My Ten Favorite Movies: One Viewer's Top Films

My favorite movies often feature positive, uplifting stories with the “good guy(s)” prevailing at the end.

Also, I prefer movies with a a quality script over those that focus on elaborate special effects and/or bright colors.

Independent reviewers rank most of my 10 highly as well, though not as highly as I do. A 2007 American Film Institute list of “The 100 Greatest American Films of All Time” includes 7 of my 10.

Without further ado, below I list my ten favorite movies.

10. Breaking Away (1979)

This movie focuses on a somewhat quirky, somewhat idealistic teenager during his transition from high school into adulthood. It features a love story, some progress toward maturity, a bit of humor, and some drama. It won an Academy Award for best original screenplay.

9. It Happened One Night (1934)

This movie won Academy Awards for best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best actress--the first movie to win all five.

It’s a nice comedy-drama-romance. It stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. You may get a sense of déjà vu watching a few parts of it, since some of its memorable scenes were imitated in later movies and television shows.

8. Forrest Gump (1994)

The Forrest character is a person with a low official IQ who manages great accomplishments. He has a knack for playing a role at places where memorable events occur.

Watching this movie brought back many memories of historical events I read about in the news and watched on television over the years.

The film is probably best known for Forrest’s memorable comment about a box of chocolates. But it contains several other wonderful scenes. It won six Academy Awards, including best picture, best adapted screenplay, and best actor for Tom Hanks who played Forrest Gump.

7. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

This marvelous film about racism in a southern U.S. town features Gregory Peck as a lawyer defending an African-American charged with rape. It won Academy awards for best adapted screenplay and best actor.

6. Imitation of Life (1934)

The movie contains humor, as well romantic love. But the thought-provoking depiction of racism and its impact is the movie’s focus.

This magnificent picture was far ahead of its time in its depiction of racism and its effect on a young lady. Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington are African-Americans in major roles at a time when that was uncommon. Claudette Colbert does a great job. The movie's stereotypes are a bit dated now. But it remains relevant. I consider this version superior to the 1959 remake.

5. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Jimmy Stewart is magnificent in this heartwarming Christmas movie featuring an angel and flashbacks to enable Stewart’s character to visualize how his life has been much more significant than he realized.

Below is a photo of a VHS tape of It’s a Wonderful Life. I own more VHS tapes than DVDs.

4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

This Christmas classic featuring Santa Claus and efforts to dispel a young girl’s disbelief--and the disbelief of a court of law--is well done. This 1947 version is far superior to the remake as I see it.

3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

This magnificent political satire starring Jimmy Stewart as a naïve, idealistic United States Senator is superb. I love it. It may be as timely now as it was when it came out.

Many (including me) feel that 1939 was the best year for Hollywood movies. And although I include two 1939 movies among my ten, I omit Gone With the Wind, which won best picture that year. I also omit the 1939 British movie, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, which won the best actor Academy Award for Robert Donat.

2. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

This classic aired annually during my childhood and was a pleasure to watch several times. It can be called a children’s story, an allegory, or a lot of other things. But it’s nicely done. Need I state more about this film that most may have seen multiple times?

Below is a photo of a VHS tape of The Wizard of Oz.

1. Casablanca (1942)

This is the best movie Hollywood ever made as I see it. The script magnificently blends humor, drama, war, music, and a love triangle.

Casablanca includes a love triangle, but is not really a love story. It includes wonderful humor, but isn’t a comedy. It takes place during World War II, but isn’t really a war story--even though it was likely produced as wartime propaganda. It is a magnificent drama with the ending perhaps a surprise, though even if you know the ending you can still appreciate its greatness, as well as the acting of its marvelous cast.

You need to see it at least twice to appreciate it. The first time you’ll miss many subtleties and may be confused about some aspects and/or cast members. I’m confident you’ll enjoy it much more the second time--really.

Below is a photo of a VHS tape of Casablanca.

About the List

Any list of superb movies is subjective. And I’m not an expert. Indeed, there are lots of quality Hollywood movies I’ve never seen and can’t evaluate--including most in recent decades. And I’ve seen few foreign films and rank none of the few I have seen among my top ten.

Also, I’m usually not fond of musicals, violent movies, movies that glorify the “bad guys,” and movies with lots of sex and/or vulgar language. Therefore, my list differs from top ten lists you’ll see in a lot of other places.

But The American Film Institute’s list of “The 100 Most Inspiring Films Of All Time” includes 8 of my 10, with all 8 being in the top 37, and 5 being in the top 9. This serves as an indication of my bias toward inspiring films as my favorites.

Closing Thoughts

My list is biased toward movies from the motion picture industry’s glory years in the 1930s and 1940s. I’ve seen relatively few of the old silent films and of the newer motion pictures from recent decades.

Cigarette smoking and alcoholic beverage consumption were more common in mainstream movies decades ago than they are now. But overall, I feel these classic movies from decades ago reflect higher moral values than more recent ones. As I see it, they also feature better written scripts, and remain more timeless than the best ones produced more recently.

The ten movies I list are classics as I see it. What do you think? Am I biased or being relatively accurate?

NOTE:

Much of this article is adapted from an earlier Google Blogger article I wrote about seven classic movies from the 1930s and 1940s.

The Best Years for Movies: Seven Superb Films from the 1930s and 1940s

The best movies of the 1930s and 1940s benefited from better scripts than those in recent decades as I see it.

I think this golden age of moviemaking in the 1930s and 1940s produced the best motion pictures.

Special effects and bright colors in recent decades are superior to those of the past, but quality screenplays typically seem to be lacking in modern films.

Below I list seven movies from the 1930s and 1940s that I consider among the best ever made. Following the list I elaborate about each.

Independent reviewers rank most of these seven highly as well, though not as highly as I do. A 2007 American Film Institute list of “The 100 Greatest American Films of All Time” includes five of my seven, all five in the top 46 in fact.

The Seven Movies

1. Casablanca (1942)
2. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
5. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
6. Imitation of Life (1934)
7. It Happened One Night (1934)

1. Casablanca (1942):

This is the best movie Hollywood ever made as I see it. The script magnificently blends humor, drama, war, music, and a love triangle.

You need to see it at least twice to appreciate it. The first time you'll likely miss several subtleties and may be confused by some aspects and/or some cast members. I’m confident you’ll enjoy it much more the second time--really.

Casablanca includes a love triangle, but is not really a love story. It includes wonderful humor, but isn’t a comedy. It takes place during World War II, but isn’t really a war story--even though it was likely produced as wartime propaganda.

It is a magnificent drama with the ending perhaps a surprise, though even if you know the ending you can still appreciate its greatness, as well as the acting of its marvelous cast.

Below is a photo of a VHS tape of Casablanca. By the way, though I treasure my complete DVD set of the 1966-1968 Batman television series, I own more VHS tapes than DVDs.

2. The Wizard of Oz (1939):

This classic aired annually during my childhood and was a pleasure to watch several times. It can be called a children’s story, an allegory, or a lot of other things. But it’s nicely done. Need I state more about this film that most have seen multiple times?

Below is a photo of a VHS tape of The Wizard of Oz.

3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939):

This magnificent political satire starring Jimmy Stewart as a naïve, idealistic United States Senator is superb. I love it. It may be as timely now as it was when it came out.

Many (including me) feel that 1939 was the best year for Hollywood movies. And although I include two 1939 movies among my seven from the 1930s and 1940s, I omit Gone With the Wind (which won the best picture Academy Award that year). I also omit the British film Goodbye, Mr. Chips, which won best actor for Robert Donat.

4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947):

This Christmas classic featuring Santa Claus and efforts to dispel a young girl’s disbelief--and the disbelief of a court of law--is well done. This 1947 version is far superior to the remake as I see it.

5. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946):

Jimmy Stewart stars in this heartwarming movie aired frequently at Christmas. It features an angel and flashbacks to enable Stewart’s character to visualize how his life has been much more significant than he realizes.

Below is a photo of a VHS tape of It’s a Wonderful Life.

6. Imitation of Life (1934):

This movie contains humor, as well as romantic love. But the thought-provoking depiction of racism and its impact is the film’s focus.

This magnificent picture was far ahead of its time in its depiction of racism and its effect on a young lady. Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington are African-Americans in major roles at a time when that was uncommon. Claudette Colbert does a great job.

Some of the stereotypes are a bit dated now, but it remains a great movie. I consider this version superior to the 1959 remake.

7. It Happened One Night (1934):

This movie won Academy Awards for best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best actress--the first movie to win all five.

It’s a nice comedy-drama-romance. It stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. You may get a sense of deja vu watching a few parts of it, since some of its memorable scenes were imitated in later film and television productions.

Closing Thoughts

Any list of superb movies is subjective. And I’m not an expert. Indeed, there are lots of quality Hollywood movies I’ve never seen and can’t evaluate--including most in recent decades. I rarely watch movies now. And I’ve not considered foreign films, and have seen few of them. But I did take a few film courses as electives during my college years. I enjoyed taking electives in a variety of subjects.

Cigarette smoking and alcoholic beverage consumption were more common in mainstream movies decades ago than they are now. But overall, I feel these classic movies from decades ago reflect higher moral values than more recent ones. I also think they feature better written scripts and remain more timeless than the best ones produced more recently--based on my limited viewing of movies.

The seven movies I list are classics as I see it. What do you think? Am I biased or being relatively accurate?

NOTE:

This article was last modified on October 17th, 2022.

Growing Up in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s: One Personal Perspective

Born in 1958, I grew up in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, reaching age 18 in 1976. I am part of what’s called the Baby Boomer generation.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War seemed to dominate newspaper headlines and television newscasts much of my childhood. As a young boy, I just assumed the U.S. was correct and wondered if I’d be afraid to fight if drafted at age 18. Mom said the war might be over by then. It was.

As time went on I questioned the correctness of the war. Life wasn’t as simple as I’d thought earlier.

Television

If not for cable television, there would be no TV reception in most of southeastern Kentucky.

That’s one reason that the coal mining areas in southeastern Kentucky’s Appalachian mountains were probably among the first places in the United States to get cable television.

But even with cable, our TV only picked up picked up 3-5 channels during most of my childhood. We got a CBS station, an ABC station, one or two NBC stations, and sometimes a snowy hard-to- watch and hard-to-hear public educational network station.

Still, watching television was a big thing. I loved the 1966-1968 Batman series, especially its first two seasons. The show was a big hit. Lucille Ball’s shows and other situation comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies and The Andy Griffith Show were entertaining. Detective shows and medical shows were popular during primetime too. I sometimes watched Captain Kangaroo in mornings.

Saturday morning cartoons were an enjoyable routine. Sometimes dad and mom would sleep in. I’d get up early, fix myself a bowl of sugar-laden cereal and milk, and enjoy watching Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Road Runner, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog, Mighty Mouse, and others.

Reading

I loved reading everything from books to magazines to newspapers to words on breakfast cereal boxes.

I especially loved mystery novels like The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Brains Benton, Trixie Belden, etc. Books ordered at school from I think Scholastic Book Services added diversity to my reading. I also checked out books from libraries.

Dad subscribed to some magazines and newspapers. I enjoyed reading articles in them.

Radio

After mom and dad got me an AM-FM clock radio for a present, I enjoyed listening to it much. At night after local stations signed off, powerful stations from Louisville, New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and other areas could be picked up.

I especially loved WHAS in Louisville. WHAS’s Milton Metz hosted a marvelous talk show where he allowed persons of various viewpoints to speak while rarely expressing his own opinion. I still think he’s the best talk show host I’ve heard

WHAS was one of the stations that broadcast the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre after it debuted. This gave me an opportunity to listen to radio dramas and think about what mom and dad may have experienced decades earlier in the glory days of radio.

On WHAS I also frequently listened to University of Kentucky basketball and football games, as well as Kentucky Colonels ABA professional basketball games. Such games were rarely on television then.

Playing Games, Hiking Mountains, Shooting a BB Gun, etc.

Playing board and card games with friends and family, hiking the mountains, bicycling, and shooting my BB gun were among the fun things I did. We played lots of games of Monopoly on hot summer afternoons, sometimes in front of an oscillating fan. We played a lot of Rook.

I owned many toy soldiers. Friends and I sometimes divided them into two “armies” and took time shooting at one another’s forces with toy guns that fired plastic disks. Those disks were not as safe as the foam bullets on today’s toy guns, so I’m glad we didn’t seriously injure one another.

A Give-a-Show Projector with numerous slides provided lots of fun for my sister and me. I especially enjoyed the slides of Mighty Mouse, one of my early childhood cartoon favorites.

On the few occasions during winter when snow covered the ground, I enjoyed riding my sled, snowball fights with friends and family, and building a snowman.

After the sun went behind the mountains in the evening, there were still a few hours of shady daylight. Even on hot summer days, it cooled off relatively quickly during these few hours. We enjoyed playing outdoor games like tag, dodge Frisbee, croquet, and badminton.

Eating Out

There were no McDonald’s, Burger King, or Subway restaurants in the areas I lived in. Mom-and-pop restaurants were the primary places for eating out. And meals away from home typically only occurred when we were traveling on a trip somewhere.

Mom was a stay-at-home housewife who prepared breakfast, lunch, and supper. Mom and dad also kept the kitchen furnished with lots of snacks for in-between meals— though mom limited my snacks, especially in my younger years.

Mom discouraged me from eating or staying at friends’ houses. But on a few occasions during my elementary school years she let me stay overnight with close friends, and I’d eat a meal or so there.

News

Dad subscribed to local newspapers. We also sometimes watched the local and national evening news. And radios offered brief news information.

The space program fascinated me. I enjoyed watching television coverage of the Apollo missions, especially the first landing of man on the moon with Apollo 11, and reading many newspaper articles about it. For a period the Vietnam War was knocked out of the headlines.

Shopping

We did much of our shopping for groceries, shoes, clothes, books, etc., in Williamson, West Virginia, which was relatively close to the places we lived in Pike County, Kentucky during most of my elementary school and the majority of my high school years.

Williamson then featured a huge Sears Roebuck store, clothing stores, at least one or two shoe stores, a book store, two 5 and 10 cent stores, etc.

I considered it a city, since it was the only place I knew with two 5 and 10 cent stores. These stores even included some items priced at 5 cents and 10 cents if my memory is correct.

The big Sears store in Williamson had a large sign on its front reading “We Service What We Sell.” Dad stated it was one of the few truthful advertising slogans he’d seen.

Indeed, our appliances almost all came from Sears: televisions, refrigerator, washer, dryer, and maybe others. The Sears repair person performed in-home service under our product warranties if something malfunctioned.

Catalogues

We ordered many items from catalogues.

The Christmas season mean the arrival of the Sears Roebuck Christmas Wish Book, a marvelous volume containing a huge variety of appealing toys. Many of my Christmas gifts came from that Sears Wish Book. I loved viewing it.

We also received other catalogues from Montgomery Ward and Spiegel.

Electronic Devices

Cell phones, personal computers, DVD players, and VCRs did not exist. We didn’t own a microwave oven until sometime in my teenage years.

I think it was 1974 during my junior year of high school when I first saw a pocket calculator. I enjoyed looking at a friend’s device. I think it was later in that 1974-75 school year when dad and mom bought me one. It helped calculations much.

Not a Typical Child

I was not a typical child. I was extremely shy, introverted. I didn’t date anyone in high school. And my main extracurricular involvement was as a member of the school spelling team from the 7th grade through my sophomore year in high school. The school we moved to in my junior year did not have a spelling team.

I did not play organized sports. I seldom followed elementary or high school sports. But I did get interested in University of Kentucky basketball and football during my elementary school years.

Though most of my close friends attended church regularly, my family did not during much of my childhood. However, mom and dad did instill morals in me.

I kept records of movies watched at the theatre, occasionally kept a journal, and loved to write as well as read, which probably isn’t typical for a boy.

I had relatively few chores during my childhood. But one of them was carrying in coal during cold weather to fill the stoker for the furnace at the house we moved into during my junior year of high school. I had mom take the pictue below of me carrying in a bucket of coal when I was visiting the family in January 1978 during my second year of college, but I often carried in coal the two winters of high school that we had the coal furnace as well.

Travel

We took regular trips to buy groceries and other things. We also frequently visited my grandparents, and sometimes aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well. Dad enjoyed taking a Sunday afternoon drive, so sometimes the family would take such a drive, apparently with no particular destination in mind.

On perhaps a few occasions, we went to drive-in outdoor theatres, then after I got older, we frequently went to indoor theatres, typically the one in Williamson to see Walt Disney movies.

Long distance vacations were rare, but dad and I (and sometimes the rest of the family) took trips to places like the Red River Gorge, Breaks Interstate Park, and the Raven Rock area of Jenkins where we hiked.

Cars lacked seatbelts in my early childhood years. And I think I even rode at least a couple of times in the back of a pickup truck where there was not even a seat in the normal sense.

Closing Thoughts

In my biased opinion, I grew up in a wonderful time. Hiking and playing old-fashioned games seem preferable to me to the new video games. I feel I got the outdoor life and the indoor life too.

Today’s youth seem to miss out on much that I got. Similarly, I got to experience blessings like television, radio, and other advances that my grandparents lacked during their childhoods.

But a lot of it has to do with attitude. Each of us can choose to make the best of whatever situation we grow up in.