Movies That Changed Us (2/03 - 12/03)

We started the series in February of 2003, meeting at my house on alternate weeks. We took a break over the summer (it's a travesty to stay inside on a Seattle summer night), and then continued through December.

We decided to go in chronological order (the reverse of how Nick Clooney presented them in the book). After each movie, we'd skim-read his chapter and usually lambast his writing or theories. As we all know, the reason "top ten" lists are fun is because we get to disagree with them! I think most would agree, however, that we're glad we saw the movies.

Here are the movies, in the order we watched them. [The links will take you to IMDb.com for more info.]

1. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
2. The Big Parade (1925)
3. The Jazz Singer (1927)
4. Morocco (1930)
5. Love Me Tonight (1932)
6. Triumph of the Will (1935)
7. Boys Town (1938)
8. Stagecoach (1939)
9. The Great Dictator (1940)
10. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
11. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
12. The Snake Pit (1948)
13. On the Waterfront (1954)
14. Marty (1955)
15. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
16. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. Taxi Driver (1976)
19. Star Wars (1977)
20. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

As you can see, all but the last three were made before 1970, so the list is heavily biased for Nick Clooney's generation. I think my generation would venture a lot of other options for the post-1970 decades... so maybe someone needs to write a follow-up book! (It could be like Lazy Sunday, Lazy Monday, etc.)

There's no denying the firepower in the cast and crew of these movies, though. The list includes major directors (Ford, Sturges, Scorsese, Kazan, Kubrick), heavy-hitting actors (Brando, Chaplin, Crosby, Wayne, Tracy, De Niro), and sultry actresses (Dietrich, Loy, de Havilland, Taylor). The topics weren't lightweight either: KKK, Nazis, abortion, insane asylums, homosexuality, war, plastics...

By far, Star Wars had the biggest turnout.