Nobody Does It Better

Quantum Of Solace.
The New James Bond Film.
I am so very excited!!!
Daniel Craig IS James Bond!!!

If You Live In The Washington DC Metro Area...

You owe to yourself to see the premiere of Francis Abbey's Boxing Day at the AFI Silver on August 7th at 9:00 PM. This is one of the coolest things to happen to our area in many years. It is Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. So please come out and support Ten Sunday's Productions newest film. You will not regret. Click on the link below to purchase tickets.


Thank and have a great weekend.



http://francismanuelabbey. com/Boxing_Day. html

Saying Goodbye Is Very Hard To Do: A George Carlin Tribute

“Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.”
-- George Carlin

“Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.”
-- George Carlin

“The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
-- George Carlin

Fuck is the most beautiful word in the English language. In one of my first creative writing classes in college, I wrote an awful short story called The Nostromo. If you have ever been in a writing workshop, they can be brutal. No one likes anything you write. Poetry workshops are the worst-- Charles Bukowski would have had a field day with these work shops. As I remember, he did write a few poems about the workshop experience. These took up three years of my life, but that is another story. In my first creative writing course, I got my ass handed to me because I used the word fuck so many times. I will not lie to you; I love to use foul language. It is very cathartic, but it can lose its shock value and power. Just look at the Scarface remake-- I do not think I can watch it with a straight face anymore. Fuck is a very powerful word. It is a multi purpose word. You have to love Battlestar Galactica with their “frak” euphemisms. I love to use that word too.

I took George Carlin for granted. Hell, I took Tim Russert, Sydney Pollack, Arthur C. Clarke, Brad Renfro, Heath Ledger, Stan Winston, and everyone else who has died over the last couple of years for granted. Every week I wake up to the sad news of someone’s death. The sad thing is that I am never ready. There is a child like and naïve part of me that takes them for granted-- that they will always be here creating their magic. The truth is that I am never ready to hear that sad news-- whether it is an early death like that of Heath Ledger, John Belushi or Brad Renfro, or suicides like those of Kurt Cobain and Hunter S. Thompson. I am never ready to accept the deaths of anyone like Johnny Carson, Benny Hill, Charles Bukowski, Kurt Vonnegut or George Carlin. I knew that George Carlin had heart problems, but 71 years old seems too young to die. When I told my Mom this morning the sad news, she said he had lived a “hard 71 years.” Any death seems too young to me. I am never ready to let go. It is very immature on my part. I still have never reconciled myself to my Father’s stroke and subsequent illness from almost ten years ago. How can I say goodbye to someone like George Carlin? With him, I always felt like the best was yet to come. After this morning, I know that the best is not coming, but that is not entirely true. He will be the first posthumous recipient of the Mark Twain Prize this year. He is having the last laugh. He has been accepted by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

I am not going to lie and say I worshiped his work. I do not know all of his routines word for word. What I do know is that I always felt at home around him. I was allowed to stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live as a young child. I remember vividly watching the first one he hosted. I do not remember the details except for various cast members and some kind of muppet present. I do remember my brothers laughing their asses off and this made me laugh. It was just novel to stay up so late. I also remember them going ape shit when an ad for a KISS concert came on during one of those Saturday nights as well. My early exposure to the original Saturday Night Live always made me love those first five seasons best. They were magical like SCTV and Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Speaking of The Tonight Show, Carlin was always a blast on there as well. I miss good late night television. It has not been the same for many years. As much as I like watching Chelsea Lately, The Daily Show, David Letterman or Conan O’Brien, something special is missing. Carson cannot be replaced.

It is no accident that Kevin Smith used George Carlin in three of his films. Dogma, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back and Jersey Girl all benefited from Carlin’s presence. It was very fitting that Carlin was in Dogma given all the controversy the film caused at the time. It was always appropriate that Kevin Smith work with the man that gave us those seven beautiful words you cannot say on television. Carlin fought against censorship all his life. Smith had many problems with Dogma, but he also had trouble with Clerks as well. The MPAA never showed Kevin Smith much love and I have never really cared for the MPAA and their stupid ratings system. I always liked George Carlin in Jersey Girl. Because of him, this one still feels like a Kevin Smith film-- even if it does not fit in the traditional parameters of his View Askewiverse. I will be very honest with you, I always appreciated Kevin Smith. He makes no bones about the influence George Carlin had on him. I just got finished reading Smith’s My Boring Ass Life. I was hoping the two of them would work again. I always felt at home watching Clerks. Kevin Smith got it right-- I could relate to his characters and the way they spoke. It was nasty, but incredibly funny and liberating. He and Carlin were kindred spirits. Kevin Smith wrote a loving tribute of him for Newsweek. I wished they had done more together. Kevin Smith speaks to me like no other filmmaker. His films show how people really speak. I could relate to his characters as soon as they came on screen.

I remember in the summer of 1997 when Robert Mitchum passed away a day before James Stewart. It was surreal to lose two titans in so short amount of time. Robert Mitchum is one of my favorite actors. He worked throughout his career. He worked until the very end; George Carlin worked until the end just like him. I think the analogy is fair and deserving. Mitchum was still a force to be reckoned in Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. George Carlin was still going strong with his concerts and specials. He was the Robert Mitchum of comedians. I always looked forward to his books and appearances on Real Time With Bill Maher. I rarely laugh out loud reading a book, but I could not stop laughing while reading When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops? Now I need to get all three of his books on CD. Whenever he had something to say, I listened because I knew it was never going to be politically correct. He always told the truth and more importantly he made us laugh. In this election year, his voice will be missed. It was bad enough that Hunter S. Thompson took his own life a couple of years ago. It is tragic that Kurt Vonnegut is no longer here. Now with George Carlin gone, it just does not feel right. You need individuals like them to call bullshit on everyone on both sides of the aisle. At least we still have Gore Vidal and Henry Rollins; well I hope we still have fucking Gore Vidal.

I will have many lasting memories of George Carlin. As Rufus, he brought a level of coolness to the Bill And Ted’s films that they might not have had. I liked him in Car Wash and obviously in the Kevin Smith films as well. I enjoyed those films because they are funny, but it may be just his short lived sitcom on Fox television, The George Carlin Show that I really enjoyed. I used to watch that show with my friend, Dave, every Sunday night. Not the greatest show in the world, but it was great to see Carlin get his own show. It was easy to watch because he was so inviting. He made me feel at home. His concert specials on HBO were no different. He had a way about him. As much as I liked Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn, they would have been nowhere without the influence of George Carlin. The first time George Carlin saw Lenny Bruce perform must have been one of those out of body experiences. We were the recipients of that experience. George Carlin gave us the gift of laughter for many decades. I will not forget that gift. The best way to honor his memory and legacy is to use those “Seven Dirty Words” as much as possible for the rest of our lives. I know I will. Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits should be said with more pride than ever.

I was very touched by Quint’s tribute to George Carlin on Ain’t It Cool News. Quint remembered the first time he interviewed him and how nervous he was to be talking to him on the telephone. Quint told him he was nervous and Carlin gave him classic words to live by answer:
“Forget it. Let me tell you something. One thing I learned is if you go through life and don’t give a fuck you’ll find yourself a happier person.”
Fuck, I do not know about you, but coming from him that must have felt like the greatest advice ever. I wished that I had that kind of advice before I took the SAT’s or during the college admissions process in general. I just wished there was someone like Carlin around during all those stressful moments. George Carlin was a great stress buster. I do regret never seeing him in concert. I can honestly say I truly missed out. Now I really do have to complete my CD collection with the rest of his classic albums. His comedy was the best kind of release. I have a feeling it will always be the greatest release. I am thankful for the gifts he gave us.

George Carlin 1937-2008

I am in a state of shock as I have just learned that George Carlin died of heart failure at the age of 71. FUCK!!!!!!
I remember staying up late one Saturday night with my brothers to watch him host the very first Saturday Night Live. This is a huge loss.
It seems we keep losing the greats this year. George Carlin always made me laugh and think. His books are hysterical. I even loved his short lived sitcom on Fox back in the 90's. His work was Kevin Smith proved that Kevin Smith taste. His stand up was insanely funny. George Carlin is an institution. There will never be anyone else like him. He was in a class by himself. This hit me like Hunter S. Thompson, Johnny Carson, John Belushi and Charles Bukwoski. George Carlin will be missed. I can assure you that I will miss him any time I watch Real Time With Bill Maher. Thank you for everything you did, George Carlin.

Sergio Leone Goodness!!!

I love YouTube, but I love Sergio Leone even more. Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone will always equal movie magic!!!
I love these films!!!

Embracing Monsters: Remembering Stan Winston

“Childs, we're going out to give Blair the test. If he tries to make it back here and we're not with him... burn him.”
-- R.J. MacReady from The Thing (1982)

“No matter what, Edward will always be special.”
-- Peg Boggs from Edward Scissorhands

“Don't you see the danger, John, inherent in what you're doing here? Genetic power is the most awesome force the planet's ever witnessed, yet you wield it like a kid that's found his dad's gun.”
-- Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park

In the summer of 1993, I did something I had not done in many years; I went to see a film more than once in the theater. Multiple viewings of the same film were reserved for the Star Wars films, Indiana Jones films, Mad Max films or the other special films of my youth. Jurassic Park was going to be big. No one could deny that fact. It was Steven Spielberg bringing Michael Crichton’s bestseller to the big screen. The big question on everyone’s mind was how the dinosaurs would look in the final product. That was multi-million dollar question. If ILM could pull this off, it was a safe assumption the film would be a blockbuster of epic proportions. The visual effects geniuses at Industrial Light And Magic pulled it off. I went to a midnight screening with a good friend of mine and then I took my parents to see it that weekend. It was and remains a magical film. My older brother, Michael, was speechless when Sam Neill’s Dr. Alan Grant sees the brachiosaurus for the first time; it was the most magical moment in movies since the first time he saw the spaceship in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I should know, he took me to see Kubrick’s film countless times every time it was re-released. Witnessing the majestic wonder of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park on the big screen is one of the major reasons I go to the movies-- to experience a sense of wonder. The Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Velicoraptors were as wicked as anything I had seen on film in a long time. Watching the dinosaurs in Steven Spielberg’s film, I kept thinking this is how entire generations must have reacted to watching Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong for the first time. King Kong was the first film I remember watching that I never looked away from the television screen in my parents’ bedroom. I must have been four or five at the time. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was lying in my parents’ bed between the two of them; my two older brothers were there too. I was hooked from that day on. This great ape captivated me like no other force. I was pretty brave too. None of the dinosaurs frightened me, but once Bruce Cabot went to rescue Fay Wray from Kong’s lair, well that little snake or whatever that thing that hisses… that scared me. The fight between Kong and Tyrannosaurus Rex is one of my favorites. King Kong’s impact can still be felt every time a film truly moves me. The first remake was an utter disappointment in 1976. Where were the dinosaurs? What is it about Dino De Laurentiis and giant snakes?

It is important to bring up the original King Kong because Stan Winston, who passed away this week at the age of 62, rightfully belongs in that Valhalla with Kong’s visual effects creator, Willis O’Brien. Willis O’Brien influenced everyone. Ray Harryhausen and Eiji Tsuburaya are the first to come to mind. I name both of them because their work had a huge influence on me. Before Star Wars, there were monsters and more monsters. King Kong was one of the best. I watched it every time it came on television. This film led to films like The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, Them!, The Giant Behemoth, The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, Mighty Joe Young, One Million Years B.C. and The Valley Of The Gwangi. I loved them all and dragged my Mom to see all of Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films. I loved it, but as much as I loved those films, there was a certain Japanese monster who stole my heart, but it took me awhile to embrace him. Godzilla’s roar used the scare the living shit out of me until I was five or six. You have to put this in perspective. I had a vivid nightmare on Christmas Eve when I was very young, I want to say I was in nursery school, but it might have been earlier. At this time I was always looking in my Famous Monsters magazines of photos of Godzilla or King Kong. It is safe to say it was only a dream, but it was so life like. I was in my brother’s room and right outside the window was Godzilla in all of his glory. It was vivid. The trademark roar was loud and I was frozen. I woke up and the next thing I knew it was Christmas morning. My brothers got a race track and a train set. I was busy looking outside the windows to see if there were any footprints or tree damage. The funny thing about the dream is that I was reading either Famous Monsters or something else. That dream did a number on me for many years to come. Needless to say I embraced Godzilla and all of his other Toho buddies growing up. Now you know why I loved The Host, The Mist and Cloverfield so much. I have always loved the monster movie. It is one of those great genres that I have never seemed to have outgrown. There is not enough ink in the world to describe the influence of Japanese monster films on my life. The criticisms of Jurassic Park were really strange. Many said that all Steven Spielberg did was make a high tech version of Destroy All Monsters. Yes, both islands have pretty bad security and infrastructure problems, but I always felt that was lame excuse not to enjoy the film. If Jurassic Park had one flaw, there were not enough dinosaurs, but in hindsight, I am not even sure that is true. The sequels gave us more, but the first one works the best. Steven played it cool like in Jaws; he revealed the creatures in just the right way. And speaking of man in suit action, Destroy All Monsters is in a class all by itself. Stan Winston deserved every Oscar he won, but his work on Jurassic Park was truly groundbreaking. He made dinosaurs look as real as they have ever looked. He and the ILM team did the impossible. They cracked the code.

Naturally I read up on all things related to the making of these monster movies and the men who created them. It was not only Famous Monsters, but also a healthy diet of Starlog, Fantastic Films, Cinefex and several other magazines that I am sure other mothers would not allow their children to read. My Mom was just happy I was reading. Reading those magazines, I would come across a lot of familiar names like Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett, Ben Burtt, John Dykstra, Douglas Trumbull, Tom Savini and of course, Stan Winston. I knew their names, especially the people responsible for anything Star Wars related or anything to do with Industrial Light And Magic. I read Starlog a lot and so I kept coming across articles about John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing. I did not have the stomach to see that when it first came out, but I had seen Halloween and later on I saw Escape From New York when it first came on home video. The photos of The Thing were pretty frightening to me in 1982. I still had not seen Alien because I heard it was the scariest film ever made. In 1986, I finally worked up the courage to watch Alien and loved it. I just adored it. It was as good and as scary as everyone made it out to be. That summer, James Cameron’s Aliens had opened and I went with my Mom to see it opening day. James Cameron was cool in my book. He made The Terminator and I knew his sequel to Aliens was going to be a kick ass great time. It was that and more. It is Back To Bataan in outer space. Stan Winston’s creature effects were astounding-- they still are in that film. There are so many aliens that Ripley, Vasquez and the Colonial Marines are forced to fight with great intensity. I had to go see it again with my brother. I used to be scared of these things-- not now. The summer of 1986 began my huge, but belated love affair with the horror film genre.

Not so fast, the night after I saw Aliens, my parents went out, I was home alone. John Carpenter’s The Thing was on network television, I had never seen it. When I was younger, the gore never appealed to me. The Siskel and Ebert review of the film turned me off because they kept saying that film was pretty sick. I was eleven years old when it came out. At fifteen years old, I finally decided to watch it and watch it alone. Guess what? I loved it. The effects were pretty mind blowing and yes, that infamous scene made me cringe. You know which one I am talking about. It did not matter because there was something else at work before the incredible effects-- an incredible cast consisting of Kurt Russell, Keith David, Donald Moffat, Wilford Brimley and several others. In the summer of 1986, it was an awesome reminder of what a great pairing Kurt Russell and John Carpenter made for the films, Big Trouble In Little China and Escape From New York. These three films are still magical. I wished I could have liked Escape From L.A. more, but I would still welcome another Snake Plissken film. Hell, I would just welcome another John Carpenter film in the theater one more time. Many of us wanted to be John Carpenter in high school. It is safe to say Robert Rodriguez made it happen for real.

John Carpenter, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton are great filmmakers, but they need the help of master artisans to give birth to their creations. Stan Winston was one of those artisans. In each of the films he worked on, the effects helped the story move along; they never took away from the story. As recently as Iron Man, he added his magical touch to a film that helped redefine the super hero genre. He also created the memorable visual effects in the Predator films. He gave Arnold Schwarzenegger some of his greatest co-stars as well as creating the look of his ultimate character, The Terminator. He is responsible for the make up in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, perhaps, Burton’s most poetic and beautiful film. He created dreams and nightmares for the audience. He also worked with Tim Burton on Batman Returns and Big Fish. He worked with the same directors throughout his life. His work is paramount in the permanence of those images within the cauldrons of our imaginations.

Stan Winston’s work has covered my entire movie going life. It would be criminal not to acknowledge his work and his contribution to my favorite obsession. He left us on a very high note bringing Tony Stark’s alter ego, Iron Man, to life. I will remember him as the man who was able to bring a wide range of emotions out of me during any number of films he worked on. He had a way of working on two films that made going to movies fun again during the summer. Terminator 2: Judgement Day was a reminder of why we get out of hot hazy and humid days of the summer and seek the cool solace of the unity in the darkness. Jurassic Park was a reminder of why we go to the movies in the first place as well. It is not just about escapism; it is about magic. While watching Peter Jackson’s King Kong or Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, I have a pretty good idea how mind blowing it must have been to watch King Kong for the first time in a theater in 1933. Stan Winston’s work reminded us how powerful images can be. The summers of 1982, 1986 and 1993 were made all the more special because of his work. His dinosaurs are truly visually stunning. Dinosaurs have not looked so good since King Kong. He was truly Willis O’Brien’s heir after Ray Harryhausen. His visual effects had heart and soul. In an age where the total reliance on CGI effects drowns out emotion and intensity, Winston’s work will always stand out. I am old school in many ways-- I loved how Eiji Tsuburaya would talk to the actors in the monster suits while they were standing on the set of model cities where the fate of the human race hung in the balance. Stan Winston combined the heart, innovation and soul of O’Brien’s, Harryhausen’s and Tsuburaya’s works. Eiji and Willis are in good company. What we owe Stan Winston is beyond evaluation.

Boxing Day Trailer And Ticket Information

The Boxing Day Premiere will take place on Thursday, August 7th at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland. Please come out and support great film making. Go to the website below for ticket information and all your other Boxing Day needs.

www. boxingdaymovie. com

Gone Too Soon: Something About Death (REPOST)

This is reposted from my MySpace Blog. I wrote this essay on January 22nd of this year. This is my tribute to the late Heath Ledger.


"Yep, you're a real thinker there. Goddamn. Jack fuckin' Twist; got it all figured out, ain't ya?"

-- Ennis Del Mar from Brokeback Mountain

"It's not about me anymore, it's all about him."

-- Robbie Clark from I'm Not There



I was walking down the hallway from my parent's bed room when I heard the news from the television on March 5th of 1982. John Belushi had died. It caught me off guard. I ran into their room and watched the tragic news with my Mom and older brother. It hit me very hard. My Mom had taken us to see Animal House on opening day. We watched him on Saturday Night Live. He was indeed an idol; I was heart broken. Before that, the death of Peter Sellers back in the summer of 1980 was another tragic loss. For both of these men, there would not be any more new visits at the local movie theater. They had left us and in both cases, they had left us too soon. After Peter Sellers died, I remember talking to the ice cream man on our street about it. He was very sad as well. Their antics defined my youth to a large part. John Lennon's murder in 1980 was the worst shock. Everyone was at a loss for words. My elementary school teachers were crying the next day. I will never forget that week as long as I live. When they died, it felt like a little piece of me had gone with them.

The unexpected death of Brad Renfro last week and of Heath Ledger today has left me very saddened. Brad Renfro's work in The Client, Apt Pupil, Telling Lies In America, Ghost World and especially, Bully showed an incredible power for such a young age. Larry Clark's Bully was the raw power father figure to last year's Alpha Dog. Renfro's debut in The Client showed a child actor who held his own with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. There was so much promise there. It was a shame that he fell back into old habits, but when he was on screen, it was dynamic and rarely forced. He was the real deal. Ben Foster has that same kind of intensity.

In 1993, the news was not much better. First, Brandon Lee was killed accidentally on the set of The Crow. A blank was lodged in his spine after penetrating his abdomen. Like his father before him, his life was cut short. The promise of greatness was there in films like Rapid Fire and Showdown in Little Tokyo-- not great films, but films that were fun and hinted at greater things to come. Watching The Crow was a somber experience when it was released the following year in 1994. I kept the soundtrack in my car until I sold my car in 2003. I visited his grave and his father's grave in 1995. It was an emotional experience to say the least. It did not help things that John Candy died from a heart attack in March of 1994. He was another one that made me laugh all the time. His characters on SCTV were always a pleasure to watch. Splash, Stripes, 1941 and Uncle Buck were among the films for which I will remember him. The mud wrestling scene in Stripes was hilarious and it never grows old. Watching these films is way of honoring their memories.

While I lived in Los Angeles, I used to walk on Sunset Boulevard a lot. I walked by The Viper Room many times. Every time I walked by, I always thought of River Phoenix and his early exit from this world. A flurry of images flooded my mind. Whether it was Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, My Own Private Idaho, Explorers, Running On Empty, I Love You To Death, Dogfight, Little Nikita, The Mosquito Coast, Sneakers or Stand By Me, the face and the characters haunted me every time I walked by there. Even Belushi's spirit would cross my mind while going by the Chateau Marmont on some evenings. I remember I was at a friend's house the night after Phoenix had died. We were getting ready to go to a Primus and Melvins concert. They were interviewing Christina Applegate and Johnny Depp on Entertainment Tonight. They were devastated. We were too. I wanted to go buy all his films on VHS at Suncoast as soon as possible. I got what I could find. Imagined if he had lived-- the playing field would be very different today. He would have worked with Johnny Depp-- imagine the films they could have made. These would be the great what ifs along with James Dean and Montgomery Clift. Imagine how different things would have been had those two had lived to ripe old ages? James Dean was killed in a horrible car accident. Clift was seriously injured in a car accident during the production of Raintree Country. Elizabeth Taylor saved his life from the accident. He died in 1966, but the accident forever changed him. Even after the accident, he gave incredible performances, but the damage was done. It was the "longest suicide in history" according to his acting teacher, Robert Lewis.

I was going to an animal shelter with a friend of mine on April 5 of 1994 when the news came on the radio about Kurt Cobain's suicide. I could not believe it; I did not want to believe it. It sounded like a joke. I was in denial for days. It seemed too much like a cliché, but it was real and we did lose a very talented artist. I was lucky to have seen Nirvana in concert during the previous year. His suicide was enough for me. This is what it must have felt like when Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin died. I knew how the older generation must have felt. We had lost an original voice. Yet, the music did not die, it lives on. He took his own life, but all he had to do was ask and his fans would have come to his aid.

Today, we lost Heath Ledger. I'm not sure what to say. He belongs in the company above. Never even doubt that for a second. In I'm Not There, he was a powerhouse as Robbie Clark. It is the first thing that struck me while watching the film. Sure Cate Blanchett is amazing doing her very best Linda Hunt, but Ledger is having a blast in this film. The great truth about I'm Not There is that everyone playing Bob Dylan is at the top of their game. In 1999, I wandered into Ten Things I Hate About You because I had already seen The Matrix. He was delightful in that film. My great misfortune is that I have not seen Two Hands yet; I am sure it will be hard to find right now, but I will fix that soon. He was the heart and soul of The Patriot. He humanized it for what it was worth and you never doubted he was Mel Gibson's son in the film. When he left Monster's Ball, you could hear the silence for the rest of the film. He did better than anyone else in The Four Feathers-- a film that has been remade enough, but he and Djimon Hounsou made it worth our while. A Knight's Tale, Lords Of Dogtown, Candy, Casanova and The Brothers Grimm have some weight now. These were not great films and he made his share of duds. The Order was as bland as they come. As Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, he walked away with all the best lines. The film turned out to be one of the great cinematic love stories of recent years. He was perfect in the film and it may be the role he is remembered for after everything is said and done. It stood out from everything else he had done before.

As The Joker in The Dark Knight, the trailer is a powerful revelation. There is something raw and menacing in his performance. His Joker is truly psychotic. This will be our last time to see Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight will not be an easy film to watch. The status of his last film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus remains unclear. He was working again with Terry Gilliam. It looked to have been a classic Terry Gilliam film. Once again, we have lost a young and gifted performer. He was found dead in his Manhattan apartment. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. What could have been is no longer possible. Yet, what has been will live on forever. Rest in peace, Heath Ledger.

Ang Lee's Hulk Was The Ultimate Toho Kaiju Eiga Homage

Who knew Ang Lee loved War Of The Gargantuas and Frankenstein Conquers The World so much? That is all I could think about while watching his Hulk five years ago. The same could be said for Michael Bay's Transformers as well. There was plenty of scenes in that film that reminded me of the old school Toho Monster madness fun. Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya and Ishiro Honda must be smiling from that big Monster Island in the sky. Looking forward to seeing The Incredible Hulk this weekend. I did not hate Ang Lee's film, but it had a lot of problems. I have a feeling this new one is going to be incredible.

What If...

"What I do for a living may not be very reputable. But I am. In this town I'm the leper with the most fingers."
-- Jake Gittes from The Two Jakes

What if Roman Polanski had directed The Two Jakes? I like Jack Nicholson's under appreciated sequel to Chinatown, but what if Polanski had done it instead. Maybe the whole trilogy that Robert Towne had envisioned would have been completed. I thought that while walking out of The Two Jakes nearly eighteen years ago. I was thinking it again while watching Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired the other night on HBO. Chinatown is a perfect film. I cannot think of a thing wrong with it. It is one of my favorite Nicholson films. He is and always will be Jake Gittes. After watching Robert Towne's Ask The Dust, it becomes apparent that no one knows old Los Angeles like Robert Towne-- although James Ellroy comes pretty close. It is one of those great what ifs. I know there will never be another third Jakes Gittes film, but I would much rather see that than another film like The Bucket List.

I also watched The Children Of Huang Shi this week. As much as I like Chow Yun Fat, I just could not get into this film. It reminded me way too much of The Left Hand Of God and The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness. Roger Spottiswoode's film has good intentions, but not enough to fuel an engaging story. Chow Yun Fat has screen presence-- there is no doubt about that. Still, I could not stop thinking of Iris Chang's book, The Rape Of Nanking during the first half hour. The Shanghai sequences make you think of Empire Of The Sun and Lost Horizon.

After watching Cujo again for the first time in many years, I really cannot wait to see The Incredible Hulk this weekend. I watched Cujo because we are interviewing Dee Wallace on our radio show, Movie Geeks United next Wednesday night for our "Summer of 1983" retrospective. As for Cujo, I kept wanting to watch Tentacles instead. I do not know what that says about me. I will say this, a Pinto never got a better advertisement than that film. I did think Dee Wallace was good in it, but she will always be Elliott's mom in E.T. to me. She was top notch in The Howling too. What if Roman Polanski had directed Cujo? We would still be talking about it. I have a feeling I would have lost many nights of sleep. Still, I like Cujo. There is something to be said about a horror film that still can give you chills after 25 years.

I Keep Coming Back To Them

“Who was the best pilot I ever saw? Well, uh, you're lookin' at 'im.”
-- Gordon Cooper from The Right Stuff

“You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.”
-- Man With No Name from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

“You were right; I'm was wrong. Sorry. I'd like to be a nice guy. I would. I just don't know how to be nice.”
-- Stanley White from Year Of The Dragon

I was not joking when I said the list was only the beginning. There are hundreds of films I keep going back to for a variety of reasons. Many films hit me on a personal and emotional level; I have to go back to them. Whether they are on cable or I happen to watch them on DVD. The truth is I used to do this with VHS a lot more. Some of my all time favorite films I do not own on DVD, but sometimes the memory of watching the film and what it stands for is more important than physical ownership. Sometimes the memory, along with the film’s soundtrack, is enough to give it a permanent place in that most wonderful portable media player-- my imagination. Here is another round of films that still resonate with me and no particular order.

1. The Right Stuff-- Philip Kaufman’s 1983 birth of the Mercury Space program epic is as big as they come. The film was sadly used as a huge advertisement for Senator John Glenn’s Presidential campaign. What a shame because this is a grand film whose tagline could have not been more appropriate: “How the future began.”
I saw the film twice while it was in theaters. The first thing that always stood out was how cool Sam Shepard was as Chuck Yeager. It was one of those career defining performances. I like Sam’s later work, but he has never had a role as good as Yeager. It is a hard act to follow. His plays, screenplays with Wim Wenders and short stories are interesting, but his performance as Chuck Yeager is in a class by itself. The other standout here is Dennis Quaid as astronaut Gordon Cooper. It is as Cooper where his everyman likability begins and serves him so well throughout the rest of his career. Ed Harris is too good to be true as John Glenn. He is perfect and I dare say one of his best roles. Let me put it this way, if I were running for President, I would want Ed Harris to play me too. Fred Ward is terrific as Gus Grissom and his scenes with his wife Betty, played by Veronica Cartwright, are always hard to watch. When she does not get to meet Jackie Kennedy, her anger and disappointment grab us immediately. Scott Glenn’s Alan Shepard is another cool customer. But in the back of their minds, they know that Yeager is the best pilot who ever lived. Bill Conti’s original score is great, but it is his use of selections from Holst’s The Planets which gives the film a larger than life essence. When Yeager walks away from the wreckage of his burning plane at the end, we know who has the right stuff.

2. Spartacus-- I was always shocked to read that Stanley Kubrick never considered this his own film. He was hired on after Anthony Mann was fired by Kirk Douglas. I get dirty looks from people when I say that I prefer it to Gladiator. I do like Ridley Scott’s epic with Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix and Oliver Reed (His last film), but Gladiator does not have Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Woody Strode, Jean Simmons, Tony Curtis and Peter Ustinov. It does not have Alex North’s pulsating score. There is a wonderful episode of The Sopranos where a debate between Gladiator and Spartacus is discussed. Kubrick did not have control of the script and that is why he did not consider it his own. At one time, David Lean and Laurence Olivier were offered the director positions. Still for a film that Kubrick did not consider one of his own, it is a spectacular epic. As great as the gladiator fights are in the film, it is the “I am Spartacus” scene which is the film’s true money shot. The loyalty of Spartacus’ comrades is one of the most touching scenes in the film. It brings him to tears-- it brings me to tears. Another emotional scene is where Simmons’ Varinia shows Douglas’ Spartacus their son as he dies his slow death on the cross at the film’s end. The film gives us the opportunity to see powerhouse actors giving extraordinary performances. It is the chance to see Kirk Douglas in his greatest role. Kubrick may not have been proud of this film, but I will never forget watching it on an April Sunday evening back in fifth grade.

3. Obsession-- Blow Out is Brian De Palma’s masterpiece, but Obsession is the ultimate De Palma film to me. Before the self-homage began sometime in the Eighties, De Palma’s homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo may be the most fun the director ever allowed himself to have. Sometime in the sixth grade, I remember watching an ad on television for the film. My Mom said that it was a terrific film and I should watch it. That sometime was in 1999 and the film left a vivid impression. Cliff Robertson plays a New Orleans businessman whose life is destroyed when his wife and daughter are killed in a botched kidnap rescue attempt. While traveling in Italy many years later, he meets and falls in love with a woman who bears a striking resemblance to his dead wife. To says it owes a lot to Vertigo is an understatement, but this is where De Palma’s Hitchcock fetish served him so well. Bernard Herrmann wrote the score which is haunting and makes the film unforgettable. Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay based on a story by Schrader and De Palma-- another good reason this film turned out so well. They also had a falling out while making the film, but it still worked out well. Cliff Robertson was never better or more alive than as Courtland. John Lithgow as Robert LaSalle began a long and fruitful relationship with De Palma. Also, hearing “Daddy” takes on a whole new meaning after watching this film-- talk about a wild climax. This is when Brian De Palma was doing it right.

4. Sexy Beast-- One of the things that is evident in Jonathan Glazer’s wild British gangster film is that Ben Kingsley is playing against type as the sadistic gangster, Don Logan. He is not the only one. Ray Winstone’s Gal is also a change of pace for the actor. He is by far the lesser of two evils in the film. He has a reputation for playing tough characters and in some cases really despicable characters as in Nil By Mouth and The War Zone. As Gal, he just wants to escape the London criminal underworld, but his beautiful house in Spain filled with his wife and friends is not far enough. Logan finds him and wants him do one last mission back in London. Gal keeps telling him no and Don keeps getting more threatening. The bank heist in London is headed by Ian McShane’s Teddy Bass. Will Gal give in to Don? Kingsley has a mouth like a howitzer in this film. He is brutal. When Gal tells him he is out for good, Don punches him and rips into him with enough verbal ammunition to make anyone bend. Even before Don arrives, the look of fear and anxiety on everyone’s faces is perfect. Don is a monster, a real life monster. Ian McShane’s Teddy Bass is the one person who could call McShane’s Al Swearengen on Deadwood, a cocksucker and get away with it. Dean Martin’s “Sway” never sounded so good or so perfect. Spain never looked so beautiful. It is the strangest heist ever filmed.

5. Year Of The Dragon-- Michael Cimino’s 1985 Chinatown epic might have only been made for the beautiful morning city shot from Tracy Tzu’s (Ariane) apartment, but there is a lot I keep coming back to in this film. Mickey Rourke is at his best as Stanley White, the most decorated cop in New York. He is hell bent on bringing down John Lone’s Joey Tai. White is put in charge of Chinatown just as Tai becomes the head of the Chinese criminal underworld-- both men are on a collision course. I have always looked at this film as Cimino’s unofficial sequel to The Deer Hunter. Rourke’s White is a Vietnam veteran and has hated Asian people since the war. Mickey Rourke was at the height of his career with this film and Diner, Barfly and The Pope Of Greenwich Village and Angel Heart. John Lone is sinisterly smooth as the Triad boss of bosses in this film. He was perfect and I am taking The Last Emperor and Iceman into consideration when I make this statement. There are some incredible sequences in this film such as the violent gang assault in the restaurant, the final showdown between Lone and Rourke and the infamous girl bouncing like a pinball in between cars sequence. Still, what I will always remember about this film is some kind of fight broke out in the audience while we were watching it that weekend. I do not know what it was about, but talk about memorable theater experiences! I miss this Mickey Rourke

6. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly-- I was walking down the hall in my dorm in 1989 when I heard the chords of the music that I knew Metallica used as their entrance music. I went into a room and saw Eli Wallach’s Tuco running around the graveyard looking for that grave where the money was buried. The local stations used to have Clint Eastwood weeks a couple of times a year. You always got the gems like Play Misty For Me, Hang ‘Em High, The Outlaw Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter, and the Dirty Harry films. I had seen Leone’s western many times, but when I made the connection between the music and the film, a new relationship with the film began. The last time I had watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was in 1985. Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold” is one of the most powerful pieces of music in my book. When Eastwood’s Man With No Name fires that canyon and Wallach’s Tuco falls from the explosion, movie magic begins. Eastwood, Wallach and Lee Van Cleef make up the iconic trio. I remember reading an interview with Robert Rodriquez when El Mariachi opened; he mentioned how deeply influenced he was by Leone’s films. The interviewer was shocked that someone would admit it. It was The Washington Post long before Stephen Hunter showed up to give the paper some much needed film creed. I will make time for this film any time I can. I was very happy to see the restored version at the AFI Silver back in 2003. While watching it you realize how much Eastwood was influenced by Leone in his own films. The final showdown at the end has all those wonderful close ups of the eyes that we love in Leone’s work. Eli Wallach nearly steals each scene he is in as Tuco. Ennio Morricone’s music is still Leone’s greatest star.

7. The Boys From Brazil-- Denzel Washington, Henry Fonda and Ben Kingsley have all played against type and done it very well. Gregory Peck would play against type as the notorious Nazi Doctor, Josef Mengele, in The Boys From Brazil. It is one thing to say that you played Atticus Finch in one lifetime, but is something otherworldly to say that you played Finch and Dr. Josef Mengele in the same lifetime. No one would ever call this a classic film, but I would be lying to you if I said I did not love it. Let us start with the obvious. You have an all star cast at work here besides Gregory Peck. Laurence Olivier, Uta Hagen, Bruno Ganz, Lili Palmer, James Mason, Walter Gotell, Steve Guttenberg, Denholm Elliott, Rosemary Harris and John Rubinstein round the cast. Franklin J. Schaffner directed the Ira Levin novel. Schaffner also directed Planet Of The Apes, Patton and Papillon. The real star of the show here is Jerry Goldsmith’s score. Yes, the music for this film is incredible. It goes with the film perfectly. While many would say Peck is hamming it up as Mengele wearing those awful 70’s leisure suits, even Robert Jay Lifton in The Nazi Doctors acknowledges the novel and film are part of wider spectrum of fantasy and fiction revolving around this war criminal. Peck is over the top, way over the top-- more so than even Laurence Olivier’s Dr. Christian Szell in Marathon Man. How ironic that Olivier would play Nazi Hunter, Ezra Lieberman, a thinly veiled Simon Wiesenthal, two years later in The Boys From Brazil. The plot is the same as Ira Levin’s novel. Mengele wants to clone Adolf Hitler; the method is quite unbelievable. The final confrontation between Peck and Olivier is classic. Peck delivers an over the top explanation of the plot that has to be seen to believe. Mix the two titans, Bobby Wheelock (Hitler clone) and some wild Doberman pinschers and you have a volatile cocktail of an ending. A triple feature of this film, Marathon Man and The Odessa File are essential watching. It is interesting to note that Bruno Ganz has a small part as Professor Bruckner; he would go on to play Adolf Hitler in the 2005 film, Downfall (Der Untergang). It is the most authentic and realistic portrayal ever put on film. It is anything but a caricature whereas The Boys From Brazil is.

8. The Ruling Class-- Peter O’Toole plays Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, the 14th Earl of Gurney in Peter Medak’s wicked satire of the British ruling class in this 1972 film. It was always a given that Peter O’Toole could do comedy and do it quite well. What’s New Pussycat and How To Steal A Million proved that. As Jack Gurney, he is at his most insane as he believes that he is Jesus Christ. Jack has inherited the estate from his father, a member of the House of Lords. Jack’s film entrance is classic O’Toole. The relatives want to have him committed so they can take the estate away from him. This is a brutal and scathing indictment of British social and political institutions. A friend of mine from England hated this film. His family truly hated it as it ripped a hole in everything they held sacred. In the first half of the film he believes he is Jesus Christ, but after he is “cured” he begins to think he is Jack the Ripper. He is being groomed for the House Of Lords. Watching this and A Clockwork Orange on the same evening is the ultimate double feature in ultra wicked satires. Peter O’Toole’s Jack and Malcolm McDowell’s Alex would make quite a pair. Kubrick made sure we would never look at “Singin In The Rain” the same way ever again. Medak does the same with “Dry Bones.”

9. The Limey-- Steven Soderbergh wasted no time in following up his classic crime thriller Out Of Sight with another equally brilliant crime thriller, The Limey. The Collector, Blue and Billy Budd should have made Terence Stamp a huge star. I knew him as General Zod in the Superman films-- he was perfect as the infamous outlaw from Krypton. He had roles in many films such as The Sicilian, Legal Eagles, Wall Street and Alien Nation. He was Supreme Chancellor Valorum in The Phantom Menace and I hope he was able to make some money off his action figure sales. Poor Peter Cushing had to wait until after his death to get a Tarkin action figure made. Soderbergh pulls off a Quentin Tarantino style task of career resuscitation as he gives Stamp a role worthy of his abilities. Terence Stamp was awfully good in Stephen Frears’ The Hit and Stephen Elliott’s The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert. In The Limey Stamp plays an Englishman who comes to Los Angeles to hunt down the man he believes responsible for his daughter’s death. He is an ex-con freshly out of prison. The film opens with The Who’s “The Seeker” playing as Stamp’s Wilson is arriving in Los Angeles. Soderbergh has made sure “The Seeker” and this film are forever linked. I always thought Kubrick was the master of that skill. Lem Dobbs original screenplay was written with Michael Caine in mind and that would have been an interesting film given Caine’s role in the original Get Carter. It makes even better sense to have Stamp play Wilson, not only because of his work in The Hit, but also his work in Ken Loach’s Poor Cow. Soderbergh uses scenes from Poor Cow (1967) as flashbacks to show a younger Stamp playing with his daughter. It is a touch of staggering creativity. Wilson realizes he is quickly out of place in Los Angeles. He teams up with another ex-con played by the always wonderful, Luis Guzman. Together they find out that Wilson’s daughter was having an affair with a sleazy record producer played by Peter Fonda. Fonda continues his winning streak from Ulee’s Gold. Wilson meets an aging actress, Elaine, played by Leslie Ann Warren, who knew his daughter. Her entrance takes the film to a whole other level. The Limey is simply not just a revenge film. Stamp’s Wilson was not the ideal father; he is a flawed and volatile character. After watching it, you realize that no one but Terence Stamp could bring Wilson to dynamic life. As Wilson, Stamp reminds me of Lee Marvin in Point Blank and Harvey Keitel in City Of Industry-- not bad company.

10. Oldboy-- There was a time I could spend the entire day watching nothing but indie and foreign films downtown; those days are gone. As the years went on, the fun had definitely eroded from these adventures, but there was one film that was worth going out of my way to see and that was Chan-wook Park’s majestic revenge film, Oldboy. The film was worth the entire internet buzz I had been reading about for two years. One of the film’s taglines says it best: “15 years of imprisonment…5 Days Of Vengeance.” I had been enamored with Park’s Joint Security Area. I had not yet seen Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, but I knew it was something special. Oldboy is the second film in his Vengeance trilogy-- Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is the first film and Lady Vengeance is the third film. After a wild and drunken night on the town, Seoul businessman, Oh Dae-su (Min-sik Choi) is seized and locked up in a bizarre private prison for fifteen years. He is separated from his wife and young daughter as well as the whole world. For the last fifteen years he has no idea who did this to him and why-- revenge is the only desire that has been percolating all this time. He is unexpectedly released and he has five days to learn the identity of the person who had him imprisoned. Along his mission of vengeance, Oh-Dae su is involved in one of the greatest violent action sequences in recent cinema-- the infamous hammer corridor fight. It is a truly breathtaking sequence and the only thing that comes even close lately is Viggo Mortenson’s bath house fight in the nude in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. It is a truly cathartic moment. Yes, the action and violence in Oldboy is fresh and inventive, but it is only scratching the surface of why the film works so well. Yeong-wook Jo’s music will stay with you long after the credits have rolled.

There is much more to come.

SIDNEY LUMET TRIBUTE TONIGHT AT 10pm! (REPOST!!!)

REPOSTED FROM MOVIE GEEKS UNITED'S MYSPACE BLOG


United States of America (Press Release) June 2, 2008 -- Movie Geeks United!, one of the most popular movie-themed internet podcast programs, will celebrate the career of Sidney Lumet (Network, Serpico) with a 2-hour program airing live on Wednesday, June 4 at 10pm ET featuring several special guests.

"We're celebrating one of the most distinguished careers in the history of the medium," says Jamey DuVall, show writer, producer and co-host. "Mr. Lumet has given the world so many timeless films and inspired several generations of artists and moviegoers across the globe."

Special guests for the program include actors Chris Sarandon (Dog Day Afternoon. Fright Night) and Colm Feore (Face/Off, Night Falls on Manhattan), authors Joanna P. Rapf (Sidney Lumet: Interviews) and Richard Pepperman (Film School: How to Watch DVDs and Learn Everything About Filmmaking), and screenwriter Kelly Masterson (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead).

During live broadcasts, listeners may converse with other film fans in the chat room or call in with their own questions at 718-508-9477.

You may link to the podcast through http://www.blogtalkradio.com/moviegeeksunited/2008/06/05/SIDNEY-LUMET-TRIBUTE

The show will be made available for replay immediately following the live broadcast.

Airing twice weekly (Sundays at 6pm ET, Wednesdays at 10pm ET) and available anytime on replay, Movie Geeks United! is the premier podcast for movie lovers across the globe. Featuring weekly interviews with industry professionals (Paul Schrader, Jeff Goldblum, Brian De Palma) and insightful commentary about the world of film, this is a show for people who repsect the art form and the artist.

BlogTalkRadio is a social radio network that allows anyone in the world to host or listen to a live radio show, available online, for free. BlogTalkRadio is inspiring a legion of citizen broadcasters around the world to express themselves through live, interactive radio for the first time. Unlike other services, BlogTalkRadio requires no software download or podcast equipment. All you need is a phone or voIP connection to engage your community in real-time conversations. After shows air live, they are archived as podcasts and made available via RSS to iTunes and other services.

The Films That Mean The Most To Me

REPOSTED FROM MYSPACE BLOG EARLIER TODAY



"I believe your name will be a household word when you'll have to go to the War Museum to find who Allenby was. You're the most extraordinary man I've ever met!"
-- Major Allenby from Lawrence Of Arabia

"Let's go."
-- Pike Bishop from The Wild Bunch

"I have often thought that in the hereafter of our lives, when I owe no more to the future and can be just a man, that we may meet, and you will come to me and claim me as yours, and know that I am your husband. It is a dream I have..."
-- King Arthur from Excalibur


The things I will do for Dr. Royce Clemens. I really must like him a great deal because I am not that fond of most people. He is my kind of son of bitch. He and Miss Movie Fan did their top ten favorite films list. He tagged ten of us.

I do not have a top ten or even a top fifty favorite films, but I do have a group of films I keep going back to again and again. I see something new in them every time I watch them. Why is not the Star Wars Saga or The Godfather Trilogy chosen here? Those are a give! Like Indiana Jones, James Bond and Jaws-- those films make up a permanent cinematic DNA that exists forever. There are many more films I could have picked, but these are special to me and the major reasons I do what I do. It is hard to narrow it down to ten, even a hundred films is hard because so many films mean so much to me. Ask me to do this list tomorrow and I promise you it will be different. This is why we are all here in the first place-- a real love for films, all kinds of films. I can tell you that I am not here to buy and sell my friends as Tom believes we should. Here are the films that mean the most to me in no order at all…

1. Excalibur-- John Boorman's 1981 epic is more Wagnerian than Arthurian. It may be the best use of Richard Wagner's music ever (besides the helicopter attack in Coppola's Apocalypse Now.) My parents took me to see this film at the Mercado in the fifth grade. Why do I still like it-- everyone gets what they deserve! It plays like The Godfather set in medieval times. Helen Mirren gives one of her best performances as the evil Morgana and Nicol Williamson is divine as Merlin. Nigel Terry is the definitive King Arthur. John Boorman is one of my favorite directors. As much as I like Point Blank, The Emerald Forest, Deliverance, The Tailor Of Panama, Hope And Glory and Hell In The Pacific, I always come back to this one.

2. The Road Warrior-- Max Rockatansky will always be Mel Gibson's best role. The Road Warrior is one of those cases where the sequel is better than the original. George Miller's post-apocalyptic masterpiece is the ultimate action film. The Mad Max films hit all the right notes. I had never seen anything like The Road Warrior in the summer of 1982. From the opening 16mm prologue to the tanker chase at the end, it was and remains a hypnotic rush. It was on cable last year; it holds up very well. Kevin Costner needs to stay away from this genre. After seeing it, I told a friend I liked it more than Star Wars. He thought I was nuts. I knew I watched something special. For a kid frightened by the threat of nuclear war, this had a strange, calming effect on me.

3. The Wild Bunch-- There is a reason they called Sam Peckinpah "Bloody Sam." This is one of the main reasons. According to David Weddle's biography, If They Move..Kill 'Em, it was the only film that Peckinpah made clean and sober. That says something right there. William Holden's Pike Bishop was playing against type as the ultimate anti-hero. Bishop is like an older and jaded Shears from The Bridge On The River Kwai. The film is quite simply about men who have outlived their times. The loyalty and friendship among this group of aging outlaws says it best. The chemistry between Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates is priceless. Robert Ryan was never better. Ryan is playing against type here too. The climatic shootout at the end is the very definition of wargasm. The climatic bloodbath makes Brian De Palma's Scarface look like Mickey Cohen's Bar-Mitzvah. Peckinpah is my favorite director. I like his sons too-- Quentin Tarantino, John Woo and Johnny To.

4. National Lampoon's Animal House--
"Miss, do you know this is an R-rated film?"
"We love John Belushi, I really don't care."
That was the exchange on the opening day of Animal House between my Mom and the lady at the ticket counter. I was seven years old at the time, but Belushi was an early comedic idol of mine. My Mom loved SNL as well. She took me and my older brother Saul to see it. We couldn't stop laughing. It is the original subversive comedy. Stripes is right up there with it. When Belushi died, a lot went with him. Still, this film has aged very well-- not just the food fight but the Death Mobile and even the Toga party. Bluto's speech remains one of the best:

"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
I wish John Landis still made films like this one. One of college's great disappointments was that it was never as much fun as this film… not even close.

5. Lawrence Of Arabia-- David Lean's 1962 epic. Why? I tried to watch this on home video in 1984. I was bored. My parents took me to see the restored version in 1989 at the Uptown theater. WOW!!! This is why movies were meant to be seen in the theaters. Every time I watch this film, I find something new. It works on every level. The direction, the acting, Maurice Jarre's score, the script, the cinematography and everything else works in this film. This was Peter O'Toole's first starring movie role. He had done some television work and lots of theater before this iconic role. Thank goodness Marlon Brando was doing Mutiny On The Bounty and Albert Finney was too short. For O'Toole, a blessing and curse-- how do you top this role? Given the subject matter, it will not be dated anytime soon. It is the ultimate cinematic adventure. You can have your CGI wastelands. I miss these kinds of films. I saw this in the theater the same week I saw a re-release of Gone With The Wind in the theater. That was a great week.

6. Where The Buffalo Roam-- This is where I fell in love with Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Long before Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch rediscovered Bill Murray, he played Dr. Hunter S. Thompson in Art Linson's Where The Buffalo Roam. It may feel dated and lack the visual daring of Terry Gilliam's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, but in the summer of 1984, this was the equivalent of discovering gold. I love Bill Murray in Stripes, Meatballs, Ghostbusters and Caddyshack, but he is perfect in this film. It had Peter Boyle as Carl Lazlo who stole the film. This is my favorite Peter Boyle role. He and Murray have such great chemistry. This film made me seek out all of Hunter S. Thompson's books for the rest of my life. The film made me want to become a writer eventually. Johnny Depp is the only other actor who could inhabit the good doctor. It is my favorite Bill Murray film.

7. The Wind And The Lion-- I make no secret of my love for this John Milius film. He was in full John Huston/David Lean mode when he made this film. I think he always lived in Lean and Huston's shadow, just as Walter Hill always lived in Peckinpah's shadow. Sidney Lumet managed to break Sean Connery out of the James Bond mode with films like The Hill and The Anderson Tapes. Milius gave Sean Connery his greatest part as El Raisuli, a Berber chieftain in Morocco who kidnaps Candice Bergen and her children in 1904. Forget Murphy Brown, Bergen was never better than as Eden Perdicaris. Connery and Bergen have great chemistry together in the tradition of The African Queen and Heaven Knows Mr. Allison. Brian Keith is awesome as Teddy Roosevelt and John Huston is great as John Hay. It has one of my favorite Jerry Goldsmith scores of all time. I saw this the same time as The Man Who Would Be King which is another excellent film and would be on this list if I wanted to do more than ten. It always saddens me when people talk about Sean Connery; they have never heard of these films that truly proved he was a great actor. Everything that made Connery a great James Bond is on full display in this film.

8. The Night Of The Generals-- Peter O'Toole is at his most sadistic and crazed best as the Nazi General Tanz with a passion for killing prostitutes. What a cast: Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasance, Charles Gray and Philippe Noiret are in the film as well. I could have easily picked Cross Of Iron and everyone knows I would, but this film is one of the great rematches of Sharif and O'Toole. It was the Heat of its day. Sharif's Major Grau is an obsessive Wehrmacht intelligence officer on the trail of a serial killer during World War II. He narrows it down to a group of Nazi Generals. The final showdown between O'Toole and Sharif is classic. The supporting cast is great. Jarre's score is out of this world.

9. Apocalypse Now-- Francis Ford Coppola still talks about making On The Road into a film. He already did it with Apocalypse Now which is really just an updated version of Homer's Odyssey set during the Vietnam War. Like Kubrick's Paths Of Glory, it shows us the insanity of war throughout the film. It holds up better than the two other Vietnam films of its era-- Coming Home and The Deer Hunter. It is more than just a war film and that is why it holds up so well. The film is a series of happy accidents that truly made the film a masterpiece. Watching Coppola's Youth Without Youth the other night was a painful reminder that the Coppola who made Apocalypse Now is no longer making great films. Martin Sheen's voice over narration is perfect and I quote from it too much. Willard was his best role without a doubt—even more so than Badlands or The Dead Zone. Was Redux necessary? Yes, if only to see it on the big screen again, but the French Plantation sequence does not need to be there. As Kurtz, Brando's weight has never been more an asset than in this film. He does not have to move at all. His voice is all we need in the film. Apocalypse Now never gets old. Like Lawrence Of Arabia, it feels as fresh as when it first opened. Human nature never changes.


10. Once Upon A Time In The West-- It is not just a western, but a mythological epic about America. Just watch Gangs Of New York to see how much of an influence Sergio Leone's epic was on Martin Scorsese. It is not just Ennio Morricone's beautiful score or Charles Bronson's greatest role. It is not because Henry Fonda plays against type and shoots a kid. It is not just because Claudia Cardinale is the most beautiful screen goddess since Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago. It is not just because Jason Robards seems to be having the time of his life. It is not just because of the fantastic opening credits sequence. It is all of those reasons and many more. It is between this film and The Wild Bunch as my all time favorites. Sergio Leone, like Kubrick and Lean, did not make enough films, but like those other giants, he left us jewels. Once Upon A Time In The West is his jewel in the crown. Leone managed to take all the things that made The Man With No Name trilogy work and expand on them further with this film. The film is chock full of precious moments. Another reason I like it so much; Gabriele Ferzetti as Morton. He was perfect in the film and knows how the world works. Even Fonda's sadistic Frank knows he is most powerful man in the room. Bronson gives a once in a lifetime performance as Harmonica. This film is another reason films were meant to be seen in the theater.

These are ten films that mean a a great deal to me. This list is only the beginning. You have been warned.