Tied for # 26 - My Top 25 Favorite Films

As I unspooled the list of my Top 25 Favorite Films, there were naturally some really tough calls. Of course, those are not the only movies that draw me regularly for a revisit. Here are five others that just missed my list:

Hold That Ghost: My favorite Abbott and Costello comedy of all time. It was another one of those movies that popped up on WOR's Million Dollar Movie all the time and I would be glued to the freakin' TV for the whole week. Bud and Lou in a haunted house. Enough said. But, almost miraculously, the film gets stolen by their co-star Joan Davis, who had such wonderful chemistry with Lou that it's a shame they didn't team up permanently. The dance number they do in the kitchen as they slosh through some rain puddles is absolutely brilliant.

The Guns of Navarone: Another WW II life lesson as taught by my father in the Wakefield Theater in the Bronx. Of all the war movies that Dad introduced me to, this is the only one we watched together more than once. Great action assayed by a stellar cast headed by David Niven, Gregory Peck, and Anthony Quinn. Many years later, I got to see it again on the big screen at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles. The place was packed as it should have been. I am standing on line for popcorn and find myself right next to Ron Howard who has taken his kids to see it for the first time. I am guessing his dad had done the same for him. It was one of those rare Hollywood moments where I actually considered breaking my longstanding rule: If I see celebrities out and about, I never bother them. Since I have a tremendous respect for Ron being a true talent and a nice guy at the same time, I wanted to engage him in conversation about "Guns." I didn't. I kick myself again as I remember it anew. Damn.

Casablanca: I have a college friend who loves this classic. He'd talk about it ad nauseum. Rick, Ilsa, As Time Goes By. On and on and on. When I finally saw it on television one day, I did not like it. Didn't get it. Thought it was overrated. Told my friend he needed to sell mediocrity elsewhere. Years later, there is something called the Rodney King court verdict and Los Angeles burns to a golden crisp. Of course, I was working in New York at the time. While all the mayhem was 3000 miles away, a rumor spreads that a planned afternoon rally in Bryant Park will erupt in similar violence. It seems real as the word gets around and people start to panic. By 1PM, commuter and subway trains out of Manhattan resemble the crowds last seen in the Cambodian airlift. A friend and I don't buy into any of this crap. While our office has closed, we don't want to shoehorn our ways home just yet. As it turned out, "Casablanca" was playing nearby in a re-release of a new pristine restoration. It was a perfect way to wait till the alleged storm clouds blew over. And, almost inexplicably, I finally got "Casablanca" that day. I loved every moment of it. I was completely bowled over by Claude Rains' performance. Perhaps it was the real life drama of the day. But, for whatever reason, I was at last finally able to enjoy the true essence of this movie. And I have visited it once a year ever since. By the way, the expected riot never materialized.

Airport: This, along with "The Towering Inferno," are the best all-star disaster movies ever filmed. But, because "Airport" was the first, it was probably the best. It is complete cheese as could only be packaged by Universal Studios. Do you really want to fly on a plane piloted by Dean Martin? Wouldn't you be even slightly suspicious if you saw a fellow passenger clutching a briefcase with a cord hanging out of it? Is it possible that some casting director in Hollywood actually thought George Kennedy was a good actor? Who cares?!! This movie is pure enjoyment from the first frame to the very last. I remember a neighborhood friend and I raced through the original novel by Arthur Hailey so that we could see the movie when it hit the Kent Theater in Yonkers and make the usual "book-to-film" comparisons. And, to this day, I have a very special tradition in watching this movie. I pick a particular cold night every winter. And, somehow, this goofy and glossy production warms me all over again.

A Summer Place: When I was a kid, my parents used to take me to the Elmsford Drive-In all the time. The drill was always the same: I'd show up in my pajamas and get to watch the first feature from the back seat. Then, I was to sack out for the second film, which was usually some movie that had come out several years earlier. One such evening, I was zzzz-ing until this beautiful and lush movie music enveloped me. I popped up to see what it was all about. Almost instantly, both my mom and dad spoke to me in unison. "Go back to sleep!" Their sternness scared me. What the hell had I interrupted? All I knew was I had wakened in the middle of "A Summer Place." Several years later, when I watched the movie on TV for the first time, I immediately understood why my parents wanted me unconscious. Because, indeed for its time, "A Summer Place" was a dirty movie. Adult illicit sex. Teenage illicit sex. Medical exams to prove continued virginity. And the most haunting film theme ever as played by Percy Faith. It's a freeway wreck of a film that I can't take my eyes off. Richard Egan acting by simply gritting his teeth so much he must have been the first ever candidate for a nightguard. Constance Ford as the nastiest mother this side of Joan Crawford. Sandra Dee asking Troy Donahue if he's been "bad" with other girls. And then seducing him by explaining the complete plot of "King Kong."

It's sheer garbage. I love it! And, if you look closely in one of the scenes in the girls dormitory, you will note that one of the teenage extras is none other than Bonnie Franklin from "One Day at a Time." Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

Dinner last night: Filet mignon at the Grove of Anaheim prior to Don Rickles.