Monday, September 12, 2005

Movie Magic

Someone asked what my favorite movie was the other day and I couldn’t think of one. That might not sound strange for a lot of people, but I’m supposed to be a film fan. I’ve seen more movies than I could count. From silent films to CG bonanzas, from the French New Wave to Yakuza gangster flicks, I’ve loved a lot of movies. Some of the movies I love are so bad, that when I say the name out loud, I’m compelled to whisper it. Yet, even though I know that these movies are bad, I’ll gleefully watch them over and over again frequently shouting out lines from the script before the characters get a chance. Others, I vividly remember seeing for the first time, they may even be movies that changed the way I thought about movies, but I can’t necessarily face the prospect of seeing them again any time soon. Still others, are just great films that I love with all my heart and can watch any time they are on.

Anyway, I couldn’t have written this list if I’d made the “favorite” part the determining factor. Rather, I will call this list a randomly selected list of movies that popped into my head after I’d been asked what my favorite movie was. In no order whatsoever, here are ten:

Shag
My all-time favorite bad flick, this road trip/buddy movie features Phoebe Cates, Bridget Fonda, Annabeth Gish and Page Hannah – four southern belles on a last fling before college. Cheese doesn’t begin to cover it. See it, you’ll wish you hadn’t. But I can watch it over and over.

Hair
This movie has everything. It’s politically motivating, it’s funny, it has some cute guys in it and best of all, you can sing along the whole way. This is celluloid gold. And, no, I’m not kidding.

Lawrence of Arabia
Mr. T and I still run around calling each other “Orance” years after we watched this film together. Since we’d met in film class and both considered ourselves huge film buffs before we met, neither of us understands how we’d missed this one. It is a beautiful, meaty, film experience and if you’ve got a couple of hours on a rainy Sunday, I can’t imagine a better way to spend it.

Ghandi
This one is for another Sunday. It’s a long one, but it fills me with hope when I watch it. Like Lawrence of Arabia, this isn’t one I can watch over and over again but I’ll never forget it either.

Cool Hand Luke
There is, simply, no cooler film. I mean, he eats 50 eggs. FIFTY!

Buth Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Robert Redford and Paul Newman together on the screen in their best film. So beautiful. And the film’s great too.

Grease/Jesus Christ Superstar/42nd Street
I’ll only say that I grew up one of three sisters. We sang along to these movies so much and watched them so often that I have to lump them all in together. If one of us says something that sounds remotely like a lyric from any of the songs in any of the above films, it’s likely no one else will be able to talk for some time as the sisters will break out into loud, unabashed song.

The Princess Bride
Again, 3 girls, one house, what more can I say?

The Shining
This is Mr. T’s favorite movie. He’s watched it over 200 times. We’ve lived together for close to 10 years. I had two choices: love this movie or leave this man. Frankly, it was a pretty easy choice since it’s a great film and, luckily, it only gets better with multiple screenings.

GoodFellas
This is one of the most quotable movies of all time. I love it. I love it so much. The music is great, the language is colorful, the characters are brilliant. Scorcese at his absolute best. If you haven’t seen it, go do it now. I can’t believe how lucky you are.