Topic: Favourite Films

[BAGGY]

Guys and dolls - really like this one a lot
Miracle on 34th street (the original)
Forrest Gump - thought it was clever with the original film footage and the sound track is fab
Momento - keeps you guessing
Loads of others bit too many to mention here.

[wardy]

Some Like it Hot here too, oh and Guys and Dolls  :)

[Maddy]

Yet another Doris Day fan here, but especially the films which also starred Rock Hudson.

Casablanca because it's flawless.
Kiss of the Spiderwoman because it made my jaw drop for about a week.
Superman because it was the first movie that I loved loved loved when I was 6, and Christopher Reeve was so handsome even when he was doing his Cary Grant/Clark kent.
The Big Chill...I don't know why.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, new addition and everyone should see this film.

M.

[busy_lizzie]

Superman was the first film we took our son to see at the age of five.  He loved it and was entranced.throughout the whole film.  Lovely Christopher Reeves it is a good legacy from him, seeing him so fit and handsome. busy_lizzie

[Gardengirl]

I too am an 'old softie' when it comes to romantic comedies - love all the old Doris Day, Gary Grant  films. 
Also was a big fan of Hitchcock - Cary Grant again ;D
Kevin Costner - 'Field of Dreams' and 'Robin Hood'
Crocodile Dundee - the sound effects on these films were just amazing when played through the hi-fi speakers :)
AND not forgetting Chevy Chase - love all his films, especially the Christmas one with the lights - hilarious :D ;D
Could go on and on........ :)

Oh yes of course BL - not forgetting the lovely, unforgettable Chris Reeves, what a brave man he was.

[Gadfium]

Where to start...

- The Philadelphia Story (1940)... brilliance from start to finish. For me, quite simply, still the best film I have ever seen.
- Night of the Hunter (1955)... Charles Laughton's only turn as a director produces Robert Mitchum's finest performance, and a powerful and hauntingly sinister film.
- Any of the Anthony Mann/James Stewart collaborations... The Man From Laramie, Winchester 73, The Naked Spur, The Far Country, Bend of the River.
- The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)... classic adventure, beautifully shot, scripted, acted and set.
- Lost Horizon (1937)... restored version only (studio snipped out the best bits). A superb book that was actually enhanced by Frank Capra's desire to do it justice. You'll never see a better interpretation of Robert Conway.
- Romuald et Juliette (1989)... stunning social comedy based around a corporate frame-up, a corporate high-flyer, and a cleaning lady.
- Le Bossu (1997)... magnificent swashbuckler with the same drive and verve of Gerard Philippe's 'La Tulipe Noire'. A rare treat.
- La Belle et la Bete (1946)... nothing much you can say that hasn't already been said.
- Blade Runner (1982)... spartan, bleak, compelling.
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)... Leigh Brackett dialogue at its best, even tops 'Rio Bravo' and 'El Dorado'.
- Witness (1985)... manages to mix three genres (drama, romance, thriller) yet never miss a step.
- Dances with Wolves (1991)
- Pulp Fiction
- 12'o'clock High (1949)... Henry King and Gregory Peck
- 3.10 to Yuma (1957)... Glenn Ford
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)... Wyler
- Shane (1953)... George Stevens' masterpiece, Alan Ladd's finest role.
- The Big Heat (1953)... a Fritz Lang study of corruption and decency, delivering all the punch of the book.
- Babette's Feast (1987)... Danish film, looks at the impact of a French refugee on an austere religious village and its inhabitants. Sounds dull. Anything but. An inticate study of three women, food, and religion. There... I've managed to make it sound even worse! If you like drama, without any of the histrionics; and admire subtlety and nuance... and haven't seen this... then what a treat awaits.
- Day of the Evil Gun (1967)... Glenn Ford. A little film about a storekeeper who is forced to revisit his past, and the townsfolk who at the same time want his help, but not his presence. A little gem.
- Diva (1981)... operatic surrealistic thriller. Not everyone's cuppa, but the use of music is terrific.
- Destry Rides Again (1939)... Marlene Dietrich & James Stewart.
- Enchanted April (BBC TV Film) 199?... Michael Kitchen, Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright (among others) in a gentle, carefully thoughtout drama set in a Tuscan Villa.
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)... never flags, never falters.
- The Golden Gate Murders (TV Film) David Janssen does another great world-weary turn as the detective told to protect a nun. Yup, sounds trite, and the story's average, but (given you see the unedited version) the playing is quite superb.
- Friendly Persuasion (1956)... Gary Cooper, Quakers and an approaching Civil War. Delightful, thoughtful and wry. Not to be missed.
- Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)... a hitman who wants to retire, his impending High School Reunion, the girl he ditched at the School Prom, and a contract ... all conspire to produce a wonderfully chaotic black comedy.
- The Gunfighter (1950)... Henry King and Gregory Peck, again.
- It Happened One Night (1934)... Capra, Gable & Colbert, need I say more?
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)... Capra and James Stewart's first post-war film.
- Jacknife (1988)... careful drama looking at two Vietnam vets, one apparantly coping, one not, and his sister. Ed Harris, Robert de Niro, Kathy Baker.
- The Jericho Mile - prison drama with Peter Strauss, directed by Michael Mann.
- La Grande Illusion (1937)... Renoir, Gabin and Stroheim. WW1 drama, impeccable, tragic, unforgettable. Once seen, never forgotten.
- Longtime Companion (1990)... made before 'Philadephia' and far, far superior, with Bruce Davison delivering the goods. A look at the start of the AIDs epidemic in the USA.
- Nobody's Fool (1994)... Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy. An aging construction worker, a feisty old landlady, and a joy from the opening scene to the closing fade-out. Class.
- Le Samourai (1967)... Melville's best, with Alain Delon playing the perfectionist hitman who hits a snag. Breathtaking.
- The October Man (1947)... John Mills, a murder, and a case of amnesia.
- Proof (1991)... Jocelyn Moorhous and Hugo Weaving, a blind photographer meets a kitchen-hand, and from there on it's all about trust. Can't say anymore. Brilliant but unassuming drama, where all the little touches suddenly add up... and take your breath away.
- Random Harvest... the melodrama which isn't. It shouldn't work, but does. A traumatised amnesiac ex-soldier builds a new life, and then...
- Rawhide (1950)... Hathaway & Tyrone Power, a claustrophobic hold-up at a way-station along a stage line.
- The River (1984)... Scott Glenn, Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek; the river's about to flood, and if it goes...
- Roseanna's Grave.... Jean Reno. Deft comedy. There aren't many plots left in the local graveyard, and Jean Reno's ill wife wants to be buried in one of them.
- The Sheepman (1958)... a hoot.
- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)... James Stewart & Margaret Sullavan, two penpals, two work colleagues. The first two may love each other, the second two feel the precise opposite. Shame they are the same two people. Crackles throughout.
- Singing in the Rain... hilarious perfection.
- The Magnificent Seven and the Seven Samurai.
- The Talk of the Town (1942)... an escaped prisoner masquerading as a gardener, a law professor, and a housekeeper. Philosophy, comedy, and still manages to sparkle deliciously after more than 60 years.
- Odd Man Out (1946)... James Mason as the wounded IRA man on the run. Black and white photography at its finest, and a performance to match.

[Yellow Petals]

I'm a movie fanatic.  My pass allows me to go as much as I like - which is usually 2-3 times per week.  Nothing beats seeing a good film on the big screen.  I have so many favourites it would be impossible to list them all but here's just a few from the past 2-3 years:

Secondhand Lions (Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Haley J Osmet) 
Lord of the Rings (even if you're not a Rings fan you simply cannot deny the sheer class of this trilogy)
Castaway (Tom Hanks)  I was never a Hanks fan until this film.  I almost got the feeling of how desperate that situation would be he played it so brilliantly.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Big Fish
The Motorcycle Diaries ("The Motorcycle Diaries" is based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he, and best friend Alberto Granado, had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s)

Other favs include Grease, Half a Sixpence, West Side Story, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Birdy, Good Will Hunting.  Oh I must stop, the list will go on for about seven pages otherwise hehehe.

[Yellow Petals]

Momento - keeps you guessing

Now there's a film you cannot take your eyes off of for one minute or you're completely lost! LOL  Top notch though.

[Heldi]

The Terminator
Amadeus
Excalibur
Gladiator
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
All those Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts films with fighting skeletons and cyclops etc.
King Kong. The one in colour.
The Great Escape. (I'm happy at Christmas)
Bullet
The Getaway (original)
Star Wars
Return of the Jedi
Empire Strikes Back
Jurassic Park
The Land that Time Forgot

[Juliet]

Goodness, Gadfium, I thought my list was long!  Now I can see I was very restrained  :D.  You have chosen several films I like too, though - The Philedelphia Story, Witness, Grosse Pointe Blank, It Happened One Night ...

And Heldi, in the days before video, I had The Great Escape recorded onto audio tape (OK, I'm weird  :-[) - used to listen to it when I couldn't sleep!  Think I could probably recite whole chunks of it ...

[Mrs Ava]

ooo ooo, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, West Side Story, & Grease - my musical input.

[aquilegia]

Another case of where to begin...

It's a wonderful life
Harold and Maude
The shop around the corner
You can't take it with you
Dawn of the Dead (the original)
Asian Extreme films such as Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, the films of Takeshi Miike such as Audition and Ichi the Killer, and others I can't think of.
Alexandro Joderowski films, especially Santa Sangre and Holy Mountain
Rushmore
Time Bandits
Singing in the rain
Raising Arizona

ooh - can't think of more right now, but this list could go on and on.

[madmum]

I'm with you EJ
Grease has to be one of THE best films EVER
(Summer Loving - it doesn't get any better than that segment)
Loved West Side STory too, haven't seen it 4 yonks tho

I love all of the musicals like King and I, Oklahoma, 7 Brides, South Pacific . . . .i could go on

[Doris_Pinks]

musicals huh...hmmmmmmmmm  well have already said Moulin Rouge, Dirty Dancing, Saturday Night Fever (sneaked in the cinema underage for that one!)  and I am sorry but it has to be said.........The Sound Of Music! :-[  :-[ 
I just wanna make my kids clothes outta curtains! ;D
Dp wanders off muttering   "high on a hill sat a lonely goat herd..............................."
(bet you are singing it now! ;D)

[madmum]

yodle ay-e yodle ay-e yodle ay-e ooh ooh

[wardy]

Is there an echo in ere?  ;D ;D

[madmum]

no Wardy that's the celebratory hangover kicking in!

let us know next time you are up at 6.30am cooking sausages,
were they pork and courgette?

[Derekthefox]

One that has surprised me not to be mentioned, White Christmas.

Derekthefox  :D (posting !!!)

[aquilegia]

Hey Derek - you're still here - fab!

Do you know I've never seen either White Christmas nor the SOund of Music. And I call myself a huge film fan.  ::)

[busy_lizzie]

I love White Christmas, Derek.  Wouldn't be Christmas without it.  Despite how old it must be now, still retains the magic.  :) busy_lizzie