Rain Man - 1988

"What you have to understand is, four days ago he was only my brother in name. And this morning we had pancakes."

Winner of both an Academy Award and the Golden Globe for best picture this film is a heartwarming look at family and how two brothers suddenly brought together by life's circumstances save each other.

Fast-talking yuppie Charlie Babbitt is forced to slow down when he meets a brother he never knew he had, an autistic savant named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman, in an Oscar-winning role) who's spent most of his life in an institution. When their wealthy father dies, leaving everything to Raymond, Charlie takes his unusually gifted older brother on a life-changing cross-country odyssey that neither is likely to forget.

Dustin Hoffman was originally supposed to play Charlie, but he wanted to play Raymond. Raymond was also supposed to be mentally retarded, but Hoffman changed it to an autistic savant.

Holds the unique distinction of being the only film to have won the Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear and a best picture Academy Award.

An Officer and a Gentleman - 1982

"In every class, there's always one joker who thinks that he's smarter than me. In this class, that happens to be you. Isn't it, Mayonnaise?"

Dreams of being a Navy pilot prompt Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) to enroll in officer training school, where he runs afoul of a drill instructor (Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr.) who senses the cadet's loner instinct and aims to school him on the importance of teamwork -- or break him in the process. In the meantime, Mayo romances a working girl (Debra Winger), ignoring warnings to steer clear of the local lasses out to bag hotshot Navy flyboys.

It is a Navy tradition for newly-commissioned officers to give a silver dollar to the person who gives them their first salute. In the scene where the new graduates of Foley's class receive their "first salutes," you can see them giving Foley a silver dollar prior to each salute. It is also a tradition for the D.I. to place the silver dollar of his memorable students in his right pocket; you can see that Mayo's dollar is placed in Foley's right pocket, rather than the left pocket as it is for, for example, Ensign Della Serra.

Gigot - 1962

This is a personal favorite film that I discovered during my own childhood. It always remained with me as my own personal classic film. Gigot was released in 1962 by 20th Century Fox. The film starred Jackie Gleason and was directed by Gene Kelly.


Gigot (Gleason) is a mute Frenchman living in the Montmartre district of Paris in the 1920s. He makes a hand-to-mouth living as a janitor at his landlady's apartment building. Though treated with condescension by most of his neighbors (and often the butt of practical jokes), he is much loved by the local children and by animals, whom he often feeds. He seems content with his life, though he has one strange passion: he attends every local funeral, whether or not he knew the departed, marching and crying along with the other mourners.


One can currently watch this entire film via YOUTUBE.com over 11 separate segments. Gleason had conceived the story himself years earlier and had long dreamed of making the film. He wanted Orson Welles as director, and Paddy Chayefsky as screenwriter. Though Welles was an old friend, the board at Fox rejected him as being an overspender. Gene Kelly was selected as a compromise. Chayefsky was not interested and John Patrick, writer of Teahouse of the August Moon was signed instead.


The film was shot on location in Paris. Most of the production crew and cast were French, some spoke no English. Gleason bore with this in two ways: Kelly spoke French, and Gleason's character had no lines, being mute.


Gleason was extremely proud of the film, which earned one Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Score. Gleason received a story credit and a music credit. On the other hand, according to the book, The Films of Gene Kelly, by Tony Thomas, Kelly himself said that the movie "had been so drastically cut and reedited that it had little to do with my version".


Gigot bears many similarities to the short story "Gimpel the Fool" written by Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Where the Lilies Bloom - 1975

I was 9 when this film came out and I still remember the first time I went to the movies to watch it. Growing up without money I could relate to the way these kids lived. It wasn't until I got older and seen it again that I understood what these kids were really surviving.

A sincere and unglamourized look at the backwoods Appalachians has four children left parentless when their father dies. They refuse to let his death be known to the proper authorities for fear of being separated and placed in an orphanage. Mary Call ( Julie Gholson), though not the eldest of the brood, takes on the parent-figure role, protecting the kids from the frightful world of adults, especially landlord Kiser Pease (Harry Dean Stanton). Pacing and plot development are very slow but effectively detail the changes the children undergo as they grow and learn to accept Stanton as a friend. The latter gives a strong performance as a crusty gent who is really pretty cool.

Based on the novel written by Bill and Vera Cleaver (Nominee, 1970 National Book Award for Children's Literature; Notable Children's Books of 1969 (ALA); Best Books of 1969 (SLJ); Outstanding Children's Books of 1969 (NYT)).

Waking Life - 2001

No human being interested in their own journey through life could walk away from this movie the same. Exploring every facet of existential thought from self-actualization to the theory of an afterlife, this movie relies more on its diverse (and sometimes contradicting) ideas and ideologies more than the plot itself.

Think of 'Waking Life' as a documentary that interviews the greatest minds this world has to offer, while displaying the information through the eyes of a boy stuck in a dream. The visual aspects of the movie are a dream themselves. Unlike Richard Linklater's other frame by frame drawn over animations, 'Waking Life' assigns a different artist to each scene making for one hell of a piece of art.

'Waking Life' changed my world forever. I hope it does the same for you.

Imitation of Life - 1959

This is one of the first films that I can recall seeing where I actually cried.   There was something so poignant about that ending scene.   In the above clip I couldn't help but laugh out loud when Sandra Dee says to Lana Turner, "Oh Momma, stop acting!"

This American film was directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by Ross Hunter.  Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson appears as a church choir soloist.  The film is an adaptation of Fannie Hurst's novel of the same name (Imitation Of Life).  It is the second film adaptation of the novel.  The first film was released in 1934.

Lana Turner's wardrobe for Imitation of Life cost over $1.078 million, making it one of the most expensive in cinema history at that time.

The actress who plays the African-American daughter Peola in the 1934 film, was an actual light-skinned African American, who was noted for turning down a number of offers by Hollywood agents to pass for white and become a star.  Although many African Americans were screen-tested for the corresponding Sarah Jane role in the 1959 remake,  Susan Kohner, of Mexican and Czech Jewish Czech descent, won the role.  Natalie Wood was considered for the role of Sarah Jane Johnson that went to Susan Kohner.  Karin Dicker, of Jewish descent, made her film debut as the young Sarah Jane in this film.

Lana Turner took a much smaller salary than her usual $25,000 per week and worked for 50% of the film's profits, which earned her over $2 million (setting a record for an actress at that time).