A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco. I’m going to be honest: I have tried to start this article four times now. All because I have no idea what I want to say about the film Casablanca. It’s a film that I own. It’s a film … Continue reading 3. Casablanca (1942)
A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god. As per usual with films about Vietnam, there is a lot to unpack here. Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now begins with footage of bombs going off, destroying the landscape while the lyrics “This is the end, beautiful friend” plays, and that’s just where the … Continue reading 30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors, not knowing that the allied forces are planning to destroy it. You know, I think the one thing that this film made me realize, more than anything, is that I have no grasp on how plastic explosives work. Directed by David Lean and written by Carl Foreman and … Continue reading 36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Three World War II veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed. I so wish this film dove deeper than it does. The Best Years of Our Lives, directed by William Wyler and written by Robert E. Sherwood, only scratches the surface of what life for returning veterans. All three veterans in the film are dealing with … Continue reading 37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a War Room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop. Stanley Kubrick brilliantly satirized the Cold War tensions between the US and Russia in Dr. Strangelove, a black comedy that he wrote, directed, and produced. Even more brilliant, he criticized the ridiculous idea of mutually assured destruction. The concept of mutually assured destruction, or … Continue reading 39. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and high jinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war. MASH is one of those films that was always on my list of “Films to watch”. I just never got around to it until now. A common occurrence, I have found, when I watch a film directed by Robert Altman … Continue reading 54. M*A*S*H (1970)
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action. I cry no less than six times while watching this film. I counted this time. From the first battle scene as the men land on Omaha Beach on, what came to be known as, D-Day to the final battle scene at … Continue reading 71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
