Also, I am going to give you a Top Baker's Dozen, a lucky thirteen, if you will, on this rainy Bay Area Leap Day, 2012. Because "Real life is for March."
To wit,
No. 1: Casablanca (Curtiz)
(11 votes total -- 65 1/2 points)
Casablanca viewed now, rather when it was new, is from a different perspective. The use of black and white rather than color, using a moving line on a map to show travel, and the newsreel type narration are from another era and add a nostalgic element. The title and location give an exotic and foreign feel to the movie.
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman give great romantic performances, but it is the supporting actors that add so much flavor of the movie. Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet play types with which they have come to be identified. Claude Rains as Captain Renault, is a cynic and opportunist who will make the best of any situation provides some humor.
Parts of dialog that have become recognizable one-liners include; “I was misinformed” (about the water) “round up the usual suspects”, “I am shocked to find gambling is going on here”, “Play it again Sam” have become famliar. The flashback to an earlier time in Paris was done well and links in the familiar “As Time Goes By” music that really adds to the appeal of the movie. The many little side stories and characters add interesting detail. and many cannot be accused of being too subtle
The movie was released during WWII and the aspect of self-sacrifice for the greater good and war time patriotism are obvious.
But it is the writting and direction that make Casablnca exceptional in my opinion.
This comment about Casablanca was provided from an anonymous contributor.
No. 2: The Godfather, Parts 1 & 2 (Coppola)
(10 votes -- 59 1/2 points)
The cinematography by Gordon Willis was sublime; the violence depicted in a pulpy yet brutal manner; and the films are full of amazing performances; notably Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, John Cazale, James Caan, and Diane Keaton.
I will let the wonderful critic and author, David Thomson, have the final word: "Compellingly entertaining, The Godfather is still as beautiful as it is mysterious. No other American classic so repays repeated viewings. How odd that American film offered this last song of vindication just as it delivered its most foreboding message: the corruption of the state. For years, Hollywood films were happy and positive; now it had grasped eternal unease. Has the America that followed been fit for movies or songs, or is it just too sunk in its own dismay?"
Mr Thomson's thoughts on The Godfather are from his absolutely crucial and essential book on film, Have You Seen ... ?
No. 3: Citizen Kane (Welles)(8 votes -- 47 1/2 points)
Citizen Kane turned main stream motion pictures into art film. The camera was now as important as the actor in telling the story. When I first saw this film I was stunned at the visual images playing out on the screen , deep focus, tilted angles, really good sound effects, interesting lighting. And as all great art, it is based on a simple concept. As I have gotten older the story resonates even more than when I first saw it in the early 1970’s.
What makes it even more special, as well as exasperating, is that Orson Welles was only 24 years old when he wrote, starred in and directed this movie. It was also his first feature film. If you can only make one good thing in your life you might as well make it the best ever. (But wait he also made the best radio show ever....)
Citizen Kane also stands the test of time, it stands up just as well today as when it was made in 1941. It beats the snot out of almost every movie that is made today.
Thoughts on Citizen Kane contributed by my father, Andy Spitler.
No. 4: Star Wars, Episode Four -- A New Hope
(6 votes -- 43 1/2 points)
Star Wars is the myth for the new era. A myth is a story that may never have happened but is always true.
It is the hero's journey. Myth, as Shelley said about poetry, sensitizes us to the fragility of the soul. Star Wars connects us at this soul level, with a sacred concept, that we are all Jedi Knights in service of the force. We are all called to be a sacred answer to a cosmic need. We all want to be called to a higher purpose and Star Wars is that call. Maybe subconsciously, but we all await the knock on our door from the Jedi. This is the power and the call of Star Wars A New Hope.
Thoughts on Star Wars contributed by Terry Layton.
No. 5: Apocalypse Now (Coppola)(5 votes -- 33 1/2 points)
More than thirty years later, I persist in my belief that Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW is the greatest film our cinema has produced. For me, no other film fuses together such intensity and richness in its terrible and gorgeous imagery, hallucinatory music and sound design, indelible writing (and improvisation), philosophical heft and outrageous humor, great acting, and metaphorical journey of a plot into a massive work of such overwhelming power. I think the criticism that its third act is a murky mess has been disproven by history, as Brando’s scenes are now iconic (“My God, the genius of that. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure.”) and “the horror” of the climax an acknowledged masterpiece of visual and rhythmic virtuosity.
Thoughts on Apocalypse Now contributed by Scott Shattuck.
No. 6: Annie Hall (Allen)(6 votes -- 32 points)
First off, here are my thoughts on Annie Hall. But I would also just like to mention how Allen finally made a great American film that seemed so European (or French, really.) Although he adores Ingmar Bergman, Allen simply does not have that type of sense of humor. And none of his attempts at the Bergman style have been very good.
But with Annie Hall, Allen finally found his voice and started making profoundly funny and profoundly moving films. It is all the more ironic that Allen be best remembered for Annie Hall, as the film was an absolute disaster before cutting, over three hours long, and a complete mess. But somehow Allen, Gordon Willis (there is that name again), Marshall Brickman, and the editing team found the story and the style and recovered an absolute diamond from the mine.
-- Ardent Henry
No. 7: Blazing Saddles (Brooks)(6 votes -- 31 1/2 points)
I love the way Mel Brooks dealt with racism in Blazing Saddles. Whenever I feel like the world has gotten too P.C. for me, I think of the scene where the chain gang is asked to sing an "old negra spiritual worksong" and they break out with Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out of You", and have no idea what "De camp town laaaydees??" is.
Thoughts on Blazing Saddles contributed by Michelle Lee Houghton.
No. 8: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)(5 votes -- 29 points)
This Masterpiece by Kurosawa is an epic story of courage, humility, and nobility. Despite being filled with epic, groundbreaking battle scenes, the film also contains a good deal of humor.
Once again, I will let David Thomson have the last word, "It is a landmark in action films, but in its treatment of heroism, too ... And Seven Samurai comes as that notion was being treated with cynicism. But there is no denying or forgetting the faces of these men. They are the seven samurai, and they have found themselves. They do not need to say so, because we understand it."
Once again, a very serious tip of the hat to the marvelous David Thomson and his splendid book, Have You Seen ... ?
No. 9: Aliens (Cameron)(4 votes -- 27 points)
I first saw this film upon its release with my movie buddy at the time, Kevin Parker. We were very excited to see it, listening to NPR on the way to the theater, a reviewer extolling its virtues.
I like how Cameron completely eschewed the original Alien genre and made an action film instead. I also like how the Marines are all a bunch of sweary loudmouth badasses going in to the battle but are all reduced to sniveling little crybabies by the time they return to HQ.
In my personal opinion, Cameron has never made a film near as good as this one. And I doubt he will ever top it.
-- Ardent Henry
No. 10: Singin' in the Rain (Donen and Kelly)
(5 votes -- 26 1/2 points)Like Gold Diggers of 1933, Singin' in the Rain is one of the very few Musical Comedies that satisfy on every level. The music is fantastic, the songs are good (though Arthur Freed totally ripped off Cole Porter for Make 'Em Laugh), the comedy is absolutely side-splitting (Jean Hagen deserves a Lifetime Oscar for her work in this film alone), the dancing (Gene Kelly did the choreography) is sublime, and there are so many iconic moments in this film that will outlast us all. But what else do you expect from the Freed Unit at MGM?
Nobody, nobody made better musicals than MGM at this time. And no unit at MGM could even touch the Arthur Freed Unit. I strongly encourage you to watch the brill documentary, Musicals Great Musicals: The Freed Unit at MGM whenever you get a chance. The doc is part of the lavish dvd set of Singin' in the Rain.
(And just on a personal note, as a tween in Dallas, Texas in the late seventies/early eighties, seeing Cyd Charisse dance in the final "Gotta dance!" production number was like receiving a punch in the solar plexus. That is the day Michael David Spitler discovered that girls really were different from little boys.)
-- Ardent Henry
No. 11: To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan)
(4 votes -- 24 1/2 points)I was in a theatre production of To Kill a Mockingbird in high school. I was cast as Dill and I made an absolute hash of it, a travesty. I wanted the Mr Gilmer DAs part instead.
I have always loved the fact that the amazing Harper Lee wrote just one novel. Hey, if you are going to write just one book, why not make it one of the greatest novels in American history.
And I have always loved that Horton Foote wrote the screenplay for the film. I also appeared in a Horton Foote play in 1984. I played the lead (a kid again -- I almost always played kids due to my height and my intelligence) and I nailed it, one of my finest performances.
There is something about Texas and the South, that if you have never lived there, frankly, you just will not ever understand.
This is a wonderful adaptation of Ms Lee's masterful novel and I am so honored that it made this list.
-- Ardent Henry
No. 12: All That Jazz (Fosse)
(4 votes -- 23 1/2 points)
Here are my personal thoughts on All That Jazz again. But I will add a few more observations here:
Though depressing, there is so much life in this film that it bears multiple viewings. I can not tell you how many times I have seen this absolute genius motion picture.
Fosse was not only one of the finest choreographers that ever lived but he was a masterful director who time and time again got uncanny, amazing performances from his actors, merely by directing them in a documentary, interviewer's style. He always asked questions to his actors, never gave them direction.
Fosse was one of the all-time legends of cinema and Broadway. He is so sorely missed.
-- Ardent Henry
No. 13: All About Eve (Mankiewicz)(5 votes -- 22 1/2 points)
All About Eve also made my personal ballot and you can read my thoughts here.
As I discussed re Trouble in Paradise, All About Eve is also a movie for smart grown-ups. It is the type of film that Hollywood gave up on ages ago. And we, as cinema goers, are all the worse for it.
And like All That Jazz, All About Eve is the type of film that theatre/showbizzy folk could stand to watch once a month (or more) for the rest of our lives.
-- Ardent Henry
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Honorable Mention (in no particular order):
Until the End of the World; Chinatown; Goodfellas; Rear Window; Manhattan; Bringing Up Baby; Dr Strangelove; Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me; 12 Angry Men; North by Northwest; Lord of the Rings; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Blade Runner; The Outsiders; The Empire Strikes Back; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Double Indemnity; Now, Voyager; The Blues Brothers; Pulp Fiction; It's A Wonderful Life; and Lawrence of Arabia.
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Honestly, I wanted to give you a whole rash of favorite ballots with this post but I am not going to be able to get to that today. (Going to the big Frog's Leap Leap Day Party in Napa very soon. Woo-hoo!)
I will give you my two favorite ballots today, though. They are both from the two most important Libras in my life, my father, Andy, and my wife, Renee. Both of them simply could not list just ten films. My father gave me eighteen, and my wife gave me twenty-one! What is it about Libras? Rules? What rules? We are the true judges, after all!
Renee Diskowski's ballot:
(in no particular order)
Manhattan
An American in Paris
Metropolitan
Cabaret
Citizen Kane
Annie Hall
Bedazzled (the Donen directed Dudley Moore/Peter Cook version)
All About Eve
Bringing Up Baby
Happiness
North by Northwest
Now, Voyager
The Philadelphia Story
Play Misty for Me
Rear Window
Sunset Blvd.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Hanna and Her Sisters
Beauty and the Beast (the Cocteau live-action Masterpiece)
Glengarry Glen Ross
William Andrew Spitler's ballot:
(in no particular order)
Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Salesman (Mayles Bros documentary)
Day for Night
Brazil
Matewan
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
The Fly (Cronenberg version)
Double Indemnity
The Philadelphia Story
All That Jazz
The Elephant Man
The Sting
The Maltese Falcon
Chinatown
Glengarry Glen Ross
Bye Bye Brazil
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And there you have it, folks! Thanks to all of you that participated. Perhaps I will do another one on Leap Day, 2016?
I will publish in the coming days other ballots that I loved or found interesting. I hope all of you have enjoyed this project as much as I enjoyed hosting it.
Thank you all so much! I love you all,
Mwah, ...
mds
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| You have got to be kidding me, Cyd! |
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| The exquisite Cyd Charisse (1922-2008) yet another Woman Michael Loves. |
mds
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