[Rally]

My favorite sports movie is Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 about the epic 1968 game between the two Stanford wannabes.  Usually the games are much more interesting than what the players think about them.  Not here.


Here are the the best war movies:


12 O'Clock High --Gregory Peck, Dean Jaeger -- best of the best
Das Boot  -- stupendous u-boat epic, a masterpiece.  Best viewed with subtitles.
Stalingrad -- phenomenal battle scenes; Ostfront epic
Downfall (Bruno Ganz is the best Hitler ever, way better than Guinness or Hopkins-- last days in the bunker)
Patton -- George C. Scott is top of the heap
Letters From Iwo Jima -- Eastwood-directed Iwo from Japanese viewpoint
Fog of War -- Robert McNamara admits his first choice was Stanford.  Very candid about Vietnam.


Then there is the best film of all time.  No kidding.  Actually a miniseries, Brideshead Revisited (1981)(ultimate all-star UK cast (Olivier, Gielgud, Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Claire Bloom) in Evelyn Waugh's classic story). Beautiful musical score by Geoffrey Burgon.  Splendid throughout.


An overlooked gem of a movie is Thirteen Days, about how that a-hole Krushchev threatened Ole Miss' undefeated 1962 season by putting missiles in Cuba.

I may get flamed for this but if we're going to include TV productions in these lists I have to include these:

Roots
North and South
Rich Man Poor Man
Thorn Birds
Burn's Civil War
Burn's Baseball
Sagan's Cosmos
Shogan

And cherished series from my youth:

Palladin
Little house on the prairie
Gunsmoke
Rifleman
Kung Fu
Hawaii 50 (the original; bookem Danno is part of our family shorthand)
Happy Days
Welcome Back Mr. Cotter
The Cosby Show
All In The Family

Since then, nothing on network.

[Rally]

My favorite sports movie is Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 about the epic 1968 game between the two Stanford wannabes.  Usually the games are much more interesting than what the players think about them.  Not here.


Here are the the best war movies:


12 O'Clock High --Gregory Peck, Dean Jaeger -- best of the best
Das Boot  -- stupendous u-boat epic, a masterpiece.  Best viewed with subtitles.
Stalingrad -- phenomenal battle scenes; Ostfront epic
Downfall (Bruno Ganz is the best Hitler ever, way better than Guinness or Hopkins-- last days in the bunker)
Patton -- George C. Scott is top of the heap
Letters From Iwo Jima -- Eastwood-directed Iwo from Japanese viewpoint
Fog of War -- Robert McNamara admits his first choice was Stanford.  Very candid about Vietnam.


Then there is the best film of all time.  No kidding.  Actually a miniseries, Brideshead Revisited (1981)(ultimate all-star UK cast (Olivier, Gielgud, Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Claire Bloom) in Evelyn Waugh's classic story). Beautiful musical score by Geoffrey Burgon.  Splendid throughout.


An overlooked gem of a movie is Thirteen Days, about how that a-hole Krushchev threatened Ole Miss' undefeated 1962 season by putting missiles in Cuba.

I may get flamed for this but if we're going to include TV productions in these lists I have to include these:

Roots
North and South
Rich Man Poor Man
Thorn Birds
Burn's Civil War
Burn's Baseball
Sagan's Cosmos
Shogan

And cherished series from my youth:

Palladin
Little house on the prairie
Gunsmoke
Rifleman
Kung Fu
Hawaii 50 (the original; bookem Danno is part of our family shorthand)
Happy Days
Welcome Back Mr. Cotter
The Cosby Show
All In The Family

Since then, nothing on network.