Deserted Island List Mania: 5 More Favorite Films - Return to the Island

     Films are simply astonishing creations. And some much more than others, quite obviously. The work that goes into a great movie is beyond comprehension - the vision, the labor, the creative input and output of those involved. It's an accomplishment in the grandest sense.
     These five films are getting on in age but still demand space in the cultural canon of great stories told. Each one holds rapt my attention every time I sit down to watch. I am continually floored by the viewing experience. And I would put these in my hypothetical life raft as I set sail towards the shimmering mirage of that deserted island in my dreams - where solitude and sand are plentiful, and, somehow, someway, there's a working DVD player sitting among the palm trees and the coconuts that litter the beach at their roots.

In no particular order:


1. Notorious directed by Alfred Hitchcock

     The master of suspense does his thing just right. Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant smolder in this tense tale involving Nazis, spies, and serious mommy issues. The movement of the story from beginning to end simmers and then crackles, expertly building in pressure, until the final reveals hit you with an emotional, gut-smacking wallop. 







2. The Grapes of Wrath directed by John Ford

     "I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too" (dialogue from the story).
     Oh, Tom Joad. The film version of Steinbeck's Great Depression-era mega-classic The Grapes of Wrath may have cut the story by half, but director John Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland knock that half out of the park. They found the perfect embodiment of the tale's protagonist Tom in Henry Fonda and his unique ability to truly inhabit the world of any story he inserted himself into. A searingly political and personal tale of the have-nots struggling to gain something, just enough, to live and die with anything like dignity.


3. Cleo from 5 to 7 directed by Agnes Varda

     In traditional French culture, the early evening hours of 5 to 7 are those in which lovers meet. This story involves a young woman and her lover meeting and loving, but it is also so much more deeply about her internal world. Cleo is waiting in these few precious hours, and what she is waiting for will impact the rest of her life in ways she can only currently imagine. She is living and waiting, and the ecstasy and agony of both ripple across her expressive face in director Agnes Varda's beautiful ode to human existence.




4. Dr. Strangelove directed by Stanley Kubrick

     Arguably the best political satire ever put to film. I can watch this one over and over, as it relinquishes new details with each viewing. A film about the possible end of the human race that roars with comedy and seers with something so very close to a terrifyingly realistic vision of the future. 








5. Do The Right Thing directed by Spike Lee 

     So this one might not be quite as elderly as the others listed on here - only 26 years old - but it is one that I'd certainly place within my classic collection. It's a movie about race but one that doesn't choose sides. It's also such an artistic statement by a 32 years old director in love with the power of his craft. I've always loved Lee for his style with visuals, especially colors. And this film sings with colors of all sorts and descriptions. What those colors say to each of us is completely up to one's own imagination and worldview.