THE PASSING SCENE OF 2019

Another year, and another list of people we have lost. 2019 is another year where some great talents have left us, but as I always say the person is gone but their memory will live on always. Here are just some of the great talents that left us in 2019...

Carol Channing

Actress, Carol Channing died at the age of 97 on January 15th. Notable for starring in Broadway and film musicals, her characters typically radiate a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, whether singing or for comedic effect. She began as a Broadway musical actress, starring in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949, and Hello, Dolly! in 1964, when she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She revived both roles several times throughout her career, most recently playing Dolly in 1995. Channing was nominated for her first Tony Award in 1956 for The Vamp followed by a nomination in 1961 for Show Girl. She received her fourth Tony Award nomination for the musical Lorelei in 1974. As a film actress, she won the Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). A documentary on her life came out in 2012, and her last major appearance was for her 95th birthday in 2016.

Actor Robert Forster died on October 11th of brain cancer at the age of 78. He was known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool (1969), Lebanese terrorist Abdul Rafai in The Delta Force (1986), and Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also had prominent roles in television series such as Banyon (1971–1973), Heroes (2007–2008), and Twin Peaks (2017). He won the Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television for his performance in the Breaking Bad episode "Granite State" (2013), reprising his role in the series' sequel film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, which premiered the day of his death.

Singer, Christina McGuire died on December 28, 2018 but it was not reported until January 4th. She was 92 and died of a stroke. With her sisters, Phyllis and Dorothy (1928-2012), Christina was part of the popular singing group the McGuire Sisters. The sisters formed their group in 1952 and stayed together until 1968. Among their most popular songs are "Sincerely" and "Sugartime", both number-one hits. They made a comeback in the 1980s and performed sporadically until 2004.

Big band leader Bob Wilber died on August 4th at the age of 91. Although his scope covers a wide range of jazz, Wilber was a dedicated advocate of classic styles, working throughout his career to present traditional jazz pieces in a contemporary manner. He played with many distinguished jazz leaders in the 1950s and 1960s, including Bobby Hackett, Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Jack Teagarden and Eddie Condon. His final two albums were released in 2010 and 2011.

Actress and singer Kaye Ballard died on January 21st at the age of 93 from heart failure and kidney cancer. She established herself as a performer in the 1940s with Spike Jones Orchestra. In 1957, she and Alice Ghostley played the two wicked stepsisters in the live telecast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring Julie Andrews in the title role. From 1967 to 1969, she co-starred as Kaye Buell, a woman whose son marries her next door neighbor's daughter, in the NBC sitcom The Mothers-in-Law, with Eve Arden playing her neighbor. She also appeared as a regular on The Doris Day Show as restaurant owner Angie Pallucci from 1970 to 1972. She continued to perform until a few weeks before her death. A documentary on her life was released in January of 2019.

Albert Finney

Actor Albert Finney died on February 7th at the age of 82. He worked in the theatre before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960), directed by Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in the theatre. He maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television.He is known for his roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (also 1960), Tom Jones (1963), Two for the Road (1967), Scrooge (1970), Annie (1982), The Dresser (1983), Miller's Crossing (1990), A Man of No Importance (1994), Erin Brockovich (2000), Big Fish (2003), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), The Bourne Legacy (2012), and the James Bond film Skyfall (2012).

Pianist Andre Previn died on February 28th at the age of 89. His career was three-pronged. Starting by arranging and composing Hollywood film scores for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Previn was involved in the music for over 50 films over his entire career. He won four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings (and one more for his Lifetime Achievement). In jazz, Previn was a pianist-interpreter and arranger of songs from the Great American Songbook, was piano-accompanist to singers of jazz standards, and was trio pianist. He also was married to actress Mia Farrow from 1970 to 1979.

Singer Jim Pike died on June 9th at the age of 82 of Parkinson's Disease.. He was the co-founder of the singing group The Lettermen. Pike and Bob Engemann, a college buddy from Brigham Young University, formed The Lettermen in Los Angeles in 1961 with fellow singer Tony Butala. The groups had numerous hits throughout the 1960s. The Lettermen, with Butala as the only remaining founding member, continues to tour. Engemann died in 2013.

Actor Peter Fonda died on August 16th of lung cancer. He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda. He was a part of the counterculture of the 1960s. Fonda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Easy Rider (1969), and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Ulee's Gold (1997). His final portrayal will be in the Vietnam War movie The Last Full Measure. 

Actress Julie Adams died at the age of 92 on February 3rd. She starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including Bend of the River and Creature from the Black Lagoon. She was also known for her roles as Paula Denning on Capitol and as Eve Simpson on Murder, She Wrote on television.

Tim Conway

Comedian Tim Conway died on May 14th at the age of 85. He was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. He portrayed the inept Ensign Parker in the World War II situation comedy McHale's Navy from 1962 to 1966, was a regular cast member on the variety and sketch comedy program The Carol Burnett Show, and he co-starred with Don Knotts in several films in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was particularly admired for his ability to depart from scripts with spontaneously improvised character details and dialogue, and he won six Primetime Emmy Awards during his career, four of which were awarded for The Carol Burnett Show, including one for writing.

Actress and singer Diahann Carroll died of cancer on October 3rd at the age of 83. She rose to stardom in performances in some of the earliest major studio films to feature black casts, including Carmen Jones in 1954 and Porgy and Bess in 1959. In 1962, Carroll won a Tony Award for best actress, a first for a black woman, for her role in the Broadway musical No Strings. Her 1968 debut in Julia, the first series on American television to star a black woman in a nonstereotypical role, was a milestone both in her career and the medium. In the 1980s she played the role of a mixed-race diva in the primetime soap opera Dynasty. She retired in 2014.

Film historian Ron Hutchinson died of colon cancer at the age of 68 on February 2nd. Ron who led a campaign to restore scores of largely forgotten short sound films from the 1920s and ’30s that featured comedians, vaudevillians, opera singers and musical acts.

Actress Valerie Harper died at the age of 80 on August 30th. She began her career as a dancer on Broadway, making her debut in the musical Take Me Along in 1959. Harper is best remembered for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77) and its spin-off Rhoda (1974–78). For her work on Mary Tyler Moore, she thrice received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and later received the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Rhoda.

Actress and model Carol Lynley died of a heart attack at the age of 77 on September 3rd. Lynley is perhaps best known for her film roles in Return to Peyton Place, Under the Yum Yum Tree, Bunny Lake Is Missing, The Pleasure Seekers, The Cardinal, and The Poseidon Adventure, in which she performed the Oscar-winning song "The Morning After" (although her singing voice was dubbed by studio singer Renee Armand. She made her last movie in 2006.

Bill Macy

Actor Bill Macy died at the age of 97 on October 17th. Macy played Walter Findlay, the long-suffering husband of the title character on the television situation comedy Maude, starring Bea Arthur from 1972 to 1978. Macy made more than 70 appearances on film and television. He appeared as the Jury Foreman in The Producers in 1967. Other memorable roles include the co-inventor of the 'Opti-grab' in the 1979 Steve Martin comedy The Jerk, and as the head television writer in My Favorite Year (1982). He remained active in movies and television until his retirement in 2010.

Actor and television host Bob Dorian died on June 15th at the age of 85. He was most widely known for being the host of classic movies on AMC from 1984 to 2001. He also appeared in such movies as He is an actor, known for The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams (2005), and Evil Dead (2013),

Actress Katherine Helmond died at the age of 90 on February 23rd. She was an actress for over five decades of television. She was known for her starring role as ditzy matriarch Jessica Tate on the sitcom Soap (1977–1981) and her co-starring role as feisty mother Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss? (1984–1992). She also played Doris Sherman on Coach and Lois Whelan (the mother of Debra Barone) on Everybody Loves Raymond. She also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows.

Singer Leon Redbone died on May 30th at the age of 69 of dementia. Recognized by his Panama hat, dark sunglasses, and black tie, Redbone was born in Cyprus of Armenian ancestry and first appeared on stage in Toronto, Canada, in the early 1970s. He also appeared on film and television in acting and voice-over roles. Redbone favored material from the Tin Pan Alley era, circa 1890 to 1910. He sang the theme to the 1980s television series Mr. Belvedere and released eighteen albums. He also appeared in the 2003 movie Elf as a Leon The Snowman. Ill health forced him to retire in 2015.

Director Stanley Donen died at the age of 94 on February 21st. He was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are On the Town (1949) and Singin' in the Rain (1952), both of which starred Gene Kelly who co-directed. His other films include Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Funny Face (1957), Indiscreet (1958), and Charade (1963).

Doris Day

Singer and actress Doris Day died at the age of 97 of pneumonia on May 13th. After she began her career as a big band singer in 1939, her popularity increased with her first hit recording "Sentimental Journey" (1945). After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to embark on a solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967, which made her one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century. Day's film career began during the latter part of the Classical Hollywood Film era with the 1948 film Romance on the High Seas, and its success sparked her twenty-year career as a motion picture actress. She starred in a series of successful films, including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953), and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. After her final film in 1968, she went on to star in the CBS sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–1973).

Actress Fay McKenzie died at the age of 101 on April 16th.She starred in silent films as a child, and then sound films as an adult, but perhaps she is best known for her leading roles opposite Gene Autry in the early 1940s in five horse opera features.She also appeared on Broadway, radio and television, having appeared on screen at 10 months old in 1918. She was still appearing on screen at the time of her death, with her latest project opposite her son Tom Waldman Jr. in the comedy Kill a Better Mousetrap, based on a play by Scott K. Ratner, filmed in the summer of 2018 and not yet released at the time of her death.

Actor Danny Aiello died on December 12th at the age of 86. He was a versatile character actor who appeared in numerous motion pictures, including The Godfather Part II (1974), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Harlem Nights (1989), Hudson Hawk (1991), Ruby (1992), and Lucky Number Slevin (2006). He had a pivotal role in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing (1989) as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He played Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries The Last Don (1997). He retired from acting in 2017.

Songwriter Jerry Herman, died at the age of 88 on December 26th. Jerry was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. He was nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles. In 2009, Herman received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. He was a recipient of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors.

So much talent lost, but so much memories left behind...

RIP: ALBERT FINNEY

Oscar-nominated British actor Albert Finney has died aged 82 after a short illness.

He was a five-time Oscar nominee who began his career at the Royal Shakespeare Company before making his mark in film.

His big film break came as "angry young man" Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. He went on to star in Tom Jones, as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express, Erin Brockovich and Skyfall.

A statement from a family spokesman said: "Albert Finney, aged 82, passed away peacefully after a short illness with those closest to him by his side.

"The family request privacy at this sad time."

Finney's other memorable roles include Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm, for which he won a Golden Globe and a Bafta.

He also played the title role in Scrooge, billionaire Daddy Warbucks in Annie, Ed Bloom Senior in Tim Burton's Big Fish and the mobster Leo O'Bannon in Miller's Crossing.

Finney was nominated four times for a best actor Oscar and once in the best supporting actor category.

He got back-to-back nominations in 1984 and 1985 for The Dresser and Under the Volcano but never attended the ceremony itself, calling it "a waste of time".

He was the recipient of two Bafta Awards from 13 nominations and received a British Academy Fellowship in 2001.

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) graduate continued working on the stage despite his film success, earning Tony nominations on Broadway for Luther and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.

He won an Olivier Award for Orphans and was part of the original three-man cast of Art.

His last film role came in 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, in which he played the irascible gamekeeper Kincaid.

A life-long fan of Manchester United, he declined a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000.

"I think the Sir thing slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery," he said at the time.He was also reluctant to discuss his craft. "My job is acting, and that is why I hate interviews or lectures, explaining myself to an audience," he once said.

Finney was married three times and had one child with his first wife, the actress Jane Wenham. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007, after which he largely disappeared from public view...

RECENTLY VIEWED: ANNIE

One of the memorable movies I remember seeing as a child was 1982's Annie. I am not afraid to say that I love this movie to this day. The movie was not the best musical Hollywood ever produced, but its a fun movie to watch. The film was directed by John Huston, written by Carol Sobieski, choreographed by Arlene Phillips with musical sequences created by Joe Layton, and features an ensemble cast consisting of Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters, Geoffrey Holder, Edward Herrmann, and Aileen Quinn in her feature film debut.

The producer of the film, Ray Stark, wanted both John Huston and Joe Layton while working as the director and choreographer respectively, to also be executive producer on the film, because it was too large an enterprise for one person. Regarding Huston being given the job of directing the first (and what would be the only) musical in his 40-year directing career, screenwriter Carol Sobieski said: "Hiring John [Huston] is an outsider risk, and Ray's [Stark] a major gambler. He loves this kind of high risk situation."[

For reasons yet explained, it was planned that the staging for the intimate, secretive song "Easy Street" would be the biggest number in the film. A special outdoor street set, costing $1 million, was built, and it took over one week to shoot the scene. However, the final number was thought to be "overstuffed" and "sour." Nearly two months after the film had finished shooting, an indoor, more intimate number was shot that mimicked the ambience portrayed in the original 1977 musical.

The production filmed for six weeks at Monmouth University in New Jersey, which has two mansions that were used in the film, one of which is the Shadow Lawn Mansion (now known as Woodrow Wilson Hall). An abandoned railroad bridge over the Passaic River in Newark was used for location shooting of one of the climatic scenes.

There are major differences between the original Broadway show and the movie version. The film featured four new songs, "Dumb Dog", "Let's Go to the Movies", "Sign", and "We Got Annie", and cut "We'd like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover", "N.Y.C", "You Won't Be an Orphan for Long", "Something Was Missing", "Annie", and "New Deal for Christmas". In addition, the song "Maybe" has two reprises while "Little Girls" and "Easy Street" do not.

In the stage musical, Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and Lily are caught at the Warbucks mansion, thus their plan to kidnap Annie fails as they are arrested by the President's Secret Service. In the movie, Annie is kidnapped, leading to Warbucks organizing a citywide search and while escaping, Rooster chases her up the B&O Bridge. Miss Hannigan's heart softens and she also attempts to rescue her from being killed by him, but he knocks her out and continues the chase. Eventually, Punjab rescues her by autocopter and returns her safely at the end. Miss Hannigan is then shown joining in the celebration at the end of the movie and showing a possible romantic interest in Punjab.

In its initial release, the film made $58 million dollars, but it cost $50 million to make. The casting of British actor Albert Finney as Daddy Warbucks was interesting, because he did not have much of a singing voice. He made one movie musical earlier - Scrooge (1970) in London. I am also surprised that Bernadette Peters did not have a bigger role in the movie. By 1982, she had made some great movies like The Jerk (1979) with Steve Martin, but her role was minor in this film. Carol Burnett made the movie for me. No matter who I see play Miss Hannigan, Burnett made that role hers. She is the best part of the movie. Reportedly, Burnett would know when it was one of the child actor's birthday party and throw them a little party on the set. Also, when Annie celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2012, Burnett sent star Aileen Quinn a gold locket that read "Always my Annie". Just know those stories makes watching the movie a heartwarming experience, and it makes you definitely realize that the sun will always come out tomorrow...

MY RATING: 9 OUT OF 10

ANNIE: THIRTY YEARS LATER

"Annie" burst out onto the screen thirty years ago now, and it is hard to believe that it's actually been that long. It is truly hard to believe that it has been that long but the girl who played Annie - Aileen Quinn - is no longer a little girl as she is now 41.

Back in 1982, "Annie" became a huge phenomenon and the anniversary is being celebrated with a special edition, commemorative Blu-ray. It will feature a sing-a-long feature that allows fans to go right along with their favorite songs.

.Aileen Quinn is all grown up now, but she will always be Annie.

Yahoo Movies did speak with Quinn, and the former child star revealed some interesting facts about "Annie" that were previously unknown. They bring some cool info to life, especially about the audition.

The late Gene Siskel, famed movie critic, was very critical of "Annie" even though it garnered a few Oscar nominations and Quinn got a Golden Globe nomination. Quinn remembers, "He said 'I think those freckles were painted on.' And if you could see me right now in person they were definitely not painted on. I'm a freckled girl, I'm very Irish."

Quinn discussed co-star Carol Burnett (Miss Hannigan) as being a huge lifesaver for her. They are still in touch to this day and even get together for dinners once in a while. Quinn says that Burnett took good care of her on the set and would never let her get in harm's way.

For auditions, director John Huston staged a huge nationwide hunt for the lead in "Annie." The audition process involved 8,000 hopeful little girls over the span of a year. Quinn said she auditioned eight total times and couldn't believe it when she got the part. She was told by search coordinator Garrison True after another screen test.

"He said, 'We found our Annie ' And I said, 'Oh my gosh who is it!?' and he said, 'It's YOU!' [laughing]. 'You're going to be on the "Today Show" tomorrow,'" Quinn recounted. "I was in shock."

"What a great actor to work with," she said of Albert Finney. Finney was beginner in singing. Quinn recalls her fondest memory of Finney's constant singing practice on the sets.

"One of my favorite memories of him is [Albert] learning to really sing for the first time. He did that beautiful version of 'Maybe' ... As he was taking singing lessons on the set, I can remember him with a cigar out of his mouth and going 'la la la la la la la,' pause, 'la la la la la la la."

Quinn has disclosed how when she was sleepy between takes, Finney would tickle her knees to keep her awake when they were sitting in the back of the Duesenberg.

Finney was also a beginner in dance. Quinn also shares how dedicated Finney was to learning the right moves. He would put bottle caps underneath his loafers to practice tap dancing, "He was, like, in it to win it... so adorable."

Carol Burnett, who played the role of the almost always tipsy orphanage warden, Miss Hannigan, was a mother-hen to Quinn and the two keep in touch till date.

"She (Burnett) would help me do my homework on set, cover the hole when I was climbing the bridge (in the final sequence of the film) and just protect me. She was so kind," Broadway.com quoted Quinn as saying.

The memory with Bernadette Peters that Quinn remembers the most is when Peters was struggling with driving a stick shift. "...this New York City girl was having a lot of trouble with that."

Quinn presently serves as an adjunct professor at Monmouth University, New Jersey, whose administration building was used as Warbucks' mansion in the film. However, she is on extended leave as she has also started a band aptly called "The Leapin Lizards," which covers the 50s songs with a modern touch.

Entertainment Weekly asked the former child artist if she still had a closet of red dresses. Quinn replied that she didn't have any but her mother had kept two of the "Annie" dresses for safe keeping...

SOURCE

MY FIVE FAVORITE FILMS OF THE LAST TWENTY YEARS

Everyone who reads my blog knows I love my top five lists, and this is the first entry in a 7 part series of my five favorite movies. I am doing it by decade. For this first article, I am doing my five favorite movies of 1992 through 2012. In my opinion, the quality of movies have truly suffered in the last decade. Special effects and CGI graphics have made movies exciting but not necessarily good. So here are my five favorite movies of the last two decades:

5. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006)
This little independent movie is the most recent movie on my list, but it is definitely a future classic. The film is about this dysfunctional family lead by a delusional father played by Greg Kinnear. The funny thing about the movie is is that by the end the family realizes by the end of the movie that they are not that dysfunctional at all. Alan Arkin deservedly won a Best Supporting Actor award for his scene stealing role as Kinnear’s aging father. Steve Carell is excellent as well, in a more reserved role, as Kinnear’s suicidal brother in law. A great little movie that proves that a good movie can be made in this modern digital era.


4. GLENGARY GLEN ROSS (1992)
This movie barely made the cut since it turns twenty years old this year. The movie has a small cast of about six male actors – but what a cast: Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, and Ed Harris. The whole cast should have been nominated for an Oscar – but only Pacino was and he lost. The film is a truly realistic look and real estate brokers and how cut throat they were. In my opinion this is one of Jack Lemmon’s best roles, and his role as Shelley Levene, a truly poor soul, is one of my favorite roles. The movie did not do much business at the box office, but it is a cult favorite now.

3. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
Adapted from the Stephen King novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, the movie starred Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a banker who spends nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison for the murder of his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence. During his time at the prison, he befriends a fellow inmate, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, and finds himself protected by the guards after the warden begins using him in his money laundering operation. Despite a lukewarm box office reception that barely recouped its budget, the film received favorable reviews from critics, multiple award nominations, and has since enjoyed a remarkable life on DVD and cable.


2. THE GREEN MILE (1999)
This is another adaptation of a Stephen King novel, and like The Shawshank Redemption it proves that King can write more than horror novels. The film starred Tom Hanks and the late Michael Clark Duncan, and it was about prisoners and prison guards in a 1930s jail for death row inmates. Duncan is an inmate accused of murdering two children but in actuality he had a special gift where he could he people. When he was caught with the dying children in his arms, he was in fact trying to save them. Unfortunately, in the 1930s a backwards and uneducated black man did not have much luck for a fair and balanced trial, and he was placed on death row. Tom Hanks played one of the kind guards that realizes that the backwards prisoners had a gift. It is a great movie, and one of the few movies that was as good as the book...if not better.

1.  BIG FISH (2003)
Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors, and not because he makes great films. He really makes fun films, even though in recent years he has become the remake king. This movie was a really big departure for the quirky director. The movie is about a son (Billy Crudup) who all his life has felt distant from his father (Albert Finney). He only remembered the tall tales his father used to tell. In the end while his father is dying the son realizes all of those tall tales had truth behind them. In addition to Crudup and Finney, the cast included Ewan McGregor, Jessica Lange, Danny Devito, and Helen Bonham Carter. On a personal note, the movie came out at a time when a lot of my favorite people in my family were passing away, and for awhile I could not watch the movie. The film is not only a great fable, but it is a fun movie to watch, and I think by far it is the best movie of the last twenty years...


I received a lot of grief from my brother in law for not having a list with Goodfellas (1990) on it. However, my list is for the last twenty years. Here are some honorable mentions though: Forrest Gump (1994), Being John Malkovich (1999), Beyond The Sea (2004), Crash (2005), and Sweeney Todd (2007).

MY FIVE FAVORITE FILMS OF ALL-TIME

I am starting a new series talking about my five favorites in a particular genre. Hopefully this will spark some interest, as well as cause spirited discussion amongst the blog readers. For this first post in the series, I wanted to go big and spotlight my five favorite films of all-time. I have watched many movies from the earliest silent films to today's overbudgeted hits. I don't really consider myself an expert as much as I do a film lover, and these favorite films of mine I can never get tired or watching. If I could only watch five movies, these are the ones I would want to watch:

5. BIG FISH (2003)
Director Tim Burton is mostly known for his overblown remakes. I enjoy his movies though. The movie Big Fish was one of his original masterpieces. The movie centered around a dying father (Albert Finney) who told tall tales to his son. Even though he told tall tales there were truth and lessons in every story he told. I think the reason why this movie touches me everytime I see it is because my father in law died the year this movie came out. It is one of the few movies that can make my wife cry.

4. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944)
Because Cary Grant was so good looking, I think his acting ability was largely overlooked. He could do it all from drama to comedy, and the movie Arsenic And Old Lace is the best example of his comedy. As he discovers his loving aunts are really murderers his own life is turned upside down, and you can see the change in Cary Grant just by looking at the craziness he conveys in his eyes. Raymond Massey also gives the best performance of his long career as well.

3. WHITE HEAT (1949)
Like Cary Grant, James Cagney could play any role. However, Cagney's best role was as ruthless gangsters. There was no one more crazed and ruthless than the character of Cody Jarrett. The character had it all - a mother complex, mental illness, and a thirst to kill. The ending of the movie with Cagney screaming "top of the world, ma" is one of the best scenes ever filmed in Hollywood.

2. GOODFELLAS (1990)
It seems like Goodfellas is on television all of the time now. It is one of the movies that when it is on, I have to watch it. The film is nearly perfect especially Robert DeNiro and Ray Liotta as mobsters. Liotta plays mobster turned rat Henry Hill. I got to see what the real Henry Hill looked like, and he was no Ray Liotta but the film was great. The movie makes me wish I was more than 25% percent Italian so I could be "made" as well.

1. JAWS (1975)
Yes, this movie is my favorite film of all-time. I have seen it a total of 70 times now. When I first saw Jaws as a child, I was afraid to let my legs dangle over my bed at night for fear that a shark would come around and bite my feet. I grew to love this film, and the best part of the movie is not seeing the shark. The shark was broken so much for young director Steven Speilberg that he had to rewrite most of the film. It made for a different movie, and probably made the film as suspenseful as it was. As for the acting, you can not get much better than Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss. The film continues to remind me to never go back into the water!