Replies

1) The Searchers (arguably the best Western ever);
2) Shawshank Redemption (the best thing ever to come out of Steven King’s pen);
3) To Kill a Mockingbird (just a great film);
4) The Quiet Man (everyone is Irish when watching and enjoying this wonderful film);
5) High Noon (Great story; great theme song; Cooper at his very best; Grace Kelly, demurely seductive, rises to the occasion by abandoning her strong pacifist beliefs to save the life of her husband by shooting a bad guy in the back, and clawing the eyes of another just as he was about to kill him);
6) The Wizard of Oz (pure magic);
7) The Wild Bunch (Gritty, gutsy, pushing the envelope “kick-ass” movie that transitioned filmaking from illusion to reality; the seminal “blood and guts” movie that actually had a terrific story line, and some stellar performances from such talented folks as William Holden, Robert Ryan, Edmund O’Brien, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, etc.);
8) The Unforgiven (Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn; like “The Searchers”, a terrific story by author Alan LeMay);
9) The Treasure of Sierra Madre (Bogart’s descent into madness was chilling; great story; great direction by John Huston, who directed his father Walter in this splendid film);
10) Afican Queen (Bogart again, this time as the besotted riverscow skipper Charlie Allnut saddled with the evangelical prude Rose Sayer, played by Katharine Hepburn, in a wild ride down an always unpredictable African river during WWI);
11) Stalag 17 (”The Great Escape” without the scenery, but truly gripping);
12) Saving Private Ryan (the best D-Day movie ever);
13) Empire of the Sun (Spielberg’s best; the very best performance by a kid ever in Christian Bale’s “Jamie”; John Malkovich was, well, John Malkovich, with another superb performance);
14) Alive (feeling hungry will never be the same);
15) Bite the Bullet (I will never grow tired of watching this excellent movie of a horse race across the West by a roster of cast-offs and misfits hoping for glory and a buck; Gene Hackman and James Coburn as ex-Roughriders whose time and way of life have come and gone with nothing to show for it but scars and memories was fun to watch; and the classically beautiful Candace Bergen as the on-again/off-again hooker whose goal isn’t the money or the glory, but rather the break-out of her no-good lover from a prison chain gang, upon whom she finally realizes she has wasted her best days).

And, the movie that should have won an Oscar for Best Picture but for the fact it was never released in the theaters, but was a made-for-TV mini-series: “Lonesome Dove.”