dual personalities

The Oscars are coming up this Sunday, but, as you know, I no longer watch them. Self-aggrandizing rich people–phooey!

Instead I will watch one of my five favorite films, four of which were nominated for Best Picture (but, of course, did not win.) These five films are, in my humble opinion, as close to perfect as movies get. They won’t surprise you. I list them in no particular order.

1. Shane (1953): “Know what you want to stay for? Something that means more to you than anything else – your families – your wives and kids. Like you, Lewis, your girls. Shipstead with his boys. They’ve got a right to stay here and grow up and be happy. That’s up to you people to have – nerve enough to not give it up.”

2. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938): “Why, you speak treason!”/”Fluently!”

3. The Wizard of Oz (1939): “Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have.”

4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961): “You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.” You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.”

5. Stagecoach (1939): “Now folks, if we push on we can be in Apache Wells by sundown. Soldiers there will give us an escort as far as the ferry. Then it’s only a hoot and a holler into Lordsburg. We got four men who can handle firearms – five with you, Ringo. Doc can shoot if sober.”  [or The Searchers (1956)/She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1947)/The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)–the best of the John Wayne/John Ford oeuvre.]

In case you were wondering, Shane, The Wizard of Oz, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Stagecoach were nominated for Best Picture. It is interesting to look at the list of Oscar winners for Best Picture. It ranges from the (not quite) sublime to the (truly) ridiculous. Some of my favorite winners are: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Ben Hur (1959), Tom Jones (1963), The Sting (1974), Chariots of Fire (1981), and The Last Emperor (1987).

But you will find me watching one of these non-winners, one of these five great films on Sunday night.