Let’s Drink to the Repeal of Prohibition

we-want-beer

December 5th 1933 marked the passing of the 21st amendment to repeal prohibition. Let’s celebrate by washing down a cocktail with two great classic movies.

An Affair to Remember 1957 with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr could look familiar to you if you ever saw Love Affair 1939 with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne. No? How about Sleepless in Seattle 1993 with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Well, let’s catch up your knowledge of affairs with a drink or two. Grant and Kerr spend plenty of time throwing back a few pink champagne cocktails. Want the recipe?

Put one sugar cube in chilled Champagne glass, add 3 drops of bitters, 25 ml brandy or Cognac, fill the rest of the glass with Champagne. Cheers!

Kitty Foyle 1940 with Ginger Roger and Dennis Morgan feature the characters in a speakeasy while the votes are being counted for the next U.S. President. The bar owner, disappointed with the results, knows that the repeal of prohibition will hurt his business. Morgans character orders a drink called Strega an Italian wine with a witch on the bottle. He states that the legend of Strega holds that if you drink it with someone you will never drink it when apart. It was terribly romantic. Let’s test out that theory tonight. Saluti!

Seriously Fun

Here are 7 series that I grouped together just for fun.  Something Andy Hardy has in common with “Leave it to Beaver” or even the “Brady Bunch” series is the father to son talks.  Couldn’t we all use a little more advice from dad?

1 Andy Hardy
2 Charlie Chan
3 Dr. Kildare
4 Ma and Pa Kettle
5 The Falcon
6 The Saint
7 The Thin Man

Almost Perfect

Back to give you more movie love.  One of my favorite things about movies is that they can be very personal and everyone is a critic.  And you should be.  No one will see the same film the same way and frankly, even some movies are don’t seem the same the second time you see them.

This list is comprised of almost perfect movies.  Movies that are excellent but for one reason or another just don’t make my top 100.

Here is a great example; Sabrina, the original 1954 version.  The dress by Givenchy, the writing and the story are near infallible.  Everything perfect.  I always felt that Humphrey Bogart was a fantastic lead but seems too senior when paired with the child-like Audrey Hepburn.

1 Affair to Remember, An 1957
2 Airforce 1943
3 Bachelor Mother 1939
4 Bell, Book and Candle 1958
5 Born Yesterday 1950
6 Brief Encounter 1945
7 Catered Affair, The 1956
8 Charade 1963
9 Cheaper by the Dozen 1950
10 Clock, The 1945
11 Crossroads 1942
12 Design for Living 1933
13 Every Girl Should Be Married 1948
14 Father Goose 1964
15 Four Jills in a Jeep 1944
16 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953
17 Glen Miller Story, The 1954
18 Greatest Show on Earth, The 1952
19 Gunga Din 1039
20 Holiday 1938
21 Hollywood Canteen 1944
22 I Happened One Night 1934
23 I Was a Male War Bride 1949
24 It Started with Eve 1941
25 It’s a Date 1940
26 Lady Eve, The 1941
27 Lady on a Train 1945
28 Majority of One, A 1961
29 Man Who Knew Too Much, The 1956
30 Midnight 1939
31 My Sister Eileen 1942
32 Mysteries of the Wax Museum 1933
33 Now, Voyager 1942
34 O. Henry’s Full House 1952
35 Operation Petticoat 1959
36 Penny Serenade 1941
37 People Will Talk 1951
38 Pin Up Girl 1944
39 Please Don’t Eat the Daisies 1960
40 Sabrina 1954
41 Send Me No Flowers 1964
42 Shadow of a Doubt 1943
43 Shadow of the Thin Man 1941
44 Shall We Dance 1937
45 Shop Around the Corner, The 1940
46 Sister Kenny 1946
47 Stage Door Canteen 1943
48 Summer Stock 1950
49 Sun Valley Serenade 1941
50 Talk of the Town, The 1942
51 That Touch of Mink 1962
52 The Earrings of Madame de… 1953
53 Thrill of it All, The 1963
54 Top Hat 1935
55 Woman of Distinction, A 1950

I Love These Weirdos

Here is a list I compiled of movies that are mostly compiled of what I affectionately call my “weirdos”.  This list has more than 50 films that are so good but could be slightly dated, embarrassing or so strange they squeak in as a group that I find hard to admit how much I love them.  Sometimes they even have cult status.  Yup, even Ferris Bueller and Better off Dead made it.

1 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948
2 Adventures of Ichabad Crane 1949
3 Amelie (Fabulex destin d’Amelie Poulain, Le) 2001
4 Animal Crackers 1930
5 Better Off Dead 1985
6 Big Store, The 1941
7 Boy Meets Girl 1998
8 Brothers Bloom 2008
9 Buck Privates 1941
10 Carefree 1938
11 Creature from the Black Lagoon 1954
12 Day the Earth Stood Still, The 1951
13 Drop Dead Gorgeous 1999
14 Du Barry Was a Lady 1943
15 Duck Soup 1933
16 Earth vs. the Flying Saucers 1956
17 Erik the Viking 1999
18 Excalibur 1981
19 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 1986
20 Forever Darling 1956
21 Freaky Friday 1976
22 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun 1985
23 Go West 1940
24 Godzilla vs. Monster Zero 1970
25 Green for Danger 1947
26 Hard to Get 1938
27 Horn Blows at Midnight, The 1945
28 Human Comedy, The 1943
29 It Came from Outer Space 1953
30 Jack and the Beanstalk 1952
31 Johnny Toothpick (Johnny Stecchino) 1991
32 La Femme Nikita (Nikita) 1990
33 Lawn Dogs 1997
34 Like Water for Chocolate (Como Agua Para Chocolate) 1992
35 Living Out Loud 1998
36 Max Duggan Returns 1983
37 Merrily We Live 1938
38 Monster, The (Il Mostro) 1994
39 Mourning Becomes Electra 1947
40 Muse, The 1999
41 My Life in Pink (Ma Vie en Rose) 1997
42 Never Wave at a WAC 1953
43 Old Mill, The 1937
44 Orlando 1992
45 Palm Beach Story, The 1942
46 Pirate Movie, The 1982
47 Real Genius 1985
48 Return of the Pink Panther, The 1975
49 Road to Utopia 1945
50 Robin Hood Men in Tights 1993
51 Send Me No Flowers 1964
52 Singles 1992
53 Something Wicked This Way Comes 1983
54 Son of Paleface 1952
55 Spanish Prisoner, The 1997
56 Tell it to the Judge 1949
57 Three Little Words 1950
58 Three Smart Girls 1936
59 Topper 1937
60 Transylvania 6-5000 1985
61 Under the Lighthouse Dancing 1997
62 Water Babies, The 1978
63 What a Way to Go! 1964
64 Who Done It? 1942
65 Xanadu 1980
66 Young Einstein 1988

Top 100

My family, especially my dad, had a big influence on me and my love of movies. When I was growing up our family had the TV on all day, everyday. We had cable when it first became available.  Classic movies were all the more special because my family was sharing something they loved with me.

Movies are more than a past time and I find myself telling anyone that will listen the details and complete reviews about the movies I had seen.

This list has been compiled from movies I have personally watched in my lifetime and will always be evolving as I view new movies. I have spent spend sleepless nights thinking about my favorites and I ended up putting the list in alphabetical order because it would be difficult to put them in an order that would rank them from favorite to least favorite.

Some of the criteria for a movie to make it to my top 100 includes;

  • Know the timing of a movies so well you can guess what is happening even if you are listening from another room.
  • You can watch it again the same day, two days in a row or whenever you see they are playing it again on TV.  Even if you own the movie.
  • You can recite lines, hum the music score and you might even be able to play “Kevin Bacon” with the actors in the movie.
  • Every time you see it, the movie seems to get better and you notice more details about it.
  • You want to have others see it the same way you do and can get genuinely hurt if the person does not share in your enthusiasm.
  • It’s like comfort food or your favorite piece of clothing. There is nothing like a favorite movie to bring you out of a bad mood.

Well, here it finally is.  My top 100 movie list.

1 12 Angry Men 1957
2 Adventures of Robin Hood, The 1938
3 All About Eve 1950
4 Anthony Adverse 1936
5 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944
6 At the Circus 1939
7 Auntie Mame 1958
8 Awful Truth, The 1937
9 Bachelor and the Bobbisoxer 1947
10 Barefoot in the Park 1967
11 Bedknobs and Broomsticks 1971
12 Bells Are Ringing 1960
13 Bells of St Mary’s 1945
14 Best Years of Our Lives 1946
15 Bishops Wife, The 1947
16 Blues Brothers, The 1980
17 Breakfast at Tiffany’s 1961
18 Bringing Up Baby 1938
19 Christmas in Connecticut 1945
20 Christmas Story, A 1983
21 Clash of the Titans 1981
22 Clue 1985
23 Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court 1949
24 Court Jester, The 1956
25 Day at the Races, A 1937
26 Dial M for Murder 1954
27 First Love 1939
28 Flesh and Fantasy 1943
29 George Washington Slept Here 1942
30 Good News 1947
31 Gorgeous (Bor lei jun) 1956
32 Grease 1978
33 Great Waltz, The 1938
34 Hans Christian Anderson 1952
35 Heiress, The 1949
36 High Society 1940
37 His Girl Friday 1942
38 Hitler’s Children 1942
39 Holiday Inn 1978
40 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying 1967
41 It Should Happen to You 1954
42 It’s a Wonderful Life 1946
43 Kitty Foyle 1940
44 Laura 1944
45 Letter to Three Wives, A 1949
46 Lolita 1962
47 Long, Long Trailer, The 1953
48 Mildred Peirce 1945
49 Miracle on 34th Street 1947
50 Mister Roberts 1955
51 Monsieur Beaucaire 1946
52 Moon Over Miami 1941
53 More the Merrier, The 1943
54 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House 1948
55 My Favorite Wife 1940
56 Night at the Opera, A 1935
57 Night Must Fall 1937
58 North by Northwest 1959
59 Notorious 1946
60 On the Town 1949
61 Once Upon a Honeymoon 1942
62 Orchestra Wives 1942
63 Out of Africa 1985
64 Philadelphia Story 1940
65 Pride and Prejudice 1940
66 Princess Bride, The 1987
67 Professional, The (Leon) 1994
68 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981
69 Rear Window 1954
70 Red Shoes, The 1948
71 Road to Morocco 1942
72 Rope 1948
73 Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) 1998
74 Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The 1947
75 Seems Like Old Times 1980
76 Since You Went Away 1944
77 Singin’ in the Rain 1952
78 Song is Born, A 1948
79 Stage Door 1937
80 Stage Fright 1950
81 Star Wars 1977
82 Strangers on the Train 1951
83 Strictly Ballroom 1992
84 Suspicion 1941
85 Tales of Manhattan 1942
86 Thin Man Goes Home, The 1945
87 To Be or Not To Be 1942
88 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962
89 Trouble with Harry, The 1955
90 Vanishing, The 1993
91 Wait Until Dark 1967
92 Walk Don’t Run 1966
93 Washington Square 1997
94 Wide Awake 1998
95 Wizard of Oz, The 1939
96 Women, The 1939
97 Wonder Man 1945
98 Wuthering Heights 1939
99 You Were Meant for Me 1948
100 Young Frankenstein 1974