The best here would indeed be the best I have watched:
1. Life is Beautiful
It indeed is. I have not seen a film where the two halves of the film are so contrasting, in style, in tenor and in its implication. It is hard to imagine that this is a fiction - which means that someone actually thought and wrote it and that makes it so staggering. A film which every mother, every father and every son would be able to relate to. Roberto Benini has epitomised the power of cinema as a medium, through this.
2.Forrest Gump
One of the most eminently lovable creations of all time. The characterisation of Forrest Gump is unparalleled in Hollywood cinematic history. It has no pretension, it is totally American, it is ruthlessly simple and tells a remarkable story.
3.Judgment At Nuremberg
Watch this just for the performances, the lines, the sheer blasphemous yet rivetting premise of the film. Montgomery Clift and Marlene Dietrich hardly has 10 minutes of screen time. Yet their significance and portrayal of a mentally traumatized man and a proud German is something which is seen to be believed. However, Spencer Tracy has the last laugh with the last dialogue in the movie - "What is logical might not be right!"
4. Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner
Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy, not to mention my darling Catherine Hepburn, possibly the most significant movie which deals with the issue of a black man falling in love with a white woman in 1960s America does so with a sensitivity and pragmatism unheard of in that era. There are sequences in that movie which if I start to list out will require another post. But the most memorable ones are with Catherine and Sidney. Just as he said "You got to get off our backs!" - should be the uniform anthem for all children dedicated to their parents.
5.The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
There is something about a Western. But this one would not be classified as one in the true sense of the word. The film has a lot of character and John Wayne as the unrequited macho lover is something. Besides, there is that house with the tree in the movie. Symbolic and touching. Memories. Boon or a bane? Your call.
6.Indecent Proposal
"Everything is for sale, you just have to know the price". That love is for sale where the price is a dream, that it is possible to buy love and not just sex, that love has a way of coming back, that sometimes when you let go you win, that victory might not always be about possession, that love has an infinite capacity to endure - has been put into flesh and blood by Robert Redford and Demi Moore.
7.Once Upon A Time in America
An epic. Par excellence. Four friends, spanning two decades. Sergio Leone's masterpiece. Love, betrayal, sacrifice - it has all the things which are intertwined in our lives. At the end of the movie who wins or who is right is the question. And to this day I am not sure. Four hours of rivetting drama and not a moment's boredom. Can we ever make one like that?
Some which barely missed the cut - One flew over the cuckoo's nest, The Departed, Gandhi, the Day the earth stood still, The heiress, Birds, Unforgiven, High Noon etc.
7 comments:
wow, what a list..seems like i have my evening time all packed up now. cudnt help myself wonder what it is about love that sprouts unknown emotions in ur heart, which is clearly evident in your manner and choice of description for Indecent Proposal.
Nevertheless, not deviating from the track, ur list probably does not do justice to all genres like sci-fi thrillers (Matrix) for example. Also, in ur last post on hindi films, u havent scratched the surface on the films from Dilip-Dev-Raj era. Did u miss Teesri Kasam (Raj Kapoor), Angoor (Sanjeev Kumar) probably!!
~liveyourdreams
i dont know why Indecent Proposal invokes that kinda feeling. I have not made the attempt to include all genres. If a movie can stand by itself irrespective of its genre then its listed.
The other post have not considered any movie pre 70s. Woh karunga to sab usi time ka aa jayega :)
I went though your list again and again, just wondering how it differs from others, say mine. It has tried to compile all most all genre of movies, and I must say most of them (if not all) are true classics in terms of evoking a strong feeling.
As I said, since parameters are truly individual for selecting a movie in the list, hence to say in your words - "your list, your choice". But, thought you would also include some masterpieces which are non Hollywood (like seven samurai, 8 and a half etc).
Might be, thats for a different post at a different time. However, I haven't seen all of them from your list, so it would be a good work out during the weekend.
Stam:
I have not included any foreign language movies, though Life is Beautiful is Italian. But it was made in both languages so treated it as a Hollywood movie.
The foreign language list will have to be separate. And I am NOT going to list that. Would be too repetitive.
That's the beauty of a list.You cant agree with one and you cant disagree with one...Perhaps , with the exception of a Schindler's List! ;-)
Issac:
Yeah right. Actually any list is a function of the time someone goes through and the context in which a movie is been watched. The element of personal bias will always be there.
once upon a time in america...man i still rem the day u gave me that CD.. i can still not get over the background score..
To think that sergio leone ( the director hope ive spelled it right) was actually one of the people considered to make the godfather in 1972...
Tushar Cherian
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