Favorite Movies

• Casablanca 1942
  Bergman & Bogie. Of all the gin joints in all the world....
• Angels in the Outfield 1951
  Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh. The original version. They don't have managers on the Heavenly Nine.
• The Thing 1951
  Kenneth Tobey, with James Arness in what was probably the only uncredited title role in movie history. Howard Hawks's riveting thriller, loosely based on the John W. Campbell story, "Who Goes there?"
• The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951
  Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal. Gort barata nikto. Or whatever. This is what SF is supposed to be.
• High Noon 1952
  Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly. Coop at his best.
• Belles of St Trinians 1954
  Alistair Sim as the kindly Miss Fritton. 'At most girls' schools, the graduates are warned to look out for the wicked old world. Here at St. Trinian's we believe it is the wicked old world that better look out.'
• The Ladykillers 1955
  Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers. The British demonstrate how an armored car heist should be done. Probably the funniest caper film ever.
• The Green Man 1956
  Alistair Sim as a professional London assassin. But he only takes out those who deserve to be taken out. Got his start with his headmaster.
• Rio Bravo 1959
  John Wayne, Dean Martin. Classic shoot-em-up.
• Inherit the Wind 1960
  Spencer Tracy, Fredric March. Clarence Darrow vs William Jennings Bryan in the real trial of the century.
• School for Scoundrels 1960
  Alistair Sim. The school we all wished we'd attended. 'If you're not one up, you're one down.'
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 1961
  Spencer Tracy and an army of comics. The all-time best American comedy.
• Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines 1965
  Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Terry-Thomas. An air race circa 1904 from London to Paris. Terry-Thomas's character will stop at nothing to win, while we watch national characteristics lampooned. Magnificently funny.
• Tora, Tora, Tora 1970
  Martin Balsam. 'Unknown planes coming from the east? Don't worry about it.'
• Star Wars 1976.
  For all of us who loved the Saturday serials.
• Without a Clue 1988
  Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley. Turns out Watson is the real sleuth and Holmes is just a front man. My favorite line, from Watson: 'The case is closed, Holmes, when I say it's closed.'
• Field of Dreams 1989
  Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones. Bring hankies.
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989
  Harrison Ford, Sean Connery. Probably the most entertaining of the IJ films. Who would have thought Connery was such a gifted comic?
• Sleepless in Seattle 1993 Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks. Love atop the Empire State Building.
• Courage Under Fire 1996
  Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan. Military mystery surrounds the death of a wartime helicopter pilot.
• Remember the Titans 2001
  Denzel Washington. Moving portrayal of a high school team that shows a town what can happen when racial barriers are put aside.
• The Emperors' Club 2002
  Kevin Kline. Eventually every teacher confronts the truth: You can't save everybody.
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips BBC, Masterpiece Theater version, 2002
  Martin Clunes. A teacher at a British boys' school teaches Latin and compassion during fifty sometimes-turbulent years, from the late nineteenth century to the 1930's. Comes as close to capturing the spirit of the Hilton novel as one could expect.
• Timequest 2003
  Viktor Slezak. They didn't have much money to spend on this one, but every dollar must have gone into the writing. A time traveler saves JFK, gives him a preview of the Vietnam War, and comments on what his womanizing will do to his reputation. The new Kennedy makes the decisions we all wish he might have been spared to make. He eventually dies peacefully in his eighties at Hyannisport, and is buried at Kennedy Moonbase. Sentimental favorite, and there's nothing wrong with sentiment.
• Radio 2003
  Ed Harris, Cuba Gooding, Jr. A mentally handicapped man brings out the best in (almost) everybody. At the showing we attended, people literally cheered during the closing sequence.

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