From a reader:
QUAERITUR:
I am home sick with bronchitis and have been passing the day away sleeping and watching movies, which got me thinking when I visited your blog. If you had a top 10 movie list of your favorite movies (i.e., the ones you love most), what would your list look like?
Hmmmm… really fast and off the top of my head and working from my phone…
- Bridge on the River Kwai (perhaps the greatest film of the 20th century)
- Lawrence of Arabia (a close second)
- The Red Violin (a bad scene and some stupidity with Tarot cards, but spectacular. The part about the Cultural Revolution reminds me of what we are facing now.)
- Gosford Park (a bad scene)
- Hero (Ji Li)
- The Road Home
- Babette’s Feast
- Moneyball
- Cinderella Man
- Seabiscuit
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Far From the Madding Crowd, 1967. Ignore the excess hairspray in Julie Christie’s hair and it is totally compelling.
Gone with the Wind.
In no particular order. I only included single movies, not series such as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Bourne.
Fiddler on the Roof (my favorite musical)
Mr Roberts
Twelve Angry Men
Gladiator
Bridge on the River Kwai
Sound of Music
Pirates of the Caribbean (only the first one)
Nightmare Before Christmas
Saving Private Ryan
Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn
[Good list!]
The Cardinal; Black Orpheus.
Being Veteran’s Day, don’t forget Patton (!!!), The Dirty Dozen, and Tora! Tora! Tora!.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Not 100% true to the book, but wonderful nonetheless.
“Breaker Morant”
“Sophie Scholl”
The latter, if you haven’t seen it, watch it asap–the White Rose movement against Hilter, with Lutherans and Catholics, inspired by Aquinas, to stand up to the Nazis. Awesome. And not an objectionable scene in it, either.
From an Amazon review, “Sophie Scholl”:
Written by Fred Breinersdorfer based on documents from life and directed with enormous sensitivity by Marc Rothemund the film takes place in the last days of the lives of members of the anti-Nazi resistance movement The White Rose in 1943. Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch), her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) and their friend Christoph (Florian Stetter) are organizers for creating leaflets warning the populace of Germany of the ills ahead should Hitler and his Hessians remain in power. They are caught, imprisoned and interrogated. Sophie’s interrogator Robert Mohr (Gerald Alexander Held), though strong, does seem to understand Sophie’s explanations for her denial of participation in the spreading of leaflets, but Sophie has the courage to speak out against the current government. Hans is likewise interrogated and when he confesses to the leaflet incident he is implicating both Sophie and Christoph and the three are brought before a vicious tribunal. Christoph pleads for his life and Sophie and Hans request that his life as a father be spared but the charges are made of iron and the three are convicted and immediately executed.
The fact that the story is true makes it all the more moving. Observing the inordinate amount of courage in standing firm for beliefs – especially in Sophie’s case – is humbling for the viewer. How many of us, under similar circumstances would have that degree of conviction of ideals and bravery?
The acting by everyone involved is first rate, with Julia Jentsch and Gerald Alexander Held being especially fine. The pacing, scoring, lighting and direction of this film are keyed to the atmosphere of the times in 1943 Germany, creating a sense of claustrophobia in the visual and the emotional aspects of the film. It is a brilliant work and deserves a very wide audience. In German with English subtitles. Grady Harp, December 06
I enjoyed The Day of the Siege aka (The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683 ) about the Battle of Vienna. Also The Apostle Peter and the Last Supper (really wish Mel Gibson would have or would do a sequel to the Passion with the same actors showing St. Peter in Rome with flashbacks to Acts, etc). Which brings to mind, the Passion of the Christ, of course. Ruined all sword and sandal period epics for me as I now want to hear my Romans speaking Latin, etc.
Love Kingdom of Heaven even if it’s history is atrocious as well as it’s blase message but has such great visuals of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem at it’s Height. With the above language preference in mind, I sometimes use the French soundtrack…
My Veteran’s Day list is Saving Private Ryan and selected excerpts from the Blu-ray of Band of Brothers and The Pacific (especially the John Basilone episodes).
Instead of watching movies, read a book. I suggest “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church.”
What? Seabiscuit before A Man for All Seasons, no Macbeth, no Master and Commander?? Who are you and what have you done with Father Zuhlsdorf?
[I think that he was looking for some titles that weren’t completely obvious. And… Master and Commander… okay… but I want people to read all the books first!]
A Man For All Seasons
The Song Of Bernadette
The Scarlet And The Black
Braveheart
The Mission
We Were Soldiers
The Searchers
Kelly’s Heroes
The Sting (One bad scene)
Seabiscuit! I live near Ridgewood Ranch, where Seabiscuit lived for some time. Seabiscuit’s jockey, a good Catholic, was married in the local parish church.
What? No Quiet Man? [Truly a great movie!] And if you have bronchitis, you need a laugh (helps to move the gunk off the chest, and makes you feel better, too), so I’d personally be steering clear of The Mission, and also Last of the Mohicans, as both of these are ‘cry me a river’ films.
If you can put up with a bit of swearing, Argo is a cracker of a film.
Independence Day is great fun; in fact, I like any movie in which the President turns tough guy and makes actual decisions and is inspiring. Or just plain amusing, eg. Dave.
Star Trek IV – the one with the whale. Ignore all environmentalist nonsense, and thrill instead to the spectacle of Spock pretending he’s a former hippie.
[Good ones!]
If you watch the great old movies made during the Production Code era, you never have to worry about any “bad scenes.”
A Man for All Seasons always makes me feel fantastic. The Caine Mutiny is a great military movie, and Bogart’s performance is incredible. Maybe a Charlie Chan or two (I like Sidney Toler), or some of the Sherlock Holmes serials with Rathbone and Bruce.
Nothing by Bresson, Father? Or Carl Theodor Dreyer? Or Andrei Tarkovsky? [No Hitchcock, either. But … whaddya know!… others are chiming in with suggestions. Who could have guessed that would happen?]
Granted, though, that one must be in a very particularly state of mind to watch their masterpieces…
Very much enjoyed The Red Violin, and for those with Amazon Prime, it streams for free!
Master and Commander
The Fugitive
Not a single mention of a Hitchcock film!
I Confess
The Birds
Apollo 13 [Excellent.]
Lord of the Rings, Scarlet and the Black, I Confess, Going My Way…
Gettysburg
Gods and Generals
Glory
(No objectionable scenes, unless you’re not into watching war movies…and I was in the first two…on the “right” side of goodness and honor…;))
Sound of Music (and make a dentist appointment, the saccharine syrupy goodness will make your teeth hurt)
Agree with having “Patton” in there.
Disagree that Bridge on the River Kwai was the best, but de gustibus non disputandum
Maltese Falcon
Casablanca (Actually, probably anything with Bogey)
Lighter side: The Three Stooges shorts. Any of them. Yeah, it’s a guy thing, but, if you’re feeling down…slapstick is always a good tonic. Besides, it’s a guy thing.
The Quiet Man
Pride and Prejudice
The Hunt for Red October
America: Imagine a World Without Her
The Sons of Katie Elder
Giant
Going My Way
The BBC’s Hollow Crown series of the Shakespeare History Plays. Every single one–riveting! [I saw it recently, thanks to a reader who sent me the discs. It was great. I am not sure about the decisions they made for Richard II, but … whew.]
Feel better Father…
Unfortunately Salvatores does not deliver over there yet! Movie choice…
The Keys of the Kingdom with Gregory Peck…Fabulous scene with the Mother Superior straightening out the pompous Monsignor … My Dad’s favorite book and movie!
The Princess Bride is the ultimate sick in bed movie, but also The Jewish Cardinal was very good.
Not a good list.
Choosing “Hero”, a disgraceful piece of propaganda supported by the oppressive Chinese dictatorship, is a real lapse in judgment. [?]
The protagonist of Hero, the assassin Jing Ke, was seen as a tragic hero throughout Chinese history for opposing the genocidal King of Qin, who enjoyed the mass murder of children in pursuit of dominating state power. Until Mao came along, and reversed the paradigm: under Mao, the genocidal king became the hero, and a role model for Mao’s Cultural Revolution.
Yet in the Jet Li travesty, the Maoist vision triumphs: the assassin is converted to the belief that Chinese national power is the end that justifies any means. A triumph of evil, and a lesson for the Chinese of today that their lives are meant to serve their dictators rather than stand up for the oppressed.
The Emperor and the Assassin tells the same story with the traditional, pre-Mao viewpoint. Compulsory Father Z viewing, I think. [I saw that as well. It’s alright. But some of us are capable of thinking during movies. And, because I too am a tyrannical dictator, I think I’ll put you on moderation for disagreeing with me the way you did! o{]:¬) (At least for a few days.) ]
“The Cardinal” (1963): Just for the priestly ordination scene (“Ad sum!” response) and the episcopal consecration scene (the Te Deum – was it solemn tone? – was beautiful). For some weird reasons, Raf Vallone is always destined to be a high-ranking prelate in movies (bishop/cardinal in this movie, then cardinal/pope in Godfather III). I got to say that his demeanor in those roles are more bishop’y than most Western (Latin) Church bishops in real life these days. John Huston was also excellent in the role of Cardinal Glennon of Boston.
“Becket” (1964): Just for the bell, book and candle excommunication scene. That scene will raise the hair on the back of your neck for good reason.
“For Greater Glory” (2012): Just to see all the Roman chasubles
“The Prisoner” (1955): Just for the Ponfitical Mass at the beginning, before the cardinal was arrested by the communist secret police
“The Rock” (1996): Just for the opening sequence with General Hummel in the rain, the film score by Hans Zimmer is excellent
“Crimson Tide” (1995): Just for the film score “Roll Tide”, excellent score by Hans Zimmer
“Godfather III” (1993): Just for the ending sequence when the lonely old Michael passed away quietly in the courtyard of an old Italian villa, all alone. Vanitas motif there (vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas).
Because you don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.
My 10-Best/Favorite List – from 1st to 10th:
Casablanca
High Noon
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Manchurian Candidate (original)
Gone With The Wind
Lawrence of Arabia
Gandhi
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Nun’s Story
The Jazz Singer (Al Jolson)
and dozens of other movies . . . .
Has anyone suggested:
Beckett
Any of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries with Ian Carmichael, but especially “The Nine Tailors”
Brideshead Revisited (all 10 episodes)
The Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett
Joan of Arc (1929 Silent)
Big Business (Laurel and Hardy, 1929 – their last silent, and most perfect film!)
That should pull you out of it!
Ben Hur
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman series (he swings by St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the first movie)
Amy Adams/Disney’s Enchanted
The Search Montgomery Clift’s performance is outstanding.
The Gay Divorcee – this is NOT the film version of the synod just past – it stars Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair
A Portrait of Jennie
Random Harvest
Hunchback of Notre Dame – Charles Laughton
The Quiet Man
North to Alaska
Midnight – Claudette Colbert at her best; John Barrymore doing comedy(!)
Spirit of St. Louis
This is just the tip of the iceburg!
The Red Balloon, 1956
Ostrov (The Island)
The Namesake ( Bad scene.)
Children of Heaven
Cinderella Man
Color of Paradise
Barfi
Beaufort
The Chorus
My top 3 would be, from old to new:
– Casablanca
– The Hunt for Red October
– True Grit
All very enjoyable no matter if one wants to think deeply about them, or just enjoy the ride. That’s a very sought-after bonus if one is ill, in my book.
I must, respectfully, object to the inclusion of any Star Trek movies though. While a fan of the series (from TNG onwards; The Original Series is simply not watchable for someone who was born long after they were made, and saw TNG first. The visuals from the 60s are just too distracting), the movies always have toe-curling story-lines and rank stupidity in them. I was disappointed by each and every one I ever saw, and I’ve seen all but the last.
Well, if I were in bed, and wanted to watch something purely fun to raise my spirits, and make me forget my aches and pains and sniffles, it would have to be the great musical Singing in the Rain. And not just for Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor, though they’re certainly enough, but also for the inimitable Jean Hagen (“I make more money than Calvin Coolidge . . . put together!”). But you will absolutely want to get up and dance down that rainy street with Gene Kelly, and if you have a fever, it might be tricky. You could end up falling all over the furniture.
You might try a back-to-back double feature of Becket and A Lion in Winter (You’ll get to watch Peter O’Toole age and rage in his repeated role as Henry II. You’ll feel better about your troubles watching his).
If you like to shiver with something other than fever, try:
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (spooky in a charming way)
Rebecca (real and tremendous shivers – and not just because it has Laurence Olivier in it)
Most of my other choices have already been mentioned:
The Princess Bride (and if you get tired of watching the film, read the book. It’s even funnier)
Going my Way (If you need some sleep, fast forward to Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra)
To Kill a Mockingbird (My favorite book of all time when I was thirteen and living in North Carolina and needing to understand the South, and one of my favorite movies of all time, ever — and not just because it has Gregory Peck in it).
Gone with the Wind (Scarlett’s troubles are even worse than Henry’s and even more entertaining)
Dave (every time)
Babette’s Feast. (It will make you hungry even if you’ve got the stomach flu. Plus it’s a magnificent allegory on the Eucharist, and grace).
And thank you Father, for mentioning Cinderella Man. Very underrated. I think lots of guys never went near it because of the title. Their loss. And because it has Russell Crowe in it — he’s the MAN.
oops – I have no idea how that double post happened.
The Rain Man – some bad language and one brief sex scene but otherwise worth it for Dustin Hoffman’s magnificent performance playing an autistic man and Tom Cruise as his self absorbed brother.
2001 A Space Odyssey – surprised no one mentioned this. “Open the pod bay doors please, Hal. Hal do you read me? Hal?”
The 13th day (Fatima)
Most of my other favorites have already been mentioned.
No mention yet of Ealing comedies, ideal for when you are ill:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ealing_Comedies
Especially entertaining are Whisky Galore!, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt.
Other films for the list:-
Oliver Twist, 1948, directed by David Lean
Oliver! 1968 musical – when our children were young the whole family would be singing along in Cockney
Odd Man Out, 1947
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, 1943
The Man Who Would Be King, 1975. Priceless performances from Sean Connery and Michael Caine.
My all time favorite flick is “Amadeus”, not only because of the way in which it showcases Mozart’s music, but also because of its portrayal of how easily pride and envy can ruin the soul of a person with good intentions (Salieri). The original version doesn’t contain anything objectionable other than some mildly vulgar language. The “director’s cut” does contain one scene that, I’m guessing, was left out of the original to avoid an R rating, but which also explains a lot of what happens later in the movie.
The Sting
Treasure Island (1950 version)
Skyfall
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Dick Tracy
Coraline
Quiz Show
Rear Window
Taken
The Big Lebowski
Halloween
The Horror of Dracula (Hammer Horror)
And for TV… Columbo
Here’s three for consideration:
The General (1926)
Joan of Arc (1948)
The Lego Movie (why not?)
… and Room with a View (with Helena Bonham Carter)
Many of the above are terrific. Some of the following (I didn’t see listed above) include vivid portrayals of the consequences of sin, but some are a bit lighter:
– Goodfellas
– A Bronx Tale
– Casino
– A Few Good Men
– Midway
– The Blues Brothers
– Airplane!
– Holiday Inn
– On The Town
Don’t forget:
Airplanes, Trains, and Automobiles
Uncle Buck
The Christmas Story
and
one of the best, all-time, little-knowns, “My Dinner with Andre.”
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2991692313?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1
The Passion (a prototypical Catholic choice, I know)
Andrei Rublev
Mission Impossible II (mind-numbing fun, with a few bad scenes)
Mother and Son (arty, but touching)
Apocalypto (underrated, in my opinion)
The Searchers
Coen Brothers Movies (all tied for 7th)
Gladiator (tying with other Ridley Scott films–e.g. Blade Runner, The Counselor)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (tying with other Sergio Leone films)
Pet Detective movies (all tied for 10th. Yeah, I know, not art-house movies, but for shear comic brilliance on Jim Carrey’s part, I must include on a top ten list.)
Any such list is purely subjective, but these are movies that I enjoy, time and time again.
Oh, and I would have included Ingmar Bergman, but after taking a semester course on him at the University of Michigan, and reading his book, the Magic Lantern, his later nihilistic movies–and his praxis as a human being–have made me almost unable to view his worth, earlier movies.
First, this is the best comment of the whole thread: “The Gay Divorcee – this is NOT the film version of the synod just past – it stars Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair.” Well done.
Second, I endorse a number of the selections on here, including, particularly but not exclusively, The Quiet Man (“homeric!”), The Sting, Lawrence of Arabia (although, even with a recent rewatching, the portrayal of Lawrence’s complex psychology is not quite what it should be), and Ben Hur and Gone with the Wind (although you have to be settled in for the long haul for these).
My original contributions:
It Happened One Night (Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert have a cross-country adventure and win an armful of Oscars doing it);
Manhattan Melodrama (William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Clark Gable give a spectacular study in love, friendship, vice, and principle); and
The Thin Man and its sequels, although they diminish a bit as they go (William Powell and Myrna Loy drink most of the gin on coast or the other while solving murders and being hilarious doing it).
Finally, a criticism: I dissent from the characterization of The Bridge on the River Kwai as a great twentieth-century movie. It’s a well-acted, visually stunning exercise in nihilism. I invite rebuttal, however.
Recently I watched (tried to watch) some movies that moved me deeply in my younger days, and I found them so utterly ridiculous and useless that I was taken back. “How could I have ever appreciated this junk?” – I kept saying to myself.
Why is it that something, which impressed me greatly in the past, became worn out like an old rag. After all, it’s the same movie. What changed?
I know! I did. Indeed. All these wealthy “producers” with their cameras and their cutie “starlets” and their peacock “celebrity” actors: they will not impress me any more: ninety-nine percent of everything they’ve ever produced is nothing but pure junk and the rest of it is barely tolerable. (Not to mention the sea of depravity that comes with it.) And besides: how much time do I have left on this earth? Do I get the rest of this day? If I knew, this was it, would I sit down and watch this trash? The world is on fire, the innocent are being slaughtered, entire nations are on the move running from the enemy and I am going to sit in front of some image-producing microwave, and absorb someone else’s sick delusions? Why not instead read the “Word”. Let Him speak to me. Let me read about true greatness and wonder and noble struggles and about how even I, a poor nobody, an unknown number, a drop in this vast ocean of humanity, can somehow also become a participant in that great universal warfare still unfolding, still going on, until the last day, whose arrival might be, just might be, today. No movies for me anymore. No more handsome young hero meeting a girl and winding up in bed with her on the same day to the sound of soft music. I know whose side I am on and these musings don’t represent me. I am done with movies. Thank you.
Les Visiteurs, original French version only, not the horrible American remake. Clean, funny, totally charming. Gallant knight finds himself transported 1000 years into the future.
You can get it with subtitles or dubbed.
Rats. I hate iPads. I had a long list and it erased everything. Arrrg!
In this House of Brede is better than The Nun’s Story – at least Philipa doesn’t lose her vocation.
I feel like a Philistine because I have only seen 20% of the films being recommended. Some TV movies are at least as good as cinema films and deserve a place in immemorial. My, list therefore, will be idiosyncratic – I can’t recommend a film if I haven’t seen it. So…
Mysteries
The Maltese Falcon
Suspense
Sneakers
The Bourne Identity
The Hunt for Red October
Science Fiction
Forbidden Planet
Fahrenheit 451 (the first 2/3 of the film is so-so sci-fi, but the last 1/3 in The Land of the Book People is transcendent. It was a happy accident of film making that it started to snow when it did)
Star Trek II: the Wrath of Kahn
Colossus: the Forbin Project (every computer scientist should watch it – it contains some partial nudity)
The Inheritors and Demon with a Glass Hand (two black-and-white Outer Limits episodes, that are, possibly, the two finest episodes of sci-fi ever made for tv. The whole series (1964) is a classic and, surprisingly, very Catholic)
The Andromeda Strain (every piece of science equipment is real and the actors had to learn how to use them – this was the most expensive movie of its time because Robert Wise, basically, built a real bio-containment lab)
The Planet of the Apes (original)
Dark Star (the most metaphysical and funny sci-fi movie ever made – it cost $60,000 dollars and was made by some students at USC)
War of the Worlds (1950’s version)
Back to the Future
Obviously, many other, but these are some classics
Dance
Broadway Melody of 1940 (the only pairing of Fred Astaire and Elinor Powell – considered the best dance film every made)
Comics
Superman II
The Avengers
Batman Begins
General
The Sound of Music
The Americanization of Emily
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe
Sweet November (the original with Sandy Dennis – very morally objectionable in premise, but nicely executed)
Go to go teach…looking forward to more movies to see.
The Chicken
Up
Persuasion (the one with Ciaran Hinds & Amanda Root)
North and South (the miniseries based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s book, not the Civil War movie)
St. Teresa of Avila
Bridge over River Kwai is an awesome choice. Most people put Citizen Kane as the best movie E-Vehr, and while not denying it’s film breakthroughs, I’d rather watch other stuff.
I guessed the secret of the Red Violin about ten minutes into the movie. My wife thought I was just trying to be gross. I had trouble enjoying the movie because I just wanted to get to the end to see if my guess was right. Ever since Jacob’s Ladder, it’s hard to fool me now with trick endings which allowed me to guess the end of The Sixth Sense early. I didn’t guess the significance “Swing away Merrill” in Signs, but in that case it was so stupid why would anyone guess it? :)
Gosford Park sadly, I found to be typical Leftist Hollywood boilerplate. As James Bowman put it:
For decades Hollywood lived by the philosophy that the only good Indian was a dead Indian. Savage red men bit the dust in their thousands for the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, so that anyone who ventured into a Western could be sure of what he would see. Why did it take people so long to get bored knowing that every Indian would be nothing but an Aunt Sally for soldiers’ or settlers’ bullets? I don’t know, but eventually they did get bored — and Hollywood promptly flip-flopped. For the last thirty-five years, you could be equally certain going into a movie that any cinematic redskins would invariably be the good guys: decent, honorable and, as sure as shooting, victimized by the white man.
And we are still not bored with it. Maybe in another 30 years we will be. In the same way, I reckon that it has been at least 40 years since an aristocrat of the silver screen has been anything but a thorough rotter and a cad. You have only to call a character Lord something- or-other and your audience knows immediately what to think of him. Why don’t we get bored with this? Once again, it is a mystery. But one possible explanation is that we need the myth of the wicked upper classes to confirm us in our taste for vulgarity and sloppiness. If we thought that manners and what they used to call “breeding” were anything but a cover for the basest kind of behavior, we might have to cultivate them ourselves once again instead of letting it all hang out.
Certain Miyazaki movies can be comforting to watch when you’re sick. Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro is cheerful and full of action and wonder. My Neighbor Totoro is a movie I can watch again and again.
Gentle comedy series are good. Sports like marathons are good to watch, too – very stream of consciousness, so when you zone out and fall asleep, you haven’t really missed anything. EWTN is possibly the best station to watch when you’re really out of it, though, because nothing will come on that will give you bad dreams, and there’s always somebody praying for you.
However, it sounds like the original poster is at the stage of “stuck in bed, bored, and antsy,” so I expect he or she is conscious most of the time and full of frustrated energy.
Thorfinn: It can be argued that Hero is actually a subversive take which is meant to make you think that the Communist Chinese government really stinks, and that people are being tricked into putting up with oppression for some future vision of Chinese glory. I don’t know, but when I viewed it I did sense that there were signals and references I was missing.
Andrew: If the movies you used to like were not good ones, then of course you won’t like them now. (And just getting older can make you grow out of some movies.) OTOH, if you liked some good and moral movies and now don’t, it’s natural at some points of spiritual growth to try to get closer to the core of things and not pay attention to externals. (Often because one is dealing with one’s own sins and failings, and hatred of one’s own failings turns into hatred of non-perfection in everything.)
Depending on your individual personality, you may find that your tastes widen out again later. For example, once I felt that my own life had straightened out, I stopped being interested only in reading the Bible and patristics and started being able to read normal books with enjoyment again. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with only chewing on the Bible and spiritual reading, especially if you are keeping up with your daily duties and charities otherwise, and some people do that instead.
I might also add the film “State Buoni se Potete!” (about St. Philip Neri). It has some corn to it, but ultimately, it’s well worth the watch!
Most of my faves are already mentioned, but don’t neglect:
The King’s Speech
The Shawshank Redemption
Or less heavy, just fun:
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Top Gun (classic!)
Father Z,
How about you doing a weekly (or whatever) blog post discussing theology in movies? You watch movies, anyway. Post what you see, and let us murmurantees comment. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d enjoy a discussion of this type.
Every 10 years critics around the world vote in a poll sponsored by the British Film Institute and Sight & Sound magazine. In the last poll over 800 international critics voted Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” as the greatest film of all time. It is my favorite film. It’s a study of obsession and there’s actually a “deliverance” at the end.
Besides “Vertigo” I recommend:
> The Searchers – 1956 – John Ford (voted #7 in the poll mentioned above)
> Diary of a Country Priest – 1951 – Robert Bresson
> The Passion of Joan of Arc – 1928 – Carl Theodor Dreyer
> Wagon Master – 1950 – John Ford
> My Darling Clementine – 1946 – John Ford
> Rome Open City – 1945 – Roberto Rossellini
> El Cid – 1961 – Anthony Mann
> On the Waterfront – 1954 – Elia Kazan
> The Seven Samurai – 1954 – Akira Kurosowa
> The Man From Laramie – 1955 – Anthony Mann (or any of the five Westerns that Mann & James Stewart collaborated on)
> Strangers on a Train – 1951 – Alfred Hitchock
> The Virgin Spring – 1960 – Ingmar Bergman
> The Third Man – 1949 – Carol Reed
Well, my list could go on and on ….
Phil_NL,
Who is this who dares darken counsel by commenting thus on the Star Trek original series?
Gird you loins like a man; I will question you, and you will answer me.
Where were you when the Roddenberry developed such revolutionary ideas?
Was it your wisdom that choose, during the years of war, to focus on stories of discovery and peace among all peoples – human and alien?
Did you dare an integrated cast only a couple of years after the slaying of three young men in the South?
Did you even ever read about the sixties?
Speak up, man!
Did you keep the dream alive by attending Star Trek conventions attended by Starfleet officers, Vulcans, Klingons, Dorians, and others reveling in the magic of seeing reruns of the O.S. together?
Did YOU set the foundation of a phenomenon that has lasted for generations?
Think deeply, if you can, why you had TNG to enjoy.
Then, raise your hand in the Vulcan sign and pledge ever after, never again to disparage the show that made “Beam me up, Scotty!”, “He’s dead, Jim!”, “I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer!”, and “Live long and prosper!” part of the global lexicon.
Let’s all just agree that, of course we read. We read books and we read Scripture.
But when you are sick, sometimes you just want to let a movie wash over you and maybe not even think too hard. Sometimes your head aches or the coughing makes it hard to hold a book or medication leaves you feeling a bit loopy. Movies are great for passing the time when you are feeling under the weather.
Father, hope you are feeling better. Are you interested in my top ten movie list?
Lawrence of Arabia, number one and have seen it 23 times.
Ben-Hur, lost count how many times I have watched this
Tree of Wooden Clogs, again watched so many times lost count
A Man for All Seasons, ditto
Becket (OK I am a Peter OToole junkie)
Funny Face
Random Harvest
The Mission
Little Dorrit
Passage to India
If I had to add number eleven, I would go for an anime.
Here is a movie list and a book list for the Year of Consecrated Life:
http://vocation.nd.edu/get-connected/2014-15-the-year-of-consecrated-life/
PS some people listed tv movies… of course Brideshead, but may I then add By The Sword Divided, which is on line and very good. Adults…
Oh, and here’s another: The Third Man.
Orson Welles is evil incarnate, great character actors and great shots of post WWII Vienna make this memorable. Also the soundtrack is great!
I have bookmarked this thread on my phone so that it will be easy to find good movies to stream.
My suggestion: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison. We visited my DSMME Novice daughter in October and the evening just after we said goodbye to her, we watched an amazing movie about two vocations: one as a Marine and the other as a Religious Sister. It is amazing that Hollywood created a movie that respected both vocations so much (of course that was 1957). Deborah Kerr was nominated for an Oscar. Robert Mitchum was good (he is always good), but I didn’t care for his New York accent. Set in the Pacific during WWII. If you are Catholic and you love these USA, you will enjoy this movie: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.
Available to stream on Netflix and also for a fee on Amazon. DVD is less than $10. http://www.ovguide.com/heaven-knows,-mr-allison-9202a8c04000641f8000000000154102
That you left this off your list can only be because of your illness.
http://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Dozen-Lee-Marvin/dp/B002M87UXI/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1415817262&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=dirty+dozen+lee+marvin
In the past decade, I’d add
– Gran Torino (the final sequence is extraordinary)
– The Toy Story series
– Wall-E
uh, Kurosawa anybody?
Watch Seven Samurai and thank me later. This movie is so good that Sturges remade it (ripped it off) and made a masterpiece.
The Searchers and The Quiet Man are great too. Anything Ford touched is gold.
Scott W, how soon did you figure out Fight Club?
mpmaron,
I recommended “The Seven Samurai” and three John Ford movies this morning. But my comment is still awaiting moderation.
Yes, Gregg, to Airplane, one of the funniest movies. (Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. Oh, stewardess, I speak Jive. ….and stop calling me Shirley.)
I know he’s a mess, but I do love some Woody Allen films:
-Annie Hall (the Marshall McLuhan sequence)
-Love and Death (wheat, wheat/it’s a greater honor for me/a piece of land)
-Crimes and Misdemeanors (if it bends, it’s funny, if it breaks, it isn’t)
Ok…
The author is sick, and since we can’t tell how sick, I’ll put out a list of mostly fun, easy-to-watch movies. Of course some of my favorites were already mentioned. Adore A Man For All Seasons, best movie ever, and I also love Rear Window. I’ve had a terrible day at work, perhaps I’ll ask my husband to pop that movie in when I get home… anyway, my picks for staying sick in bed, in no particular order.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Finding Nemo
When Harry Met Sally, I’m a girl and it’s hilarious.
The Holiday, it’s cute.
the Incredibles, really funny.
buffy The Vampire Slayer. The show was dark and good, but the movie is really funny.
Who’s ever seen this one? LadyHawk. It’s just awesome.
Spaceballs, cause… “we’re at now now.”
It’s A Wonderful Life, though I usually save this for later in the winter, still, one of the best.
If you are really tired and mostly drifting in and out, perhaps Into Great Silence. I don’t mean that as a critizism of the movie, not at all, but if you want something on that won’t suddenly wake you up in a fright, put that on. Someone’s suggestion above of EWTN was a really good idea.
Oh yeah, one more… The Emperor’s New Groove. Trust me… so funny.
I hope the author feels better soon. Remember, plenty of fluids, and cough it up. I know it’s icky, but you’ll clear your lungs faster.
I’m making my own list before I look at anyone else’s. Then I will make note of films I haven’t seen. There’s sure to be great ones on here! I recognize great films that may not be on my list, but these are honestly the ones I would watch during my recuperation.
Gone with the Wind
Fiddler on the Roof
Moonstruck
The Miracle of our Lady of Fatima
Father of the Bride (with Spencer Tracy)
The Wizard of Oz
Miracle on 34th Street
Murphy’s Romance
Oklahoma!
Philadelphia Story (with Katherine Hepburn)
The Quiet Man
Mister Roberts
Song of Bernadette
I know, I went over. I would add Mildred Pierce, The Shop Around the Corner (with Jimmy Stewart), Love Finds Andy Hardy, The Women (original) and I might just as well say, pretty much anything on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Ok that’s it. Now I’ll go read everyone else’s and say oh how could I forget that one!
A.D.,
As influential as the original series were, that doesn’t make it watchable for me. Many of the ideas behind TOS are timeless and unique, but the execution of those ideas is anything but.
Moreover, I was born long enough after the sixties to be instantly allergic to its excesses, and TOS had plenty of those (though it would be a long discussion to sort out which ones were roddenberry’s, and which ones were due to Shatner). TNG too, by the way, but less on the surface.
We’re all the product of our age. And as I see the Star Trek incarnations I loved slowly get out of date (slowly for their appeal as series, but even quicker as sci-fi, as we already have communicators and Borg nanoprobes are in essence already just around the corner), I can sympathize with anyone whom it saddens to see TOS dismissed as a relic. But that doesn’t change the fact time has, and is, moving on.
Phil_NL wrote:
“As influential as the original series were, that doesn’t make it watchable for me. Many of the ideas behind TOS are timeless and unique, but the execution of those ideas is anything but.”
Execution, when? You might go back and do a quick history search of TV science fiction before and after Star Trek, TOS (the original series). Captain Video, Space Patrol, early Dr. Who…the only show close in content was the Outer Limits and while its film photography was legendary, its special effects were kindergarden in comparison to TOS. The execution of those ideas in TOS was truly groundbreaking, just as the 1960’s Batman TV series with Adam West broke open the superhero mold.
Star Trek TOS was a show mostly consistent with a Christian ethos. Indeed, the most influential writer of the series, Gene L. Coon (not Roddenberry), was a devout Christian. There has even been a book written about the Christianity in Star Trek, TOS.
Sadly. by the late 1980’s that Christian ethos had been lost. There is almost no Christian background on display in TNG and where they do have a chance to make moral decisions, they do so, most often, from an existential perspective. One could use TOS as a basis for Sunday school, if one wished – not so, with TNG. Star Trek Voyager and Deep Space Nine are even worse in this regard, with VOY sporting a right-to-die episode.
It is not that the world has moved on from Star trek. It has moved on from Christianity, so TOS makes no sense to it, at least in its ideas. As for its execution – Spider-man I has groundbreaking special effects, but could it have gotten there without Hitchcock’s Psycho, which used ground-breaking, but simple special effects of a similar nature, first?
Oh, as to the science, we still do not have matter-antimatter reactors, nor fusion, nor semantic processing for computers, nor materials strong enough for warp speed, nor an understanding of multi-spatial overlap, so we have a ways to go, yet.
Start Trek has earned its historical significance. If some stories seem too toe-curling with rank stupidity, then you might have missed the whole point. At least many scientists and engineers from the 1960’s to the present didn’t seem to think they were so. Star Trek spawned many a science vocation. One could wish that the Church had something similar.
The Chicken
Thank you, Chicken! :-)
Chicken, thank you for articulating something I’ve suspected for a long time. I approve of TOS for exactly those reasons – there were really good values in there, notwithstanding Jim’s penchant for smooching with the Alien Babe in the third quarter. These values were also expressed in the movie versions of TOS.
But then I actually watched some TNG and I was appalled at the ‘liberal’ values therein. So I thought, if it was like this back then, how bad will it be in VOY and DS9?
All good ones listed above. These movies were just on television, too: Stalag 17, Run Silent Run Deep. Also: Great Escape/Green Mile/Okay, can I say Susan Hayward movies w/o getting booed? It’s a gal thing. For a bronchial expectorant, try a Mel Brooks or W.C. Fields movie.
As you wish–just had to say that. LOL
Star Trek TOS really does require the watcher to pluck himself out of today and stick himself into the time in which it aired. Being used to today’s acting styles, SFX, etc., the classical stage-acting style of the show is jarring. But if you can set that aside or appreciate it for what it is, the show underneath is great.
Has anyone mentioned Young Frankenstein yet? “Werewolf!” “There, wolf. There, castle…”
The Man Who Would be King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmZbCwmOC6I
Dear Chicken,
The crux is that you judge TOS in its original setting, namely its original time-period. I cannot do that, for the simple reason of having been born a rough decade after TOS was cancelled. I can only judge if TOS is still worthwhile today, and -for me st lesst – the answer most be a resounfing “no”. As much as the visuals snd storylines might have been awesome back then, or the acting as would have been expected, it doesn’t fit the bill nowadays -nor for 20 years at least.
Does such an objection derive a series from all quality? Not necessarily, and I’ll take your word for TOS to do better in terms of morality (hardly odd if one sees were hollywood went in the intervening years). And some productions are timeless, one of my favorites, Casablanca, is a black-and-white from the 40s. So it is possible.
But TOS doesn’t do it for me. The toe-curling is so bad that I simply wouldn’t be able to sit through an epidode and enjoy it. And that in turn means thst whatever the brnefits in terms of message, the message won’t come across. I’d hit the off-switch.
And that means I cannot see TOS as worthwhile in this day and age, no matter whst the historical debts are.
PS : warp speed and matter-to-energy conversion are the only ST techs still firmly out of reach (note transporter tech is a version of the latter). One of the reasons it’s hard to come by good sci-fi since 2000 or so, is that there is not much of a basis of real future tech outside those and a lot of psy-power junk. Which also makes it harder to make a morally interesting story in sci-fi: all the horrors snd moral dilemma’s involved are in fact already so closeby it’s hard to make them enjoyable -they’d be too realistic.
With apologies for ‘derive’ instead of ‘deprive’ and many ‘a’s that turned into ‘s’s above. A tablet in a train isn’t ideal for longer comments, alas.
I wouldn’t worry too much Phil_NL – it happens to me too (although I don’t know how much longer I can continue to blame this old keyboard with a clear conscience) . But just to prove we forgive the typos , we promise not to notice that you also misspelled “alias” in your apology. ☺
Sci Fi: Not much of fan but:
– Forbidden Planet (cf The Tempest and Freud)
– The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Gort is the strong, silent type: Klaatu Barada Nikto. (nb: Toward the end of her life Patricia Neal became Catholic and is buried at Regina Laudis, the monastery of Dolores Hart.)
Mystery
– Two with Alec Guinness: Smiley’s People and Tinker, Tailor. Both 6 hours long.
– Nero Wolfe Series with Tim Hutton
– Holmes with Jeremy Brett
– The Company, with a superb performance by Michael Keaton as James Jesus Angleton, the orchid raising, fly fishing, poetry loving (friend of TS Eliot and Ezra Pound), chain smoking, Nero Wolfe reading, head of CIA Counter Intelligence.
Hitchcock (among which)
– Vertigo
– Psycho
– To Catch A Thief
– North by Northwest
John Ford (among which)
– Liberty Valance
– Searchers
Godfather I and II
Lawrence of Arabia (IMHO, Peter O’Toole is the weak link)
Off the top of my head:
1) The Longest Day. Clearly clearly clearly number one for me. Celebrates fantastic deeds (thanks, Allied armies!) by fantastic acting, treats enemies (when it would have had any right to portray them as devils) in a chivalric way, round-about historically accurate (the soldier who wins and then on purpose loses thousands of dollars is mentioned by Anthony Beevor too), great musical underlining, and I’d even call it a Catholic movie (there is a beautiful Catholic scene in it, the Catholic Church is the only Church mentioned, there is nothing against the Faith, and the sympathetic portrayal of all people involved seems to me to be a Catholic trait – plus the historical fact that the soldiers set out to liberate – guess what? – Sainte-Mère-Eglise). Then, portrays something of the horror of war, but does not set out to earn the title of an anti-war movie (because war is sometimes necessary, you know).
2) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Yes I know of the objections to Peter Jackson’s work, but (I guess) inaccuracies are not here present so much, the spirit is captured (the Faramir episodes are one film earlier, after all), and it’s anyway a great movie. Wonderful final song whose tone is neatly used at appropriate times before. (Did I mention that I like it generally if a movie culminates in a song.)
3) The Searchers. (It’s not the only good thing, but I do love Rev’d Cpt Clayton’s pastoral style. Too bad he does not appear to be a Catholic priest.)
4) North by Northwest. Hitchcock is generally great, but I think this one would come first for me. Also, takes a clear stand for the Free World and against Communism (without being preachy).
5) It’s a Wonderful Life. Consistently reduces me to tears in the final scene.
6) M – A City searching for a Murderer. Certainly a classic.
7) To Be or Not To Be. The greatest anti-Nazi movie ever made (though the thing becomes considerably easier to achieve given that at the time, the true extent of Nazi atrocities was not really known).
8) The Fire-Tongs Punchbowl (the 1944 version if you please. The 1970s remake is not bad, but it’s not the original.) Yes, it’s entertainment. Yes, it served the Nazi purpose of keeping the people busy. That’s that. For the rest, let me quote the introduction “This movie is a praise to School. But it is possible that School won’t realize it to be.”
9) Singing in the Rain. Pure entertainment. But good one.
10) One Two Three. The greatest anti-Communist movie ever made.
Movies that did not make it to my list right now ;-)
– Rio Bravo
– Some Like It Hot (with a refreshingly common-sense final scene, as opposed to some weird machinations of our own age)
– some other Hitchcocks, especially perhaps To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, Psycho in that order
– Sophie Scholl (yes, it’s great)
– The Miracle of Bern (which falls under the category “Catholic movie”, though you won’t think it does from the plotline)
– Lincoln
– Gladiator (beautiful beautiful, but historically unaccurate)
– Saving Private Ryan (an absolute artistic masterpiece; I don’t believe, though, that a sensible officer should, nor would, oblige his subordinate with his last breath to earn his redemption including the death of others)
– Top Gun (if only for the soundtrack; contains, though, how d’you call them, “explicit” scenes and, which is worse, somewhat a glorification of selfishness)
– and of course all movies I have not yet seen but may be much better.
and
– A Clockwork Orange (note: this movie describes a sadistic criminal and does it well; without any more explicity than needed as far as I recall, but no guarantee!)
– Blade Runner – to put some science fiction in there (except for the title, which really should have remained “Do Androids dream of electric sheep?”)
– La grande illusion
– The Jungle Book (yes, although it’s animated – but the German translation of “The Bare Necessities”, “Probier’s mal mit Gemütlichkeit” [Just try, for once, mere cosiness] is a good deal better than the original, even despite it loses the pun) – and yes, like about all my conationals I think it’s the best movie Walt Disney Ever made, Cinderella etc. nonwithstanding
– Grave decisions (i. e. “Who passes away earlier, is dead for a longer time”
– Laurel & Hardy: Way out West (about the one movie about the two where they do achieve their goal…)
But speaking of Cinderella, the best movie on the topic is of course
– Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella
“I cannot do that, for the simple reason of having been born a rough decade after TOS was cancelled. I can only judge if TOS is still worthwhile today, and -for me st lesst – the answer most be a resounfing “no”. ”
I am an avid old-time radio listener and there is a lot to be learned from these old shows. By your reasoning, Shakespeare would be useless, using archaic language, simple sets, and acts. What about opera or Mozart? Mare they to be relegated to the unlistenable pile?
This is a property we are noticing, more and more, among the younger crowd (below 40). Comedians trying to break into comedy, today, just start doing their act, but the really good veteran comedians started out by studying people like Lenny Bruce, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Ernie Kovacs, etc. Likewise, the many mature jazz musicians started their careers by listening to Art Tatum, Louis Armstrong, etc. Modern youth has no sense of the debt owed to history.
Would one dismiss the Gospel parables because they are 2000 years old? Star Trek is like the Gospel parables, only in color. Indeed, Scotty quotes the parable of the Pearl of Great Price. Mind me any modern sci-fi that has it’s head screwed on as well.
The Chicken
Shakespeare is in my opinion indeed bereft of much of its status, as the archaic language does present a hurdle – even though I speak and write in English 80% of my time, it remains my second language, and as such I miss some of the feeling for the language a native speaker would have, and which might make the hurdle easier to overcome.
But the point I wish to make is another one: the primary aim of TV is to entertain. If the form of the entertainment is such that the result is annoyance instead of pleasure, it cannot convey whatever message it has embedded in itself. TOS falls into that category, but not all that is old – Casablanca made it to my top 3, for example. The longest day (thanks for the reminder, dear Imrahil) would make top 10, also in black-and-white.
The problem with a show like TOS is that – like almost all sci-fi – it is not timeless. The qualities aren’t such that it will remain watchable despite any obstacles. Moreover since TV has more obstacles than most media – music has an easier job in being timeless, as the standards for execution are pretty stable. For sci-fi TV, it is such that not even a fifth-rate TV-maker would nowadays even contemplate making something like TOS in terms for graphics or acting. And that gets in the way. A lot.
So to sum up, it is not about the message. It’s about form being so poor the message doesn’t get across. If one wants to make religious analogies, it would have to be a hippy-guitar Mass. It might be Mass, but even so it might be unbearable to attend. Such is TOS for me.
“Moreover since TV has more obstacles than most media – music has an easier job in being timeless, as the standards for execution are pretty stable.”
Really? Have you ever tried to play the Mozart Horn Concerto on a period horn? Tuning was by ear and good luck with any semitones. There are some TOS episodes that are fairly minimalist in their production aspects like, City on the Edge of Forever, that, basically, uses an old movie lot or, Spectre of the Gun, that uses cardboard Western scenery. It is hard to see how those could go out of style, since they use similar set construction to many classic theater plays.
Sci-fi is not all about the spectacle of special effects. There are some sci-fi movies that consist of little more than conversation. Indeed, the black-and-white Outer Limits episode, Demon with a Glass Hand, widely considered one of the best episodes of sci-fi every produced for TV, takes place in a single building. It was produced in 1964. The director, Byron Haskins, directed the original 1953, War of the Worlds. The directors back then were legendary so, other than just matters of the set design, it is difficult to see where the problem is. Is any movie that uses tube radios too toe-curling? I have no problem with older science fiction. Good art is good art. Good art transcends time and taste. Ironically, the super-evolved man (played by David McCallum) in the old black-and-white Outer Limits episode, The Sixth Finger, said it best:
Gwylim: (playing classical music) “Amazing, isn’t it, the things that endure the ravages of time and taste? This simple prelude, for instance. Bach will quite probably outlive us all… Man produces little that is lasting–truly lasting. It’s understandable. Fear, conformity, immorality; these are heavy burdens. Great drainers of creative energy. And when we are drained of creative energy we do not create. We procreate; we do not create.”
The Chicken
Hope you’re feeling better, Fr. Z!
Chicken,
Where is the Vulcan shoulder pinch when we need one??????