed later in the film.

The drama surrounds the fact that Frank and his gang, hired by Morton (Ferzetti), a railroad baron and businessman, to dispatch of anything that lies in the way of his beloved railroad. As it turns out, the McBain's homestead is sitting in the way, with Brett McBain planning to build a station for the passing railroad (as a means to turn a profit). Frank, in disturbing fashion, kills the entirety of the family, including 9 year old Timmy McBain.

Wife Jill McBain, formerly a prostitute from New Orleans, arrives at the homestead during what amounts to a funeral of her dead family. A desperado named Cheyenne (Robards) is framed for the murder, though he eventually is able to reveal his innocence to McBain. Ultimately, converging interests unite Harmonica and Cheyenne to take on the railroad, and ultimately Frank.

There were no John Wayne's and Gary Cooper's in Sergio Leone films. Much of the time, the heroes of these particular films were really no better than the men we come to hate in these films. Once Upon a Time in the West is a particular case of this happening. See, we ultimately are rooting for Harmonica (Bronson) in his pursuit of vengeance against the hired gun, Frank (Fonda). We also want to feel compassionate for Cheyenne (Robards) as he searches for humanity in the west.

But when you boil it down, these men really are no different from each other. They all have killed, they all have their own motivations behind their actions. They are relics of the American West, a breed of survivors who soon will be antiquated by the interconnectedness of America (as symbolized by the railroad).

Prior to the climactic shootout between Frank and Harmonica (one of my favorite ending scenes of all time), during a short conversation, this theme is echoed after Harmonica makes a remark relating to Frank's business interests in Morton's railroad.

Frank: Morton once told me I could never be like him. Now I understand why. Wouldn't have bothered him, knowing you were around somewhere alive.
Harmonica: So, you found out you're not a businessman after all.
Frank: Just a man.
Harmonica: An ancient race. Other Mortons will be along, and they'll kill it off.

In the end, we're obviously meant to root for Harmonica, but this conversation proves that in all reality, these men are really not that different from each other. Ultimately, Morton's railroad is seen as a dehumanizing reality to these men.

In my opinion, this is the best western film ever made. I do like many westerns, however, none seem to capture the sheer brutality of the American West like this film. Most films, after all, glorify the west, giving us a cut and dried bad guy. The West just wasn't this simple. It was a dirty place, a grimy place, one that modern man probably could not survive in. This film captures all of this, and much more realistically than any of Sergio Leone's other spaghetti westerns (which were all great films in their own right).

Also worth mentioning is the absolutely gorgeous cinematography, the wonderful score by frequent Sergio Leone compadre Ennio Morricone, and the ending duel between Frank and Harmonica, which in my mind, exceeds the finale in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. I recommend this to anyone who likes movies. I can almost guarantee that you'll appreciate this film if you watch it.

A movie that tops everybody's best movie list, it seems. Only number three from me, though one cannot debate it's merits. Al Pacino turns in one hell of a performance as ascending Don Michael Corleone.

A southern odyssey. Complete with a full blown Old Timey soundtrack and great performance by an ensemble cast, this is a classic.

A biting look at 18th Century English chivalry. Young Redmond Barry climbs the ladder of success, scheming his way to the top, only to fall from grace. One of the most beautifully shot movies of all time, quite pleasing to the eye from a camera point of view.

Biting black comedy about an insane general who brings the world to the brink of destruction. Still relevant to this day, even though the themes of this story are Cold War related.

A stunningly excellent movie, and great acting performance from Jim Carrey. A story of a man who, in the midst of relationship troubles, learns that his girlfriend has had her mind erased through a new technique. As he does the same thing, he starts to rebel against the erasure.

Probably my favorite war movie of all time. George C. Scott gives a memorable turn as the bullheaded, prima donna George Patton, a brilliant general with many faults. Well done cinema here.

Visual eye candy. Almost silent film like in it's presentation, save the backing soundtrack, presented music from Pink Floyd's epic "The Wall". Not for everybody, but this is an adventure of a movie.

While many castigate this film for the graphic nature in it (complete with a rape scene, and plenty of nudity), it really is a moral tale here. Protagonist Alex, after having committed murder, goes to prison, but finds a treatment to "make him good". The ethical question of choice, and the lack of it, comes into play at this point. Really deep movie, if you can outlast some of the graphic scenes in the movie.

Vastly underrated movie, and believe it or not, probably the best performance ever given by Tom Cruise.

Albert Hitchcock's masterpiece... Jimmy Steward plays a conflicted private eye who soon finds himself embroiled in love with the person he's been hired to tail. However, she's not all that he thinks she is.

"Also, Dude, Chinamen is not the preferred nomenclature... Asian American, please" :)

Wes Anderson's homage to oceanographer Jacques Yvez-Cousteau. Bill Murray stars as Steve Zissou, an oceanographer, as it hilariously catalogues his quest to meet up with the jaguar shark which ate his long time friend Esteban. Not for everyone, but if you like dry humor, you should like this.

Another great one from Jack Nicholson, playing system rebel Randall Patrick McMurphy, a seemingly mentally capable prisoner who refuses to give into the system. In the process, he helps open the eyes of other patients on his ward, much to the chagrin of Nurse Ratched.

Peter Sellers' seminal film, if you ask me, playing Chauncey the Gardiner, a man whose education is from the television. After his master dies, and he enters the real world, he is picked up by a politico, who takes his simpleton insights as pure gold. In the day and age of cable news shows with mind-numbing talking heads, this movie retains its relevance.

Good, clean Mel Brooks fun

Forgive me for such a long review, but since most people are skeptical of this film due to Raging Bull, I feel the need to explain this one a bit.

Brilliantly made film by one of Hollywood's finest actors, Robert Redford, in his directorial debut. I was skeptical going in, with all the hoopla surrounding the fact that this film won Best Picture in 1980 over Raging Bull. I didn't expect that much. However, consider myself pleasantly surprised. In my opinion, this film was better made as a composite than Raging Bull which, in it's own right, was an excellent movie, but was more or less was driven by De Niro's Jake LaMotta.

A Chicago Northern Suburbs family, the Jarrett's, have seen tragedy eye to eye. The oldest son died in a boating accident on Lake Michigan, and the remaining family, parents Calvin and Beth (Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore) and remaining son Conrad (Timothy Hutton) are left to pick up the pieces.

What impresses me so much about this film is that rarely will you find such an example of raw human interaction as the interactions in this film. The death of eldest son drives Conrad to attempt to take his own life. Calvin, as the caring father, suggests that he sees a psychiatrist (played by Judd Hirsch). Unfortunately for them, Beth Jarrett wants nothing to do with this and represents the overall upper-class suburban thought process of dealing with problems internally as opposed to publicly.

Ultimately, the husband Calvin, after pretending things were alright for so long, comes to grips with the fact that all is not well within the family, and that the family is disintegrating over the backdrop of their deceased son.

Sutherland's character is the primary vehicle by which the audience sees the overall change in the family. Caught in the middle of conflict between his cold, domineering wife and his emotionally distraught son, he eventually comes around to the fact that he may not be able to keep the family unit together. Personally, I thought his performance was brilliantly understated.

Consider me pleasantly surprised. I came into this with all the skepticism due to the fact that this film beat Raging Bull. It seems like the two biggest controversial years for this were 1979 and 1980 (in 1979, it was Kramer vs. Kramer beating Apocalypse Now). In that case, I could see the argument. In 1980, however, Ordinary People was more than deserving of Best Picture. Please see this film.