Also, I wrote two brief squibs for the magazine's "Citings" section, one on a Dallas lawsuit that treats satire as libel and one on a Florida artist cum crank who got locked up for refusing to clean his cluttered yard.
1. The Birds Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Evan Hunter, from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier
Some people think this is Hitchcock's silliest movie. I think it's his scariest.
2. La Jetée Written and Directed by Chris Marker
Terry Gilliam later remade/remixed this as Twelve Monkeys. I like that one too, but it can't match the poetic intensity of the original.
3. The Zapruder Film Directed by Abraham Zapruder
OK, so I'm kidding about this one. Or half-kidding. Give the film some credit: People are still debating it today, which is more than I can say for most relics of the cineaste era.
4. The Great Escape Directed by John Sturges
Written by James Clavell and W.R. Burnett, from the novel by Paul Brickhill
This is what an "action movie" should be.
5. The Servant Directed by Joseph Losey
Written by Harold Pinter, from the novel by Robin Maugham
A pleasant little mindfuck about power, manipulation, and barely sublimated lust.
6. Hud Directed by Martin Ritt
Written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., from the novel by Larry McMurtry
A modern western starring Paul Newman in one of his best roles. As a morality play it's a bit simple for my tastes, but the stark photography and compelling performances more than make up for that.
7. An Actor's Revenge Directed by Kon Ichikawa
Written by Daisuke Itô, Teinosuke Kinugasa, and Natto Wada, from a story by Otokichi Mikami
Probably the best movie I've ever seen about a Japanese female impersonator.
8. The Haunting Directed by Robert Wise
Written by Nelson Gidding, from the novel by Shirley Jackson
How I resented this picture the first time I saw it! The campy beginning relaxed my defenses and let me feel superior to the material, and by the time its superbly crafted chills were jolting me in my seat I was too proud to admit I'd been taken in. Forgive me, Haunting: You're a great horror flick, and I regret ever claiming to dislike you.
9. Moth Light Directed by Stan Brakhage
A film made without a camera.
10. 8 1/2 Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi
Fellini is one of the few directors capable of making self-indulgence interesting. For proof, compare this self-absorbed but compulsively watchable effort to Stardust Memories, the crappy Woody Allen picture it inspired.
I don't plan to post any more before next week, so fill up now:
1. F for Fake Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Welles and Oja Kodar
A deliberately deceitful documentary about storytelling, filmmaking, forgery, and other forms of fakery. It's one of Welles' best movies -- better than both Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons -- but hardly anyone's seen it. Rent it today!
2. The Long Goodbye Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Leigh Brackett, from the novel by Raymond Chandler
I have friends who hate this anti-noir on the grounds that no one is less suited to play Philip Marlowe than Elliott Gould. I say that's part of the point.
3. Badlands Written and Directed by Terrence Malick
"Loooooove...love is strange."
4. The Last Detail Directed by Hal Ashby
Written by Robert Towne, from the novel by Darryl Ponicsan
Part of that amazing streak Jack Nicholson had in the early to mid 1970s, when it must have seemed like he was incapable of starring in a bad movie. Times, they sure do change.
5. Charley Varrick Directed by Don Siegel
Written by Dean Riesner and Howard Rodman, from the novel by John Reese
One of Hollywood's most individualistic directors composes an elegy for individualism.
6. Mean Streets Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin
An ur-movie whose influence echoes from The Bad Lieutenant to The Wire.
7. Paper Moon Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Written by Alvin Sargent, from the novel by Joe David Brown
If Bogdanovich's career had ended here, he'd be a legend.
8. Day for Night Directed by François Truffaut
Written by Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, and Suzanne Schiffman
There's a whole genre of movies about making movies, from The Cameraman to 8 1/2 to Ed Wood to, um, Hardbodies 2, which isn't any good but it's the first specimen of the genre I ever saw, watching cable one night in my teens, so I'll mention it too. Day for Night isn't the best of these, but it just might be the most fun.
9. Sleeper Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Allen and Marshall Brickman
They could've called it They Saved Hitler's Nose.
10. O Lucky Man! Directed by Lindsay Anderson
Written by David Sherwin
This shaggy-dog science-fiction satire is a bit of a mess, but the best parts are good enough to nudge it onto this list.
2. The King of Comedy Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Paul Zimmerman
If you think about it, this is the flipside of Videodrome. Sort of.
3. Tender Mercies Directed by Bruce Beresford
Written by Horton Foote
Robert Duvall plays a down-on-his-luck country singer. If you don't think that sounds great, you might be reading the wrong blog.
4. Zelig Written and Directed by Woody Allen
In the annals of great mockumentaries, this is second only to Spinal Tap.
5. El Norte Directed by Gregory Nava
Written by Anna Thomas
"They sure sound like Mexicans to me."
6. John Cage Written and Directed by Peter Greenaway
Explores Cage's music and ideas not just through exposition but by example: it's an extremely Cagean documentary itself, without ever becoming as inaccessible as Cage's own work.
7. Carmen Written and Directed by Carlos Saura
Two films inspired by Bizet's Carmen came out around the same time. One is a straight adaptation of the opera; the other is a surreal, almost Dickian tale about some flamenco dancers who lose track of the boundary between fantasy and reality. No points for guessing which one this is.
8. The Meaning of Life Directed by Terry Jones with Terry Gilliam
Written by Jones, Gilliam, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin
Holds nothing sacred, save sperm.
9. A Christmas Story Directed by Bob Clark
Written by Clark, Leigh Brown, and Jean Shepherd, from the novel by Shepherd
I like the shopping-mall Santa scene best.
10. Trading Places Directed by John Landis
Written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod
Yes, there's a couple of holes in the plot, including what must be the shortest trading day in the history of capitalism. It's still a fun comedy that holds up 20 years later -- and it's one of the few decent movies out there that stars Dan Aykroyd.
It's a tricky territory to cover in less than 800 words, especially considering the danger of inappropriately projecting your own views onto what you're watching. I didn't want to end up like National Review's Jonah Goldberg, who once singled out Homer Simpson's defense of the Second Amendment ("If I didn't have this gun, the king of England could just walk in here anytime he wants and start shoving you around") as evidence that the series is "the only sitcom in memory to treat gun control with any fairness." Out of context, that might sound credible. In context, the writers were clearly trying to make Homer look like an ass.
On the other hand, a few years later the show really did mock gun control, during one of its Halloween episodes. I guess one writer likes guns and another one doesn't.
And hey -- looks like they just captured Saddam Hussein. This is good news, even to an antiwar type like me. Not just because the old tyrant might actually get what's coming to him, but because it'll allow a real-world test for the oft-stated proposition that with Saddam gone, the resistance will falter. This may require us pundit types to stop talking out of our asses and actually take some new data into account, but I figure that's a small price to pay.
Without further ado, I give you the top ten movies of 1993:
1. Short Cuts Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Altman and Frank Barhydt, from stories by Raymond Carver
Ever see Magnolia? This is the original.
2. Groundhog Day Directed by Harold Ramis
Written by Ramis and Danny Rubin
Buddha's favorite romantic comedy.
3. A Perfect World Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by John Lee Hancock
The joke goes that this is the movie that proved Eastwood's standing as a great director, because he actually managed to elicit a good performance from Kevin Costner. After The Outlaw Josey Wales, it's my favorite of Eastwood's films.
4. Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould Directed by François Girard
Written by Girard, Don McKellar, and Nick McKinney
So much better than a conventional biopic.
5. Latcho Drom Written and Directed by Tony Gatlif
A celebration of Gypsy music and culture. Frequently described as a documentary, but since the entire thing was scripted and staged it might be better to regard it as a hundred-minute music video.
6. Fearless Directed by Peter Weir
Written by Rafael Yglesias, from his novel
Someone once told me he saw this movie on an airplane. I don't believe him.
7. Manhattan Murder Mystery Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Allen and Marshall Brickman
Proof that Woody was capable of being laugh-out-loud funny as late as the 1990s.
8. Dottie Gets Spanked Written and Directed by Todd Haynes
A strange and smart short about childhood, homosexuality, and television.
9. The Bed You Sleep In Written and Directed by Jon Jost
Brings intelligence and ambiguity to a topic that rarely fares well on film. Can't tell you what that topic is, though; that would be a spoiler.
10. True Romance Directed by Tony Scott
Written by Quentin Tarantino
Tony Scott probably wasn't the right director for this, but Tarantino's charmingly boyish script still manages to shine through.
Honorable mention:
11. Red Rock West (John Dahl)
12. Mad Dog and Glory (John McNaughton)
13. The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung)
14. The Wrong Trousers (Nick Park)
15. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (Ray Müller)
16. Body Snatchers (Abel Ferrara)
17. White (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
18. High Lonesome (Rachel Liebling)
19. The Junky's Christmas (Nick Donkin, Melodie McDaniel)
20. In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan)
COVER ME: Fellow blogger Jim Henley is collecting lists of great musical covers. I don't know if I can answer his call properly, in part because I'm not sure where the boundary lies between covering someone else's song and simply performing a standard. Still, here's a baker's dozen of my favorites -- not a top 13, but a coven of tunes that might form the core of a longer list, if I had the time and inclination to write one:
The Blind Boys of Alabama: "Amazing Grace" (they sing it to the melody of "House of the Rising Sun")
Ray Charles: "Ring of Fire" (Johnny Cash goes R&B)
Miles Davis: "Someday My Prince Will Come" (turns out there was a great jazz song in there waiting to come out)
Bob Dylan: "A Satisfied Mind" (somewhere beyond country, gospel, and rock)
Merle Haggard: "Brain Cloudy Blues" (if the Bob Wills band is playing behind you, are you covering Wills or channeling him?)
Wilson Pickett: "Sugar Sugar" (this is what the Archies would sound like if Archie weren't a virgin)
Charlie Rich: "Hey Good Lookin'" (Hank Williams gets da funk)
They Might Be Giants: "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (a faithful homage to a children's educational record)
Tom Waits: "Heigh Ho" (Snow White's little friends are in hell)
Finally, an honorable mention of sorts goes to Brave Combo for "Tubular Jugs." I don't know whether to think of this as a cover version or a full-fledged original song, but the sheer inspired madness required to combine "Tubular Bells" with "Little Brown Jug" deserves our respect, our love, and our fear.
Meanwhile, January's print edition of Reason has just been published. It includes a piece I did on some artist-pranksters who make fake postage stamps, as well as a short squib on the Boston FBI scandal.
That issue isn't online yet. But the December issue is, which means those of you who don't do paper can now read my interview with Bob Barr, my profile of Robert Anton Wilson, and a short report dubbed "A Bolshie Born Every Minute."
Finally: I know I've already mentioned the new edition of Polyphony, which includes my tale "A Short History of the Roosterville Poetry Massacre." But I just got my contributor's copies yesterday, so I figured I'd go ahead and mention it again. SF Revudescribes my effort as "easily the best story in this anthology," so either I did good or everyone else did bad, or else the reviewer just has screwy taste.