Nerds, Jocks, Stoners, Outcasts and Mean Girls: A Guide to 25 Excellent Films That Focus on American Teenagers

Mean Girls

Teenagers are a great subject for films. First of all they look good on screen. Some are beautiful, some are cute, all are young. Audiences would generally prefer looking at seventeen-year-olds rather than seventy-year olds. (I should here add that many who portray teens in films are actually in their twenties.) Teens make for good subjects because they are at turning points in their lives, often making decisions that will effect them forever. Coming of age stories are a staple of films as teenagers wrestle with the transition from childhood to their adult years. Sexual awakening is also a feature of teen films which in itself provides titillation for audiences, but also, if done sincerely, gets at some of the basic realities of navigating romantic relationships, sex and when the twain meet. 

Adults often like teen movies because they can evoke either halcyon days or remind us of struggles we've happily moved past. Teens, of course, love teen movies because they can be anything from a how-to guide, to a mirror on their own experiences, to a look at what many of their counterparts are going through.

Of course many films featuring teen characters are comedies, often of the raunchy variety. This is only natural. Teenagers frequently get into humorous situations, whether intentionally or not. Screenwriters, directors and actors like to exaggerate the zaniness of being a teenager and sometimes do so for good effect.

Of course many people have scars from their teen years. There are heartbreaks, struggles with authority, first exposures to life's harsher realities such as death, addiction, war and violence. Watching a film that explores these experiences can be cathartic.

Speaking of struggling with authority....Teen movies often capture the spirit of rebellion that comes naturally to many as they become self-aware and question society's rules. Usually teens are portrayed as the forward-thinkers, standing up to outmoded practices and ideas.

Never, Sometimes, Rarely, Always

Teenagers face a lot of pressure. Trying to be your own person. Trying to fit in. Trying to be liked. Trying to be loved. Not caring what others think of you. Looking ahead to college or work. Trying to understand love. Having first experiences with romance. Learning to drive. Going to war. Going off to college. Getting pregnant or causing a pregnancy. Earning a scholarship. Failing to get into a dream school. Becoming a star athlete. Getting high for the first time. 

They're tough years and we're not really ready for them until we reach our forties.

Teen movies also capture the different types of people we meet in high school (often creating and perpetuating stereotypes in the process). Meet the nerds, Meet the jocks. Meet the sexually active. Meet the especially mature. Meet the especially immature. Meet the cool, popular kids. Meet the outcasts. Meet the bullies. Meet the stoners. Meet the rebels. Most of all meet the totally normal everyteens, stuck in the middle of all the cliques and archetypes.

Teen films often stereotype teachers, principal and parents, although the better ones don't.

Suffice to say that there are many, many films that explore the teen years and some of them are damn good. What follows is 25 of those damn good ones. Please note this is a subjective list and includes my personal favorites. I could easily have made a list twice as long. Surely anyone else making such a list would have excluded some of mine and included many they prefer.

In compiling the list and noting the ten "runners-up" below, I noted that the vast majority of these films (twenty-five of thirty-five) were made from the 1990s on. This is curious in large part because far less of the overall movies I admire were made within this time span. Obviously the "serious" teen film and the truly funny ones are a recent phenomenon and it is well worth exploring why. I'd imagine one reason is that teens are the target audience and they've become a much more important share of the film-going public. Also I think it's following a trend as the teen film was popularized -- principally by John Hughes -- in the Eighties.

(My goodness I didn't have room for: Footloose (1984) Ross, The Breakfast Club (1985) Hughes, Booksmart (2019) Wilde, Lady Bird (2017) Gerwig, Juno (2007) Reitman, Thirteen (2003) Hardwicke, Heathers (1989) Lehman, Precious (2009) Daniels, Easy A (2010) Gluck,  and Clueless (1995) Heckerling).

Rushmore

1. The Last Picture Show(1971) Bogdanovich. Teens in a small, sad Texas town in the 1950s. Not a cheery topic but a compelling story featuring Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms and Cybill Shepard. All three struggle with early sexual experiences, romantic entanglements, and the shifting nature of friendships.

2. Rushmore (1998) Anderson. The rebel with many causes, none of them terribly important, but they combine to provide an eccentric, funny, touching story that is  perhaps  the quintessential Wes Anderson film. Our hero, Max (Jason Schwartzman) is a wonderfully iconoclastic teen and Rushmore is certainly a variation on the theme of teen films.

3. Mean Girls (2004) Waters. The classic high school story. Some drama, a lot of laughs in a cultural touchstone, as vibrant today as when it premiered over 16 years ago. It manages to be both insightful and honest and still hilarious. A brilliant script.

4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) Anderson. Barely teens falling in love on an island and escaping together. Another Wes Anderson classic and a very different sort of teen love story. Puppy love and scout troops, social services (in the form of a single character) and an all-star cast including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton.

5. My Own Private Idaho (1991) Van Sant. Shakespeare-inspired, this is about older teens who leave home for life on the streets, hustling, bonding, living dangerously but on their own terms. River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star. It's something of a teen road picture with positive LGBTQ themes, narcolepsy and a dash of Falstaff.

The Suicide Virgins

6. The Virgin Suicides (1999) S. Coppola. Sisters living under the repression of uber religious parents. Sofia Coppola’s debut films is a unique look at what it means to be a teenage girl and what it means to love from afar and certainly what it means to live in an oppressive home.

7. Wild Boys of the Road (1933) Wellman. Teens during the great depression. A hard as nails tail of teens taking to the road — via the rails — to ease burdens on families or get away from families while desperately hoping for a better life.

8. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Ray. They might not have had a cause but they rebelled for a reason. They were fed up with stifling home lives, parents who were absent, or unloving or inept. James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo were transcendent as the teens. Still resonant 65 years later.

9. Boyz n the Hood (1991) Singleton.  African American teens coming of age in a racist society. A powerful drama that is rich with themes and great performances. Teens struggling with an unjust society.

10. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) Hittman. The anti-Juno film about a pregnant teenager girl who decides to have an abortion. At times there is a documentary feel to this story of a girl and her cousin venturing from small town Pennsylvania to New York City for the procedure and the tribulations they face. The newest film on this list and one that deserves to be widely seen.

11. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) Hughes. Pure fun. Matthew Broderick starred in my favorite John Hughes film about teens who just want to have fun — and “stick it the man” in the process. Some hard truths are learned by one character but the film's theme, as expressed by the title character is:  "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Superbad

12. Superbad (2007) Mottola. A super good movie about teen boys looking for sex, love, sex, booze, sex, parties and sex. It's a wild ride and a fun one. McLovin is classic.

13. Waves (2019) Shults. The story of African American siblings in present day Miami and the divergent paths their lives take. To say it’s a powerful drama would be an understatement but also a trivialization of a beautiful film about choices and fate.

14. Little Women (2019) Gerwig. Nineteenth century teen siblings who love — and sometimes hate or envy — each other as they each seek different paths to their dreams. We miss the high school experience here, but Little Women captures the struggles of girls turning into women and making that journey with their sisters.

15. Election (1999) Payne. Reese Witherspoon's Tracy Flick captures a high school archetype: the driven, ambitious student who has to be a student leader while maintaining her 4.0. Tracy Flicks are at every high school and they can variously be a delight or a royal pain to teachers and fellow students. Usually they're both. Election is an irreverent but realistic comedy about the high school experience, most especially student elections.

16. Pleasantville (1998) Ross. A present-day teen, David (Tobey Maguire and his sister (Reese Witherspoon, again) aremagically transported into a Fifties sit-com and the teen world it portrays. They literally brings the color of his contemporary times to a stodgy, sexless, banal world.

17. The World of Henry Orient (1964) Hill. Teen girls with a crush on an older man. In this case a concert pianist played by Peter Sellars. It's what one would call a charming romp and is well worth a look as a peak into a bygone era. 

18. Elephant (2003) Van Sant. In some ways a look at a typical suburban high school but with the principle difference being that a mass shooting takes place. It is clearly based on the Columbine High School Massacre and helps shine a light on that tragedy and how high school cultures can be dangerously damaging to young, vulnerable psyches.

Yes, God, Yes

19. Yes, God, Yes (2020) Maine. Sexual awakenings are often the stuff of teen movies and this is one of the newest and best examples. Our protagonist, Alice (Natalie Dyer) has an extra challenge as she, like so many others, faces the strictures of being in a strict Catholic school. Alice experiences lust while also witnessing rank hypocrisy. Lessons are learned.

20. Dazed and Confused (1993) Linklater. The classic coming-of-age film featuring an ensemble cast and thus a variety of teen experiences. It takes place on the last night of school with all the madness that can entail.

21. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) Heckerling. Yet another coming-of-age classic with a wide-ranging cast. Fast Times is a school year in the life of a group of disparate characters that comprise some of the various types one meets in a high school. Notable in the cast is a young Sean Penn as a stoner.

22. My Friend Dahmer (2017) Meyers. This is about a future serial killer and cannibal so no, it's not your typical teen movie. It's based on the actual high school experiences of the notorious serial killer and flesh eater, Jeffrey Dahmer. It sounds like heavy fare, but in his school days Dahmer was more of a goofball making the transition into murderer. It's an oddly compelling film and as good a look at high school as you'll see.

23. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) Hess. The title character (John Heder) is the total oddball teen from a weird family (every school has them). He is lovably eccentric, especially when he dances and helps his friend's Pedro's seemingly quixotic campaign for student body president.

24. Eight Grade (2018) Burnham. At last a middle school setting. The middle school years can be particularly brutal as teens deal with physical and social awkwardness that can lead to anything from depression to self-loathing to harming oneself. Elsie Fisher is Kayla in the last days of 8th grade looking forward to and dreading the coming of high school. It is, as one reviewer put it, "sweet, sad and beautifully observed." It is also criminally underrated.

25. Dope (2015) Famuyiwa. Another terrific film that flew under the radar. Here we have three misfits (outcasts are best served by traveling together) who find adventure in a tough neighborhood. It has been described as a coming of age film for the post hip hop generation. An underground party is attended, choices are made and challenges ensue. 

A Preston Sturges Edition of Film Quotes

The Great McGinty

Last Spring I revived the  film quotes feature on this blog  after seven years of dormancy. Since then I've compiled lists of quotes from foreign films, movies from the 1970s, Marx Brothers movies and a list of my all-time favorites. In days of yore I had a list strictly from Woody Allen movies, and one with quotes strictly from female characters. Today I present one-liners from the six great films by writer/director Preston Sturges. Sturges had a nice career as a writer before the early forties and he did some good work writing and directing from the mid-forties on, but from 1940-1944 he had an amazing output of seven films, one of which was good (Christmas in July) and the other six were classics. No director has had such an amazing output in so short a time. Of course Sturges' films were comedies. They had equal parts witty dialogue, slapstick and satire. Sturges the director's greatest asset was Sturges the writer. Here are a few examples.

From the Great McGinty:

If it wasn't for graft, you'd get a very low type of people in politics. Men without ambition. Jellyfish. — William Demarest as Skeeters.

You got me all a tremble. I bet you're scared to death of yourself. — Brian Donlevy as Dan McGinty.

From The Lady Eve:

Positively the same dame! -- William Demarest as Mugsy.

Don't be vulgar, Jean. Let us be crooked, but never common. -- Charles Coburn as Colonel Harrington.

Well, it's just that I've been up the Amazon for a year and they don't use perfume. — Henry Fonda as Charles.

I said they're not good enough for him. Every Jane in the room is giving him the thermometer and he feels they're just a waste of time. He's returning to his book; he's deeply immersed in it. He sees no one except - watch his head turn when that kid goes by. Won't do ya any good, dear - he's a bookworm - but swing 'em anyway…. — Barbara Stanwyck as Jean.

Sullivan's Travels

From Sullivan’s Travels:

There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan. — Joel McCrea as John L. Sullivan.

You see, sir, rich people and theorists - who are usually rich people - think of poverty in the negative, as the lack of riches - as disease might be called the lack of health. But it isn't, sir. Poverty is not the lack of anything, but a positive plague, virulent in itself, contagious as cholera, with filth, criminality, vice and despair as only a few of its symptoms. It is to be stayed away from, even for purposes of study. It is to be shunned. — Robert Greig as Burrows.

You know, the nice thing about buying food for a man is that you don't have to listen to his jokes. Just think, if you were some big shot like a casting director or something, I'd be staring into your bridgework saying 'Yes, Mr. Smearcase. No, Mr. Smearcase. Not really, Mr. Smearcase! Oh, Mr. Smearcase, that's my knee!'  — Veronica Lake as The Girl.

Not from you, Sully, that's true. Not with pictures like So Long Sarong, Hey, Hey, In the Hayloft, Ants in Your Plants of 1939... But they weren't about tramps, lockouts, sweatshops, people eating garbage in alleys and living in piano boxes and ash cans. — Robert Warwick as Mr. LeBrand

Palm Beach Story

From The Palm Beach Story:

Cold are the hands of time that creep along relentlessly, destroying slowly but without pity that which yesterday was young. Alone our memories resist this disintegration and grow more lovely with the passing years. Heh! That's hard to say with false teeth! — Robert Dudley as Wieinie King.

Toto's a refugee - from his creditors, I think. — Mary Astor s Princess Centimillia.

You have no idea what a long-legged woman can do without doing anything. — Claudette Colbert as Gerry Jeffers.

That's one of the tragedies of this life - that the men who are most in need of a beating up are always enormous. — Rudy Vallee as J.D. Hackenacker III.

From The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek:

The trouble with kids is they always figure they're smarter than their parents - never stop to think if their old man could get by for 50 years and feed 'em and clothe 'em - he maybe had something up here to get by with - things that seem like brain twisters to you might be very simple for him. — William Demarest as Constable Kockenlocker.

I don't deal with spooks. She doesn't need a lawyer, she needs a Medium. - Al Bridge as Mr. Johnson.

Of course he has to have a first name. Everybody has a first name. Even dogs have first names, even if they don't have any last names. -- Eddie Bracken as Norval Jones.

Hail the Conquering Hero

From Hail the Conquering Hero:

I said, "Ladies and gentlemen, in all the years that I have been unsuccessfully mixed into politics, this is the first and only time that I have ever seen a candidate for office - given an opportunity to prove publicly, permanently and beyond peradventure of doubt that he was honest, courageous and veracious…" — Henry Hayden as Doc Bissell.

Well, that's the war for you. It's always hard on women. Either they take your men away and never send them back at all; or they send them back unexpectedly just to embarrass you. No consideration at all. — Elizabeth Patterson as Aunt Martha.

If I could reach as high as my father's shoestrings... my whole life would be justified - and I would stand here before you proudly... instead of as the thief and the coward that I am. — Eddie Bracken as Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith.

They say opportunity's only got one hair on his head and you gotta grab it while it's going by and dog it down or you mightn't get another chance. — William Demarest as Sgt. Heffelginger.

Movies That Make Me Cry (Actually None Do, But Some Choke Me Up -- A Little)

Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington in Philadelphia

I recently saw a filler on TCM in which the hosts each shared which movie makes them cry. Naturally this prompted me to think of movies that cause me to sob. Well cousin, first of all I don’t do crying. I’m not proud of this. It's on my long list of emotional issues. From the time I was a small child until my late teens, I didn’t cry a drop. Not a single tear. There wasn’t a lot of blubbering going on in my twenties, thirties of forties for that matter. Deaths of kin and good friends has caused the waterworks to get going but I’m unable to sustain it for very long. (In other words, I'm a typical Finn.) But at least there’s something. So shedding a tear or two over something like a movie is pretty rare but it has happened. Sports causes me to tear up a bit, such as when the Giants finally won the World Series. But again we're talking getting choked up not bawling. All that being said I thought I'd share some movies that — while they don’t make me cry, nor necessarily even shed a tear -- can at least get a good-sized lump going in my throat.

(Warning: there are spoilers aplenty to follow.)

Philadelphia (1993) Demme - I’m sure I’m not alone here. It’s a superbly done movie and the ending -- which some stone hearts might call emotionally manipulative, is natural and essential to the story. Plus it gets me every time. I used to show Philadelphia as part of a two-week-long unit on Homophobia my middle school used to do and at the end of the movie I’d always have to look away. It wouldn’t do for students to see their teacher red-eyed -- espeically because of a movie. A large part of the emotional impact of the film comes from Tom Hanks' transcendent Oscar-winning performance as Andrew Beckett, the gay lawyer with AIDS.

The Searchers (1956) Ford — Saw it recently and the ending got to me again. The wife mistakenly thought this was a reaction to the character of Ethan Edwards being left all alone while everyone else was happily grouped together. That contributes to the effect but it’s really all about the exquisite beauty of the final shot and how it bookends the opening shot and draws to a close the epic story. Perfection in film often touches me emotionally as happened when I last watched Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Lumet and Chinatown (1974) Polanski.

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) Capra — Something of a cliche to be sure and actually I’ve seen it so many times that the power to choke me up is pretty much gone, but it did the trick for years. It is a heart-tugger of a story with a man realizing how rich his life how much he's loved and how lucky he is. I think about it sometimes when in a blue mood.

Sean Penn as Milk

Milk (2008) Van Sant — While an inspiring story, it is also unquestionably a sad one and the ending captures that. But it gets me also because I remember those times and how so many of us were so powerfully struck by the assassinations of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. This is another film highlighted by a bravura Oscar-winning performance, this time by Sean Penn as the title character.

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) Malle — Heroism. Injustice. Youth. The rending of a youthful friendship is tough, when it’s done in the name of genocide it is brutal. It is a great film with an emotionally powerful ending.

Umberto D (1952) De Sica — It’s the one work of Italian Neo-realism that most moves me emotionally. In fact I feel like pitching forward and crying like a baby right now just thinking about the ending and the wonderful character of the old man and his love for his dog. It is a movie stripped of sentimentality being instead a powerfully real slice of life

Ride the High Country (1962) Peckinpah — I refer to the death of Joe McCrea’s character a noble man if there ever was one  (he utters one of my favorite lines in all of filmdom: I want to enter my house justified). It’s a cruel fate for such a good man.

The Last Picture Show (1971) Bogdanovich — There is a pervasive sadness to this film (a true American classic) and it really comes to the fore in certain scenes. Learning of the death of Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), the final emotional outburst by Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), the death of Billy (Sam Bottoms) and the final parting of Sonny (Tim Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges). A lot of moments in Picture Show tug at my heartstrings.

Giulietta Masina 

Nights of Cabiria (1957) Fellini — As with most films that get to me, it is the ending. I’m not so much moved by the injustice of what happens to the title character, played by Giuletta Masina, but the beautiful way she responds to it. Surrounded by joyous people she slowly breaks into a soft, tearful smile. It's one of the greatest moments in movies.

The Big Parade (1925) Vidor — There are two scenes that get me every time. The first is when the protagonist, James (John Gilbert) goes off to battle leaving behind the French farm girl, Melisande (Renee Adore). She chases the truck he is on as through their tears they blow kiss after to kiss to one another and James tosses her gifts. Meanwhile soldiers march past her. The truck eventually picks up speed and Melisande is left disconsolate on the road. The second scene is the conclusion when they re-unite. James’ return to France and rediscovery of his lost love is no surprise but in the hands of an artful director like King Vidor, it is grand film moment.

Radio Days (1987) Allen -- It’s not just a celebration of when radio was king, it is a celebration of childhood, family and nostalgia. It’s a wonderful film and it touches me in a million ways and by the end I could have a good cry. (I don’t, but I could.) 

Ten Lists of Ten Films For Your Indigenous People's Day Enjoyment

Al Pacino in Serpico

Regular readers of this blog (Alsace Lorraine McGee of Lake Oswego, Oregon) may recall that on Independence Day,  Memorial Day and Labor Day I provided ten lists of ten films in various categories. Much to everyone's chagrin I have decided to make this a regular holiday feature. Therefore you can look for the fifth installment of this series on Veteran's Day. Meanwhile, please enjoy today's lists -- or not, entirely up to you.

My Ten Favorite Al Pacino Films

1. Godfather (1972) Coppola

2. Godfather 2 (1974) Coppola

3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) Tarantino

4. Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Lumet

5. Serpico (1973) Lumet

6. Donnie Brasco (1997) Newell

7. Heat (1995) Mann

8. Panic in Needle Park (1971) Shatzberg

9. Scarecrow (1973) Shatzberg

10. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) Foley

Ten Excellent Films With a Cast Member Who Was a Guest Voice on The Simpsons

1. James Caan -- Godfather (1972) Coppola

2. Jack Lemmon -- Some Like it Hot (1959) Wilder

3. Kirk Douglass -- Paths of Glory (1957) Kubrick

4. Max Von Sydow -- The Seventh Seal (1957) Bergman

5. Albert Brooks -- Taxi Driver (1976) Scorsese 

6. Meryl Streep -- Manhattan (1979) Allen

7. Javier Bardem -- No Country For Old Men (2007) Coens

8. Rod Steiger -- On the Waterfront (1954) Steiger 

9. Scarlett Johansson -- Match Point (2005) Allen

10. Frances MacDormand -- Moonrise Kingdom (2012) Anderson

Trading Places

Ten Movies set in Big American Cities Besides NY, LA, SF

1. Trading Places (1983 Landis -- Philadelphia

2. The Verdict (1982) Lumet -- Boston

3. From Here to Eternity (1953) Zinnemann -- Honolulu

4. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Kazan -- New Orleans

5. Waves (2019) Shults -- Miami

6. Election (1999) Payne -- Omaha 

7. Wonder Boys (2000) Hanson -- Pittsburgh

8. Medium Cool  (1969) Wexler-- Chicago

9. Dazed and Confused (1993) Linklater -- Austin

10. Being There (1979) Ashby -- Washington DC

My Favorite Films About U.S. Politics

1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Capra

2. All the President's Men (1976) Pakula

3. The Candidate (1972) Ritchie

4. Bullworth (1998) Beatty

5. The Great McGinty (1940) Sturges

6. Bob Roberts (1992) Robbins

7. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)  Frankenheimer

8. The Great Man Votes (1939) Kanin

9. All the King's Men (1949) Rossen

10. Wag the Dog (1997) Levinson

Jane Darwell in The Grapes of Wrath

My Favorite Films Featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award Winner

1. Jane Darwell -- The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Ford

2. Claire Trevor -- Key Largo (1948) Huston

3. Kim Hunter -- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Kazan

4. Eva Marie Saint -- On the Waterfront (1954) Steiger 

5. Estelle Parsons -- Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Penn

6. Cloris Leachman -- The Last Picture Show (1971) Bogdanovich

7. Lee Grant -- Shampoo (1975) Ashby

8. Dianne Weist -- Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Allen

9. Cate Blanchett -- The Aviator (2004) Scorsese

10. Penelope Cruz -- Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Allen

My Ten Favorite Films Set in England

1. Tess (1979) Polanski

2. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Kubrick

3. Match Point (2005) Allen

4. If…. (1968) Anderson

5. A Hard Day’s Night (1964) Lester

6. The Lodger (1927) Hittchcock 

7. The Fallen Idol (1948) Reed

8. Fever Pitch (1997) Evans

9. Taste of Honey (1961) Richardson

10. Gosford Park (2001) Altman

My Ten Favorite Films Directed by John Ford

1. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 

2. The Searchers (1956)

3. Stagecoach (1939)

4. The Long Voyage Home (1940)

5. My Darling Clementine (1946)

6. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

7. Fort Apache (1948)

8. Lost Patrol (1934)

9. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

10.The Iron Horse (1924)

The Exorcist

My Ten Favorite Films Suitable For Halloween

1. The Exorcist (1973) Friedkin

2. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Whale

3. Psycho (1960) Hitchcock

4. The Shining (1980) Kubrick

5. Dracula (1931) Browning

6. Frankenstien (1931) Whale

7. Alien (1979) Scott

8. The Old Dark House (1932) Whale

9. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) Polanski

10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Kaufman

My Favorite Foreign Language Films of the 1970s

1. Stalker (1979) Tarkovsky

2. Amarcord (1973) Fellini

3. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) Petri

4. The Emigrants (1971)/The New Land (1972) Troell

5. Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972) Herzog

6. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise (1972) Bunuel

7. Cries and Whispers (1972) Bergman

8. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) Fassbinder

9. The Conformist (1970) Bertolucci

10. The Ascent (1977) Shepitko

First Reformed

My Ten Favorite Films Featuring a Member of the Clergy

1. First Reformed (2017) Schrader

2. Rome, Open City (1945) Rossellini 

3.  A Serious Man (2009) Coens

4. Ida (2013) Pawlikowski

5. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) Allen

6. The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) Rossellini

7. Winter Light (1963) Bergman

8. Fanny and Alexander (1982) Bergman

9. The Exorcist (1973) Friedkin

10. Viridiana (1961) Bunuel

Ben Affleck in The Way Back -- I Can Relate

We bring want we know, what we’ve experienced and what we believe to our movie-viewing experience. That’s one reason why two people who are very much alike might see the same film in different ways. This is particularly true if a movie resonates for a person because it reflects a particular experience of their own. I thus had a different experience watching The Way Back -- the recent release starring Ben Affleck and directed by Gavin O’Connor -- then did most critics.

Affleck stars as an alcoholic construction worker who is asked to coach the basketball team at the high school where he had earned glory 25 years prior.

My first thoughts as the movie began were: please don’t have all the usual sports movie cliches, especially the last-second win over a hated rival. But The Way Back did in fact have almost all that we’ve come to expect from sports movie: The coach (Affleck as Jack Cunningham) looking for a second chance in life who turns around a motley crew, the recalcitrant star player and the player with the bad attitude (a story line that was dropped just as it got started — no idea why). But in the end I didn’t mind so much because all those cliches were in service to a much deeper story. This was no more a basketball movie than Raging Bull is about boxing. (That said, the basketball scenes were excellent.)

Cunningham drank beer in a way I could totally relate to having myself once imbibed to wretched excess. Like me, Cunningham was drinking to dull a powerful emotional hurt. It’s a desperate kind of drinking, persistent, unreasonable and all-consuming. The alcoholic saturates pain with booze and marinates it and drowns it and then adds more because you can’t turn off the spigot once it’s open. Affleck, himself a recovering alcoholic, played the anguished, dead-eyed drunk to a tee. There are the drinker’s moments of joviality, jokes and laughs and kidding around that last until you get lost in the liquor and become a sodden blob for whom speech is a struggle and staying ambulatory a challenge. 

Of course the hangover cure is the proverbial hair of the dog which often turns into the whole damn coat. In lieu of a hangover you’re off on another binge.

Cunningham initially resists the offer to coach (another sports movie cliche) but can’t find a good enough reason not to do it. He takes over a team with one win against a bushel of losses. The school hasn’t made the playoffs since the coach himself was on the team.

Having coached soccer for a couple of dozen years I related to the experience of molding a team, instilling a philosophy and having a great bloody time doing it. (Side note: God, I miss coaching and guess I always will.)

The team struggles at first but the foul-mouthed Cunningham is a natural, if temperamental, coach. The team responds well to him. Of course there’s still the not-so- small matter of a drinking problem. Will it derail the coach’s efforts? Will he overcome the problem and lead the team to glory? No spoilers here. The ending is surprising and satisfying.

I looked at some of The Way Back’s reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. They were generally good but few were glowing. In reading some I noted that most reviewers clearly had never struggled with alcohol nor coached a youth team. My perspective on the film as an ex-drunk and former coach was thus quite different. 

I do not mean to suggest that critics should be required to have had the same life experiences as the characters in the films they review. Obviously you can do a spot on review of Saving Private Ryan without having stormed the beaches of Normandy and you can certainly critique Goodfellas without ever having been in the Mafia. You’re simply going to be more sympathetic to a film’s flaws if  the story is relatable to unique experiences of your own. For example, I love a deeply flawed film called The Strawberry Statement because, for all its faults, it captures some of what I experienced in the late Sixties.

Hours after watching The Way Back I missed it. I had enjoyed being part of Cunningham’s story, his ups, downs, his pain his joy. The film boasted a solid supporting cast (particularly Al Madrigal as the assistant coach) but it was Affleck’s film and whatever else one might think of him, he’s a good actor. He even sported the athlete/beer drinker body with its odd combination of fit and fat. I think it must have been healing for him to take on the role and it probably helped drive away some of the demons that still lurk for a sober alcoholic. I know it did me some good just to watch it. But damn, it sure made me miss coaching.

(The Way Back was released in March on the weekend before U.S. cities starting locking down. It did good business, but, of course, everything fell through the floor in the coming days.)

I Comment on Today's Headlines, Sixth in a Regular Series

In July I came up with the brilliant idea of posting some of the day's headlines from various news sources and writing comments about them that were either pithy, snarky, wise or brilliantly on point (or a combination thereof). The response was so overwhelming (thank you, Clarabell Monet of Harpers Ferry, WV) that I have since offered readers additional editions to enthusiastic acclaim (by which I mean dead silence). Here then is part six in what is now a regular and beloved feature of this blog.

From The NY Times:

Trump’s Return Leaves White House in Disarray as Infections Jolt West Wing

White House in disarray seems like an appropriate title for the Trump presidency. He is now infecting the White House with the corona virus just as he had been infecting it with such diseases as racism and xenophobia. I'd say he's gone off the rails but those rails were abandoned long ago. It looks like his descent into madness is accelerating. Hopefully a semblance of civility and stability within government can be preserved once he loses the election next month and a transfer of power can be affected (so I'm a dreamer).

Kamala Harris and the Push to Cut Hospital Bills in California

We are once again reminded that in the United States citizens can go bankrupt because of medical bills. The voracious hunger of capitalism takes precedence over the needs of the people -- even the most basic of those needs like staying alive. Thankfully people like Senator (hopefully soon, Vice President) Harris are fighting to change that. 

'We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said

And in that one headline we have a perfect summarization of the modern conservative ethos. Separating babies from mothers ranks among the cruelest things you can do but it's not too low for Republicans, in fact, it's policy. Bastards.

From CNN:

Trump's erratic behavior continues as he halts stimulus talks and spreads falsehoods on pandemic

Did his "erratic behavior" ever stop? How is this any different than the past four years? It's been one long shitshow. And now it's getting worse. Well, it was never going to get better and evidently the steroids Trumpy's been given  have revealed just how naked the emperor is.

Top White House aide Stephen Miller tests positive for Covid-19

Another example of the fact that the chickens have come home to roost. 

A musician with a Latin country-rock band says he and a friend were beaten at a Tennessee bar for speaking Spanish

Well look here, we have yet another example of the conservative ethos. The philosophies of exclusiveness of non acceptance of violence of bigotry. Here's the thing, I very much doubt that if I went into the same bar and spoke Finnish with a relative that anyone would say boo (I'm white). But if you're a person of color you've got a strike against you to these neanderthals and speaking a foreign language is strikes two and three and like all truly brain dead people the response is physical violence. The right is full of ignorant, frightened racists many of whom resort to violence when they feel challenged.

From the BBC:

September was world's 'hottest on record'

While that is truly depressing do you want to hear something funny? Trumpy and other conservatives in the U.S. deny the findings of climate scientists. Actually maybe that's not so much funny as really, really depressing. Denying science is not just stupid but dangerous.

Facebook bans QAnon conspiracy theory accounts across all platforms

I am four square against censorship but -- as in the case of someone who yells 'fire' in a crowded theater --there are exceptions to the rule. The QAnon people are spreading garbage that is so ridiculous as to defy belief, however there are people stupid enough (i.e. Trump supporters) to buy this nonsense hook, line and sinker. If you're not familiar with these wing nuts click this sentence to get an idea of what they're about.

Greece Golden Dawn: Neo-Nazi leaders guilty of running crime gang

Neo-Nazis engaging in criminal activity? Welcome to one of the least surprising headlines of the year. A truly surprising headlines would be, Neo-Nazis lauded for charitable work.

From SF Gate:

Appeals court: Trump must turn over taxes to prosecutor

He's so fucked.

Northern California evangelical school tied to 'very large' spike in virus cases

So I take it that the power of prayer let them down. Evangelicals tend not to be big on science or facts in general. They do put a lot of "faith" in a supernatural being looking after them if only they take the time to ask. However science trumps superstition every time.

No selfies with bears: Forest Service closes popular Tahoe attraction for public safety

Here's a quote from a park ranger: “We’ve seen people trying to get way too close to the bears,” Cressy says. “People trying to take selfie portraits with black bears — and these are wild animals. They are 300-, 400-, 500-pound animals. And it’s terribly unsafe to approach them.” I love bears and watch them occasionally on bear cams provided by explore.org. I'd love to see a bear in the wild -- from a very safe instance, as I did a few summers ago from a train in Finland. My question is, what kind of moron tries to get a selfie with a bear? There are, apparently, all manner of moron, including ones who don't have the sense to stay away from very large wild animals. 

How About a Double Feature? Part Two

Ivan's Childhood 

Regular readers of this blog (Gadzooks Dingleberry of Caribou, Maine) may recall that last July I posted 12 recommendations for double features. The response was whelming. I've imagined literally millions of you asking for more (while in reality thousands have asked for less). So today I am proud to offer a more modest list of ten double features to help you get through those long, lonely Autumn nights as we await Election Day. Once again I looked for interesting couplings with a common thread. I've got comedies, war pictures, Shakespeare, Western, silent, Marx Brothers and drunks. Hope you find something you like. Tell your friends and get ten percent off at your next gift shop purchase.

Ivan’s Childhood (1962) and Come and See (1985) — Young Soviet lads fight World War II. Russian cinema has created some great films about World War II which is not at all surprising given the massive impact the Nazi invasion had on the then Soviet Union. Two of the best are films whose main characters are a pre-adolescent and a teen. Ivan's Childhood, directed by my favorite Russian director, Andrei Tarkovsky, follows the exploits of Ivan, who scouts for the Soviet army in their campaign against the Nazis. He has suffered horrific personal losses and hates the German invaders with an understandable vengeance. Young Ivan is a very serious young man, self possessed and fearless. In Come and See a young teen named Alexsey joins the partisans in Belarus to fight the invading Nazi hordes. Soon after his family is slaughtered. Like Ivan, he has a special purpose. These are two extraordinary films and are masterpieces of cinematography. The beauty of many shots help illuminate the horrors of war. War is an often used subject in cinema. Sometimes battle is romanticized and the slaughter sanitized or even glamorized. Not so in these two films that evoke the true horror of war while providing completely watchable, compelling viewing experiences.

Chimes at Midnight (1965) and My Own Private Idaho (1991) — A Little Falstaff Anyone? One of William Shakespeare's most memorable characters is that of Falstaff who appeared in three of his plays (Henry IV Parts one and two and Henry V). He is mostly a comic figure, an overweight, conceited, boastful, and cowardly knight. He's also a notorious lush who can regularly be found drinking at the Boar's Head Inn with petty criminals. Not a very good influence on Prince Hal (who is later King Henry). Orson Welles wrote and directed Chimes and he is masterful in the role of Falstaff. Made in 1991, My Own Private Idaho is set in present day but based on the Shakespeare plays above mentioned. Keanu Reeves stars as the Hal-like Scott Favor. The Falstaff fill-in is called Bob Pigeon (William Richert). Idaho was written and directed by Gus van Sandt who was inspired by Chimes. Idaho also features River Phoenix in perhaps his best role. It is considered a landmark in New Queer Cinema. It's gay themes and modern settings are among the only things that differentiate it from Chimes. Both are superb films.

The Lost Weekend

The Lost Weekend (1945) and Come Back Little Sheba (1952) — Struggles with booze. In Lost Weekend, Ray Milland is an unrepentant drunk who, when given the opportunity, goes on the bender of all benders. In Come Back Little Sheba, Burt Lancaster is in recovery but despite a loving wife and being in AA, falls off the wagon. Good and hard. Both films accurately capture how the disease of alcoholism ravages the individual and those around him. Weekend is much the better of the two films showing the insidiousness of the disease and how helpless one can feel in fighting it. Sheba has its virtues too and I recommend it because of its hopeful message.

The Freshman (1925) and Horse Feathers (1932) — Rah! Rah! Rah! It's the day of the big game. Maybe your favorite team is playing right now despite the pandemic or maybe the start of their season has been delayed. In any case many people can't get enough college football with its pomp, pageantry, traditions and predilection for the unexpected. Why not combine a rollicking comedy and a favorite sport? With The Freshman you get the bespectacled and hilarious Harold Lloyd worming his way onto the college team and ultimately getting on the gridiron for the climactic moments of the big game. Lloyd plays, of course, a freshmen and he is an oft-ridiculed nebbish one at that. But you'll love his earnestness and root for him to win the girl and glory on the field. Horse Feathers features all four Marx Brothers in my second favorite of all their films. Like Lloyd they provide laughs aplenty and also insinuate themselves into the big game and of course star in the dramatic climax. Of the foursome only Zeppo is actually a student, although how he has any eligibility left given that he's been a student for a decade, is an open question. Groucho is not only not a student, he's the president of the university. Horse Feathers is a laugh fest and like The Freshman, provides succor to those who miss college football.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Gods & Monsters (1998) -- The Making of a Monster. James Whale directed the former and is a character in the latter. To me, Bride was Whale's masterpiece (and he made several excellent horror films). It is not a film that will frighten modern audiences, indeed it has high camp value, particularly in the form of Dr. Pretorious (played by the always delightful Ernest Thesiger). Boris Karloff is the monster and the scenery chewing Colin Clive is the doctor. Elsa Lanchester has a small but memorable role as the title character. Gods and Monsters explores Whale's last days and Ian McKellan is perfect as Whale. Whale takes in young gardener (Brendan Fraser) who he is smitten with. G&M is funny, touching, sentimental, heartbreaking and utterly lovable. In the course of the story, Whale watches Bride and dishes on his stars. G&M also explores the difficulties of being gay in what was then a closeted America (Whale was gay).

8 1/2 (1963) and Stardust Memories (1980) — Film director in turmoil. In 8 1/2 Marcello Mastrioni plays a director based on actual director, Federico Fellini. In Stardust, Woody Allen plays a director based on himself who is also the director of the film. They are happy men but plagued by angst and the vagaries of fame and the women they love and the women who love them. Both directors are trying to relax, Mastrioni after his latest hit, Allen after another squabble with studio executives. They hope that getting away for a bit will help, but there is no escape the trappings of fame and the myriad individuals who come with it. While 81/2 is very much an autobiographical film for Fellini, Stardust Memories is very much an homage to 8 1/2, although it certainly reflects some of Allen's own experiences. In both films there are laughs, romance, pathos and excellent cinematography.

Ed Wood

Ed Wood (1994) and The Disaster Artist (2017) — True stories of bad directors who accidentally made cult classics. Both films are based on film directors who were at the very bottom of the their fields. Ed Wood was famously, bad having made that rare film that is so bad it really is good: Plan Nine From Outer Space. Johnny Depp, in one of his best performances, plays the cross-dressing Wood. Tim Burton directed and it is far and away my favorite of his films. Martin Landau turned in an Academy Award winning performance (best supporting actor) as Bela Lugosi. The Disaster Artist chronicles the rise to "fame" of Tommy Wiseau who directed another so bad its good film, The Room. James Franco gives a bravura performance as the very weird Wiseau. Franco also directed. Both as director and actor, Franco captures the wildly eccentric main character and the wild and true story of the making of The Room. Taken together you have two films about men who gained notoriety through their ineptitude. Both are thoroughly entertaining, funny, yet at times touching.

If….(1968) and Rushmore (1968) — Iconoclastic Teens. Admittedly Mick of If.... and Max of Rushmore are very different kinds of blokes but both were unique among their peers and very much rebels of their times. Mick is cool, unconventionally handsome and a free spirit who wants to blaze his own trails. Max is a dweeb, nerdy-looking and inappropriate but wants acceptance and admiration. Mick is in a stuffy British boarding school circa the late Sixties. Max is in a stuffy American private school then a typical American high school circa the late Nineties. Both fall in love, both have a small support group and both stay true to themselves throughout and in very different ways get what they want. If... was a touchstone of the Sixties and the spirit of rebellion then personified. That is to say, it was an important film. Rushmore was less significant culturally but a important cinematically, cementing as it did the unique style of director Wes Anderson as a significant new voice in film.

The Great Escape (1963) and La Grande Illusion (1937) — Let’s get out of here. Both film features one of filmdom's coolest stars busting out of prisoner of war camps. The Great Escape is the true story of an allied blitz out of a German stalag in the middle of World War II. Steve McQueen -- who personified cool for two decades -- is one who escapes and is one of many to be re-captured. But not before a thrilling motorcycle chase. In Grand Illusion, Jean Gabin, who had a long career being cool in French films, also escapes from a German POW camp, in this case during World War I. The movies are different in tone, settings and themes (Grand Illusion also looks at classism and the waning days of European aristocracy). The Great Escape is much more of an action film and is based on actual events. It also deals more with the details of affecting an escape and the consequences to both sides. The main thing the two have in common is that they're great films with magnetic stars leading excellent casts.

Destry Rides Again (1939) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) -- Jimmy Stewart as unlikely hero. As Destry, Jimmy Stewart is the soft-spoken story-telling sheriff who cleans up the corrupt town of Bottleneck (state unknown). As Smith, he is the naive and patriotic senator who cleans up an entire state (the identity of which is unknown). Stewart was a classic kind of American hero. Tall and gangly, intelligent but humble and seemingly non-threatening. He always got the girl and he always exposed the bad guys -- despite the odds. In both these films the cynics and wise guys laughed at him, until, that is, they celebrated him as hero. Destry is a delightful film featuring the contrasting pair of Stewart and the sultry Marlene Dietrich. Brian Donlevy is the "businessman" who runs the town and lines his pockets along the way. Mr. Smith is a cinematic classic in which the titular character (aided by the love and counsel of Jean Arthur's character) takes on the corrupt "businessman" played by Edward Arnold, who runs an entire state, profiting greatly along the way. While Destry is played mostly for laughs (which it achieves), Smith explores the darker side of Washington politics. Stewart excels in both films.

2020, What Fresh Hells It Continues to Bring

Dorothy Parker, she must have seen 2020 coming

What fresh hell can this be? -- Dorothy Parker.

It is a question that sums up 2020 rather nicely. It has been especially true here in the San Francisco Bay Area at various times such as today when we have an awful combination of well above average heat and poor air quality stemming from wildfires. On days like today we can't go for walks and windows have to be closed to limit exposure to dirty, ashy, sometimes smelly air. It is as very close to hell as many of us have known, particularly when combined with suffering through a pandemic. 

Further compounding this depressing state of affairs is the state of the country. One hardly knows what to make of Trumpy testing positive for Covid-19 (guess it wasn't a hoax after all, eh prez?). As one person put it, it isn't karma, it's science. This happened two days after Trumpy disgraced the nation (what? again?) with his -- even-horrible-for-his-standards -- debate performance. I only saw highlights (lowlights?) and he came off like the angriest, most obnoxious drunk you've ever seen. As is his custom he spewed lies and added a double dosage of venom and combined that with extraordinary rudeness and lack of decorum. You can't make a guy like this up.

The tales of corruption coming out of the Trump family are never ending as is more evidence of callousness and vitriol. The level of bigotry would make John C. Calhoun blush. Trumpy could not even be arsed to condemn white supremacy. Hell, even notorious bigots like Nixon and Reagan would have pretended to oppose clown shows like The Proud Boys, a Neo Nazi group of wanna-be thugs who are a solid part of Trumpy's base.

It's been debilitating to much of America to live through the nearly four years of the Trumpy freak show. The incivility, the prevarications, the disregard for the environment, the demonization of immigrants, people of color and anyone who doesn't kowtow to the administration. It's all the worse because the Trumpy sickness has been enabled by the Republican Party which is as good an example as you'll find of greed, spinelessness and disregard for the general welfare. (If I had to/could punch anyone in the world it would be Moscow Mitch himself the turtle from Kentucky -- what a grade A asshole). The bastards are going to put a woman on the Supreme Court who Cotton Mather would have found too extreme.

Added to all this is Trumpy's supporters. He has many and they are fiercely loyal (imagine the mentality...). It's gotten to be impossible not to conclude that all these people are bigots and equally difficult to imagine that they have any conception of what a functioning democracy should look like. They are all either saps and suckers or the scoundrels who benefit from his tax and deregulation policies and care nothing for the hot polloi. 

Of course there's hope. The general election is just 32 days away and in addition to giving Trumpy a right proper thumping, there exists the strong possibility that the Democrats will take over the Senate. But even there we have a horrible feeling of hopelessness and despair for Trumpy and his partners in crime (and I mean crime literally) are working overtime to suppress the vote in advance and challenge it in the aftermath. Trumpy even wants thugs at polling stations to do god knows what -- it won't be good. Election Day and its aftermath might not end up being a statement of the people's will and perhaps won't lead to a peaceful transition of power but instead be a chaotic mess that will threaten the very foundations of democracy in the United States. There could be riots and killing and many, many lawsuits. I believe the appropriate word for what may follow the vote is, shitstorm.

So there's that to "look forward to."

On the bright side? Well I'm sure there's something. I'm far too depressed today to think of anything. There is a part of me that believes that it is always darkest before the dawn and things can only get better but those notions are having a hard time being heard among the din of hell that is 2020. Fortunately there are more and more people carrying the fight, determined to rid the country of Trumpiness and from their make social justice and equality realties. There are also entertainers. I'm particularly grateful to those who make me laugh. We all need good yuks in the best of times, now we are positively desperate for them. To name but a few, thank you Daniel Levy, Seth Myers, Chris Rock, George Wallace, Blaire Erskine, Sarah Cooper, Seth Rogen, Chelsea Handler, Trevor Noah, John Cleese, Ricky Gervais, John Oliver, Lewis Black and my good friends at Lonely Island. Also, happy Groucho Marx's 130th birthday. We could use a man like him today.

I close with something only tangentially related. It is an excerpt from an article that appeared in Commonweal Magazine last February and was written by a gent named David Bentley Hart. I think it a perfect expression of this country and how it is -- even in the best of times.

Americans are, of course, the most thoroughly and passively indoctrinated people on earth. They know next to nothing as a rule about their own history, or the histories of other nations, or the histories of the various social movements that have risen and fallen in the past, and they certainly know little or nothing of the complexities and contradictions comprised within words like “socialism” and “capitalism.” Chiefly, what they have been trained not to know or even suspect is that, in many ways, they enjoy far fewer freedoms, and suffer under a more intrusive centralized state, than do the citizens of countries with more vigorous social-democratic institutions. This is at once the most comic and most tragic aspect of the excitable alarm that talk of social democracy or democratic socialism can elicit on these shores. An enormous number of Americans have been persuaded to believe that they are freer in the abstract than, say, Germans or Danes precisely because they possess far fewer freedoms in the concrete. They are far more vulnerable to medical and financial crisis, far more likely to receive inadequate health coverage, far more prone to irreparable insolvency, far more unprotected against predatory creditors, far more subject to income inequality, and so forth, while effectively paying more in tax (when one figures in federal, state, local, and sales taxes, and then compounds those by all the expenditures that in this country, as almost nowhere else, their taxes do not cover). One might think that a people who once rebelled against the mightiest empire on earth on the principle of no taxation without representation would not meekly accept taxation without adequate government services. But we accept what we have become used to, I suppose. Even so, one has to ask, what state apparatus in the “free” world could be more powerful and tyrannical than the one that taxes its citizens while providing no substantial civic benefits in return, solely in order to enrich a piratically overinflated military-industrial complex and to ease the tax burdens of the immensely wealthy?