100 Favourite, Part III, 50-41

Aloha Brodie Fanns,

The time has come, as a sea mammal once said, to speak of my top 50 favourite films I've already counted down 51-100. You can read into my back log of entries to check it out so far.

But I've come to the top of my list. My 50 favourite films of all time. I'd like to stress that this is my "Favourite List" not my "Best Ever Made List." While I do think that all these films are quality films, I in no way mean to imply that they are the best achievements ever in the art of cinema. These just happen to be the ones I like the most, for various reasons.

And now... the list, now with commentary AND clips! If you have trouble viewing the embedded video, just click the YouTube box, and it will take you to the YouTube page of said video.

50) Young Frankenstein
This was the first classic Mel Brooks flick I saw and I was just blown away. As a long time fan of the Frankenstein story (I read the novel in 2nd grade), I sat mesmerized by the comedic skewering of such a beloved story. Gene Wilder is such an engaging actor with an amazingly dry delivery that he pulls you into the character. And you have to admire Brooks' attention to detail. He had all the set pieces from the original 1931 Frankenstein shipped to the shooting location for use, even giving the owner and designer credit.



49) The Big Lebowski
What can be said about the seminal Coen brothers flick that hasn't already been said. Instead of the normal hilarity that ensues after a case of mistaken identity, this is a much darker, more hilarious form of hilarity which ensues. And in retrospect, it just wouldn't have worked had anyone of the cast not been in it. It's the mark of a great film when the cast makes the characters their own, where no one else can touch it. Big props to Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore and the entire cast.



48) Bonnie and Clyde
Warren Beatty laid it all out for us when he very plainly says "This here's Miss Bonnie Parker, and I'm Clyde Barrow. We rob banks." It's a caper flick. It's an action flick. But above all else... it's a love story? Not exactly the most normal of couplings, but what a great combination. They were a depression era Romeo and Juliet. The highlight of the film is at the end in a flurry of violence that was years ahead of its time, and set the precedent for "going out with a bang" (see also: Sonny Corleone in The Godfather).

WARNING: This is the ending of the movie, if you haven't seen it, and don't want to know what happens, then don't hit play.



47) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
You may have noticed that I counted the original Star Wars trilogy as one entry, and that will come up again in the future. But for Indiana Jones, I felt that Temple of Doom wasn't strong enough to warrant inclusion of the whole trilogy, so I went with my favourite. The banter between Ford and Connery is priceless, and Spielberg really gave a strong showing of the roots of the character. And the film itself was an adventure.



46) The Breakfast Club
It's one of the finest teen films of all time for the pure and simple fact that it shows us the student archetypes presented to us in countless teen flicks both before and after the film was made, but deconstructs them and presents them in a fashion which had yet to be seen in the genre. John Hughes defied the genre he created and made a compelling character study into the mind of the high school student. Highlighted by great performances from the entire cast. Including Coach Bombay. And I challenge anyone to not do the triumphant fist pump whenever "(Don't You) Forget About Me" by The Simple Minds plays.



45) Office Space
I view it as one of the more socially relevant films of the 90's, it came along at the height of the internet boom, and many post-grads were stuck working in offices, much like in Office Space. It spoke to a generation who were bored with the monotony of the cubicle life, and personified their frustration with working a job that limited creativity. It did in 1999 what Network did in 1976, and it was an excellent comedic companion to 1999's equally relevant Fight Club.



44) Dog Day Afternoon
On one explosive day in New York, Al Pacino gives one of his finest performances as a frustrated bank robber. Sidney Lumet shows us why he's one of the finest directors ever, with a career that has spanned 6 decades. And look for a career making performance from Chris Sarandon, in his feature film debut.



43) Network
Vented the frustration of the American public with commercialization, industrialization and corporatization of... damn near everything. And you know what, it's another of Lumet's films (his third on the list, the first being Serpico at number 55). There wasn't a cast member out of place or a line of dialog missing. It all surmounts to one of the more perfect films of the late 70's, and it's a tragedy that it lost the Best Picture Oscar to... Rocky? Yeah, Rocky.



42) L.A. Confidential
Neo-noir done in a classic noir style. So what kind of noir is it? The good kind. Brian de Palma continued his streak of reinventing one of the more riveting genres in film, and gave little knowns like Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce some break-through performances, while breathing life into the dwindling careers of Kevin Spacey and Kim Basinger (who would win an Oscar for her perfomance). It's a taught thriller that has more twists and turns than a Six Flags roller coaster.



41) King Kong
The original is still the gold standard for epic movie making. I watch this movie and still, to this day, 74 years later, say "Look what we can do. Look what we can accomplish." Still impressive by today's standards, even more so when you consider the technology of 1933. I can't help but be impressed. It's the precursor to so many movies, and broke new ground for technology. Gotta give it up for the great ape!



NEXT WEEK...... 31-40, Some movie reviews, and hey, why not a supplemental list?