Worried about Hugh 2
As mentioned previously, Hugh Hewitt mentioned that when asked to recommend three movies to explain America to foreigners he suggested Cool Hand Luke, Caddyshack, and Hoosiers.
I've been asked what MY three would be. It's interesting. I have to admit, I tend to come up with WAR movies. Or EXPLORER movies. HEROIC Americans doing AMAZING things with DEATH and DANGER and DERRING-DO. We tend to pick movies that show our best and our worst. Face it, Taxi Driver is not a bad contender. It's hard to come up with a better representative for The Worst. Scarface? (The original OR the remake.) Bonnie and Clyde? I'm sure someone will cry out some poverty infested Chaplin flick or The Grapes of Wrath or some such.
I confess, I haven't seen enough OLD war movies (the movies, not the wars) so Saving Private Ryan would be high on my list. (No, Kelly's Heroes is not my representative American movie. Great flick. Sorry for the negative waves, Moriarty.) Apollo 13 is way up there. I'm a big 'ol movie snob so I want older flicks as well. (Pre-1970's is old, thanks.) Even here, what makes them American? The fact that we can spend that much money on such lofty endeavors? (Going to the Moon, saving the world.) That we are willing to? (Were willing to...)
Comedies - I would think that these would be the definitive American movies. I'm sure the world over we're more represented by Sylvester Stalone than Bill Murray (who is Canadian). Here's where folk get into fist fights. Do you pick something like American Graffiti which tries to show what we like about the U.S., or do you go for Cadyshack or Ghostbusters which has glorious fun with our warts? It's a Wonderful Life (you had to see that coming) or Animal House? Woody Allen makes the definitive NEW YORK movies, sure.
Good grief, this is a tall order. I would think these three movies would have to show what makes us do things. What stops us from doing things. What we want. What makes us laugh. What scares us. Where we've been. Where we're going. (This is why I'm leery of Westerns - Huge part of the American character but they're either mostly candy-coated or they get into Dances with Don't We Just Suck).
My Humble List
I've been asked what MY three would be. It's interesting. I have to admit, I tend to come up with WAR movies. Or EXPLORER movies. HEROIC Americans doing AMAZING things with DEATH and DANGER and DERRING-DO. We tend to pick movies that show our best and our worst. Face it, Taxi Driver is not a bad contender. It's hard to come up with a better representative for The Worst. Scarface? (The original OR the remake.) Bonnie and Clyde? I'm sure someone will cry out some poverty infested Chaplin flick or The Grapes of Wrath or some such.
I confess, I haven't seen enough OLD war movies (the movies, not the wars) so Saving Private Ryan would be high on my list. (No, Kelly's Heroes is not my representative American movie. Great flick. Sorry for the negative waves, Moriarty.) Apollo 13 is way up there. I'm a big 'ol movie snob so I want older flicks as well. (Pre-1970's is old, thanks.) Even here, what makes them American? The fact that we can spend that much money on such lofty endeavors? (Going to the Moon, saving the world.) That we are willing to? (Were willing to...)
Comedies - I would think that these would be the definitive American movies. I'm sure the world over we're more represented by Sylvester Stalone than Bill Murray (who is Canadian). Here's where folk get into fist fights. Do you pick something like American Graffiti which tries to show what we like about the U.S., or do you go for Cadyshack or Ghostbusters which has glorious fun with our warts? It's a Wonderful Life (you had to see that coming) or Animal House? Woody Allen makes the definitive NEW YORK movies, sure.
Good grief, this is a tall order. I would think these three movies would have to show what makes us do things. What stops us from doing things. What we want. What makes us laugh. What scares us. Where we've been. Where we're going. (This is why I'm leery of Westerns - Huge part of the American character but they're either mostly candy-coated or they get into Dances with Don't We Just Suck).
My Humble List
- Superman (1978) - Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Real live New York City. This is what we want to be really badly. Four years after Vietnam and Watergate, Hollywood could still occasionally make movies like this without winking and giggling too much.
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - Even if there weren't small towns like this (and from what I've heard from my parents and grandparents, there were) there ought to be. What gets missed in the "God Bless Us Every One" ending is that George Bailey is a pretty miserable fellow who keeps doing the nice things in SPITE of what it gets him. That's American right there, that is.
- Casablanca (1942) - "The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative." - Winston Churchill. That is Rick Blaine. He lies, he cheats, he steals, he kills, he wins, and in spite of himself winds up the hero. What's more American than that? It's also filled almost entirely with a real cast hiding in America as the last safe bastion of freedom (well, with a film industry). Remember that during the scene where everyone shouts down the Nazis by singing Marseillaise.
There you go. It's not much, but it's mine. I'm sure I missed some dooseys.
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