Film is Pwn

In keeping with what has become a tradition for contributors on this occasionally uncouth and often urbane community on the fashionable fringe of the “blogosphere,” I, Lawrence D. Oso, will hereby publicly register my 20 favorite movies for public appreciation and/or derision on this most momentous day, the 1 year anniversary of Film.IsPwn.com.

As with the trio of previous Top 20s foisted here, my list is a collection of the films throughout the years that hold personal significance and durable appeal, and is not intended to be a authoritative “best movie of all-time” list, otherwise I might be compelled to include out of equal parts guilt and admiration such unimpeachable classics as Casablanca or Citizen Kane.  Unlike my cohorts, I guarantee you will not find a single Star Wars film among the following.  (For those new to this site, my esteemed colleague JMZ posted a blog on his Top 20 here and Daniel J. Roos and Tom Stephens recorded their respective Top 20s in a series of podcasts that are currently unavailable due to technical issues, but to denigrate their selections ever so politely, I do recall that one included the trite Steve Martin comedy The Three Amigos and the other had the lackluster thriller Spy Game, neither of which will be featured here.)

20. The Searchers (1956)
Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles
Directed by John Ford
Comments: The quintessential Western that saw Hollywood icon John Wayne deliver a brilliant albeit  sadistic yet still charismatic performance in a dogged pursuit of his kidnapped niece.  For those who consider The Duke to be an obsolete relic of a bygone era where good guys wore white hats (a trait I happen to be fond of, but that is not the point I wish to make), make time to view the Searchers.

19. Jaws (1975)
Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Comments: The original Summer blockbuster was the work of relatively unknown filmmakers who mortgaged their careers on a shark movie with heretofore unmatched results.  Hollywood elites and wannabes have regularly churned out shark or various aquatic monster movies in the ensuing three plus decades (including three odious sequels), and not one can approach Spielberg’s career-making, spellbinding gem.  Some of us still think about this film prior to stepping a toe in the ocean some three and a half decades later.

18. Young Frankenstein (1974)
Starring: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman
Directed by: Mel Brooks
Comments: Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks could have collaborated on comedies for centuries without ceasing, and never come up with a more perfect parody than Young Frankenstein.

17. Field of Dreams (1989)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones
Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson
Comments: An immortal classic, destined to forever be cherished by boys who grew up playing catch with their father in their backyard.  Even if you don’t fit that category and have never played or watched baseball, your heart would have to be cold as stone not to be warmed by Field of Dreams.

16. Bubba Ho-tep (2002)
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis
Directed by: Don Coscarelli
Comments: My low-brow guilty pleasure is an odd amalgamation of comedy, horror, and drama that features Elvis and JFK in an old folks home being stalked by a mummy.  Bizarre?  Yes.  Strange?  Definitely?  Is this film for everyone?  Certainly not.  But, I happen to be smitten by this curious cinematic oddity.

15. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Starring: Jack Lemon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin
Directed by: James Foley
Comments: This profound yet profane adaptation of the David Mamet play contains approximately triple the number of profanities included in the other nineteen films on this list, I believe.  It is almost difficult to articulate how thoroughly engrossing this tale of salesmen who are disparately slimy, pathetic, and loathsome encapsulated in one desperate night.  Also noteworthy for Alec Baldwin’s dynamo, one-scene, show-stealing performance.

14. The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Starring: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer
Directed by: John Huston
Comments: Based on the Rudyard Kipling story of two white men who dare to pass themselves off as deities in a remote region of India where pale skinned men have never set foot, and face the consequences. An amazing masterpiece.

13. Collateral (2004)
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Tom Cruise, Jada Pinkett Smith
Directed By: Michael Mann
Comments A tale of a charismatic hitman and the cautious, unsuspecting cabbie he constrains to transport him on a spree of “jobs.”   Collateral is not only suspenseful but surprisingly poignant, endlessly engaging, and beautifully photographed, all the while punctuated by sudden, jarring bursts of violence.  An amazing accomplishment.

12. The Spanish Prisoner (1994)
Starring: Campbell Scott, Steve Martin, Rebecca Pidgeon
Directed By: David Mamet
Comments: Counter intuitively, this is the one David Mamet movie you can let your kids see, and the one David Mamet movie they would not be likely to enjoy.  The violence, language, and sexuality content are all at safe PG levels, an astounding achievement for Mamet whose other writer/director credits include explicit fare such as Spartan and Redbelt.  The Spanish Prisoner is set in the world of business where a much prized though never defined formula gets its designer caught up in a world of intrigue, murder, and cons.  A tremendous film with a labyrinth of a plot that inspires questions and discussion even after all has been revealed.

11. Duck Soup (1933)
Starring: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
Directed By: Leo McCarey
Comments: This Marx Brothers classic – that elevated the brothers to comedy icons – should be required viewing for everyone who believes that Will Farrell and Jack Black epitomize comedy.

10. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Starring: William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness
Directed By: David Lean
Comments: A World War II prison movie that delves into the psychology of prisoners of war and concentration camps.  Another film that inspires debate about the actions, decisions, and justification of the characters, Alec Guinness’ in particular.  What are the duties of a prisoner of war?  What is inhumane treatment?  One issue that defies debate is the fact that The Bridge Over the River Kwai is one of the greatest war films ever.

9. Shichinin no samurai [also known as: Seven Samauri] (1954)
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshio Inaba
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Comments: The forebearer of the great American Western The Magnificent Seven (which nearly made this list) sees seven warriors defend a small town.  The greatest example of Japanese cinema and storytelling and a testament to the landmark genius of the director, Kurosawa.

8. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Starring: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe
Directed by: Robert Wise
Comments: Science Fiction’s finest invention to date graced theaters for the first time nearly six decades ago, a thesis I expounded on in a previous blog, which you can read here.

7. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany
Directed by: Peter Weir
Comments: Although promoted as a rousing “guy” movie in the vein of Gladiator, this is an equal parts marvelous and meticulous yarn of a ship at sea during a time of war.  Perhaps the most cerebral “mainstream” film of the last decade.

6. The Defiant Ones
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Tony Curtis
Directed by: Stanley Kramer
Comments: Unlike many extolled films that deal with race, the Defiant Ones does not play like a heavy-handed sermon on race relations. It’s a fugitive-style odyssey featuring two convicts who are chained together fleeing for their freedom despite the fact that one is white and the other is black. Although a certain, begrudging affinity develops amidst the ocean of angst, the very real possibility exists throughout that one man might betray the other solely based on their skin color.  It’s a riveting adventure, all-in-all.

5. Rear Window (1954)
Starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr
Directed By Alfred Hitchcock
Comments: Hitchcock’s thrilling and inventive masterpiece often takes a proverbial backseat to Hitch’s opus Vertigo in critic’s fawning tribute, but this brilliant and simple movie is a perfect illustration for great filmmaking.

4. The Ten Commandments
Starring: Charlton Heston,Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter
Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille
Comments: This is the greatest of the Biblical epics, which at one point in the annals of Hollywood’s represented an authentic genre.  Shamefully, in modern times the Bible is dismissed as a fossil of obsolete values rather than the cherished, sacred text it is to so many Americans who pay tinseltown’s exorbitant salaries with their ticket and DVD purchases.  Here’s hoping someone sees the light that the Bible is, at the very worst, a rich source of human stories.  There is a windfall of profit for the studio executive who recognizes the potential for a renaissance in the genre.

3. The Conversation (1974)
Starring: Gene Hackman, Teri Garr, Harrison Ford
Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola
Comments: The Conversation is the often shunned masterpiece from Francis Ford Coppola, nestled between his grandest successes of the first two Godfathers and Apocalypse Now (The Conversation was released the same year as the Godfather Part II, and competed against it in the category of Best Picture of 1974 and lost).  This is a quiet, almost SHY thriller with the pacing of a drama, featuring one of the finest performances of Gene Hackman’s career as a timid sound engineer piecing together a seemingly innocuous but all-important conversation.

2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Starring: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif
Directed By: David Lean
Comments:  “Epic” in breadth of story, depth of brilliance, and length of film (clocking in at nearly 4 hours).  Some of us are old enough to remember seeing spellbinding films like this in theater, where intermissions were necessary for the physical health of the audience, but you couldn’t wait for the lights to dim and the movie to return to the screen.  Lawrence of Arabia, the tale of World War I figure T.E. Lawrence, will forever be a magnifiscent marathon, a spectacle, and one of the greatest films ever made.

1. Chariots of Fire (1981)
Starring: Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Ben Cross
Directed By: Hugh Hudson
Comments: An inspirational story about Olympic sprinters from the 1920s, but this is so much more.  It is a story of principle, conscience, and noble men.  I cannot imagine a time when Chariots of Fire and its unforgettable theme music will fail to inspire me.