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Old Movies – What are your favorites?

There’s a line from a song sung by Alice Cooper called “King of the Silver Screen” that goes, “Hollywood movies keep flashing through my mind, could have been Valentino if I was born in another time.”
I have no illusions on the Valentino bit. Maybe “Fatino” would work for me; but Hollywood movies are always flashing through my mind. There are old movies that I have seen seemingly hundreds of times, yet when they come on I watch them again, every time.
I know these movies so well I can recite the dialogue. I could direct and block out the scenes, and, of course, I know the endings by heart.

Like an old friend

A good old movie is like an old friend who comes to visit. You enjoy the company and you don’t want him to leave. Have you ever used a line from an old movie in real-life conversation? I have modified dialogue and used it— “You’re a natural, but it takes more than that….” from the Robert Redford movie The Natural. Did you ever try to think up better endings to a good old movie? I have. In Top Gun I wanted “Goose” to live. I thought he was the best character.

I have seven favorite movies, and I’ll bet you have your list too. When they come on the screen they are a must-watch, no matter what. Here are my seven, in no particular order.

  • The Natural with Robert Redford
  • The Burbs with Tom Hanks
  • Rio Lobo with John Wayne
  • Joe Kidd with Clint
  • Eastwood and Robert Duvall
  • High Plains Drifter with Clint Eastwood
  • Fracture with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling
  • American Graffiti with Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard

Those are my seven, plus every Errol Flynn movie ever made. What are yours? Hollywood movies keep flashing through my mind.

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