Saturday, June 23, 2007

Top Ten Favorite Movies

The other night my daughter and I watched the TV special, AFI's Top 100 Movies of All Time. It was fun guessing the movies on the list. I did pretty good, impressing my daughter. I agreed with some of those selected and not with others. When my daughter asked me what my favorite movies of all time were, I made my own top ten list. After I finished, I realized my list said a lot about me as a person (and not just that I grew up watching old movies on TV).

1. Spencer's Mountain
2. Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1964 version)
3. Beauty and the Beast (Disney animated version)
4. Star Wars (the original)
5. Planet of the Apes (the original)
6. Little Mermaid (Disney animated version)
7. Dirty Dancing
8. The Quiet Man
9. Black Beauty (1994 version)
10. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) version

All right. So, what does this list say about me? Certainly that I love movies — and books for that matter — with a happy ending or, at least, a hopeful ending. The AFI's number one movie was Citizen Kane, and I certainly didn't think that movie had a happy ending. Every movie on my list is either a romance or has a strong romantic element. Yes, even Black Beauty has his horse girlfriend (grin). The movies I like best aren't necessarily deep or thought provoking but rather they're entertaining, which is how I like my books, too. This isn't to say I'm not a deep person, rather that movies are an escape for me.

How did I choose these movies? Well, despite having seen them again and again (the top two 25 or more times), I'd sit down and watch them today if you asked me. Also, they each evoke a strong emotional response in me, either making me cry or giving me chills.

Now I'm curious. What are some of your all time favorite movies and why?

6 comments:

Kathleen said...

While You Were Sleeping
Follow the Stars Home

Both family friendly movies that have humor, love and friendship.

Anonymous said...

My faves in no particular order:

M*A*S*H - the movie
Star Trek - The Wrath Of Khan
Star Wars - the original
The Mummy - the remake
Disney's Mulan
Apollo 13
The Lord of the Rings - all 3
To Sir With Love - Sidney Poitier!
The Sound Of Music
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady
Tootsie - Dustin Hoffman in drag!
The Good The Bad and The Ugly - I've always been crazy about Lee Van Cleef who played The Bad.
The Outlaw Josie Wales
Sargent York

Cheers, Julie Rowe

Anonymous said...

My favorites of all time are:

1) Steel Magnolias
2) Fried Green Tomatoes
3) Imitation of Life
4) Beauty and The Beast
5) Remember The Titans
6) John Q
7) Gone With The Wind
8) Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte
9) An Officer and a Gentleman
10) St. Elmo's Fire

In case you didn't notice there is a definite southern theme in there. The others are jsut ones that either touch me in some way or I find totally entertaining.

Unknown said...

Grease
Ever After
The Illusionist
My Fair Lady
Mulan

Maureen said...

The Sound of Music
Gone With the Wind
Pride and Prejudice
The Family Man
A Christmas Story

Cathy McDavid said...

Wow, I like of alot of these, too, and they'd probably be on my top 100. Well, don't think I've ever seen Follow the Stars Home.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who loves animated Disney musicals.

Cathy Mc