Continuing the explication of my hundred favorite films, listed on the B100 page accessible above.
The Godfather: My Dad and I avoided this for many years, he because he thought it glamorized the Mafia (I don’t think it does; it’s just a good movie about bad people) and me because I thought I couldn’t take the violence. We finally caught the ten-hour TV version of parts I and II and saw what we’d been missing, though in retrospect I feel that is not the best form in which to see them. Quite simply a masterpiece, with its slow building to climactic crescendos of violence, one of my three favorite Brando roles (A Streetcar Named Desire and Apocalypse Now being the other two), and a star-making cast—yes, even James Caan is good. I also admire The Godfather Part II very much but, unlike many, don’t find the scenes with Robert De Niro as the young Vito Corleone to be as compelling as this (albeit without faulting his performance). “Leave the gun; take the cannolis.”
Goldfinger: The third and, in my opinion, best of the James Bond films, with Sean Connery at his peak. Features Gert Frobe (whose voice was inexplicably dubbed, although he spoke English fluently) as Auric Goldfinger, Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore (“I must be dreaming”), and Harold Sakata as Oddjob, with Shirley Bassey singing the best of her three Bond theme songs, stunning faux Fort Knox sets by Ken Adam, one of John Barry’s best scores, and a stunning climax.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo): Arguably Sergio Leone’s best spaghetti Western, featuring the unforgettable trinity of Clint Eastwood, a really nasty Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes, and Eli Wallach “in the role of Tuco.” The Civil War is just an inconvenience for those three as they search for a fortune in gold, with an unforgettable climactic three-way shootout in a cemetery. And dig that crazy Ennio Morricone theme song, surely one of the most recognizable pieces on earth. Several of us were able to hear the Maestro conducting selections from this score at Radio City Music Hall, which was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Great Escape: Turafish considers this The Greatest Movie Ever Made. I won’t go that far, but it’s right up there. Director John Sturges, composer Elmer Bernstein, and cast members Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn are reunited from The Magnificent Seven for this true story co-scripted by James Clavell. During World War II, the Germans decide to place all of their rotten eggs in one basket by herding their most troublesome prisoners into a single camp. Naturally, this leads to a legendary, albeit only partly successful, mass breakout led by “Big X” (Richard Attenborough). The theme song is unforgettable and the cast (also including James Garner, James Donald, Donald Pleasence, David McCallum, and Gordon Jackson) is unparalleled.
Groundhog Day: This brilliantly conceived comedy reunited Bill Murray with Ghostbusters co-star/co-writer Harold Ramis of SCTV fame, who here assumes the director’s chair. While covering the titular holiday, arrogant weatherman Murray is forced to relive the same day over and over in snowy Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and essentially learns to be a better person—earning Andie MacDowell’s love in the process—as the various permutations are worked out with impeccable logic, leading to a satisfying conclusion. Featuring Chris Elliott (also seen in The Abyss). “BING!”
Gunga Din: Old-fashioned adventure of the kind they don’t make anymore, although Sergeants 3, with John Sturges directing the Rat Pack in a Western version, was surprisingly good. Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. are three British soldiers serving in 19th-century India, who run afoul of a Thuggee cult led by Eduardo Ciannelli. Sam Jaffe plays Rudyard Kipling’s eponymous water-carrier, who saves the day at the cost of his life, and Joan Fontaine is the fiancée whose engagement to Fairbanks the others repeatedly try to scuttle; great score by Alfred Newman.
The Guns of Navarone: Immortalized by the very youthful Alexandra as Guns Forever Known. Considering the subsequent and steady decline of director J. Lee Thompson’s career, this is astonishingly good, the first of the Alistair MacLean adaptations and one of those that holds up the best. Stalwart Gregory Peck, formidable Anthony Quinn, and dubious David Niven join Irene Papas and commandos Anthony Quayle, Stanley Baker, and James Darren on the usual impossible mission on a German-held Greek island during WWII. Not many action films make me mist up, but this one has a beautifully reflective coda, featuring the softer side of Dimitri Tiomkin’s majestic score, that gets me every time. Despite being directed by Guy (Goldfinger) Hamilton, the belated sequel, Force 10 from Navarone (with Robert Shaw and Edward Fox in the Peck and Niven roles, plus Harrison Ford and Barbara Bach), is vastly inferior, I’m sorry to say, so stick with the original.
A Hard Day’s Night: The Beatles’ first and best-loved movie, directed in pyrotechnical prototype-MTV style by Richard Lester and featuring a plethora of their best early songs, including two of my favorites, “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “I Should Have Known Better,” plus the title tune, “All My Loving,” “And I Love Her,” and “She Loves You” (do I detect a pattern here?). Since I regard the Fab Four as the group to end all groups, with Talking Heads a relatively close second, I can forgive the fact that this doesn’t really have much of a story, other than trying to get the boys onstage for a TV special. “How do you find America?” “Turn left at Greenland.” With Victor (Help!) Spinetti.
Help!: Unlike most Beatlephiles, I prefer this to A Hard Day’s Night. Also directed by Richard Lester, it actually has a plot, and one loopy enough to suit my bizarre sensibilities, as the cult of Kali tries to turn Ringo into a human sacrifice. The great songs include “Ticket to Ride,” “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” “The Night Before,” “I Need You,” and the title tune. With Leo McKern as Klang (“Hold?”), Eleanor Bron (“Is not the Beatle with the ring, he!”), Victor Spinetti (“With a ring like that I could—dare I say it?—rule the world.”), and Lester regular Roy Kinnear.
High Noon: Along with For Whom the Bell Tolls, this is probably my favorite Gary Cooper movie, although there’s some stiff competition (most notably Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Meet John Doe). Coop is Marshal Will Kane, who’s ready to retire from gunslinging and enjoy some wedded bliss with Quaker bride Grace Kelly (who wouldn’t be?). There’s just one hitch: Frank Miller, a desperado whom Kane put away, is out of prison and headed back on the noonday train to exact a little vengeance, accompanied by several like-minded killers. Kane has no death wish, but he’s too much the pro to leave the town to Miller’s tender mercies, even though Grace is ready to leave him if he doesn’t have sense enough to head for the hills. Will the populace rally to his aid? The answer plays out (in real time) in this suspenseful classic directed by Fred Zinnemann.
P.S. My bad—TCM’s Kurosawa retrospective is not over. This Tuesday 3/30 at 8:00 PM you can still see Dersu Uzala, Kagemusha (my favorite among his post-Mifune films), and Ran. But don’t forget about Justified.
BRADLEY ON FILM 
Oh, now you’ve opened Pandora’s Box, bringing up THE GODFATHER. You can’t say enough about this movie; it’s the cinematic equivalent of The Mona Lisa, the Pieta, Nightwatch–well, you get the idea. Acting, script, storyline, direction all coalesce to produce what could be argued is the best movie of all time. It doesn’t glamorize the Mafia at all ( and a side note: Nowhere iin the movie is the word “mafia” used!); rather, I would use the word “humanizes” instead. Yes, the Mafia does some terrible things to their enemies, and for that reason, some tend to think that the people in it are not like everyone else. But they are: They can love their children and families, grieve their losses, and even do wonderful things for those they care about. ( Just don’t get on their bad side! ) Even Michael Corleone’s transformation from a fresh-faced young man who distanced himself from the family business initially into the ruthless successor to his Father was, ironically, born out of love–when Michael saw his Father nearly killed by an ambitious rival, he decided to retaliate personally by slaying the man behind the attempt and the crooked police chief who was in his pocket. And I agree that the final dramatic montage of all the hits ordered by Micheal taking place while he, again ironically, is in a solemn church ceremony renouncing Satan, is a masterpiece within a masterpiece. Finally, I, too, try to avoid this movie whenever I see it on TV; not because I dislike it, but because if I watch more than five minutes of it, “it keeps DRAGGING ME BACK!”
At the risk of dampening your enthusiasm (if such a thing is possible), isn’t that “…PULLING me back”? Loreen, alas, is still not sold on this picture, even after watching it in its entirety, and—partly as a result—refuses to do the same with that other mob classic, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA.
After sending that comment, I had wondered whether or not the quote from THE GODFATHER PART III was correct. Now I have my answer! Regardless, it’s a great movie, one of the best, if not THE best.
And I agree that the tension surrounding the shooting of Vito and its aftermath is some of the strongest material in the film.
That last comment of mine was a bit confusing–I should have said, “Regardless, THE GODFATHER is a great film,” etc. I didn’t think much of THE GODFATHER PART III.
No worries; I knew what you meant, and suspect others will as well. In fact, the line you (mis)quoted exemplifies one of my biggest beefs with PART III, i.e., that Pacino—whose performance in the first two films was so well modulated—tended to chew the scenery in PART III.
“Guns Forever Known!” If I needed one more bullet in my heart for this girl—! Well, that would be it.
One of many utterly endearing youthful malapropisms…but I won’t embarrass her by enumerating others (at the moment).
Ah, I see I’ll never live that one down. 😉 I’m kind of fine with that, though, but I will say I would like to watch it again now that I will be able not only to get the name right but also remember the movie. It’s been far too long.
HIGH NOON is indeed one of the greats, and would certainly be in my top 100. Love that movie, and speaking of good scores, that song never leaves you once you’ve seen that movie.
P.S. Now that I’ve read LEAR, I should probably see RAN. Do we have any kind of access to it? Or maybe could you tape it when it comes up? (I know, hahaha, because we have so much time to watch stuff lately…..I know, it makes me sad, too, but it’s not really my fault I’m growing up.)
Funny you should ask—I’m planning to tape it tomorrow night (along with Dersu Uzala, which I haven’t seen for decades), and will surely save it until we can watch it together…right after The Guns of Navarone! But will you mist up at the end of the latter, like your old man?
I have RAN.
Ah, but to where? Sorry, couldn’t resist…
I suppose that is up to the film and my mood at the time of viewing…..since I completely don’t remember it, the ending will truly be a new experience for me all over again (an oxymoron, I know…). But I bet I will. I’m getting sentimental in my old age. Hahaha….