Let's get the obvious out of the way.
'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' isn't the best film of all time. It might not even be Clint Eastwood's best film. But (and that's a big but), there is something undeniably unique about it. The story's simple enough - three men, (one good, one bad and one who's unfortunate enough to labelled as ugly) race to find hidden treasure in some remote cemetery. That's all there is to it but it makes for obscenely good watching. The threesome frequently pair up and then just as easily betray each other; they're more fickle than toddlers looking for sweets. The film's cinematography is fantastic. Every landscape, every American town, every rolling desert seems to connote something on a grander scale. Sergio Leone (the film's director) did a sublime job of giving the tale a sense of epic proportion and yet remained focused on the little things. The little things like spurs on boots and cheesy one liners, the sound of bullets ricocheting and Mexican stand-offs. The film, like all of the greats, is filled with individual moments that you'll always remember, definitive set pieces that are more memorable than most - the showdown at the graveyard, the shooting in the bathtub, blowing up the bridge; the list is enormous. The film's no easy task to sit through, at 160 minutes it's not exactly a walk in the park but if you're in the mood and the time is right, 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' will not fail to put smile on your face (and a snake in your boots).
'12 Angry Men' has no guns in it. There are no boobs, no spaceships, no Nazis, no hunky protagonists and no drum and bass soundtrack. In fact, not very much at all happens in '12 Angry Men' but that's kind of the point. It's 96 minutes of you, the audience, watching and listening to the film. The premise is pretty lucid - 12 jurors in 1 room deciding 1 person's fate and that is it; that's all there is to it. And because it's so simple the scripting, the acting and the editing have to be incomparably good as well as completely in sync with each other. Fortunately the film is on the mark throughout and for a movie concerning pensioners chatting it's viscously exciting. Henry Fonda puts in a powerhouse performance, he alone makes the film worth watching, but the whole cast have wonderful chemistry together; just adding to the film's merit. It may be black and white in more ways than one but this film is worth it's weight in gold and definitely worth seeing.
James Dean only made three feature length films before he died in 1955 - 'Giant', 'East of Eden' and 'Rebel Without a Cause'. The last of these might be the most critically acclaimed and deservedly so. 'Rebel Without a Cause' is about a teenager with more problems than Jesus, whose friends have worse daddy issues than Elisabeth Fritzl. They're essentially grumpy teenagers, this is 'The Breakfast Club' 30 years too early. But the truly amazing thing about this film is how it's still relatable. The movie, in spite of it's age; still manages to be funny and exciting and at times, genuinely touching. Dean plays Jim Stark (no relation to Tony), a teenager with teenage problems who arrives in a new town and subsequently finds himself in the presence of new friends and new enemies. Dean's performance is flawless, he suits the role of troubled soul perfectly. Think of him as a early prototype for Robert Pattinson except better looking and talented. The whole film culminates to humongous crescendo of emotions and police sirens for one of the best finales of all time. It's a film about change and the difficulties that come with it, a film about relationships and their intricacies and faults, a film about youth and manhood and everything in between and you can't come away from it without feeling inspired.
Below are links for all three films.
Thank me later.
Eastwood. Fonda. Dean.
Other noteworthy oldies - 'It's a Wonderful Life', 'The Public Enemy' and 'The Birds'.
