Friday, January 2, 2009

12 Angry Men and a Lady

Maybe being on a jury just seems so glamorous to me because my friend Sally was recently on one with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Thom Filicia.

But I just watched what could easily be one of my top five favorite movies from the AFI Top 100 List (Life List item #75). 12 Angry Men. 1957. Starrying Henry Fonda. Black-and-white (dang I love B&W movies). Absolutely riveting. I picked it tonight because I have a lot to do and thought the plot sounded interesting enough to keep my attention while I cleaned my apartment and finished up a few things. WRONG. I couldn't look away. In fact, I had my dinner finishing up as I started the movie and I ended up eating it cold!


Here's an attempt at my top five movies of the 40 I've seen on the list (in no order between them):
12 Angry Men
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
West Side Story
To Kill a Mockingbird
Vertigo
Honorable mention to the Godfathers though . . . I liked those way more than I expected to


And here are five I could have gone without seeing (oh boy, I know I'm opening myself up to some serious backlash):
Raging Bull
Dr. Strangelove
Midnight Cowboy
A Streetcar Named Desire (not so bad, and definitely at the very least worth it to see a hot young Marlon Brando)
Raiders of the Lost Ark


And here's the most up-to-date:
1. Citizen Kane (1941) WATCHED SENIOR YEAR IN COLLEGE
2. The Godfather (1972) WATCHED 09-30-07
3. Casablanca (1942) WATCHED 09-08-07
4. Raging Bull (1980) WATCHED 04-01-08
5. Singin' in the Rain (1952) WATCHED 12-31-08

6. Gone with the Wind (1939) READ BOOK FIRST!
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler's List (1993) NEED TO REWATCH ITS BEEN AWHILE
9. Vertigo (1958) WATCHED 01-05-08
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939) WATCHED MANY MANY TIMES

11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960) WATCHED 8-3-08
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
117. The Graduate (1967) WATCHED 1-08
18. The General (1927) WATCHED 05-12-08
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) NEED TO REWATCH SINCE ITS BEEN AWHILE
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959) WATCHED 2-08
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) — READ BOOK FIRST!
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) WATCHED MANY MANY TIMES
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) WATCHED WHEN I WAS YOUNGER
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) WATCHED 9-10-07

27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944) WATCHED 12-5-07
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974) WATCHED 10-08-07
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) REREAD BOOK FIRST!
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) WATCHED MANY MANY TIMES
35. Annie Hall (1977) WATCHED 9-22-07

36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964) WATCHED 9-2307
40 The Sound of Music (1965) WATCHED MANY MANY TIMES

41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969) WATCHED 12-14-08
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934) WATCHED 12-30-08
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) WATCHED 12-18-08

48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) WATCHED IN THEATRES
51. West Side Story (1961) WATCHED MANY MANY TIMES
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. The Deer Hunter (1978)
54. MASH (1970) WATCHED ON 10-6-07
55. North by Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975) WATCHED WHEN I WAS YOUNGER
57. Rocky (1976) WATCHED ON 10-1-07
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973) WATCHED 2-08-08
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) WATCHED 9-29-07
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982) WATCHED 9-23-07
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971) READ BOOK FIRST!
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998) WATCHED IN THEATRES
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) WATCHED MANY MANY TIMES
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967) WATCHED 9-14-08, MAY NEED TO REWATCH, DON'T REMEMBER MUCH (I WAS PROBABLY MULTI-TASKING)
76. Forrest Gump (1994) WATCHED MANY MANY TIMES

77. All the President's Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997) WATCHED IN THE THEATRES WHEN IT CAME OUT
84. Easy Rider (1969) WATCHED 10-31-07

85. A Night at the Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957) WATCHED ON 1-2-09
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie's Choice (1982) — REREAD BOOK FIRST!
92. Goodfellas (1990)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994) REWATCHED 9-27-07
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989) WATCHED 4-08
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)
100. Ben-Hur (1959)

3 comments:

Jess Wehrman said...

Toy Story is a GREAT film.

Anonymous said...

You mean to tell me that you have never watched "Gone with the Wind"?!
What kind of family were you raised in anyway?

skydiving in stilettos said...

Nor did my parents have me see Star Wars. What gives?!?