This is the fifth in a series of posts about my 102 Best Movies:
41. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) The best comedy ever made. My children used to have passages from this movie memorized. This dialog was their favorite:
Benjy Benjamin: Now look! We’ve figured it seventeen different ways, and each time we figured it, it was no good, because no matter how we figured it, somebody don’t like the way we figured it! So now, there’s only one way to figure it. And that is, every man, including the old bag, for himself!
Ding Bell: So good luck and may the best man win!
Benjy Benjamin: Except you lady, may you just drop dead!
42. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) This one is my children’s least favorite movie and my husband’s favorite. I think he identifies with Jimmy Stewart, the man who never got to live his dreams.
43. The King and I (1956) I really enjoy all the Siamese children and the wives and, of course, Yul Brynner as the king of Thailand. “Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera. . .”
44. Life Is Beautiful (1997 La vita e bella) This movie is strange. It’s in Italian with subtitles; it’s about a Jewish man and his son and his wife being placed into a concentration camp during World War II. However, it’s sort of a comedy or maybe a tragicomedy. ANyway, it’s very moving and bittersweet.
45. Lilies of the Field (1963) I love the nuns and Sidney Poitier as their hired man. This is a wonderful movie about faith and determination and the meeting of three cultures—Black American, German Catholic, and Mexican American. They all manage to somehow, by the grace of God, build something wonderful in the middle of the desert.
46. The Lion in Winter (1968) This one is a solid historical drama, and I like Katherine Hepburn.
47. Little Women (1994) A good modern version of Louisa May Alcott’s classic story. There’s an older version with Hepburn as Jo, but I like this one even if it is ever so slightly feminist.
48. The Longest Day (1962) Hollywood’s version of D-Day. Although it’s a little bit dated, this movie presents a pretty good picture of what happened to at least some soldiers on D-Day. Unlike Saving Private Ryan, which I thought was pointless, The Longest Day doesn’t try to be profound. It’s just your garden variety Hollywood epic with lots of big name stars and memorable little vignetttes of things that actually happened on D-Day.
49. The Magnificent Seven (1960) We just watched this one about a week ago, and I thought it was great. The offspring were not impressed. I thought Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner were both excellent even though I learned in watching the special features on the DVD that McQueen kept trying to steal scenes because he thought he should have been THE STAR. The funny thing was, after being told, I could see McQueen trying to take over scene after scene. This is the story of a Mexican village that hires seven gunslingers to teach them to defend their village from the local desperado. It’s one of the few westerns on this list, and I told the children that it was an “existential western.” It’s based on a Japanese movie,The Seven Samurai.
50. The Maltese Falcon (1941) Detective Sam Spade, another existential hero, gets involved in the search for a valuable statue. Spade has his own code of conduct and his own way of dealing with whatever life dishes out. Humphrey Bogart is the quintessential tough guy detective.