I rented the movie "The Dirty Dozen" the other day because you know how it is -- every now and then you just get in the mood to watch a good Trini Lopez film.
As our family sat around the television listening to Ernest Borgenine mutter "As far as I'm concerned, a soldier's job is to wear a uniform and to kill the enemy!" I started thinking about an article I'd read in this newspaper a few weeks ago. Titled "Guy Movies Stay Inside a Man's World," it examined the enduring appeal that certain movies have for people of the male persuasion. Basically, the author's contention was that men like movies about guys who (a) "bond," after which they (b) blow up things together. It also identified the following films as being the Top 10 Guy Movies of All Time.1. "Goldfinger"
2. "Dirty Harry"
3. "National Lampoon's Animal House"
4. "The Outlaw Josey Wales"
5. "Rocky"
6. "Die Hard"
7. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"
8. "First Blood"
9. "The Road Warrior"
10. The Dirty Dozen"
Anyway, this article gave me the GREAT idea to do a column on some of the guys I know and the films they like, so I went around for a week randomly asking them what their favorite movies are. Here are their responses:
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY HUSBAND: "Casablanca" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND'S HUSBAND: "A Thousand Clowns"
FAVORITE MOVIES IF YOU ARE SOME OF THE GUYS WHO WORK WITH MY HUSBAND: "The Dirty Dozen," "The Sound of Music," "The Breakfast Club," "Dead Poets' Society," "Vertigo" and "The Black Stallion"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY DAD: "Waking Ned Devine"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY SON'S BASKETBALL COACH, RICK: "Field of Dreams"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE THE GUY WHO WORKS AT THE TEXACO STATION BY MY HOUSE: "The Waterboy"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY 5-YEAR-OLD SON, QUINTON: "Scooby Doo on Zombie Island"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY 5-YEAR-OLD SON'S BEST FRIEND, JACKSON: "The Hobbit"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY BROTHER, JOHN: "All the President's Men"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY STUDENT, ADAM: "Steel Magnolias"
A FAVORITE (BUT NOT THE MOST FAVORITE) MOVIE IF YOU ARE MY STUDENT, RAY: "Halloween"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE A GUY I KNOW WHO PLAYS IN THE SYMPHONY: "Chariots of Fire"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE THE GUY WHO DELIVERS MY MAIL: "Gone With the Wind"
FAVORITE MOVIE IF YOU ARE ONE OF MY EDITORS AT THE DESERET NEWS NAMED TODD: "The Return of the Jedi"
OK. I don't know about you, but I was a little surprised by these answers. "The Sound of Music"? "Steel Magnolias"? "Gone with the Wind"? PLEASE!! What's up with those responses? None of the answers, in fact, feel like they were driven by testosterone. In fact, I'm beginning to think that I like Guy Movies more than actual guys do.
You'll notice it wasn't my husband who checked out "The Dirty Dozen." Also one of my favorite movies of all time is "The Great Escape." Man, that scene where Charles Bronson realizes he has claustrophobia gets me every time.
My friend Becky is a lot like me in this respect. The way she loved "Die Hard" was just sick and wrong, but if you gave her any grief about it, HOOBOY! She'd waste you in a second, baby.
Wait a minute. I'm having a thought here. Can it actually be that the stereotypes of men liking Guy Movies and women digging Chick Flicks break down in real life? Gee. What a concept!