The Gunslinger45's top 50 favorite movies

Haven't seen Fistful of Dollars, but the last few are all great.

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"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

13.
The Dark Knight: 2008 (PG-13)
USA / Warner Brothers
94% (CF)

Some of you will like this one, others won’t. Me? I love this movie for multiple reasons. First off, it’s Batman, my favorite superhero. Second, this movie transcends being just a comic book movie. And third, this is the peak of the movie trilogy that helps us to forget about the AWFUL Schumacher Batman movies. The movie is about the eternal struggle between the unstoppable force and the immovable object, order versus chaos, good versus evil, and how far a man is willing to go to stop it. You have Batman (Christian Bale) once again pitted against his greatest foe the Joker (Heath Ledger). The movie starts off with the Joker stealing a lot of cash from a Mob bank, he then works out a deal with the various mob heads that he will kill the Batman for half the stolen loot. And what begins is Joker’s reign of terrorism on Gotham City. He commits horrible and unspeakable crimes and he says he will stop if Batman reveals his secret identity. Batman is faced with a lot of ethical choices, not only how far he is willing to go to stop the Joker but also the burden of dealing with the knowledge that this psychopath is targeting others to get to you, and the responsibility one feels. You see Batman struggle with these choices and what decisions he makes.It also tackles topics that were relevant at the time like high tech secret surveillance technology, privacy, how much power should one man hold, and the moral implications of it all. The idea of who the real heroes should be is also explored. Batman does what he does in hopes that one day his services will no longer be needed, and he finds the possible successor to his struggle to end crime in Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). It is in Dent where he believes Gotham’s true hope comes from, an honest man in the Criminal Justice system and not a man with a mask. He wants Dent to be the White Knight Gotham deserves, which makes his fall all the more tragic. The cast as a whole is great. Sure the Bale Batman voice is kinda weird and he is no Kevin Conroy, but I thought he did very good. But Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker stands head and shoulders above the other actors in this movie. His portrayal as the Joker was sublime, perfectly capturing the Joker not as a money grubbing crook, but as psychopath whose motivations are beyond sanity and logic. But he is more than just a one note psychopath as Heath also brings the perfect amount of dark humor that makes the Joker what he is. The humor is subtle in some cases, and in other times it further enhances his menace and shows how unstable he is! These are not Whedonisms to break up tension; these show the character’s derangement and even sometimes enhance the tension. Ledger tragically died before the film’s release due to a toxic combo of prescription medication, and he would be posthumously awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role. The final scene between Dent (now Two-Face) and Batman is the most poignant part of the movie. And I love the way it ends. Cementing not only Batman’s role in Gotham City but establishing what is truly important to Gotham and who the real heroes should be. This movie also took references and ideas from certain Batman story lines, including The Long Halloween, and one of my favorites The Killing Joke allowing the movie to be faithful to the source material. And it comes in my list as my number 13 favorite movie.

You should try the Dollars Trilogy when you get the chance Hitch, i've got a feeling you'll love it from your posts that i've read. Have you seen any of Leone's movies?

12.
Dawn of the Dead: 1978 (NR)
USA / United Film Distribution Company
94%
I am a big fan of zombie movies, and the king of zombies is George A. Romero. The movie is set in the very early stages of a zombie apocalypse. Society is still standing, but it is a house of cards waiting to fall and everyone knows it. People are starting to head for the hills and have gone into full survival mode. Our story follows around four people who have jacked a helicopter and are trying to find a spot far away from the swarms of the undead. They eventually settle on a mall in suburban Pennsylvania. Originally the plan was to stop for supplies, but they decide to stay after they decide the mall has too many resources they cannot ignore. This will lead to a giant sequence where they have to rid the mall of zombies, clean the place up and help themselves to the goods. This starts to become a ham fisted satire of the consumer culture. Zombies are consumers, no happiness in possessions, etc. Once again this movie is an excellent example of allowing the viewer to insert his or herself into the movie so he/she can analyze the survival strategies of the characters. I also enjoy that you see where these people started from when society was beginning to crumble and how you see them transition from normal civilians with normal lives, to refugees trying to survive. It also has the same boots on the ground feel as Night of the Living Dead in the beginning, but I admit once their new sanctuary is secure, it does start to feel like a fortress. But then that begins the more social commentary part of the movie, and the feeling of safety is shattered by other humans. Humans are just as much a threat in this movie; after all evil men will be around even after society collapses. And I do love the inclusion of the raid on the mall by them. It is also has one of the best examples of practical gore effects in movies. So many horror movies these days use CGI gore it is sad, there was a time when this was a real trade, and effort was put into these effects! And Tom Savini shows why he earns the nickname “Godfather of Gore.” A must see for any horror fan, and it is my 12th favorite movie.

+ repped as soon as i saw the movie, after reading i'd have liked to have given a second one . Great review . Btw i've got a recent edition of The Long Halloween, which starts off with an interview with Nolan discussing the influence it had on TDK.

Srsly? BAD ASS! Great buy!

Just The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. I liked it, but mostly for Clint. I'm not a huge fan of Westerns Once Upon a Time in America is something I'm looking quite forward to.

11.
The Producers: 1968 (PG)
USA / MGM
93% (CF)

Mel Brooks is, in my opinion, the greatest comedic director of all time. He is a master of satire, genre parody, and generally raunchy jokes. He has given us such so many memorable comedies. And I just really love the concept of this movie. Two Jewish Broadway producers Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) and Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) come up with the brilliant idea that you can make more money with a flop then you can with a hit. Raise one million dollars, put on a $60,000 dollar flop, bank the rest and move to Rio De Janeiro! So they set off to find the worst play ever written. And they hit the jackpot with “Springtime for Hitler” a play written by a former German soldier and Hitler admirer named Franz Liepkind (Kenneth Mars). He agrees to have his play produced and the two producers begin getting the money and get set to get the play made. The movie also has my favorite cinematic musical number “Springtime for Hitler” which features SS officers singing, chorus girls in Nazi digs, dancers with beer, pretzels and German items on their boobs; and Mel Brooks himself doing a voice over where he says “Don’t be stupid be a smarty, come and join the Nazi Party.” Cracks me up every time. This movie was not successful at all upon initial release, as this was not that long after WWII, so Hitler jokes were considered taboo. It was not until a little later that the true comedic genius was seen and it is now considered one of Mel Brook’s greatest movies. Zero Mostel of theater fame was splendid in this movie. He plays Max Bialystok as a money grubbing shagger of little old ladies who was once a giant in the theater, but whose star has faded. Gene Wilder on the other hand is a sheltered and innocent accountant who has no experience in theater let alone fraud. And Dick Shawn plays a fantastic character named Lorenzo Saint DuBois, but his friends call him LSD. Minor spoilers, he plays Hitler. But the best performance in my opinion is Kenneth Mars who has to make a man who fought for the Nazis, loves Adolph Hitler, and is insinuated to be a holocaust denier and somehow make him likeable. He has a bit of innocence to him, like what he is saying is not to be malicious but because he is so dense he doesn’t know any better. And his performance is fantastic. This would later earn accolades to include getting Mel an Oscar for his screenplay, would be named one of AFI’s best comedies of all time, and would even get a Tony winning Broadway play based upon it made! It is one of the funniest movies ever made, one of Mel Brook’s best satires, and was the first movie to give us Gene Wilder. Classic movie. So much so I nominated it for the first round of the MOFO Hall of Fame; and it is my 11th favorite movie.

I hated westerns until Unforgiven . I watched the trilogy from the start, only because it was on Netlix though. You should give Once Upon a Time in The West a try after OUATIA, i personally prefer it to the Dollars Trilogy but i think i'm in the minority .

Dawn of the Dead (1978) is a fantastic pick

And that is films 50 to 11. When I resume my list I will be posting fewer entries at a time. Partially because these being my top 10 favorite movies of all time, I have A LOT to say about them. These are not only movies that are great to watch, but great to talk about. So not only will my reviews be longer, but I will also post less movies at a time.

Also two reviews will contain spoilers. Those will be movie number 9, and for my favorite movie. I do so for number 9 due to the nature of it's ending and I go into great detail for my favorite movie because I want to show why I love it so much. In addition, there are a few movies with very interesting back stories and controversies so they will be addressed there two.

And finally I will inject a few YouTube clips for my top ten. 1-3 clips for each movie, and I will include one of the original trailers for my favorite movie.

With that being said I will begin my top ten tonight.

10.
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb: 1964 (PG)
USA / Columbia Pictures
100% (CF)



I can sum up this movie in one sentence. Stanley Kubrick is ****ing insane! The man’s a cinematic genius, but that does not mean he can’t be a little nuts. It covers the same Cold War themes as The Hunt for Red October: mutually assured destruction; focus on military machines built to deliver a nuclear payload, a focus on Soviet and US players, and was also adapted from a serious cold war thriller called Red Alert by Peter George. And it was going to be a serious movie until Kubrick decided “F@#k it! We’re going for dark satire!” And the timing could not be worse, as this was released when the Cuban Missile Crisis was still fresh in people's minds! And here was a movie that not only talked about mutually assured destruction; it mocked the concept all together! That takes big brass balls! The plot starts when Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) deploys his group of the B-52 bombers outside of Soviet airspace to begin Wing Attack Plan R. He tells them that a shooting war with the Russkies has begun and to proceed to their targets. In reality there is no war going on, and the general is actually a paranoid lunatic who is seeking to achieve three goals. One: to strike the first and decisive blow to eliminate the Communist threat. Two: to end Communist infiltration, and finally the preservation of our precise… fluids. Yeah the Brigadier General is out of his ****ing mind. In a scramble to prevent nuclear annihilation, both the President of the United States (Peter Sellers), Air Force General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers again), the Russian Ambassador (Alexei de Sadeski), the presidential cabinet, and the mysterious expert on nuclear arms and nuclear war Dr. Strangelove (thrice Peter Sellers) all try to put their heads together to end the upcoming nuclear war. Problem is one of the planes set to carry out Plan R headed by Major Kong (Slim Pickens). Due to some damage taken in entering Russian Airspace, they are unable to receive radio communications from base as they head towards their primary targets in Russia, hence a scramble to halt that plane to avoid it dropping its payload. The film is blessed with an excellent cast. Peter Sellers plays three roles in this movie. In fact that was one of the stipulations in getting the movie off the ground. Sellers was also supposed to play Major Kong, but an injury prevented him from doing so, so they hired Slim. Either way the number of roles he plays is beyond impressive and shows his range as an actor. Sterling Hayden plays the part of Brigadier General Ripper and was actually coaxed out of retirement by Kubrick to play this role. He convincingly plays the role of a madman. When you watch him talk about the communist plot of water fluoridation you believe he is serious! He plays it so straight that not only is it terrifying, it’s hilarious! The performance of George C. Scott is of particular note since it displays Kubrick’s directorial insanity. Scott knew this movie was going to be a satire, but he wanted to play the role of General Turgidson straighter then Kubrick wanted. Kubrick got around this by suggesting that Scott do some comedic over the top “practice takes” to warm him up for the “real takes” promising no one would ever see the practice ones. Instead he used the over the top takes in the final cut of the film, prompting George C. Scott to vow he would never work with Kubrick again. The result is comedic gold! Kubrick’s other insane directing choices include the table in the war room. He insisted it be the color green to show that these people were gambling with the lives of millions in a giant game of nuclear poker. Problem is we never got that imagery since the movie is shot in black and white! And the movie was actually supposed to end with a big pie fight in the war room. They only got one chance to shoot this scene and multiple factors, including everyone involved having too much damn fun, led to the scene being scraped. The movie ends in my opinion the way it should. It is just a better note to end on. Plus there was a line in the pie fight about the President being “struck down” by a pie to the face, which would have made the initial screening just after the JFK assassination in really bad taste. Only the man who adapted Lolita would be crazy enough to satirize Cold War strategy at the height of the Cold War. And while I admit, it is not a comedy that makes me roll on the floor laughing a lot, it was still funny as hell, insightful, and helped to cement Kubrick’s reputation as the mad genius of cinema. And it is number 10 on my favorite movie list.

HUGE thumbs up!

Dr. Strangelove is one of those rare comedies that become even better with each rewatch. It's one of the most ingenious satiric films ever made and belongs to my favorite movies of all time.

+

Starting my Top Ten with, in my opinion, Kubrick's best movie.

I'd say it's more like a satire than comedy, actually. I like the line about all the countries that used nuclear weapon during the WWII and doctor's disobedient arm was quite funny, but overall it was probably my least favourite Kubrick.

9.
The Book of Eli: 2010 (R)
USA / Warner Brothers
48%



This is definitely the most controversial pick on my list. Now yes I have The Toxic Avenger on my list, and while The Book of Eli is a better film, The Toxic Avenger is not in my top ten. Regardless of that, I really do love this movie. I love post apocalyptic movies, I love movies with religious themes, I love action movies, and I love Denzel Washington as an actor. And this movie has all four elements combined. The story is straight forward. It is 30 years after the bombs have dropped, and Denzel Washington is the title character named Eli. Eli is charged by a voice to bring a book to a safe haven on the west coast. This being the post nuclear war, Eli must walk from where ever he is to the west coast. We are introduced to Eli in the wasteland, where he is shown to have significant survival skills. We also establish Eli’s fighting skills when a group of people try to ambush him. He easily dispatches the group with his machete in a well choreographed opening action sequence. He then makes a stop in a town run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie insists (IE forces) Eli to stick around after he learns that Eli is a literate man. Carnegie has been sending his boys out for years apparently to find a certain book. The book he is looking for turns out to be in Eli’s possession which is a copy of The Holy Bible. Carnegie wants to use the book as a means of control, the opposite of Eli’s mission to save the word of God so it can be spread. Carnegie wants the book, and will take it at any costs, even trying to murder Eli in the streets. Problem with that plan becomes evident when bullets seem to miss Eli when they are fired at him like he is being protected. Eli also seems to know just where to shoot, even at long ranges with just a pistol. Eli manages to escape the attempt on his life, and Carnegie’s mistress’ daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) escapes with him. Solara is intrigued by Eli and the book, and follows him. While they travel Eli gives his back story. After the bombs had dropped some people got it in their heads religion was to blame, so their inner Nazi’s came out and they started burning Bibles. This Bible Eli has is the last remaining copy, and the voice told him where to find it, and told him to take it to the west coast safe haven. I cannot discuss the movie in full without talking about the ending, so I will give spoilers for this movie since this is what is talked about quite a bit when discussing this movie.



As for the critics who say you need to be religious to enjoy this movie, this is not true. I watched this movie with my brother and he loved this movie! And my brother is not a religious man by any stretch of the imagination. He really liked the post apocalyptic setting which had towns run by wasteland scum, cannibals, raiders, a vast bleak desert look that looks like it has been ravaged by the nukes, and it has a kick ass protagonist played by Denzel Washington. He described this movie as the closest thing to a Fallout movie he will likely ever see (except without Ghouls or Super mutants). This movie also explores religion as a whole, that there are men who use religion for great evil, but that at its core there are very good messages and lessons in religion and they should not be cast aside due to the evil actions of the past. I will admit however that the delivery of the message lacks the subtlety of The Road. As such this lack of subtly will alienate the more hardcore agnostic and atheist viewers. And to boot, it lacks the more traditional presentation of a biblical epic. But I think that adds to why I like it so much. It chooses it’s delivery in the unlikeliest of formats, in a post apocalyptic action movie with one of my favorite actors as the main character. If you keep these ideas in mind when you watch it, it is a damn good movie. A controversial pick, it is also my number 9 favorite movie.

Now that's a good flick.

8.
Blazing Saddles: 1974 (R)
USA / Warner Brothers
89% (CF)



I think humor is at its best when it borders on bad taste. And no comedic director does it better then Mel Brooks. This movie is rude, crude, and is a brilliant satire of racism as a whole. And while The Producers has my favorite concept for a Mel Brooks movie, this one makes me laugh the most. Set in 1874, the movie is the story of Bart (Cleavon Little). Bart is working on the railroad when due to employer apathy he and his friend nearly die in quicksand. Bart retaliates against his boss Taggart (Slim Pickens) by hitting him on the head, for which he is arrested and sentenced to the gallows. Taggart’s boss is the State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman), and Hedley wants control of the town of Rock Ridge so that he can build the railroad through it. Problem is people still live there, so he sends Taggart and his men to run the people out of town. In the process the town’s sheriff is murdered and the town petitions the Governor (Mel Brooks) to send them a new one. Lamarr can’t send a competent law man to Rock Ridge, so his plan is to send a sheriff that the towns people themselves would likely kill. He gets Bart out of prison and convinces the Governor to appoint Bart sheriff. Bart is dispatched to Rock Ridge where a celebration is waiting for him. Leading to easily one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema! Be warned their is offensive language.



Bart must now assume his duties as sheriff, try and win the town folk’s approval, and fend off Hedley Lamarr and company as they try to take over the town. And it is hilarious! There are so many racial jokes, and combined with the repeated use of the N word, it is a movie that could not be made today. It is so politically incorrect, and I love every minute of it! The comedic ensemble is fantastic including Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid and Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp. The movie satires racism, it has loads of visual gags, the best fart joke in movies, and at the end it doesn’t just break the fourth wall, it tears it down as the fight spills into Warner Brothers Studios! Anachronistic to the very core! It is in my opinion the crowning achievement Mel Brooks has done, and it is regarded as a comedy classic. And with good reason when you have Richard Pryor, one of the funniest men to ever live, as a co writer and the greatest comedic director co writing and directing with his usual troupe of comedic actors. It also grossed over 100 million dollars at the box office… in 1974! Only the tenth film at that time to do so! So it is also extremely popular! It is comedy gold, and if you have not seen it you’re doing the French Mistake! And it is my 8th favorite movie of all time.

That is possible. Then again that would mean he knew it all before the bombs dropped. I do like mine my interpretation since it just oozes with subtext. Either way great movie.

Book of Eli is one of the most underrated films I have seen in awhile. Great action, awesome twist, and what a beautiful set. Gary Oldman may have been the typical cliche "villian", but his charm sprinkled with a dash of chaos was a tremendous concoction of a role, and if you think about it, he thought he was doing the right thing, also.