Cracking the 100 ~ Phase One

Recently while shopping at Borders I picked up The Greatest Movies Ever, a book that ranks the top 101 films of all time. Now I'd like to say I'm a huge movie fanatic, but that would mean different things to different people, so I'll try to be more specific: my library features 637 films sequenced in chronological order according to subject matter. So it came as a bit of a shock to me that the fourth film listed in the book was one I had never seen before, namely Sunset Boulevard. There were so many films I hadn't seen, in fact, that my revulsion for ignorance motivated a project. First I made my own list of the best movies. That took about two weeks to accomplish because I wanted to get it right. Now begins the second part which is to watch about twenty movies that appear often on such lists, but that I have not yet seen. After completing this task I will commence the third and final step in the project which consists of revising my list and incorporating whatsoever discoveries I may chance to make in the second phase.

I've made comments next to each entry and in several instances alluded to significant soundtracks because I think they are often integral to the greatness of a film. Here is my list as it stands now:

1. Unforgiven ~ proselytizing for two hours how unglorious westerns really are before finishing with the most glorious ending ever.
2. Gone With The Wind ~ Scarlett O'Hara was my first love. Hard to believe this film was made 70 years ago. Gorgeous soundtrack.
3. Blade Runner ~ My favorite Sci-Fi movie. Rich with symbolism. What if you could meet your maker? What if you could assassinate your maker? Vangelis soundtrack makes it unforgettable.
4. Life is Beautiful ~ The miraculously perfect fusion of comedy with sadness. Soundtrack is must-have.
5. Forrest Gump ~ Intellectually challenged character who becomes a football star, ping pong champion, war hero, chivalrous lover, and noble father leaving me with no excuse for dreams unrealized.
6. There Will Be Blood ~ Daniel Day Lewis in one of the greatest performances ever. Lost Best Picture Award to a movie you won't see on this list.
7. Cinderella Man ~My favorite sports movie.
8. Unbreakable ~ My favorite super hero movie in which Bruce Willis must be convinced of his unique abilities and destiny.
9. Gladiator ~ A gripping story of revenge waged in ancient times against a twisted tyrant.
10. True Romance ~ Watch it for the showdown between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, but the rest of the movie is superb too.
11. Groundhog Day ~ Lesson to be learned on how sweet life can be when you stop being a jerk.
12. Star Trek II, III, and IV ~ When I was a child, I'm afraid my reverence for Spock utterly eclipsed my reverence for God.
13. To Kill a Mockingbird ~ The inspiring integrity of Atticus. A movie unlike any other for the mood it creates and sustains.
14. Godfather Trilogy ~ Notice the way the appearance of fruit consistently precedes death. The music will linger with you long after the closing credits ascend the screen.
15. Casablanca ~ Replete with majestic dialogue and beautiful mucical score.
16. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ~ Saw it on VHS when I was about 12 and the phone rang just before final showdown. While movie was on pause my brothers and I argued for nearly an hour about who would kill who. Incredible music by Morricone.
17. Enchanted ~ Fairytale Princess reminds us it's okay to have faith.... in people, in dreams, in love, in life.
18. Troy ~ Very cool battle scenes and an inspired translation of Homer's Iliad to film without too much silliness with the pantheon of gods.
19. Truman Show ~ Another parable on what you might say if you ever bumped into your maker.
20. Sideways ~ Made me feel smart just watching it. Working at several levels and ultimately suggesting you should be true to yourself and while you're at it, you may as well go ahead and conquer your fears.
21. Braveheart ~ Beautiful how he humiliates the bad guys pay for killing his love. They pay with blood. Lots of it.
22. Rounders ~ The movie about Texas Holdem. Matt Damon's character is a card playing genius.
23. Far and Away ~ My favorite Tom Cruise movie. A great adventure transcending continents and feelings.
24. Blood of Heroes ~ Little known but perfectly produced dystopian portrayal of underdogs who won't quit.
25. Goodwill Hunting ~ Matt Damon's character is a genius (again). This time he's tough as nails too and doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone. He's simply unimpressed.
26. Life of Brian ~ Easily the funniest movie ever made. And it scores a few points too about how ridiculous religion can be.
27. Princess Bride ~ When you're a kid you love stories and this is the best one.
28. Love Actually ~ Tons of laughs that leave you appreciating how boring life would be without that warm mushy stuff we tend to classify as love.
29. Equilibrium ~ This guy can (and, more to the point, does) kick ass.
30. Girl in a Cafe ~ In which life is too damned precious to keep your mouth shut.
31. Sling Blade ~ Carl?
32. Long Hot Summer ~ Don Johnson, Cybill Sheperd, Jason Robards. This 1980-something made for TV movie still hasn't been released on DVD.
33. Last Samurai ~ My second favorite Tom Cruise movie. There's a great great great action sequence in which the hero replays what he just did in his head... killing three assassins in about three seconds without having a weapon.
34. Untamed Heart ~ Illustrating how it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved.
35. Scarface ~ Al Pacino is riveting as the bad ass Cuban. Wicked soundtrack.
36. Pulp Fiction ~ Not one unquotable line in the entire script.
37. Napoleon Dynamite ~ One of a handful of comedies on this list. Utterly unique. Makes you thank God you're not in high school anymore. Makes you sad that some people never outgrow those years.
38. Dodge Ball ~ Clever and creative comedy. Ben Stiller wants so much to be tough and somehow fails to realize that's he's consistently about three galaxies away from success.
39. Regarding Henry ~ Warms your heart to see an asshole accidentally learning how to be a person again.
40. Scent of a Woman ~ Should be watched on Thanksgiving Day. Pacino's character is blind in a couple of ways. Doesn't stop him from smacking people down... and sometimes they deserve it.
41. Underworld Trilogy ~ Sexy gothic vampire movies with irresistible dark wet sinister ambience and thrilling action. The third and best is set in medieval times.
42. Rocky I, II, III, V, VI ~ Had to omit the fourth installment because of the goofy speech Rocky makes to the Russian audience after defeating their champion.
43. Ivanhoe ~ Referring to the 1982 TV movie starring Sam Neil as the primary villain. A gorgeous depiction of heraldry and chivalry.
44. Desperado ~ Full throttle entertainment greatly accentuated with Salma Hayek's global warming.
45. The Black Stallion ~ Inspiringly and artistically done. The main character, Alex, seems so quiet and introverted as though at his young age, he's learned already to live on a more enlightened plane where articulation is rendered primitive.
46. Shenandoah ~ Watch it for the advice James Steward gives his future son-in-law about how sometimes women will cry and you won't know why they're crying but it doesn't matter. Just hold them.
47. Leon - The Professional ~ This hero is tough as nails, but somehow a little girl finds a place in his heart.
48. It's a Wonderful Life ~ James Stewart at his best. Nothing wrong with movies that make you strive to be a better person.
49. Arsenic and Old Lace ~ Cary Grant at his unrivaled best. The look on his face will crack you up several moments before he opens his mouth to say something.
50. Harvey ~ Watch this movie every New Year's Eve with a couple of your dearest friends and plenty of White Russians. Takes a few years but eventually you'll find out how it ends.
51. Lord of the Rings Trilogy ~ Well done adaptation of the classic fantasy series. Could do without all the hobbit frolicking toward the end.
52. Philadelphia Story ~ Watch if for the dialogue between Cary Grant and a drunk James Stewart.
53. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ~ A showdown between one good man and an entire government of greed and corruption. Not based on a true story, but who knows... maybe someday.
54. Mask ~ Exciting and hilarious. The first movie I ever saw Cameron Diaz in and it was love at first sight.
55. At Play in the Fields of the Lord ~ Not yet on DVD. Sweeping South American epic in which pretty much every pretension is stripped naked.
56. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ~ The sixth film on this list featuring James Stewart. Plus John Wayne.
57. High Noon ~ The most classic of all westerns. Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, and an Academy Award winning soundtrack.
58. Apocalypto ~ This is the kind of movie that grabs you and takes you for a ride at an accelerated velocity and never sets you down until you see the end credits.
59. The Graduate ~ I know it's not a comedy, but sometimes I have to laugh at the way the characters are so incapable of connecting with each other. Soundtrack = Greatest Hits by Simon and Garfunkel.
60. A Knight's Tale ~ A fun movie with some surprisingly touching moments.
61. Shane ~ Pretty deep story in which a gun slinger tries to retire while the bad guys won't let him. It doesn't hurt my appreciation for this movie that I was named after the main character.
62. Planet of the Apes ~ Possilby the greatest cinematic surprise ending of all time. Watch for thunder in the sky when the astronauts are first exploring the planet... I swear you can see the face of an angry ape illuminated in the clouds.
63. The Crucible ~ A cautionary tale against hysteria based on my favorite play.
64. Moonstruck ~ I watch the scene over and over again where Nicholas Cage demands of Cher "What am I, a monument to justice? I lost my hand! I lost my hand!" Riveting hilarity.
65. Pride and Prejudice ~ One of Hollywood's most successful adaptations of a classic.
66. Lean on Me ~ In which Morgan Freeman endears himself to movie audiences forever.
67. Cousins ~ Unforgettable moment as an altercation escalates in the movie's climax when Ted Danson explains "I'm trying to make some chicken salad out of some chicken shit."
68. Training Day ~ Possibly Denzel Washington's greatest performance. As close as you can get to L.A. without actually going to L.A.
69. Count of Monte Cristo ~ Hollywood took this immense classic and said Alexandre Dumas wrote a good story, but we can do better.
70. Frankie and Johnny ~ In which a cook and a waitress remind us that you don't have to be a prince and a princess to create your own hot steamy passionate romance.
71. Titanic ~ No one compares it to Gone With the Wind anymore, thank God, but still a good movie.
72. Patriot ~ During which I realized I had already seen every facial expression Mel Gibson is capable of (and there are only two), but still a gripping story and well produced.
73. Searching for Bobby Fischer ~ As you support this little boy's quest to dominate the chess world, he's busy cultivating something far more important, his soul.
74. Somewhere in Time ~ A little silly... a little sappy... but when I first saw it more than twenty years ago... I didn't want it to ever end. Was I madly in love with Jane Seymour? Yes. Heart melting soundtrack.
75. El Cid ~ In which I fell in love with Sophia Loren at the moment when her character relinquishes her quest for vengeance against the man who killed her father. An epic film.
76. The Ten Commandments ~ In which every line is delivered as though it were going to be the final line in the movie, and yet somehow it works. Majestic soundtrack.
77. Ben Hur ~ Apparently this is the Charlton Heston part of my list.
78. Legends of the Fall ~ In which Brad Pitt defines himself as a man with a wild savage beast raging inside.
79. Batman Begins ~ Better than the more highly acclaimed Dark Knight which is poorly written. Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman all in one film!
80. Superman Returns ~ In which I realized that I myself have what it takes to be a superhero minus the looks and the physique and the ability to fly and the incredible strength and the dedication to all that is good, but at least I know how to lose the girl I love. I can do that.
81. 10,000 B.C. ~ Similar to Apocalypto, but with magic and fantastic beasts.
82. Independence Day ~ Exciting fun and patriotic!
83. A Time to Kill ~ Not sure how realistic it was to have KKK in hand to hand combat with good guys outside the courthouse, but otherwise a great movie with great performances.
84. A Few Good Men ~ You know how sometimes you're flipping through channels and you come to a movie and you just can't flip to another channel no matter how many times you've seen it?
85. Bourne Trilogy ~ Exceptional fighting sequences. Bourne is about as cool as an action figure can get.
86. Last of the Mohicans ~ I like the very old black and white version too, but this one is superb and beautiful.
87. Gettysburg ~ A movie about one battle. You'll feel like you were there except you won't have three hundred bullets in you.
88. Davy Crockett ~ This movie instilled in me a dream of ending my life gloriously while killing incredible numbers of enemy soldiers with a couple of pistols and a Bowie knife.
89. Masada ~ Epic showdown between zealots and the entire Roman empire. Peter O'Toole is amazing.
90. Matrix ~ Could have been so much better, but Laurence Fishburn's corny speech meant to inspire the good guys before the climactic battle made me gag. And the plot got so convoluted... no one can honestly say they knew what was going on.
91. King Kong ~ Newest version seems like three different movies. First they find Kong. Then there's the Jurassic Park adventure with Kong versus Dinosaurs. Then there's Kong in NY.
92. Liar, Liar ~ Jim Carey's best comedy.
93. My Cousin Vinny ~ Marisa Tomei is delectable and the scene in the cell when Vinny is mistaken for a horny inmate will slay you with laughter.
94. Karate Kid I & II ~ The first film features one of the greatest kicks to the head in all of film history. The second takes us to Japan where Daniel falls in love with an unforgettably sweet innocent beautiful girl. Third and fourth installments were painfully stupid.
95. Dream a Little Dream ~ Almost forgotten movie from the 80's with Jason Robards, an adorable Meredith Salinger, and the two Cory's. Winning soundtrack.
96. Saving Private Ryan ~ Opening assault on D-Day brought to life... giving my generation a glimpse of why their generation is so revered.
97. Children of Men ~ Has a tendency to make you jump out of your seat at the least expected moments.
98. A Simple Plan ~ The lady in the seat in front of me got up and left the theater in disgust. But I like movies that make you ask yourself what you would do.
99. Bambi ~ Sweetest animation ever made. Watch it for Thumper's charming perspective on life. Outstanding music.
100. I, Robot ~ One of those rare instances in which the film is at least twenty times better than the book.