I posed myself the question - which 25 movies made the biggest impression on me, or influenced me and/or society - and the answer was way harder than I thought. Try as I might, I could not limit myself to 25 movies. I’m barely touching upon the greats. Hey, Tom Stronach, a new twitter peep from the UK, posted his list too! Click here to read it.
China Town - This may be the only movie starring Jack Nicholson I honestly enjoyed. His edgy acting makes me nervous. China Town is classic film noir at it’s best. Directed by Roman Polanski and also starring Faye Dunaway, aside from “I’ll be back”, the line - “My sister…my daughter…my sister…my daughter…” may go down in history as the most oft repeated bit of dialogue in film history.
The Terminator - Speaking of “I’ll be back,” the first Terminator movie hit me where I live. It was everything a great time travel/science fiction movie should be, bare bones, elegant, terrifying. It is not sentimental. In my opinion, this film is James Cameron’s best. Casting Arnold as the Terminator was a stroke of genius.
Take the Money and Run - As far as I know, this is the first movie Woody Allen wrote and directed all by himself. It’s possible this movie launched his incredible and very neurotic career as an actor/writer/director. Take the Money and Run has special meaning for me. My future husband and I went to see this movie on our first date. That we walked three miles in the middle of a Minneapolis winter to get to the theater was no big thing. I will forever remember the bank robbery scene.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller - The first movie I ever fell in love with. I mean, really fell in love with. In my opinion, Robert Altman’s one and only beautiful movie. He co-wrote this gorgeous, lonely, tragic story. Starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and introducing Shelley Duvall and Keith Carradine.
A River Runs Through It - The movie that made Brad Pitt. Sure, Thelma and Louisa introduced him, but A River Runs Through It made him a star. No woman could resist that smile, and if she could, well, she must have been dead. A remarkably faithful rendering of my favorite short story by Norman McClean.
The Wizard of Oz - This movie gets a mention for two reasons, maybe three, maybe four - the glorious technicolor, the fact that we kids got to stay up late to watch it every year and eat TV dinners on TV trays no less (the one time during the year we were allowed TV dinners…ah Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, corn, apple crisp - it was a bigger event than Christmas), Judy Garland’s incomparable voice, and I can sing the Munchkin song in its entirety. I still perform it for my family, and dog, yearly.
Rear Window - Okay, so coming up with my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie was not easy, by any stretch of the imagination. This film, starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr at his most diabolical, had to compete with my other two favorites, North By Northwest and Dial M for Murder. Rear Window won out. What’s not to like about a photo-journalist voyeur, society dame Grace Kelly, a nosy visiting nurse and a murderer who thinks he’s committed the perfect crime???
Psycho - Yes, my next choice is also a Hitchcock classic. Psycho changed the way we take showers, that’s for damn sure. Don’t ask me why, but my father took me when I was just a kid and I’m scarred for life. You want to talk psychological thrillers? Well, as far as I’m concerned, Psycho is it.
Die Hard - Action, guns, bombs, missal launchers, smart ass one-liners, stupid FBI guys, Die Hard has it all. Bruce Willis pitted against Alan Rickman and Alexander Godunov? Makes for a yummy combination.
Gone With the Wind - I don’ know nuthin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies. This movie may have been before my time, but I adored Scarlet O’Hara. The costumes were brilliant, the sets beyond compare. Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) acted the perfect rake and Scarlet (Vivien Leigh) the perfect opportunist. Leslie Howard played the useless Ashley Wilkes, while Olivia de Havilland was the greatest long-suffering, self-sacrificing doormat ever to grace the big screen.
Last Tango in Paris - Marlon Brando’s swan song. Sure, we’ll always have The Godfather, but this movie was the last time he could pull off sexy. Risque, poignant, stark, cruel, ugly. Co-star Maria Schneider was both luminous and insane at the same time.
Risky Business - My introduction to Tom Cruise and quite frankly, the only movie he’s made I really and truly like. Contains scenes that will still be iconic generations from now.
Star Wars - Much as I hate to admit it, because like my son I believe George Lucas trashed his own creation, Star Wars changed movie-making forever. Of the original three, The Empire Strikes Back stood head and shoulders above the other two. That movie was grand.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Another Harrison Ford gem, but this time from Steven Spielberg. A mix of my favorite subjects, history, fantasy, archeology and the lost Ark of the Covenant. A romping good time, especially because the good guys win in the end. The ideal blend of humor, adventure, romance and danger.
Witness - The ultimate chick flick. This movie stars Harrison Ford at his angsty, funny, heroic bad-boy best. Kelly McGillis is pure gold, Lukas Haas, a gem. How can you go wrong with an Amish love story combined with a big-city murder mystery and corrupt cops? My favorite scene? The ice cream cone. Oh yeah.
Bull Durham - I have to toss in what I consider to be the best sports movie ever made - cuz it’s for girls too. Sports and sex. Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner are smokin’ hot in this flick about a catcher whose time has passed. Plus it’s all about baseball and in my mind, baseball is the ultimate in Zen. (A League of Their Own comes in a close second.)
Aliens - My son and I are in agreement. Yeah, sure, Alien was the film of my generation, but Aliens kicks ass. Sigourney Weaver shows that a woman can give as good as she gets. My son is right in his assessment. If anything, Aliens was more frightening than Alien because you knew what was gonna happen, but damn, you just had to watch anyway.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Nobody will ever make a guy movie as good as this. Paul Newman and Robert Redford were all that. ALL THAT. The film was tight, the acting perfection itself. This is one for the ages. A timeless film. Take that, hair-cutter’s sister!
Raising Arizona - While I both love and hate the Coen brothers, Raising Arizona will forever be the quirky and very much elevated standard to which I hold them. Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter in a crazier than shit movie about stealing a baby. This movie was but the beginning…
Terms of Endearment - The ultimate tear-jerker. I sobbed so hard while watching this movie the usher asked me to leave the theater. Ladies, you know what I’m talking about. Debra Winger has always been one of my very favorite actresses and this may be the one time Jack Nicholson got to play sweet. For making me cry my eyes out, Terms of Endearment makes the cut.
Urban Cowboy - Yeah, I can hear you say…What? You bet your ass this movie belongs here. This was Debra Winger’s first leading role. I took one look at her as Sissy and said, “Holy shit, is she going places.” She and John Travolta were dynamite in this film. Travolta never received the credit he deserved. The director, James Bridges, also directed Paper Chase and The China Syndrome.
The Big Chill - The classic ensemble piece of my generation…well, actually of my husband’s oldest brother’s generation, but I managed to sneak in on the flip side when things were going to hell in a hand basket. The cast, the music, the hook-ups, the drugs. What a great movie. Oh, and Kevin Costner, we hardly knew ye.
The Right Stuff - Directed by Phillip Kaufman, based on the book by Tom Wolfe, starring Sam Shepherd (oh sexy man of the crooked tooth), Scott Glen, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Barbara Hershey - a fabulous cast from top to bottom. This is the ultimate American hero movie. The movie definitely got it right - this is what heroes are made of.
Wait Until Dark - Audrey Hepburn plays blind woman, Susy Hendrix, terrorized by the evil Alan Arkin. This was another thriller my father took me to see - I think it’s because my mother didn’t like thrillers. I remember thinking that day, if a blind woman can outsmart murderers, there’s hope for me.
The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy - The only way I can fit both these Dustin Hoffman movies in is to count them as one. These are among the finest movies ever made. The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols, took a dark, humorous, cynical look at suburban life. I can’t imagine a better Benjamin Braddock than Dustin Hoffman. I swear he was born to play this part. Midnight Cowboy, directed by John Schlesinger, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight is a thing of beauty. Before Brokeback Mountain, there was Midnight Cowboy.
The movies I could not include and really really wanted to:
Taxi Driver
Winter’s Bone
Brokeback Mountain
Stranger Than Fiction
The Matrix
Parenthood
Mash
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
My Fair Lady
The Maltese Falcon
Network
All the President’s Men
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Miracle Worker
The Hurt Locker
Related posts:
- Trying to shake the blues. unsuccessfully so far. It’s hard to write, work, think. On...
- Ack! Ack! Double Ack! I’ll be over there tomorrow and lord only knows where...
- Movies with great sex/love scenes. Give this one some thought. I actually have two favorite...
- Let’s Talk Food Today. Yesterday, Penelope, at Penelope’s Romance Reviews, discussed the changes she’s...
- Get your popcorn - my son’s top 20 movies. Big- This was and is still the biggest child wish...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
I loved the Big Chill and the Right Stuff. My all time favorite is Beautiful Mind-not only because I like to gaze at Russell Crowe, but because I love the story so much. And it’s true-kinda.
Kelly, I have to admit that 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe is one of my favorite Westerns. The thinking man’s Western! Beautiful mind freaked me out because it’s true, more or less.
Have you watched Moonstruck? It’s on my top 10 favorites list (with Aliens and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Jaws and…..OK, I’ll stop now!). But seriously, try Moonstruck. It is ROMANCE. Super romantic. Extremely well done film.
You’ve got several on their I really liked, Julia. I’d add Bucket List with Freeman and Nicholson. Loved that movie.
Oh yes, Moonstruck, The Elephant Man, Mask, The Color Purple, Out of Africa, The Great Santini, Norma Rae, Kramer vs. Kramer, Chariots of Fire, New Jack City. It was so very hard to narrow the list down. Oh, and let’s not forget Romancing the Stone!
OMG! Julie Christie and Warren Beatty were so beautiful in “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” I remember having a special girls-only day and going to see that movie with my older sister and mother and just getting swept away in it.
My first union paycheck was for “The Right Stuff” I apprenticed with my older sister. I loved Tom Wolf’s book, I read it multiple times and was infatuated with it. This was a split, troubled production to work on with two huge production teams working in different parts of the state. Costs soared and the there was a lot of doubt about the outcome, but I think time has proven this movie to be worth the extra trouble and work. In my eyes it’s a classic. The cast is iconic, what a great bunch of actors! Everyone was perfectly cast.
“Aliens” scared the crap out of me in a good way! I saw it and went back the next day to see it again just to get another rush! It’s a great movie on every level.
Loved Terminator! I was so surprised the first time I saw it, I wasn’t expecting much and I totally enjoyed it.
Anything by Hitchcock is good by me, Hitchcock’s is my style icon-North Star. There’s no one like him. Strict attention to detail and psychology took him to the next level.
Putting Paul Newman and Robert Redford together in a western was one of life’s great kindnesses! Thank you god for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
XXOO Kat
Kat, your life is so amazing. Can’t believe you worked on that movie! Yeah, Aliens was a good rush, a very good rush. I do think McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a gorgeous movie - so lush and so sad. Love the filters used for filming.
Charade, North by Northwest, Bad Day at Blackrock, High Noon…Too many choices, aren’t there?
Witness … wow, I haven’t thought of that movie in ages. The brilliance of a man hiding in Amish country and falling love. Wonderful! I loved it. And Wizard of Oz! It was a big night in our house as well. Five kids in front of the television … we never missed the once a year showing of that movie and Willy Wonka. Great list Julia.
Nina - wasn’t it fun to watch The Wizard of Oz every year? Really, around our house it was big news!
Oh Anny, too many choices!