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To read Part 1, click here. Read Part 2 here. Read Part 3 here.
It's Saturday night, right? and you're sitting on the couch saying, "What do you want to watch?" and the person next to you says, "I don't know, what do you want to watch?" Well, cut it out and pick a movie off this list! The first one you haven't seen!
Remember: Life is too short not to watch a movie.
Singin' in the Rain (1952). Musical Comedy. Silent film stars struggle to adapt to the sound era. Dir. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. Starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagan. More Donen: On the Town, Funny Face, Charade.
Rear Window (1954). Suspense. A bored photographer can't convince anyone he's seen a murder from his apartment window. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Wendell Corey, Raymond Burr. More Hitchcock: The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie.
Ben-Hur (1959). Historical Action Drama. In the time of Christ, a Jewish prince seeks revenge against the Roman officer who sentenced him to life as a galley slave. Dir. William Wyler. Starring Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith. More Wyler: Dodsworth, Wuthering Heights, Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Heiress, Roman Holiday.
Rio Bravo (1959). Western. A sheriff and his alcoholic deputy square off against a wealthy landowner and his gang of hired cutthroats. Dir. Howard Hawks. Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, Angie Dickinson. Ricky Nelson, Claude Akins. More Hawks: Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, Ball of Fire, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Red River, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962). War Bio-pic. A glory-seeking soldier unites the Arab nations against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Dir. David Lean. Starring Peter O'Toole, Omar Shariff, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy. More Lean: Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India.
Goldfinger (1964). Spy Thriller. Super spy James Bond hunts a gold-obsessed industrialist, his hat-throwing butler and Pussy Galore. Dir. Guy Hamilton. Starring Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Fröbe, Shirley Eaton, Harold Sakata. More Bond: From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, License to Kill, GoldenEye, Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall.
A Hard Day's Night (1964). Musical Comedy. On their way to a show in London, the Fab Four and a grumpy grandfather see a train and a room, a car and a room, and a room and a room. Dir. Richard Lester. Starring The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti, Anna Quayle. More Musicals: Gold Diggers of 1933, Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, Funny Face, West Side Story (1961), The Sound of Music, Funny Girl, Cabaret, Grease, The Blues Brothers, Victor/Victoria, Moulin Rouge, Chicago, The Greatest Showman. See also Top Hat and Astaire and Rogers.
Mary Poppins (1964). Musical Fantasy. A practically-perfect nanny whips an unhappy British family into shape. Dir. Robert Stevenson. Starring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Ed Wynn. More Walt Disney: Steamboat Willie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Lady and the Tramp, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Spaghetti Western. A bounty hunter, a hit man and a criminal lowlife search for buried treasure during the American Civil War. Dir. Sergio Leone. Starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach. More Leone: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time in America.
The Endless Summer (1966). Documentary. Two surfers circle the globe in search of the perfect wave. Dir. Bruce Brown. Starring Mike Hynson, Robert August. More Documentaries: Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896), Nanook of the North (1922), The Memphis Belle (1944 and 2016 restoration), Woodstock, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, Hoop Dreams, When We Were Kings, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, The Cold Blue, Apollo 11 (2019), Summer of Soul, Get Back.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Science Fiction. Apes and astronauts encounter a mysterious monolith to the sounds of Richard and Johann Strauss. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Douglas Rain. More Kubrick: The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining.
Tomorrow: Part 5.
To read Part 1, click here. Read Part 2 here.
Have you ever noticed how much romantic comedy and film noir have in common? They're basically light and dark sides of the same coin — beautiful people doing stupid things for reasons they can't quite comprehend. If at the end they get married, it's romantic comedy. They die? Film noir.
I mean, look at The Philadelphia Story and Out of the Past. One is a classic rom-com, the other is the quintessential noir. But if you look at their plots from outer space, they're the same story — a jilted lover falls back into the orbit of the woman who ruined his life. One ends in marriage, the other in rivers of blood.
Seriously. Check them out.
The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Social Drama. Okies from Muskogee head to California in search of the American Dream. Dir. John Ford. Starring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine. More Ford: Stagecoach, They Were Expendable, My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.
The Philadelphia Story (1940). Romantic Comedy. A snooty blueblood juggles three men on the eve of her wedding. Dir. George Cukor. Starring Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Ruth Hussey, Virginia Weidler. More Cukor: Dinner at Eight, Holiday (1938), The Women, Gaslight, Adam's Rib, A Star Is Born (1954), My Fair Lady.
Citizen Kane (1941). Drama. A wealthy publishing magnate gets — and loses — everything he ever wanted. Dir. Orson Welles. Starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane. More Welles: The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger, The Lady From Shanghai, The Third Man (actor), Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight, A Man for All Seasons (actor).
The Maltese Falcon (1941). Crime Mystery. A private detective pries a priceless black bird loose from a swell lot of thieves while searching for his partner's killer. Dir. John Huston. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Elish Cook, Jr. More Huston: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, The Night of the Iguana, Chinatown (actor), The Man Who Would Be King.
Sullivan's Travels (1941). Screwball Comedy. A Hollywood director, longing to make a "serious" picture, hits the road in search of the real America. Dir. Preston Sturges. Starring Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, William Demarest. More Sturges: Easy Living (writer), The Great McGinty, The Lady Eve, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Hail the Conquering Hero.
Casablanca (1942). War Romance. A cynical saloon keeper bumps into Nazis and his ex-girlfriend in war-torn Morocco. Dir. Michael Curtiz. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Dooley Wilson, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall. More Curtiz: Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Angels with Dirty Faces, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce, White Christmas.
Now, Voyager (1942). Romance. A dowdy spinster wriggles out from under her mother's thumb and finds love and a decent wardrobe. Dir. Irving Rapper. Starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper. More Davis: The Petrified Forest, Jezebel, Dark Victory, The Little Foxes, The Man Who Came to Dinner, All About Eve, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte.
Double Indemnity (1944). Film Noir. An insurance salesman commits murder mostly just to see if he can get away with it. Dir. Billy Wilder. Starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson. More Wilder: Ninotchka (writer), Ball of Fire (writer), Five Graves to Cairo, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, Stalag 17, Sabrina, Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment.
Out of the Past (1947). Film Noir. A private eye falls in love with a woman fleeing her gangster boyfriend. Dir. Jacques Tourneur. Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas. More Film Noir: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Murder My Sweet, Detour, Scarlet Street, The Killers, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Crossfire, Kiss of Death, The Lady from Shanghai, The Big Clock, Champion, They Live By Night, The Set-Up, White Heat, Sunset Boulevard, Gun Crazy, In a Lonely Place, His Kind of Woman, The Narrow Margin, The Big Heat, Pickup on South Street, Kiss Me Deadly, The Night of the Hunter, Sweet Smell of Success.
The Third Man (1949). British Noir. A bumptious American writer searches for his pal's killer in post-war Vienna. Dir. Carol Reed. Starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard. More British Movies: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Henry V, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob.
Tomorrow: Part 4.
To read Part 1, click here.
To help with your New Year's Resolution to watch a movie a week, here are the first ten thumbnail descriptions of the films I've suggested. In case you've seen all these, I'm also offering up related titles. And if you've seen all of them, you shouldn't be reading this blog, you should be writing it.
The General (1926). Silent Action Comedy. A lovelorn engineer battles spies who hijack his train during the American Civil War. Dir. Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman. Starring Buster Keaton, Marion Mack. More Keaton: One Week, The Boat, Cops, Our Hospitality, Sherlock, Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman (actor).
Trouble in Paradise (1932). Sophisticated Comedy. Thieves fall in love and bilk a beautiful, rich widow out of her fortune. Dir. Ernst Lubitsch. Starring Herbert Marshall, Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis. More Lubitsch: Design for Living, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, To Be Or Not To Be, Heaven Can Wait (1943).
King Kong (1933). Horror. During a long weekend in New York, a giant ape takes an old girlfriend to the top of the Empire State Building. Dir. Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot. More Monsters: The Thing From Another World, The War of the Worlds, Godzilla, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Alien, John Carpenter's The Thing, Predator.
It Happened One Night (1934). Romantic Comedy. A scheming reporter falls for a rich, runaway bride. Dir. Frank Capra. Starring Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly. More Capra: The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Lady for a Day, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, It's a Wonderful Life.
The Thin Man (1934). Mystery Comedy. A retired detective, his socialite wife and their wire haired terrier solve a string of murders. Dir. W.S. Van Dyke. Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Asta, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendelton. More Powell: The Last Command, Jewel Robbery, One Way Passage, After the Thin Man, Libeled Lady, My Man Godfrey, I Love You Again, Life with Father. More Loy: The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Horror. As the song says, "man must have his mate" — even one stitched together from spare body parts! Dir. James Whale. Starring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Ernest Thesiger. More Early Horror: The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Unknown (1927), The Man Who Laughs (1928), Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freaks (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Cat People (1942), I Walked With a Zombie, The Body Snatcher (1945).
A Night at the Opera (1935). Comedy. A shady promoter and two stowaways disrupt an opera in the name of love. Dir. Sam Wood. Starring the Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Sig Ruman, Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones. More Marx Bros.: Animal Crackers, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, A Day at the Races.
Top Hat (1935). Musical Comedy. Astaire and Rogers sing and dance their way through a Hollywood sound stage named "Venice, Italy." Dir. Mark Sandrich. Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, Erik Rhodes, Helen Broderick. More Astaire and Rogers: The Gay Divorcee, Swing Time, Shall We Dance.
Modern Times (1936). Silent Comedy. The Little Tramp gets ground up in the gears of the modern world. Dir. Charlie Chaplin. Starring Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard. More Chaplin: The Immigrant, A Dog's Life, Shoulder Arms, The Kid, The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights.
The Wizard of Oz (1939). Musical Fantasy. A farm girl in red shoes makes friends and confronts an evil witch in the Technicolor land of Oz. Dir. Victor Fleming. Starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Frank Morgan. More Children's Classics: A Plumbing We Will Go, National Velvet, The Muppet Movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, Babe, A Little Princess (1995), The Parent Trap (1998), Freaky Friday (2003), The Harry Potter Franchise, Paddington, Paddington 2.
Tomorrow: Part 3 (The 1940s)
Having trouble coming up with a New Year's Resolution? Want to eat right, exercise more, make friends, change the world — but it's just too much work? I know how you feel, buddy! So how about a resolution that requires no more effort than what you're doing right now, sitting on the couch watching television?
But instead of that thousandth rerun of The Big Bang Theory, do what I do: watch a movie!
That's right, watch a movie — it's easier than reading a book, less aggravating than following the news, and more virtuous than doing nothing at all. Besides, I can't tell you how many people have said to me, "Monkey, I sure wish I knew as much about movies as you do but I don't know where to start!" (Fewer than two but more than none, if I had to guess.) Well, now you can do something about it — with no effort at all!
Heck, you don't even have to think up the movies. Because the Monkey is a full-service blog, I've done the thinking for you and come up with some suggestions. 52 of them!
Why 52, you ask?
52 weeks in the year, of course. A movie a week. Anybody can do practically anything once a week. Why, I manage to skip the gym every single day — what's once a week?!?
It's a diverse list chockful of fun, entertaining films — nothing dreary, no heavy lifting — covering many genres and time periods, from the silent era to the present day. There's no more than one movie from any given director and where practicable, I limited repeat appearances by lead actors.
And because I figure you're a risk adverse bunch, all the movies are in English.
(My overseas readers needn't worry, however. As a bonus, I have also listed twelve International feature films — one a month — for those of you who can never get enough of a good thing.)
My suggestions are grouped chronologically:
1920s - 1930s
The General * Trouble in Paradise * King Kong * It Happened One Night * The Thin Man * Bride of Frankenstein * A Night at the Opera * Top Hat * Modern Times * The Wizard of Oz
1940s
The Grapes of Wrath * The Philadelphia Story * Citizen Kane * The Maltese Falcon * Sullivan's Travels * Casablanca * Now, Voyager * Double Indemnity * Out of the Past * The Third Man
1950s - 1960s
Singin' in the Rain * Rear Window * Ben-Hur * Rio Bravo * Lawrence of Arabia * Goldfinger * A Hard Day's Night * Mary Poppins * The Good, the Bad and the Ugly * The Endless Summer * 2001: A Space Odyssey
1970s - 1980s
The Godfather * The Sting * Chinatown * The Outlaw Josey Wales * Annie Hall * Raiders of the Lost Ark * The Terminator * The Princess Bride * Bull Durham
1990s - present
Goodfellas * Malcolm X * Groundhog Day * Pulp Fiction * The Shawshank Redemption * Toy Story * The Big Lebowski * Lost in Translation * The Grand Budapest Hotel * Get Out * Jojo Rabbit * Little Women
International Films
Nosferatu (1922) * M (1931) * Rashomon * Tokyo Story * The Seventh Seal * The 400 Blows * La Dolce Vita * Wings of Desire * In the Mood for Love * Amelie * Spirited Away * Pan's Labyrinth
Stream them, buy them, check them out from your local library (if you still have one). Watch them in any order, one a week or in a single tushy-numbing marathon. Whatever floats your boat! Why, I'll bet you a buck you've already seen some of them, maybe even all of them! See how easy this is?!?
But I promise that if you see them all, by the end of the year, you too will be able to fake your way through any conversation about classic movies. And isn't that what life is all about — convincing people you have a clue what you're talking about when you really don't?
Starting tomorrow, I'll post one-line descriptions of each movie — to make this even easier! Because watching movies should never feel like work.
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