More Than One Lesson

In this minisode, Josh and Tyler discuss Josh’s eighth favorite film of all time, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.

As an adult, if I see a movie more than once in the span of a year, it’s is an indicator that I really enjoy it. Maybe I’ll buy it on DVD or Blu Ray somewhere down the road when the price suits me and watch it again, but twice is usually my limit. There’s so much more to be seen that I haven’t yet discovered, why would I waste hours watching the same things over and over again? J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek is a movie I find myself revisiting several times a year.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

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2. PSYCHO

Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time and Psycho is unquestionably one of his greatest thrillers. It has been analyzed and discussed ad nauseum and there’s so much that I love about this film that it’s hard to narrow down precisely what I love most. Within the context of a riveting suspense tale, the film explores how guilt and desire can make us “all go a little mad sometimes.” That observation, in all its haunting simplicity, is what makes such an outlandish story as Psycho so frighteningly human. We may never go as far as the characters in this film go (outright theft and cold-blooded murder, for instance). But what the film doesn’t come right out and tell you is implied pretty strongly: The only hindrances to the unleashing of your criminal impulses are often motivation and opportunity. This theme of the good and evil that lies within all of us has always fascinated me and Psycho certainly has some rich depth of creative exploration from that arena. But what I love the most is that it’s simply a gripping story, well-told by an unparalleled master of the suspense genre.

3. UNFORGIVEN

Eastwood helped to redefine the Western for American audiences and he cited Unforgiven as summing up everything he felt about the genre. The film is about big ideas in a very small world. Amidst simple confrontations of violence and revenge are examinations of identity, politics, violence, and (most notably) the deconstruction of legends and myths. When I first saw this movie, I didn’t care very much for it because it consistently gave me what I didn’t expect. However, as multiple discussions and repeated viewings occurred, I became enthralled by what the film had to say about what happens when we play games with the darker shades of our humanity. Characters move arrogantly through the story until finally one of them (like a flesh and blood angel of death) literally cleans house in one of the most compelling climactic shootouts in film history. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the point is made that “When legend becomes fact, print the legend.” In Unforgiven, you could almost imagine someone saying, “When legends become fact, you’d better arm yourself.” It’s a staggering character study about the nature and power of modern myths (particularly the myths of the old west) and the more I see it, the more compelling I find it to be.

4. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

I’ve written and spoken at length about this film before on this website (see an earlier blog and podcast episode), so I won’t retread all of the same ground here. I adore this film primarily because of its overt life-affirming message. I’ve heard recently that the film supports conformism and status-quo compliance, but I respectfully disagree. The heart of the film’s message is that every individual matters and that when people believe that they don’t matter, they need only see beyond the lens of their own perceptions to recognize their value. Certainly some people lead lives of unbearable hardship, but the film isn’t trying to say that everyone should just shut up and be grateful. It’s saying that there are truths beyond the realm of our own experiences concerning our value in this world, and the verdicts we so freely declare over ourselves and others are often flawed simply because we don’t have all the information. I think of this film often when I begin to feel that I’m a victim and that life simply hasn’t been fair to me. It’s a wonderful reminder to know that perhaps the disappointments I’ve known can’t compare to the blessings I’ve been given.

In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Tyler’s eighth favorite film of all time, F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh.

5. THE IRON GIANT

I have always loved animated movies and many of them would rank among a larger list of my all-time favorite movies. But of all of the ones I’ve seen throughout the years, this little gem from 1999 holds a unique place in my heart. It’s criminally under-known, although everyone I know who has seen it expresses great praise for it. The story feels like one of the Ray Bradbury or Steven Speilberg fables about childhood in idyllic America and coming-of-age via elements of fantasy (i.e. ET or Something Wicked This Way Comes). Yet, the deeper well in The Iron Giant is what it has to say about identity. Many stories have dealt with the tension between how others perceive you and how you really are, but Iron Giant deals more directly with a more challenging theme: what if the purpose in your nature directly contradicts the purpose which you have chosen? Admittedly, the film’s last third can feel a bit heavy-handed, but the substance of that question (Are we who we choose to be rather than who our nature tells us we are?) is beautifully treated in this movie. When the metal machine of the film’s title finally answers that question directly, I dare you not to choke up. It’s a warm, touching, funny, and constantly engaging story that inspires me exponentially more the more times I view it. When I first saw it, it instantly entered my top 25. Less than ten years later, I gladly place it here.

Actor and friend-of-the-show Jeff Newburg is raising money to produce his film Home Burial.

He is very close to his goal.  Please take the time to check out the Indiegogo page for the film and help out.

6. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

I saw this film when I was even younger than its adolescent protagonists and upon first viewing, it nearly scared me to death. Robert Mitchum’s sinister Reverend Powell is one of the most affecting and powerful performances I’ve ever seen: a blend of charm and avarice that I can’t imagine any other actor achieving. The film is a suspense masterpiece throughout, but the reason it is so high in my favorites has to do with the film’s second half, where the victims of Mitchum’s sinister scheme stumble into the shelter of Miss Rachel Cooper (played by silent film legend Lilian Gish): an elderly woman whose home is very definition of refuge for the helpless. The film’s build-up to an inevitable climactic showdown between the meek of the earth and the wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing resonated profoundly with me as a little boy. The film dares to say that it is not only strength of body or mind which can confront evil, but strength of heart and spirit. Don’t miss the moment when both Cooper and Powell harmonize in a chorus of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” while both the hunter and the hunted are armed for battle. The metaphors in the film’s moments are rich and complex, despite a relatively direct premise, and every time I see it, I walk away thinking of some profound, newly emerged observation.