The one question people ask me more than any other is, "What's your favorite movie?" Invariably, I ask, "Lately, or of all time?" And invariably they answer, "Of all time."
Yikes! Now, that's an intimidating query if ever there was one.Come on. I have hundreds of favorites. Maybe thousands. After all, I reviewed some 5,000-plus for the Deseret News (1978-1998), and I've seen at least twice that many on my own. You might as well ask which of my children or grandchildren is my single favorite. (Come to think of it, the numbers are comparable.)
Eighteen years ago, the late Leslie Halliwell, a British film historian and critic, published a book -- a sort of memoir intertwined with commentary on movies he had seen and loved from his childhood forward -- titled "Halliwell's Hundred: A Nostalgic Choice of Films from the Golden Age." In the foreword, Halliwell says he simply wanted to impart "the delight with which I am filled with each repeat viewing" of the 100 films he discusses (with a few multiple choices and digressions that allow him to include a few more).
When Halliwell's book was initially published (in 1982), I was still fairly new to the movie-review beat, and he helped me understand that the moviegoing experience should be something joyous. Not that each film has to be light and amusing -- serious, thought-provoking or even troubling films can also make for a joyous experience.
In that introduction, Halliwell also noted that all of the entries in the book were more than two decades old (the most recent being 1959's "North By Northwest"), and he expresses his disillusionment with modern cinema: "Most of them are obscurely told; they tell me things I don't wish to know, in language I find offensive; and they concern characters whom I would willingly cross the road to avoid."
In general terms, I feel the same way. My favorites have always been older films -- often movies made before I was even born.
Now, the New York Times has published a "Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made," a collection of critiques by former Times critics Janet Maslin, Vincent Canby, Bosley Crowther and movie-reviewing colleagues, gleaned largely from end-of-the-year "10 Best" lists. This book's 1,000 pages (compared to Halliwell's 400-page tome) is more balanced in terms of recent entries, albeit with a good number that would no doubt give Mr. Halliwell pause ("Pulp Fiction," "The Crying Game," "Fatal Attraction"). And, of course, whether they really are the "Best . . . Ever" is arguable.
But the book is fun to read, especially for the interesting observations on older films made when they were first released. As entertaining as it is, however, and for all the expertise and ability to turn a phrase and analyze a film offered by Maslin, Canby, Crowther et. al, they somehow don't come near conveying the affection for cinema that Halliwell demonstrated. Clearly, Halliwell loved movies, and, frankly, I think that's much more important than the ability to intellectually deconstruct them.
So, my favorite movie of all time? Forget it. But I'll offer a few. A sampler, if you will. . . . And I'll wake up tomorrow with 150 that I've forgotten:
"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (German, 1919), "Why Worry" (Harold Lloyd, 1923), "The General" (Buster Keaton, 1927), "Sunrise" (Janet Gaynor, 1927), "The Wind" (Lillian Gish, 1928), "City Lights" (Charlie Chaplin, 1931), "M" (German, Peter Lorre, 1931), "Duck Soup" (Marx Bros., 1933), "It Happened One Night" (Claudette Colbert, 1934), "The Thin Man" (William Powell, 1934), "The 39 Steps" (Hitchcock, 1935), "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (Gary Cooper, 1936), "Top Hat" (Astaire & Rogers, 1936), "Lost Horizon" (Ronald Colman, 1937), "Bringing Up Baby" (Katharine Hepburn, 1938), "Of Mice and Men" (Burgess Meredith, 1939), "The Women" (Joan Crawford, 1939), "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (James Stewart, 1939), "Fantasia" (Disney, 1940), "The Grapes of Wrath" (Henry Fonda, 1940), "The Philadelphia Story" (Cary Grant, 1940), "Citizen Kane" (Orson Welles, 1941), "Sergeant York" (Gary Cooper, 1941), "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), "Casablanca" (1942), "The Big Sleep" (Humphrey Bogart, 1946), "The Best Years of Our Lives" (Fredric March, 1946). . . .
Oops. Out of room. And I haven't even scratched the surface.
But you get the idea. So, use your Blockbuster card for something other than watching "The Waterboy" or the "Austin Powers" sequel over and over. There's a cinematic world waiting to be discovered.
Entertainment editor Chris Hicks may be reached by e-mail at hicks@desnews.com