My 101 Favorite Movies of All Time – 11-20

Making this list (and the similar list of my favorite TV shows), I started wondering if I could do a similar list of favorite songs. The answer is no.

Not that I don't like music, but there's a tie for #1 between “Hotel California” by the Eagles and “King of Hearts” by Randy Stonehill. After that? Who knows. My “favorites” playlist includes close to 200 songs—and I'm constantly changing it—so there's no way I could number them. And as subject as this list is to change, other than those top two, my favorite songs list would change during the playing of each song.

Aren't-cha glad I've decided not to write out that list? (I know I am.)

So anyway, here's the penultimate section of my list of 101 favorite movies.

11. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Up until 2006, this movie was sitting in the top ten. According to legend, George Lucas and Steven Speilberg were sitting on a beach in Hawaii, trying to avoid the news and decompress, when George pitched an idea he had: let's do a swashbuckling movie such as Hollywood used to make, but with modern technology. So eventually, they teamed up with Lawrence Kasdan (the writer) and Harrison Ford (the star), and history was made. One of those movies where I practically have all the words memorized but I can still watch it (and a smile will soon appear on my face).

Harrison Ford is and has been great as Indiana Jones, but as a fan of Tom Selleck I hope some day in an alternate universe we get to see what it would have been like with Selleck in the lead.

12. Casablanca

Casablanca is one of those movies I had heard about for all my life but hadn't actually sat down to watch until I was in my mid-thirties. From the beginning, I was hooked! Perfect writing, excellent acting, and not a wasted shot in the movie. And no, it does not contain the line I have heard all my life: “Play it again, Sam.” But, man! There is a LOT of cigarette smoke in this movie!!

One of the things I love about this movie (and a lot of old movies) is that they had to hold to the Harris code and there were just some things they couldn't show. Watch this movie and tell me what Rick and Ilsa did in his apartment? Did they go to to bed? Did they talk all night? You can make a pretty good case either way, based on given clues. But if this movie were made today, we would be subjected to a graphic depiction of the two of them in bed. I contend that the ambiguity makes for a better movie.

13. The Great Escape

The Third Reich attempts to put all of their escape artists in one, supposedly escape-proof, prison camp. The prisoners concoct an ambitious and elaborate plan to break 200 of the inmates out of the camp and cause havoc all over Germany while trying to get back to the west and rejoin the fight. 76 of the Allied prisoners made it out, 3 eventually made it to freedom, 23 were returned to the camp … and 50 were re-captured then murdered in a mass war crime by the Nazis. If this sounds too bleak, you haven't seen the movie! It's a triumphant movie about man's indomitable spirit.

This movie is based on (and follows pretty closely) the real events detailed in the book of the same name by former prisoner Paul Brickhill. Some characters are composites and the time-line is condensed in places, but over-all it's one of Hollywood's more faithful retellings of a real event. [With one notable exception. There were no Americans in the real “great escape” because the Americans had already been moved out of the camp after 4 American POWs escaped through an audacious tunnel in the early days of the camp.] Some of the actors in the movie were actual prisoners of war and were said to have had nightmares over the realism of the sets.

14. Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King

One of the most beautiful and majestic films ever made, Return of the King is the real (and perfect) ending to the Tolkien saga. I watch this movie (and, actually, the whole 6-movie saga) at least once a year, and I love seeing it in the pristine format of HD, but if I could travel back in time I would love to go back to that anticipation of seeing it on the big screen for the first time. Fellowship of the Ring (#4) two years before, then waiting a year to see The Two Towers (#38), by the time this finally came to the theater, I was at a fever pitch. And then I would see it four times in the theater (and if I could do it again, I'd go see it on that big screen again). Another soundtrack I listen to frequently, and I've already requested that “Into the West” be played at my funeral.

I don't have one quote or moment from this movie that sticks in my mind (they all do!), so if I could, I would embed some of the music.

15. Star Wars – Rogue One

The best Star Wars movie since Empire Strikes Back (#7), this is my favorite movie of the last eleven years. The crazy thing is, we knew going in that all of the characters in this movie were going to die (otherwise wouldn't they have shown up somewhere else in the saga?), yet we still wound up caring about them. Rogue One features numerous nods to the rest of the series (even The Ghost from the Star Wars Rebels TV show shows up!), but it doesn't seem like a retread of old Star Wars stories (like some other movie I won't mention here [#95]). Felicity Jones was a fantastic casting choice in the mold of Carrie Fisher and Daisy Ridley: very pretty, but also real women who you might actually meet in real life (not plastic super-models). [See my note on the next movie.]

Jimmy Smits doesn't have a big part in this movie (and rumor has it he was a late addition), but his work alone moves this film from “great” to “spectacular”.

I only have two quibbles with this movie: 1] when Cassian “disguises” himself as an imperial officer he should have shaved, because all other un-helmeted Imperials are clean-shaven; and 2] like trying to eat just one potato chip, I can't watch this movie and not watch at least the opening of A New Hope.

16. Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith

The best movie of the prequels (see #s 45 & 54), we finally got to see how sweet little Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. It wasn't just one event. It was the war, his upbringing, his mentor, and even some intransigence on the part of the Jedi. Two things that both bookend this movie and bump it so high on my list are the incredible space battle at the beginning and the lightsabre duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

For the record, I didn't list Natalie Portman in my note on the previous movie because, while an excellent actress, I do think she is one of the most beautiful women ever. (My apologies if this reads in any way as insulting to any of these ladies.)

17. The Incredibles

The 2nd-highest rated animated movie on this list, The Incredibles story somewhat defies definition. Is it a super hero movie? Well, yes, but it's also a spy movie. It's also got a pretty strong message about family and telling your loved ones the truth. There's also the idea that by trying to say that everyone is equally special, we run the risk of forgetting what makes us all unique. Pixar's animation continues to improve to mind-bending levels, but the animation here still holds up well—owing much to the prescient decision to give everything a “not of this time” look. It's futuristic and nostalgic and will probably still look great 20 years from now!

“As fast as I can?” “As fast as you can.”

18. Return to Mayberry

The highest-rated made for TV movie on this list, it's here because (as you've seen on my list of favorite TV shows) The Andy Griffith Show is my all-time favorite show. Andy Griffith had been pitching the idea of a Mayberry reunion for years, but it wasn't until the mid eighties that he finally got the powers-that-be go along with the idea. In reality, this was probably the perfect time. Andy and Barney/Don were still young enough to still be believable as the law in Mayberry, but enough older to have a whole new set of issues to deal with. Not only did they bring back most of the cast (Aunt Bee is the notable exception), the movie was written by two of the old writers (Harvey Bullock & Everett Greenbaum) and directed by one of the old directors (Bob Sweeney)—all people who knew Mayberry intimately.

“Sheriff Andy's back in town! His hair's turned gray, your pants fall down. Make that monster go away! It's me it's me it's Ernest T.”

19. The Peanuts Movie

I was pretty dubious when I heard someone was making a Peanuts movie without Charles M. Schulz. When I then heard that Schulz's son and grandson were writing the script, I determined to give it as open of a mind as I could … and wow!! I love that they didn't try to make the animation look like Schulz's (or Mendelson' or Melendez's) hand, but they kept it in his spirit with an impressive mix of black pen lines and realistic 3D rendering. Some of the jokes are straight from the strip, but even those that aren't, seem like they are in the spirit of what Sparky would have done himself.

Is it wrong that I still burst out laughing at the sight of a little girl getting hit in the head with an old, metal typewriter?

20. Wall-E / Up (tie)

OK, so there are actually 102 movies on this list.

Two great stories, fascinating and charming visuals, with lovable characters and myriad quotable lines, I tried and tried but I cannot rank one of these ahead of the other, but they both belong in my top 20. I even listen to the soundtracks of both movies about equally.

“Squirrel!”

“Eva!”

To see what movies fill in #s 21-30, click here.

To see the whole list (so far), click here.