I agree with Argonaut: “Little Big Man” is worth a couple hours of your time. It’s based on Thomas Berger’s novel of the same name, also worth spending your time on.

Other favorite films of mine (and some have been mentioned already!) are:

The Lion In Winter
Like Water for Chocolate
Dangerous Liaisons
Casablanca (on everyone’s list, naturally!)
All About Eve

At Christmastime, there’s two de rigueur DVDs to view: “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and the original “Miracle on 34th Street.”

Books: too many to list, but a few are:
To Kill A Mockingbird, which seems to be on everyone’s list as well; I never tire of re-reading it and find a new interpretation as I age and I view the book from the vantage point of my experiences.

I, Claudius by Robert Graves– great historical fiction about the drama that was early Imperial Rome and the soap opera that was the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The BBC miniseries was great too, and worth renting/checking out. A great opportunity to see a young Patrick Stewart.

Addie Pray by Joe David Brown. The movie “Paper Moon” was based on the first half of the book, but the book has so much more.

Time and Again by Jack Finney. A fantastic time-travel tome about a man who travels back to 1880s NYC as part of a government experiment.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People. Impossible to believe that Le Carre could be made into a movie as well as these were done. Must See.

The Dead, A New Leaf, Master & Commander: this is why there should be no Oscars for Best Picture. Each of these is so superb and yet so different. You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, you’ll cheer.

Now for the movies that Nobody Mentioned Yet (!)

Little Big Man – my first exposure to our tortured past as Americans, and a cracking good story.

Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper without all the words, the way God intended. Daniel Day Lewis, Madeline Stowe, blood, heroism, victory, defeat, love, death, all set in impossibly beautiful scenery. The ultimate frontier American story.

The Big Sleep – how could nobody have mentioned this before? Bogart, Bacall, directed by Hawks, novel by Chandler, screenplay by Faulkner (!) and Leigh Brackett (and Jules Furthman). This is what Hollywood used to do best.

Le Grand Blond avec un chaussure noire – the French do farce best, and this is one of the best. You’ll blow cafe au lait out your nose. Eschew the pallid American remake with Tom Hanks. Unfortunately, only on VHS. (And the sequel is almost as good.)

Thanks to everyone for increasing my Netflix queue!

“was there ever a funnier movie than ‘A New Leaf’? NO! The lines are just absolutely classic. “I’d like you to meet Dr and Mrs Daryl Hitler”. “Oh, are you related to the Boston Hitlers?” “No, we’re from Glen Cove.” And, yes, it should SO be reissued on DVD!”

I just went to TCM.com, did a search to see if it was playing soon. It isn’t, however, there is an option to vote for its release on DVD.

I guess there are more important tasks for the great liberal blogosphere however…

After her Shirley Temple imitation, La Dietrich is on fire, and her co-star still reminds me of an erection in a fur coat, he’s just that sexxxy.

And, a bonus, every other character is insane or sex-crazed, which is nice for 1934….

Neither does Sense and Sensibility, another nearly perfect film – and produced by Lindsay Doran who I used to know in London. I remember watching the Golden Globes when she came up on stage to accept Best Picture and I nearly spat out my beer when I recognized her!

And Armadillo Joe, thanks for that wonderful quote about Master and Commander – I can watch it over and over again, and not just for Crowe. I don’t understand people who found it ‘boring’ – guess they were expect Pirates of the British Navy or something. Now POTC – that I found boring.

like I said, a rorschach question.

Has anyone ever seen the Cassavetes film, “Too Late Blues” with Bobby Darin? Also weird and moody, in a singing not singing sorta way.