The Great Movie Ride

While I was driving to work the other day, I started to think about my favorite movies of all time. Then roughly the same topic came up when I was on the phone last night talking with Brian -- the 10 best movies of all time.

So, I made a list of my personal favorites tonight. I could.not limit myself to 10 so I did 15. Even that was tough.

Most of all, I wanted some sort of objectivity so I could be fair and not be unduly influenced by whimsy; for the same reason, I didn't include anything from the past several years. So, I used the following criteria:

Weighted Heavily:

Script: Is the script well written, generally easy to follow, and are scenes flowing and cohesive?

Social and historical relevance: Does the movie make some sort of timeless and relevant statement about the general condition of mankind and/or society of the past, present, or future? Does the movie make me think and learn something?

Versatility: Does the movie have a proper mix of comedy, drama, romance, suspense, etc. to stoke different emotions?

Watchability: Can I still discover something new on the millionth viewing of the movie? (This is often a direct result of Versatility, by the way).

Weighted Less Heavily:

Overall believability of characters and plot? While I'm willing to suspend a certain amount of reality, are most events generally believable?

Cast: Were the correct actors chosen for major roles? Am I able to imagine another actor taking over that role and doing a better job?

Cinemaphotography/costumes/etc.: Is the scenery appropriate, are camera angles fitting for the mood of the movie?

Quotability: Can I incorporate several movie lines into my daily conversations?

X Factor: (While I wasn't able to quantify any weight to these questions, they were useful in eliminating movies close to the cut line). Is there something so unique about the movie but can't be described or neatly placed in a category above? Does the movie relate to me on a personal level and allow me to discover something about myself? Will I put down a book to focus attention on the screen?

Throughout this exercise, I kept in mind the following question: If I could only watch 15 movies the rest of my life, what would they be?

I discovered that while making this list, I took off some movies I thought would definitely be on there (JFK, Apocalypse Now, Hoosiers, To Kill A Mockingbird, Casablanca, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to name a few). All are great movies and are usually included in my List of Favorites. However, I limited myself to 15 and some had to go - so I tried to take a good cross-section from most genres. But most of all, I'm rather surprised there weren't any sports movies (sorry, I don't think Rounders and A River Runs Through It qualify.)

Here you go, in alphabetical order:

An American President
Barry Lyndon
Casino
Charade
Dances With Wolves
Duck Soup
The Godfather
The Godfather II
Good Will Hunting
The Lion King
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
A River Runs Through It
Rounders
Vanilla Sky
Wall Street