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| Billie Silvey |
| October 2006 |
| The following are my favorite movies among those that came out in the various decades of my life. Most of them make you think as well as feel. They cause you to wonder what you would do in similar circumstances and inspire you to want to do better. |
| The 40s. Casablanca, the quintessential movie of the 1940s, has everything--megastars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, a tragic romance, an exotic setting, danger, humor and intrigue. The woman with the guitar singing the Marseillaise and being joined by other patrons of Rick’s Cafe until they drown out the Nazis still brings me to tears, as does the ending when Rick, in typical Bogart reversion to type, sacrifices his love for the good of others. |
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| The 50s. The 50s marked the beginning of the youth culture, and the prime example of its depiction was Rebel Without a Cause. This classic introduced heartthrob James Dean, who could look up under his eyebrows and make all us girls melt. But a movie in which young people defied their parents, and even the law, for what they believed was right made a whole generation rethink social norms. |
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| The 60s. In the 60s, we continued to rebel, but now we had causes--racial equality, world peace, and individual freedom. It was a decade of idealism, and even the sleazy characters of Midnight Cowboy developed a sort of nobility, as Jon Voight’s male prostitute Joe Buck makes Christlike sacrifices for his friend, Ratso Rizzo, played by Dustin Hoffman. Some will disapprove of the film’s graphic sex and language, but I was deeply moved. |
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| The 70s. Chinatown was the best Los Angeles movie in my estimation for many decades. It featured a stellar cast, with Jack Nicholson in what I consider his best role ever and John Huston as a villain who can still give me chills. There’s a clash of cultures and fascinating background on the event that made possible the Los Angeles we know today--bringing water to the San Fernando Valley. The movie also stimulated my awareness of the exploitation of women, a key aspect of the Women’s Movement of the time. |
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| The 80s. Ben Kingsley became the champion of nonviolent freedom in Gandhi, a spectacle featuring a real-life hero with a heart and a brain. He portrayed a Christ-figure who admired Jesus’ teachings but ultimately rejected Christianity because Christians did such a poor job of living them out. It made me question my view of cultures around the world and my knee-jerk sense of superiority. |
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| The 90s. The 90s for me was the most difficult decade to choose a favorite movie, and not because there were so many great ones to select from. I finally settled on Schindler’s List as a good, though flawed, depiction of the Holocaust. It brought us the 90s idealistic hero, played by Liam Neeson, with Ralph Fiennes as a Nazi villain to make your skin crawl, and another Ben Kingsley role that demonstrates the difference between American actors who play themselves and British actors who become other people. And who can forget that flash of red coat? |
| The 00s. Crash to me is the best portrayal of the people in Los Angeles, who are able to live lives that never touch until they crash into each other. Dealing with our car culture, alienation and segregation by race and class, the ensemble cast vividly illustrates the fact that we have a lot more that unites us than divides, if we could just get out of our isolation long enough to recognize it. The language is incredibly strong, reflecting the worst sides of human nature, while the film presents the hope that our best sides will win out. |
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| Movies through the Decades |
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