Quote:
Originally Posted by rhadin
To that list I would add these 1930s movies to my all time favorite movies: The Thin Man series with Myrna Loy and William Powell (and Asta, of course  ). The onscreen relationship between Loy and Powell is magnificient.
A 1960s movie that was not well received but is a good classic adventure is Sean Connery and Michael Caine's version of Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King.
And for minimalist movies -- that is minimalist in terms of actors and stages, not in terms of power and quality -- #1 in my book is Twelve Angry Men starring Lee J. Cobb and Henry Fonda, as well as other either top stars or soon to be top stars. I think this movie, along with To Kill a Mockingbird, should be required viewing by every American and every wannabe American at least once every 5 years. Every time I am called for jury duty (much as I hate being called because it really disrupts my business) I watch Twelve Angry Men before my first day. It reminds me of the importance of our jury system and the power that jurors have and need to exercise responsibly.
I made my children both read an watch To Kill a Mockingbird several times over the years as they were growing up. Its message is important and universal. |
THE THIN MAN !!!! yeah baby !!! i bought the box-set of dvds the day they came out, as a birthday present for myself, even though the series goes downhill after the first couple of films and "The Thin Man Goes Home" is a travesty. i adore those films.
Nora : "I read where you were shot 5 times in the tabloids."
Nick : "It's not true. He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids."
in case anyone didn't know, the original Thin Man is (somewhat loosely) based on the Dashiell Hammett novel by the same name. Hammett was a true master, and the book is just as good (if not better than) the film, although somewhat darker. still funny though. a lot of the story is left completely out of the film, as is often the case.
i've not seen the film of To Kill a Mockingbird but i love the book (hmm... time to re-read it i think).
Ralph Sir Edwards : 30's screwball comedies are my FAVORITES !!! have you seen
"The Awful Truth" ? the story is sort of like "the Philadelphia Story" but with Irene Dunne instead of Katharine Hepburn, so a thousand times sillier (oh god, if you don't roll on the floor laughing, there's something wrong with you), but also with Cary Grant (the perfect man. i'm completely in love with him.). seriously, you should watch it TONIGHT. in fact i think *i* will watch it tonight (or maybe topper, or the thin man...). oh and what about
"My Man Godfrey" ! a classic. absolutely brilliant. also with William Powell (the thin man). i would recommend
"Les Tontons Flingueurs" as well but much of the brilliance is the absolutely masterful dialogue and i'm not sure half of it could be translated at all, much less *well*. but, if you speak french, don't miss it.
i could go on, but i meant to read the whole thread before replying and also i'm starving, so dinner now.