LISTS

[ChiO]

Hey, Nick --

As a respite from "1,001...", which isn't a bad starting point if you don't let it control your viewing, check out the suggestions here.

[ChiO]

In honor of my favorite actor's 104th birthday, my 15 Favorite Robert Ryan Performances:

1. On Dangerous Ground (Ray 1951)
2. Day of the Outlaw (de Toth 1959)
3. Caught (Ophuls 1949)
4. The Set-Up (Wise 1949)
5. Bad Day at Black Rock (Sturges 1954)
6. Act of Violence (Zinnemann 1948)
7. The Naked Spur (Mann 1953)
8. The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah 1969)
9. House of Bamboo (Fuller 1955)
10. Clash by Night (Lang 1952)
11. Odds Against Tomorrow (Wise 1959)
12. Crossfire (Dmytryk 1947)
13. God's Little Acre (Mann 1958)
14. And Hope to Die (Clement 1972)
15. The Woman on the Beach (Renoir 1947)

[JackFavell]

Watching Act of Violence today was a pleasure, even though I didn't get to see more than 10 minutes. I think it's a film you must watch at least twice, if not more, because things were jumping out at me right from the beginning because I already knew the plot.

Like the fact that Van Heflin kept trying to ditch his army jacket...such a telling gesture... or that Ryan's limp almost makes him topple the boat, another telling physical act. Every scene has this kind of insertion of the main theme in it - The very first scene has Ryan coming into town, bent on finding Heflin, and he is literally stopped in his tracks by a Veteran's Day parade...

I found the same pleasure in watching parts of On Dangerous Ground, now that I've seen it 3 or 4 times, it's starting to get a depth I hadn't really gotten before, watching the other cops with their wives, then seeing Ryan with his hot plate and his gangster ID cards, well... it just breaks your heart.

But alas, I kept getting interrupted and didn't get to see any of the films straight through.

I even watched part of my guilty fave, Beware My Lovely - Ryan is SO good here as the handyman with a severe case of bipolar disorder, I feel nothing but sorry for him by the end of the film. Not that I'd want him mopping up for me or fixing my screen door...

[movieman1957]

I was taken with "Act of Violence" when I first saw it. (It's the only time.) It's a very good example of the misplaced notion that you can put your past behind you. At, least, that is, in the movies.

[JackFavell]

It's so good because of the dual leads, the structure really works in it's favor on multiple viewings. The first time you see it, you spend the whole time looking for the good guy, thinking it's Van Heflin. Ryan should be the bad guy... but he isn't. So once you've seen it, you can set aside the good guy/bad guy structure and just look at them as two veterans coming to grips with their very individual war issues.

[ChiO]

Okay, I'll follow the leader. English-language only. The year didn't impress me that much; had to work to get to ten. But I sense something grand will happen in 1941.

1. His Girl Friday
2. Stranger on the Third Floor
3. The Great McGinty
4. The Great Dictator
5. Remember the Night
6. Foreign Correspondent
7. They Drive by Night
8. Contraband
9. The Bank Dick
10. Pride of the Bowery

[RedRiver]

I like making lists so much, I could make a list of lists!

1. Best barbecue places
2. Favorite Beatles songs
3. Favorite DICK VAN DYKE episodes
4. Best cookies ever
5. Craziest things my brother has said

[fxreyman]

Yeah I have been reading the threads started by TopBilled over at TCM. Only thing is that I have my own LISTS thread as well over thereon the Favorites Forum, but for some reason he felt the need to start yet another thread about the same subject. He does that a lot.

[movieman1957]

Red:

Now that you mention it what are your five favorite Beatles' songs?

[ChiO]

I try to use the date of initial release. It seems that that is IMDb's general practice, too.

Release in the U.S. (unless first released in the U.S.) and year of Oscar eligibility is irrelevant to me.

Toughest call: a festival premiere near the end of one year, and general release the following year.

[ChiO]

5 Favorite Beatles Songs

1. Rain
2. Strawberry Fields Forever
3. I Am the Walrus
4. I'm a Loser
5. Any Time at All

I tend to prefer the Lennon compositions.

[RedRiver]

Like King Rat, I'm probably forgetting some great ones.

Here, There and Everywhere
I Will
A Day in the Life
Back in the USSR
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

Clearly, I like the softer numbers. But there are a couple of rockers there! I omitted one of my faves on a technicality. The lovely "Till There Was You" is a Meredith Willson song. Not a Beatles' composition. But Paul McCartney performs it as well as it's ever been done!