Some Favourite Movies

Then there was that stupid yucky depression...

Thanks for the post AndyClifton. I'm trying to get more of my favourite films in the DVD foremat. " Nobody's Fool " with the late Paul Newman is another film that I would like to find on a disc, I quite enjoyed the storyline there.

In one of my other threads we had a bit of a chat going about History and it reminded me of a terrific Mini-series. " Fall Of Eagles " was produced in England during the mid-1970s and covered the period from around 1850 up to 1918. Thus the series covers the period from when the European nations  were at the height of their Imperial power and then up to the Disaster of World War One. What I found interesting with the " Fall Of Eagles " is that we are taken into the backrooms where the political deals were made and one can see the path that lead to the " Great War ". 

The other day I was busy visiting stores and I came across a Movie on DVD that I hadn't seen in years. Starring Burt Lancaster, Marc Singer and Dolph Sweet, the name of the film is " Go Tell The Sartans ".The story takes place in the early part of the War in Vietnam and I'm quite looking forward to seeing the film again.

In the post that I put up here a couple of days ago I mentioned Burt Lancaster, one of the greats of years ago. Since then another of the greats came to mind, a Star who played everything from Moses in " The Ten Commandments " to a prisoner in " The Planet Of The Apes ", yes Charlton Heston of course. Mind you not all of his films were well known, earlier in this thread I mentioned " Khartoum " which was a good movie but seemed to fade away rather quickly ( I may also have brought up " The Big Country ", a good Western that deserved more recognition ). Needles to say over the years Heston worked with a large number of Co-stars and I gather that not everyone was entirely happy with him. Sophia Loren was with him in the historical epic " El Cid " and she did not enjoy making that film. She was able to avoid doing any more movies with Heston but I never did hear what the basis of her complaint was.     

I like Heston. Omega Man and Soylent Green are two good sci fi ones. I even like Ben Hur despite being a non-religious person. The chariot race is still amazing.

As for Burt Lancaster, the movie I remember him most in is Gunfight at OK Corral:

Fun quote from Chuck (re making Planet of the Apes):

Charlton Heston said how, when they were eating lunch, all the orangutans would sit with the orangutans, chimps with chimps, gorillas with gorillas, and the humans with the humans. He couldn't explain it, he grinned bemusedly; that was just how it happened.

Thanks for the recent posts. I remember Burt Lancaster being in a interesting movie with Kirk Douglas about a rogue American General trying to overthrow the Government by taking control of a Nuclear missile base, good movie but I can't remember the title. The Ben Hur film was very very good, I found the Naval battle was well made as well plus the Chariot race was terrific. Regarding the Planet of the Apes film it's funny we watch these movies but we don't think of the Actors sitting around in Costune and eating lunch  lol.   

Of course when one thinks of Burt Lancaster the movie " From Here To Enernity " is the one that comes to mind most often. Truly a classic Motion Picture where Lancaster was supported by a terrific group of Co-Stars. 

Ooh, you left out Fred and Ava!...

Thanks for the post AndyClifton, I'm often leaving things out ( poor short-term memory  lol ).

The recent passing of Ray Bradbury is something that I had mentioned in my thread on Star-Trek ( & Sci-Fi items ). Many years ago I remember watching a very interesting Movie based on a Book by Bradbury entitled " Fahrenheit 451 ". The lead in that film was quite well played by Oskar Werner who was probobly better known over in Europe.    

I first saw Mr. Lancaster in a more obscure film, "The Train" based on a true story about the Nazis rounding up the famous French art and trying to make off with them before the Allies roll into Paris. Burt plays an engineer with the Resistance who pulls all kinds of crazy tricks to stop the krauts. The movie shows just how good he was as an athlete and stuntman as well as a dedicated actor.

Speaking of Fahrenheit 451, we just watched a movie (thanks to our younger son) last week, called Equilibrium, which is a combination of Fahrenheit 451 & Ultraviolet.  I'd never heard of it.  It stars Christian Bale & Sean Bean (who gets killed early on! imagine that!).  It's a pretty neat flick...I'll definitely watch it again.

Thanks for the recent posts.

Ivandh I have not seen that fim yet but it sounds like a good one. I may find it at a local store sometime, I was surprised to find the " Go Tell The Spartans " movie here.

Javan64 I haven't seen that film either but I will check to see if it ends up in our stores here. 

I saw The Train many years ago...not too bad IIRC.

Equilibrium, I know I've seen it and enjoyed it but can't remember the storyline?

Thanks for the recent updates. Yesterday I had a chance to watch the Burt Lancaster movie ( Go Tell The Spartans ) that I had not seen in many years. It is a film that I would recommend as a first class war movie, another good performance by Burt Lancaster ( I don't think he ever gave a bad one tho ).   

Some of mine. Best submarine movie Das Boot for sure. But I liked Crimson Tide better than Hunt for the Red October (but the Red October music was great).  Best war movie overall, for me nothing compares to Saving Private Ryan. 3 of my favorite sci-fi's: Alien, Aliens, and Matrix (include the entire trilogy). Biblical times movie: The Silver Chalice. Paul Newman: Cool Hand Luke. Horse operas you may never have seen but I submit:  [edit:Pursued (not The Pursued)]and Walk Like a Dragon: brief synopsis: [Edit: Mel Torme (not Mickey Rooney,I was a kid when I saw this)] plays the hard drinking, gun slinging preacher who accepts gold to teach the downtrodden and abused Chinese laundryman how to handle a gun. And for some reason this light-weight little romp sticks in my mind: How to Murder Your Wife.

Thanks, SquareDealer. I'll have to check out the ones I haven't seen in your list.

Thanks for the updates. I'm also very much a fan of the movie " Das Boot " which I have in the longer Director's-cut version. " Saving Private Ryan " is also very good as is " A Bridge Too Far " ( which is loaded with a lot of star power ). In regards to the Air-war I like the film " Battle Of Britain ", or if one wants to go back further in time " The Blue Max ". As for Westerns one of my favourites is the rarely mentioned " Big Country " which stars Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Chuck Conners, Jean Simmons and Charles Bickford ( and was directed by William Wyler ).