Bill Goodykoontz, the movie reviewer for the Arizona Republic, recently listed what
he considers to be the best thriller films ever made. They are not in any particular order and I
agree with him on some of them. I also
think it is hard to pick from such a large selection so I will add a couple of
my own to complement his list.
A word of warning: I
lean toward older films as I think they have the best stories and acting plus I
am a nostalgia freak. So, if you expect
to see anything with Leonardo DiCaprio or Vince Vaughn you will be
disappointed.
Three films on Bill’s list that I would immediately cross
off are “Fight Club” (1999) with Brad Pitt, “Memento” (2000) with Guy Pearce
and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) with Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. All three were snoozers to me as they delved
into psychological situations that I don’t look for when viewing a movie. As the great film producer Samuel Goldwyn
(1879-1974) once said: “If you want to
send a message, use Western Union.”
The rest I can agree with starting with “Touch of Evil”
(1958). Orson Welles is great as a crooked
police captain in a U.S.-Mexican border town (actually filmed in Venice, California). It’s great film noir stuff with a fine cast
of character actors plus a gorgeous thirty-one year old Janet Leigh playing the
wife of Mexican (Mexican?) narcotics officer Charlton Heston.
“Rear Window” (1954) with Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, and
Raymond Burr is classic Alfred Hitchcock fare and I hope everyone has seen it
by now. Jimmy is a bit of a voyeur as he
convalesces from injuries received while performing his job as a photo
journalist. Kelly is beautiful; Burr is
typical Burr of that era.
“The Third Man” (1949) with Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, and
Alida Valli. Film noir mystery and espionage
in postwar Vienna with great zither background music throughout. Valli is gorgeous!
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in
"Double Indemnity" (1944)
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“Psycho” (1960) Low budget with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh,
Simon Oakland. Is there anyone who hasn’t
seen this film? More classic Hitchcock
with great musical score by Bernard Herrman.
Plus, it relates to Phoenix although not one frame was shot there other
than a few exterior shots (click here for more on that).
“Double Indemnity” (1944)
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson. Fred is insurance agent who falls for floozy
Stanwyck and her scheme to kill her husband for insurance dough. Robinson should have gotten Best Supporting
Actor for role as insurance investigator.
Great 1940’s dialogue and music.
“Bullitt” (1968) What
can I say other than it’s one of Steve
McQueen’s best and has the car chase
which thankfully didn’t really destroy that beautiful ’67 Dodge Charger!
“Dirty Harry” (1971) How can you not like a young, badass
Clint Eastwood saying, “I know what you're thinkin', punk. You're thinkin' did he
fire six shots or only five? Now to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself
in all this excitement."
Last but never least is “North by Northwest” (1959). It’s more Hitchcock but I think that when it
comes to the thriller genre, he was the best.
Great ending on Mount Rushmore and nice to know that Martin Landau
overcame his fall off the mountain to continue his nice career!
222 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 222 of 222An absolutely GREAT world series....
Well deserved congrats to my Redsox. First time they clinched a world series at home since 1918 (Back when Babe Ruth was still wearing a Boston Jersey)
Gunna be some wild time in Beantown tonight!
An absolutely GREAT world series....
Well deserved congrats to my Redsox. First time they clinched a world series at home since 1918 (Back when Babe Ruth was still wearing a Boston Jersey)
Gunna be some wild time in Beantown tonight!
evidently that was worth repeating..
PROUD,
I have to hand it to the Sox; they were very professional and a great team. St. Louis was outclassed in every category.
Glad to see Papi win the MVP. Very well deserved.
Mike,
The Cardinals would kill Alabama.
As far as kids becoming men when they join the NFL, they better if they want to stick in the big time.
Muslim military officers from Jordan and Lebanon plead, Not Guilty, to charges surrounding the attempted kidnapping of an American preteen girl in Pulaski County Missouri.
Surrounding communities on High Alert.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/foreign-military-officers-plead-not-guilty-in-mo-attempted-child/article_027a3fc7-7dc3-5905-9a4a-aa8303a33f28.html
M-Middy, when I ge-get ex-excited....I some some sometimes tend to st-st-stut...(repeat myself) :-)
(only clicked publish once, not sure why I got the two-fer?
Homeland security is pinging anyone using the word Boston in their messages-
Homeland security is pinging anyone using the word Boston in their messages-
see...
btw.. what are you doing up so early after celebrating last night?- or are you still up celebrating?..
Well it looks like the magic of Spybook, previously know as "farcebook" has had it's run, down 3% this morning in the first hour and no buyers.. shocking, just shocking.. maybe the last fool just found out what everyone else has known all along.
(someone had better call in the fluffers pretty soon)..
Nope, done celebrating the Redsox victory, preparing for tonight's "it's 5 o'clock somewhere" celebration...
Actually my entire life has revolved around early rising. From 4A paper boy,through decades in construction where each day we tried to beat the heat by getting up before the sun....(never worked BTW)
Now I'm just programmed to wake up around 5-5:30 every day of the year, matters not what time I go to bed.(which is around 9P) Wife developed this condition by osmosis. Latest we've ever slept in is somewhere shy of 7AM....
Usually watch the ball drop in NYC then proclaim it "NEW years" even though it's just 10PM....
If facebook existed during world war 2:
http://u140p122.ilyke.net/if-facebook-existed-during-wwii-/15611
Holy Mother Of Pearl....They're even spying on,(gulp), THE POPE:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10415228/US-spied-on-future-Pope-Francis-during-Vatican-conclave.html
Is America talking about the lack of jobs yet?
just last year at about this time a presidential contender with a plan and a life long history of creating them was cheated out of his chance- and the trash of America cheered.
Tomorrow the fsa gets the first in a series of surprises when their benefits begin to be cut.
.."The Recovery Act's food stamp boost was not supposed to disappear so abruptly. The plan had been to leave the increase in place until inflation caught up through annual adjustments to SNAP benefit levels, which had been expected to happen in 2015. But congressional Democrats essentially raided the cookie jar, using the future planned spending to offset the cost of priority legislation in 2010. They said at the time that they would put the money back before any decrease could take effect, but they have not kept their promise"..
Huffington Post..
Looks like the fsa is in for a few more "surprises" as well as being introduced to the "IRS enforcement methods" once they get that bill for mandatory "insurance" if the program ever gets off the runway that is.
meanwhile millions of previously satisfied covered individuals have lost their policies or found out their policies will double in price and have exorbitant pre coverage costs..
Americans will actually die needlessly because of the demonic influences of Barak Obama..
..eat your peas 'Merica- there's more where that came from..
Haha.. I have the same affliction, it's called the 4.30 pain induced wake up..
..getting to the jobsite at 5.30 each morning for a couple of decades had a contributing effect I guess.
Problem is it takes the coffee about an hour to make sense now, by then I have pretty much messed up the entire daily schedule.
Jim does crosswords in the morning instead of stretching..
Jim.. it's F-E-L-I-N-E.. (six letter word for cat) -he's been stuck for a week now.
Barb knows but she let's him work it out for himself.
That WWII fb is a gem.. mockery is the best defense.
Speaking of jobs....Looks like Snowden landed one:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/report-snowden-gets-tech-support-job-russia
PROUD,
I'm not in your league when it comes to construction but I did work full time for two summers (1966 and 1967)while in college on a home construction crew in Cincy.
That experience gave me never ending respect to the guys who do that for a living. We worked 7 am til 5pm, 6 days a week for $2.25/hr. I thought I was rich; my job in the deli during the winter paid $1.50 hr.
I always remember how when I showered after work the water would come out muddy from my hair.
Barb always said that she loved the manly smell I had after work. I figured "Hell, whatever works! As long as gorgeous college co-eds like it that's fine with me."
Middy,
I agree on Snowden; good for him. I see where Putin is now the number one guy in the world and Obama is second. Personally, I think that is too high for Obama.
I'm getting old I guess.
Connie Dierking played on the great U. of Cincinnati basketball teams in the late 50s with Oscar Robertson. He went on to play in the NBA for ten years and averaged a respectable 10 points a game for his career which ended in '71.
I met Connie in Scottsdale a few years ago and did a column on him at the time for a local paper (North Scottsdale Independent) and still converse with him occasionally through email. He just turned 77 and is still living in Cincy.
Helluva nice guy; hard to believe he is that old but even harder to realize I am only 5 years behind him.
I guess it is a good example of why we should enjoy our time here as long as we can.
Jimmy, have you seen the Cardinals play? At least Alabama has 3 things the Cardinals don't have. A number 1 defense, a running game and a passing game.
Middy, I want to personally apologize for using the words Cardinals and professional when talking about the NFL.
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