TheSidewinder Posted August 16, 2008 Posted August 16, 2008 Great minds think alike. All three of those rank right up a the top of my list of favorites. Also right up there is Gone With The Wind. But I believe that my #1 all-time favorite would have to be The Longest Day. It had a HUGE cast of genuine "A-Listers" from the 50's and 60's: John Wayne, Richard Burton, Eddie Albert, Red Buttons, Karl Malden, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and too many more to remember. The cast list alone would have been a good candidate for an entire Academy Awards year. If you have ANY interest in movies that are also successful and authentic documentaries of World War II, this would be one you'd want to see in its entirety. It's also a VERY long film. Taken from the book with the same title, by Cornelius Ryan, which tells the story of the June 6th, 1944 Allied Invasion of Normandy, it follows the story line as faithfully as it can given the time constraints. It would have been triple its length if it told every story in the book, but it did a wonderful job of telling the best of those vignettes. And a bit of trivia that is particularly well-timed: Most of us know Basil Rathbone (and Nigel Bruce) as "Sherlock Holmes" (and Doctor Watson) from the movies in the 40's. But did you know that Basil Rathbone was actually a British Olympian? And his sport? Fencing! No one did any of HIS scenes in Captain Blood. I'm pretty sure he was the choreographer for ALL the sword-fights, but he definitely coached Errol Flynn in their famous scene. And Bullitt? Yes, an absolute classic and nearly timeless. It's as good today as it was at its release.
LGM Posted August 17, 2008 Posted August 17, 2008 I really enjoy watching older films, lots of the good classics (odd for my age) like casablanca, longest day, if I weren't so tired I'd keep going. I really enjoyed Lord of the Rings movies, I used to be really into it (read the trilogy plus the hobbit in third grade) and read some of Tolkien's other books like The Silmarillion. I wish that the movies had kept to the books more, but then again that would make for one LONG ass movie. I keep blanking on other movies.
lostfido Posted August 17, 2008 Posted August 17, 2008 This many replies and no Grand Prix, I actually thought it was Gran Prix. I think everyone should see this film, escpecially race fans. James Garner and Eva Marie Saint are excellent, but the real deal is the music. I'm still a F1 fan and this movie started it all for me when I was just a punk little kid, thanks to my dad who thought if you could build a better mousetrap than build it!!!!!! Rather than the way everyone does it now, everyone could try to build the most extreme car they could think of. Anyone remember the 6 wheel car? Tyrell I think
Swede Posted August 18, 2008 Posted August 18, 2008 Has "Braveheart" been mentioned? For all-out primitive combat, intrigue, and the final climactic FREEEEEDOM moment, it grabs you. Doesn't matter what country you live in, the sentiments are universal. I need to revisit "The Longest Day." I love accurately made war movies.
TheSidewinder Posted August 18, 2008 Posted August 18, 2008 Grand Prix is a classic, I agree, as is Braveheart. I'm also posting a followup to wonder if I was wrong about Basil Rathbone having represented Great Britain in one of the Olympics. I did a quick Google search and found that, while he was considered to be a brilliant and highly-skilled swordsman, there was no hard reference to him having competed in, or even trained for, the Olympics. Hmmm.... A former boss of mine, who was himself a skilled fencer (though not of Olympics caliber), told me that "fact" many years ago. And now I wonder if HE was right...... And another followup to "The Longest Day". I forgot to mention that it wasn't just the Allied forces that were represented by top-notch American actors. A huge number of French- and German-born actors portrayed historic figures from the book. Off the top of my head, I can only recall one quickly: Kurt Jurgens. Adding to the overall "flavor" of the film was that each actor spoke their respective native language, and not that typical Hollywod Accented English ("Sign ze papers, olt man"). The film was subtitled whenever a foreign language was spoken. This has been an interesting thread......
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