Movie Favorites!

Since the late 1950s when brother Mike and I would head to the Venice Theater on West Venice Avenue, in Venice, Florida, I've always been a movie buff of sorts. I honed that talent later on in the 60s watching the late shows on Channel 7(WHIO) in Dayton on weekends...sometimes managing to stay awake until the daylight hours on Saturday morning, and paying the price, sleep wise, for the rest of the day.

Now, don't get me wrong, I could care less about Hollywierd, and today's mostly left wing idiots, cinema sluts, and gay blades, that parade these days on the boob tube, and the big screen. An occasional good movie, or at least watchable movie does come along...and Patricia and I pick and choose the half dozen or so we see per year.

This afternoon, with Anissa away, Sam in the Cincinnati area, and Hal off to Indianapolis to work, we walked the 6 blocks to the old movie house in Celina....we plan on seeing both the new Indiana Jones flick and the latest installment of the C.S. Lewis/Chronicles of Narnia series, this one being "Prince Caspian"...today at the 4:15 showing I elected to take in "Indy 4". Harrison Ford is getting long in the tooth, and at 63 comes along as the aging "super hero" these days...but none-the-less, the film was enjoyable, albeit corny and far fetched....it was an entertaining 2 hours. On Memorial Day we watched "The Best Years of Our Lives" on Turner Classic Movies, this 1946 post war drama is one of my favorites...even with the almost 3 hour time ticket. I have this one, and most of my favorites, on DVD....the past couple of days got me thinking about my favorite movies of all time. I could name at least 20 or 25 that I could watch a dozen times or more and not get bored....however, given the fact that it's now 11PM, and this post would be way to long...I'll break it down to 5 of my favorites.

In no particular order...here are 5 flicks I could watch day after day:

American Graffiti 1973:

This movie starring Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfus, and a great supporting cast lead by Paul LeMat, takes place at the end of the summer of 1962...I related to it because that was the time we were getting ready to move from Venice, Florida, to Celina, Ohio.....the characters and the music made this show....I throw it into the DVD player at least once a year....the movie soundtrack has been in my collection for over 30 years.

Blazing Saddles 1974:

This Mel Brooks comedy was actually the movie that Patricia and I went to see on our first "real date"....we jumped on my Kawasaki stopped at Pizza Hut, then went to see this hilarious racial and slapstick laden farce....even the boys love this one...stay away from the edited TV version, and watch the original uncut version on DVD.

Casablanca 1943:

One of Bogarts best...along with Ingrid Bergman, this is one of the great love stories and war stories of the 1940s. Bogart and John Wayne are my 2 favorite actors of all time. I could slot in High Sierra, The Big Sleep, or Key Largo, in here and say the same...."Boggie" had at least a dozen movies I could watch for hours on end....the 40s are still my favorite movie era, even though I wasn't born until 1949.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962:

Ditto the above for John Wayne....this one was a classic western with Jimmy Stewart(another favorite) and Vera Miles...I remember going to see this one at the Venice Theather, shortly before the family moved to Celina....name me 10 Wayne movies, mostly westerns, that I could put in here...count True Grit, Rio Bravo , and Hell make that 20 other John Wayne flicks to this list.

The Best Years of Our Lives 1946:

A true classic about 3 American War Heroes upon their return to Boon City(acutally a fictional Cincinnati, Ohio)...the cast and acting are among the greatest in American movie history....the story and movie(although 3 hours long) cannot be topped.

There you have 5, I could have named 25 more and not had a second thought......but these come to mind....and despite a few good movies put out these days, you will notice, nothing newer than 35 years....eithe movies are getting worse, or I'm just plain getting old!

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Top to Bottom: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962/Casablanca with Bogart and Bergman/Clevon Little(L) and Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles 1974/The classic "Best Years of Our Lives" from 1946 with Hogy Carmichael, Harold Russel, and Dana Andrews/American Graffiti 1973/ and finally Steven Speilberg, Harrison Ford and the cast of the new Indiana Jones flick from 2008