A Few of My Favorite Movies

There are movies that I really like.  I’ll watch them almost every time they are shown on TV.  Some of them are chick flicks; I have such a romantic heart.  Here is a list of some of my favorites, which is by no means complete.

Dave (1993) with Kevin Kline as temp agency owner Dave Kovic/President Bill Mitchell and Sigourney Weaver as First Lady Ellen Mitchell.  At the end of the movie, I like it when the bodyguard Duane Stevenson (played by Ving Rhames) says to Dave that he would take a bullet for him.

Ever After (1998) with Drew Barrymore as Danielle De Barbarac and as Dougary Scott as Prince Henry.  It is a new take on the classic fairy tale, Cinderella.

Guarding Tess (1994) with Nicholas Cage as Secret Service Special Agent Doug Chesnic and Shirley MacLaine as former first lady Tess Carlisle.  I like the part when Tess Carlisle is rescued after being kidnapped and is about to be medivaced by helicopter.  All the FBI and CIA guys climb in, and the helicopter lifts off.  Almost immediately, the helicopter sets down again because Mrs. Carlisle wants her Secret Service agents in the helicopter with her instead.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) with Sidney Poitier as Dr. John Prentice who falls in love with Joanna Drayton (played by Katharine Houghton) and Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn who play Joanna’s parents, Matt and Christina Drayton.  My favorite part is the speech by Matt Drayton at the end of the movie.  Earlier in the movie John’s mother told Matt that he is a burnt out shell of an old man who can’t remember how it felt to be in love.  “What happens to men when they grow old?  Do they forget everything?”  In his speech at the end, he basically says that Mrs. Prentice is wrong.  That if John and Joanna care for each other half as much as he cares for Christina then he’ll not stand in their way.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  I especially like two television versions:  the BBC 2006 version that I saw on Masterpiece Theatre in early 2007 with Toby Stephens (Edward Rochester) and Ruth Wilson (Jane Eyre) and the A&E 1997 version with Ciarán Hinds as Edward and Samantha Morton as Jane.  My romantic heart likes everything about these two movies.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  I really like the 1994 version with Winona Ryder as Jo March and Gabriel Byrne as Friedrich Bhaer.  And, I loved the book when I read it as a kid.

Notting Hill (1999) with Hugh Grant as bookstore owner William Thacker and Julia Roberts as movie actress Anna Scott.  There are several scenes in that I like a lot--the one where they are telling sad stories about themselves in order to get the last brownie, where Anna tells William that she is just an ordinary girl asking a boy to love her, and at the end when William asks Anna if she would change her mind about staying in England if he was serious.

Philadelphia (1993) with Tom Hanks as Andrew Becket, a lawyer with AIDS, and Denzel Washington as homophobic small-time lawyer, Joe Miller.  I think the acting is great.  I’ve enjoyed a lot of the movies that Tom Hanks has made.

Pretty Woman (1990) with Richard Gere as ruthless businessman Edward Lewis and Julia Roberts as a hooker named Vivian Ward.  I’m not saying I condone Vivian’s profession, but my romantic heart likes the fact that she made him more human and caring.  Also, I liked Hector Elizondo as hotel manager Barney Thompson.

Regarding Henry (1991) with Harrison Ford as lawyer Henry Turner and Annette Bening as Henry’s wife Sarah.  Henry is such a jerk at the beginning of the movie, but changes after an accident.

Shawshank Redemption (1994) with Tim Robbins as prisoner Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as prisoner Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding.  I particularly like watching Andy escaped from prison and what happened the next day.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993) with Tom Hanks as recently-widowed architect Sam Baldwin and Meg Ryan as journalist Annie Reed.  Also in the movie is Ross Malinger as Sam’s son Jonah and Victor Garber and Rita Wilson as Greg and Suzy.  I like the scene where Sam, Victor, Rita, and Jonah are having dinner and start talking about Annie wanting to meet Sam on top of the Empire State Building.  Suzy starts crying, getting all emotional, because it is like the movie, An Affair to Remember.  Then Greg and Sam start talking about the World War II movie, Dirty Dozen.  As Greg and Sam talk about the end of the movie, they start acting like they were all emotional about Jim Brown throwing hand grenades down air shafts, Richard Jaeckel and Lee Marvin dressed as Nazis, and Trini Lopez parachuting behind Nazi lines.

The American President (1995) with Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shephard and Annette Bening as lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade.  I like President Andrew Shepherd’s speech at a press conference toward the end of the movie.  It was in response to Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss) who was running for president.  He talks about how Senator Rumson was trying to win the election by telling them that the President’s girlfriend is the reason for all their problems.  Part of his speech was, “I’ve loved two in my life.  I lost one to cancer and lost the other one because I was too busy keeping my job that I forgot to do my job.”

The Beautician and the Beast (1997) with Fran Drescher as New York cosmetologist Joy Miller and Timothy Dalton as Eastern European dictator Boris Pochenko.  It is one of my favorite kind of movies--a “happily ever after" love story.

The Client (1994) with Susan Sarandon as lawyer Reggie Love and Brad Renfro as Mark Sway, a young boy who has witnessed a crime.  I like Susan Sarandon in this movie.  I like John Grisham’s books and the movies that have been made from them.

The Green Mile (1999) with Tom Hanks as death row Guard Paul Edgecomb and Michael Clarke Duncan as death row inmate John Coffey.  This is another good Tom Hanks movie.  I read the little books before I saw the movie.  This was one of the few Stephen King books I read; most are too scary for me.

The Hunt for Red October (1990) with Sean Connery as Russian Captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan.  I like too many scenes to mention them here.

The Quiet Man (1952) with John Wayne as ex-boxer Sean Thornton and Maureen O’Hara as Mary Kate Danaher.  I like everything about this movie.  It shows that a romantic story can be told without nudity and sex, especially before marriage.

Working Girl (1988) with Harrison Ford as investment broker Jack Trainer and Melanie Griffith as secretary Tess McGill.  At the end, when Tess gets her big chance, she goes into what she thinks is her new office.  In the office is a woman with her feet up on the desk, and Tess thinks that her desk is outside with the other secretaries.  I like the conversation that follows between the two of them.

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But this is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, says the LORD:
I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall by My people.
Jeremiah 31:33