I’ve been trying to come up with three good answers, and I can’t.
My favorites change from day to day, week to week. So I’ll go anti-pretentious and just name my three favorite fun movies:
1 - The Warriors (1979) – I saw it when I was about 14, living in a small rural town and all my friends and I were instantly turned into New York City gang members – or at least the circus version this movie presents. It definded adolescent bravado for me. Loved it. It’s been reshown on Cinemax all this month, and I think I’ve watched it every time it’s been on. And I own the DVD, ferchrissakes.
2 - Rounders (1998) – I love poker. This is a rare movie which shows poker players as poker players, not romantic swindlers who always get the girl, but as conniving odds players who hope for the best and most often end up busting out.
There’s also a sort-of sentimental thing to it involving an ex … I don’t want to talk about it.
3 – The Ref (1994) – “The Army? What am I, Oswald, here?” …
“See if there’s a waste of fucking life named Murray, try that.” …
“From now on, the only person who gets to yell is me. Why? Because I have a gun. People with guns get to do whatever they want. Married people without guns - for instance - you - DO NOT get to yell. Why? NO GUNS! No guns, no yelling. See? Simple little equation.” …
“You know what this family needs? A mute.” …
“What is the matter with you? I thought Mothers were sweet and nice a-a-and Patient. Your husband ain’t dead, lady. He’s hiding.”
“You’re gonna be somebody’s patient if you don’t get your ass back down in that chair.” …
“Presents? Is that what you said? Presents? We’ll open them when we get there. No, in fact, I’ll save you the trouble. Your present is a giant fucking can. And you’re gonna crawl in it. Then I’m gonna get 2 pounds of gunpowder and I’m gonna shoot you right out of Jersey! And then I’m gonna drive to Jersey, and pick up all the parts of your body and put them in a plastic bag. Then I’m gonna drive to my house with you in the bag and toss you into the fireplace. I’m gonna get my glass of whiskey and watch the Charlie Brown special with your ashes burning and warming MY HOUSE! AGH!” …
I’m just a little too young to remember the moon landings, but I wish I did. This movie goes from breaking the sound barrier in 1947 to the early days of the space program. It captures all the perfect moments and moods, like Yeager sneaking a piece of broomstick on the X-1 and the panic over Sputnik. It cuts through the jingoistic heroism to show the human sides of the astronauts, and in doing so makes them more heroic. And as NASA rises to take on our technical battles, it marks the end of the cowboy test pilots at Edwards. I’ve read about some complaints of inaccuracies in the film; but if the past wasn’t quite like the movie, it should have been.
L.A. Story (1991)
Most romantic movies make their heroes so generically appealing that everyone in the audience can fall for them; in L.A. Story, Harris and Sara are only perfect for each other. The script is eccentric and smart, ranging from jokes about plastic surgery to a parody of the grave scene from Hamlet. (In fact, there’s a plastic surgery joke in the grave scene.) And the mysticism ranges from goofy to just slightly profound.
And here it gets tough. Keeping to just three means dropping a lot of truly brilliant films off the list.
Network (1976)
The most perfect satire I’ve ever seen. As events get more outlandish, there’s never a moment when you think it couldn’t really happen. And as good as it was when it came out, the rise of tabloid television and reality shows make it even better to watch now. The actors all have enough screen cred to keep things grounded and serious. And the performances are top-notch; three Academy Awards for acting, out of five nominations.
These’re all off the top of my head and highly fluid. The only one I am absolutely certain of is #1… the other two could change at any time since while I like watching movies, I’m not a huge fan and don’t care enough to give my rankings any intensive thought.
Garden State (2004)
The only movie I’ve seen mutliple times in a theatre. A fairly routine plot but superb writing, acting, directing, and music make it so much more than it could have otherwise been.
Fight Club (1999)
I don’t assign any divinity to the film like some of its more rabid fans do and its Nietzschean philosophy is a bit shallow but I really like it. If nothing else, it’s the movie that turned me on to Edward Norton, both literally and figuratively, so it deserves high placement for that, if nothing else.
Fargo (1996)
Great characters, interesting dialogue, subversive humor, and scenery that draws you in and then leaves you stranded combine to make the quintessential black comedy which is probably my favorite genre of movies as a whole. Singlehandedly made me a Coens fan.
Three is very hard. Others have nominated films I love, but:
Sunset Blvd. (1950) Ah, the creeping depravity, sadness, anger and pity. Still shocking for what those actors had to say.
M (1931) Ugly, funny and confronting. More so in context.
The Third Man (1949) Cotton is great as the well-meaning but clueless American. A troubling film full of foreboding.
(Current next cabs off the rank: Chinatown (1974), Life of Brian (1979), The Conversation (1974) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962))
Badlands (1973) - Terrence Malick can die happy having made this. The best movie ever made that uses a voiceover, superb performances by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek and the result is the most attractive mass murder movie ever made.
The Maltese Falcon (1941) - Saw this on late night TV when I was a kid and realised that there were lots of good movies to be discovered. I still recall being totally taken in by the movie, laying on the floor in my pyjamas and just soaking up the atmosphere.
Moulin Rouge! (2001) - the only movie I have ever seen where I left the theatre and thought about buying a ticket for the next session just to work out what the hell I had just seen.
La Dolce Vita. A fascinating character portrayal of Marcello (played by the wonderful Marcello Mastroianni), a Roman journalist who lacks any sense of meaning or identity in his life. The movie tracks his development (or, more accurately, his lack of development) through several little vignettes, each of which is like a little film in itself, and none of them really lead to anything–thus further illustrating Marcello’s sense of meaninglessness. My favorite Fellini film.
Blue. My favorite film from Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy, this one follows Juliette Binoche’s character as she tries to reconstruct her life after a terrible accident. Visually one of the most striking films I’ve ever seen–it’s just beautiful to watch.
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
I can still vividly remember the first time I saw it, and how I couldn’t quite process everything I was seeing. It goes all over the place from mesmerizing to hilarious to clever to action-movie violence to suspense to genuinely disturbing violence. And it has by far the best-written dialogue of any movie I’ve ever seen.
Star Wars (1977)
I have to admit that this is the most influential movie of my lifetime, if only because I wouldn’t live where I do and have met the people I have if not for Star Wars. But it’s still just a great movie, if only for the concepts. Just the idea of an ancient civilization with an established mythology and a “future” that’s so familiar it’s already worn out: I’ve never seen anyone (including Lucas) able to convey this as well as in the first movie.
Rear Window (1954)
A great concept, both for the movie itself and the “meta-movie” that all the cinema studies majors have to write papers about. Great performances, real suspense, and Grace Kelly at her most stunning.
[Contenders for third spot: Yojimbo (1961), His Girl Friday (1940), Aliens (1986), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Adaptation (2002)]
I’m keen on Chinatown, Badlands, Three Colours Blue and The Shawshank Redemption, but there’s a natural desire to come up with something different
Witness (1985) It’s not that I’m a Harrison Ford fan, but he’s not bad, it’s a stong story both as a normal thriller and in the way that the central character slowly realises that his way of life is crazier than the Amish way. Peter Weir is a great director IMO and the barn raising scene is excellent.
Twelve Angry Men (1957) It’s hypnotic - beautifully constructed script, tight direction, good acting.
The Hours Lots of people think this is rubbish, but I think the acting of all three women is just fantastic and it’s a very moving film.
Gets better every time I see it. By now, I’ve memorized most of the dialogue. The moral choices are so harrowing that it makes me love and fear the military simultaneously, and root for and against Jessep simultaneously. There’s enough humor to keep it interesting, no romance (yay!), and amazing performances by supporting cast. “You’re such a coward, I can’t believe they let you wear a uniform.”
The secretary reads Dostoevsky. Snapshots are high art. The art lover in me utterly geeks out. Everything is so understated and quiet I have to interpret the substance for myself, but the modern urban setting makes meaning accessible. Sort of the opposite of A Few Good Men where everything is explained. I love what I’m able to get from this film, and making my own connections makes me feel intelligent.
As several people have said, “Only three?” but I’ll give it a shot. These are not in any particular order, and might be just for today anyway. I considered quite a few more and changed my mind repeatedly. Many of the ones I could have picked are here already, so I’ll skip them.
The Man Who Would be King (1975). A quote from IMDB: “At Last A Film That Deserves Connery And Caine”. Adventure, imperialism, and heroism, all from a pair of somewhat sleazy opportunists. Then notice the bits of humour and the spectacular scenery.
Cape Fear (1962). The remake was OK but unnecessary. Gregory Peck is honourable and a bit naive, while Robert Mitchum can be nice and pleasant and scary as hell.
Das Boot (1981). Claustrophobia, anyone? How about struggling in near-darkness to get the beams out from under the floor so you can prop up the walls and not be crushed by all that water?
I considered lots of others I like for one reason or another, for example Tremors (1990), a classic 1950’s monster-movie plot with just one difference - these characters aren’t idiots. They come up with reasonable (even if mostly unsuccessful) plans for defense and escape, instead of running directly into the monster’s arms (or tentacles, or jaws, or whatever). Still, it’s not in the top three.
Fargo (1996) - Frances McDormand did a fantastic job with a very well written character. The scene near the end with her giving her little speach in her police car gets me every time.
Forrest Gump (1994) - The first time I watched the movie I thought it was okay but every time I watch it the movie gets better and better. Tom Hanks performance is, in my opinion, one of the best ever.
High Fidelity (2000) - Nicely paced movie with full and interesting characters. Our hero isn’t perfect.
You did say favorites; I wouldn’t necessarily argue for these as the best movies of all time, just the ones I enjoy watching and re-watching the most.
[ul]
[li]Local Hero, 1983. What Caprese said. Plus it has personal sentimental attachments for me.[/li][li]Sullivan’s Travels, 1941. I generally prefer Sturges over Capra (though I love both), and this is the tops – plus it has Veronica Lake, who’s the only blonde I’ve ever really had a thing for.[/li][li]Office Space, 1999. If you were in technology in the 1990s, you don’t even have to ask why.[/li][/ul]
Duck Soup (1933) - The Marx Brothers are the best, and this is them at their best. It ekes out A Night at the Opera, which is a better constructed movie, but this one has more jokes and doesn’t make the Marxes play nice guys to further a love story.
Citizen Kane (1941) - I doubt I could say anything about this movie that somebody else hasn’t. Not exactly a laugh riot, but I can’t argue with a movie that’s so definitive and so perfectly made.
The Big Lebowski (1998) - like only a couple of other movies (including Duck Soup), not only passes the “I can watch it over and over and enjoy it every time” test, it becomes more fun with repeated viewings.
1 Fight Club - every time i watch it i allways pick up somthing new
2 Chasing Amy - Risque subject tackled in a witty and enjoyable way
3 The Godfather - Just because
Why, Mr. Thornhill, what a surprise you picked North By Northwest as your Number One favorite movie.
Many of my favorite movies are personal favorites, as in five stars because I like it, not because it has universal themes/likeability. Many of my favorite movies have strong female leads.
(1) Gigi (1958) - Sucker for this effervescent Cinderella story, with the story arc told through the title song Gigi. The dialogue & songs that advance the storyline are sparkling & witty.
Time to quote now… “And when the romance is over? You go off in the arms of another lady & I end up in another gentleman’s bed. That won’t do for me.” Trivia: Audrey Hepburn introduced the role of Gigi on Broadway.
(2) Heartburn (1984) - Funny, wry, realistic, except, perhaps, for the burglary scene with a young Kevin Spacey. I love Mike Nichols’ work.
Thumbs up for Carly Simon’s soundtrack as well.
(3) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Two words: Atticus Finch. I need to believe there are people alive today who are wise and still upstanding like Atticus Finch. Also, a shout out to cousin Horton Foote who wrote the screenplay. Love the Elmer Bernstein theme song & opening credits as well.
The DVD version includes interviews with the adult actors who played Jem & Scout.
