Michael's 200 Favorite Movies

Well, nearly 200. I guess this list shows how I waste my time. And, yes, perhaps Digby, The Biggest Dog in the World (1974) had somewhat narrow critical acclaim. But this is a personal favorite list, and Digby was my first date with Janet. That was the only movie showing in Galway in June of 1977, so we didn't have much choice, but nevertheless we enjoyed the movie and now it is in my personal list along with other movies--some of which are five-star, and others merely have five stars for me. If you rent any of these movies and bring it to my house, I'll pop the corn an watch the movie with you.

I've broken my list into these categories:

Within each category, movies are listed with my favorites first, though the rating is subject to change from day to day. For more movie reviews online, I like the Excite Movie Channel.

ADVENTURE
 Also check the Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Thriller categories.

  1. The Rocketeer (1991)
      / Bill Campbell  /  Jennifer Connelly  /  Alan Arkin  / 
      Rated PG for violence.
      On the eve of World War II, aviator Cliff invents a rocket pack and fights to keep it from the Nazis. Bill Campbell was almost cast as Will Riker in Star Trek, TNG; he later appeared in ST as The Outrageous Captain Thaduin Okona on the run from authorities of two different planets.

  2. The Three Musketeers (1974)
      / Michael York /  Oliver Reed /  Raquel Welch /  Charlton Heston /  Faye Dunaway /  Christopher Lee / 
      Rated PG.
      Young D'Artagnan wants to join the swashbuckling trio.

  3. Sneakers (1992)
      / Robert Redford /  River Phoenix /  Dan Aykroyd / 
      Rated PG-13.
      Hacker Martin Bishop stumbles upon analog hardware that solves NP-hard problems.

  4. The Prince and the Pauper (1978)
      / Oliver Reed /  Mark Lester /  George C. Scott /  Charlton Heston /  Rex Harrison / 
      Rated PG.
      I saw this one with my last pound in London in 1977 though I guess it wasn't released in the states until 1978. Director Richard Fleischer carries over the mood from his 1974 The Three Musketeers.

  5. True Lies (1994)
      / Arnold Schwarzenegger /  Jamie Lee Curtis / 
      Rated: R
      Secret agent Harry Tasker gets his wife Helen unintentionally involved with terrorists.

  6. Bird on a Wire (1990)
      / Goldie Hawn /  Mel Gibson / 
      Rated: PG13
      An accidental meeting with an old boyfriend throws Marianne Graves into the thick of a mob fued.

  7. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
      / Harrison Ford / 
      Rated PG.
      Archaeologist Indiana Jones pits his skills against the 1936 Nazis and against his girlfriend in a race to find the lost Ark of the Covenant.

  8. Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
      / Nicholas Rowe / 
      Rated PG-13.
      Teenaged Sherlock Holmes displays his sleuthing prowess along with young Watson.

  9. The Seven-Percent Solution (1976)
      / Alan Arkin /  Vanessa Redgrave /  Robert Duvall /  Nicol Williamson /  Laurence Olivier / 
      Rated PG. Recommended for older children.
      A Sherlock Holmes tale, written by Nicholas Meyer. the good Doctor Watson, worried about Sherlock's cocaine addition and suggest s a trip to continental Europe where adventure ensues amidst a search for an addition treatment by Sigmund Freud.

ANIMATED
 Kids will like most of these, except perhaps Allegro Non Troppo.

  1. Shrek (2001)
      Shreck and his donkey friend must go on a quest to bring back a princess for the evil prince, otherwise the prince will boot them all out of their paradise.

  2. Wallace and Gromit (1996)
      Three claymation adventures of Wallace and his faithful best friend: A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.

  3. Toy Story (1995)
      / Tom Hanks /  Tim Allen / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      The arrival of new space toy Buzz Lightyear causes problems for Cowboy Woody and the other toys. If you can find it, there's also a lovely video, Tiny Toy Stories of short computer animation made by Pixar in their learning stages.

  4. The Jungle Book (1967)
      / Phil Harris / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      This one's on the list from a nice day in Alabama high school. Young boy Mowgli is raised by jungle beasts and now must return to humanity.

  5. Chicken Run (2000)
      / Mel Gibson / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      A American barnstormer chicken masterminds the escape of Ginger and the other claymation Yorkshire chickens.

  6. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
      / Paige O'Hara /  Robby Benson /  Angela Lansbury / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      To save her father, Belle agrees to live in the castle with the Beast. The ballroom scene has beautiful ray-traced computer animation.

  7. Cinderella (1950)
      Recommended for children.
      Fairy godmother arranges for unloved step-sister to go to the ball. The mice are nice. Janet and I saw this with Paul Chadwick, Christmas 1978.

  8. The Lion King (1994)
      / Jonathan Taylor Thomas /  Matthew Broderick /  James Earl Jones /  Jeremy Jones /  Rowan Atkinson / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      Young Simba goes into exile, thinking he is responsible for his father's death. He returns to find the real killer. I lost track of how many times the kids watched this when we visited Harry and Cathy.

  9. Song of the South (1946)
      Recommended for children.
      "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay..." When Johnny decides to run away from home, Uncle Remus tells him the story of another runaway, Brer Rabbit. I saw this in Huntsville in 1973, but I'm not sure whether the whole film is available on video.

  10. Fantasia (1940)
      Recommended for children.
      Short animated pieces playing to classical music.

  11. Allegro Non Troppe (1976)
      Rated PG for animated nymphs.
      Among other things, this Italian animation shows life evolving from a Coke bottle and Ravel's Bolero (before The Gods Must be Crazy (1981) and 10 (1979)). It's said to be a takeoff of Fantasia (1940), but it stands on its own.

  12. Dumbo (1941)
      /
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      Mrs. Jumbo's baby has rather large ears.

BASEBALL
 According to Evan Zweifel, it's impossible to make a bad baseball movie. But then, what does he know? His favorite movie is Better Off Dead (1985).

  1. The Natural (1984)
      / Robert Redford /  Robert Duvall /  Barbara Hershey /  Darren McGavin /  Glenn Close / 
      Rated PG.
      Aging Roy Hobbes was on the fast track for the big leagues in his youth, and now he will try again.

  2. Rookie of the Year (1993)
      / Thomas Ian Nicholas /  Gary Busey /  Amy Morton / 
      Rated PG for language. Recommended for children.
      Twelve-year-old Henry's fractured arm heals a bit too tight, allowing him to throw an unhittable fastball for the Cubs. My son Tim has been watching this one while recovering from his own baseball broken bone.

  3. Angels in the Outfield (1994)
      / Danny Glover /  Tony Danza /  Christopher Lloyd /  Joseph Gordon-Levitt / 
      Rated PG. Recommended for children.
      Roger's runaway dad jokes that they have as much chance of being a real family as the Angels have of winning the pennent. That's when the real angels step in to help Roger help the Angels win the pennent. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't seen the original version (1951) yet.

  4. The Kid from Left Field (1953)
      / Billy Chapin /  Lloyd Bridges / 
      Recommended for children.
      You may have seen the later remake of this film, but trust me, this one is more fun, with young Christy Cooper being the brains behind the baseball Bisons.

  5. Little Big League (1994)
      / Luke Edwards /  Timothy Busfield /  John Aston /  Ashley Crow /  Kevin Dunn / 
      Rated PG. Recommended for children.
      Twelve-year-old Billy Heywood lives the dream of every boy when he inherits the Minnesota Twins and takes them on a title run.

  6. It Happens Every Spring (1949)
      / Ray Milland / 
      Recommended for children.
      Suppose you're a baseball fan and you develop a compound that repels wood. What would you do with it?

  7. One on One (1977)
      / Robby Benson /  Annette O'Toole /  Melanie Griffith / 
      Rated PG. Recommended for children.
      You mean Henry and Janet aren't playing baseball? Well, this is my list, so I can include this hoops film anyway!

CHILDREN'S FAVORITES
 Many movies in the other categories will also be enjoyed by kids, but these are particularly made for young children and those of us who never grew up. Also check my Animated, Baseball, Comedy and Musical categories.

  1. Babe (1995)
      / James Cromwell &nsp; Christine Cavanaugh /  Magda Szubanski / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      Orphaned pig Babe is adopted by a family of border collies in Australia.

  2. The Muppet Movie (1979)
      / The Jim Henson Gang /  Bob Hope /  James Coburn /  Dom DeLuise /  Mel Brooks /  Steve Martin /  Edgar Bergen /  Elliott Gould /  Madeline Kahn /  Milton Berle /  Cloris Leachman /  Richard Pryor /  Telly Savalas /  Orson Welles /  Paul Williams / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      On a trek from the backcountry to Hollywood, Kermit the Frog picks up a variety of talented friends questing for stardom.

  3. The Santa Clause (1994)
      / Tim Allen /  Eric Lloyd / 
      Rated PG.
      Advertising executive Scott Calvin accidentally kills Santa Claus, leading to a new and unanticipated responsibility for Scott.

  4. Jungle 2 Jungle (1997)
      / Tim Allen  / 
      Rated PG.
      Hannah and I laughed our way through this one where Michael Cromwell brings his teenage son from the jungle of South America to the jungle of New York City.

  5. The Parent Trap (1961)
      / Hayley Mills /  Brian Keith /  Maureen O'Hara / 
      Recommended for children.
      Susan and Sharon are twins, separated at birth and unaware of each other until they meet at summer camp and swap places. Based on the novel Lottie and Lisa by Erich Kästner. I see that Disney is hatching a remake this summer (1998), introducing Lindsey Lohan in Hayley Mills's role.

  6. Freaky Friday (1976)
      / Barbara Harris /  Jodie Foster /  Dick Van Patten /  John Astin / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      Annabel Andrews thinks that her mom's life is easy, while the mom thinks that Annabel has it easy, and you can guess the rest.

  7. Miracle on 34th Street (1948)
      / Maureen O'Hara /  Edmund Green /  Natalie Wood / 
      Kris Kringle takes his job at Macy's very seriously.

  8. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)
      / Michael J. Fox /  Sally Field /  Don Ameche / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      Two pups and a sassy cat make their way across the country to be reunited with their family.

  9. Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
      / Dudley Moore /  John Lithgow /  Burgess Meredith / 
      Rated PG.
      An evil toymaker seduces elf Patch to the dark side.

  10. The Love Bug (1969) and Herbie Rides Again (1974)
      / Dean Jones /  Michele Lee /  Buddy Hackett /  Joe Flynn / 
      Ken Berry /  Helen Hayes /  Stefanie Powers / 
      Rated G. Recommended for children.
      Both have VW bug racecar Herbie whizzing through crosscountry races. As a bonus, in the second movie Herbie plays cupid for Willoughby and Nicole. I thought about including the fun Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) in the list--but it's not quite up to the level of the other two, even if the cast does include Laurie Main!

  11. The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)
      / Don Knotts / 
      Recommended for young children.
      Bookworm Henry Limpet (aka Rick Lowell) dreams of being a fish.

  12. Digby, The Biggest Dog in the World (1974)
      / Spike Milligan  / 
      Rated G. Recommended for young children.
      Sheep dogs are meant to be big, but not this big. Produced by Beatles' producer Walter Shenson. This was the first date for Janet and me.

COMEDY
 Also check my Romantic Comedy category.

  1. Being There (1979)
      / Peter Sellers /  Shirley MacLaine /  Richard Dysart / 
      Rated PG.
      A gardener becomes a trusted advisor the the President of the United States.

  2. Ferris Buhller's Day Off (1986)
      / Matthew Broderick /  Alan Ruck /  Cindy Pickett /  Del Close /  Charlie Sheen / 
      Rated PG-13.
      A self-expressive high school senior takes a day off school to explore Chicago with his friends.

  3. Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
      / Elisabeth Shue / 
      Rated PG-13.
      Babysitter Chris has an emergency trip to Chicago with her babysitting charge Sara, Sara's smitten brother Keith, and his friend Daryl. I love "The Babysittin' Blues" with blues guitarist Albert Collins.

  4. Local Hero (1983)
      / Peter Riegert /  Burt Lancaster / 
      Rated PG.
      A Houston oilman tries to buy a Scottish fishing village.

  5. Some Like It Hot (1959)
      / Marilyn Monroe /  Tony Curtis /  Jack Lemmon / 
      Two musicians on the lam from the mob join Sugar Kane and the all-girl band.

  6. Oh, God! (1977)
      / George Burns /  John Denver /  Teri Garr / 
      Rated PG.
      Grocery store manager Jerry Landers is called to spread the word of God in 1977 Los Angeles.

  7. 10 (1979)
      / Dudley Moore /  Bo Derek /  Julie Andrews / 
      Rated R for being a sex comedy.
      In his midlife crisis, George meets the girl of his dreams. One small problem is that she leaving for her honeymoon in Mexico (and George isn't the groom).

  8. Breaking Away (1979)
      / Dennis Christopher
      Rated PG for mild profanity.
      This one's here for Erika. On his last summer break before college, a young man finds himself on his bicycle and elsewhere.

  9. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
      / Robin Williams /  Sally Field / 
      Rated PG-13.
      A divorced and unemployed man will do anything to spend time with his children, and most of those things set Janet to laughing hysterically.

  10. Dave (1993)
      / Kevin Kline /  Sigourney Weaver&nsp;/ 
      Rated PG-13.
      A look-alike actor for the President finds himself taking on more than he had anticipated.

  11. Ruthless People (1986)
      / Bette Midler /  Danny DeVito /  Bill Pullman / 
      Rated R.
      Sam Stone has a ruthless plan to get rid of his wife, but the kidnappers might have more ruth than Sam realizes.

  12. Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
      / Madonna / 
      Rated PG-13.
      Seeking adventure, a housewife buys an exotic coat, leading to amnesia, the mob, and--eventually--Susan.

  13. Big (1988)
      / Tom Hanks / 
      Rated PG.
      Twelve-year-old Josh Baskin wishes he were Big, and suddenly he is, including the problems of finding a job and having a romance.

  14. The Jerk (1979)
      / Steve Martin /  Bernadette Peters / 
      Rated R.
      A blissful idiot stumbles his way to wisdom.

  15. How to Murder Your Wife (1965)
      / Jack Lemmon / 
      A comic-strip artist who acts out all of his action must prove that he didn't dump his wife into the glopita-glopita machine.

  16. Home Alone (1990)
      / Macaulay Culkin /  Joe Pesci / 
      Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister is inadvertantly left behind when his family takes a Christmas trip to Europe.

  17. The Odd Couple (1968)
      / Jack Lemmon /  Walter Matthau / 
      A divorced neat man moves in with a sloppy friend.

  18. Risky Business (1983)
      / Tom Cruise /  Rebecca DeMornay / 
      Joel Goodson learns that even when a teenager hires a prostitute, payment is expected.

  19. Jack (1996)
      / Robin Williams / 
      Rated PG-13.
      A ten-year-old boy has the body of a forty-year-old man.

  20. Silent Movie (1979)
      / Mel Brooks /  Marty Feldman /  Dom DeLuise /  Bernadette Peters /  Sid Caesar /  Marcel Marceau /  Burt Reynolds /  Anne Bancroft /  James Caan /  Paul Newman /  Liza Minnelli / 
      Rated PG.
      Washed-up director Mel Funn comes back to Hollywood with an idea for a huge new hit.

  21. Young Frankenstein (1974)
      / Gene Wilder /  Teri Garr /  Madeline Kahn /  Gene Hackman /  Marty Feldman /  Cloris Leachman /  Mel Brooks / 
      Young Dr. Frankenstein inherits his grandfather's castle and a secret.

  22. The Gods Must Be Crazy (1981)

      A bushman undertakes a journey to return a fallen Coke bottle to the Gods.

  23. The Producers (1968)
      / Zero Mostel /  Gene Wilder / 
      A group of Hollywood producers hatch a scheme to become rich by producing an intentional flop.

  24. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
      / Cary Grant /  Priscilla Lane /  Jean Adair /  Raymond Massey /  Jack Carson /  Peter Lorre /  Edward Everett Horton
      Mortimer Brewster discovers that his elderly aunts have a sideline in helping men find a peaceful resting place.

  25. Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
      / Peter Sellers /  George C. Scott /  James Earl Jones / 
      Rated PG.
      A crazed U.S. general sends bombers to Russia and there is no way to call them back.

  26. Sirens (1994)
      / Hugh Grant /  Elle MacPherson / 
      Rated R.
      The Very Reverend Anthony Campion and his wife are guests of an erotic artist.

  27. Life with Father (1947)
      / Irene Dunn /  William Powell /  Elizabeth Taylor / 
      Clarence Day, Jr., and his family grow up with Clarence Day, Sr. in early 1900s New York City.

  28. Smokey and the Bandit (1994)
      / Burt Reynolds /  Sally Field /  Jackie Gleason /  Jerry Reed / 
      Rated PG.
      This one's on the list just because of Randy from Orton who will never drive quite as fast as the Bandit.

  29. Blithe Spirit (1945)
      / Rex Harrison / 
      Widower Charles Condomine remarries, but without the complete approval of his first dead wife.

  30. The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
      / Gene Wilder /  Madeline Kahn /  Marty Feldman /  Dom DeLuise / 
      Rated PG.
      Will Sigerson Holmes finally one-up that no-good Sherlock?

  31. The Lavender Hill Mob (1952)
      / Alec Guiness / 
      A timid bank clerk and his cronies plan a gold heist that is complicated by a group of schoolgirls.

  32. The Ladykillers (1955)
      / Alec Guiness /  Peter Sellers /  Katie Johnson  Cecil Parker /  Herbert Lom  Danny Green / 
      Music Professor Marcus and his string quartet have more than music on their mind when they have their regular rehersals at the house of elderly Mrs. Wilberforce.

  33. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
      / Alec Guinness /  Alec Guinness /  Alec Guinness /  Alec Guinness /  Alec Guinness /  Alec Guinness /  Alec Guinness /  Alec Guinness / 
      Louis Mazzini sees a way to a fortune that leads through a path of the deaths of eight other claimaints to the money.

  34. The Mouse That Roared (1959)
      / Peter Sellers  / 
      How many times can you spot Peter Sellers in this tale of the bankrupt Duchy of Grand Fenwick and their declaration of war on the US? Produced by Beatles' producer Walter Shenson.

  35. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
      I remember watching this one on tv in Belfast with Janet. It turns out that part of London actually belongs to France, so naturally international barriers go up around little Pimlico.

DRAMA

  1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
      / James Stewart /  Jean Arthur / 
      Boy scout leader Jefferson Smith finds himself appointed as Senator but soon learns that politics in Washington isn't always above board.

  2. Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
      / Richard Dreyfuss / 
      High school music teacher Mr. Holland teaches more than music over his thirty years.

  3. Regarding Henry (1991)
      / Harrison Ford /  Annette Bening / 
      Rated PG-13 for violence and profanity.
      Henry Turner is kind and gentle person--a stark contrast to the cutthroat lawyer that he was before the gunshot wound.

  4. To Sir, with Love (1966)
      / Sidney Poitier /  Lulu / 
      Newly ordained teacher Mark Thackeray finds the teaching in inner-city London more than just academics.

  5. Rain Man (1988)
      / Dustin Hoffman /  Tom Cruise / 
      Rated R.
      When Charlie's father dies, he doesn't expect to inherit an austic brother.

  6. Roots (1977)
      / LeVar Burton /  Ed Asner /  Ben Vereen /  Burl Ives /  Chuck Conners / 
      This six-part TV miniseries traces a slave family from Kunta Kinte's abduction in Africa to post-Civil-War times.

  7. The Sting (1973)
      / Robert Redford /  Paul Newman / 
      A drifter and a grifter team up for revenge against the 1920s mob.

  8. My Girl (1991)
      / Macauley Culkin /  Dan Aykroyd /  Jamie Lee Curtis /  Anna Chlumsky / 
      Rated PG.
      When young Anna's mother dies, she finds friendship with Thomas.

  9. Ring of Bright Water (1969)
      / Bill Travers  
      Recommended for children.
      When Graham Merrill buys an otter for a pet in London, he soon learns that London is not the place for an otter, nor for himself.

  10. Dead Poet Society (1989)
      / Robin Williams / 
      A 1959 teacher shows his students that rules can be broken.

  11. Forrest Gump (1994)
      / Tom Hanks /  Sally Field / 
      Rated PG-13.
      A mildly retarded Alabama man experiences America in the 60s and 70s.

  12. Gone with the Wind (1939)
      / Clark Gable /  Cicien Leigh /  Leslie Howard /  Olivia de Havilland / 
      Rated G.
      The second-best movie of 1939 finds Scarlett O'Haraswept off her feet by Rhett Butler in the midst of the Civil War.

  13. Born Free (1966)
      / Virginia McKenna /  Bill Travers / 
      Orphaed lion cub Elsa is raised by Joy and George Adamson.

  14. The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
      / Jimmy Stewart /  June Allyson /  Harry Morgan / 
      The true story of Glenn Miller's rise as a big band leader, including a nice walk with June Allyson over the pond just behind McKenna Hall on the Boulder campus.

  15. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
      / Paul Newman /  George Kennedy / 
      "What we got here is a failure to communicate." That's what Luke is told during his stint on a southern chain gang.

  16. Rocky (1976)
      / Sylvester Stallone /  Burgess Meredith / 
      Rated PG.
      Small-time fighter Rocky Balboa is given a shot at the title.

  17. Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)
      / Alex English /  Dennis Lipscomb /  Jamie Lee Curtis /  Gregory Peck / 
      Rated PG.
      To protest against nuclear arms, a 12-year-old boy and professional atheletes stop playing games.

  18. Thelma & Louise (1991)
      / Geena Davis /  Susan Sarandon / 
      Rated R for violence and profanity.
      Louise convinces her timid friend Thelma to go on a weekend camping trip, but they end up as desperados running from the law.

FANTASY
 Also take a look at the Science Fiction category.

  1. The Princess Bride (1987)
      / Cary Elwes /  Andre the Giant /  Billy Crystal / 
      Rated PG for violence. Recommended for older children.
      A comedy/fantasy/adventure with a commoner swashbuckling his way through monsters and wizards to gain his true love. The story is told by a grandfather to his grandson

  2. Willow (1988)
      / Val Kilmer /  Warwick Davis / 
      Rated PG for violence. Recommended for older children.
      Legend says a newborn girl will overthrow the evil empire. When the girl is rescued by the little people, it falls on Willow to go on a quest that will bring her to her rightful place.

  3. Groundhog Day (1993)
      / Bill Murray / 
      Rated PG.
      A weather anchorman keeps reliving the same day.

  4. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
      / Johnny Depp /  Winona Ryder /  Alan Arkin / 
      Rated PG-13.
      A boy with scissors instead of hands moves into the suburbs.

MUSICAL

  1. Grease (1978)
      / John Travolta /  Olivia Newton-John /  Stockard Channing / 
      Rated PG.
      "Summer love" ... may or may not last into the school year for Sandy and Danny.

  2. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
      / Judy Garland / 
      "Somewhere over the rainbow" ... Dorothy finds her way to the Emerald City.

  3. Mary Poppins (1939)
      / Julie Andrews /  Dick Van Dyke / 
      "We won't hide your spectacles so you can't see" ... but Jane and Michael Banks might find other ways to get into trouble with their new governess.

  4. The Sound of Music (1965)
      / Julie Andrews /  Christopher Plummer / 
      "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" ... one solution is to send her off to be the governess for seven children in Nazi occupied Austria.

  5. My Fair Lady (1964)
      / Audrey Hepburn /  Rex Harrison /  Laurie Main! / 
      "People stop and stare, they don't bother me, for there's no place on this Earth that I would rather be." ... and it doesn't bother me that Audrey Hepburn doesn't sing her own songs (she was dubbed by Marni Nixon). The musical is based on Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion about Professor Henry Higgins who makes a bet that he can turn Eliza Doolittle into a li-dy.

  6. Hello, Dolly! (1969)
      / Barbra Streisand /  Walter Matthau / 
      "You go your way, and I'll go mine,..." and matchmaker Dolly will still end up with Horace Vandergelder.

  7. Funny Girl (1968)
      / Barbra Streisand /  Omar Sharif / 
      Comedian Fanny Brice rises from obscurity to fame.

  8. White Christmas (1954)
      / Bing Crosby /  Danny Kaye / 
      "Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters" ... nor were there ever such devoted army buddies putting on a surprise show for the old man.

  9. Carousel (1956)
      / Gordon MacRae /  Shirley Jones / 
      "June is bustin' out all over" ... but not for carnival worker Billy Bigelow who has been taken to heaven and returned years later.

  10. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
      / John Lennon /  Paul McCartney /  Ringo Starr /  George Harrison / 
      Not really a musical, but more like the MTV video of your parents' generation. Then again, maybe not--there is plot and comedy!

  11. South Pacific (1958)
      /
      "There is nothing like a dame, nothing you can name..." but Emile finds a wonderful dame called Nellie in the midst of World War II.

  12. The Way We Were (1973)
      / Barbra Streisand /  Robert Redford / 
      Katie and Hubbell are lovers from the opposite side of everything.

ROMANCE and ROMANTIC COMEDY
 Also check my Comedy and categories.

  1. The Lake House (2006)
      / Keanu Reeves /  Sandra Bullock / 
      Bring the time travel tissues. I am in love with Sandra Bullock.
    The Major and the Minor (1942)
      / Ginger Rogers /  Ray Milland / 
      Recommended for older children.
      Susan Applegate has had enough of the big city and emergency ticket money to head back to Iowa. But the fares have gone up and she finds herself buying a child's ticket and dressing as a child who is taken under the wing of Major Kirby.

  2. Gregory's Girl (1981)
      / Gordon John Sinclair /  Dee Hepburn / 
      Awkward tennage boy pursues soccer playing girl of his dreams.

  3. The Notebook (2004)
      / Ryan Gosling /  Rachel McAdams /  James Garner /  Gena Rowlands / 
      Awkward tennage boy pursues wealthy girl of his dreams in the 1940s.

  4. 50 First Dates (2004)
      / Adam Sandler /  Drew Barrymore / 
      Henry falls for Lucy who can't remember events from day to day.

  5. Never Been Kissed (1999)
      / Drew Barrymore /  David Arquette /  Michael Vartan / 
      Josie Geller, young reporter, is on an undercover assignment as a high-school student when she falls for her teacher.

  6. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
      / Gary Cooper /  Jean Arthur / 
      Recommended for older children.
      Mr. Longfellow Deeds is pixelated, or so his relatives want to convince the court so that they can grab his inherited fortune instead of having it all given to charitable causes.

  7. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
      / Tom Hanks /  Meg Ryan /  Rob Reiner / 
      Rated PG for profanity.
      Jonah calls a radio show, talking about his widower dad Sam and eventually drawing Annie to Seattle and to Sam. The plot is remniscent of An Affair to Remember.

  8. Love Story (1970)
      / Ali MacGraw /  Ryan O'Neal / 
      Love means never having to say you're sorry.

  9. Romeo & Juliet (1968)
      / Leonard Whiting /  Olivia Hussey / 
      The Montagues are mortal enemies with the Capulets, except for the young lovers.

  10. Joe Verses the Volcano (1990)
      / Tom Hanks /  Meg Ryan / 
      Rated PG.
      Joe Banks has but six months to live, so he heads for adventure and romance in the far Pacific.

  11. Doc Hollywood (1991)
      / Michael J. Fox /  Julie Warner / 
      Rated PG-13.
      A newly minted doctor on his way to a lucrative practice in California gets side-tracked in a small southern town.

  12. You've Got Mail (1998)
      / Tom Hanks /  Meg Ryan / 
      Rated PG.
      Kathleen Kelly tries to make a go of a small bookstore until the dastardly Joe Fox brings in the big-business guns.

  13. Ball of Fire (1941)
      / Gary Cooper /  Barbara Stanwyck / 
      Recommended for older children.
      Dancer Sugarpuss O'Shea hides from gangsters in a house of eight learned men, including Professor Bertram Potts.

  14. "Crocodile" Dundee (1986)
      / Paul Hogan /  Linda Kozlowski / 
      Rated PG-13 for profanity and violence. Recommended for older children.
      In the Australian outback, Mick is experienced and newsreporter Sue is the naïve one. But what about in New York City?

  15. An Affair to Remember (1957)
      / Cary Grant /  Deborah Kerr / 
      Nickie and Terry have a shipboard romance, but will their love survive six months apart in their life on land? This is a remake of the 1939 Love Affair.

  16. Summer Lovers
      / Peter Gallagher /  Daryl Hannah /  Valerie Quennessen / 
      Rated: R
      Okay, so nobody else will like this silly love-triangle romance set on an idyllic Greek island, but Janet and I had fun with it.

  17. French Kiss (1995)
      / Meg Ryan /  Kevin Kline / 
      Rated PG for profanity and sexual situations.
      Jilted Kate travels to Europe where she runs into a new French flame, Luc, over and over again.

  18. Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
      / Jimmy Stewart /  Kim Novak /  Jack Lemmon / 
      Recommended for children.
      Is it witchcraft or true love that has book publisher Sheperd Henderson caught in its spell?

  19. Ghost (1990)
      / Patrick Swayze /  Demi Moore /  Whoopi Goldberg / 
      Rated PG for language, violence, sexual situations.
      Psychic Oda Mae helps Sam the ghost protect his true love Molly from corrupt co-worker Carl.

  20. To Catch a Thief (1955)
      / Cary Grant /  Grace Kelly / 
      Comedy, suspense, crime, and romance hit retired jewel thief John Robie on the French Riviara.

SCIENCE FICTION
 Also take a look at the Fantasy category.

  1. Star Wars (1977)
      / Mark Hamill /  Harrison Ford /  Carrie Fisher /  Alec Guiness / 
      Rated PG for blowing up imperial troopers, space ships, and planets of sentient beings.
      Recommended for older children.
      "Kid, I been from one end of this galaxy to the other, and I ain't never seen no force." But the Force is with the ragtag band of rebels opposing the evil Empire.

  2. Back to the Future (1985)
      / Michael J. Fox /  Christopher Lloyd /  Lea Thompson / 
      Rated PG for violence.
      Recommended for older children.
      Marty has to get back to the 1980s with the help of Doc Brown, but first he has to reunite his parents, whom he accidentally drove apart in the 1950s.

  3. The Bicentennial Man (1999)
      / Robin Williams / 
      Rated PG
      Over a period of two-hundred years, a robot longs to be human.

  4. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
      / Henry Thomas /  Drew Barrymore / 
      Rated PG. Recommended for children.
      Young (human) boy meets young alien.

  5. Independence Day (1997)
      / Jeff Goldblum /  Will Smith /  Bill Pullman /  Judd Hirsch /  Brent Spiner / 
      Rated PG-13 for language and violence.
      Fifteen-mile wide spaceships arrive to conquer Earth and enslave humanity. Our only hope is an absentminded scientist and hotshot pilot with a captured shuttlecraft and a secret weapon.

  6. Spider-man (2002)
      / Tobey Maguire /  Kirsten Dunst / 
      Rated PG.
      Roy Neary is among the thousands obsessively called on a journey, across Earth to Wyoming (Devil's Tower)...and beyond.

  7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
      / Richard Dreyfuss /  Teri Garr / 
      Rated PG.
      Roy Neary is among the thousands obsessively called on a journey, across Earth to Wyoming (Devil's Tower)...and beyond.
    Terminator (1984)
      / Arnold Schwarzenegger / 
      Rated R for language and graphic violence.
      A seemingly unstoppable killer robot from the future pursues Sarah Connor to stop her offspring from winning the future war.

  8. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
      / Arnold Schwarzenegger / 
      Rated R for language and graphic violence.
      Young John Conner, future savior of humanity, is persued by a model T-1000 Terminator from the future. Can he be saved by a replica of the T-101 that tried to kill his mother in the original (1984)

  9. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (1991)
      / Arnold Schwarzenegger / 
      Now in his twenties, John Conner teams with another T-101 against the T-X.

  10. X-Men (2000)
      / Ian McKellen /  Patrick Stewart /  Halle Berry / 
      Rated: PG-13
      Rogue is cool, but the real question that tries my mind since the age of seven: Is he pronounced magNETo or magNEATo?

  11. Waterworld (1995)
      / Kevin Costner / 
      Rated: PG-13
      I liked it, all 2 hours and 15 minutes. So sue me!

  12. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
      / William Shatner /  Leonard Nimoy /  DeForest Kelley /  James Doohan /  George Takei /  Walter Koenig /  Majel Barrett / 
      Rated PG for tense situations.
      My favorite of the old-generation movies. The crew of the Enterprise return to 20th century San Francisco to save the whales. Catherine Hicks, who plays Gillian, is now on my kids' favorite tv show Seventh Heaven.

  13. Star Man (1984)
      / Jeff Bridges /  Karen Allen / 
      Rated: PG
      Alien woos Jenny Hayden in this romantic sf movie.

  14. Cocoon (1985)
      / Don Ameche /  Wilford Brimley /  Brian Dennehy /  Maureen Stapleton /  Jessica Tandy / 
      Rated PG-13 for brief nudity and mild profanity.
      A group of Florida retirees find a fountain of youth that really works.

  15. Logan's Run (1976)
      / Michael York /  Jenny Agutter / 
      Janet says that I just want to see Jenny Agutter skinny-dipping, but I say she just wants to drool over Michael York.

  16. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
      / Michael Rennie /  Patricia Neal / 
      Even without whiz-bang computer effects, I'll still watch this granddaddy of the SF films. A space ship lands in New York City and all electronics on Earth comes to a halt. Klaatu barado nikto.

  17. Total Recall (1990)
      / Arnold Schwarzenegger /  Sharon Stone / 
      Rated R for language and graphic violence.
      Something goes wrong when construction worker Doug Quaid purchases a memory implant of a vacation to Mars. Based on Phillip K. Dick's short story, We Can Remember It for You Wholesale. If you are alert, you will hear the voice of Robert Picardo (the Doctor from Star Trek Voyager).

  18. Sleeper (1973)
      / Woody Allen /  Diane Keaton / 
      Rated PG.
      A man spends 200 years in suspended animation, to awaken to a world of robots and giant vegetables.

THRILLER/MYSTERY

  1. Sixth Sense (1999)
      / Bruce Willis /  Haley Joel Osment / 
      Rated PG13.
      Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe has a mission to help young Cole Sear who sees dead people.

  2. The Project (1983)
      / I've never seen this one on video, but it was a short film that I saw in Edinburgh before Gregory's Girl in 1983. The plot is about a group of Scottish schoolboys who plan a school project at the local bank.

  3. Witness (1985)
      / Harrison Ford /  Kelly McGillis /  Josef Sommer / 
      Rated: R
      Philadelphia detective John Book must protect a young Amish boy who was witness to a murder.

  4. North by Northwest (1959)
      / Cary Grant / Eva Marie Saint / 
      Because of a mistaken identity, businessman Roger Thornhill finds himself embroiled in a chase for a microfilm.

  5. Frantic (1988)
      / Harrison Ford / 
      Rated R for violence.
      Harrison Ford misplaces his wife in Paris. My own wife, Janet, can't stand the break-in scene, you know the sort--Harrison Ford breaks and enters to find evidence and you know he's going to be discovered at any moment. Janet has to leave the room.

  6. Foul Play (1978)
      / Goldie Hawn /  Chevy Chase /  Dudley Moore / 
      Rated PG.
      Naive Gloria Mundy gets embroiled in an unbelievable plot to kill the pope--unbelievable to all except the detective who falls for her.

  7. Rear Window
      / Jimmy Stewart /  Grace Kelly /  Raymond Burr /  Thelma Ritter / 
      Photographer Jeffries, recovering from a broken leg, passes his time watching his neighbors, including an unexpected murder in the apartment across the way.

  8. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
      / Tyrone Power /  Marlene Dietrich /  Charles Laughton /  Elsa Lanchester /  Una O'Connor /  Torin Thatcher /  John Williams / 
      Elderly and respected barrister Sir Wilfred Robards takes a client who has been accused of murder and might have only one possible witness, his wife, to clear him.

  9. Time after Time (1979)
      / Malcolm McDowell /  Mary Steenburgen /  Laurie Main! / 
      Rated PG for language and graphic violence.
      This science fiction thriller has H.G. Wells chasing Jack the Ripper through time to 1979 San Francisco.

  10. The Third Man (1949)
      / Joseph Cotten / Alida Valli /  Orson Welles / 
      I can't tell you very much about pulp writer Holly Martins and his search for his childhood friend in Vienna because I was too busy trying to get Janet to notice me from across the movie theatre in 1976 Stirling.

WESTERN

  1. Dances with Wolves (1990)
      / Kevin Costner / 
      Rated PG-13.
      Civil War veteran Lt. John Dunbar is sent west to an isolated post where he slowly gains trust and understanding of the Souix.

  2. Little Big Man (1970)
      / Dustin Hoffman /  Faye Dunaway /  Chief Dan George / 
      "I shall avert my eyes at the proper moment," says Faye Dunaway to a bathing Hoffman. But none of us will avert our ears when he recounts the true story of how the west was won.

  3. Blazing Saddles (1974)
      / Gene Wilder /  Cleavon Little /  Alex Karras /  Dom DeLuise /  Harvey Korman /  Madeline Kahn / 
      "Mongo only pawn in game of life," says Mongo in this farcical western.

MOVIES TO SEE IN MY RETIREMENT

Michael Main (main@colorado.edu)