To Have and Have Not

Stars - Humphrey Bogart (#1), Lauren Bacall (#20); Quotes - "You know how to whistle, don't you...?" (#34); Passions (#60)

Honestly, I didn't think this movie was all that great. It's basically a cheap rehash of Casablanca. But it was the movie that brought Bogie and Bacall together and as such, it's notable.

But who decided that Lauren Bacall should sing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C1vJ2Z8aI0

Funny Girl

Quotes - "Hello, gorgeous!" (#81); Songs - People (#13), Don't Rain on My Parade (#46); Passions (#41); Musicals (#16)

I don't like Barbra Streisand, but I have to admit she was well suited for this role. I liked this movie much better than I thought I would. And Omar Sharif was actually rather handsome, which was good, because I didn't care for him at all in Doctor Zhivago.

Then again, I just plain didn't care for Doctor Zhivago, and it's not really Omar Sharif's fault.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9i-nAiP5-M

Cabaret

Top 100 (#63 - Revised); Songs - Cabaret (#18); Musicals (#5)

Sigh...I don't even know where to begin. I just very disliked this movie. Liza Minelli can sing, I'll give it that. But the story line, the demeaning way it portrayed women, Joel Grey's creepy makeup...it was all just a big yuck for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmRsIp3XB1Q

The Navigator

Laughs (#81); Stars - Buster Keaton (#21)

Keaton and his unrequited love end up on a ship that's accidentally sent out to sea. It's sweet, and in the 1920s it was probably outrageously funny.

Keaton, you are charming, and you remind me of somebody, although I can't figure out who - it's probably you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4Cat-9YE2o&feature=related

Easy Rider

Top 100 (#88/84); Stars - Peter Fonda (Current); Songs - Born to Be Wild (#29)

The idea of taking your motorcycle (or car, or RVF, or what have you) and hitting the open road has always been an appealing one to me. Just being carefree, seeing the sights, meeting people along the way would be the kind of adventure I'd love.

That part of the movie wasn't so bad. What I didn't like is the whole '60s counterculture thing. These guys are so anti-America, anti-establishment, that they don't realize that the whole reason they have the freedom to go off riding like they do is because they live in the United States.

Jack Nicholson is great. Dennis Hopper is annoying. And, for Pete's sake, Peter Fonda looks just like his dad.

Oh, and Born to Be Wild is a great song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW2e8cPQBTk

Apocalypse Now

Top 100 (#28/30); Stars - Marlon Brando (#4); Quotes - "I love the smell of napalm..." (#12)

It started out Platoon (in which Charlie Sheen looked like Martin Sheen; in this movie I thought Martin Sheen looked like Emilio Estevez - or I suppose it would maybe be the other way around) and ended up Lord of the Flies. Just plain weird.

And this clip will make no sense to you since you haven't seen the movie. I've seen it, so I know what it's spoofing, but I still don't get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLfANSeZAus

Beetlejuice

Laughs (#88); Stars - Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton (Current)

My quest to watch all of the AFI Top 100 movies is a pretty good bucket list item. That is, until Scout asked me why I was watching this movie. "Watching Beetlejuice is on my bucket list," I explained. And then I doubted this entire project. Gone With the Wind, Schindler's List, To Kill a Mockingbird - all noble pursuits. But Beetlejuice? Really?

Whether it's worthy of being on the Top 100 list of anything is debatable, but I guess the movie wasn't too bad. Just what you'd expect if you were to combine Tim Burton, the '80s, and lame comedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQXVHITd1N4&noredirect=1

Dirty Dancing

Quotes - "Nobody puts Baby in the corner" (#98); Songs - (I've Had) The Time of My Life (#86); Passions (#93)

It was pretty smart of the director to end this movie with the big dance scene. It made the audience forget how it wasn't really that great of a movie. Truth be told, I didn't have the time of my life.

It's about sex, an illegal abortion, and a thirty-year-old dance instructor creeping on a teenage girl. Baby's dad was right to try to keep her away from him. And while the dance lessons and final scene were fun to watch, the dance scene when Baby carried the watermelon was downright uncomfortable.

And yet, I have to thank Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey for inspiring this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuzEtU7HkKY&feature=related

Hoosiers

Cheers (#13); Top Ten - Sports (#4)

Not bad, but exactly like every other sports movie out there.

I did like this part, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cdc13CU9Fc

The Naughty Nineties

Quotes - "Who's on first." (#91)

The movie itself is so-so. Show boat entertainers try to keep a group of gamblers from buying their boat and turning it into a casino.

What the movie is remembered for, though, is this classic comedy bit -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M

The Right Stuff

Stars - Jeff Goldblum (Current); Cheers (#19)

To be honest, I didn't think I would like this movie. I expected to be bored. After all, it's long (it may have been better suited for a TV miniseries), and it's about the space program. But I was delightfully surprised.

It starts off in the days of test pilots (which I knew about from my Pancho Barnes book - she was even in the movie, and I knew who she was!) and moved into the space race of the 1950s and '60s.

These men were daring, intelligent heroes, and I found their story interesting. Plus also, I might maybe have a crush on John Glenn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbIEwIwYz-c

The American President

Stars - Richard Dreyfuss (Current); Passions (#75)

There are reasons I don't like this movie. Writer Sorkin's liberal bias is extremely strong; their concern about being caught spending the night together is focused on what the public thinks, not what his young daughter thinks; Michael Douglas has never been my favorite...

And yet I can't help liking it. I think it's because of the "Capraesque" (as Annette Bening's character calls it) fairy tale feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcWo8KXmhLs

My Man Godfrey

Laughs (#44); Stars - Carole Lombard (#23)
Powell plays a homeless man who is hired as a butler for Lombard's crazy and demanding family.
I'm sure that back in the day, the appeal of this movie was the negative way they portrayed the wealthy. Lombard is ditzy and spoiled. Her sister is conniving and self-centered. Her mother is absolutely clueless about anything that doesn't directly involve her. Only her father shows a bit of sense, but, as he fails to tell his family off, I can't respect him, either.
Personally, I was completely turned off by her family and saw no reason why Powell and Lombard should be together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAP4qU4wJ8E

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Cheers (#96)

Far too often while watching these movies, I feel like I'm wasting my time. Movies like Intolerance or All That Jazz have no appeal to me whatsoever. But every once in a while I come across a gem, one that I wish I had known about years earlier. Searching for Bobby Fischer is one of those movies.

Based on a true story, it's about a seven-year-old chess prodigy. While a movie about chess doesn't sound all that wonderful, this one is, because it's a story about a boy with a good heart and a good family.

So yes, see this movie. And if your mom can stay awake, she should see it, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA3pvqjz1oU

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Thrills (#77); Quotes - "Hasta la vista, baby" (#76); Heroes - Terminator (#48); Top Ten - Science Fiction (#8)

I liked the first one well enough to not dread the second. And as far as sequels go, this wasn't too bad. It wasn't just a retelling of the original story; it was a continuation. This time, though, the Terminator is a good guy. In fact, he's the only movie character to be on both the Heroes and the Villains list.

I still don't get science fiction, and I hated the kid's potty mouth, but other than that, Terminator 2 was okay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL1RE8JXaIw

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Stars - Audrey Hepburn (#3); Songs - Moon River (#4); Passions (#61)

I love Audrey Hepburn's sense of style, but I don't really get why she's so iconic.

I remember watching this movie and thinking it was good, but that I was missing something. It's probably because it wasn't until a few years later that I found out what Holly Golightly did for a living. The movie would probably make a lot more sense if I saw it again. I just have to watch all the other movies first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOByH_iOn88

Sweet Smell of Success

Stars - Burt Lancaster (#19); Villains - J. J. Hunsecker (#35)

I really don't know what's worse - snobby elitists or the simpering sops who kiss up to them. Burt Lancaster plays the former and Tony Curtis the latter in this movie about a newspaper columnist who can make or break a person's career and/or reputation just by writing about him.

Lancaster was utterly unappealing, which was the point. But I think I was supposed to feel sorry for Curtis, and I didn't. I was just annoyed that he gave Lancaster that much power over him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtE8r-VTsPY

Sleepless in Seattle

Passions (#45); Top Ten - Romantic Comedy (#10)

Sure, it borrows heavily from An Affair to Remember, but that's part of its charm. The thought that two people who've never met can be so perfect for each other makes you forget that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan share less than five minutes of screen time. Sam had loved so perfectly he doubts he can find that again. Annie is willing to take big risks on the chance that he might be the one. And in the end...magic.

The perfect Valentine's movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4wxX2OtNbo

An Affair to Remember

Stars - Cary Grant (#2); Passions (#5)

Beautiful, passionate, romantic. Sure, it's a chicks movie, but that's why we love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFG-EUPe_Cs

A Place in the Sun

Top 100 (#92); Stars - Elizabeth Taylor (#7); Passions (#53)

Impoverished Montgomery Clift goes to work for a rich uncle and begins love affairs with both gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor and dowdy Shelley Winters.

It was a good movie, but definitely not one of the greatest love stories of all time. Clift was stupid, and in the end paid dearly for his stupidity. Winters was annoying and shrewish.

Like I said, it was good, but not one I'd see again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fm6sa_L5_4

All the President's Men

Top 100 (#77 - Revised); Thrills (#57); Stars - Dustin Hoffman (Current); Cheers (#34); Heroes - Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (#27)

I don't know - it was a bit boring, although that was to be expected. I think the book would be better. The movie had to tell the complete story in two hours, and made Woodward and Bernstein's search for the truth seem a bit too easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUjG1HSSaGI

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Stars - Marilyn Monroe (#6); Songs - Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (#12)
I saw this years ago and I have to admit I don't remember it too well. I know I liked it, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PluRW3_FEt0

I was going to have both the "Diamonds" video and Madonna's "Material Girl" video, to show how others have tried to emulate Marilyn Monroe. However, in watching the two back to back, I realized just how much more talented Ms. Monroe was, and that Madonna was just a really cheap imitation, and I didn't want to do that to Ms. Monroe.

Dark Victory

Stars - Humphrey Bogart (#1), Bette Davis (#2); Cheers (#72); Passions (#32)

This is the story of a woman who is slowly losing her sight. Bette Davis does a remarkable job. So many of the actresses of this era succomb to campy overacting, but Davis balances it really well. Bogart's inconsistent Irish brogue is kind of funny, and Ronald Reagan's drunkenness is unconvincing. Other than that, though, it's a good movie. It probably would have been a big Oscar winner had it not been released in 1939.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuEnlQLgiAk

Annie Hall

Top 100 (#31/35); Laughs (#4); Quotes - "La-dee-da, la-dee-da" (#55); Songs - Seems Like Old Times (#90); Passions (#11); Top Ten - Romantic Comedy (#2)

This movie was just enh for me. I didn't like the neurotic, self-absorbed characters. I also really don't get on-again, off-again relationships. If you love each other, work it out. If not, move on.

Oh, and Diane Keaton got much more beautiful as she aged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG8VAkprGM4

Bananas

Laughs (#69); Stars - Sylvester Stallone (Current - Not Rated)

I don't get Woody Allen. I don't find him funny. His movies are full of neurotic people who can barely function in a normal world.

And then there's Bananas, one of his first movies. It's different from his others. It's a satirical farce about a dictator of a small Central American country, with some moments reminiscent of Monty Python or Benny Hill.

Not your typical Woody Allen.

But I still don't get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGatWm-oYhg

Doctor Zhivago

Top 100 (#39); Passions (#7)

Oh, how I hate this movie. First off, it's cold. Just like Lawrence of Arabia made me feel sandy, Doctor Zhivago makes me feel cold. And I don't like cold. At all.

Next is that it's touted as this wonderful love story. It's not. He's married to someone else. Guess what, honey - if he's willing to leave his wife for you, he'd be willing to leave you for the next trollop who comes along.

There are much better movies about Russia out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyUBdLm3s9U

The Paleface

Songs - Buttons and Bows (#87)

A light western comedy where Bob Hope's mild-mannered dentist is tricked into marrying Calamity Jane. I liked it, but I thought she was awfully mean to him (which was the point, but still).

I liked the song, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRPfXTd6K5A

Knute Rockne, All American

Quotes - "...Win just one for the Gipper" (#89)

After reading Tony Dungy's book and watching this movie, I have decided to never be a coach's wife. I give those women a lot of credit.

Anyways, this was good, but Brian's Song remains my favorite sports movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgJspZ0bPxU&feature=related

Sabrina

Stars - Humphrey Bogart (#1), Audrey Hepburn (#3), William Holden (#25); Passions (#54)

Seriously, the only thing more out of place than Audrey Hepburn falling for the much, much older Humphrey Bogart in this 1954 movie is Julia Ormond falling for the much older and much more poorly coiffed Harrison Ford in its 1995 remake.

It's a sweet romantic comedy, but I think the casting is a bit off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BjkB5h_2so&feature=related

The Thomas Crown Affair

Songs - The Windmills of Your Mind (#57)

This was an okay movie. The plot was intriguing, although I'd seen the newer version so I knew how this was going to end. It made a lot of use of the split screen, like 24 did (and Ocean's Eleven? For some reason I'm thinking Ocean's Eleven did that, too), which gave it a hip, modern kind of feel.

Steve McQueen reminds me a little of Brad Pitt. Except, of course, that Brad Pitt is definitely more woo-woo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb2tjzecJX4

Groundhog Day

Laughs (#34); Top Ten - Fantasy

A guy keeps repeating the same day over and over and over and over. Basically it's an excuse for the writers to come up with a 20 minute script and call it a full length movie.

Why is this on the list while O Brother, Where Art Thou? is not?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnnRGUcClVg&feature=related

Witness for the Prosecution

Stars - Marlene Dietrich (#9); Top Ten - Courtroom Drama (#6)

With more twists and turns than a roller coaster, this is legal drama at its best.

I really liked this movie. Charles Laughton was charming (in a cute old man kind of way), which was nice, because he was anything but in Mutiny on the Bounty. Elsa Lancaster played his foil - a doddering nurse - to perfection. Tyrone Power was handsome. The only casting question I have is Marlene Dietrich, who was seriously much too old to play the part. Plus also, when she talked she reminded me of Gussie Mausheimer from An American Tail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfkdDjSYw_M