For those who follow me on that page of faces thing, for the past ten days I’ve been challenged to post images from ten films I love but with no title or explanation.
I don’t normally do these things but it was movies and well, you know me, any excuse.
However, there have been countless complaints about the lack of detail. Where’s the context? Where’s the human touch?
Okay, those countless complaints only came from one person and they can actually be counted but that Michael J. Malone fella is a nag and I hadn’t posted anything here for some time so I thought, why the hell not?
Anyway, here are ten films I love. They are not my ten most loved films. I love more than that. These are merely the ten that came to mind.
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Along with some of the other titles, the final one in particular, this will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever heard me babble about my favourite movies.
I saw this in the East Kilbride Cinema one Friday evening in 1970, I think. I had returned home that afternoon from holiday in Butlin’s Camp near Ayr – yes, my life as a teenager was THAT exotic – and I asked to be let out at the town centre so I could go to the pictures.
I loved the dialogue, the music, the humour, the tragedy of a way of life coming to an end. From that moment on I was a fan of screenwriter and author William Goldman. And even though he has left us, I remain so.
2. Bad Day at Black Rock
Even I am not old enough to have seen this first time around. I caught it on TV many years after it was made and it became an instant favourite. It’s a western with jeeps instead of horses (the eagle-eyed among you may notice a recurring theme in these choices).
A train deposits a one-armed Spencer Tracy at a desert stop that would be a one horse town if the horse hadn’t got bored and left. We don’t know who he is or why he is there but his questions about a Japanese family upset the locals. Soon he is knocking seven shades of the brown stuff out of Ernest Borgnine, standing up to Lee Marvin and receiving veiled threats from Robert Ryan.
It’s a masterpiece in sustained tension, and while the climactic gunplay is tame compared to today’s hyped-up, computer game-influenced killfests, it works for me.
On a personal note, the title became shorthand between my wife and I for a bad day at the office.
3. The Goodbye Girl
I like wit but there is precious little of it in movies these days I’m afraid. For me, give me a script by Neil Simon and I’m happy – and this is one of his best.
It was originally called ‘Bogart Slept Here’ and was to star Robert de Niro, hot from ‘Taxi Driver’, with Marsha Mason, who was at that time Simon’s wife.
However, they realised that De Niro was not the actor to pull this kind of comedy off so Dreyfuss was brought in. The original director also left.
Simon thought Dreyfuss and Mason worked well together but the script did not, so he rewrote it very quickly to what we have today. And it is just perfect.
Dreyfuss won an Oscar and De Niro makes an appearance, but only on a poster.
4. Angels With Dirty Faces
Cagney. O’Brian. Bogart. The brothers Warner. What more do I need to say?
I will, however, talk about the ending. SPOILER ALERT!
Tough guy Cagney is going to the chair. His old pal Father Pat asks him not meet his end bravely. He doesn’t want him to be hero-worshipped by the Dead End Kids (so called because they had first appeared in a film called ‘Dead End’, again with Bogart in a supporting role).
Cagney refuses and we follow him from the condemned cell, where he threatens to spit in the eye of a guard, down the corridor.
Max Steiner’s music builds.
Cagney is cocky, as only Cagney could be. Father Pat’s eyes pleads with him. He still refuses.
They enter the death chamber, we don’t.
The music builds.
Then we hear this heart-rending cry and in the shadows on the wall we see a figure having to be dragged to the chair, pleading for his life.
Hands on a radiator, trying to hold onto the world, torn free.
He is placed in the chair.
Tied down.
The switch is thrown.
The lights flicker.
The music ends.
Hold focus on a grateful priest.
‘Let’s pray for a boy who couldn’t run as fast as me…’
The question in the Skelton household was this – did he turn craven or was it an act, a final favour to an old pal to save the souls of youngsters who could go either way, into a life of crime or become straight arrows?
My wife thought it was an act but me? I wasn’t so sure.
The film never tells you and that is its beauty.
5. Tombstone
As has happened so often before and since, there were two competing Wyatt Earp flicks made around the same time. Kevin Costner’s sombre, epic-length ‘Wyatt Earp’ was a biopic and a fine film.
But I went for the flashier ‘Tombstone’, ostensibly directed by George Pan Cosmatos (Rambo 2, The Cassandra Crossing) but – they say – really helmed by Kurt Russell. It was originally to be the directorial debut of screenwriter Kevin Jarre but that didn’t work out.
It was lambasted by the critics, I recall, for taking liberties with history, as if Hollywood had never done that before. I wonder what those critics say about Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?
One of the criticisms is that the notorious Gunfight at the OK Corral is over in a matter of seconds in the film. It was, however, very close to reality. In fact, the real gunfight was even shorter.
6. A New York Winter’s Tale
The only film in this list that employed extensive CGI (perhaps the only one WITH CGI) was this fairy tale with Colin Farrell as a young thief trying to steal enough to get him away from demonic Russell Crowe in old New York while falling for Jessica Brown Findlay as a rich young woman suffering from a mysterious illness. Helping him is a horse with magical powers and a mysterious figure who we first see as a porter at Grand Central Station.
It’s a lush romantic fantasy, aided greatly by music from Hans Zimmer and Rupert Gregson-Williams, which halfway through jumps to modern day and Farrell has a job to do. Don’t ask what the hell is going on, just enjoy the rich romanticism.
Oh – and Will Smith pops up as the Devil.
7. In the Heat of the Night
‘I’ve got the motive which is money and the body which is dead.’
Rod Steiger chews gum and the scenery – and won an Oscar for it – in this superb mystery drama which pits his redneck sheriff against cool big city detective Sidney Poitier – They call me MISTER Tibbs – as they try to find out who murdered a rich northerner in a small southern town.
It’s the late 60s and it’s not too far away from a time when idiots were hanging, burning and shooting black people and that atmosphere oozes from every sweaty pore in this smart thriller. The film was actually filmed in Illinois because Poitier did not want to spend too much time in the still racially-charged south (he’d had a bad experience down there). They did, however, film some exteriors in Tennessee – and he slept with a gun under his pillow in case the Klan came calling.
I cannot think I have ever seen a film by director Norman Jewison that I have not liked.
8. Bullitt
McQueen at his coolest, Robert Vaughn at his oiliest, a fairly impenetrable plot, perhaps the most famous car chase in movie history and a jazzy score from Lalo Schifrin.
And a British director!
I didn’t see this film on its original release as it was an X Certificate, but then in the early 70s they brought in the AA and it was re-released so I was able to catch it.
The character of Bullitt was based on real-life cop Dave Toschi, who was played by Mark Ruffalo in the film ‘Zodiac’. In fact, the earlier film is referenced.
9. Charade
I first saw this film in Blackpool on holiday. I must have been maybe 7 or 8 and couldn’t possibly have understood the nuances. I do know I was taken with the fight between Cary Grant and George Kennedy, as a one-armed heavy sporting a metal hook. I still like the scene today.
This is a perfect comedy thriller, often described as Hitchcockian but without his camera tricks.
The story twists and turns, thanks to a witty script by Peter Stone, there are nods to the difference in age between Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and fine turns from Kennedy and fellow heavies James Coburn, who famously menaces Hepburn with lit matches, and Ned Glass.
It also very exciting, the suspense aided by Henry Mancini’s carefully placed music.
Curiously, because of a copyright error, the film is in the public domain!
10. Shane
Once again, this should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. I reference the book and film constantly at events and I’ve named the character as one of the inspirations for Davie McCall. If you don’t know this is one of my favourites then you’ve just not been listening. (Okay, point taken, I do waffle so can’t blame you).
This is one of Alan Ladd’s signature roles. The scenery at Jackson Hole, Wyoming is astonishing. Jack Palance (prefacing his name with Walter here) is the most villainous of villains (he told producers he could ride a horse to get the role but he really couldn’t at that time) and it has one of the lushest theme tunes ever written (by Victor Young) for a western.
It was a huge success, even though originally the studio had little confidence, and resurrected Alan Ladd’s career. I wonder what it would have been like with Montgomery Clift, who was originally slated to play the enigmatic gunman?
So there you have it. The ten films I picked. I could easily have picked another ten, and ten more.
I like movies. Old movies. New movies. Movies that some people think are awful.
On the other hand, I am not fussed over many movies people think are wonderful. Movies that are seen as classics and beloved by all but me. You might be surprised by what I don’t cotton to.
I will leave you with a hint of one.
For those who follow me on that page of faces thing, for the past ten days I’ve been challenged to post images from ten films I love but with no title or explanation.
I don’t normally do these things but it was movies and well, you know me, any excuse.
However, there have been countless complaints about the lack of detail. Where’s the context? Where’s the human touch?
Okay, those countless complaints only came from one person and they can actually be counted but that Michael J. Malone fella is a nag and I hadn’t posted anything here for some time so I thought, why the hell not?
Anyway, here are ten films I love. They are not my ten most loved films. I love more than that. These are merely the ten that came to mind.
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Along with some of the other titles, the final one in particular, this will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever heard me babble about my favourite movies.
I saw this in the East Kilbride Cinema one Friday evening in 1970, I think. I had returned home that afternoon from holiday in Butlin’s Camp near Ayr – yes, my life as a teenager was THAT exotic – and I asked to be let out at the town centre so I could go to the pictures.
I loved the dialogue, the music, the humour, the tragedy of a way of life coming to an end. From that moment on I was a fan of screenwriter and author William Goldman. And even though he has left us, I remain so.
- Bad Day at Black Rock
Even I am not old enough to have seen this first time around. I caught it on TV many years after it was made and it became an instant favourite. It’s a western with jeeps instead of horses (the eagle-eyed among you may notice a recurring theme in these choices).
A train deposits a one-armed Spencer Tracy at a desert stop that would be a one horse town if the horse hadn’t got bored and left. We don’t know who he is or why he is there but his questions about a Japanese family upset the locals. Soon he is knocking seven shades of the brown stuff out of Ernest Borgnine, standing up to Lee Marvin and receiving veiled threats from Robert Ryan.
It’s a masterpiece in sustained tension, and while the climactic gunplay is tame compared to today’s hyped-up, computer game-influenced killfests, it works for me.
On a personal note, the title became shorthand between my wife and I for a bad day at the office.
- The Goodbye Girl
I like wit but there is precious little of it in movies these days I’m afraid. For me, give me a script by Neil Simon and I’m happy – and this is one of his best.
It was originally called ‘Bogart Slept Here’ and was to star Robert de Niro, hot from ‘Taxi Driver’, with Marsha Mason, who was at that time Simon’s wife.
However, they realised that De Niro was not the actor to pull this kind of comedy off so Dreyfuss was brought in. The original director also left.
Simon thought Dreyfuss and Mason worked well together but the script did not, so he rewrote it very quickly to what we have today. And it is just perfect.
Dreyfuss won an Oscar and De Niro makes an appearance, but only on a poster!
- Angels With Dirty Faces
Cagney. O’Brian. Bogart. The brothers Warner. What more do I need to say?
I will, however, talk about the ending. SPOILER ALERT!
Tough guy Cagney is going to the chair. His old pal Father Pat asks him not meet his end bravely. He doesn’t want him to be hero-worshipped by the Dead End Kids (so called because they had first appeared in a film called ‘Dead End’, again with Bogart in a supporting role).
Cagney refuses and we follow him from the condemned cell, where he threatens to spit in the eye of a guard, down the corridor.
Max Steiner’s music builds.
Cagney is cocky, as only Cagney could be. Father Pat’s eyes pleads with him. He still refuses.
They enter the death chamber, we don’t.
The music builds.
Then we hear this heart-rending cry and in the shadows on the wall we see a figure having to be dragged to the chair, pleading for his life.
Hands on a radiator, trying to hold onto the world, torn free.
He is placed in the chair.
Tied down.
The switch is thrown.
The lights flicker.
The music ends.
Hold focus on a grateful priest.
‘Let’s pray for a boy who couldn’t run as fast as me…’
The question in the Skelton household was this – did he turn craven or was it an act, a final favour to an old pal to save the souls of youngsters who could go either way, into a life of crime or become straight arrows?
My wife thought it was an act but me? I wasn’t so sure.
The film never tells you and that is its beauty.
- Tombstone
As has happened so often before and since, there were two competing Wyatt Earp flicks made around the same time. Kevin Costner’s sombre, epic-length ‘Wyatt Earp’ was a biopic and a fine film.
But I went for the flashier ‘Tombstone’, ostensibly directed by George Pan Cosmatos (Rambo 2, The Cassandra Crossing) but – they say – really helmed by Kurt Russell. It was originally to be the directorial debut of screenwriter Kevin Jarre but that didn’t work out.
It was lambasted by the critics, I recall, for taking liberties with history, as if Hollywood had never done that before. I wonder what those critics say about Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?
One of the criticisms is that the notorious Gunfight at the OK Corral is over in a matter of seconds in the film. It was, however, very close to reality. In fact, the real gunfight was even shorter!
- A New York Winter’s Tale
The only film in this list that employed extensive CGI (perhaps the only one WITH CGI) was this fairy tale with Colin Farrell as a young thief trying to steal enough to get him away from demonic Russell Crowe in old New York while falling for Jessica Brown Findlay as a rich young woman suffering from a mysterious illness. Helping him is a horse with magical powers and a mysterious figure who we first see as a porter at Grand Central Station.
It’s a lush romantic fantasy, aided greatly by music from Hans Zimmer and Rupert Gregson-Williams, which halfway through jumps to modern day and Farrell has a job to do. Don’t ask what the hell is going on, just enjoy the rich romanticism.
Oh – and Will Smith pops up as the Devil.
- In the Heat of the Night
‘I’ve got the motive which is money and the body which is dead.’
Rod Steiger chews gum and the scenery – and won an Oscar for it – in this superb mystery drama which pits his redneck sheriff against cool big city detective Sidney Poitier – They call me MISTER Tibbs – as they try to find out who murdered a rich northerner in a small southern town.
It’s the late 60s and it’s not too far away from a time when idiots were hanging, burning and shooting black people and that atmosphere oozes from every sweaty pore in this smart thriller. The film was actually filmed in Illinois because Poitier did not want to spend too much time in the still racially-charged south (he’d had a bad experience down there). They did, however, film some exteriors in Tennessee – and he slept with a gun under his pillow in case the Klan came calling.
I cannot think I have ever seen a film by director Norman Jewison that I have not liked.
- Bullitt
McQueen at his coolest, Robert Vaughn at his oiliest, a fairly impenetrable plot, perhaps the most famous car chase in movie history and a jazzy score from Lalo Schifrin.
And a British director!
I didn’t see this film on its original release as it was an X Certificate, but then in the early 70s they brought in the AA and it was re-released so I was able to catch it.
The character of Bullitt was based on real-life cop Dave Toschi, who was played by Mark Ruffalo in the film ‘Zodiac’. In fact, the earlier film is referenced.
- Charade
I first saw this film in Blackpool on holiday. I must have been maybe 7 or 8 and couldn’t possibly have understood the nuances. I do know I was taken with the fight between Cary Grant and George Kennedy, as a one-armed heavy sporting a metal hook. I still like the scene today.
This is a perfect comedy thriller, often described as Hitchcockian but without his camera tricks.
The story twists and turns, thanks to a witty script by Peter Stone, there are nods to the difference in age between Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and fine turns from Kennedy and fellow heavies James Coburn, who famously menaces Hepburn with lit matches, and Ned Glass.
It also very exciting, the suspense aided by Henry Mancini’s carefully placed music.
Curiously, because of a copyright error, the film is in the public domain!
- Shane
Once again, this should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. I reference the book and film constantly at events and I’ve named the character as one of the inspirations for Davie McCall. If you don’t know this is one of my favourites then you’ve just not been listening. (Okay, point taken, I do waffle so can’t blame you).
This is one of Alan Ladd’s signature roles. The scenery at Jackson Hole, Wyoming is astonishing. Jack Palance (prefacing his name with Walter here) is the most villainous of villains (he told producers he could ride a horse to get the role but he really couldn’t at that time) and it has one of the lushest theme tunes ever written (by Victor Young) for a western.
It was a huge success, even though originally the studio had little confidence, and resurrected Alan Ladd’s career. I wonder what it would have been like with Montgomery Clift, who was originally slated to play the enigmatic gunman?
So there you have it. The ten films I picked. I could easily have picked another ten, and ten more.
I like movies. Old movies. New movies. Movies that some people think are awful.
On the other hand, I am not fussed over many movies people think are wonderful. Movies that are seen as classics and beloved by all but me. You might be surprised by what I don’t cotton to.
I will leave you with a hint of one.
Are you talkin’ to me…?
Are you talkin’ to me…?
