Sunday, March 08, 2009


AT THE MOVIES
Happy daylight savings (yawn)!
Today's post is not directly book related. It's about the movies, or more precisely those movies which the rigid and intolerant shop owner finds memorable and would like his staff to see some day so that they'll be up to speed on why, being super impressionable, he behaves as he does.
We talk movies in the store with each other and with our friends and customers, and today you can be included in the conversation. This is not my list of "best" or "most important" movies, and it doesn't go back in time to delve into movie history. It's just an informal list of about one hundred films which I liked enough to remember and through which I would happily sit once again, at least. Almost no current or recent films are included, and I did not agonize over this in order to
avoid omissions or to be comprehensive. It's all just pretty much a stream of of consciousness thing, in no order of date or significance.
I'm not presuming to "recommend" any of these, and there are many of your own favorite films which I have never seen and many which I saw and hated. "So it goes" ( Who said that? It's a lit quiz.)
This can be an interactive conversation, but it's mostly designed to kill some time on a dreary Chicago day. A visit to Blockbuster may brighten your perspective.I have to sit here and listen to the rain.
Don't forget, we do have a large film and drama section in the shop, and there's a shelf full of Roger Ebert's reviews, along with many others, including that right wing guy, whatshisname.

Chinatown
Jaws
The Godfather 1,2
On the Waterfront
On the Town
Singing in the Rain
An American in Paris
Get Shorty
Annie Hall
Hannah and Her Sisters
A Fish Called Wanda
Tin Cup
Waterworld
The Ice Harvest
Dave
Sweet Smell of Success
Manchurian Candidate ( first )
Seven Days in May
Some Came Running
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Sweet and Lowdown
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Downfall
From Here to Eternity
The King of Marvin Gardens
Atlantic City
Mean Steets
Five Easy Pieces
A Member of the Wedding
Wind Across the Everglades
Gone With the Wind
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Assassination Tango
Brazil
Wild at Heart
Michael Clayton
Cape Fear (first)
The Big Sleep
Top Hat
The Third Man
In the Heat of the Night
Hud
Pollock
The Pianist
The Maltese Falcon
The African Queen
To Have and Have Not
Key Largo
The Friends of Eddy Coyle
Out of the Past
Mystic River
Night of the Hunter
Moonstruck
L.A. Confidential
Out of Sight
One Eyed Jacks
Apocalypse Now
Red Rock West
The Last Seduction
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Blood Simple
The Moderns
Choose Me
The Lady Eve
Sullivan's Travels
Seven Samurai
The Magnificent Seven
True Grit
The Searchers
Nevada Smith
Bullit
Dirty Harry
Copland
Groundhog Day
Lost in Translation
The Getaway ( both )
Taxi Driver
Big Night
Out of Africa
Surviving Picasso
Silence of the Lambs
The Cincinatti Kid
Hard Eight
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Goodfellas
The Big Country
No Country for Old Men
Apocalypto
Laura
Viva Zapata
Mystery Train
Heaven Can Wait
Gandhi
Shampoo

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen only a handful of these. Jim, have you ever been to the Bank of America Cinema in Portage Park? They'll be showing One Eyed Jacks in the coming month or two.

Tad Richards said...

Here's a list I made up a while back (I'm third list down the page).

http://www.thecinematheque.com/10top10_page2.html