The LAN 100

[fflo]

Here, in vaguely chronological order, are 100 of my Favorite Movies. The ones with 2 stars are in the Top 10; the ones with one star are in the Top 25 (but not Top 10).

Dinner at Eight
Grand Hotel
Frankenstein
* It Happened One Night
** My Man Godfrey

The Joy Of Living
Bringing Up Baby
My Favorite Wife
The Awful Truth
** Holiday

** The Thin Man [and/or After The Thin Man, Another Thin Man, Shadow of the Thin Man, The Thin Man Goes Home, & Song of the Thin Man]
The Philadelphia Story
Citizen Kane
* Now Voyager
They Drive By Night

His Girl Friday
Casablanca
* To Have and Have Not
** The Big Sleep (1946)
The Hitch-Hiker

Key Largo
D.O.A.
Singin' in the Rain
The Seven Samurai
** All About Eve

High Noon
The African Queen
North By Northwest
* Rear Window
The Trouble With Harry

The Bridge on the River Kwai
Some Like It Hot
Lawrence of Arabia
* The Pajama Game
** The Music Man

The Apartment
* To Kill a Mockingbird
** The Manchurian Candidate
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Mary Poppins

Send Me No Flowers
The Incredible Mr. Limpet
The Hustler
Cool Hand Luke
Dr. Strangelove

* What a Way To Go
Hello Down There
Planet Of The Apes
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
M*A*S*H

Harold and Maude
All The President's Men
Jeremiah Johnson
Arthur
Manhattan

Life of Brian
Young Frankenstein
Annie Hall
Norma Rae
* Diva

Brazil
Kiss of the Spider Woman
* Desert Hearts
Shirley Valentine
Tootsie

American Dreamer
Tampopo
The Shining
Crossing Delancey
Moonstruck

* Bull Durham
Hannah and Her Sisters
** Manhattan Murder Mystery
Wings of Desire
** Babette's Feast

* Night On Earth
** Dead Again
Blood Simple
* When Night Is Falling
Mystery Train

The Wedding Banquet
Pulp Fiction
Ed Wood
* Groundhog Day
* Fargo

* Antonia's Line
Hairspray
The Big Lebowski
Pecker
Howard's End

Gods and Monsters
Dead Man
Boys Don't Cry
Fight Club
Drumline


Okay---got to stop fiddling with it. I'm sure I'll think of more later. It's light on the foreign films, too, and on classic horror and musicals and animation and a few other sorts. Like lesbian films. It's hard to stop at 100, that's for sure. I'm leaving off LOTR for now; have to digest it longer.

Comments

Re: Cool Movies!

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I have a thing for Tom Conti. If I could've included English TV adaptations of plays, The Norman Conquests would've been on there. He was in Shirley Valentine (really not that great a movie) and in American Dreamer, from, like, 1984, with Jo Beth Williams. I bet Twila would like it, actually---it's about a housewife from Ohio, I think, who's quite caught up in an adventure character, a female protagonist in these novels set in France. She wins a contest (writing like the books in the series, I think) and goes to Paris, where she is in an accident and wakes up thinking she IS the heroine. Zany shenanigans ensue.

Yeah, I mean the 1950, classic noir D.O.A. What a great idea for a movie.

I'll have to write a post about What A Way To Go, with Shirley MacLaine and an all-star cast of supporting men (who are usually leading men). It's not out on video OR dvd. Damn shame.

Hey, you've seen My Man Godfrey? Ain't that a great movie?

Of the ones you've not seen, I think you personally would especially enjoy:

Night on Earth---Jim Jarmusch. Great stuff. Episodic: it's about 5 simultaneous 20-minute cab rides in 5 cities of the world. Funny.

When Night is Falling---lesbian movie. Really good. Yeah. A little clunky with the coming out, but what isn't. Coming out is clunky. Better yet, the woman who leads our innocent astray is with a very cool circus. Talk about your cinematic atmosphere. There's a trapeze sequence that's absolutely gorgeous, and some pretty damned sensual shadow play, too.

Mystery Train---Jarmusch again. We gave it to my brother and sister-in-law; I think Annie thought we were a little odd in our cinematic taste after that one. It's surreal, that's for sure, but fun. Cheap flophouse-y hotel in Memphis, ghost of Elvis, Screamin' Jay, Japanese tourists with cool cigarette habits.

and, I would imagine,

Gods And Monsters. That one, you may be touched to know (I was), had our Steve RAVING about it. I don't know if it might be too close to home for you in some ways, but just for the historic monster movie angle, I bet you'd like it. It's terribly good, and subtlely done. Brandon Fraser won my eternal respect with his comments about how lucky he was to get to do a film of that quality and how he probably never will again, so he's just grateful to have been able to be involved. Of course it's Ian McKellen's movie.


Even though it was GREAT, I don't think I'll be watching Boys Don't Cry again---I don't think I could take it. Got a good story about the time all us Kansas lesbians went to that one to tell some time too.

Oh, and yes, The Wedding Banquet, 1990, Ang Lee. Oh, crap---that reminds me I didn't include Eat Drink Man Woman. He also did The Ice Storm---hard-hitting, if a little trite in its imagery (the cold, brittle family in the cold, brittle storm) and, I found out at work a few weeks ago, Hulk. So go figure. And he's the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon guy. That film was pretty damned good too.

Re: Cool Movies!

[groovesinorbit]

Grr. I just wrote a long reply to you and lj ate it. Hmph!

Let's try this again.

If I could've included English TV adaptations of plays . . .

Well, if you play by upsidedownblue's rule, you could include Norman Conquests. I was having enough trouble keeping my list down to 100; I didn't to add another medium to the mix. : D

Yeah, I mean the 1950, classic noir D.O.A. What a great idea for a movie.

I figured that's the one you meant. Great idea; great movie!

I'll have to write a post about What A Way To Go . . .

Do! It's looks like a fun one--that's a shame it's not available.

Hey, you've seen My Man Godfrey? Ain't that a great movie?

Yeah! I haven't seen it in a long time, though. Need to watch it again.

Thanks for the more indepth recommends. I really want to see Gods and Monsters. I adore James Whales. Bride of Frankenstein could have made it on my list alongside Frankenstein easily.