My Ten Favorite Movies

Some movies are so enjoyable that I can watch them again and again without ever getting tired of them. The following is a list of my Top Ten favorite movies to watch. If they’re on, I’m watching. I am not saying that they’re the ‘best’ movies ever created or the best stories, etc. (certainly not by the Academy’s standards), and there are no R-Rated movies on this list. If I wouldn’t feel comfortable watching a movie with my teenage son or my parents (not to mention my wife), then to me it’s not a good movie. What follows is simply one man’s list of his ten favorite movies to watch:

The Great Escape—when asked about my favorite movie, this is generally my answer. The fact that it’s a true story is all the more remarkable, but watching the movie is just a fantastic way to spend a few hours. For me, it has the perfect mix of story, drama, excitement, character idiosyncracy, great actors and comic relief.

The Fugitive (1993)—If The Great Escape is #1 for me, then The Fugitive is 1A. What makes this movie great for me is that paying attention is rewarding for the viewer. There are enough twists and turns, with Dr. Richard Kimble just barely staying one step ahead of the U.S. Marshalls, to keep it exciting from the word ‘go’. The bonus, of course, is the acting of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, the latter giving one of my favorite acting performances ever.

The Sting—I love clever plots, small substories and resolutions that make me laugh out loud in surprise, and The Sting does not disappoint in this area. I’m also a big fan of a good con, so this one’s a natural fit. Besides, how can you go wrong with Newman and Redford in their heyday?

Men in Black—This movie is laugh-out-loud funny and thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones make for a great ‘partner’ movie; I totally get Smith’s sense of humor and Jones plays one heck of a grumpy old straight man. The aliens also allow for a lot of creativity in the story: “Do you have any idea how much that hurts?!” It doesn’t hurt that Vincent D’Onofrio gets to show a little versatility as Edgar, either.

Get Smart—This is the most recent addition to my list, but I couldn’t leave it off after recently watching it again and laughing out loud a LOT. It’s meant to be silly, and it delivers from beginning to end. The Minsk bathroom scene is even funnier with the subtitles on. Now that I mention it, the other bathroom scene is also hilarious, and I’m not generally one for toilet humor. Kudos to casting for putting Alan Arkin in the role as ‘Chief’. He makes the movie. “Sand Trap! Tractor! Swordfish!”

Babe—The next two movies are on this list largely because the end of the movie always produces a huge smile of satisfaction, with maybe even just a hint of mist in my eyes. Babe is a great story on hidden potential and on the virtues of innocence and benevolence.

Driving Miss Daisy—With apologies to Woody and Buzz, this is probably the best buddy flick out there. Both Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy give All-Star performances, and it’s a great story of an unorthodox friendship that develops over the second half of the 20th century.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—This is on my list for the nostalgia factor. This was my favorite movie of the 80’s, I can still basically quote the whole thing and, along with the rest of Chicago, I’m pulling for Ferris. Mr. Rooney is the perfect foil.

The Sandlot—Also on my list for nostalgic reasons, this movie reminds me of being a kid; I wasn’t a kid in the 60’s, but I did grow up playing baseball from sunup to sundown, and I can attach a real name of someone with whom I grew up to most of the kids in this movie. I like this movie so much that I’m a member of the Squints Palledorous Fan Club on Facebook.

Toy Story (I, II or III)—I’m a sucker for the Pixar films. They haven’t laid an egg yet (Wall-E is the closest they’ve come), and most of their movies have been bang-up fantastic. In my home we own all the movies, and the whole family can identify 99.8% of the quotes from them. Toy Story, simply put, is the gold standard of computer animated films. Frankly, the whole trilogy knocked my socks off, but if I have to pick only one I’ll give the nod to the first movie because the story is great, it introduced us to a lot of fun characters, and because it forever changed the movie industry.
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Honorable mention:

Another movie I’ll always stop and watch when it’s on TV: The Dirty Dozen. Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Jim Brown, Telly Savalas...? Posey, Franko, Jimenez…? Come on.

Favorite R-rated comedy that I’ve only ever seen in an edited version: Trading Places. Were I to consider only the edited version, it would displace either of the comedies in my top ten. I love this movie. Ask me about a funny story regarding an edited version of this movie sometime.
Edited runner-up: Plains, Trains and Automobiles.

Favorite R-rated drama that I’ve only ever seen in an edited version: The Shawshank Redemption. Redemption, indeed.

Favorite Soundtracks: Happy Feet, Muppets from Space. The movies are okay, but both have lots of good funky tunes that will get me to watch; Happy Feet wins here for its great mashups.

Favorite overall DVD experience: Apollo 13. The bonus features alone make it worth owning.

Favorite cult classic: I’ll give this one to The Princess Bride, though So I Married an Axe Murderer deserves mention as well.

Best big-screen movie for which a small screen wouldn’t work: Avatar. I enjoyed seeing this in the theater so much that I went twice and paid for the 3-D both times. However, the story is not especially strong, and I just don’t think I’d enjoy it that much on my 27-inch screen.