Six favourite films (Movies)

[Bogey]

In my case, the half-fog of the plot may actually be part of the allure;  it may help to bolster the audience's confidence in or awe of Marlowe's wit in keeping ahead of the game.  I certainly enjoy the Bogart-Bacall chemistry/tension in this one;  and all the sharp lines in the script (which I suppose are attributable to the source).

I agree completely.  Besides the Bogey-Bacall interaction, I keep rewatching to see if I can piece it together.  It also has one of my all time favorite Bogey scenes on film:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqoxk3SrZRw

[Drasko]

Wonderful!

Yes. A world onto itself.

[Karl Henning]

I agree completely.  Besides the Bogey-Bacall interaction, I keep rewatching to see if I can piece it together.  It also has one of my all time favorite Bogey scenes on film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqoxk3SrZRw

I think I was helped, too, in that I first saw it on beautiful DVD restoration;  in addition to the expert casting and script, it just looks so damned good on the screen!

[Bogey]

I think I was helped, too, in that I first saw it on beautiful DVD restoration;  in addition to the expert casting and script, it just looks so damned good on the screen!

*constant and  positive nods of my coconut at the screen*

[NikF]

What traits helped this one make your list?  I have always been fascinated by the film, enjoy it a lot, but the plot always escapes me a bit.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-big-sleep-1946

Small moments and elements throughout. The opening exchange:
Carmen: "You're not very tall, are you?"
Marlowe: "Well, I, uh, I try to be."
- it kind of sets the tone and highlights the difference between Marlowe and those who inhabit the world he's just entered. And then soon after that it's driven further home with less subtely via the comment about orchids:
Sternwood: "Nasty things! Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, and their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption."

During the bookshop scene with Dorothy Malone the pencil goes from being a passive prop to an active, suggestive symbol of her growing interest in Marlowe. Sure, it's telegraphed and is kind of a cheap device, but I think it's done so very well. If you get the chance watch the scene again, this time only looking at the pencil and how it's delivering her message. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqoxk3SrZRw

And the chemistry between Bogart and Bacall. Bacall looks like what she is - a fashion model turned actress - but she has her moments and can hold her own, even if it's simply by her poise.

As I said, it's an almost endless procession of small moments that seem to fall into place. Or perhaps I'm just being biased and less than objective. I'm happy to be easily pleased.

But yes, the plot...you know that when adapting the book a note was despatched to Raymond Chandler asking him to explain who killed the chauffeur? His reply ""Damned if I know."

[Bogey]

Great post, Nik!

[NikF]

Great post, Nik!

Thanks. And thanks for asking why it made my list, because I believe it's important for me to avoid being lazy and instead remind and review exactly why I like or admire something.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Wow. Can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. Well, since others have listed more than 6 and most have been lazy and not given any reasons, I'll continue in that vein. All I'll say is that these are not necessarily my "top films," but they're some of the films that if I find them playing on TV or I pop them in the DVD player, I always stay to the end:

Bergman - Smiles of a Summer Night
Fellini Satyricon
Spielberg - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Lamorisse - The Red Balloon
The Wizard of Oz
Disney - Pinocchio
Disney - Fantasia
Hawks - His Girl Friday
Madden  - Shakespeare in Love
deSica - Bicycle Thieves
Bergman - Wild Strawberries
Marx Brothers - A Night at the Opera
Ozu - Good Morning
Allen - Crimes and Misdemeanors
Axel - Babette's Feast

[SimonNZ]

Ozu - Good Morning

I somehow wasn't aware of this Ozu film. Just added it to my queue. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Ken B]

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek(1944)
Vertigo(1958)
Seven Samurai(1953)
My Man Godfrey(1936)
The Maltese Falcon(1941)
The More the Merrier(1943)
Genevieve (1953)

Quite a few more from the screwball era knocking at the door:  Bringing Up Baby, The Lady Eve, Philadelphia Story.
And Galaxy Quest!

[(poco) Sforzando]

I somehow wasn't aware of this Ozu film. Just added it to my queue. Thanks for the heads-up.

I would never say it was on the artistic or emotional level of Tokyo Story or Autumn Afternoon or Floating Weeds, but it is a delightful little comedy (a genre Ozu is not usually associated with), with perhaps the funniest performance by a 7-year-old kid you'll ever see. The thread invites one to list "favorites," not necessarily the same as "greatest" in one's opinion.

[Bogey]

Wow. Can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. Well, since others have listed more than 6 and most have been lazy and not given any reasons, I'll continue in that vein. All I'll say is that these are not necessarily my "top films," but they're some of the films that if I find them playing on TV or I pop them in the DVD player, I always stay to the end:

Bergman - Smiles of a Summer Night
Fellini Satyricon
Spielberg - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Lamorisse - The Red Balloon
The Wizard of Oz
Disney - Pinocchio
Disney - Fantasia
Hawks - His Girl Friday
Madden  - Shakespeare in Love
deSica - Bicycle Thieves
Bergman - Wild Strawberries
Marx Brothers - A Night at the Opera
Ozu - Good Morning
Allen - Crimes and Misdemeanors
Axel - Babette's Feast

Maybe my favorite comedy of all time.

Axel - Babette's Feast

A hidden gem. 

and most have been lazy and not given any reasons, I'll continue in that vein.

I do not believe the thread asked for this, but more than willing to hear why folks like what they like and happy at this end should anyone have a question about one on my list.  And I will ask you.  How did the Marx Brothers film make your list and why this one?  I have never been able to get into them, but maybe with some insight from folks here who enjoy them, I might find a way to appreciate them more.

[Bogey]

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek(1944)
Vertigo(1958)
Seven Samurai(1953)
My Man Godfrey(1936)
The Maltese Falcon(1941)
The More the Merrier(1943)
Genevieve (1953)

Quite a few more from the screwball era knocking at the door:  Bringing Up Baby, The Lady Eve, Philadelphia Story.
And Galaxy Quest!

And maybe my second most favored comedy.

[James]

.. off the top quickly, some of the ones I love ..

Scorsese, Goodfellas
Polanski, The Pianist
Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption
Demme, The Silence of the Lambs
Spielberg, Jaws
Ridley Scott, Alien
Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket
Hitchcock, Psycho
Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Raimi, Spiderman 2
Ramis, Groundhog Day
Lumet, Dog Day Afternoon
Mann, Heat
Martin, Mad Max: Fury Road

etc.,

[TheGSMoeller]

..
Mann, Heat

I find Heat to be one of the best American films, a classic that I think stands the test of time. I watched it on Blue Ray last month and you could've convinced me it was filmed in 2015, not 1995. It has aged very well.

[James]

I find Heat to be one of the best American films, a classic that I think stands the test of time. I watched it on Blue Ray last month and you could've convinced me it was filmed in 2015, not 1995. It has aged very well.

Yea Heat is great, all the films on my list are.

[Karl Henning]

Six Favorite Frivolous Movies

Earth Girls Are Easy
Hairspray
The Italian Job (Michael Caine, Noël Coward)
The Cheap Detective
The In Laws (Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Ed Begley Jr — though I do like the remake)
Yellowbeard

Was I too "obedient" in keeping to six?  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension really begs to be added in here, but I cannot find it in my heart to displace any of these.

Oh, reasons, you ask? Mostly sentimental, but such as they are . . . .

Earth Girls Are Easy.  My time in upstate New York was not always pleasant;  but one of the best occasions was my old Wooster mate Jeff visiting Rochester, and we took this in at the Little Theatre.  I do not like any performance by Jeff Goldblum any better than here, as "Mac";  and the low-key romance between him and Geena Davis works very sweetly.  The musical numbers are all good fun.  Jim Carrey is at his (perhaps) youngest and most purely entertaining.

Hairspray.  Probably the only John Waters movie I may ever watch.  Probably the only entertainment titled "Hairspray" I may ever take in.  Apparently pure goofiness which does not trivialize the serious matter which drives the plot (and even a little more poignant in our day, given recent events in Baltimore).  Any movie with both John Astin and Ric Ocasek is probably something I am going to enjoy.

The Italian Job.  I still remember watching this with my late father;  I think it must have been fairly freshly released at the time, yet my dad seemed to know it as an old favorite (I'll never suss that out).  Noël Coward:  "Camp Freddie, everybody in the world is bent."  Best Cliffhanger in Cinema, Ever.

The Cheap Detective.  This one I like even better, now that I get the parodies not only of Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, but The Big Sleep, too.  I don't always find Neil Simon amusing (so sue me), but here I think he may be at his strongest.  Stockard Channing is unusually cute here, I think.  Madeleine Kahn, devastatingly amusing.

The In Laws.  I cannot possibly be balanced and rational about this one.  "Oh, God, please don't let me die on West 33^rd Street."  The Paramus Philharmonic.  Peter Falk doing barbecue in an apron bearing the legend I'm Loaded With Options.  The Guacamole Act of 1917.  Best Use of the Phrase "Atonal Music" in Cinema, Ever.  "I'm wide open."  The Paramus Philharmonic.  Serpentine.  "The Bay of Pigs was my idea."  The Paramus Philharmonic.

Yellowbeard.  The late great Graham Chapman threatening Madeleine Kahn with nailing, with nailing something or other to the table, I seem to forget just what, at present. Marty Feldman's final appearance.  Peter Bull in drag as Queen Anne (and Spike Milligan advising Eric Idle to "kneel upwind of her").  "She couldn't be your mother. No woman ever slept with me and lived."  Jn Cleese as Blind Pew (although he dismissed it as "one of the six worst films made in the history of the world");  states unequivocally that he accepted the role only as a favor to his old mate, Graham Chapman.  Eric Idle, too, calls it one of the worst films he's ever done. Well, damn it, they can't ALL be Brian!

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.  I've almost got to like this for Jn Lithgow, Peter Weller, and the preposterous invented-comic-book-tie-in, alone.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Spielberg - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Disney - Fantasia

+1

I love in E.T. how they set up the government agents as if they are gonna be eeviiillll people who only want the alien for their diabolical purposes, helped by John Williams's ominous music... and then at the end they reveal they're not bad guys at all and (except for that one scene) don't go out of their way to purposefully hurt the kids. It kind of brings Disney's Lilo & Stitch in my mind, where is this social worker who looks big scary and tough but really, he's just doing his job and he shows understanding towards the tragedy of their situation. Similarities with Keys from E.T. also how this social worker used to be a government agent, IIRC.

And Fantasia is one of my all-time favorite Disney films. I also liked the sequel, even though I've heard reports of people facepalming when they saw Penn & Teller in a Disney film.

[Karl Henning]

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.  I've almost got to like this for Jn Lithgow, Peter Weller, and the preposterous invented-comic-book-tie-in, alone.

View it without making too much of a judgement and you'll find yourself loving it, despite never really knowing what's going on. One thing that is for sure is that it looks like it was a hell of a lot of fun to make and this energy and excitement transfers to the viewer in fine style. Pure weirdness for its own sake.

RTWT here.

[mc ukrneal]

I will go for those that can be watched more than once. There have been some wonderful films that are just difficult to watch more than once or maybe twice in a lifetime. So I have focused on those that changed me, inspired me, or just made me think. Anyway, it's the list (of 7) for me...

Court Jester - The first time I watched this, I laughed so much that my family laughed the same even though they didn't like it as much. I liked it so much that I mesmerized some of the best parts: the Vessel with the pestle; the dirk, the doge with the dirk (and the dagger, but don't forget the Dutchess!).

Wall-E - I considered Up and the Incredibles, and while both are fantastic, I find this little guy has wormed his way into my heart. The fact that there is no talking for so long allows this one to work its magic.

Singing in the Rain - What is there to say about this one. A great story, great and clever text, wonderful singing, memorable characterization, and top notch dancing. It always makes me happy.

Stand By Me - This is a wonderful coming of age story. It has River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton (he actually acts here), and Kiefer Sutherland. The important thing in this one is the journey. If you like the Wonder Years, you will probably like this one too.

Buck Privates - Starring Abbot and Costello, this is probably their best film. I used to watch them every Sunday and I know so much of their schtick by heart. They will always be special to me.

Gosford Park - This one beautifully captures and era. I considered others like Remains of the Day, but this one captures the nostalgia and the atmosphere as well as any. Amazing cast.

Young Frankenstein - I chose this one over Blazing Saddles. It's as funny as any movie ever made, and yet it is also quite dramatic. It is, for me, a joy. Two of my favorite scenes involve the following lines: 'Put the candle back' and 'you didn't touch your food'.

There are literally dozens of other great films that could have made this list, but these are the ones that have touched me most over the years.