Gangs of New York

[Cranky]

I just saw this movie and I thought it was a fascinating look of history. The movie potrays Lincolns conscription of Irish immigrants with a very "politicaly incorrect" edge.

The movie is very bloody but it is also very fascinating and dare I say educational. Well, at least semi historical.

Daniel Day Lewis performance is Acadamy Award material.

The movie is an A+. Highly, highly recommended.

Here is one article.

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The Gangs Of New York
(Conspiracy Nation, 1/7/03) -- Mainstream critics have "damned with faint praise" Martin Scorcese's film "The Gangs of New York" by saying it is "a simple tale of vengeance." One could say the same about Hamlet, that it is "a simple tale of vengeance." But Gangs of New York, like Hamlet, has much greater depth than "a simple tale of vengeance."

Scorcese bases his film on a book by Herbert Asbury, originally published in 1928. (The Gangs of New York. Recently reissued by Thunder's Mouth Press.) The recent edition of the book carries an introduction by famed Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio does a credible job as Amsterdam Vallon, an apprentice in the ways of crime, but relatively unknown actor Daniel Day-Lewis steals the show in his role of "Bill the Butcher" (William Cutting). Underworld boss Bill the Butcher takes Amsterdam under his wing and mentors him, not knowing that Amsterdam is the son of a rival gang boss killed by Bill about 16 years earlier. Bill the Butcher is a complex character, not a simple personification of evil. Daniel Day-Lewis succeeds in making a brutal gang boss a character more memorable than Charles Dickens' Fagin. Vengeance-seeking Amsterdam ruefully admits that "when a dragon takes you under his wing, you're surprised to find that it's warm there."

"A simple tale of vengeance?" That is one facet of the film. It is also "a simple anti-war film." It is also "a simple anti-draft film." It is also "a (not so simple) love story." It is also, like Ken Burns documentary on the American Civil War, "a simple look at Civil War times."

A simple anti-war film. Gangs of New York is not gratuitously violent, however there are a lot of miniature wars going on between nativist gangs and newly arrived Irish gangs. The crescendo of gang wars intensifies then merges with the larger gang war of the Union vs. the Confederacy when the 1863 draft riots break out in New York City.

A simple anti-draft film. Herbert Asbury's book devotes two chapters to New York's July 1863 draft riots. Those riots make 1960s-era inner city riots seem like mere aftershocks. Following the Union Army's victory at Gettysburg it was forced to march to New York City to quell the insurrection. Irish immigrants fresh off the boat were being conscripted into the Union Army unless they could pay the then fabulous sum of $300. "We won't fight no rich man's war!" was their angry cry as they finally revolted against the conscription-slavery. Scorcese brings the horrifying event to life in his film.

[Cranky]

A (not so simple) love story. It's formulaic that movie production chieftains insist that a love story be inserted into all films so as to draw teenage girls to the movie theater. Gangs of New York has a love story between DiCaprio's character and another protege of Bill the Butcher, Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz). Fortunately, the love story insertion works in this film and fits well into the overall story. "The first kiss" scene is memorable in its feral nature: Amsterdam and Jenny are angrily trying to bite each other, their rate of respiration increases, and the mutual biting attack turns into mutual kissing. Could this be how kissing first began, with cave man and cave woman snarling at each other? That anyway is the unpromising start of the Amsterdam/Jenny true love: two tigers snarling at each other.

A simple look at Civil War times. Most people are successfully turned off to history by sitting through mandatory U.S. history classes in high school. The educational system does a remarkable job in emasculating history and making it seem boring. So successful is our training that whenever we hear the word "history", deep down there is an "ugh." So Scorcese has done a brave thing by daring to make a film which takes place in the 1800s. (Not the 1970s, not the 1950s. Not even the 1930s. This film goes way back, to the 1860s, for God's sake!) It appears from the film that, back in those times, everyone was a crook: the cops, the gangs, the politicians, the high society types. There is no one portrayed in the film who is not at least slightly crooked. That is one fault with Gangs of New York: naive viewers might get the idea that our ancestors were all basically criminals. Not shown are any people who (yawn) work for a living.

In the (ugh) history department, Gangs of New York is noteworthy for, among other things, mentioning the thousands of "evil white males" who gave their lives fighting against slavery. "As He died to make men holy, let us die to make them free," was their song as they fought for a cause they believed would liberate African- Americans. The other side of the coin, also shown in the film, is the Irish immigrants being processed as they get off the boat: step 1) congratulations, you are now an American citizen; step 2) now go fight for your country.

Not only is Gangs of New York an intelligent film, it also deals with (ugh) history. Can such a film make a profit? The Hollywood executives are watching.

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Conspiracy Nation. Think outside the box.

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www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html


By the way, follow the link and you may find some interesting stuff. I did not realize it at and was not looking for a sitelike that but fell on it while looking up Gangs of New York reviews.

[rocky]

I was fortunate enough to catch this flick HA, and it is truly a great movie. Lewis was incredible, for sure and will be a serious contender for the oscar. It was so entertaining, I don't think that I wiggled in my seat even once. Superb roles by Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. DiCaprio is also brilliant in another big hit " Catch me if you can", which I also saw and enjoyed.

[Cranky]

Saturday afternoon are movie times around my household. We watch 52 movies a year. Sort of a tradition. I will waste some cyper space and give my opinons on the one's that I think deserve it.

Catch Me If You Can was an interesting movie but did not rise above a interesting time waster. By no means would I want to see it again. Unlike Gangs of New York, Gladiator or The Last Mohecan. There are "must see" epics and then there are afternoon fillers.

[rocky]

HabsAddict said:

Saturday afternoon are movie times around my household. We watch 52 movies a year. Sort of a tradition. I will waste some cyper space and give my opinons on the one's that I think deserve it.

Catch Me If You Can was an interesting movie but did not rise above a interesting time waster. By no means would I want to see it again. Unlike Gangs of New York, Gladiator or The Last Mohecan. There are "must see" epics and then there are afternoon fillers.

Hey this is wonderful news for a movie buff like me, maybe we'll become the Ebert and Roeper for the board. ;D Anyway HA did you see Solaris? If so what did you think? I saw it and found it disappointing. My fav. movies this year were: Gangs of New York/ Road to Perdition/ K-19/ Catch me if you can/ Panic Room/ 8mile/ About a Boy

[Cranky]

Road to Perdition:

Hank does not have that scary look that this movie tried to portray. He just does not have the look or “feel”. I kept thinking that I am suppose to get some kind of “message” of this gangster who in the end wishes he wasn’t. The end was kind of weak and way to predictable.

Nevertheless, the movie was a two thumbs up and worth the money.


K19:

This story was a little wet. The Hunt for Red October set a pretty high bar and this movie was nothing even close to it. The big bad commie captain (Harrison Ford) did not get me going and Liam was kind of poor. This was not Schindlers List of acting for him. The other U-Boat movie was also way above this one. Can’t remember the name right now.

Movie was blah and okay entertainment.

8mile: An Eminem vehicle with no greatness in it’s seams. Basinger was WAY better then I thought she would be. Mind you, I am finding that I have become a middle aged rapper. Not sure if that is a good thing. Next thing you know I’m gonna get Jail jeans and a hooded jacket. By mistake, I wondered in the less desirable areas of Detroit one time and I was, shall I say concerned. Me no understand why I still find Bessinger sexy. Must be remnants of those 9.5 Weeks and the couch. Food fight, food fight………………


Sometimes I just feel like, quittin I still might
Why do I put up this fight, why do I still write
Sometimes it's hard enough just dealin with real life
Sometimes I wanna jump on the ice and just show them how
And show these people what it’s all about
They just wearing my colors, only for the dollars
Just wanna break their heads, shaming those threads

(told you it’s dangerous to have a middle aged man rapping)

As for the movie, thumbs down.

Solaris: Did not see.

About a boy: Did not see.

Panic Room: Way to contrived. Blah. Did not catch too much of my curiosity or keep me at the edge of my seat. Sort of a cake that keeps building up and instead of exploding it just goes POOF………<br>
Losrd of the Rings. Me like. Light entertainment. As a historical buff, I had more interest in the fight scenes (ancient Greek warfare). Endless rides in the mountain became nothing but time wasters to fill a one scene movie.

Catch me if you Can: Wife loved it. Me, mildly interested. DiCaprio is not one of my favorite actors. Mind you, he was much better in Gangs. DiCaprio ain’t no Liam and ain’t no Lewis. To good looking to be a tough guy. Hanks was zombying through the movie. Christopher Walken is just one big parody of himself. His pregnant pauses are distracting.

Having said all this, I would still rank it a s a decent movie. I think it had the longest intro I ever remember on a movie. Killed a lot of time.

Bottom line, thumbs up.

By the way, I met Ebert in Chicago. I was in Chicago because someone was building a custom machine for me and I took the wife to see a little bit of Gangster Town during the weekend. First and foremost we went to see all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. On Sunday, we were told that there was a out doors book fair and we went over there. Low and behold, we found ourselves walking behind a elephant and who do you think that was? Yup, Ebert. He stopped at a stall and I came to his side just to get a look and confirm it was him. At that point I asked him if he was Ebert, he said "yes" and I told him that I always watch his reviews. And he said "great". So much for the huge conversation and his willingness to strike one up. Anyway, I said keep doing those great reviews and said goodbye. Of course I lied. My wife said that he looked twice as big as me and I am 250 pounds! I should of asked him if he reviewed diet movies.

[rocky]

Hey HA, Ebert better be careful, you pump out some classy stuff. If we were to team up, I'll be the front man, can't relate like that. ;D Great rappin' bro, I can just hear NAS or Snoop Dogg clickin on those vibes. My wife and kids ( i'm 53 ) think that i'm nuts and maybe they're right. Everytime mama switches on the car some sort of hip-hop will crush her ears. Back to the movies, some we enjoy, some we love, many we hate its a mine field out there. anyway here's my all-time top 10:

- The Godfather
- Platoon
- Gladiator
- Scarface
- Apocalypse Now
- American Beauty
- Midnight Cowboy
- Full Metal Jacket
- Rocky
- Gangs of New York
I know that I am missing tons of greats, but these are the ones that readily come to mind. When you get in your 50's memory is just a memory.

[Cranky]

Apocalypse Now (1979)
Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
A masterful, thought-provoking, pretentious film, with beautifully-chaotic visuals, about the nightmarish, moral madness of the Vietnam War, inspired by the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Considered by many to be the best war movie of all time, with incredible performances, especially that of hawkish Lt. Colonel Kilgore (Duvall) who "loves the smell of napalm in the morning." Sweeping, surreal, still-controversial Vietnam war epic. An Army captain (Sheen) is sent into the Cambodian jungle aboard a patrol boat carrying a young, spaced-out crew. Their mission: to assassinate ("terminate") a Buddha-like Colonel Kurtz (Brando) who has become an insane demi-god and now runs his own fiefdom. The grueling production in the Philippines led to vast budget overruns and physical and emotional breakdowns.

Blade Runner (1982)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, Joe Turkel, Joanna Cassidy, Edward James Olmos
Director: Ridley Scott
Moody futuristic, sci-fi noirish thriller, with stunning, visually-dazzling effects and a brooding atmosphere, about a hard-boiled detective hunting near-human "replicants." Based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. In a totalitarian, decaying 21st century Los Angeles (2019), a jaded, semi-retired, Philip Marlowe-style ex-cop (Ford), known as a "blade runner," is forced out of retirement to hunt down and eliminate four "replicants" (Hannah, Hauer, Cassidy) - genetically engineered super-humanoid robots. On earth illegally from an Off-world colony where they were used as slave laborers, and with a built-in, shortened life span of only four years, the androids have mutinied and escaped in order to confront the individual who designed them (Turkel). Seeing their heroic struggle against an inhuman system, the blade-runner ultimately falls in love with an android femme fatale (Young).

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Starring: Alec Guinness, William Holden, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins
Director: David Lean
Acclaimed, all-time great WWII epic drama about British P.O.W.'s forced to construct a railway bridge in the Asian jungle of Burma, based on an outstanding, psychologically complex adaptation of Pierre Boulle's 1952 novel. In the Burmese jungle, British prisoner/solders, led by an obstinate commander Col. Nicholson (Guinness), construct a rail bridge - and unwittingly aid the war effort of their Japanese captors and the camp commander Col. Saito (Hayakawa). A tremendously antagonistic battle of wills ensues between the two Colonels. Nicholson supervises the bridge's construction with a twisted sense of pride in his creation to show up the Japanese as inferior. In the climactic finale, British and American intelligence officers (Holden, Hawkins) conspire to blow up the structure.

[Cranky]

Citizen Kane (1941)
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Dorothy Comingore
Director: Orson Welles
This is Welles' greatest achievement, and a landmark of cinema history - often voted the greatest film ever made. An expressionistic, fictional biography of the rise to power (and tragic fall) of a larger-than-life newspaper tycoon/publisher - Charles Foster Kane. A reporter is sent to investigate the significance of "Rosebud," the last word uttered by Kane (Welles), through interviews with various associates and his wife (Cotten, Sloane, Comingore). The newspaper magnate's wealth and power ultimately leave him abandoned and alone in his castle-like refuge. With its bravura direction, broken narrative and flashbacks, and vivid performances, this is considered a modern masterpiece. Every aspect of the production marked an advance in film language: the deep-focus, deeply shadowed cinematography; the discontinuous narrative (in a screenplay co-authored by Herman Mankiewicz); the innovative use of sound and score; the low-level camera shots; the ensemble acting from Welles' Mercury Theater.


Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick's classic, cynical Cold War, satirical black comedy, with scathing humor and timeless performances, based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George and a script by Terry Southern. A crazed, psychotic US general Jack D. Ripper (Hayden), paranoid about his own potency and commies, sparks a nuclear crisis with a pre-emptive strike against "the Commies." The American President Muffley (Sellers in one of three roles) must deal with gung ho military brass Gen. Buck Turgidson (Scott), bureaucratic bumbling, a drunken Soviet Premier and a twisted, black-gloved German rocket scientist, Dr. Strangelove himself (Sellers again). Ends with the memorable bucking broncho image of Major Kong (Pickens) riding the fatal bomb.

Easy Rider (1969)
Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson
Director: Dennis Hopper
Widely considered a generation-defining, youth-oriented classic, this film still engrosses those nostalgic for 60's era wanderlust - seeking inspiration for the next road trip. Two motorcyclist biker outlaws (drug-dealers) embark on a coast-to-coast odyssey across America in this landmark counter-culture road drama/travelogue, searching for the 'real' America. In the Southwest, they encounter wide open spaces, hippies in a commune, small-town rednecks and paranoia, drugs, a drunken, jailed lawyer (Nicholson), sex in a New Orleans bordello, a psychedelic trip in a graveyard, and a violent end. This often-imitated but never-duplicated movie defined a generation and has the greatest 60's soundtrack (featuring The Byrds, The Band, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, The Electric Prunes, and more). The low-budget film, made for $375,000, was directed by young star Dennis Hopper and went on to make multiple millions and change the pop culture landscape forever.

[Cranky]

The Godfather (1972) (tie)
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
The operatic, violent drama was based on Mario Puzo's novel of the same name. Here is a bravura, genre-defining, epic-length Mafia/gangster classic that evokes the mid and late 1940's period with powerful character development, lighting, costumes, and settings. The film follows the fortunes of the fictitious Corleones, a powerful Mafia family with its own family rituals and separate code of honor, revenge, justice, law and loyalty that transcends all other codes. When Godfather Don Corleone (Brando) is shot by rivals, his sons Sonny (Caan), Fredo (Cazale) and favorite young son Michael (Pacino) assume control, with Michael ascending to a prominent position of power. Flawless performances from an all-star cast, a dramatic plot, Nino Rota's unforgettable music, violent set-pieces, and the grotesque, severed horse-head scene.

The Godfather, Part II (1974) (tie)
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Michael V. Gazzo, Lee Strasberg, Robert De Niro
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
The continuing saga of a Mafia family and dynasty, one of the few sequels in film history that is considered superior to the original. This outstanding film continues the first film and retraces the Corleone Family's founding by the young Vito Corleone (De Niro), who immigrates to America from his native Sicily at the turn of the century and maneuvers his family to power in the ghetto of Little Italy. It also shows the maintenance of the family by young Michael (Pacino), Vito's son, as he ages and confronts a second generation of criminal and family affairs in Vegas, Cuba, and in a Senate hearing on organized crime. After eliminating all rivals and enemies, he is a brooding character, alienated from his wife (Keaton), and the murderer of own brother Fredo (Cazale).

Jaws (1975)
Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
Director: Steven Spielberg
From the best-selling novel by Peter Benchley and with a thrilling, memorable and rousing score by John Williams. A Great White Shark terrorizes a popular Massachusetts resort, Amity Island, during the summer tourist season in this action/adventure/horror classic, an early blockbuster film from Steven Spielberg. Surprise attacks on the New England coast, in which the monstrous man-eater preys on the inhabitants and vacationers alike, are truly frightening and scary. Three unlikely partners team up on a suspenseful 'fishing trip' to hunt down the rogue and destroy it: the new chief of police from New York (Scheider), a young university-educated oceanographer (Dreyfuss), and a crusty, grizzled old-time fisherman (Shaw) resembling the obsessed Ahab in the Moby Dick tale.

[Cranky]

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif, Claude Rains, Jose Ferrer, Jack Hawkins
Director: David Lean
One of the greatest films of all time, with rich cinematography of the immense desert. A sweeping, breath-taking, cinematic biographical epic that follows the true-life exploits of a famed British officer, T. E. Lawrence (O'Toole in his first major film), and his transformation from an enigmatic eccentric to a hero in WWI Arabia. Assigned there, he courageously unites the warring Arab fractions into a guerrilla front to battle the Turks, Germany's allies.

On The Waterfront (1954)
Starring: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger
Director: Elia Kazan
A compelling, evocative, gritty drama about union corruption and violence on the New York waterfront and the struggle of an ex-prize fighter against it. Inarticulate ex-boxer champ Terry Malloy (Brando) witnesses the murder of a fellow dock worker, a victim of gangster union boss Cobb's oppressive hold over the longshoremen - punished for 'singing' to an investigation commission. When Terry begins to fall in love with shy and frail Edie (Saint), the dead man's sister, his allegiances are challenged. Contains the famous Brando "I coulda been a contender" speech in the back seat of a taxi with his crooked, scheming lawyer brother Charlie (Steiger). After his brother's murder, he defiantly stands up against the hoodlums on the waterfront.

Psycho (1960)
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
The greatest, most influential Hitchcock horror/thriller ever made and the progenitor of the modern Hollywood horror film, based on Robert Bloch's novel. A classic, low budget, manipulative, black and white tale that includes the most celebrated shower sequence ever made. Worried about marital prospects after a lunch tryst with her divorced lover (Gavin), blonde real estate office secretary Marion Crane (Leigh) embezzles $40,000 and flees, stopping at the secluded off-road Bates Motel, managed by a nervous, amateur taxidermist son named Norman (Perkins). The psychotic, disturbed "mother's boy" is dominated by his jealous 'mother', rumored to be in the Gothic house on the hillside behind the dilapidated, remote motel. The story includes the untimely, violent murder of the main protagonist early in the film, a cross-dressing transvestite murderer, insanity, a stuffed corpse, and Oedipal Freudian motivations.

[Cranky]

Raging Bull (1980)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci
Director: Martin Scorsese
A magnificently visceral, vivid and real, black and white bio/docu-drama of the rise and fall of a violent, suicidally-macho prize-fighter. Hard-headed, animalistic, unlovable slum kid Jake LaMotta (De Niro) becomes the 1949 middle-weight champ. The boxer experiences bouts of ring and domestic violence with brother Joey (Pesci) and second, beautiful teenage wife Vikki (Moriarty), and slowly but predictably descends into fat slobbishness. Robert De Niro's transformation from a sleek professional boxer to an out-of-shape, stand-up nightclub entertainer is simply remarkable.

Schindler's List (1993)
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Spielberg's greatest dramatic, black and white masterpiece, based on a true story of an opportunistic German businessman and charming womanizer Oskar Schindler (Neeson), who profits from WWII by employing cheap labor from Polish Jews in his Cracow cookware factory during the Third Reich's Holocaust, and provides them refuge from the horrors of the Nazis. The film also documents the hideous, disturbing evil personified by Nazi Amon Goeth (Fiennes) - the Plaszow camp commandant, Schindler's relationship with his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (Kingsley) and their list-making to courageously save over 1,000 Jews from the senseless, brutal extermination in Auschwitz.

Taxi Driver (1976)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle
Director: Martin Scorsese
One of Martin Scorsese's greatest films, about a violent, alienated, unfocused, psychotic NYC taxi driver fatalistically disturbed by the squalid, hellish urban underbelly of pimps, whores, winos, and junkies. Ex-Marine Travis Bickle (De Niro) works the night shift through Times Square in his cab, encountering nightmarish Gothic horrors, moral decay and lowlifes. Off hours during the day, he kills time by frequenting sleazy porno houses and eating junk food. His one feeble attempt at social and emotional contact - a date with a blonde political campaign worker Betsy (Shepherd) fails miserably when he takes her to a porn film. His fantasized one-man campaign/mission to clean up the streets focuses on saving a prepubescent child prostitute Iris (Foster). It ends with a failed political assassination attempt, and a rage-filled, pent-up blood-bath massacre, including the killing of Iris' pimp "Sport" (Harvey Keitel). In the aftermath, the repellent character emerges as a vindicated, folk savior-hero.


2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, HAL 9000
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick's metaphoric, thought-provoking, grandiose, science-fiction landmark film, with space travel to Jupiter, the mysterious appearance of enigmatic monoliths, and the presence of the film's major protagonist - an omniscient super-computer. A three-act, visionary, visually dazzling, wide-screen masterpiece, with mind-blowing special effects. The first monolith appears to prehistoric ape-men, awakening them to the use of tools as killing weapons. Further monoliths on the Moon and floating in space somewhere near Jupiter, seem to coax humankind to make evolutionary leaps and transcend bodily and technological limits. A team of robotic-like astronauts Bowman (Dullea) and Poole (Lockwood), during a voyage to Jupiter to investigate a radio transmission, are terrorized by the arrogant, humanistic, on-board computer HAL 9000 (voice of Douglas Rain). With the mission aborted and following a psychedelic light-show, Bowman is reborn within an embryonic divine life form that floats in space.

[Cranky]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Starring: Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Katharine Ross
Director: George Roy Hill
One of the most-popular, appealing, beguilingly star-driven, tragi-comedy Westerns ever made. About two charming, turn-of-the-century, train-robbing outlaws - with comedy, drama, action, a witty script, and two handsome leads. The romanticized buddy film is loosely based on real-life, legendary outlaws Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy) and Harry Longbaugh (The Sundance Kid) and the Hole in the Wall gang. The film's early 1900's anti-heroes are free-wheeling, non-chalant Butch (Newman) and sharpshooting Sundance (Redford), both with human fallible traits - their specialty is robbing trains, until they bungle their second attempt on the Union Pacific Express and are relentlessly pursued by authorities in a posse. With Sundance's beautiful, school-teacher lover Etta Place (Ross), they flee to Bolivia to seek further wealth. In the end, they are outnumbered and die in a blazing, hail of bullets, freeze-frame shootout, reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde. Features the song "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" while Etta and Butch share a bicycle ride

Clockwork Orange (1971)
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Provocatively adapted from the famous novel by Anthony Burgess. A glossy, stylish, graphically-violent, controversial, futuristic, science-fiction satire about the effects of crime and punishment (aversion therapy and brainwashing against violence) on a British teenaged punk. After a night of hooliganism with his vicious gang of droogs, including gang rapes and beatings, a sadistic Alex (McDowell) is captured. In a grim, unorthodox governmental experiment, he is re-programmed, through his love for Beethoven's music, to reject violence, but he is dehumanized in the process of being cured. Vengeance is revisited upon him by his former victims after he is released into the society.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Cary Guffey, Teri Garr
Director: Steven Spielberg
A science-fiction epic and adventure story about the mysteries of UFO and extra-terrestrial appearances. A Middle-American from Indiana Roy Neary (Dreyfuss), a utilities lineman, is confronted by a UFO on a deserted road at night as he investigates a power outage - a near-religious, life-transforming experience. Afterwards, he becomes obsessed with unexplained, mountainous shapes, and five musical notes. By piecing together clues, he is ultimately led to a rendezvous on Devils Tower in Wyoming with Jillian (Dillon), a mother whose young boy Barry (Guffey) was kidnapped by the aliens. There in the exhilarating climax, they witness an arriving spacecraft, the dazzling mother-ship, greeted by a top-secret scientific establishment led by Claude Lacombe (Truffaut).

Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Based on Donn Pearce's novel and one of the great prison-chain-gang films. A spirited, irreverent, social misfit Luke (Newman) is arrested for destroying parking meters and imprisoned in a tough Southern prison farm, commanded by a sadistic, prison officer Captain (Martin). After boxing with the chain-gang boss Dragline (Kennedy), he eventually becomes a hero to his fellow inmates, earning the title "Cool Hand Luke" because his will cannot be broken. A visit by Luke's dying mother (Van Fleet) reveals facts about his past. The stubborn, unruly and independent rebel refuses to submit and continually and cooly defies the authorities with repeated escape attempts. As the inmates start worshipping him as a folk hero, he risks everything in order to live up to their expectations, and is sacrificed in the tragic climax. With the memorable line of dialogue: "What we have here is failure to communicate," and the classic egg-eating scene.

[Cranky]

The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (tie)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams
Director: Irvin Kershner
The second in the famous Star Wars trilogy of fantastic science-fiction films, often rated as the best in the trilogy, with stunning special-effects, great characters and a rich, comic-bookish storyline. Again, evil Darth Vader continues to aid the emperor to determinedly crush the Rebel forces. The Rebel Alliance, on the frozen and icy planet Hoth, are threatened by troops attacking from the Galactic Empire, and space jockey Han Solo (Ford) and Princess Leia Organa (Fisher) - with the Wookie Chewbacca and the two robotic droids (R2D2 and C3PO) - flee to Cloud City ruled by ally Lando Calrissian (Williams). Meanwhile, young Luke Skywalker (Hamill) is mentored about the wise ways of the Force and Jedi Knights by the last great Jedi Master, a gnome-like, swamp-dwelling Yoda on the planet Dagobah. The film culminates with a show-down between Luke and Darth Vader.

The Exorcist (1973)
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow
Director: William Friedkin
A disturbing, shocking, exploitative, and frightening film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's best-selling, blockbuster book about satanic demon possession. A sweet pre-teenaged girl Regan (Blair) becomes possessed by an evil spirit - and is soon transformed and disfigured into a head-rotating, levitating, green vomit-spewing, obscenity-shouting creature. Her divorced mother Mrs. MacNeil (Burstyn) is at wit's end, until she calls on a dedicated, faith-questioning Jesuit priest Father Karras (Miller) to exorcise the malevolent devil from her daughter's body. An elderly priest Father Merrin (von Sydow), whose archaeology project released the Satanic being, also risks his life to administer rites of exorcism with incantations and holy water.

E
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (tie)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams
Director: Irvin Kershner
The second in the famous Star Wars trilogy of fantastic science-fiction films, often rated as the best in the trilogy, with stunning special-effects, great characters and a rich, comic-bookish storyline. Again, evil Darth Vader continues to aid the emperor to determinedly crush the Rebel forces. The Rebel Alliance, on the frozen and icy planet Hoth, are threatened by troops attacking from the Galactic Empire, and space jockey Han Solo (Ford) and Princess Leia Organa (Fisher) - with the Wookie Chewbacca and the two robotic droids (R2D2 and C3PO) - flee to Cloud City ruled by ally Lando Calrissian (Williams). Meanwhile, young Luke Skywalker (Hamill) is mentored about the wise ways of the Force and Jedi Knights by the last great Jedi Master, a gnome-like, swamp-dwelling Yoda on the planet Dagobah. The film culminates with a show-down between Luke and Darth Vader. Followed by Return of the Jedi (1983). Academy Award Nominations: 3, including Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Original Score. Academy Awards: 1, including Best Sound. Also a Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects.

[Cranky]

The Exorcist (1973)
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow
Director: William Friedkin
A disturbing, shocking, exploitative, and frightening film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's best-selling, blockbuster book about satanic demon possession. A sweet pre-teenaged girl Regan (Blair) becomes possessed by an evil spirit - and is soon transformed and disfigured into a head-rotating, levitating, green vomit-spewing, obscenity-shouting creature. Her divorced mother Mrs. MacNeil (Burstyn) is at wit's end, until she calls on a dedicated, faith-questioning Jesuit priest Father Karras (Miller) to exorcise the malevolent devil from her daughter's body. An elderly priest Father Merrin (von Sydow), whose archaeology project released the Satanic being, also risks his life to administer rites of exorcism with incantations and holy water. Academy Award Nominations: 10, including Best Picture, Best Actress--Ellen Burstyn, Best Supporting Actor--Jason Miller, Best Supporting Actress--Linda Blair, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Film Editing. Academy Awards: 2, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound.

GoodFellas (1990)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco
Director: Martin Scorsese
Based on Nicholas Pileggi's non-fiction book Wiseguys - a definitive and stylish, violent gangster film, with a soundtrack that chronicles the passage of time through three decades of crime (the 50s to the 70s) in the life of a mid-level, aspiring mobster Henry Hill (Liotta). Raised on the streets of a Brooklyn neighborhood, he marries Karen (Bracco) and slowly advances up and climbs the Mafioso ladder. With superb performances by Joe Pesci as meanly psychotic wiseguy Tommy DeVito, and Robert DeNiro as paranoid James Conway. In the end as his life unravels, after dealing narcotics and becoming hooked, Hill protects himself and his wife by testifying and becoming part of the federal witness protection program - and being left in anonymous, suburbanized exile.

The Hustler (1961)
Starring: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott
Director: Robert Rossen
A dramatic, realistic character study based on Walter Tevis' novel. A young, arrogantly-cocky, anti-hero, pool-hall hustler, "Fast Eddie" Felson (Newman), challenges acclaimed, cool, professional Minnesota Fats (Gleason) in Ames Billiards Room in New York City. The naive, talented, and ultimately self-destructive challenger loses. Defeated and self-pitying, he meets and falls in love with another loner - alcoholic, desperate, waifish cripple Sarah Packard (Laurie) - whom he ultimately forsakes. He attracts the attention of slimy, calculating, venal, and repulsive promoter Bert Gordon (Scott). With financial backing from the pimpish entrepreneur, Felson struggles to get back on top - at a great cost to his own self-esteem and soul. Reprised twenty-five years later, with Paul Newman as an older, wiser Eddie Felson in director Martin Scorsese's Color of Money

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter
Director: Don Siegel
An allegorical, intensely paranoid, chilling science-fiction parable of alien possession, based on Collier's Magazine's serialized story The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney - one of the greatest low-budget 50's films that can be interpreted as philosophical commentary upon the spread of McCarthyism or Communism. Set in the idyllic small town of Santa Mira, California and told in flashback. Physician Dr. Miles Bennell (McCarthy) begins to become paranoid and suspicious when his patients report that their loved ones, friends, and relatives are not themselves but emotionless shells, replicas, or imposters. Actually, the town is being surreptitiously invaded by strange, alien plant forms called 'pods,' that take over or replicate the likenesses, personalities and identities of human beings while they sleep. Miles and old girlfriend (now recently divorced) Becky Driscoll (Wynter) fight to stay awake and battle the changes that may overtake them. When they flee to escape a similar fate and are chased into an abandoned mine shaft, Becky momentarily falls asleep - and her unresponsive kiss is revelatory. As the last 'human' being, he hysterically screams warnings while running down the middle of a highway, reaching the refuge of a hospital in San Francisco.

[Cranky]

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish, John McGiver
Director: John Frankenheimer
Based on Richard Condon's novel, and adapted by George Axelrod. A complex, realistic depiction of brainwashing in a frightening, satirical psychological thriller. An American platoon fighting in the Korean War is captured and brainwashed by Communist North Koreans in Manchuria. Upon their return to the US, one of the veterans Major Bennett Marco (Sinatra) is haunted by recurring nightmares about their frightening incarceration. He slowly realizes that fellow hero and Congressional Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Harvey), controlled and manipulated by his spy-agent "Queen of Hearts" ambitious mother (Lansbury) (the wife of right-wing, McCarthyite demagogue Senator John Iselin (Gregory)), is behind the sinister plot to assassinate political enemies. The mind-controlled operative Shaw murders his own wife Jocie (Parrish) and his father-in-law, liberal Senator Thomas Jordon (McGiver). In the tense climax, Marco uncovers the programmed killer's fiendish plans to assassinate the presidential nominee.

Metropolis (1927)
Starring: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Frohlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Director: Fritz Lang
A stylized, visually-compelling, melodramatic silent film set in the 21st century city of Metropolis - Lang's German Expressionistic masterpiece helped develop the science-fiction genre. The luxurious, futuristic city of skyscrapers and bridges is stratified and divided into an upper, elite, privileged class and a subterranean, nameless, oppressed, ant-like worker/slave class. Freder (Frohlich), the young son of a ruling, aristocratic capitalist Master John Fredersen (Abel), discovers the miserable life of the proletariat when he notices a beautiful young woman Maria (Helm) with a group of worker children and pursues her into the squalid, labyrinthine underground slums. The wistful, Christ-like young woman urges her comrades to peacefully await their salvation. After discovering their meeting, Freder's father instructs mad scientist Rotwang (Klein-Rogge) to create an evil robotic Maria look-alike that will manipulate the workers, preach rebellion, and cause their elimination. The false Maria goes beserk and incites the workers to revolt, causing a cataclysmic flood. Freder and the real rescued Maria lead the worker children out of danger, and John Fredersen is convinced to reconcile with the workers - Capital and Labor united in Love.

Network (1976)
Starring: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Beatrice Straight, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty
Director: Sidney Lumet
A prophetic, explosive, provocative satire from screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky about the medium of network television and its abusive, self-prostituting quest for ratings. Chief UBS TV (a fourth-rated fictional broadcasting system) veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Finch) is driven insane when told that he will be fired after twenty-five years because of low ratings. On the air, the beserk newsman tells his audience that he will committ suicide during his final live broadcast. A ratings-mad, cold-blooded, ambitious programming VP Diana Christensen (Dunaway) exploits the furor when ratings zoom. Messianic hero and cult celebrity Beale continues to report the news and evangelistically urges his viewers to go to their windows and yell: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" The craggy, dissenting head of the news division Max Schumacher (Holden) is fired, as the network is overtaken by a multinational conglomerate and alliances are made with urban guerrilla terrorists for programming ideas. Married Schumacher, in a mid-life crisis, has a May-December affair with Diana and leaves his wife (Straight).

[Cranky]

Platoon (1986)
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger
Director: Oliver Stone
A harrowing, visceral, realistic, visually-shattering Vietnam-war film, based on the writer/director's own first-hand knowledge as a Vietnam combat soldier. Young, naive, 19 year-old enlisted infantry soldier Chris (Sheen) serves in Vietnam in a fragmented, schizoid, rifle platoon/troop under two radically-different, veteran officers: pot-smoking, compassionate Sgt. Elias (Dafoe) and boozing, fierce Sgt. Barnes (Berenger). In the violence of combat, the two 'good' and 'bad' sergeants clash, forcing Chris to examine his own loyalty and perspective toward violence. The first film in Vietnam veteran Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy, followed by Born of the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven and Earth (1993).

Pulp Fiction (1994)
Starring: John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Samuel Jackson, Ving Rhames, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Harvey Keitel
Director: Quentin Tarantino
A stylish, immensely-popular, violent, off-beat, modern B-movie cult classic from writer/director Tarantino - his second feature, about corruption and temptation. An interwoven series of three vignettes about low-life criminals, thugs, drug-dealers, hitmen, a washed-up crooked boxer, and restaurant-robbing lovers in the sleazy underworld of Los Angeles. Small-time hold-up artists - "Pumpkin" (Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Plummer) - plot a robbery in a restaurant. Meanwhile, philosophically-talkative hit men Jules Winfield (Jackson) and Vincent Vega (Travolta) carry out a hit for their vengeful, underworld boss Marsellus Wallace (Rhames) against double-crossing college-aged kids. Vincent entertains Marsellus' irresponsible wife Mia (Thurman) one evening - and then she overdoses on heroin. By not taking a dive, boxer Butch (Willis) scams Marcellus during his last bout and plans to skip town. The two hitmen call on gangland cleanup specialist The Wolf (Keitel) when their jobs get messy

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen
Director: Steven Spielberg
Spielberg's thrilling, entertaining homage to 1930's cliff-hanging adventure serials/films at Saturday matinees. One of the greatest action films ever made - led to a trilogy. Mid-1930s, pre-WWII comic-bookish, globe-trotting, bull-whip toting adventurer/archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones (Ford) searches for rare antiquities. The film's opening sequence is a white-knuckled experience in a South American rainforest and cave with poisonous darts and a threatening boulder. In a race with the Nazis, dashing Dr. Jones is enlisted to locate the Biblical Ark of the Covenant before the evil agents of Hitler use its powers to win the war. From Nepal to Cairo, the self-effacing hero is aided by tough, hard-drinking, spunky and feisty ex-girlfriend Marion Ravenwood (Allen), as he escapes one life-threatening situation, fight, scrape, and chase after another - especially venomous snakes and the mysterious wrath of God in its finale.

[Cranky]

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
Director: Frank Darabont
An uplifting, engrossing, life-affirming drama/prison tale about the relationship between two jailed prisoners, adapted from a Stephen King novella titled "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption." Wrongly imprisoned for life in the Shawshank State Prison in the mid 1940s for murdering his adulterous wife and her lover, innocent banker Andy Dufresne (Robbins) meets another dignified lifer Red (Freeman) known for procuring contraband. The evil, Bible-pounding Warden Norton (Gunton) uses Andy's financial background to cover his nefarious activities, and Red obtains a geological rock hammer and pinup of Rita Hayworth at Andy's request. The passage of time over two decades is conveyed by the pin-ups on Andy's cell wall, which change from Hayworth to Marilyn Monroe, and then to Raquel Welch. Serving as an inspiration to the other convicts, Andy yearns for freedom and patiently plans for it.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Brooke Smith
Director: Jonathan Demme
Ted Tally's screenplay was based on Thomas Harris' 1988 best-selling novel of the same name (an earlier thriller, Michael Mann's Manhunter (1986), was based on another Harris novel - titled Red Dragon). A genuinely-frightening, violent, psychological thriller about the intimate exchanges between a deranged, hypnotic serial killer and a raw, vulnerable FBI trainee. Novice agent Clarice Starling (Foster) is sent by senior agent Jack Crawford (Glenn) to conduct an interview with an insane, psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Hopkins), housed in a claustrophobic, underground prison cell. In exchange for her haunting, deepest secrets and memories about her childhood and the slaughter of lambs, she is supplied with clues about the identity and methods of another serial killer Jame Gumb, dubbed Buffalo Bill (Levine), who skins his victims and is currently holding victim Catherine Martin (Smith) - the daughter of a US Senator.

The Terminator (1984)
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton
Director: James Cameron
A stylish, action-packed, low budget, beautifully-paced science-fiction film. Kyle Reece (Biehn), a hunted, fugitive, freedom-fighting soldier-hero from the post-apocalyptic, wasteland future of 2029 Los Angeles, where a race of machine-like cyborgs rule the Earth and exterminate human beings, is sent back to present-day 1984 Los Angeles. In pursuit through time travel is an invulnerable, ruthless, assassin-terminator cyborg (Schwarzenegger), sent to kill the innocent young woman Sarah Connor (Hamilton) destined to bear a son - John Connor - who will eventually become a liberator and lead the revolt against the evil machines to prevent the world from being annihilated. Rebel soldier Kyle's mission is to protect her, explain her destiny and the reason for the Terminator's stalking - as he falls in love with her.

12 Angry Men (1957)
Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden, John Savoca
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet's debut directorial film, a taut courtroom drama based on Reginald Rose's television play. In a hot summer courtroom in NYC, a teenaged Latino (Savoca) is on trial for murdering his father with a switchblade knife, and faces the electric chair if convicted. The twelve jurors assemble together to decide the fate of the minority defendant after being given instructions from the judge about 'innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' In a seemingly open-and-shut case, the jurors rapidly vote for conviction, but one lone liberal dissenter, Juror # 8 (Fonda) holds out for innocence. In the sweaty, claustrophobic room, the tempers, prejudices and personalities of the cranky, smoking men are displayed as they examine the evidence and deliberate their verdict

[rocky]

Man, your right some great movies in that list, I saw them all except for Dr. Strangelove, did you write all those descriptions, wow Methinks I'm a little in over my head, kinda like Traverse one-on-one with Jagr, but you have now given me a purpose in life. I promise to work hard to improve OMG, there's more , No didn't see Angry Men

The two you have not watched are classics. Dr. Strangelove will put a proper perpective on life. 12 angry man is a courtroom drama that has increadable acting in it. It would take some of the best actors of our time to recreate that movie. High drama.

[rocky]

Guess you didn't like Scarface, eh. OK how long have you been waiting for a dummy like me to roll into this topic ;D

Scarface, SCARFACE? There's a special place for Toni Montana, I need him to do Therrien.

[Cranky]

Yes, I am sick in the mind and I watch too much fiction to hide the pressures of life but to write ALL THOSE reviews? I think not. I looked them up on the net and copied the descriptions of the movies that I love.

I can not have a top ten. The more or less complete list looks like this:

- The Godfather 1
- The Godfather 2
- Platoon
- Gladiator
- Scarface
- Apocalypse Now
- Midnight Cowboy
- Full Metal Jacket
- Rocky
- Gangs of New York
- The Manchurian Candidate
- Metropolis
- Network
- Pulp Fiction
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- The Shawshank Redemption
- The Silence of the Lambs
- 12 Angry Men
- The Terminator
- Blade Runner
- The Bridge On The River Kwai
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Citizen Kane
- Jaws
- Lawrence of Arabia
- On The Waterfront
- Psycho
- Raging Bull
- Schindler's List
- Taxi Driver
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Clockwork Orange
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The Empire Strikes Back
- The Exorcist
- GoodFellas
- The Hustler
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- The Hunt for Red Octomber
- Easy Rider
- Saving Private Ryan
- Patton
- Forrest Gump
- The Graduate
- The French Connection
- The Deer Hunter
- Dune
- Braveheart
- Alien
- Titanic

I'm sure I have forgotten a few. One day I will build my DVD collection around this list.

[Vinna]

If I make a couple suggestions to add to your list:

Of Mice and Men

Staring: John Malkovich and Gary Sinese

Based on the classic John Stienbeck novel. This is by far one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Another is:

The Accused

Starring Jodi Foster and Kelly McGillis

Foster puts in an incredible performance as a rape victim fighting for justice while being treated as a criminal herself.

[Andrew]

Good call on Of Mice and Men, Vinna, I loved that one. Some great movies listed above for sure.

I wasn't huge on Road to Peridition. I thought the cast was great, as was the cinematography, though the plot and dialogue were pretty weak. I kept being reminded of some crappy Steven Seagal movie, I saw years ago, with a very similar plot.

I liked a lot of the movies listed above. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Almost Famous
American Beauty
Shawshank Redemption
Good Fellas
Pulp Fiction
Apocolypse Now (haven't seen the Redux yet)
Exorcist
Fight Club
Aliens
Fargo
The Shining
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Being John Malkovich
12 Monkeys
Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail
The Insider
Trainspotting
Clerks
The Big Lebowski
Jean do Florette
Of Mice and Men


There are a few that I'm looking forward to seeing: Gangs of New York, Adaptation, About Schmidt, and 25th Hour.

[Cranky]

I have seen of Mice and Men but it has faded from my memory.

Do you guys want to make a top 100 list?

Yup, the MoviesRus review board.

[Vinna]

Why not? Though you have listed pretty well all of my favorites. One more. Bull Durham with Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins? How about Dances with Wolves, also a Kevin Costner project? I can't remember if that was on your list or not.

[rocky]

HA, your not going to believe this. Since my retirement I have taken up a part-time job at the local library ( xtra cash for sin materials etc.). Last night while re-shelving material I grabbed a bunch of videos and the very first one was Dr. Strangelove, guess I'll get to see it finally. True story, from the old codger. PS, rocky finally gave the keyboard back, he has half of my life stored under my own bed. Anyhow what happened the other night was absolutely hilarious, I think that I did fall off my chair, from laughter.

[Cranky]

I thought you were only 53? And retired? I'm jealous….

When you see the movie you will understand why I like it so much. The board reminds me of Dr. Strangelove's arm. I tried to quell the uprising but nooooo, it wanted to raise up to a “N” salute. You know what the “N” means if you watch the movie.

One has to have relief from the “hard” world…………………<br>

[rocky]

HabsAddict said:

I thought you were only 53? And retired? I'm jealous….

When you see the movie you will understand why I like it so much. The board reminds me of Dr. Strangelove's arm. I tried to quell the uprising but nooooo, it wanted to raise up to a “N” salute. You know what the “N” means if you watch the movie.

One has to have relief from the “hard” world…………………<br>

Actually HA, I retired two years ago, I qualified under the 80 year rule, ( age + yrs. of service = 80) so I grabbed it, never looked back. Still have teens at home so now I'm cook, cleaner and taxi, mama loves it, she still works which made it possible to retire.

[Patty Roy]

Hey i didn't know you guys talked movies on this site! ;D

Anyway, i'll give you my top 10 favorites...

1. Star Wars Saga (particularly the original trilogy)
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Back to the Future
4. GoodFellas
5. Dazed and Confused
6. Seven
7. The Goonies
8. Stand By Me
9. Heat
10. Good Will Hunting

These are far from the "greatest" films i've ever seen; but they are the movies that i can watch time and time again. Most of the hold a special place in my heart due to the impact they had on my childhood.

Some of my other favorites...

Almost Famous, Unbreakable, Magnolia, Saving Private Ryan, The Godfather I and II, Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, Pulp Fiction, Jaws, Beautiful Girls, Swingers, Taxi Driver, American Beauty, The Silence of the Lambs, Wall Street and The Shawshank Redemption.

[Vinna]

Sure. We talk about everything here. Got something that's a pet peeve, air it here. By the way, if you have a pet peeve, count yourself among the lucky. I, myself don't have pet peeve's. I have psychotic bloody hatreds.