Here’s a menu of Desert Island Movies:

Top heavy with epics and a couple you may not have even seen.

When I first saw Unforgiven in the theater in 1992, this scene is what I walked out with, replaying in my head. In these two or three minutes are the movie. William Muny may think “He’s not like that no more,” but this scene tells the story of what he was. Can you become someone different, someone better? Sure, but it does not erase where that new someone started. Forgiveness is up to us, and God, and no one else.

EXT. OPEN COUNTRY – DAY

Open country at sundown seen from a low hill, and you can
barely make out a lone RIDER approaching in the extreme
distance.

VIEW ON MUNNY

Standing on the rise and watching the rider in the distance.

THE KID
Is that what it was like, Bill, in
the old days… ridin’ out with
everybody shootin’… smoke all over
an’ folks yellin’ an’ bullets whizzin’
by?

The Kid is behind Bill sitting under a large oak drinking
from a whiskey bottle.

MUNNY
(absently)
Yeah, I guess so.

THE KID
Shit… I thought they was gonna get
us. I was even… scared a little…
just for a minute.
(pause)
Was you ever scared in them days?

Munny turns from watching the rider’s slow approach and walks
over to The Kid who can’t see the rider from where he’s
sitting.

MUNNY
I don’t remember, Kid. I was drunk
most of the time. Give me a pull on
that bottle, will you?

Munny takes a big pull on the bottle, returns it to The Kid,
and walks back to the edge of the rise to resume his vigil.

The rider is a little closer now and the sun is a little
lower. It is very beautiful.

THE KID
(drinking heavy)
I shot that fucker three times. He
was takin’ a shit. He went for his
pistol an’ I blazed away… first
shot got him in the chest…

The Kid wipes whiskey from his chin. He has been working
hard to make the hysteria he feels into a high… but it
won’t quite come.

THE KID
Say, Bill…

MUNNY
Yeah.

Munny is watching the rider and the rider is closer.

THE KID
That was… the first one.

MUNNY
First one what?

THE KID
First one I ever killed.

MUNNY
(preoccupied with his
vigil)
Yeah?

THE KID
How I said I shot five men… it
wasn’t true.
(long pause)
That Mexican… the one that come at
me with a knife… I busted his leg
with a shovel… I didn’t shoot him
or nothin’.

Munny is watching the rider and the rider is much closer but
coming at a walk and Munny goes back over to The Kid for a
pull on the bottle and he’s trying to make The Kid feel okay
when he says…

MUNNY
Well, that fella today, you shot him
alright.

THE KID
(forced bravado)
H-hell yeah. I killed the hell out
of him… three shots… he was takin’
a sh-sh-shit an’… an’…

The Kid is shaking, becoming hysterical, he can’t go on, and
Munny hands the bottle back.

MUNNY
Take a drink, Kid.

THE KID
(breaking down, crying)
Oh Ch-ch-christ… it don’t… it
don’t seem… real… How he’s…
DEAD… how he ain’t gonna breathe
no more… n-n-never. Or the other
one neither… On account of… of
just… pullin’ a trigger.

Munny walks back to the edge of the rise and watches the
rider and it is a lovely sunset happening and he is talking
to no one in particular.

MUNNY
It’s a hell of a thing, ain’t it,
killin’ a man. You take everythin’
he’s got… an’ everythin’ he’s ever
gonna have…

THE KID
(trying to pull himself
together)
Well, I gu-guess they had it…
comin’.

MUNNY
We all got it comin’, Kid.

VIEW on the rider at the foot of the rise and it is Little
Sue and VIEW on Munny pulling the saddle bags off and Little
Sue is still mounted. They are under the oak tree and it is
dusk and The Kid is just sitting there with his bottle.

MUNNY
I was watchin’ you… seein’ if you
was followed.

LITTLE SUE
(scared to death)
Silky an’ Faith, they rode off to
the East an’ two deputies was
followin’ them.

Munny has lit a little candle and spread a blanket and he is
opening the bags to count the money.

MUNNY
(pouring out the coins
and bills)
You wanna help me count, Kid?

The Kid is leaning against the tree in a semi-stupor.

THE KID
I trust you, Bill.

MUNNY
Well, you don’t wanna trust me too
much. We’ll take Ned his share
together so you don’t figure I run
off with it.

LITTLE SUE
(startled)
Ned’s share?

MUNNY
(counting)
Yeah, he went South ahead of us. I
guess we’ll catch him before…

LITTLE SUE
(blurting it out)
He’s… he’s dead.

MUNNY
(counting)
No he ain’t. He went South yesterday.

LITTLE SUE
They… they killed him. I… thought
you know that. I thought you knew
because…

MUNNY
(looking up)
Nobody didn’t kill Ned, he went South
yesterday. He didn’t even kill nobody.
Why would anybody kill Ned?

Little Sue just looks back at him, scared, trembling.

MUNNY
(realizing)
Who killed him?

LITTLE SUE
Little Bill. The… the Bar T boys
caught him and Little Bill…

MUNNY
He hanged him?
(Little Sue shakes
her head “no”)
Shot him down?

LITTLE SUE
N-no. He… he beat him up. He was
making him… answer questions…
and beating him up… and then…
Ned just died.
(pause)
Little Bill didn’t mean to kill him…
he said he was sorry an’ all… but
he said it was a good example anyhow.

MUNNY
(outraged)
Good example! Good example of what
I’d like to know? He didn’t even
kill nobody… he couldn’t do it no
more.

LITTLE SUE
They got… a sign on him says he
was a killer.

MUNNY
(flabbergasted)
A sign on him?

LITTLE SUE
In front of Greely’s. It says, “This
here is what happens to…”

MUNNY
(incredulous)
They got a sign on him in front of
Greely’s?

The Kid just has his head in his hands, it’s too much for
him and Little Sue is scared shitless of Munny.

MUNNY
The questions Little Bill asked him…
what sort of questions was they?

LITTLE SUE
About where you an’ him
(indicating The Kid)
was… an’ where you was from… an’
what your names was… an’…

MUNNY
What’d Ned say?

LITTLE SUE
L-lies… at first. About how you
was just passin’ through and didn’t
kill nobody… an’ Little Bill kept
askin’ questions, mixin’ him up,
catchin’ lies… an’ then he’d beat
on Ned an’ Ned would cry and lie
some more an’ then… then…

MUNNY
Then… what?

LITTLE SUE
A cowboy come in sayin’ you killed
Quick Mike in the shit house at the
Bar T…

MUNNY
An’ Little Bill killed Ned for what
I done?

LITTLE SUE
Not on purpose. But he started hurtin’
him worse… makin’ him tell stuff.
First ned wouldn’t say nothin’…
but Little Bill hurt him so bad he
said who you was…

Munny looks up sharply. Little Sue is scared, her voice
quavers…

LITTLE SUE
He said how you was really Three
Fingered Jack out of Missouri… an’
Bill said “Same Three Fingered Jack
that dynamited the Rock Island and
Pacific in ’69 killin’ women and
children an’ all?” An’ Ned says you
done a lot worse than that, said you
was more cold blooded than William
Bonney or Clay Alisson or the James
Brothers an’ how if he hurt Ned again
you was gonna come an’ kill him like
you killed a U.S. Marshall in ’73.

MUNNY
Didn’t scare Little Bill though, did
it?

LITTLE SUE
N-no, sir?

MUNNY
Lemmee see that Schofield, Kid.

THE KID
Wha… what f-for?

MUNNY
(sharply)
Lemmee see it.

THE KID
(giving it to him)
Sure. Sure, Bill.

Munny takes the pistol and begins to check it methodically,
inspecting the load first… and The Kid watches nervously,
shifting from foot to foot.

THE KID
You… you could keep it, Bill. I
ain’t… gonna use it no more, I
ain’t gonna kill nobody.

Munny, still checking the gun, glances up and meets The Kid’s
uneasy gaze.

THE KID
I… I ain’t like you, Bill.

Munny looks back at the pistol, checks the sights.

THE KID
You… gonna take… the money?

MUNNY
(to Little Sue)
You better get on back, Miss.

And Little Sue, still mounted, breathes an enormous silent
sigh of relief and turns her horse away hastily and Munny,
satisfied with the pistol, sticks it in his belt and walks
over to the horse and pulls his sawed-off shotgun out of the
bedroll.

THE KID
You could have it. All of it.

MUNNY
I thought you wanted to buy spectacles
an’ fancy clothes an’ all.

THE KID
I’d rather be blind and ragged than
dead, I guess.

Munny looks at The Kid who is behaving bravely but is
trembling anyway, scared, and Munny’s eyes are full of
brutally painful memories.

MUNNY
Shit, Kid. I ain’t gonna kill you.
You’re… the only friend I got.

– Unforgiven starring Clint Eastwood. Script by David Webb Peoples

I should have waited to post my super hero movie list. I took my son to see Man of Steel yesterday. It is the new Superman reboot from Zack Snyder, and it is one of the best of the bunch. It makes the 2006 Superman Returns even more irrelevant than it already is.

There is plenty of capes and x-ray vision and Lois Lane in this new telling, but this is a human movie, about fathers and sons and mothers and teenagers and everyday heroes. It is in quiet moments when the power of this film are manifest, moments when a mother weeps for the child she will never see again but willingly surrenders or when she fears her son will be out of her reach if everyone knows what he can do or when fathers protect their sons with the shield of their own lives. And even in the cringing, 9/11 collapsing skyscrapers of the movie’s final battle scenes there are little human moments that save the ending from being swamped in CGI, scenes of cops shepherding people to safety as the city falls down on them or a hand to hold when fear has gripped the heart.

But I wax poetic, to my shame. It is only a movie about someone who does not exist. Perhaps, though, we would all be better off if a bit of the Man of Steel stayed here with us.

Ever since we turned the calendar to the twenty-first century, Hollywood has turned it’s gaze upon heroes. Not soldiers or fire fighters or that guy who dives into a frozen river to save someone from a sinking car, but SUPER heroes. There have been more movies about comic book super heroes since 2000 than in all the prior years of cinema’s history. We’ve had super hero series, like Batman and Spider Man and Iron Man (man, that’s a lot of man’s). We’ve had movies about what it means to be a super hero, like Unbreakable, M. Night Shyamalan’s last decent movie, and Kick-Ass and Hancock. Some have worked (Christopher Nolan’s Batman series) and some haven’t (like anything associated with the name Spider Man).

But whether it works or not, I’m good with all this super heroing. Maybe it’s just me, but I like it when the bad guys aren’t really the good guys or when all we find out about the good guys is how bad they really are. Just give me the red blooded American, John Wayne swagger, hero treatment. And that’s what this current crop of super hero movies is, for the most part. Even Hollywood has generally left it’s political and social commentary on the cutting room floor and given us films about super heroes and not social justice.

These are my ten favorites, but there are so many I’m sure some of your favorites didn’t make my cut. Or maybe I just didn’t pick the film from the series you would choose. Let me know what I was crazy to leave off the list.

I first saw Bridge on the River Kwai when I was a little boy, maybe five or six. I was sick and sleeping in bed with my mother. The movie was playing on the 13″ black and white TV on her dresser. It was the late movie, the one that used to come on after the local news, and I was sick, but I stayed up, “glued to the TV” as my mom liked to say. I has been one of my favorite films ever since. It’s a great story, yes, and I’ve read the book by Pierre Boulle (the same author who wrote Planet of the Apes). BUt it has become for me an insight on how different those British blokes are from us Americans.

At the point in the film when William Holden’s character, an American navel officer who escaped from the Japanese concentration camp, is being being asked by a British officer, played by Jack Hawkins, to return with him and his team to blow up the bridge being built at the camp.

Holden says, “Do your intelligence people have any idea what happened to (British) Colonel Nicholson? He had the guts of a maniac. They were about to shoot him, and he didn’t bat an eye.”

And Hawkins responds, “I suppose if you’re about to be shot, there isn’t a great deal you can do.”

Not an American response. We are John Wayne. We are going to fight the dying of the light. The scene below shows that British character even more vividly, and it is the one scene I will still stay up to watch.

VIEW of Colonel Saito pacing in his quarters
and Colonel Nicholson being escorted inside.

COLONEL SAITO:
Good evening, Colonel.
Do you mind sitting over here?
I am having rather a late supper.
(Walking to table)
English corned beef.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
No, thank you.

COLONEL SAITO:
Produce of Scotland.
I prefer it to saki.
I spent three years in London, you know.
I studied at the London Polytechnic.
(Passing a drink to Colonel Nicholson)
Cheers.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
Sorry.

COLONEL SAITO:
Later, perhaps.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
Perhaps.

COLONEL SAITO:
I was not a good artist.
My father disapproved.
He felt I belonged in the army,
so I changed from art to engineering.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
I must tell you, Colonel Saito,
I intend to make a full report
of your activities in this camp.

COLONEL SAITO:
I do not think
you quite realize my position.
I must carry out my orders.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
Oh, quite, quite.

COLONEL SAITO:
My orders are to complete the bridge
by the 12th day of May.
Time is short.
I only have 12 weeks.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
No doubt.

COLONEL SAITO:
Therefore, I am compelled
to use all available personnel.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
But no officers, except
in an administrative capacity.

COLONEL SAITO:
But officers are working
along the entire railway.
You know it! I know it!

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
I’m not responsible for the actions
of other commanding officers.
Personally, I’m appalled.

COLONEL SAITO:
Let us not get excited.
Will you have a cigar?

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
No, thank you.

COLONEL SAITO:
When I said all officers must work,
naturally I never meant you,
the commanding officer.
My orders were only intended
for officers below–

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
None of my officers
will do manual labor.

COLONEL SAITO:
Please.
I was about to say, I have been
thinking the matter over,
and decided to put majors and above
on administrative duties,
leaving only the junior officers
to lend a hand.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
I’m afraid not.
The Convention’s clear on that point.

COLONEL SAITO:
Do you know what will happen to me
if the bridge is not ready in time?

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
I haven’t the foggiest.

COLONEL SAITO:
I’ll have to kill myself.
What would you do if you are me?

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
I suppose if I were you,
I’d have to kill myself.
(Taking the drink from the table.)
Cheers.

COLONEL SAITO:
(Rising from the table.)
I warn you, Colonel.
If I am to die,
others will die before me.
Do you understand that?

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
Major Clipton did mention
something to that effect.

COLONEL SAITO:
Well.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
That won’t solve your problem.
But I’m sure we can arrive
at a proper solution.
Please sit down.
(Colonel Saito sits back down.)
Now, tell me, Colonel,
do you or do you not agree that the
first job of an officer is command?

COLONEL SAITO:
Of course.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
Good.
(Standing.)
Take this bridge of yours.
It’s quite an enormous undertaking.
And to be frank, I have grave doubts
whether your lieutenant, uh,
What’s his name?

COLONEL SAITO:
Mioura.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
Mioura.
Is capable of tackling a job
of such importance.
On the other hand,
I have officers,
Reeves and Hughes for instance,
who’ve built bridges
all over India.
The men respect them.
It’s essential for an officer
to have that respect, I’m sure you agree.
If he loses it, he ceases to command.
And what happens then?
Demoralization and chaos.
A pretty poor commander I would be
if I allowed that to happen to my men.
(Taking another drink)

COLONEL SAITO:
(Standing)
Perhaps you are not aware
that the bridge is now
under my personal command.

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
Really?
And may I ask,
are you satisfied with the work?

COLONEL SAITO:
I am not!

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
You’ve proved my point.

COLONEL SAITO:
I hate the British!

You are defeated,
but you have no shame.

You are stubborn,
but have no pride.

You endure,
but you have no courage.

I hate the British!

COLONEL NICHOLSON:
It’s pointless going on like this.

COLONEL SAITO:
Stay there!

VIEW of Japanese officer entering room with
guards and removing Colonel Nicholson.

Pixar is what Disney used to be. I know, I know, Disney owns Pixar. So, even if Disney can’t make a quality animated film any more, at least it still knows a good thing when it sees it. The first three films on this list are also my top three overall animated films, but this list remained difficult to compile for a few reasons. First, Pixar has only made 13 animated features. Second, which three get left off this list – for me those are A Bug’s Life, Up and Brave. And, most importantly, the first five on this list are so good it is hard to put any of the others in the same category.

As an extension of “Pixar is the new Disney,” John Lasseter is becoming the new Walt. His vision and storytelling are climbing a mountain scaled by very few. He has also had the insight, or is it foresight, to identify remarkable talents like Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton. They each have two of the films on this list. But now they have begun to dip their toe in live action film making, with varying success. Is that pressure from Disney? or a natural outgrowth of their creative drive?

That leads to an even more compelling question. Will Pixar be able to continue to add to their stable of talent and extend the success of Pixar? Toy Story 3 and Brave featured first time directors for Pixar. The third Toy Story installment was a fitting and compassionate conclusion to the trilogy. Brave, however, seemed to step into some murky Disney waters. Let’s pray Pixar continues to succeed. Every kid, after all, needs a little Disney now and then.

I’m always behind on movies. I don’t go to see many in the theater. I have my own theater at home, one where I can pause the film if I need to get a soda or go to the restroom. Still, most of these came out in the last year or so. Many of them are not the most popular, box office blockbusters, but they are all worth a watch, with a story to tell or an actor or director I like or based on a book I’ve read. And for whatever reason I watched any of these films in the first place, these are the ones I wanted to watch again.

How do you choose what movies to watch? Who’s in it? What it’s about? One of the first things I do is look at who is directing the movie. If any of these guys make a new movie (excepting the ones that are dead, of course), I want to see it. Even the dead guys can get in on the act if it’s one of their films I haven’t seen before. That doesn’t mean the movie is always great, but the way these guys translate ideas into vision appeals to me.

David Lean
Billy Wilder
Tony Scott
John Lasseter
Joel & Ethan Coen
Tim Burton
John Ford
Woody Allen
Steven Spielberg
Wes Anderson