There’s a lot of buzz out there that the big-bucks success of ”Sex and the City” will open the Hollywood floodgates for a torrent of new chick flicks.
Men, if we’re going to get booted from the multiplex and back to our caves, we should prepare by stockpiling guy-friendly films. Here’s a short list to get you started.
My main criteria was to think of some movies that, if randomly encountered while channel-surfing, I’ll stop and watch the picture to its conclusion. Here are a few picks:
WORLD WAR II
Where Eagles Dare 1968 Richard Burton and Clinton Eastwood are allied agents who infiltrate a Nazi castle. Lots of plot twists and turns, gun play and Frauleins.
Also: The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
CAVALRY CHARGE
Fort Apache 1948 John Ford directs John Wayne and Henry Fonda in this western epic about a by-the-book commanding officer (Fonda) who overcharges. Final scene includes clueless newspaper reporters. Just saw it last Saturday night in a double feature with “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon,” another Ford-Wayne classic.
Also: They Died With Their Boots On (1941) Errol Flynn as George A. Custer.
COMEDY
Caddyshack (1980); Animal House (1978 ; Slap Shot (1977) Watch all three in a row, you pick the sequence.
DETERMINED MEN DOING HARD STUFF
Apollo 13 (1995) Ron Howard directs Tom Hanks etc. in what I consider to be one of the most patriotic movies ever made. Watching those tenacious can-do NASA technicians figure out how to get the astronauts home is about as American as it gets.
The Searchers (1956) OK, I know, another John Ford-John Wayne movie, perhaps the best. Its plot, the quest by Etan Edwards (Wayne) to find a niece kidnapped by Comanches, and its camera work are still influencing American movies.
Also: Die Hard (1988 …The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and just about any Bond movie.
FIGHTING CRIME
The Big Sleep (1946)Howard Hawks directs Humphrey Bogart in a Phillip Marlowe gumshoe saga with a twisted plot that will lose you if you run to the fridge for a beer without pausing.
Also: The Untouchables (1987)…The Maltese Falcon (1941)…Chinatown (1974)
Remember, this is a short list designed to leave plenty of room for your picks.
Comedy: The Last Detail
I’d add:
Cowboy: The Long Riders and Silverado
Impossible Odds: Zulu
Musical (yes, Man-musical): Yankee Doodle Dandy. Makes you want to tap dance down a flight of stairs and shoot a nazi in the face. Simultaneously.
Neo-noir: Usual Suspects and Reservoir Dogs
Vigilante: Death Wish
Sports: Miracle
War: Henry V
Downfall: Requiem for a Heavyweight (Quinn, Rooney and Gleason version.)
How about “Stripes” for a comic twist!
Young Guns, Lethal Weapon (1, 2), Mean Streets, the Departed, and yes, STRIPES. Haha.
OH. And The Last Boyscout. We CANNOT forget The Last Boyscout.
Todd,
Honestly now, how can you leave off The Godfather or Godfather II?
sex and the city is a blessing to us men. i get rid of the wife for a good 3 hours… beside going to a theater these days just stinks. my home theater does not having screaming kids, poor seats and people talking.
if you really miss the theaters you can do what I’ve done and build a backyard theater
http://backyardtheater.com/
also you missed too many manly movies…
1. Godfather pt 1 & 2
2 Bridge over the river kwai
3. Zulu (1964)
4 apocalypse now
5.madmax and the road warrior
Just watched Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Tour which had me thinking about Swingers. You’re so money baby and you don’t even know it.
Great guy flick that … wait a minute, my wife liked that movie too. Never mind.
Vigilante Movie: Star Chamber (which is going to be redone 2009)
Outlaw movie: Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid
tied
Cool Hand Luke -nobody can eat 50 eggs
Comedy: Big Lebowski -the Dude
Sports: (beside those named which are the best) I’d go with Dodgeball the True Underdog Story. However, you have to ditch the Studio Ending and watch the original ending which is the alternative ending on the DVD. So sickenly unhappy ending that I started crying I was laughing so hard.
Blazing Saddles, Goodfella’s, Major League, Smokey and the Bandit
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