TEN THE HARD WAY

I know that this is not a music post, but when I saw the badge for Alex's blog-fest (blog-hop?-not sure what the right term is these days), I thought, why not?

This blog-fest is giving me a strange case of deja-vu…didn’t we do this one already?

As it turns out, we did-a few years ago Alex, the OTHER blogger with the surname Cavanaugh, hosted a blogfest on our top twelve movies.

I did a baker’s dozen back then, so I am now going to have to whittle that list down to ten and hope no new ones need to be there.

Picking my favorite movies is still a challenge as I’ve gotten older as staying awake for an entire movie is a challenge, and remembering movies after I have seen them is a challenge. I simply do not have the time to watch movies multiple times any more. That makes it pretty hard for new ones to get onto the list.

As a result, my list of favorite movies looks pretty similar to the last two iterations (including the time I did a list for Stephen T. McCarthy).  

For those of you with photographic memory….well it reads similar as well (sorry). Like the last time, the movie titles link to a film trailer or scene.

And it will be new to some of you, so away we go!

A BRONX TALE

This excellent film opens with the sounds of romance in the Bronx (“Marie! Get in the f*&king car!”). There are a few violent scenes, but mostly the story is about a boy who is drawn to the local gangster against the wishes of his bus-driver father.

All the important life lessons are in this film: how to pick your spouse (“if she doesn’t unlock your door by the time you get around the car, dump her”), what to do when a quasi-friend stiffs you (“for twenty bucks, he’s out of your life-you got off cheap”).

The names of the mobsters are excellent. Frankie Coffee Cake (named because his face looks like a Drake’s Coffee Cake), Jo Jo The Whale (you didn’t walk with Jo Jo, you walked among him), Leo The Mush (everything he touches turns to mush).

DeNiro shines on screen and behind the camera in his directorial debut.

HIGHLANDER

The original, that spawned four sequels and a television series that ran for six years.

Violent, with sword fights, loud rock music from Queen, and a showdown between immortal enemies Christopher Lambert and Clancy Brown. Oh, and Sean Connery is in it as well.

I’d skip the sequels. The TV series had some good episodes, though.

But in the end, there can be only one.

ROCKY

Come on! I’m from Philadelphia!

It was either this make this list or have one of the movies where Todd Rundgren did the soundtrack on there. I guess I could swap this out for “Dumb And Dumber.”

Besides, it’s a great film. Stallone has spent almost forty years trying to make another great one.

He should have left well enough alone, “A Bullet In The Head” in the can, and quit while he was ahead.

BREAKING AWAY

There’s a couple of scenes in this one that I still love after more than thirty years.

One is when Paul Dooley and Dennis Christopher are walking through the college, and Paul Dooley is talking about how after he and his coworkers raised the buildings, they felt like they did not belong.

The other is when Paul Dooley announces that there will be another mouth to feed.

“I didn’t know people your age could-“

“Boy, the next words could be your last”

This was a low budget film that everyone should own a copy of.

HEAVEN CAN  WAIT

In this one, the Rams beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl!

Sadly, they did not in 1979.

This movie had to tide me over until they did win one at the dawn of the new millennium.

It was a great script, great cast and an improvement over the original.

Buck Henry's dry delivery will keep you in stitches!

THE CROW

Even in the silly movies that preceded “The Crow,” you could see that Brandon Lee was going to be something special. His death was very tragic.

“The Crow” was a good film, especially considering it was adapted from a comic book (in the days when that was actually unusual).

It is a dark and violent tale of revenge, but it worked.

THE SEVENTH  SEAL

There’s a scene in this Bergman film where Death comes for a woodsman who tries to bargain for his life.

“But my contracts?”

“Annulled.”

A classic film that reminds you your inbox won't be empty when you go to the great beyond.

The film is in Swedish, with subtitles, so it's a little more effort to watch, but the scene at the end where the newly dead dance across the hills is the great payoff.

We've all got it coming.

This life is just a ride. Enjoy it!

THE TERMINATOR

Arnold did not need to speak to be menacing in this movie.

It was unanimously panned when it was released, but when the sequel made gazillions, the reviews of this first film were mysteriously all rewritten with a bunch of stars.

When it came to 1980’s action films, Arnold surrounded himself with people who knew what they were doing and put out the best product (IMHO).

JACKNIFE

Another DeNiro film makes my list, with stellar performances from Ed Harris and Kathy Baker.

There were a plethora of Vietnam-vet films in the late seventies through the eighties.

For my money, this was the best of the bunch.

My favorite scene is where DeNiro tells Kathy Baker about how he found religion.

This film did not make much of a splash, but was quite good. You'll want to check it out...

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL

This was my favorite of the John Hughes’ wave of “wrong side of the tracks” romances, and I can’t tell you why.

Certainly “The Breakfast Club” was a better film, but there was something about this one.

I think it was the father and son scene over the son withdrawing his college savings and blowing it on a pair of earrings.

My dad and I had a similar argument, but I blew the money on mint copies of the out-of-print Nazz lp’s and another rare Todd Rundrgen album (The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren)…I can’t even blame it on a girl!

I miss my dad (he died last year).  If your parents are still alive, treasure each moment-even ones where they're complaining about that crap you listen to. I'd give anything to hear him trash rock music again, let alone still be able to discuss things with him.

But Dad was wrong that time. It WAS my money, and I made it through college anyway (on my own dime), and I still have those albums!  Dad, if you're reading this, look for a turntable up there and give "The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren" a spin...

So now, the credits are rolling, as we have reached the end of my list.

Interestingly enough, scene clips were harder to find this time-I guess the studios made You Tube take them down....I'd have thought them a good promotional tool. Most of what I am linking to up above are trailers.

A lot of other movies were considered.

From the prior list, “Diggstown,”  “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, and “The Legend Of 1900” got bumped.

“A Few Good Men,” “The A-Team,” "Sin City" and "Pulp Fiction" were all seriously considered (again).  

I gave thought to “The Bucket List,” as well as “The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.” (That was a movie I’d forgotten about, until a McCarthy post (maybe even his list last time), and have rewatched a few times since).

Even though it got bumped from the list, I do want to post this link to the piano duel scene in “The Legend Of 1900.” Stephen T. McCarthy turned me on to this film mainly for this scene, and it is CLASSIC!.

The first clip is the final song, which has a dramatic moment at the end that is the big payoff...about four minutes to watch, but the payoff is WORTH IT! This is for you impatient ones....

Here's the whole scene in HD...some of you who watched the short version would still probably enjoy the whole scene, although you already saw the end...