Best Dog Movies - Animated and Not

I decided to change the order of my next posts. Rather than the All-American List, in honor of the new addition at our house - the canine variety - this week's post features movies about dogs. I have broken it down into animated and non-animated.

An aside first - the Boulder International Film Festival is coming up - February 13-15, mainly at the Boulder Theater. The lineup, once again, looks exceptional. Last year Patty and I saw about 25 films (many were shorts) over the three-day weekend. Some of the best films I have ever seen. So, if you are local, check out the schedule and go. (http://biff1.com/biff09_program_complete.pdf).

If you're like me the DOG category is often filled with sentimental tripe. Yes, there are some non-tear jerkers in the category but many more catch you surreptitiously wiping your sleeve pretending that your eyes are tired. And, almost all the movies in the category are family fare. So, not a lot of Academy worthy films but still some very famous ones that most of us remember from our childhood. Before we get into that, here's a picture of our new dogger.

We don't have a name for her yet. She is part Australian Shepherd, Corgy and Jack Russell Terrier. She is awfully cute. We got her in Monument, CO (where we used to live) from a family who grew up in Boulder (where we now live). Nice folks. She was born on December 4th (make sure that is on all your key dates lists). So far it's a lot like a new baby. Up all night, cries, eats, sleeps and you know whats the rest of the time.

Most people I ask about the category immediately come up with one dog film that moved several generations and that is the one that tops my list:

Old Yeller - Just mentioning the name brings a small tear to my left eye. The movie poster brings back great old memories. A boy and his dog. What could be better than that. Until the dog dies...

Then there is another really sad one - Sounder - Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson are wonderful in this emotional ride. Both were nominated for the Oscar, as was the picture and the script.

In third place - The Shaggy Dog (no trailer for the original, only for the lousy remake with Tim Allen). This is the first film I remember going to as a kid. It was at the Center Theater in Durham with my Grandma on a warm Saturday afternoon. I fell in love with Shaggy (actually, I just wanted to be him).

#4 - Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey - an excellent family film about three animals who band together to get home from a far. Also a tear jerker. Michael J Fox, Sally Field and Don Ameche play the voices for Chance, Sassy and Shadow, respectively. A very fun film.

#5 - Turner & Hooch - Tom Hanks in an early role. Hooch had the greatest jowls ever and some of the greatest slobber ever also.

#6 - Best in Show - Christopher Guest's finest. A day at the pedigree dog show. It couldn't be more wonderful. The people and their dogs. Amazing stuff. And the cast is wonderful. Another great clip.

#7 - Lassie Come Home - The original dog was truly amazing. She could do anything. Our bubble got burst when we found out that there was a total of about 44 lassies, each with their own little niche. Roddy McDowall, and Elizabeth Taylor starred.

#8 - Cujo - I saw this movie mainly because it got so much play in the TV show Friends, where it was often mentioned as Joey's favorite film. Well, it wasn't that great but it was pretty entertaining. Not going to cry over this one. A Stephen King story.

#9 - Eight Below - Somehow the dogs made it through an Antarctic winter on their own. And they say it is based on a true story. Pretty predictable but still entertaining to watch.

#10 - Rin Tin Tin - Starred in about a dozen films from 1923-1947. Rinty I - III were used over the years.

There were a bunch of films that have had interesting dog scenes, like the one where Atticus Finch has to shoot the rabid dog in To Kill a Mockingbird, the roller skating dog in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. or the scenes from Dumb & Dumber where Jeff Daniels is a dog hairdresser. This category also does not include the famous Thin Man series even though they had one of the best movie dogs of all - Asta. Nor does it include Boys from Brazil where a Doberman has Laurence Olivier by the neck. Those movies don't count - they are not fundamentally about the dog. If you are interested to see an incredibly comprehensive list of every dog ever to be in a movie, go here.

Other movies that didn't make it out of the pound:

Beethoven - Funny/silly movie, with Charles Grodin

K-9 with Jim Belushi

Benji, Bingo & Top Dog

I have not seen My Dog Skip or Marley & Me and they probably both bear consideration.

On to the Animated Doggie Films

The Top Five

# 1 - TIE - Lady & The Tramp & 101 Dalmatians - Two all-time Disney favorites. Glen Close was pretty good as Cruella De Vil in the 1996 version but the overall film was poorly done.

#3 - All Dogs Go To Heaven - Voices by Dom DeLuise and Bert Reynolds.

#4 - The Plague Dogs - Not exactly a kid's movie. Two dogs being hunted as carriers of "The Plague."

#5 - Probably going to be Bolt, nominated as best full-length animated film this year; but I haven't seen it yet. The trailer looked good and the animation excellent.

Next Week - "Show Business"

Political "Thrillers"

This week we inaugurate the 44th President of the United States. In honor of that event this post will highlight some of my favorite political thrillers, a genre that at least in the US is not what it used to be. My list clearly suggests that the 1960's was THE period for this category. I think part of that is because America loves war movies and the only real war we had going then was the Cold War. Hard to film scenes of those battles so the movies went up the intellectual chain to present behind the scenes battles of will. Made for some pretty "smart" movies.

A perfect recent example of the opposite trend is The Sentinel, with Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland where a secret service agent is having an affair with the First Lady and gets framed for an attempted assassination of the president (those two things were not related). Not much intrigue - mainly just a lot of chases. [Kiefer should really stick to 24.] I haven't seen Frost/Nixon yet and have heard it is excellent. And, there have been other decent films in the last couple of years, like The Interpreter, Rendition and Charlie Wilson's War, so maybe this category is making a comeback. But it certainly isn't the 60's.

There are two very different movies that TIE at the head of my list. Then there are three that come in right after, then there are all the rest. (Click the movie title for the trailer)

1 - Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - The movie has a cult-like following and has gotten more airplay on cable in the last few years. A real classic. Peter Sellers was amazing in each of the three parts he played. And, a great supporting cast with George C. Scott, Keenan Wynn, Sterling Hayden as the wonderful Col. Jack D. Ripper and Slim Pickens (Sellers was supposed to play this role - Major "King" Kong - as well, but broke his leg toward the end of filming. Supposedly they never told Pickens that the movie was a satire and he never saw the rest of the script. Made for a great result). Stanley Kubrick directed this film, arguably his best, and it is one that should not be missed. This film can be watched several times. The black and white filming enhanced this movie significantly. Loved the scenes in the war room.

1 - The Manchurian Candidate - The 1962 version, not the one with Denzel. Another B&W film that is served very well by that technique. For a long time this was on my top 10 overall list and is certainly among the top 25. To me, this film is the essence of what a great political thriller should be. Worth watching twice to catch a number of the complexities. Frank Sinatra was one of the stars. The movie was perceived as too intellectual by the Academy and it got very little recognition but it was a very tough year - other top films that year included To Kill a Mockingbird, The Longest Day and Lawrence of Arabia.

Coming in number 3 - 5 include:

Fail Safe (1964) - this is the best drama made on the subject of nuclear war. Henry Fonder (I mean Fonda) is great in this movie, which was also sort of the debut of Larry Hagman (better known as Master in I Dream of Genie or JR in Dallas).

Seven Days in May (1964) - Another great John Frankenheimer film. Great cast included Kirk Douglas, Bert Lancaster, Martin Balsam, Fredrick March, Ava Gardner and Edmond O'Brien (nominated for Oscar in supporting role). [Key Scene]

All the President's Men (1976) - Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford combined to make this a big hit. Their chemistry in the film was terrific. Won four Oscars, nominated for eight. For anyone around during the Watergate scandal this movie is a must.

The next group - from number 6 -10 include:

Z - Costa Gravas film set in Greece - (subtitle alert - French) - made in the late 60's - another one during that same rich time period. Stars Yves Montand. Won Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for best director and best movie. It is the shortest movie title to ever be nominated (Fritz Lang's "M" was not nominated).

All the King's Men - Broderick Crawford version, sorry but the Sean Penn rendition was boring. Having lived in Louisiana and parked in front of one of Huey's mansions for several years near work you can really see how this stuff happened. When Edwin Edwards (convicted felon, former Governor) was running for LA. Governor the next time around (two term limit so he had to sit out for a term before running again) against David Duke, head of the local KKK, there was a classic bumper sticker - "Vote for the crook, it's important." Edwin was quoted as saying the only way he would lose to Duke was if he was, "caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy." Very few third world countries could provide more colorful politics.

Advise and Consent - one of the best films directed by Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder and Exodus, both of which appear or will appear on other top ten lists on this blog). Another star-studded cast - Henry Fonder (I mean Fonda), Charles Laughton, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Burgess Meridith, and Frank Sinatra (as himself in a cameo). This film holds you on the edge of your seat. [Trailer - en Espanol but the movie is in English]

JFK - The Oliver Stone chronicle of the Kennedy assassination conspiracy. Very convincing. You'll never make me think Oswald did it alone again.

13 Days - Cuban missile crisis is the subject matter. Bruce Greenwood makes a good JFK (sort of reminds me of Cliff Robertson who starred as JFK in Profiles of Courage) and RFK was well played by Steven Culp. Kevin Costner was good in this film as well.

I have not seen The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) and have heard it is great. So it gets passed over at this time. Will be trying to find that one soon.

There were several others that were close for me. And, there could be still more, depending on how you define the genre.

Some runner's up:

Torn Curtain - Not one of Hitchcock's best but still a pretty good "spy" film (more in the "spy" category than this one, but another film made in the '60's). Paul Newman was pretty credible and Julie Andrews actually was effective in her role as well. Hard to imagine Sound of Mucous star pulling it off, but she did.

City Hall - Great cast but the plot was a little weak for them (Pacino, Cusack, Aiello, Bridget Fonda, Tony Francioso, Martin Landau)

Bulworth - Warren Beatty was excellent and Hallie Berry didn't hurt the film either. Some parts just didn't seem believable.

Power - Great premise, just not carried off as well as it could have been. Richard Gere was a good choice for the part. A Sidney Lumet film (Prince of the City - what a great film that is, Network, Serpico, The Wiz, The Verdict).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - how could you not get behind Jimmy Stewart in this film. Could have been called "A Wonderful Life Goes Federal."

Nixon - Excellent portrayal of the end of his days. Another Oliver Stone movie. And, another movie where Anthony Hopkins shows us how versatile an actor he is. BTW - I saw "W" last week and was very disappointed. The only redemption for the film was Josh Brolin's portrayal, by the end of the film, I thought he WAS W.

I was not particularly impressed with Primary Colors, The Interpreter, Absolute Power or The Candidate although they were all pretty entertaining. Lots of that in this category; good fluff.

The next really great political thriller may be on the way. State of Play, starring Russell Crowe is due out in April. It's based on one of the best BBC TV series I've seen (by the same name). Unfortunately it also has Ben Affleck in a lead role but hopefully the film can overcome that.

And last...the film in the category I want to see is the Korean movie, Geuddae Geusaramdeul, translated as, The President's Last Bang, the story of the assassination of Park Chung-hee. The title alone makes me want to see it.

This post does not attempt to cover political comedies like Wag the Dog, Dave, The Distinguished Gentleman or my favorite political comedy, Charlie Chaplin's, The Great Dictator. [And, yes, Dr.Strangelove is certainly funny but it transcends that to being on this list.]

Enjoy the inauguration. If you are going, be careful, there is always a lot of foul play afoot in DC.

Next Post: All American Movies

Really Long (And Really Great) Movies

Last post was about POW movies and was Part I of my favorite prison movies lists. I will come back to that subject with Part II in a few weeks (Criminals) but for now Really Long and Really Great Movies is the topic.

I was wondering what the trend in movie length has been over time. Luckily someone else with lots more free time, even than me, has given us the answer. The following data is based on the "top 50 movies" of each year.

10s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 79 minutes
20s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 98 minutes
30s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 96 minutes
40s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 109 minutes
50s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 114 minutes
60s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 127 minutes
70s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 125 minutes
80s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 129 minutes
90s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 127 minutes
00s ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 129 minutes

Clear to see that movies over the last 50 years have all averaged around two hours and are significantly longer than the previous 50 years. Not sure there is the quality to justify a less stringent hand in the cutting room. And, given the incredibly high cost per minute, it makes me wonder even more. Still, some of the greatest movies of all time are LOTS longer than the average and this post focuses on some of them.

The longest movie I have personally ever seen is Voyna i Mir (War & Peace), a 1968 Russian film that clocks in at a mind numbing 484 minutes. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film and the only reason I saw it was because it was required for a film class in college. I only remember trying desperately not to fall asleep during the several sessions. They used 120,000 extras in this film.

In movie history there are many MUCH longer pictures; notably, one called The Longest Most Meaningless Movie in the World. It was 2880 minutes long (yes, 48 hours). But the granddaddy of them all, according to the Guinness World Records, is The Cure for Insomnia at 5220 minutes (87 hours or 3 days & 15 hours). Great title. The movie consists of a poet reading his own poem (the poem is 4,080 pages long) intermixed with heavy metal music and porn sequences. Anybody want to meet me at the theater for this one? [There is one experimental film that is longer - 96 hours - but Guinness doesn't recognize it - and do we care?]

I have artificially set my cutoff for this category at 180 minutes. Since there are lots to choose from I am holding firm to that line. I am also not including "extended editions" so a couple that would make it with the extensions don't. (Mainly, two of the three Lord of the Rings movies are just under the limit without the extended footage and so are not on the list.)

Three hours is a long time (for me) to sit still. So, one of my criteria for greatness in this category is how quickly the movie was paced and how well it held my interest for the full film. After compiling my candidates I was surprised how difficult the choice is. There are a lot of very high quality long films. When many of these were first aired there was an intermission so the theaters could sell stuff but I prefer to watch in one sitting.

The top movies in this category will include many of my top movies overall. Let's look at some of the ones that did NOT make the list:

Judgment at Nuremberg - Top 10 in courtroom movies
Spartacus - "I'm Spartacus..No, I'm Spartacus...No, I'm Spartacus." One of the most famous film lines of all.
Gandhi - there were 300,000 extras used in this film. Most likely the record. Beats War & Peace all to hell.
Seven Samurai
The Green Mile - Top 10 in Prison Movies
Short Cuts - One of Altman's best films, but not as good as Nashville.
Dr. Zhivago
Exodus - Lots of folks were surprised to find out that blond-haired, blue-eyed Paul Newman was Jewish (half and self-identified).
JFK - Oliver Stone classic. After watching this the conspiracy theory seems the only possibility.
Reds - won three Oscars, nominated for NINE more.
The Ten Commandments - Yul Brenner was never better. Even Chuckie Heston was great.
O Lucky Man - Little known film starring Malcolm McDowell. Really interesting film.
Cleopatra - Liz Taylor was quite the hottie (when I was 11)
Malcolm X
The Birth of a Nation - For true film buffs you need to see this one. The classic of all classics. 1915 Civil War historical film by D.W. Griffiths. I doubt there is a film major anywhere who hasn't see this one and The Battleship Potemkin
Mutiny on the Bounty
The Last Emperor - This was a really interesting movie.
Giant - A lesser known film starring James Dean, ROck Hudson, Liz Taylor, Chill Wills, Dennis Hopper and Sal Mineo (who also starred in Exodus)

Fiddler on the Roof, The Sand Pebbles and LoTR - The Two Towers made it easier for me by being 179 minutes each.

Apocalypse Now Redux is considered (by some film purists) to be a new movie and not an extended version. Not for my definition. It was "only" 2.5 hours originally, and 3.5+ for the Redux version. Same issue with Das Boot - original 149 minutes, Director's cut at 202 minutes. Both are GREAT war movies and probably make the Top 10 in that category. Not here.

So, on to the Top Ten. There are five I cannot separate in terms of quality. Most of these do not require any comment but FOR SURE, if there are any you have not seen, get up off that couch right now and head out to the video store. You are in for a great evening with any one of them.
[Click the title for the trailer, and check the other hot links as well.]

Gone With the Wind - The first Oscar ever for a black actress went to Hattie McDaniel (Mammy). Adjusted for inflation, GwtW has grossed $1.4 Billion, most ever. Some of the greatest individual scenes and lines of all film history; like "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" and "I don' know nuthin' bout birthin' no babies." Prissy, by the way, was played beautifully by Butterfly McQueen. Years ago Carol Burnett did a fantastic parody of the movie and thanks to YouTube you can see it too. (Part 1 - Part 2)

Lawrence of Arabia - Marlon Brando was originally set to play Sir Lawrence. Peter O'Toole was nominated for Best Actor but Gregory Peck won it for To Kill A Mockingbird. No argument from me on that choice. Lawrence won Best Picture. This movie flows really well. Even a repeat viewing flew by. And, what a wonderful soundtrack.

Braveheart - This movie was a disappointment at the box office - only $75MM gross - but it got 10 Oscar nominations and has a cult following. Still it gets blasted by many critics for being shallow. For its length it moves amazingly quickly and is ideal for a plane trip - if your battery can take it. Even better on a big screen TV. I think I have seen this movie more times than any other (except maybe Mrs. Doubtfire, a film watched almost every single day in my house for about a year or more. It is still hilarious even after about 20 viewings.)

Godfather II - It wasn't better than the original but almost. Claimed to be the first film to use the Part II moniker. Ranked #1 all time by TV Guide; #3 by IMDB (The Godfather is #2). Watching the two in sequence make for a terrific snowy day affair. One strange piece of trivia - Troy Donahue plays Connie's boyfriend. My generation remembers him from TV shows like Sunset Strip, and Surfside 6. In The Godfather II, he plays the part of Merle Johnson, which happens to be his real name.

Once Upon a Time in America - This is among my top four Gansta' pics as well. Not as well known as the others but a really great film. DeNiro was masterful. Loved James Woods part as well. This is one of those movies you don't want to end. This movie has occasionally been referred to as the "Jewish Godfather." Directed by Sergio Leone, who also directed the best spaghetti western series, Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a movie that traumatized my daughter for years (the scene where a finger gets cut off) when she walked in the room just as it was happening.

And the second five - very close are:

Dances with Wolves - Kevin Costner was terrific.
Lord of the Rings - Return of the King - The whole sereis was great but the other two are just a tad short on the length (1 and 2 minutes too short for this list).
Schindler's List - Won 7 Oscars. Also on (or will be on) several other of Wayner's lists. Like best B&W films that didn't have to be and best war movies.
The Deer Hunter - See POW movies for more on this one.
Ben-Hur - The lepper scene and the chariot scene were my favorites.

While working on this post, I began to think about movies with really LONG TITLES. Here are three excellent ones.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Johnson

Next Issue - In honor of the inauguration. Prison Movies Part II follow that.