AndyM108

Andy, some ways to find movies for each year: 1. filmsite.org lists the Oscar winners and nominees for each other, and the discussion includes "snubs and omissions" 2. myvideostore.com has lists of movies by year 3. Search engines will also take you to lists of movies by year. Good tips, and thanks.

What can I say, Andy? Millions of people went in droves to see westerns at the "picture show". They just loved 'em. And John Wayne made a TON of them, and the people just loved THEM. AND him. We like what we like, and don't like what we wish. But you can't knock success. All you can do is knock the public's taste, if it's out of sync with yours. I agree, and that's why I've always described my style of film criticism as being of the "I Know What I Like" school.

So what would then be some examples of a programmer, as opposed to a B-movie? Where would films like the Torchy Blane or Boston **** series fit in? They certainly had name actors (Glenda Farrell; Chester Morris), but even though they're uniformly delightful, they have a distinctly "B-movie" flavor. And would having a "star" involved automatically remove a movie from the "programmer" category, even if it had all the appearances of a rush job? What about Cagney in The Oklahoma Kid? Or Stanwyck in a movie like Gambling Lady?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think a "programmer" usually refers to a quickly and cheaply produced movie that used a studio's contracted actors, who were being paid by the week or year rather than by the picture. The more movies they could get out of these actors over the course of their contracts, the more the studio would profit from them. This is why you often see many character actors show up in as many as a dozen or more movies within the course of a single calendar year, often appearing in different films that were being shot at the same time. And when the studio system ended, so did this type of movie. At least that's what I've always thought.

My only problem with the 60's and 70's is that a big chunk of my favorite movies from those decades were ones I only rented from Netflix or saw a long time ago in a theater, and hence I don't have them in my database of recorded films and purchased DVDs. I like the idea of continuing, but it'll take me awhile to retrieve my memory.

*I'm going to post my top 10 of the 1940's over in the 40's (or I should say 1940) thread, and then do the same thing for the 1950's. I imagine it'll be harder for me to narrow it down in those two decades, but I'll know for sure when I start doing it.* Technically, it should be easy. Just take the number one film for each of the ten years and that becomes your list for the decade. Of course you have to decide which year was strongest (top) and which year was weakest (bottom) and where everything else stacks up in between! The way I did it was to select all the movies from 1940 through 1949 and then sort them by ranking. All 40+ movies I gave a "10" to were eligible, and then from those I chose my top dozen. If I'd simply chosen the top one from each year it wouldn't have worked, since the lower choices from some years (like 1946 or 1947) were many times much higher rated than the top choices from other years (like 1943). I put the top 12 movies on the 1940 thread, and I've now ranked the years by the number of (U.S. only) "10" titles in them. 1948 eked out 1947 and 1949 for the "best" year of the decade.

Ranking the years by the number of Hollywood movies I gave a "10" to, it looks like 1948 was the "best" year of the decade: 1948 - 8 1947 - 7 1949 - 7 1946 - 7 (was 6, now 7 with the addition of It's A Wonderful Life) 1942 - 5* 1941 - 4 1945 - 3 1940 - 3 1944 - 1 1943 - 0 *includes Casablanca, since that's when it was first released, and that's how TCM lists it Edited by: AndyM108 on Jan 13, 2014 12:09 PM

Since I did it for the 1930's, I figure WTH, I'll try to figure out the top 12 movies of the 1940's, again narrowing it down to U.S. movies only, since that's what everyone else seems to be concentrating on. This is much harder than the 30's because of the rise of the more realistic dramas, including film noir, a genre that's my favorite of them all. *The (annotated) top 12 American movies of the 1940's:* *EDIT: Very embarrassing: I originally omitted It's A Wonderful Life, because it wasn't in my TCM database. So now this is a top 13 list.* 1. *The Search (1948)* - Everything that a film can offer: A moving story based on the reality of separated families in postwar Europe, without a drop of false sentimentality; fabulous performances by the American leading actor (Montgomery Clift), the American supporting actress (Aline McMahon), and the two Czech actors, Jarmila Novotn? and Ivan Jandl. There's not a shot fired in the entire 104 minutes, but it's as good a war movie as Hollywood has ever produced. 2. *The Killers (1946)* - The perfect noir, with the tone set right from the start by William Conrad and Charles McGraw in the roadside diner, and with Lancaster, Gardner, O'Brien, Dekker and an all-star cast of supporting actors taking it from there, right down to the unforgettable and appropriately ironic last line. Hemingway called it the best film adaptation of any of his work, and it's easy to see why. 3. *Out of the Past (1947)* - In a virtual dead heat with the Killers, and with the greatest femme fatale ever (Jane Greer) of the Hollywood screen. She could have been cast as the snake in the Garden of Eden. 4. *The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)* - Every once in a while Hollywood gets it right, and this one never misses a beat, with March, Loy, Andrews and Harold Russell. This was a perfect counterpoint to the rah-rah war movies that we'd been fed a steady dose of for the previous five years. 5. *Nightmare Alley (1947)* - Tyrone Power's favorite and best role, another pitch perfect noir featuring one betrayal and double cross after another, climaxed by one of the dirtiest dames the movies have ever seen, the treacherous Helen Walker as the larcenous psychiatrist who deftly outcons the master con man Power. 6, *Gilda (1946)* - Rita Hayworth at her absolute peak, Glenn Ford at his usual tough guy best, along with a much better than generic plot involving treachery and treason and an inspector (Joseph Calleia) whose gracious final touch is every bit the match for that of Claude Rains at the airport in Casablanca. 7. *It's A Wonderful Life (1946) (ADDED)* If ever there's been a movie that can be cited for honest emotion and melodrama as opposed to the phony sort we see so often, it's this extraordinary movie that speaks across generations as few others of its type still can do. After all, isn't the basic dividing line today still between the George Baileys of the world and the Potters? Jimmy Stewart was born for this role, and aside from maybe Vertigo he was never better. 8. *The Hard Way (1942)* - Ida Lupino had God knows how many first rate movies in her illustrious career, but her hard nosed portrait of the ultimate stage mother (although technically "Stage Sister") may have been her best performance of them all, with Joan Leslie and Jack Carson provided her with fine backup performances as the younger sister and the jilted beau. 9. *Roughly Speaking (1945)* - Another tale of pure grit, with Rosalind Russell and Jack Carson as the All-American couple who keep getting knocked down time after time and keep getting back on their feet. Russell is mostly known for her great comedic roles in The Women and His Girl Friday, but this one shows just how fine a dramatic actress she also was. 10. *Mildred Pierce (1945)* - Jack Carson keeps popping up in these great films, and I'm starting to suspect that this isn't any coincidence. But this one is Joan Crawford's movie, in one of her best - - - maybe her best - - - roles, in a film that delves deeply into the lengths that a mother will go to see her daughter get the things that she never had. And has there ever been a more ungrateful spoiled brat than Veda? 11. *Laura (1944)* - Up there with Gilda for glamour, and up there with The Killers and Out of the Past for intrigue and great character actors, led by the indescribable Clifton Webb. And the soundtrack alone nearly earns it a spot on this list. 12. *The Letter (1940)* - I'd rate this just below All About Eve as Bette Davis's finest role, the Gothic tale to end all Gothic tales. Poor Herbert Marshall has never been more cuckolded, and he'd had plenty of experience in that sad role. 13. *Thieves? Highway (1949)* - A Fox movie that doesn't seem to appear much if ever on TCM, it's only a slightly lesser variant of On The Waterfront, with Lee J. Cobb the actor who connects the two films. Richard Conte is the tough as nails returning veteran who singlehandedly takes on the racketeers in the wholesale produce business who killed his father, and Valentina Cortesa lends the perfect exotic touch. Best of the rest in alphabetical order: The Big Clock; Casablanca; Framed; The Big 3 Ladd-Lake noirs; Intruder in the Dust; The Lady Eve; The Philadelphia Story; White Heat Underrated movie of the decade: The Search Have to see: Way too many Best actor: Tyrone Power (Nightmare Alley); *ADDED: Jimmy Stewart (It's A Wonderful Life)* Best actress: Joan Crawford (Mildred Pierce) Best supporting actor: Clifton Webb (Laura) Best supporting actress: Helen Walker (Nightmare Alley) Edited by: AndyM108 on Jan 13, 2014 12:00 PM

We'll let some of the others catch up and post some more of their lists...but I plan to start a thread for the Underrated Sixties. I am going to do this all the way up to 2009. That gives us five more decades of classics to plow through! In for a dime, in for a dollar. I'm going to post my top 10 of the 1940's over in the 40's (or I should say 1940) thread, and then do the same thing for the 1950's. I imagine it'll be harder for me to narrow it down in those two decades, but I'll know for sure when I start doing it.

Once we get much past the 60's or 70's I'm not sure I've even seen enough movies to list more than a few for each year. I didn't really start watching lots of films until I got hooked on the AFI in the 70's, but that was mostly older movies that they were showing. And after that, as long as I had a shop I hardly had time to keep current with the newer films, which is why I'm always pulling for TCM to keep showing "classic" movies from *ALL* eras, so between that and Netflix I can begin to catch up. Compared to you and many of the other people here, I'm a total greenhorn when it comes to knowledge about all this stuff. The depth of knowledge I see exhibited here on a daily basis is truly humbling. Me, I'm of the "I know what I like" school of film appreciation. But I'm always looking to get new insights by osmosis.

It's absolutely brutal to try to rank the movies of the 30's as a whole, so this time I'm sticking to the Hollywood product only. I guess I should have a quota system for actors and actresses, but no matter how I shuffle it, I still get 3 Harlows and 3 Stanwycks. But considering that the former is Hollywood's greatest comedienne and the latter is Hollywood's foremost overall actress (obligatory *IMO* inserted here ), I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that this is how they came out. I've added two (or three) more just to make it an even (baker's) dozen. Best 12 American movies, *1930 - 1939* 1. Bombshell 2. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang 3. So Big 4. Stella Dallas 5. Red-Headed Woman 6. Libeled Lady 7. Heroes For Sale 8. Baby Face 9. Rain 10. A Man to Remember 11. 42nd Street / Footlight Parade 12. Bringing Up Baby What I love about TCM is that of all the above films, I'd only seen six of them (2, 6, 9, 11a, 11b, and 12) before late 2009. That was when I broke down and bought a DVD recorder that let me go 24/7 with the Now Playing guide. Hard to believe what I'd been missing.

*1938* has one perfect comedy and one great dramatic movie, plus many others that I'd want to watch again. 1. Bringing Up Baby 2. A Man to Remember 3. La Bete Humaine 4. Port of Shadows 5. The Lady Vanishes 6. Angels With Dirty Faces 7. Le Schpountz 8. Holiday 9. Wives Under Suspicion 10. The Duke Is Tops Best of the Rest: Torchy Blane movies taken as an entry; Block-Heads; Swing Your Lady; The Crowd Roars; I Am The Law; Young Dr. Kildare; Law of the Underworld Underrated: A Man to Remember Overrated: The Mad Miss Manton; Jezebel Have to see: Algiers; Alexander Nevsky; Olympia Best actor: Edward Ellis (A Man to Remember) Best actress: Katharine Hepburn (Bringing Up Baby) Best supporting actor: Humphrey Bogart (Angels With Dirty Faces) Best supporting actress: Dame May Whitty (The Lady Vanishes) Total number of films seen: About 70 - 75

Is it the chin, the hair, or the stare?

Most people, even many fans, would say a John Wayne movie has John Wayne in it, with a bunch of other people doing some actual ACTING. A lot of people, while saying they liked the movie, and Wayne's performance in it, thought his Oscar nod for TRUE GRIT was awarding John Wayne for being the same guy he was in just about every movie he's made in the 30 years prior. But millions of people loved Wayne and his movies IN SPITE of this fact. Me too, I guess. I certainly liked far more of them than disliked. He was sort of like comfort food for movie goers. Chances were, if you went to a Wayne movie, you'd wind up liking it. Other than Red River, I've never liked many of Wayne's more elaborate westerns, but OTOH I did like some of the programmers he made in the early 30's that TCM aired back in 2010. "Comfort food" is a good way of putting it, and if I liked westerns I'd probably put Wayne's movies in about the same class as Torchy Blaine or Boston ****. I just happen to go for movies set in the urban present more than those set in the rural past. I will check out Donovan's Reef, if only because I like Lee Marvin. I'm assuming he plays "Lee Marvin" in this movie as much as he plays "Lee Marvin" in all the others I've seen.

Andy, I would recommend The Long Voyage Home directed by John Ford, Hatari directed by Howard Hawks and The High and the Mighty directed by William Wellman, lz, thanks to you and Kid Dabb for these other suggestions. I'm going to keep my eye out for them when they play in April.

Thanks. Appreciate your taking the time to write, but man, the "62 Mets analogy" hit me right in the stomach, ha. Sorry, if I'd known you were a Mets fan I'd have said the 1972 Phillies, on the days that Steve Carlton wasn't pitching.

I'm curious why you think 1943 was so bad AndyM? Agree it's not the best year, but it is the year of Casablanca, The More The Merrier, Human Comedy, Heaven Can Wait, For Whom The Bell Tolls (although I have not seen that one in years). Two reasons, one subjective and one objective. *Subjectively* (emphasis added), I lean towards "realistic" movies, best embodied in pre-code drama, film noir, and dramas with a strong social or psychological bent. It also means that for instance, I find most foreign war movies far more "real" than most of their American counterparts, especially those produced during WWII itself. And it's not that I don't like a small number of musicals or a large number of comedies, but my personal bar for those genres is much higher than it would be for the genres I'm much more attuned to. *Objectively,* it's all relative, and while there were a few good movies that came out that year, when you look at all the other years we've been discussing on these three threads devoted to the 30's, 40's, and 50's, it's rather clear that 1943 is far and away the "worst" of them all by almost any standard, even if one's subjective tastes are entirely different than mine.* This isn't Lake Wobegon, and not all years are above average. *Okay, if American war movies that passed through wartime censorship is your favored cup of tea, I suppose that there might be worse years. But by any other standard, 1943 movies are in the same general league as the 1962 Mets.

Glad you mentioned Chained For Life, since as soon as I saw the "Musical" logo on the TCM schedule page, I didn't even bother to read the description. That's not the first time I've seen that "Musical" designation on some very non-musical genres.

Actually, Andy, I would never have considered Robert Ryan as scary due to the very reasons you state. Great as he was on screen, I never thought his villainy portrayals were a reflection of the real man. All the more reason to appreciate his skill as an actor, of course, but less reason to think that the man himself might be similarly intimidating. Okay, I was only thinking of Ryan's screen presence. But if you're talking about the person underneath the mask, then Lawrence Tierney would probably be the man. Others have noted his role as Elaine's father in that classic Seinfeld episode, and I still laugh when I think of how he intimidated poor Jerry into walking out into the snow with his expensive leather coat exposed to the elements, rather than turning it inside out to protect it. And of course he was also famous for getting into many offscreen brawls, and I think he wound up in jail for them more than once.

It warms the cockles of my hard heart that everyone loves Libeled Lady. I can't think of a single film where the top 5 parts were so masterfully cast, and where they all so perfectly complemented one another. Talk about star power! Along with Bombshell, that's one of a very tiny handful of movies I could probably watch once a week and never get tired of it.

*1936* at least has one genuinely great movie, but I miss all those gems from 1932 through the first half of 1934. 1946 can't get here fast enough. 1. Libeled Lady (up there with Bombshell as Hollywood's best comedy) 2. Reefer Madness (the movie Ed Wood should have made) 3. These Three 4. The Unguarded Hour* 5. Smart Blonde 6. Bullets or Ballots 7. Wife vs Secretary 8. The Petrified Forest 9. Modern Times 10. Fury *Mistakenly put in 1935 earlier, but now corrected Best of the rest: The Ex-Mrs. Bradford; Banjo on My Knee; The Black Legion; Suzy; The Man Who Lived Twice; Satan Met a Lady; After the Thin Man; My Man Godfrey (though it's also a bit overrated) Underrated: These Three; The Unguarded Hour Overrated: San Francisco; Mr. Deeds Goes To Town Have to see: The Story of a Cheat; The Crime of Monsieur Lange Best actor: William Powell and Spencer Tracy (Libeled Lady) Best actress: Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy (Libeled Lady) Best supporting actor: Walter Connolly (Libeled Lady) Best supporting actress: Can't think of any who really stand out; too bad the Marx Brothers skipped 1936, or else it would have been Margaret Dumont Total number of films viewed: About 65 - 70

While you people are doing this, what was the worst year for film in the period 1930-1960? I've yet to list 1960, or 1936 through 1939, but I can't imagine that any of those years would be remotely as bad as 1943. The highlight of that year was probably the usual assortment of Donald Duck and Warner Brothers cartoons.

May I suggest you take a look at Tycoon (1947), with John Wayne as a determined railroad builder. In my opinion, it's his best non-Western, dramatic role. He's also very good opposite Jean Arthur in the romantic comedy A Lady Takes a Chance (1943). He had quite the range as an actor, and I've always felt it was unfortunate he never got the chance to put his full acting ability on proper display. Thanks to you and Tom for the suggestions, although I've already seen The Quiet Man, and didn't care much for it. I did like Trouble Along the Way and Big Jim McCain, however, especially the former. And I also liked Red River, although that one's a western that's an exception to my general rule. I've always appreciated Wayne's screen presence, but since I'm not a fan of either westerns or American war movies, I probably haven't seen enough of his movies to give him a real assessment. That's why I was wondering about some of those other genres that he may have also appeared in.

Can anyone out there list a few of Wayne's better films that AREN'T westerns or war movies, where he has a major role and not just as a cameo as he has in Baby Face ? Or is he as much of a one trick pony as I've always suspected? I've seen Trouble Along the Way and Big Jim McCain, so anything other than those two.

That's easy: *Robert Ryan* in Crossfire, Act of Violence, Caught, The Racket, Clash By Night, Beware, My Lovely, House of Bamboo, The Naked Spur, Lonelyhearts, and Odds Against Tomorrow. And that's only a partial list. In real life Ryan was one of Hollywood's leading liberals, and was often quoted as saying that he'd devoted his his entire life to fighting the sort of characters he portrayed in his films. He resisted films that would have cast him in romantic leads to go along with his rugged good looks, because he said that such roles weren't interesting enough.