My book thread didn't generate much attention, so here's my movie thread. The idea is, if you were to recommend only one movie by a director, or starring actor or actress, or even screenwriter, producer, or what not, what would be your recommendations?
Here's a few from me:
If you only ever see one ... movie, see ... .
Danny Kaye (actor), The Court Jester (possibly my favorite movie of all time)
Don Bluth (director), Titan A.E.
Jackie Chan (actor), Legend of the Drunken Master
Peter Jackson (director), The Frightners (but if you were to see three, I'd say the LotR trilogy)
Kenneth Branagh (screenwriter, actor, director), Hamlet
Ang Lee (dircter, producer), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Tobey Maguire (actor), Seabiscuit
John Wayne (actor), Big Jake... what else?
Contributor
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Oo fun!
My short list would be something like this:
If you only ever see one ... movie, see...
Humphrey Bogart (actor), Casablanca
Tom Cruise (actor), Last Samurai
Matt Damon (actor), Good Will Hunting
Tom Hanks (actor), Saving Private Ryan
Jet Li (actor), Hero
George Lucas (screenwriter), Raiders of the Lost Ark
Ridley Scott (director), Blackhawk Down
Steven Spielberg (director), Schindler's List
Bruce Willis (actor), Tears of the Sun (but if you were to see three, I'd say the Die Hard trilogy)
...of your list, Big Jake, Kenneth Branagh proves the trickiest I think. All of his Shakespeare adaptations were quite good (even if they did deviate occasionally from the Bard). Hamlet is awesome, but I'm biased toward Henry V because it's my favorite WS play. Thus the discussion begins. ;)
Henry V? I don't think I considered it as my top choice for Kenneth Branagh, though I know I should have. Still, I think my second pick for Branagh would be Much Ado About Nothing... I think I enjoy the comedies over the tragedies. I just thought that Hamlet was great. I wish it were on DVD.
You left a great list yourself. Casablanca is another all time favorite.
Here's one I should have thrown in:
Gregory Peck (actor), The Guns of Navarone
OOh I'd definitely have to agree with the Danny Kaye/Court Jester bit, absolutely wonderful movie.
My suggestions:
Romero - Night of the Living Dead (the color remake)
Bruce Willis - Hudson Hawk
Bruce Campbell - Army of Darkness (with the Evil Dead's thrown in for good measure)
Jet Li/Michelle Yeoh - Twin Warriors
I'm sure there's more but my brain is sleeping.
I have Hudson Hawk on DVD, and I almost put it on my list. I'm glad to see someone else out there that likes it as much as I do.
I would say THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy! They should count as 1 movie!
If I couldn't get away with that I'd say BRAVEHEART.
If you only ever see one movie with...
Muppets in it (actors?), see "Muppet Treasure Island".
A treasure map in it (uhh...prop?) see "Goonies".
Tim Curry in it (human male actor) see "Clue" (after Muppet Treasure Island).
Quentin Tarantino directing, see "Kill Bill vol. 1".
Kenneth Branagh just talking (voice actor?) see "The Road to El Dorado".
Jennifer Connely (human female actress) see "Labyrinth".
Zombies (are they creatures or objects?) see "Pirates of the Caribbean".
If you only ever see one movie, see "The Princess Bride".
Hmm, I'm sensing a theme in my picks...
Edit: I can spell!
If you only ever see one movie featuring each of these knighted actors, see ...
Lawrence Olivier in Spartacus
Richard Burton in Where Eagles Dare
Alec Guiness in Bridge on the River Kwai (sorry Star Wars fans)
Michael Caine in The Man Who Would Be King
Ralph Richardson in Dragonslayer
Anthony Hopkins in Lion in Winter (actually, see Lion in Winter for O'Toole, but he's not knighted)
Steven Spielberg in The Blues Brothers (cameo)
Maggie Smith in Harry Potter (tough, tough choice, Maggie is great in everything she does, including close runnerup Evil Under the Sun).
Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love
Julie Andrews in Sound of Music
Elizabeth Taylor in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
John Gielgud in Chariots of Fire
Christopher Guest in The Princess Bridee
Sean Connery in Wind and the Lion
Ricardo Montalban in Wrath of Khan
and Michelle Yeoh (knighted in Malaysia) in Crouching Tiger, HIdden Dragon.
(Christopher Guest was knighted?!?)
-Vic.
Guest's father is a English Lord, and Guest himself is a baron or something or other because of that ... which, incidentally, means that Mrs. Guest (Jamie Lee Curtis) is really Lady Jamie, which really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
So Lady Jamie's best film would be ....
... True Lies (sorry Halloween fans)
My votes:
Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects
Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs
Charlize Theron in Monster
Sean Penn in Mystic River
Joe Pesci in Goodfellas
Robert Shaw in Jaws
Mel Gibson in Braveheart
Kevin Bacon in Sleepers
Stephen Rea in Citizen X
Leo DiCaprio in Titanic
Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog
Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List
Dennis Farina in Paparazzi
Here's a somewhat morbid one. . . If you only see one movie with an interesting on-screen death, here would be my picks:
- Paul Reubens in Bully the Vampire Slayer
- Mel Gibson in Braveheart (sniff)
- The guy at the end of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (heh heh)
- Evil Ash in Army of Darkness
- Rutger Hauer in Bladerunner
- The shark in Jaws
- Sean Bean in Fellowship of the Ring
- The bad guy (don't know the name, but the one who drinks the wrong cup) in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Bill in Kill Bill vol. 2
- All 3 dogs in A Fish Called Wanda
- The Bridgekeeper in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- The 6-fingered man in the Princess Bride
Oops.. I guess those were multiple movies.. I just reread the posts...
If I could just pick one bad death, I'd pick the lame Gamemaster in Nightmare on Elm Stree 3: Dream Warriors.
:)
If you only see one (non-StarWars) film...
With Harrison Ford, see Witness
With Mark Hamill, see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
With Carrie Fisher, see the Blues Brothers
Directed by George Lucas, see American Graffiti
With James Earl Jones, see Field of Dreams
With Alec Guinness, see Murder by Death