Charade (1963)
Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, serious money and Paris. What more could you ask for? Jonathan Demme loves this movie as much as I do and remade it with Thandie Newton and Mark Wahlberg. He was kidding, right?
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Carole Lombard was never goofier, and William Powell is her perfect match. Both are nearly upstaged by Alice Brady as Lombard’s mother. “The Forgotten Man” theme seems very relevant in today’s economy.
The African Queen (1951)
Hepburn and Bogart are at their best working from a script by James Agee. My favorite moment of screen comedy may be Hepburn’s awkward effort to make breakfast for Bogart the morning after they’ve first made love. When she goes to wake him up, she realizes she doesn’t know his first name. Priceless.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Of all the “big” pictures, this one remains the most visually stunning, and the music is wonderful, if a bit too thundering. At the end, you won’t know any more about T.E. Lawrence than you did going in, but why did you want to know about him in the first place?
Rear Window (1954)
Okay, Vertigo is more interesting, but Kim Novak is so wooden you wish Jimmy Stewart had left her in the bay. Rear Window scared the wits out of me when I was five, and I have never forgotten it. I’ve also never forgotten Grace Kelly. When she leans down to kiss Jimmy Stewart and her face swims into the camera, she looks like nobody else in the world. Don’t forget Thelma Ritter, Hollywood’s greatest sidekick.
John Charles Smith
English Department