R.I.P. ROBERT OSBORNE + TOP TEN MOVIES

I was saddened by the passing of Turner Classic Movies' host Robert Osborne last week. TCM is my default station (even before I check the news on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox), and the TG had noticed that he hadn't been on the air in quite a while. So when the announcement of his death at the age of 84 came, it wasn't a big surprise.

Osborne was a real movie lover, and I think that's why he was held in such high esteem by his audience, myself included. We all love old movies – maybe now more so than ever, in this messed-up time we're living through – and I go back to my favorites regularly.

I've watched my favorite movies many times over the years. I saw them in revival houses such as the Thalia and the Elgin and in Mr. Park's Film Studies class at Sarah Lawrence. I had them on VHS tape, and now I have them on DVD, often with "special features." I can watch a favorite movie repeatedly, just as I can listen to a favorite record or view a favorite painting many times over. With a really good movie, repetition only increases my enjoyment. And if I can see something new in a movie that I've seen many times previously, I know I'm dealing with a real Work of Art.

The TG often quotes Theodore Roosevelt, saying, "COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY." And there is some truth in that, but it conflicts with man's enduring compulsion to Make Lists – especially lists of the Top Ten of things.

So, in memory of Robert Osborne, here are my Top Ten movies:

MY TOP TEN MOVIES

1. Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Welles) – The only movie that stays 100% fresh, every time you see it. A miracle of structure, a treasure-trove of character acting. A while ago, the TG and I watched it with Roger Ebert's and Peter Bogdanovich's commentaries. Very illuminating, especially Ebert's.

2. The Godfather (1972, dir. Coppola) – And not just because it was the first date that the TG went on. Great storytelling and a banquet of wonderful acting. But it's not flawless: the mother's role – Morgana King as Carmela Corleone – should have been MUCH bigger and more significant.

3. The Godfather II (1974, dir. Coppola) – And not just because the TG worked on it in her very early days at Paramount. It's deeper and more intricately structured than the first, and as satisfying.

4. Casablanca (1943, dir. Curtiz) – A model of artistic concision. Filled with nothing but highlights ... and lots of music ... and unforgettable dialogue.

5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962, dir. Lean) – No movie "takes me away" like this one. Every time it comes on, I get sucked in.

6. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, dir. Wyler) – The most human of epics. Filled with truthful, unafraid moments.

7. My Darling Clementine (1946, dir. Ford) – My favorite Western (Roger Ebert's, too) by my favorite director.

8. La Grande Illusion (1937, dir. Renoir) – Both a "movie-movie" and a great human statement.

9. Double Indemnity (1944, dir. Wilder) – No one has the versatility of Wilder. Some of the best dialogue ever written – by Wilder and Raymond Chandler – and one of the worst wigs (on Barbara Stanwyck.)

10. Seven Samurai (1954, dir. Kurosawa) – Another movie to get lost in. With wide scope and simple human detail.

And just bubbling under the Top Ten –

The Big Sleep (1946, dir. Hawks)
La Dolce Vita (1960, dir. Fellini)
Paths Of Glory (1957, dir. Kubrick)
The Third Man (1949, dir, Reed)

THE OTHER MOVIES I CAN'T PASS BY

La Strada ... Goodfellas ... The Big Lebowski ... Fargo ... Secrets and Lies ... Tootsie ... Strangers on a Train ... Pulp Fiction ... In America ... Jaws ... Dr. Strangelove ... The Hustler ... The Philadelphia Story ... The Maltese Falcon ... Sunset Boulevard ... The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Here are a few other prominent Top Ten lists --

Martin Scorsese
"8 1/2" (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
"Ashes And Diamonds" (1958, dir. Andrzej Wajda)
"Citizen Kane" (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
"The Leopard" (1963, dir. Luchino Visconti)
"Paisan" (1946, dir. Roberto Rossellini)
"The Red Shoes" (1948, dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)
"The River" (1951, dir. Jean Renoir)
"Salvatore Giuliano" (1962, dir. Francesco Rosi)
"The Searchers" (1956, dir. John Ford)
"Ugetsu Monogatari" (1953, dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
"Vertigo" (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Woody Allen
"Bicycle Thieves" (1948, dir. Vittorio De Sica)
"The Seventh Seal" (1957, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
"Citizen Kane" (1941, dir. Orson Welles
"Amarcord" (1973, dir. Federico Fellini
"8 1/2" (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
"The 400 Blows" (1959, dir. Francois Truffaut)
"Rashomon" (1950, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
"La Grande Illusion" (1937, dir. Jean Renoir)
"The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie" (1972, dir. Luis Bunuel)
"Paths Of Glory" (1957, dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Francis Ford Coppola
"Ashes And Diamonds" (1958, dir. Andrzej Wajda)
"The Best Years Of Our Lives" (1946, dir William Wyler)
"I Vitteloni" (1953, dir. Federico Fellini)
"The Bad Sleep Well (1960, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
"Yojimbo" (1961, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
"Singin' In The Rain (1952, dir. Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
"The King Of Comedy" (1983, dir. Martin Scorsese)
"Raging Bull" (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
"The Apartment" (1960, dir. Billy Wilder)
"Sunrise" (1927, dir. F.W. Murnau)

Michael Mann
"Apocalypse Now" (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
"Battleship Potemkin" (1925, dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
"Citizen Kane" (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
"Avatar" (2009, dir. James Cameron)
"Dr. Strangelove" (1964, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
"Biutiful" (2010, dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
"My Darling Clementine" (1946, dir. John Ford)
"The Passion Of Joan Of Arc" (1928, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer)
"Raging Bull" (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
"The Wild Bunch" (1969, dir. Sam Peckinpah)

Quentin Tarantino
"The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" (1966, dir. Sergio Leone)
"Apocalypse Now" (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
"The Bad News Bears" (1976, dir. Michael Ritchie)
"Carrie" (1976, dir. Brian DePalma)
"Dazed And Confused" (1993, dir. Richard Linklater)
"The Great Escape" (1963, dir. John Sturges)
"His Girl Friday" (1940, dir. Howard Hawks)
"Jaws" (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
"Pretty Maids All In A Row (1971, dir. Roger Vadim)
"Rolling Thunder" (1977, dir. John Flynn)
"Sorcerer" (1977, dir. William Friedkin)
"Taxi Driver" (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)

Roger Ebert

"Aguirre, Wrath of God" (1972, dir. Herzog)
"Apocalypse Now" (1979, dir. Coppola)
"Citizen Kane" (1941, dir. Welles)
"La Dolce Vita" (Fellini)  (1960, dir. Fellini)
"The General" (1926, dir. Keaton)
"Raging Bull" (1980, dir. Scorsese)
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968, dir. Kubrick)
"Tokyo Story" (1953, dir. Ozu)
"The Tree of Life" (2011, dir. Malick)
"Vertigo" (1958, dir. Hitchcock)

These are all good lists, with a few eyebrow-raisers.

I am thankful for the miracle of movies. I skipped last week's blog as a birthday present to myself and because I couldn't stand to write another anti-Trump blog. And now, while Trump and the Republicans scheme to weaken our already defective health care system, I'm torn between blogging about that and about something I love -- like these movies.

This week, I went for love. Next week, who knows?

Here are some snacks from the Candy Counter –

CITIZEN KANE

The original trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyv19bg0scg

"How to run a newspaper"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhb3U2cONs&t=6s

The party scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDO_bh4G5zo

Orson Welles – a revealing interview from 1960 about "Citizen Kane"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQYazeJA-Oo

THE GODFATHER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSQqv2UuvC0

-- Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DZNDEqcSi0

-- "I'm Moe Greene!!"