What are the best films ever made? It’s a difficult question to answer, but a number of you readers did just that when we asked for reader submissions a few weeks back. Here’s what Mike Frank had to say about what movies he loves most of all:
The best movie ever made was A Man For All Seasons. It was not well made, but it also deals with themes that are profound. One sees the film and is actually nurtured by it. This is especially true of the theme of glory– on so many different levels –that is woven so skillfully through the movie. It drives the plot and makes the movie work.
One of the most important movies ever made was Broken Arrow with Jimmy Stewart. There is a sense in which it may have helped to influence the whole civil rights movement. It galvanized a whole generation’s notions on the matter of racism.
In my opinion, the Star Wars movies saved Hollywood. They had so imbibed the zeitgeist of the day that nothing else in the films of the time seemed to matter. Going to a movie, then, was a bit like sitting through music written by John Cage. It’s pretty hard to tell a good story given those parameters. God bless Star Wars. (And I say that even though I have some reservations, as did Alec Guinness, on the notion of the Force).
We will be back to our regular guest posts next week, but if you’d still like to submit a post of your own, here’s how you can do so!