A while back Jeri pointed out a posting on the Beast Mom blog about movies that make guys cry, to which I did post a comment. It got me thinking about what were my favorite movies. So that’s what this is about.

First off, before I list them, I have to say that this is not the list of what I think are the best movies of all time. These are movies for which I have a personal affinity, which I enjoy as favorites, warts and all. Citizen Kane didn’t make the list (yes I’ve seen it). I don’t know that any of these movies would qualify for a greatest-of-all-time list (I suspect a couple would, you can pick which ones), but since any such “greatest” list is subjective to one degree or another anyway, I don’t care.

Second, and on the other hand, this isn’t a guilty pleasure list either. In their own ways, I think each of these movies has merit beyond just “stuff I like”. I could make a guilty pleasure list, for sure, and a couple of these might make it. There are scores of movies that if I’m flicking the clicker and they happen to be on, I’ll watch them because they are goofy fun. Example: there’s a football movie called Necessary Roughness made in the mid-90s that is a farcical hoot – to me. Most would find it just annoying. I like it. And since supermodel Kathy Ireland was the team’s kicker, you can’t make me not like it. So there.

Finally, I considered an honorable mention addition, but that’s a cop out in the end. Someone (likely Jeri) will remind me of one or more gems I like that I forgot, and I’ll be chagrined, but I’ll get over it. Sorry My Cousin Vinny, Independence Day, Amadeus, Ghandi, The Last Emperor, Notting Hill, Schindler’s List, blah blah blah…crap, there I go.

Enough exposition, let’s go to the list, which, by the way, goes to 11 (no, Spinal Tap isn’t on the list, but you SHOULD get the reference). It’s not in any order, either.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. So why this one over the other two, particularly the last one (The Return of the King) which got the Oscar? Well, this is a sort of special-meaning-to-me thing. I’ve loved the Lord of the Rings since high school. I had a friend named Mark who was an even bigger fan that I was. He desperately wanted the books to be made into a live action movie (there were a couple of animation attempts that sucked). When I saw this movie, I couldn’t help but think of Mark, with whom I have lost contact, and say to myself, “yeah, Mark, it took ‘em 20+ years, but they got it right, by god”. And it is right. The effects are awesome, the acting is special, it’s all there. Ian McKellen is Gandalf — almost as if he’d risen out the pages the way I imagined him to be — and he should have gotten the Oscar for it.

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. I’m a big Trekkie, have been forever. Of the ST movies, this one always seemed to have the most heart to me, the best scenery chewing by both William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban, and of course the really touching Spock death scene, followed by the equally touching funeral. Plot holes, logic holes, etc. abound, but this one has more human interest than about six of the other ST movies combined. It’s fun to see Montalban shed the Latin lover slickness of his early career and white suit graciousness of Fantasy Island’s Mr. Rourke to be a really bad, obsessed, villain. Fun.

A FEW GOOD MEN. Ah, Jeri is giggling at me already. It cracks her up that I’ll watch this movie over and over. But really, what’s not to like? Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise going toe-to-toe in a courtroom drama? Forget about it, it’s gold. Jeri will tell you I am a huge Cruise apologist. To me, he does something not many actors of his generation have done, and that is, pair off with the greatest actors of the generations before him and go right head to head with them. Think about it, not just this movie, but Rain Man (Hoffman), The Color of Money (Newman), The Firm (Hackman), even the laughable Days of Thunder had Duvall in it. I like this one for how quotable it is, (“You can’t handle the truth!”) and for the message it conveys about honor. This also is the first of a pattern here…that in spite of the fact that I don’t generally like lawyer movies, TV shows or novels, there are three such on this list. That surprised me.

THE GODFATHER. “What is it about guys and The Godfather?” Meg Ryan asks Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail. Well, it has some of the greatest actors of several generations in a cool, violent but emotionally interesting gangster movie. It’s quotable: “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse”, “It’s just business, not personal”. It’s Marlon Brando’s pinnacle and Al Pacino’s start. It looks and feels as real as a movie can look and feel, there’s no pretty boy preening. You root for Diane Keeton’s Kay to get together with Pacino’s Michael while silently thinking she ought to run for the hills. Duvall’s unflagging loyal Tom, the stepson not quite trusted because he’s not Sicilian. The pot full of bubbling violence that is James Caan’s Sonny. I don’t watch it over and over, but I see something new every time, and it usually is something that impresses me.

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. So Jeri, Zach and I are sitting eating dinner a while back, and I don’t remember what started it, but Zach and I started quoting this movie back-and-forth to each other to the point of driving Jeri insane. How cool is that? To me, this is the Python’s stellar effort. You have to watch this movie closely to catch all the funny stuff happening all around the main dialog and shooting. This movie would be the perfect screwball comedy but for the really odd non-ending of an ending – which I am sure was the point.

JAWS. Caught this one again (or at least parts of it) recently. What’s so cool to me about this one is the second half of the movie, where it’s just Robert Shaw’s Quint, Roy Scheider’s Brody, and Richard Dreyfuss’s Hooper, out on the water, taking on the shark. Three totally different characters, in totally different places in their lives, with a common goal: kill the damn beast, and don’t get dead doing it. Quint wants revenge, Brody wants to protect his town, and Hooper wants mostly just to see the monster as a scientist. Quint’s telling of the story of the USS Indianapolis during this part of the movie is just about one of the most riveting things I can ever remember in a movie, it makes his character’s motivation real, and understandable. You can see the master Spielberg would become, born here.

THE PRINCESS BRIDE. You know, I remember seeing this movie not long after it came out, and sort of thinking, “eh, ok movie”. Then several years ago my company put me in some management training, and this movie came up for reasons I honestly don’t remember, but it was discussed with such fondness, I decided to take another look. I watched it again, and again, and again, and it grows on me every single time. Why in the world this movie isn’t thought of as great is beyond me. It’s cute, it’s funny, it’s smart. The dialog crackles. When Rob Reiner gets a script like this, he makes the absolute most of it. Even what in most movies would be the throwaway narration scenes between Peter Falk and Fred Savage are gold. You won’t get this unless you watch the movie for the first time or again, but I can’t say, or even think of, the words “mostly” and “inconceivable” without thinking about this movie, and grinning.

THE VERDICT. Of the movies on this list, I’ve probably seen this one the least, and I don’t own a copy. It’s a lawyer movie, which I usually don’t like, notwithstanding A Few Good Men, because the inaccuracies of a Hollywood version of a legal proceeding drive me nuts. So why’s it on the list? Paul Newman, in what has to be, to me, his most interesting character and portrayal: totally flawed, but digging for that last shot at redemption and honor in a story brave enough, in spite of all the screw-ups he commits, to let him get it in the end. Some actors wouldn’t have taken this role, but I would guess Newman jumped at it to prove himself. That he did.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. You know what, I’m not going to continue to wax poetic about Newman here, though he is, of course, awesome in what is mostly a comedy role, a long ways away from The Verdict. No, the key to this movie for me is really Robert Redford’s Sundance. Why? Because all of Newman’s Butch’s wisecracks don’t mean diddly without Redford’s straight man delivery, full of slow burns and high frustration at Butch dropping them into another mess. As a result, I end up laughing more at Redford in this one than Newman. Any time Redford just squints at Newman, it cracks me up.

THE RIGHT STUFF. This is long movie that to me doesn’t seem all that long. It’s a historical movie, a genre that I like sometimes and find really boring other times. This one doesn’t bore me because the acting is great, it has a sense of humor. The dialog is good, and quotable to boot: “Don’t screw the pooch” “No bucks, no Buck Rogers” and one line that never fails to crack me up: Wernher von Braun, the German scientist working in the American space program, trying to reassure his new government that the U.S. would beat the Russians in the space race because “our Germans are better than their Germans”. Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid and Sam Shepard are all great.

STAR WARS. In the pantheon of fantasy universes, the Star Wars universe is probably the best solely created on film. I consider it much more fantasy than science fiction because of its themes and sensibilities. The movie deserves mention to me for its sheer cultural impact as much as anything. The first movie in the series is the best for the memories it brings: how bad I wanted to see it over a summer spent with relatives in Missouri, my dad taking me to it in St. Louis, him falling asleep while I was totally rapturously absorbed in it, me getting to brag to my friends in Alaska that I got to see it before it played up there. Another fun thing: taking Zach and Ben to see them, “on the big screen” – where they belonged – when they were re-released years later.