Over There And Over Here

In 1961 the film world was seeing exciting, innovative work coming out of France, England, Sweden, Italy, Japan, India, etc.  And Hollywood was mostly churning out the same tired formula.

What does Jesse Walker think were the top ten films of 1961? Wonder no longer.

(https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2021/12/jfk-year-one-ive-posted-my-favorite.html)

1.  Yojimbo

2.  Lola

3.  Yanco

4.  The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

5.  Chronicle Of A Summer

6.  The Hustler

7.  The Innocents

8.  The Exiles

9.  The Ladies Man

10.  Eugene

Yojimbo is definitely top ten, one of Kurosawa's best.

Lola has held up very well, better than a lot of French New Wave.

Haven't seen Yanco or Chronicle Of A Summer.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (I thought it was from 1962) is fun.

The hardboiled Hustler is top ten material. (Jesse includes a quote from it.  It's a very quotable film, especially George C. Scott's character.  "Do you think I can lose?" "I never saw you do anything else."  Soon after: "This game isn't like football.  Nobody pays you for yardage.  When you hustle, you keep score real simple.  At the end of the game, you count up your money.  That's how you find out who's best.  It's the only way.")

The Innocents and The Exiles are okay (and the latter of anthropological interest), but I wouldn't put them in the top ten.

The Ladies Man is an interesting choice.  Not one of Jerry Lewis's funniest, but probably his most experimental.

Eugene is a brilliant episode of television, so shouldn't be on a movie list.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  Blast Of Silence

12.  Viridiana

13.  Il Posto

14.  Underworld U.S.A.

15.  Accattone

16.  Mother Joan Of The Angels

17.  One-Eyed Jacks

18.  Last Year In Marienbad

19.  Killers On Parade

20.  Zoo

I saw 11 for the first time last month.  A very different sort of film, especially for the era, and I can see it making the top 20.  12 should be in the top ten.  13 and 14 I like.  Haven't seen 15 or 16.  17 is a different sort of Western, and should make the top twenty.  18 was maybe the most talked about film of the year, and is still intriguing today.  Haven't seen 19.  20 is a short.

Other films that might make my top ten or twenty:

Divorce Italian Style

The Errand Boy

One Two Three

Paris Blues

A Taste Of Honey

Through A Glass Darkly

Other films of note:

The Absent-Minded Professor, Bachelor in Paradise, Blue Hawaii, Breakfast At Tiffany's, Carry On Regardless, The Children's Hour, The Comancheros, The Connection, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Don't Bother to Knock, El Cid, Fanny, Flower Drum Song, The Guns Of Navarone, Judgment At Nuremberg, King of Kings, The Last Time I Saw Archie, Lover Come Back, The Marriage-Go-Round, The Misfits, Mothra, Mr. Sardonicus, Mysterious Island, La Notte, The Parent Trap, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Pleasure of His Company, Pocketful of Miracles, A Raisin In The Sun, The Rebel, Reptilicus, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, Romanoff and Juliet, Snow White and the Three Stooges, Something Wild, Splendor In The Grass, Summer and Smoke, Town Without Pity, Two Loves, Two Rode Together, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, West Side Story, Wild in the Country, The Young Doctors, The Young Ones, The Young Savages

A New Beginning

1971 was an exciting time in Hollywood.  They'd finally caught up to the rest of the world and started experimenting, both in content and style.  This led to some exciting stuff, as well as a fair amount of self-indulgence.

The adult subject matter, and some of the techniques, remained, though the freewheeling atmosphere didn't last the decade.

So let's see what Jesse Walker says were the top ten films of the year. (https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2021/12/sayonara-bretton-woods-weve-gone.html)

1.  The Last Picture Show

2.  A Clockwork Orange

3.  Mon Oncle Antoine

4.  McCabe & Mrs. Miller

5.  They Might Be Giants

6.  Walkabout

7.  Trafic

8.  Bananas

9.  Macbeth

10.  Dirty Harry

I've watched The Last Picture Show about once a decade, and I still don't get why anyone thinks it's good, much less great.

A Clockwork Orange is more interesting.  I'm not even saying it's good, but you know you've watched something when it's over. (By the way, not a great date film--I took someone to see this in college and she walked out.)

I think I like Mon Oncle Antoine, but haven't seen it in a long time.  Same for Walkabout.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller.  That's more like it. I'm amazed Robert Altman was allowed to make such a run of defiantly uncommercial films (often featuring big stars) back then.  There are two explanations: MASH had been a blockbuster, and it was the 70s.

They Might Be Giants is a lot of fun.  Trafic is the first Tati feature that wouldn't make my top ten.  Bananas would make my top ten--the kind of film I wish Woody would (and could) still make, though he (and too many critics) probably thought good riddance about 40 years ago.

Haven't seen Polanski's Macbeth.  Jesse mentions Welles and Kurosawa.  Wonder if ten years from now he'll be mentioning Joel Coen?

Dirty Harry was no doubt an influential film.  So influential you wonder what all the controversy was about, as we've since gotten so used to the formula.  While I can't say I really like it, I have to admit that crime films from that era in general are refreshing, if only because they still operate on a human level while today's tend to leave humanity behind.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  The Hired Hand

12.  W.R.--Mysteries Of The Organism

13.  Duck, You Sucker

14.  Two-Lane Blacktop

15.  Klute

16.  The Hospital

17.  A New Leaf

18.  Jabberwocky

19.  Basic Training

20.  Play Misty For Me

11 and 14 are examples of the kind of pretentious messes that Hollywood made trying to duplicate the success of Easy Rider.  12 is sort of fascinating.  13 is low-rent Leone.  15 isn't bad, though no great shakes.

16 is an overwritten Chayefsky mess, though George C. Scott is good.  17 would make my top ten list.  18 is a (fine) short.  19 is a Wiseman doc I haven't seen.  20 was the first film Eastwood directed (he was busy in '71). Don't remember liking it, but maybe I should give it another chance.

Here are some films that would have made my top ten or twenty:

And Now For Something Completely Different

Murmur Of The Heart

Other films of interest:

$, 10 Rillington Place, 200 Motels, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Anderson Tapes, The Andromeda Strain, The Barefoot Executive, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Billy Jack, Bless the Beasts and Children, Blue Movie, The Boy Friend, Carnal Knowledge, Cold Turkey, Dad's Army, Death In Venice, The Decameron, The Devils, Diamonds Are Forever, Drive He Said, The Emigrants, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Evel Knievel, Fiddler On The Roof, The French Connection, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Gas-s-s-s, Get Carter, Happy Birthday Wanda June, Harold and Maude, The Hellstrom Chronicle, The Hunting Party, Johnny Got His Gun, Kotch, The Last Movie, Two English Girls, Little Murders, Made For Each Other, Man and Boy, Le Mans, The Mephisto Waltz, The Million Dollar Duck, Minnie and Moskowitz, Nicholas And Alexandra, The Omega Man, The Panic in Needle Park, Plaza Suite, Shaft, Star Spangled Girl, Straw Dogs, Summer Of '42, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Support Your Local Gunfighter, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Taking Off, THX 1138, The Trojan Women, Up Pompeii, Vanishing Point, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Willard, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman

The Millennials Begin

It was the year Reagan took office, not that that means anything--it's always questionable to tie a film to a politician, and besides, I'm sure these films were mostly planned while Carter was still around.

Anyway, here are Jesse Walkers top ten films from 1981 (1981,https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2021/12/days-of-punk-and-reagans-ive-reeled-off.html).

1.  The Decline...Of Western Civilization

2.  Coup De Torchon

3.  Blow Out

4.  Lola

5.  Mephisto

6.  Gallipoli

7.  Time Bandits

8.  Polyester

9.  Stations Of The Elevated

10.  The Aviator's Wife

Overall I like the list, though it occurs to me I haven't seen too many of these since the 80s (and I haven't seen 9 or 10 at all).

My main complaint is the inclusion of Blow Out, which I actually saw again last month.  Very stylish, which you'd expect, but I'm still not sure why De Palma fans rate it so highly.

I remember loving Gallipoli back then--and wondering what was wrong with the Academy for giving its top award to Chariots Of Fire, which had certainly similarities, but I didn't like at all.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  Modern Romance

12.  Songs For Swinging Larvae

13.  Ms. 45

14. Vernon, Florida

15.  America Is Waiting

16.  God's Angry Man

17.  Once In A Lifetime

18.  Pixote

19.  Hotel Des Ameriques

20.  Das Boot

My main complaint is 11 isn't top ten, though it almost made it.

12 is a video (I believe), as is 17. 15 is a short. Haven't seen 16, though I'd like to (I saw plenty of Gene Scott when I moved to Los Angeles).

13 is a cult film. It's different, but is it great? 14 is fascinating.  I like 18-20 to various degrees, though haven't seen any of them in decades.

Here are some other films that would have made my top twenty:

An American Werewolf In London

Arthur

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Stripes

I wonder if I should make a special category for Taxi Zum Klo, which was certainly memorable.

Other films of interest (sometimes much interest):

Absence of Malice,  All Night Long, ...All the Marbles, The Amateur, American Pop,  Body Heat, The Cannonball Run, Cattle Annie And Little Britches, Clash Of The Titans, Continental Divide, Cutter's Way, Diva, Dragonslayer, Escape From New York, The Evil Dead, Excalibur, Eye Of The Needle, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Fort Apache The Bronx, The Four Seasons, Ghost Story, The Great Muppet Caper, Heartbeeps, Heavy Metal, History of the World Part I, The Hit, Honky Tonk Freeway, The Howling, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Ladies And Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains, Lili Marleen, Mad Max 2, Mommie Dearest, My Bloody Valentine, My Dinner with Andre, Neighbors, Nice Dreams, On Golden Pond, Outland, Pennies From Heaven, Prince Of The City, Private Lessons, Puberty Blues, Quest for Fire, Ragtime, Reds, Rich And Famous, S.O.B., Scanners, Sharky's Machine, Shock Treatment, Southern Comfort, They All Laughed, Thief, This Is Elvis, Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, Wolfen, Zorro The Gay Blade

Everything Old Is New Again?

1991.  Communism falls and the world looks like it might be turning a corner.  Was it the same for film?  Was it even true for the world?

Anyway, forget that high-minded stuff.  Here's Jesse Walker's top ten movie list for 1991. (https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2021/12/91-revised-ive-listed-my-favorite-films.html)

1.  The Rapture

2.  Hearts Of Darkness

3.  Homicide

4.  Raise The Red Lantern

5.  Tribulation 99

6.  Blooper Bunny

7.  JFK

8.  Slacker

9.  Point Break

10. Prime Suspect

I don't know if it's the year or if it's Jesse, but not a very impressive list.

I don't get Jesse's reverence for The Rapture.  Best I can say about this movie is it's different.

I do like Hearts Of Darkness quite a bit. (By the way, I've met Fax Bahr a few times.  I think I met Hickenlooper once as well.)

David Mamet is a fine playwright and a so-so filmmaker--his stylized characters seem more alive on stage than screen.  Haven't seen Homicide since it opened, but I remember it as not being that good even for Mamet.

Raise The Red Lantern is one of Zhang Yimou's (or is it Yimou Zhang's) best.

Haven't seen Tribulation 99, but JFK is probably the best comedy of the year.

Slacker works well in small slices.  Don't know if I could sit through it all in one piece again. (Jesse also put Waking Life in his top ten for 2001 and Bernie for 2011--guess he's a big fan of Linklater.)

Point Break has some great action sequences but doesn't hold together that well.

Meanwhile, "Blooper Bunny" is a short (and not one of the better ones in the series) and Prime Suspect is a TV show.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  Delicatessen

12.  Blood In The Face

13.  The Double Life Of Veronique

14.  Zentropa

15.  Little Man Tate

16.  Dogfight

17.  Thanksgiving Prayer

18.  The Death Of Stalinism In Bohemia

19.  The Silence Of The Lambs

20.  Flirting

11 is fascinating, though maybe a bit much.  Haven't seen 12.  13 is okay.  14 should be top ten.  Don't think much of 15 or 16.  17 is a short.  18 is great but also a short.  Never understood all the excitement over 19, which swept the Oscars.  20 is pretty good.

Here are some other 1991 film that would have made my top twenty:

Armour Of God II: Operation Condor

City Of Hope

Defending Your Life

Life Is Sweet

Once Upon A Time In China

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Other films of interest:

The Addams Family, At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Barton Fink, Beauty And The Beast, La Belle Noiseuse, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Black Robe, Boyz N The Hood, Bugsy, Cape Fear, Career Opportunities, A Chinese Ghost Story III, Chuck Amuck: The Movie, City Slickers, The Commitments, Dead Again, Doc Hollywood, The Doctor, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, The Doors, The Fisher King, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Gambling Ghost, Highway Patrolman, Hot Shots!, The Hours and Times, Hudson Hawk, The Indian Runner, Jungle Fever, Kafka, L.A. Story, The Last Boy Scout, Let Him Have It, Like Water For Chocolate, Madonna: Truth or Dare, Mediterraneo, Meet the Applegates, My Own Private Idaho, Mystery Date, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, Naked Lunch, New Jack City, Night on Earth, Nothing but Trouble, The Object of Beauty, Only the Lonely, Oscar, Pizza Man, The Quarrel, A Rage in Harlem, The Rocketeer, Salmonberries, The Sandman, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Shadows and Fog, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Thelma & Louise, Toto the Hero, Tous les Matins du Monde, Truly Madly Deeply, Until the End of the World, Waiting, What About Bob?, Year of the Gun

2001: A Film Odyssey

Jesse Walker is back with his top films of 2001. (https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html)

And unlike 2001 (see previous post), this year has a lot to offer.  Here are Jesse's top ten:

1. Mulholland Drive

2.  Spirited Away

3.  Y Tu Mama Tambien

4.  Sex And Lucia

5.  The Man Who Wasn't There

6.  Donnie Darko

7.  The Office

8.  Waking Life

9.  The Soprano 3

10.  Lantana

1 might be the best of the decade. (Let me repeat a story about seeing the film.  I was standing outside the theatre buying a ticket when someone drove by and shouted at me "that is the worst film I've ever seen." I guess David Lynch can stir up the passions.)

2 is one of Miyazaki's best, which means it's one of the best in general.

3 also makes my top ten.  Haven't seen 4.  5 I appreciate a bit more than I did back then, but still can't give it a thumbs up (though I especially like Tony Shalhoub in it).  6 I have never liked and have not grown to appreciate over the years.

Jesse and I have a longstanding disagreement over listing TV shows in movie lists.  He makes his argument that 7 is like a movie anyway, but I'm not buying it. (I'm buying it even less for 9.)

8 is another dream film, but no 1.  10 I liked.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  The Pledge

12. Storytelling

13. Claire

14.  Amelie

15.  Gosford Park

16.  The Others

17.  Ghost World

18.  Buffy The Vampire Slayer 5

19.  The Last Words Of Dutch Shultz

20.  What Time Is It There?

Haven't seen 13, 19 or 20.  Still haven't managed to watch all of 11. 18 is a TV show.

12 seemed to be minor Todd Solondz but has emerged as perhaps one of his best.  14 is a lot of fun.  I'm not a fan of 15, which is now seen, I suppose, as a dry run for Downton Abbey. 16 is okay.  17 should be in the top ten.

Here are some other films that might have made my top ten or twenty:

Ocean's Eleven

Hedwig And The Angry Inch

Lovely And Amazing

Monsoon Wedding

Winger Migration

Other films I liked:

Monsters Inc., Shrek, The Anniversary Party, Haiku Tunnel, Sexy Beast, Rat Race, Memento

Other films of note (some of which I sort of like):

A Beautiful Mind (the big Oscar winner), Harry Potter And The Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone (huge hit), The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Rings (huge hit), Pearl Harbor, The Mummy Returns, Jurassic Park III, Planet Of The Apes, Hannibal, Monsters Ball, In The Bedroom, The Royal Tenenbaums, Iris, Avalon, CQ, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Freddy Got Fingered, Human Nature, In Praise Of Love, Invincible, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Joe Somebody. Lagaan, Legally Blonde, The Mexican, One Night At McCool's, Pottie Tang, Shackelton's Antarctic Adventure, Shallow Hal, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, The Shipping News, Spy Kids, Va Savoir, Moulin Rouge!, Wet Hot American Summer, Zoolander, Black Hawk Down, Ali, I Am Sam, Training Day, Kate & Leopold, Vanilla Sky

A Decade Ago Already?

Hey, guess what--this blog, otherwise defunct, still apparently posts when Jesse Walker has his year-end top ten film lists.  What are they?  Well, he looks back ten years ago, then twenty, then thirty, and so on, at the top films of those years.  And for quite a while we here at Pajama Guy have been posting his lists and commenting on them.

This blog died over a year ago when the template changed and it was too much trouble to post new items.  I have to admit there were times I missed discussing some topic (for example, never got to say goodbye to Stephen Sondheim).

So here we go with Jesse.  Since we don't have any regular readers these days, I don't know how many will see this, but if you do feel free to spread the word. (And since I have trouble linking, here's Jesse's url: https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-year-world-ended-let-other-blogs.html)

Here's his top ten list for 2011:

1. We Need to Talk About Kevin

2. It's Such a Beautiful Day

3. Tomboy

4. Bernie

5. The Skin I Live In

6. The Muppets

7. Kill List

8. A Separation

9. Margaret

10. Another Earth

Jesse doesn't think 2011 was much of a year, and I agree.  And this is not a particularly inspiring top ten list.

I actually haven't gotten around to seeing a number of these films--1, 3, 7 and 9 (I've had numerous chances to see 9 but still haven't managed).  I think I've seen 10, but I'm actually not sure (which perhaps tells you something about 10).

As for the others, 2 is pretty special (and I guess you could call it a feature).  4 was fun, though not top ten.  5 is modern gothic, and not bad, but not top ten.  6 didn't do it for me--I kept wishing it was better.  8 would make my top ten.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11. Drive

12. Into the Abyss

13. Martha Marcy May Marlene

14. The Interrupters

15. The Tree of Life

16. Damsels in Distress

17. Young Adult

18. Fake It So Real

19. Kumaré

20. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Haven't seen 12 (though I generally like Herzog's documentaries), 14 or 19.  I also can't discuss 16 because I know the director (though I'm surprised that film came out a decade ago--doesn't seem that long).

11 was stylishly done, but not a lot there. 13 wasn't great, but very creepy with a well-done ending.  15 is probably my top film of the year.  17 just didn't do it.  18 is good.  20 represents a decent effort to rethink a franchise, but I can't say I like it.

Here are some other films that would make my top twenty:

Bill Cunningham New York

Crazy, Stupid, Love

The Guard

Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol

Sarah's Key

Submarine

Tabloid

Win Win

Here are other films of 2011 I liked:

Source Code, Blank City, Jane Eyre, Cameraman: The Life And Work Of Jack Cardiff, Everything Must Go, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Help, Littlerock, Contagion, Hugo, My Week With Marilyn, Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel, Buck, X-Men: First Class, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, Attack The Block

Other films of note:

Season Of The Witch, The Green Hornet, The Dilemma, The Mechanic, Super, Tron Legacy, Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, Fast Five, Water For Elephants, Hop, The Hangover 2, Beginners, Super 8, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rio, Cars 2, Larry Crowne, Page One: Inside The New York Times, Kung Fu Panda 2, Cowboys & Aliens, Puncture, The Ides Of March, Toast, The Women On The Sixth Floor, Tower Heist, Killer Elite, In Time, Real Steel, The Artist, Young Adult, Barney's Version, Jumping The Broom, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Rite, The Ledge, Puss In Boots, A Dangerous Method, War Horse, Pariah, Red Riding Hood, The Eagle, Sucker Punch, The Iron Lady, Arthur, Just Go With It, Rango, Green Lantern, The Change-Up, J. Edgar, Jack And Jill, Melancholia, Cedar Rapids, Hall Pass, Bridesmaids, The People Vs. George Lucas, 13 Assassins, Terri, Take Shelter, Le Havre, Unknown, Adjustment Bureau, Take Me Home Tonight, Limitless, I Am Number Four, The Lincoln Lawyer, Paul, Battle: Los Angeles, Hanna, Thor, The Robber, Midnight In Paris, The Trip, Bad Teacher, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2, Horrible Bosses, 30 Minutes Or Less, Red State, Sholem Aleichem: Laughing In The Darkness, The Hedgehog, The Debt, Moneyball, 50/50, Margin Call, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, The Descendants, Gnomeo And Juliet, The Sitter, Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect And The Painter, The Adventures of Tintin, Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, We Bought A Zoo