[FarmDad.01]

Typically late to the thread in off-season, but my eyes were caught by the heavy movie comments.

So being FarmDad.01, I'm obviously not young. Over my misspent life, part of it as a showbiz journalist, I've seen probably 10,000 movie and unfortunately can remember lowlights and highlights from many.

I now own about two dozen DVDs/VCRs of my favorites. If stranded on a desert isle with a solar-powered playback device, here are the dozen I'd stash in a waterproof backpack before making for shore. Each is one that I make it a point to revisit at least every three or four years:

American Grafitti; 1973 (dir. George Lucas).
Apocalpyse Now; 1979 (dir. Frances F. Coppola).
Dr. Strangelove; 1964 (dir. Stanley Kubrick).
8½; 1963 (dir. Federico Fellini).
High Tide; 1987 (dir. Gillian Armstrong).
Ikiru; 1952 (dir. Akira Kurosawa).
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The; 1962 (dir. John Ford).
Outlaw Josey Wales, The; 1976 (dir. Clint Eastwood).
Road Warrior, The; 1981 (dir. George Miller).
Run Lola Run; 1998 (dir. Tom Twyker).
Terminator, The; 1984 (dir. James Cameron).
Wild Bunch, The; 1969 (dir. Sam Peckinpah).

Heavy on the action stuff? Yes. But what makes a motion picture different from a play, or a novel, is its plausible presentation of humans acting against a recognizable backdrop. No significant special effects beyond those used for [i]The Terminator.[i]

[FarmDad.01]

Typically late to the thread in off-season, but my eyes were caught by the heavy movie comments.

So being FarmDad.01, I'm obviously not young. Over my misspent life, part of it as a showbiz journalist, I've seen probably 10,000 movie and unfortunately can remember lowlights and highlights from many.

I now own about two dozen DVDs/VCRs of my favorites. If stranded on a desert isle with a solar-powered playback device, here are the dozen I'd stash in a waterproof backpack before making for shore. Each is one that I make it a point to revisit at least every three or four years:

American Grafitti; 1973 (dir. George Lucas).
Apocalpyse Now; 1979 (dir. Frances F. Coppola).
Dr. Strangelove; 1964 (dir. Stanley Kubrick).
8½; 1963 (dir. Federico Fellini).
High Tide; 1987 (dir. Gillian Armstrong).
Ikiru; 1952 (dir. Akira Kurosawa).
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The; 1962 (dir. John Ford).
Outlaw Josey Wales, The; 1976 (dir. Clint Eastwood).
Road Warrior, The; 1981 (dir. George Miller).
Run Lola Run; 1998 (dir. Tom Twyker).
Terminator, The; 1984 (dir. James Cameron).
Wild Bunch, The; 1969 (dir. Sam Peckinpah).

Heavy on the action stuff? Yes. But what makes a motion picture different from a play, or a novel, is its plausible presentation of humans acting against a recognizable backdrop. No significant special effects beyond those used for [i]The Terminator.[i]