DIVA – Jean-Jacques Beineix, 1981
Like many of my generation, my bedroom wall at University featured a poster of big-knockered French actress Beatrice Dalle in the film Betty Blue, the cult student classic of the early nineties. The same director debuted with this film in 1981, and for me it is far superior. I first watched it after reading in Smash Hits magazine that it was Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes’ favourite film, as a confused fifteen-year-old. Despite being French, it’s the epitome of the stylish thriller, and actually manages to make opera cool. The story of a Parisian postman who inadvertently gets into trouble with two different underworld organisations at the same time, it’s beautifully shot and has a surprisingly classy script. Beatrice Dalle doesn’t feature, but to be honest, this movie does very well without knockers, big or otherwise.
Favourite line:
Quelque chose artistique et francaise.
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA – Crint Eastwood, 2006
Another unashamedly mainstream choice, this is a war movie with a difference. Neither hawkish nor mawkish, it’s hard to remember when watching this compassionate piece of work that Eastwood once starred in several films alongside a monkey. Telling the story of the Japanese defence of the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese point of view, based on letters sent by soldiers stationed there to their loved ones back home, it shows that, deep down, we are all the same, if that’s not too much of a glaring cliché.
Favourite line:
I will always be in front of you.
THE ODD COUPLE – Gene Saks, 1968
One of the great comic partnerships in a film written by one of the best comic writers. What more is there to add? Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau star as two divorcees sharing an apartment, one obsessed with tidiness and order and the other a fun loving slob. Many great lines from the comedy writer who “never wrote a joke.”
Favourite line:
Murray: What difference does it make? He took a whole bottle!
Oscar Madison: Well, maybe they were vitamins! He could be the healthiest one in the room!
12 ANGRY MEN – Sidney Lumet, 1957
The ultimate courtroom drama, a tense, claustrophobic movie that boasts a telling performance from Henry Fonda as a juror who tries to judge a murder case by the facts, rather than by emotion and prejudice. A film that gives us all hope that justice does exist, despite everyday evidence to the contrary.
Favourite line:
Juror #8: Perhaps you'd like to pull the switch?
Juror #3: For this kid? You bet I would!
Juror #8: I feel sorry for you... what it must feel like to want to pull the switch.
Like many of my generation, my bedroom wall at University featured a poster of big-knockered French actress Beatrice Dalle in the film Betty Blue, the cult student classic of the early nineties. The same director debuted with this film in 1981, and for me it is far superior. I first watched it after reading in Smash Hits magazine that it was Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes’ favourite film, as a confused fifteen-year-old. Despite being French, it’s the epitome of the stylish thriller, and actually manages to make opera cool. The story of a Parisian postman who inadvertently gets into trouble with two different underworld organisations at the same time, it’s beautifully shot and has a surprisingly classy script. Beatrice Dalle doesn’t feature, but to be honest, this movie does very well without knockers, big or otherwise.
Favourite line:
Quelque chose artistique et francaise.
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA – Crint Eastwood, 2006
Another unashamedly mainstream choice, this is a war movie with a difference. Neither hawkish nor mawkish, it’s hard to remember when watching this compassionate piece of work that Eastwood once starred in several films alongside a monkey. Telling the story of the Japanese defence of the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese point of view, based on letters sent by soldiers stationed there to their loved ones back home, it shows that, deep down, we are all the same, if that’s not too much of a glaring cliché.
Favourite line:
I will always be in front of you.
THE ODD COUPLE – Gene Saks, 1968
One of the great comic partnerships in a film written by one of the best comic writers. What more is there to add? Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau star as two divorcees sharing an apartment, one obsessed with tidiness and order and the other a fun loving slob. Many great lines from the comedy writer who “never wrote a joke.”
Favourite line:
Murray: What difference does it make? He took a whole bottle!
Oscar Madison: Well, maybe they were vitamins! He could be the healthiest one in the room!
12 ANGRY MEN – Sidney Lumet, 1957
The ultimate courtroom drama, a tense, claustrophobic movie that boasts a telling performance from Henry Fonda as a juror who tries to judge a murder case by the facts, rather than by emotion and prejudice. A film that gives us all hope that justice does exist, despite everyday evidence to the contrary.
Favourite line:
Juror #8: Perhaps you'd like to pull the switch?
Juror #3: For this kid? You bet I would!
Juror #8: I feel sorry for you... what it must feel like to want to pull the switch.
Comments
I saw 'Letters from Iwo Jima" on a plane once and was mightily impressed; but like Gadjo I had difficulty forgetting Hancock on "12 Angry Men".
And that's not a euphemism.
PS that girlfriend - hrrrngh.
The Clint sounds worth seeing. I love Tora! Tora! Tora! too, even though I thought the title was a bit Hassidic.