AFI Top 50 Heroes

“...but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.”  

 

I love Atticus Finch.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6ZvOQ0hBI 

Tarzan the Ape Man

Heroes - Tarzan (#34)

1. If Africa were left to Jane's father and Tarzan, there'd be no animals left. 
2.  I love how 1930s actresses bite their knuckles when they cry.
3.  The pygmies dance like Oompa Loompas.
4.  Cheetah is the real hero of this movie.
5.  Holy cow, is this movie cheesy.  Give me the Disney version any day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zTzqz0_bM4

In the Heat of the Night

Top 100 (#75 Revised); Stars - Sidney Poitier (#22); Cheers (#21); Quotes - "They call me Mr. Tibbs" (#16); Heroes - Virgil Tibbs (#19)

Excellent movie.  A Philadelphia homicide detective is falsely accused of murder while visiting relatives in the South.  He then has to help the racist sheriff figure out who really did it.

Have I mentioned that I love Sidney Poitier?

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

City Lights

Top 100 (#76/11); Laughs (#38); Stars - Charlie Chaplin (#10); Cheers (#31); Heroes - The Tramp (#38); Passions (#10); Top Ten - Romantic Comedy (#1)

Good, sweet, but maybe a bit overhyped - then again, I'm watching it 80 years later.  The Tramp falls in love with a blind girl and tries to come up with the money she needs to save the home where she lives with her grandmother. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rkNBH5fbMk

Thelma and Louise

Thrills (#76); Stars - Geena Davis (Current); Cheers (#78); Heroes - Thelma Dickerson and Louise Sawyer (#24)

First, I'd just like to say that if I were Susan Sarandon, I would have pushed Thelma into the Grand Canyon about 30 minutes into the movie.  Oh my gosh, she was an idiot.  How on earth can Geena Davis think she was portraying a strong woman?

Secondly, I strongly question the "heroes" list.  Sure, they deserved a cheer for shooting the would-be rapist.  But after that, everything they did was just plain wrong and anything but heroic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A

Cool Hand Luke

Cheers (#71); Quotes - "What we've got here is failure to communicate" (#11); Heroes - Luke Jackson (#30)

Paul Newman's baby blues sure are nice.  Other than that, though, I didn't much care (as in basically my feelings are neutral) for this movie.  It's very much a guy story.

The Cheers barflys called Cool Hand Luke one of the sweatiest movies of all time.  They're probably right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6zuBcppwjo

Fargo

Top 100 (#84); Laughs (#93); Heroes - Marge Gunderson (#33)

Fargo is a dark comedy about an extortion/kidnapping gone terribly wrong.  It's ok, but gruesome.  Frances McDormand is good, and all the references to Steve Buscemi being funny looking are humorous ("Funny looking?  In what way?" "I don't know.  Just funny looking.")

I'm not sure why it's called Fargo, since it takes place in Brainerd and the Twin Cities.  However, Minnesota boys Joel and Ethan Coen aren't too up on their Minnesota geography anyways.  It apparently takes four hours to drive from Brainerd to Minneapolis, and if you're driving to the Twin Cities from Fargo, Brainerd is right on the way.  And seriously, except for old people up on the Range, Minnesotans don't talk like that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUFTm6cJXM

The Mark of Zorro

Heroes - Zorro (#45)

I like Tyrone Power oh so much better than Antonio Banderas.  His Zorro was carefree and charming, not cheesy.

Not the greatest film ever, but would make for a fun Saturday afternoon movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLSEILAW7k

Spartacus

Top 100 (Revised #81); Thrills (#62); Stars - Kirk Douglas (#17); Cheers (#44); Heroes - Spartacus (#22); Top Ten - Epic (#5)

What?  "I am Spartacus" is not one of the top quotes?  Who came up with these lists?

Overall, I'd say it was good for a guy movie.  Not one of my favorites though.  But Goose Cousin loves Kirk Douglas' butt chin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V32PWJX-GpY

The Big Sleep

Stars - Humphrey Bogart (#1), Lauren Bacall (#20); Heroes - Philip Marlowe (#32)

I love Jimmy Stewart.  Cary Grant is suave.  Clark Gable is king.  I adore Gary Cooper.  And Gene Kelly is so fine.  But Bogie just isn't my favorite.  Don't get me wrong - I loved Casablanca, and I think he was perfect as Rick.  And I also enjoyed The African Queen.  Maybe it's just that I find the detective stories he often did boring. 

At any rate, I didn't really care for The Big Sleep.  It just didn't hold my attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTCQpjUrCe8

Silkwood

Stars - Cher (Current - Not Rated); Cheers (#66); Heroes - Karen Silkwood (#47)

Enh.  I think I was supposed to care, but the truth was I didn't like Karen Silkwood, so I wasn't drawn to her cause.  The movie is about how she discovered unsafe conditions at the nuclear power plant where she worked and tried to stop it. 

Cher's character was totally pointless, and Kurt Russell didn't have much of a purpose either.  And I think they tried to paint Silkwood as a martyr, while there's really no evidence of foul play in the car accident that caused her death.

I don't have a clip, because the decontamination scene in Silkwood reminded me very much of the scene in Monsters Inc, but sadly I can't find it.  Feel free to watch the movie (Monsters) and see it for yourself.

Norma Rae

Cheers (#16); Heroes - Norma Rae Webster (#15)

Norma Rae fights against the great injustices of the world by unionizing her fellow mill workers.

It was fine.  I just don't like loudmouth, pushy people.

(This clip is long - just watch the first 25 seconds or so):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcj4EkhJDXY

Serpico

Cheers (#84); Heroes - Frank Serpico (#40)

This is a true story about a NYC cop who exposes wide-spread corruption on the force.  It's sad that, for one thing, the corruption existed in the first place; for another, his superiors wouldn't listen; and for another, he feared for his life because of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9oJR2egKEs

Shane

Top 100 (#69/45); Cheers (#53); Quotes - "Shane.  Shane.  Come back!" (#47); Heroes - Shane (#16); Top Ten - Western (#3)

Alan Ladd was a bit wussy, but other than that this was a good movie. Thank heavens, though, that it wasn't made recently. Then we'd have to suffer through Shane 2: The Return (in 3D).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy3xcQPdiHc

Aliens

Heroes - Ellen Ripley (#8)

Random thoughts:

1) James Cameron's movies often have a strong female lead

2) And Bill Paxton

3) And lots of swearing in front of (or by) children

4) This one also had an annoying tough girl chick

5) And Paul Reiser

6) Are there really people who get into these kinds of movies?

7) Sigourney Weaver had really bad hair

8) Who just names their kid Sigourney?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTc3PsW5ghQ

Dr. No

Quotes - "Bond. James Bond." (#22); Heroes - James Bond (#3)

This was the first James Bond movie made, and the second one that I've seen. It didn't have all the cool gadgets, and Sean Connery got better with age.

And that's what I thought of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m88eILM18bc

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

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

Philadelphia

Cheers (#20); Songs - Streets of Philadelphia (#68); Heroes - Andrew Beckett (#49)

I started watching this movie unsure of whether I'd watch the whole thing. I did. It's not a movie about the relationship between Andrew Beckett and his partner. It's a movie about a man who was treated unfairly and how he stood up to it.

It's a great courtroom drama, and Hanks and Washington are both wonderful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO91tO3iPAQ

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Top 100 (#50/73); Thrills (#54); Song - Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (#23); Heroes - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (#20); Top Ten - Western (#7)

Oh, how I love this movie! The combination of Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and William Goldman's witty script make this one of my all-time favorites.

It's a bit odd that Butch and Sundance are listed as heroes. They were wild west bandits. And yet in this movie, they're the ones we cheer for. We forget that they're the bad guys and we want them to win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck6vqsOt-Pc