Let’s Discuss Our Favorite Movies and Why They Are Faves

Okay, this is a challenge to all of you. This is INTERACTIVE, meaning that I want to hear from you too! I am not the only one with an opinion to share, I am sure of that. Similarly if I have touched on one of your own favorites, let me know that too. Sharing is a wonderful concept! Especially when it comes to things we love.

Just this past week, I wrote about my all time favorite movie, Romeo and Juliet. Click on the hot link to read that one if you haven’t or scroll down to the blog before this- it will be worth your time even if it is not one of your favorites because I give a good argument! It is hard to commit on one movie as an all time favorite. Instantly, as soon as it is out there, you think of a dozen beloved movies and don’t want them to go unmentioned.

So here then is my personal hall of fame for movies and my movie obsessions. I am not just a movie lover, but I am a bit obsessive in that I tend to see movies I love over and over and over again and never tire of them.

To start, just a few of the romantic comedies that I have watched literally dozens of times are When Harry Met Sally, Love Actually, (which has a cult following) The Graduate, and Groundhog Day. Another more recent favorite – and if you haven’t seen this yet – RUN – is 500 Days of Summer. When any of the above are on, I will watch in them in their entirety as if I am seeing and enjoying them for the first time. I find something new to appreciate each time, and I get to study bits in them for future reference. Though they are all practically memorized, it is still fresh entertainment value for me each time.

The Graduate, in particular, has some of the very best scenes, including my all time favorite movie kiss. There is such a hunger and sensuality in Dustin Hoffman’s first kiss given to Katherine Ross, that you understand why she ditched the other guy at the wedding and ran off with him. I could rewind and replay just that kiss scene dozens of times and wish that all actors learned to screen kiss like that. Wowsa!

As far as kissing, which as you can tell ranks very high in importance with me, the second best all time screen kiss is not From Here to Eternity. It’s not what’s in the background or backdrop like a sexy ocean, it is in the actual kiss. Therefore, for me, it is from The Notebook, another one of my very favorite movies of all time. (Pass the tissues, quick.) When the characters reunite, they do so with such a passion and such a long, sexy kiss, that it makes any normal woman to want to be kissed like that. Come to me, Ryan Gosling!

As far as The Notebook, as you can tell from my previous blog, I am a sentimental mush ball (see if you recognize that line from The Notebook) and a romanticist who adores stories of first love. So it would surprise no one that this is one of my all time favorite tearjerkers.

Another very favorite movie I watched again just recently and really had a lot of fun with it is Fargo. I realized why I love this gory movie about sadist, selfish, criminally insane people, because this is NOT the type of movie I would typically choose. It is funny in an offbeat way that is hard to describe, but that is in large part due to having the very best dialogue in a movie delivered in the best accents EVER. Every time I watch this I marvel at how the characters deliver their lines. I am particularly enchanted with Marge of course, Frances McDormand, who won the Oscar. The most captivating scene and dialogue in that movie for me, though, was the one between the Barkeeper (watch it here by clicking onthe link) who is shoveling snow and the policeman. “So ya know I says to the guy…” For me, it was the most hilarious deadpan conversation ever in a movie just because of the way it was delivered. Runner up is Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinnie of course, followed by any Groucho and Chico dialogue.

I must not here that Albert Brooks movies are a passion of mine. Lost in America was one of the most funny films of all time – but I love all of his films.

If you go back to my past, the movie obsession started young. The Wizard of Oz was the first one I remember being mesmerized at each and every year that it was shown on TV during my youth. It is a favorite that was definitely my FIRST favorite, even though I was terrified of the witch.

Mid-childhood, my next favorites were the beach movies, Jerry Lewis movies, Doris Day comedies, and of course the favorite of all favorites, “A Hard Day’s Night.” I walked to the local Benner movie every Saturday to see a double feature of it when it was first out and never could get enough of it. The adoration was so strong, I had to keep going. I remember girls screaming in the theater too. Until 1968 and Romeo and Juliet – that Beatle movie was the numero uno for me.

During the movie musical heyday, I cherished The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. How many times have we all seen those? Grease ranks up there too.

As a young kid, I idolized Hayley Mills and the original Parent Trap is a favorite from that era.

My favorite beach movie from that way back era, although I loved all the Annette and Frankie ones and a Gidget or two, was “Where the Boys Are.” For some reason, I jump at any chance to see it when it is on TV and this has been the case my entire life. Maybe if I analyze the situation, I like it because it has comedy, lots of melodrama, and singing. (The trifecta.) There’s something about Delores Hart in the lead role as a romantic lead that was so convincing even though shortly after  making the movie, she left Hollywood and became a nun. Connie Francis  was a hoot as the girl no one wanted except weird and funny Frank Gorshin. I also related to the Yvette Mimieux tragic character. She was boy crazy and it got her in a heap of trouble – a good warning for me since I was also boy crazy. (And coincidentally the subject of my next blog.)

In my teen years, I discovered Hitchcock while babysitting, and also “Imitation of Life” which I also watch every time it is on, as I do the Hitchcock ones. Imitation of Life is my very favorite soap opera movie discovered on TV while babysitting– I cry buckets every time I watch. My favorite Hitchcocks are Vertigo, Marnie, and Rear Window, but I love them all (with exception of The Birds) and can watch them any time they are on as well, even the oldest ones.

While in college, I discovered the Marx Brothers and I understood what slapstick comedy was really about. I could watch any of these films over and over again, reciting the punch lines along with the characters.

Anyway, I hope this blog stirred some memories of your own. Please share with me in comments!