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Only ten?!Apr 02 '01 (Updated Apr 13 '03) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line The ten best? Hardly, but ten great ones for sure! I feel like I'm in an old episode of Mission: Impossible. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, Mr. Tomczak, is to choose the ten best movies of all time." Only ten? How the heck am I supposed to choose just ten? Well, I'll be honest with you, the ten following are not the ten best movies of all time. What they are, are ten of the best movies that I have ever seen that I think are recommended viewing for all people at all times. The order in which they come is not indicative of rank. Number 1 is not far superior to number 10, necessarily. So, here goes... 10. El Dorado This is the western to define all westerns. Forget Shane, forget OK Corral, even wait on Tombstone -- the Duke, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum team up (along with a young, young James Caan as "Mississippi") to battle evil Ed Asner. There's humor, action, love and more -- it's simply the best western I've ever seen. 9. Ten Things I Hate About You This is the newest movie on my list and the only one from the last five years (though Shakespeare in Love certainly deserves a nod, along with Saving Private Ryan). This modern day retelling of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" is hilarious and somewhat (though not slavishly) true to life about the way high schoolers act. It made me long for my more sophmoric days. Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger and David Crumholtz lead the way (watch for Larry Miller as the neurotic dad!). 8. Blazing Saddles This is the one that all people who love comedies must see. Mel Brooks is the master of satire and hilarity -- and this movie has it all. Spoofing the classic westerns, Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, Slim Pickens, Madeline Kahn and the usual Brooks weirdos (including an hilarious scene with a thin Dom Deluise) are up to no good and making the west safe for no one. If you only see one Mel Brooks film, see this one. 7. The Greatest Story Ever Told It almost seems like blasphemy to talk about Mel Brooks and then turn around and tell you about this movie. But I must. This is simply put the best movie about the life and Passion of Christ. Staying true to the text of Scripture (for the most part) and with a star-studded cast (Max von Sydow, Charlton Heston, Telly Savalas, John Wayne, Claude Rains, Angela Lansbury, Shelly Winters, Sidney Poitior and more more more), this film takes you to the heights and depths of Christ's suffering and death. The resurrection of Lazurus and the Easter morning scenes are the most poignant. 6. The Doors Simply put -- Oliver Stone made me believe that Val Kilmer is more Jim Morrison than Jim Morrison. This is Stone's best movie and the one to see. The soundtrack is incredible and psychedelic and the film captures that craziness of Morrison and the Doors wonderfully. 5. Patton Perhaps the best war movie ever. This epic, starring George C. Scott and Karl Malden, brings to life the fabulous campaigns of American tank commander and maverick George Patton. The battle scenes are spectacular, the musical score is haunting and legendary and the scenery is out of this world. See it, believe it! 4. Dr. Strangelove The best nuclear black comedy. Peter Sellers is uproarious in this Stanley Kubrick film (his best, or at least right up there with Spartacus). George C. Scott and Slim Pickens are also excellent in their roles. See my review of Dr. Strangelove for a more indepth treatment of the film. 3. Young Frankenstein Mel Brooks' second inclusion on my list is another of his classics. This one spoofs the Frankenstein story and all horror films. Shot in glorious black and white there are moments worth remembering forever. Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman lead the way to laughter and paralysis. Peter Boyle as the monster is side-splitting and watch for Gene Hackman's scene -- it's a film genius as work. Some of the all time Brooks' classics are in here, "No, it's Eye-gore!" "What hump?" "Abby someone..." You have to see it to believe it all. 2. The Manchurian Candidate John Frankenheimer's taut political thriller was banned when it was released because it was too similar to the Kennedy assassination and the McCarthy trials. But it's free to see today and worth the view. Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey, along with Angela Lansbury star in this stunningly shot, and eerily real black and white classic from the '60s. 1. A Night at the Opera Before the kids of American Pie, Road Trip and Dude, Where's my Car, began tearing up the scene, the original lunatics of comedy were the Marx Brothers -- Grouch0, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo. This film, perhaps their best ever, and legitimately one of the best of all time, has everything -- the one liners, the unforgettable scenes (filling a ship's cabin with nearly everyone on the ship), the puns, the Harpo charade games -- it's all here. See it, believe it! And that's only ten, movies I had to leave out -- like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Duck Soup, The Godfather, The Longest Day, Braveheart, The Exorcist, History of the World, Part 1, Casablanca, the entire Sean Connery run of James Bond and Hoosiers all deserved to be on this list, but alas, I was limited to ten. That's my two cents worth. If you haven't seen any of them, you'll certainly enjoy them. If you don't, I apologize in advance for my failure to satisfy.  |
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by cdm72
by carstairs38
