Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
Mar 28 '00 (Updated May 11 '00)
Take a quick survey of the Best Picture Oscar winners from the past century and you'll notice very few of them are comedies. In fact, along with Annie Hall, there are only four others that took home the little gold statue for laughter.
There's a good reason for that: the industry loves films that provoke deep thought, deep pathos and enough tears to salt the average jumbo-sized tub of popcorn.
[Please note, I'm not saying the Oscars are the be-all, end-all barometer of film quality. After all, they gave a Best Picture award to Forrest Gump, but not to Citizen Kane. Oh, the injustice of it all!]
Comedies are usually crowd-pleasers, playing to our most superficial sensibilities. Tickle our funny bones with a cheap kicked-in-the-groin gag and watch the box office dollars pour in, but get all furrowed-brow on us with stories about artists with disabilities or centuries-old love affairs and the crowds get a little thinner. Okay, there's that big exception to the rule (you know, the one about the sinking ship) but even that drama had a loogey-hawking scene.
Me, I happen to love drama. Sure, I like to laugh, but let's face it, there's nothing like a good cry. In fact, apart from tax season, movies are about the only time this 36-year-old grouch sheds a tear.
Plenty of tears were shed over composing this list...mainly because the category is so broad. I had a hard time narrowing the term "drama" down. I purposefully left out a lot of good contenders in categories like westerns, film noir, sci-fi and action in hopes that they will soon have their own "Best of" categories here at Epinions.com. Even so, when I composed a list of all the great dramatic films in the last 100 years, I was staring at nearly 60 titles. I grudgingly crossed out great ones like How Green Was My Valley and The Bicycle Thief, winnowing it down by half. When I got to 30 movies, I just couldn't go any lower. That's when I decided to divide and conquer. As such, I must warn you that this is an epic-length epinion.
Here then, are my personal choices for Greatest Dramas Ever, sub-divided into "Epics," "Weepies" and "The Best of the Rest." Directors are listed in parentheses and I've placed my choices in ascending order.
EPICS
Ah, the cast of thousands! The costumes! The three-hour running times! The best ones make you forget how long you've been sitting there as they wrap you into their grandiose stories...
10. Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack, 1985)
"I had a farm in Africa..." So begins this story of writer Isak Dinesen (here named Karen Blixen) and her affair with great white hunter Denys Finch Hatton. Meryl Streep and Robert Redford give two of their best performances. The scenery ain't half bad, either.
9. Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981)
This was Beatty's first full-fledged directing job (he co-directed Heaven Can Wait) and he was truly astounding both in front and behind the camera. Many years in the making (and with a great chunk of Beatty's personal money put up to finance the project), this is a bold, sweeping and yet very personal story of the Russian Revolution. Six years later, Beatty would star in the infamous anti-epic Ishtar.
8. Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)
What is it about these Russian spectacles? Evidently, vodka and furry hats make for really good cinema. (By the way, honorable mention goes to 1925's Potemkin, another film masterpiece that almost made it to this list). It's been said that Lean's Zhivago "does for snow what his Lawrence of Arabia did for sand." I happen to like the snow in this picture. Sure, the whole thing's a bit long, but it's full of pristine beauty, as is Maurice Jarre's Oscar-winning score.
7. Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa, 1980) and Farewell, My Concubine (Kaige Chen, 1993)
I'd like to watch more foreign films than I do, but let's face it, unless you live in a major metropolitan area or are a card-carrying film society member, you just don't catch many subtitled flicks at the local cineplex. Local video shelves are equally sparse. However, I've done my best to watch as many foreign classics as I can. These are the two that stick foremost in my mind. They are both visual masterpieces. Their merits speak for themselves.
6. The Good Earth (Sidney Franklin, 1937)
Back in the Depression, $3 million was a lot to spend on a motion picture. As it turned out, every cent was worth it in this saga of a Chinese peasant who grows rich and heartless. Even WASPs (Paul Muni and Luise Ranier in the leads) playing Asians can't diminish the power of this movie. The big production scene, a locust attack, is still jaw-dropping.
5. Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
The movie I hate to love. Amid the Leo-mania and the "king of the world" bombast, there's actually a great movie at work here. Full of action, romance and detailed sets, this is one of the few movies I paid to see twice in a theater. If you haven't already seen it, sail on down to the video store. You may hate yourself in the morning, but you'll have to admit you had a good time for those three-plus hours.
4. The Godfather, Parts I and II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, 1974)
For some reason, I've yet to see Part III. But I have a hard time believing that it can compare to its predecessors. Multi-generation sagas had become pretty dull until the early 1970s when Coppola gave us a horse-head of a different color. Movies would never be the same again. For my money, Part II slightly edges out the original, thanks to Al Pacino's searing performance.
3. Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995)
Like Warren Beatty before him, Gibson proved that sometimes an actor really does know what to do behind the camera. Say what you will about its graphic violence, this movie manages to capture the entire scope of a land and its people in one bold stroke. That cry of "Freeeeedom!" always gets me choked up.
2. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming [and George Cukor and Sam Wood], 1939)
This movie about a sweet, innocent girl looking for love and happiness in the Civil War is something of a miracle. Marred by a series of rotating-door directors, escalating costs and censorship battles, it could very well have been an on-screen disaster (like 1963's Cleopatra). Instead, it became a national icon. It is very nearly the perfect motion picture.
1. Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)
I like to think of this as the film that built my marriage. My wife and I were still newlyweds when we saw this in the theater. It is, to this day, the one film that we strongly agree on. When something in our lives becomes too complicated, we look at each other and paraphrase the line: "It's nice, but....perhaps....too many notes." There is not one note out of place in this dazzling biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I could watch it every day for the rest of my life and not be bored. Matter of fact, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go warm up the VCR...
WEEPIES
There's nothing like a good nose-tingle, a tight throat, the track of a tear. Through cinematic therapy, Hollywood has helped us become a crying nation...
10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Elia Kazan, 1945)
I once heard film critic Michael Medved say this was his favorite movie. Curious, I went to check it out for myself. I quickly saw what he was talking about. It's a bittersweet story of a girl's love for her hopelessly alcoholic father and yet it still manages to come off making me believe in the power of dreams.
Tear-duct alert: Pop Nolan (James Dunn) saying good-bye to little Francie (Peggy Ann Garner) as he goes off to work (but really goes off to die).
9. Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton, 1979)
A raw look at divorce and custody that turns into a touching father-son story. Dustin Hoffman is superb as the father learning how to cook French toast for his son after Meryl Streep suddenly leaves them on a journey of self-discovery.
Tear-duct alert: The scene in the park where Hoffman is forced to surrender his son back into Streep's arms. The Vivaldi on the soundtrack really helps open the waterworks.
8. The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)
The source of sophomoric "I am not an animal!" jokes, this is a beautifully-filmed, highly-symbolic story of a Christlike figure who just happened to have a horrible skin disease. Great performances from everyone (including John Hurt under all that makeup) and sensitive direction from one of our weirdest auteurs.
Tear-duct alert: The Elephant Man (Hurt) recites the 23rd Psalm and Dr. Treves (Anthony Hopkins) whispers, "I didn't teach him that part."
7. To Each His Own (Mitchell Leisen, 1946)
Olivia de Havilland deservedly won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as a never-married woman who bears an illegitimate child, then nobly gives him up for adoption. Years later, during World War Two, she meets her son but doesn't want to ruin his life by telling him who she really is. Have the handkerchiefs standing by.
Tear-duct alert: Just about every scene.
6. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
Who'd a thunk it? The King of Horror (Stephen) delivers a story about soul-stirring hope, loyalty and the value of a pinup poster. As he did in last year's The Green Mile, Darabont takes his time telling a deeply-moving story and the result is pure cinematic bliss.
Tear-duct alert: The scene on the beach at the end. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.
5. Ordinary People (Robert Redford, 1980)
Hollywood's Golden Actor stepped behind the camera for the first time and brought us an unforgettably realistic picture of a dysfunctional family. In Redford's hands, everyone turned in a gut-wrenching performance, including Mary Tyler Moore who, as the cold-hearted mother, surprised everyone with a character 180 degrees from sunshiny Mary Richards.
Tear-duct alert: Donald Sutherland, as the long-suffering husband, has a crying jag that comes from deep, deep within.
4. Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins, 1995)
I'm a grudging admirer of both Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon but here they give two of the greatest performances ever committed to film stock. With Sarandon's husband behind the camera, the result is a brutal, shake-you-to-your-bones look at capital punishment and, ultimately, redemption and forgiveness.
Tear-duct alert: Penn's 11th-hour confession where he finally breaks down and cries. I'm right there with him.
3. The Pride of the Yankees (Sam Wood, 1942)
This is the movie that made me a Gary Cooper fan (though Sergeant York is just as good). Here, Coop completely embodies baseball's ironman, Lou Gherig. What I like most about this movie is the tender love story between Cooper and Teresa Wright who plays his adoring wife.
Tear-duct alert: "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
2. The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
On Oscar night, this World War Two domestic drama took home an armload of little gold statues. It deserved every one of them. Though it may seem tame by today's standards, to post-war audiences this was hard-hitting stuff. The story of three veterans who find it hard to fit into civilian life may have been uncomfortably close to home for some viewers back then.
Tear-duct alert: Real-life double amputee Harold Russell (who only made three films, but got two Oscars for this one) tries to button up his shirt, proudly refusing help from his girlfriend (Cathy O'Donnell).
1. Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
At last, an Academy Award for Spielberg! He put his heart and soul into making this Holocaust story. He better go home with Oscar! I remember I was literally shaking when I walked out of the theater. This movie had such gut-twisting emotion in its 197 minutes. With its frank brutality, it's hard to watch at times, but I still think it should be required viewing in high school history classes. It's probably one of the most important films I've ever seen.
Tear-duct alert: The real-life survivors of the death camp placing rocks on Schindler's grave at the closing of the movie.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Most of these are movie landmarks. Most of these have been around for a long time. Most of these would easily earn a place on my Top 10 Movie List (though, as you see, I have a hard time sticking with just 10...)
10. The Ox-Bow Incident (William Wellman, 1943)
Okay, so I did include a western on this list. But this story of mob justice is so much more than a horse opera; it rises to the level of parable. Wellman does some amazing things with lighting and camera angles to create a moody, grim atmosphere of the worst parts of human nature. Honorable mention goes to High Noon and Shane.
9. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
This is so full of style, you'd swear it was an Orson Welles movie. Wait! There he is! Standing on a shadowy street corner in Vienna! Yes, but Welles only acted in this movie; he didn't write, produce or direct it. His character, Harry Lime, dominates the whole proceedings, even though he doesn't make that first classic appearance until well after the halfway point. The zither music keeps things clipping along at a suspenseful pace right up to the final chase through the sewers.
8. Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947)
Raging Bull was a great film, but I still think this boxing movie is the TKO champ. Just like The Ox-Bow Incident was more than a western, Body and Soul is more than a chump-takes-a-dive story. John Garfield gives the performance of his life as the contender who always seems to make the wrong decisions....until it's too late.
7. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
This is one of the best movies ever made about Hollywood and what happens to old has-been stars (they don't fade away, they just get weird, screen their old movies and hold funerals for their pet chimpanzee). William Holden plays a down-on-his-luck screenwriter ensnared by over-the-hill silent star Gloria Swanson (playing, essentially, herself). Until American Beauty came along, it was the best movie ever narrated by a corpse.
6. Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
One of the most beautiful films ever made, I call this "Eye Candy for the Brain." It's a quiet, haunting film about a pair of lovers (a very young Richard Gere and Brooke Adams) who pretend they're brother and sister while they work a scam on a dying farm owner (Sam Shepherd). Exquisite cinematography and long stretches of silence (a rarity in these days of loud, in-your-face flicks), turn this drama into high art.
5. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
An unrelenting portrait of the Great Depression made while the taste of poverty was still fresh in audiences' mouths, everything works to make this a superb picture. Henry Fonda was robbed of his Oscar by pal James Stewart (who got the gold for The Philadelphia Story).
4. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
We'll always have Paris and, thank goodness, we'll always have Bogie, Bergman and fog at the airport. The stiff-lipped one is a club owner caught between Nazis and his old flame (Ingrid Bergman). Sappy and sentimental? Sure thing, shweet-hahrt. Unforgettable and unequaled? You betcha. Here's looking at this one...again and again and again...
3. Greed (Erich Von Stroheim, 1924)
The original version ran more than eight hours. Over Von Stroheim's objections, MGM cut it down to a more manageable size (four hours). The result is sometimes disjointed, but it's so powerful that the minor flaws are easily overlooked. It's all about a dentist, his wife and the jealousy that explodes over their greed for more money. The final scene (a to-the-last-drop-of-water standoff in a Death Valley desert) will burn itself into your brain.
2. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." That's what Bette Davis tells her party guests, but she could have been looking out beyond the screen to the audience. I've strapped myself in many times and enjoyed every minute of this ride. It's all about backstage backstabbing. It's all about a great script. It's all about the best 140 minutes you'll spend in front of a screen.
1. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the King of Movies! This is, in my mind, the most perfect use of celluloid this world has ever seen. If you don't know what all the fuss is about, then you've obviously never seen the boy-genius' masterpiece of a media mogul (not-so-very-loosely based on William Randolph Hearst) and his rise and fall in the worlds of publishing and marriage. Kane has been at the top of my all-time best list since the first time I saw it in 1982. It's gonna take an exceptional movie to knock it from the pedestal.
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Epinions.com ID:
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Member: David Abrams
Location: Butte, Montana
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One can never have too many books, only too little time in which to read.
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