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It was a song called "Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles" by Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, from an album we did in 1972 for Warner Reprise called Clear Spot. I played drums on it.

Fairly early in the film, when "The Dude" is mixing his first White Russian cocktail, is when the song is heard. Why they chose that song for that scene is unknown to me. I think probably that "T Bone" Burnett was a fan of ours. He was the music supervisor (archivist) for the film.

I'm glad they used it, and I still get a few bucks every year for residuals...

I was listening to Clear Spot when I discovered a tick on my back last summer!

Cool.




  • 230 points
  • 14 lists
16. The Shawshank Redemption


Director

Frank Darabont, 1994

Starring

Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler




  • 258 points
  • 16 lists
15. Lawrence of Arabia


Director

David Lean, 1962

Starring

Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins



Fun Facts:

Lawrence Arabia is the first film on the list to be on 16 ballots, and the 28-point gap between these two films is the largest so far (and third-largest overall). We won't see a larger gap until we get into the Top 10.



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That is a huge leap for Lawrence of Arabia. I had no idea it was so popular on here. I think it's a very good film, but I watched it quite recently and it didn't make my cut for my 25 favourite movies.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Couldn't get through Lawrence. Will give it another go eventually, when I have an entire day to dedicate myself to it.

Shawshank is a movie that I can watch whenever it is on. I first saw it when my family rented a cottage up north and the person had a small VHS collection in their basement. Shawshank was one of them. While everyone was outside, I was downstairs in the dark watching this movie. No regrets. It really is a great film with iconic imagery and memorable performances. People often forget the Stephen King does more than just horror and his pairing with Darabont has been 3/3 for me.

It really does suck you into the experience. It seemed to be on tv a lot in the past 15-20 years and whenever I would pass by, I would find myself stopping to watch. I don't do that often with movies, but I can pick this one up where it starts off.

I love all the side characters, Brooks still gets to me every time. This was nominated the same year as Pulp Fiction. Two films that are classics and they both lost to Forrest Gump. Which is....okay.

Shawshank Redemption made my list.
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I saw Lawrence of Arabia once years ago but it left a helluva impression on me.

If we were doing this when I was in high school Shawshank would’ve been in my top ten. Doesn’t make my list nowadays but it’s still damn fine. First Darabont on the top 100 I think?

Edit: Second Stephen King adaptation too.



Hint explanation:


Your mind is a weapon
As much as a gun
Applies to both protagonists, who win conflicts against physical force with cunning.

And to freedom it beckons
Come rain or come sun
Obviously, both fighting for freedom, "come sun" is Lawrence in the desert, "come rain" is the ending to Shawshank. Actually, both are the ending to Shawshank, come to think about it...

Sometimes it's heroic
Merely to sing



And to remain stoic
Standing athwart kings
Literal kings in Lawrence. Stephen King in the other.



Couldn't get through Lawrence.
I think this may have been true of me the first time. Either I didn't get through it, or I did and didn't think much of it. I tried it again years later and liked it a lot more. Maybe "liked" is the wrong word...I was impressed by it, the second time. The moment where he returns after that rescue...it really lands. For some reason that kind of did it for me, not just because it's a great moment, but because the reason it's a great moment--all the slow buildup that goes into it--showed me the film had to be the way it was, even if I found it a little on the slow side.



SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is the kind of film I don't really like, mostly because there is hardly an interesting word to say about it. Swell storytelling, competent direction, some fine acting. Snore. I've yet to determine a single distinctive element to anything I've seen by Darabont. I don't know anything about him beyond the fact he's got a Stephen King boner, which is a truly terrible boner to have. At least Kubrick had the good sense to complete rework the source material when he dabbled in the King-verse with The Shining. Obviously, Shawshank isn't the kind of movie anyone can really hate. It doesn't really take any chances that you won't like it. Which, by my standards, makes it pretty hateable. Even if I do like it somewhat. Because even I realize you're supposed to, or youre the devil.


Lawrence of Arabia is probably without any questions the greatest biopic ever made. An enormous man, dwarfed in the center of an endless desert, refusing to not be enormous. Probably one of the most charismatic and infuriating and inspiring characters to grace classic cinema, O'Toole's performance is enough to have kept the movie going another couple of hours. His silences are as monumental as his monologuing. He is a complete cypher, even as he continuously lays his heart bare over the films marathon running time. The battle scenes are appropriately epic, the pacing immersive, the landscape terrifying and beautiful. Another perfect movie for the list!



'Lawrence of Arabia' is a classic. Wasn't on my list but the standard of editing, production, cinematography, and acting etc is awesome.

I do not understand how 'The Shawshank Redemption' makes a top 200 films of all time list, let alone the top 20. Just don't understand it.



That's a relief!

Lawrence of Arabia was the film I was starting to worry about. Of course now in hindsight it was never in doubt.

It was #2 on my list. I've said before that I love expansive historical epics and this is the best of them. It does everything brilliantly: the performances, particularly of O'Toole, the music, the stunning visuals. It was one of the films that made me realise how much the medium can be beyond just cheap entertainment. Completely engrossing for a glorious 228 minutes.



Skepsis' List  



Two movies definitely worthy of such a list but also two that I've not seen in some time and haven't ever really felt much like revisiting. Maybe one day.

Seen: 76/86 (Own: 38/86)
My list:  


Faildictions (Eternal vsn 1.0):
14. Greed (1924)
13. Blade Runner (1982)





The Shawshank Redemption was #5 on the MoFo '90s List while Lawrence of Arabia was #7 on the MoFo '60s List.
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Lawrence was my #11. I have seen it twice. and loved it both times. It took my by surprise the first time. I was expecting a stuffy war epic. I guess people see it that way but that baffles me because I think it's a great character piece about a man who was a true character. Need to watch it again this year.

I am so glad Shawshank made it so Rauldc didn't have to kill me for not putting it on my list. I love this movie and have since I saw it by myself in a theater in 1994. I remember telling a couple friends I was going and they were bewildered by both the name of the movie and the fact I was going by myself. I was 18, and that was probably the day I realized my interests and the way I engage with them wasn't going to lineup with most folks. 26 years later and that's still the case, and I still love Shawshank despite seeing it a dozen times and the weird desire for certain cinephiles to go out of their way to let us Shawshank lovers know how basic we are.
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The Shawshank Redemption is in my Top 50. I thought Roger Deakins probably deserved an Oscar for Shawshank. That cinematography was as incredible as anything he's done. Sure, the movie is obviously manipulative, but I'd rather be manipulated by Morgan Freeman's voice than just about anybody's. My vote for best voice of a narrator is obviously Morgan Freeman in Shawshank, with my favorite piece of narration being the scene on the roof with the beer. It always makes me smile and cry at the same time. Plus Tim Robbins' performance ain't too shabby either.

Likewise, Lawrence of Arabia is in my Top 50. I've seen it on the big screen a few times, and having watched it at the Big Newport, I recommend seeing it on the largest one you can possibly find. The film paints its characters as very flawed (but most are understandable) and the story is rather unpredictable, sorta like the viewer is a grain of sand blown by the desert wind. Lawrence is undoubtedly the most enigmatic character and perhaps the most enigmatic lead character and hero of any major motion picture. Peter O'Toole plays him fascinatingly. His eyes seem to convey so much without any dialogue, but ultimately what and why he feels the way he does is not explained, nor is it necessary. The entire visual aesthetic of the film is such a powerful experience that it does most of the explaining. The film and locations are mesmerizing. You just get engulfed in it and let it take you where it does. Hopefully, you will be rewarded with a cinematic experience unlike any other. In that way, Lawrence of Arabia reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The desert seems almost as huge as outer space.
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Apart from the things Mark and others have mentioned, Shawshank has a low-key great score, too. Never really gets talked about relative to its quality, maybe because it's a little understated compared to the broad, memorable themes that stick with us (the fact that it's paired alongside Lawrence of Arabia today is a pretty good example of that), but Thomas Newman really did a great job with it:


I like the way we're pulled into the prison, into a whole new world with new rules, and have to become immersed in it. A microcosm for filmmaking if ever there was one.



The Shawshank Redemption used to be my 2nd favorite film for a while, but it fell off of my favorites list over the years. It's a fine film, but I feel like it's more of a gateway film than something which sticks with me the more I venture into classic film. Some scenes in it can hit the spot every now and then, but my latest rewatches of it (my mom is a big fan of the film and watches it a lot on tv) have led to diminishing returns in many of its "bigger" scenes.

Lawrence of Arabia, on the other hand, is great though. Another Lean made my list instead, but this one is a strong runner up (well, either this one or Brief Encounter) as it does many things perfectly. The lead performance from O'Toole (and I typically don't notice acting), the landscapes which are simultaneously beautiful and haunting, and Lawrence's character arc of being steadily worn down by the film over the years. Despite its massive length, I never thought the film dragged. I'd be happy with watching another two hours of it. Glad to see it on here!
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