I can appreciate there are those who don’t like Top 10 lists but I tend to enjoy them because of getting to find out the favorites of fellow film lovers. Also, reminiscing about my best-loved movies that perhaps I haven’t thought about for a while.
Closing lines can serve as punctuation, the cherry on top. They can also, wrap up the film. One-liners that recall the movie all over again. Often times these are the quotes we remember most and become representative of the movie’s theme.
There are way too many movies to choose from so these are just a sampling that made this particular list. I love the Top 2 but as I was watching so many other films came to mind.
Please, let me know in the comments some of your best quotes. I’m looking forward to reading them.
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Spoiler Alert: I make it a point to never reveal a film’s ending because it’s a matter of courtesy. Don’t spoil the movie!
In this riveting behind-the-scenes look at big business in the 1980s, an ambitious young broker (Charlie Sheen) is lured into the illegal, lucrative world of corporate espionage when he is seduced by the power, status and financial wizardry of Wall Street legend Gordon Gekko ( Michael Douglas in his Oscar-winning performance).
But, he soon discovers that the pursuit of overnight riches comes at a price that’s too high to pay. Daryl Hannah and (Martin Sheen‘s) co-star in Oliver Stone’s gripping morality tale about the American dream gone wrong. (Fathom Events)
This special 30th-Anniversary event also includes a unique look at ‘Greed is Good”, a retrospective.
When I experienced “Wall Street” at its release I thought it hit the nail on the head as far as the state of Ronald Reagan’s America. All about the Benjamins, this country ventured down a road we continue to travel, with even more disastrous results – “Citizens United”, “Corporations are People”, “Enron”, “The Worse Recession since the Great Depression”, all in the name of “Greed is Good”.
Stone made the film as a tribute to his father, Lou Stone, a stockbroker during the Great Depression. The character of Gekko is said to be a composite of several people, including Dennis Levine, Ivan Boesky, Carl Icahn, (endorsed Trump for the 2016 U.S. presidential election) Asher Edelman, Michael Ovitz, Michael Milken, and Stone himself. The character of Sir Lawrence Wildman, meanwhile, was modeled on the prominent British financier and corporate raider Sir James Goldsmith. (Wikipedia)
Check out “Wall Street” in a theater near you and take a look back at the not so distant past to fully understand why the rich get richer and the poor beg for healthcare. Brilliantly directed by Oliver Stone, it reminds us that if we don’t know our history we are bound to repeat it.
Produced in 1943 at MGM by Arthur Freed and directed by Vincent Minnelli, “Cabin in the Sky” is the 1st all Black film produced by a major studio in Hollywood. “Happiness is a Thing Called Joe” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and sung by the film’s star, Ethel Waters.
This musical take on Faust pits Little Joe (Eddie “Rochester” Anderson) against Luther Jr. (Lucifer’s baby boy). Enter temptress Georgia Brown (Lena Horne). Does Little Joe’s wife, Petunia (Ethel Waters) even stand a chance or will Joe be condemned to Hell?
“Cabin in the Sky” in featuring an all-African American cast was an unusual production for its time. In the 1940s, movie theaters in many cities, particularly in the southern United States, refused to show films with prominent black performers, so MGM took a considerable financial risk by approving the film. (Wikipedia)
Some remember “Cabin in the Sky” for its intelligent and witty script, which some claimed treated its characters and their race with a dignity rare in American films of the time. Others described Cabin in the Sky’s racial politics as the same “old stereotypes of Negro caricatures”.
Ethel Waters, Kenneth Spencer, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Lena Horne, Rex Ingram
According to liner notes in the CD reissue of the film’s soundtrack, Freed and Minnelli sought input from black leaders before production began on the film.
When I first saw this film as a kid in the 60’s I was absolutely floored. This was during the civil rights era and I had no idea that in the 1940’s a major production company had taken on the issue of the lack of black representation in film. I understand the point about the stereotypical characterizations – Lena Horne, the aggressive, hypersexual black woman. Ethel Waters, the dutiful, prayerful housewife and “Rochester”, the buffoonish and no account lazy black man.
My feelings of the film are mixed because to some extent, it feeds into the political narrative that some black folks aren’t worthy of equality because they wouldn’t know what to do with it if they had it. But on the other hand, there was finally a film with all black faces, the most gifted entertainers of all-time – Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and their stories. These characters weren’t just sprinkled in, they were integral to the plot and couldn’t be cut out in racist southern theaters.
As a black woman, it both breaks my heart and angers me that we even needed to have this conversation, not only in the ’40’s but as an ongoing fight for all aspects of African-American representation on-screen.
After years of unavailability, Warner Home Video and Turner Entertainment released “Cabin in the Sky” on DVD on January 10, 2006. I recommend checking it out with this backstory in mind. These legendary artists deserved to have worldwide exposure the same as their white counterparts of the day.
We’ve come along way, but the truth is we still have a long way to go.
A fascinating rock n roll politico film from 1968. I’ve been intrigued by “Wild in the Streets” since I was a 9 year-old kid, I totally related to the concept of the film that the “younger generation” should be running things and not the “old cats” who always mess things up in this country. “Thirty and out” was my mantra. “Old fat cats” only in the game for their own personal gain. Yeah, I was a bit of a rebel. (or so my sisters always say:)
What resonated with me then and now are the political implications of organizing and using that voice and numbers to effect change. But also the nightmare when ideologies take a turn for the extreme.
Wild in the Streets was first released to theaters in 1968. Its storyline was a “reduction to absurdity”projection of contemporary issues of the time, taken to extremes, and played poignantly during 1968 —an election year with many controversies (the Vietnam War, the draft, civil rights, the population explosion, rioting and assassinations, and the baby boomer generation coming of age). (Wikipedia)
“Fourteen or Fight” is a perfect example of the youth movement of the sixties. This was the first time teens were a bigger block than their parents. Baby Boomers exerting power in numbers.
Richard Pryor’s appearance in this film is amazing! One of the most controversial comedians of our time, it was hilarious watching him fake playing the drums as a member of Max Frost’s “Troopers”.
Christopher Jones had the perfect swag for his character. He had that whole brooding, tortured vibe like Marlon Brando in “The Wild One”and James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause”. The Christopher Jones’ character Max Frost was a pop star millionaire who gets “turned on” to the 60’s political scene and decides to exercise his views on free love, youth is the majority in the U.S., women’ rights and ultimately runs for President of the United States. Let the absurdities begin!
The Music
The soundtrack is the backdrop for the politics in the film as well as real life. Max and The Troopers deal with current issues of the time (’67). Voting age: “14 or Fight”.”If I can fight I can vote”. Ageism: If you’re 50 does that make you more competent? The 25 and under age group is the majority. “We have the power”. Women’s rights: “Chicks would have killed for the vote”.
In 1968, “The Shape of Things to Come”, written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, was a #22 chart hit for Max Frost and the Troopers. (a “studio group”, made up of session musicians)
This flick was over the top but had its pulse on the fears of the 60’s and a possible dysfunctional future. Growing up in the sixties I see a lot of similarities to today. “The Shape of Things to Come” was very prophetic.
American International founders Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson were genius! They were one of the first production companies to recognize and capitalize on the growing teen market. Think beach, biker, monster, drive-in movies. Think American International.
Christopher Jones
After “Wild in the Streets” Christopher Jones only made a couple more films, “Three in the Attic” 1968. Classic 60’s love in fest. The big studios took notice and David Lean offered him the romantic lead in the big budget drama “Ryan’s Daughter” 1970. Reportedly it was on the set of the film he had a nervous breakdown after hearing of Sharon Tate’s murder and shortly after left the Hollywood scene.
His last appearance was in the 1996 crime comedy “Mad Dog Time” opposite Richard Dreyfuss. In his later years he had a career as an artist and sculptor. He died from cancer on January 31, 2014 at the age of 72.
The Academy Award winning film, “All the President’s Men” is the 1976 American political thriller directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. I believe it’s the best film on the Watergate scandal and the incredible journalism of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. The gold standard of journalists, their hard work ultimately uncovered the truth of the events that changed the course of American history; the first time ever that an American President resigned from office.
The Plot: On June 17, 1972, a security guard (Frank Wills) at the Watergate complex finds a door kept unlocked with tape. He calls the police, who find and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the complex. The next morning, The Washington Post assigns new reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to the local courthouse to cover the story, which is thought to be of minor importance.
Woodward learns that the five men, four Cuban-Americans from Miami and James W. McCord, Jr., had bugging equipment and have their own “country club” attorney. At the arraignment, McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the Central Intelligence Agency and the others also have CIA ties. Woodward connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, a former employee of the CIA, and President Richard Nixon‘s Special CounselCharles Colson. (Wikipedia)
Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), another Post reporter, is assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two are reluctant partners but work well together. Executive editor Benjamin Bradlee (Jason Robards) believes their work is incomplete, however, and not worthy of the Post’s front page. He encourages them to continue to gather information.
Woodward contacts “Deep Throat” (Hal Holbrook), a senior government official, an anonymous source he has used in the past. Communicating through copies of The New York Times and a balcony flowerpot, they meet in a parking garage in the middle of the night. Deep Throat speaks in riddles and metaphors about the Watergate break-in, but advises Woodward to “follow the money.” (Wikipedia)
Theatrical Release Poster
Yes, “follow the money” indeed.
I was in high school when the Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward uncovered the historic Watergate scandal and I have never forgotten the outrage and for some disbelief that the President of the United States was guilty of a cover-up; it shook American politics to its core.
Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward
However, it was true and instead of being impeached Nixon resigned his office. That is why the overwhelming evidence against the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave is so very shocking; Richard Nixon did far less and with a bi-partisan agreement, Articles of Impeachment were drawn.
“All the President’s Men” is the 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, that was subsequently made into the motion picture starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. The book chronicles the investigative reporting of Woodward and Bernstein from Woodward’s initial report on the Watergate break-in through the resignations of H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and the revelation of the Nixon tapes by Alexander Butterfield in 1973. (Wikipedia)
The cover of the 1974 first edition.
It relates the events behind the major stories the duo wrote for the Post, naming some sources who had previously refused to be identified for their initial articles, notably Hugh Sloan. It also gives detailed accounts of Woodward’s secret meetings with his source Deep Throat whose identity was kept hidden for over 30 years.Gene Roberts, the former executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and former managing editor of The New York Times, has called the work of Woodward and Bernstein “maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time.” (Wikipedia)
To hear more about the history of Watergate from the words of the reporters themselves: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
While watching Marlene Dietrich’s sultry performance of “The Laziest Gal in Town” in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1950 thriller,”Stage Fright”, I asked my husband if the song and performance seemed familiar. Because I’ve raised him right (on film history that is😎), he remarked, “of course, Madeline Kahn’s performance of “I’m Tired” in the Mel Brooks satirical Western comedy classic, “Blazing Saddles” (1974).
Marlene Dietrich “Laziest Gal in Town”
Madeline Kahn “I’m So Tired”
(Top) Marlene Dietrich (Bottom) Jane Wyman
I loved hearing his response because it’s the main reason I pen this post; for the history and appreciation of films. Understanding a writer or director’s references to past movies in theirs adds to the richness of the production. It helps young people comprehend that few things in life are original and imitation can be the sincerest form of flattery.
Sometimes the homage in a movie isn’t to a particular scene in a film but the music. I love Minions period but I especially enjoyed the “Minions” movie’s 1960’s soundtrack that made the perfect nod to James Bond type villains (“Minions” Scarlet Overkill) and the time period of the setting.
As a child of the ’60’s I remember turning to my husband in the theater saying, 99% of the people in here weren’t even born yet and I wonder if any of them appreciate the inclusion of the classic songs of this era.
The song is “Hair” from the iconic 1968 counter-culture and controversial stage and film production “Hair”
I’ve spent my lifetime watching and loving the cinema and have educated my children with a more sophisticated palette for black and white films and how they just don’t make them like that anymore.😊
Hundreds of full-length films were produced during the decade of the 1940s; during Hollywood’s Golden Age. The great actor Humphrey Bogart made his most memorable films in this decade. Frank Capra’s masterpiece It’s a Wonderful Life and Orson Welles’s cinema genius production of Citizen Kane were released. The film noir genre was at its height. Alfred Hitchcock made his American debut with the film Rebecca and made many classics throughout the 1940s. (Wikipedia)
(Top) Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando (Middle) Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly (Bottom) Humphrey Bogart, Marlene Dietrich, Clark Gable
Movie Stars of the 1940’s & 1950’s
Of course, I want you to visit my website as a source of reference material, but if you want to see these full-length gems for free, I recommend tuning into the Turner Classic Movies channel. They show everything from the great silent films, Chaplin, Buster Keaton, etc. through Hollywood’s “Golden Age”.
These classic films bring me great joy and I hope you’ll find a special place in your heart for them, too!
With no money and nowhere to hide, two down on their luck jazz musicians (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) masquerade as members of an all-girl band, leading to a number of romantic complications when one falls for the band’s lead singer (Sugar Cane) played by Marilyn Monroe.
Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe
Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American romantic comedy film set in 1929, directed and produced by Billy Wilder, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee, and Nehemiah Persoff.
The plot is based on a screenplay by Billy Wilder and Michael Logan from the French film Fanfare of Love. The film is about two musicians who dress in drag in order to escape from mafia gangsters whom they witnessed commit a crime inspired by the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. The film was produced in black and white, even though color films were increasing in popularity. (Wikipedia)
Some Like It Hot opened to largely positive reviews and is today considered to be one of the greatest film comedies of all time. It was voted as the top comedy film by the American Film Institute on their list on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs poll in 2000. The film is also notable for featuring cross-dressing, and for playing with the idea of homosexuality, which led to it being produced without approval from the Motion Picture Production Code.
The code had been gradually weakening in its scope during the early 1950s, due to increasing social tolerance for previously taboo topics in film, but it was still officially enforced. The overwhelming success of Some Like It Hot was a final nail in the coffin for the Hays Code. (Wikipedia)
I love Billy Wilder because of his versatility in films and his testing the boundaries of societal norms. To that end, the first movie that always comes to mind is “Some Like it Hot”. To find out more about Billy Wilder and his films, check out my post – The Faces Behind the Camera.
Billy Wilder
I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity to see “Some Like it Hot” on the big screen!
This iconic film about a New York mafia family’s rise to power in the years following World War II stars Marlon Brando as the family’s patriarch, Don Corleone, and features career-making performances by Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, it’s based on Mario Puzo‘s best-selling novel. This searing and brilliant film garnered seven Academy Award nominations and won three, including Best Picture of 1972.
I’ve stated for years that if you want a blueprint for the rules of life, a screening of “The Godfather” is mandatory. In an interview about the making of the film, Coppola revealed that his idea was to approach the Corleone family like a king and his sons. I believe focusing on the family dynamics versus “the mob” gave more depth and layers to the characters and the audience’s involvement in the film.
Cinematographer Gordon Willis initially turned down the opportunity to film The Godfather because the production seemed “chaotic” to him. After Willis later accepted the offer, he and Coppola agreed to not use any modern filming devices, helicopters, or zoom lenses. Willis and Coppola chose to use a “tableau format” of filming to make it seem if it was viewed like a painting. He made use of shadows and low light levels throughout the film to showcase psychological developments.
Willis and Coppola agreed to interplay light and dark scenes throughout the film. Willis underexposed the film in order to create a “yellow tone.” The scenes in Sicily were shot to display the countryside and “display a more romantic land,” giving these scenes a “softer, more romantic” feel than the New York scenes. (Wikipedia)
Although many films about gangsters preceded “The Godfather”, Coppola’s heavy infusion of Italian culture and stereotypes, and his portrayal of mobsters as characters of considerable psychological depth and complexity was unprecedented.
Coppola took it further with The Godfather Part II, and Part III. The success of those films, critically, artistically and financially, opened the doors for numerous other depictions of Italian Americans as mobsters, including films such as Martin Scorsese‘s Goodfellas and TV series such as David Chase‘s The Sopranos.
Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci
“Goodfellas” (1990)
“The Godfather” is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema and one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and is ranked the second greatest film in American cinema (behind Citizen Kane) by the American Film Institute. (Wikipedia)
So, whether this would be your first viewing or you’re a lifelong fan, get your tickets here and check out “The Godfather” on the big screen for this special, limited-time performance!
(Prince and Judith Hill.CreditPhotographs by Karrah Kobus/NPG Records, via Getty Images)
Mourning the 1 year passing of music legend Prince, I was amazed to learn about his relationship with the powerhouse singer-songwriter Judith Hill as her confidant and musical collaborator.
Ms. Hill was a contestant on the 2013 season of “The Voice” (the TV singing competition) and later that same year appeared in the Academy Award-winning documentary about backup singers, “20 Feet From Stardom” earning a Grammy for her performance.
(“I was with Prince the last two years of my life,” Judith Hill said. “Now he’s gone, and I realize I was leaning on him a lot,” she said. “And that’s what’s scary. I’m on my own.”Credit: Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times)
I cheered for Ms. Hill on “The Voice” and was shocked when she didn’t make the cut. Her voice is phenomenal and once before she had been so close to blowing up as a recording star when she was paired as a featured vocalist with Michael Jackson on his ill-fated tour “This is It”. On “The Voice” I thought, maybe this time she’ll get her shot.
And now, with the passing of Prince, Judith would once again be denied the major exposure that could have skyrocketed her to the top of the musical ladder instead of her forever feeling – “20 feet from stardom”.
Judith Hill, Michael Jackson
Here’s a look at the Oscar-winning documentary about the incredible backup singers and the travesty of how their careers have always been “20 Feet From Stardom”.
2014 Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary Feature, “20 Feet From Stardom” is directed by Morgan Neville and inspired by producer Gil Friesen’s quest to reveal the untold stories of the phenomenal voices behind some of the greatest artists in American music.
The Ladies Speak: Lisa Fischer, Darlene Love, Judith Hill
Merry Clayton performed that killer background vocal on The Rolling Stones’ classic “Gimme Shelter”
Millions know their voices, but no one knows their names. I was thrilled when this film was released to showcase these gifted women that for whatever reason remain in the shadows. It’s a sad fact but, nevertheless, they stayed in the game and they are legends!
Two unstable people with access to nuclear bombs is a serious recipe for disaster! One mad man got elected President. The other is the supreme ruler of N. Korea.
Kim Jung-Un, Trump
This is strikingly close to the storyline of Dr. Strangelove and in reality my daily nightmare!
“Dr. Strangelove” is the 1964 political satire black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. The film was directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, stars Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, and features Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, and Slim Pickens. Production took place in the United Kingdom. The film is loosely based on Peter George‘s thriller novel Red Alert (1958). (Wikipedia)
(“Red Alert” originally published in the UK as Two Hours to Doom, with George using the pseudonym “Peter Bryant”)
The story concerns an unhinged United States Air Force general who orders a first strike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It follows the President of the United States, his advisers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer as they try to recall the bombers to prevent a nuclear apocalypse. It separately follows the crew of one B-52 bomber as they try to deliver their payload.
“Dr. Strangelove” is Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece about the absurdity of war that nevertheless is a daily possibility!
Kubrick filmology
Peter Sellers is at his over the top best with his performance as nutcase Dr. Strangelove. (and a few other characters) A wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist with bizarre ideas about man’s future. The entire war room scene totally represents the lunacy of nuclear war.
Columbia Pictures agreed to finance the film if Peter Sellers played at least four major roles. The condition stemmed from the studio’s opinion that much of the success of Kubrick’s previous film Lolita (1962) was based on Sellers’s performance in which his single character assumes a number of identities.
Peter Sellers as – President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove, and Captain Lionel Mandrake
Sellers is said to have improvised much of his dialogue, with Kubrick incorporating the ad-libs into the written screenplay so the improvised lines became part of the official screenplay.
Awards and honors
The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and also seven BAFTA Awards, of which it won four.
Kubrick won two awards for best director, from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, and was nominated for one by the Directors Guild of America.
In 1989 the United States Library of Congress included it in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was listed as number three on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Laughs list.
Ye Ha! Slim Pickens as Aircraft commander Major T. J. “King” Kong riding the bomb down.
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