Concur. And my favorite line of his was after he finally makes it aboard the Dallas, and makes a little note-to-self: "Next time, Jack, write a fuckin' memo!"
I'm in the mood to attempt a Top Ten: 1. Dr. Strangelove 2. Casablanca 3. The Wizard of Oz 4. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 5. Blade Runner 6. Fantasia 7. The Godfather 8. Double Indemnity 9. Amadeus 10. Star Wars: A New Hope Shit...no room for It's a Wonderful Life or Sunset Boulevard or The Shawshank Redemption or Some Like It Hot or Raising Arizona or The Blue Brothers or WALL*E...I hate Top Ten lists.
My favorite film is probably The Last King of Scotland, directed by Kevin Macdonald and written by Peter Morgan, based upon the novel by Giles Foden.
After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I managed to confine myself to a Top 20: 1. Apocalypse Now (Redux) 2. The Fountain 3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 4. Into the Wild 5. Three Colours: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu) 6. Amelie (Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) 7. Amadeus 8. Taxi Driver 9. A Clockwork Orange 10. Se7en 11. Requiem for a Dream 12. The Double Life of Veronique (La double vie de Véronique) 13. Fight Club 14. American Beauty 15. Antichrist 16. The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte) 17. Memento 18. Casablanca 19. The Sixth Sense 20. Together (Tillsammans) Three-way tie in the director's chair between David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky and Krzysztof Kieslowski at two films each. Must ... resist ... urge to do ... Top 30.
Doo de doo de doo, de doo, doo-doo, doo de doo de doo doo doo doo... Well actually it's an Ealing Comedy from the early fifties called The Man in the White Suit, but the above comes awfully close.
The Wizard of Oz Also, I don't think it's right for people to post their top 10 or 20 lists here since the topic is "ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FILM", not FILMS. Unless that is, the favorite film in the list is identified as such.
These might be in my top twenty, but the beginning of the list would be dominated by naval war movies. I've already said Red October's my number one. After that it would be: 2. Action In The North Atlantic! 3. Run Silent, Run Deep! 4. Sink The Bismarck! 5. The Enemy Below 6. The Final Countdown 7. Gray Lady Down 8. Top Gun 9. McHale's Navy 10. Ice Station Zebra 11. Down Periscope! Yes, I know. It's a little one track, but before sci-fi and stuff, this is my thing.
Interesting. What do you think of They Were Expendable, The Cruel Sea, The Sand Pebbles and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World? Those are my favorite navy movies. --Justin
Chris: It says right up there in the beginning paragraph of the post: "I've already said Red October's my number one." I posted that ages ago. As for Crimson Tide, it's not on my list because I think the ending is stupid. Denzel Washington's character should be in jail, not getting his own command. J.T.B.: Master and Commander is a fantastic film! (That little kid with the one arm showed more balls in that movie than any character I've ever seen.) It's just not on this list because I'm more of a steam and nuclear enthusiast than a sail enthusiast. I haven't seen the other films.
One film? "The Great Dictator", a Charles Chaplain classic propaganda, satire piece against the Nazi's. A top ten list would be quite mixed up with propaganda, war films, musicals, drama and comedies. here is a list off the top of my head (with thought it might change some) - In no particular order: The Great Dictator Bataan Brigadoon 12 Angry Men The Producers (1968) The American President The Seven Samurai Fiddler on the Roof Run Silent, Run Deep Terror of Tiny Town Hey Admiral2, Ever seen the Japanese film "Yamato"? I have a digital copy (~6gb) if you have a way to get it
If you like steam propulsion, you should see The Sand Pebbles. The warship is a small US river gunboat, stuck in the middle of revolution in China in the 1920s. The scenes of Steve McQueen running a real, functional vertical triple-expansion piston engine are priceless. The movie was also the first to team Robert Wise and Jerry Goldsmith, of ST:TMP fame. They Were Expendable is my favorite WW2 movie, directed by John Ford fresh from navy service and with wartime PT boat skipper Robert Montgomery playing a PT boat skipper. It deals with the "downer" days of early US defeats in the Far East. --Justin
It used to be The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but the restored version killed it for me. Those new dubs don't work. It would've been better if they left them in Italian and used subtitles! I don't see how you could narrow films down to one absolute favorite. It's not a color or something.
Ikiru, probably. The conclusion of that film made me weep openly, and I never do that. Truly inspiring. I love that movie. I love that movie too.
A movie that I can watch over and over no matter my mood probably would be "Alien", with "The Thing" tied with "The Fog" at a very close second. Hm, I feel like watching "The Fog" right now.