favorite movie #120 - holiday edition: when harry met sally ...

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #120 - When Harry Met Sally ... (1989) - This movie is so much more than the famous Katz's Deli scene. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are perfectly matched as two people who wonder if men and women can ever really just be friends. Helping them find the answer are Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby. Ryan's "high-maintenance" Sally may always ask for everything "on the side," but don't we all want things the way we want them? The movie culminates in a great New York New Year's Eve scene.

Harry Burns (Billy Crystal): There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance.

Sally Albright (Meg Ryan): Which one am I? 

Harry: You're the worst kind; you're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance. 

Sally: I don't see that. 

Harry: You don't see that? Waiter, I'll begin with a house salad, but I don't want the regular dressing. I'll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side. And then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the mustard sauce on the side. "On the side" is a very big thing for you. 

Sally: Well, I just want it the way I want it. 

Harry: I know; high maintenance.

Merry Christmas!

favorite movie #101 - holiday edition: die hard

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #101 - Die Hard (1988) - Yes, Die Hard is a holiday film. An extremely violent holiday film, but a holiday film nonetheless.

Bruce Willis became a superstar as he crawled and shot his way through Nakatomi Plaza, desperately trying to save his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) from a gang of Euro-criminals led by the exquisitely awful Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). Holiday music like "Winter Wonderland","Christmas in Hollis", and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" pepper the film in between shoot-outs.

But most memorable are Bruce Willis's endless quips as he dodges bullets and assassin Alexander Godunov — especially while hiding in the classic film trope air vent: "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs ... "

"Welcome to the party, pal ... "

Hans ... bubby ...

favorite movie #97 - holiday edition: planes, trains, and automobiles & only the lonely

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #96 - Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) & Only the Lonely (1991) - I really love these two John Candy films, which not only showcase his comedic talent, but how effecting he could be emotionally, too. In John Hughes's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, one of the all-time greatest road pictures, he is the thorn on Steve Martin's side as the two try to make it home for Thanksgiving. There are many memorable moments — especially "Those aren't pillows!" Martin and Candy are great together, and Hughes takes his typical Chicago affluent suburb setting and character played by Martin and lets Candy disrupt him for both big comedic and emotional payoffs.

In Only the Lonely (produced by Hughes and again set in Chicago, but written and directed by Chris Columbus) Candy is a policeman who is torn between his loyalty to his overbearing mother (played by an amazing Maureen O'Hara) and a blossoming romance with a funeral home worker (Ally Sheedy). You really feel for Candy as he struggles to break away from his tough-as-nails mom and maybe, finally, live his own life. He and the film are truly wonderful.

Link to Christmas: The movies takes place during the holiday season

favorite movie #87 - halloween edition: the shining

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #87 - The Shining (1980) - I didn't actually like this film much when it first came out, but it has really grown on me. Jack Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance has become iconic. As much as I like Stephen King's original novel, this adaptation by Stanley Kubrick stands on its own as a brilliant, separate artwork. So many wonderful, symmetrical shots. Redrum!!!

Related:

the shining

room 237 — wheels within wheels

doctor sleep and the lure of the sequel

stephen king's on the night shift again

favorite movie #86 - halloween edition: the company of wolves

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #86 - The Company of Wolves (1984) - Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber is one of my favorite books. It is a collection of short stories based on fairy tales, with a feminist twist. Carter teamed up with director Neil Jordan and adapted one of the tales for the screenplay of The Company of Wolves, an updated version of Little Red Riding Hood. The protagonist, Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) is told a variety of wolf-related tales by her granny (Angela Lansbury), who warns her never to trust a man whose eyebrows meet ...

Related:

tell a fairy tale day

favorite movie #80 - halloween edition: little shop of horrors

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #80 - Little Shop of Horrors (1986) - I like the original B&W Roger Corman film too, with Jack Nicholson's wonderfully masochistic dental patient, but this is the one to see over and over again. Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II are all amazing. Even though director Frank Oz wanted the "darker" ending that was in the Off-Broadway show, the originally released "happy" ending is still pretty ambiguous. The movie doesn't shy away from its sleazy Skid Row locations, S&M romance between Audrey and Doctor Scrivello (Steve Martin), or this version's patient who is in love with pain (Bill Murray). The scene is set by Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon (Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, and Tisha Campbell) and the songs are great, too, especially: "Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors", "Skid Row (Downtown)", "Some Fun Now", "Dentist!", "Feed Me (Git It)", and Ellen Greene steals the show with "Suddenly, Seymour" and "Somewhere That's Green".

favorite movie #78 - halloween edition: beetlejuice

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #78 - Beetlejuice (1988) - Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! This film is darkly funny, quirky as hell — it's just a hoot. From the great Harry Belafonte songs and Danny Elfman's score to the almost animated quality of the film — what we now know to be Tim Burton's circus meets horror sensibility — and capped off by an amazing comedian performance from Michael Keaton, ably abetted by Sylvia Sidney, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder, etc.

Adam (Alec Baldwin): How is it that you can see us but nobody else can? 

Lydia (Winona Ryder): Well, I read in that "Handbook For The Recently Deceased". It says, "Live people ignore the strange and unusual." I, myself, am strange and unusual.

favorite movie #62 - halloween edition: poltergeist

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #62 - Poltergeist (1982) - I've written about this movie at great length before (see below). It captures a time, but it is still as fresh and as scary today as it was when it first premiered. I ignore the sequels and most definitely ignore the crappy attempt at a remake. Accept no substitutes.

via GIPHY

Related:

they don't make 'em like this anymore — poltergeist

poltergeist

favorite movie #56 and art in film: s.o.b.

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #56 - S.O.B. (1981) - Blake Edwards had a string of flops in the 1970s, starting with Darling Lili (which starred his wife Julie Andrews), which almost brought down Paramount Studios. His recovered after filming three very successful Pink Panther sequels, and then went on to film S.O.B., a film many thought to be his poison pen letter, his revenge on Hollywood.

But S.O.B. is not just a nasty flaming arrow pointed at an insider's view of Tinsel Town. It is also freaking hilarious. The story features a character similar to Edwards, Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan), who has a mental breakdown after his latest film, Night Wind, starring his movie star wife Sally Miles (Julie Andrews), is a colossal flop at the box office. In Hollywood money is king, and Felix's flop affects everyone in his orbit. Edwards pulls no punches depicting that orbit: the wife, children, hangers on, agents, domestic help, sycophants, and anyone else in the immediate vicinity who wants be part of the scene. The only people faithful and supportive of the suicidal Felix are his three best friends: Tim Culley (William Holden), the director of Night Wind; Dr. Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston), Felix and Sally's doctor; and Ben Coogan (Robert Webber), Sally's press agent.

The Three Muscatels

Felix has a brainstorm — what he needs to do to save Night Wind is to reshoot it with lots of added sex scenes, which will require some new, suggestive footage of his wife Sally.

Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) : Can she work? 

Dr. Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston) : Is Batman a transvestite? Who knows? I was specifically requested to alleviate her anxiety. Work was never mentioned. 

Felix Farmer : Irving, she's got a very big scene to do! 

Sally Miles (Julie Andrews) : [laughing] I'm going to show my boobies. What do you think, Irving, you've seen my boobies. Hmm, are they worth showing? 

Dr. Irving Finegarten : Well, since I can only render an evaluation based on a completely impersonal, purely professional examination of the subject ... uh, subjects, I would have to say that in my humble opinion you've got a terrific pair of knockers.

Polly wolly doodle all the day ...

Edwards pulls no punches and the film never stops loading one crazy situation on top of another, with  hysterical results. The cast is top notch, too — it's fun to try and spot all of the familiar faces.

What a cast. Top row, L-R: Loretta Swit, Craig Stevens, Larry Hagman, Richard Mulligan, Robert Vaughan, Benson Fong, Marisa Berenson. Bottom row, L-R: Robert Loggia, William Holden, Julie Andrews, Robert Preston, Larry Storch, Shelley Winters, Stuart Margolin, Robert Webber.

As wonderful as everyone is, Robert Preston is simply amazing, and pretty much walks away with the film (as he did in 1982's Victor, Victoria) with his Dr. Feelgood-ish portrayal of Dr. Irving Finegarten.

Well, it depends on what you mean by "all right." I once cured an amateur skydiver of acute acrophobia. Now, you could say he was all right, because he was able to jump. But you could also say he was *not* all right, because he was so stoned he neglected to open his parachute.

Check out that family portrait

William Holden, Jennifer Edwards daughter of Blake), and Rosanna Arquette