Sunday, November 09, 2008

Alphabet movie meme

It's been a little while since I've been tagged, and I have to say the ego is happy to be recognized again.

This is pretty straightforward if you're any kind of a movie buff: go through the alphabet with movie titles. Samurai Frog hit me with this. He also asked that any of the tagged please link back to the original post on Blog Cabins so Samurai can be king of teh Googles. I tried not to over-think it, and I just listed the first movie that popped into my head.

Anguish: A creepy movie featuring a midget woman and a whole lotta eye injuries.

Bedlam: One of the movies that made a huge impression on me as a kid. Boris Karloff stars, Val Lewton produced, and it's set in Bethlem Royal Hospital--the psych hospital where people paid to come in and gawk at the mental patients.

Carnival of Souls: The original--a moody, unsettling little black and white gem.

Dawn of the Dead: I'm still partial to the original. I saw it at a drive in when it first came out with a bunch of other splatter films.

Escape From New York: "You're the Duke! You're A-number-one!"

Freaks: One of my youngest daughter's favorites. A morality tale set in a sideshow.

Goldfinger: Bond. James Bond. The real James Bond, Sean Connery, and Oddjob, and the best Bond theme song ever.

House on Haunted Hill: The original with Vincent Price, of course.

Intolerance: I know I saw this movie at Facets Multimedia, but I can't remember anything about it, and I have no idea why this was the first "I" title that came to mind.

Juliet of the Spirits: Fellini, but not one of my favorites by him. Again, no idea why this came to mind first.

Kiss Me Deadly: One of the great noir classics.

Longest Day, The: D-Day epic with a cast of thousands. I love this movie.

M: An absolute classic Fritz Lang movie starring a young Peter Lorre as a pedophile murderer.

Night of the Hunter: More noir. A truly terrifying Robert Mitchum as the psychopath posing as an itinerate preacher.

O Brother Where Art Thou: Goofy depression-era fun from the Coen brothers.

Pickup on South Street: Holy cow, I had no idea this list would be so heavy with film noir titles. Favorite line, uttered by Richard Widmark: "Are you waving the flag at me?"

Q: I like Larry Cohen. He also did It's Alive, God Told Me To and Maniac Cop (tag line: You have the right to remain silent. Forever.)

Repo Man: Plate o' shrimp. Plate o' shrimp.

Slapshot: I need to see this one again to find out if it's as funny as I remember it.

Touch of Evil: OK, last film noir title. This movie has the greatest opening credit sequence ever filmed. Plus you get Charlton Heston in tan makeup as a Mexican!

Unforgiven: I'm surprised this was the only western title that showed up.

Vixen: YEAH BABY. I think it's safe to say that discovering the films of Russ Meyer when I was 17 had a profound effect on my development.

Wolf Man, The: "Even a man who is pure in heart..."

Xtro: This was a schlocky little piece of crap that we saw at either the Riviera or the Bryn Mawr.

Z: By Costa Gravas. I know I saw this one during my serious movie phase, but I couldn't tell you anything about it now.

I tag Johnny Yen, Mob, Jin, Eric, MizBubs and our eldest.

13 comments:

jin said...

OMG! You caught me.
Pretty fast for an old guy!
;-P****

I'll do it within a day or so.
:-D

Johnny Yen said...

I'm on it! It's going to be a challenge, though-- you already took the "Z" that came to the top of my head.

Splotchy said...

Hey, you should trade your alphabet list for mine (which is a little embarrassing, honestly).

Cheese-making class?!

Cormac Brown said...

A great list, though I figured you would post more noir and crime films. Of course the last one was the easiest ; )

Barbara Bruederlin said...

I am impressed! I'm not certain I could find a film for every letter of the alphabet. That's why you're the king, I guess.

justacoolcat said...

Did you know the blogging icon I use is of the Duke's car?

I'll bet you knew that.

jin said...

It is done!
That was Fun!

Now I'll be your freak
from WI for the week!

vikkitikkitavi said...

Ooooooh...I WORSHIP Touch of Evil.

Definitely worth renting the newer re-cut where they took the titles off the opening sequence.

Jess Wundrun said...

Slapshot is still funny. Strange it didn't get mentioned in the Paul Newman hagiographies tho.

Gifted Typist said...

an alphabeticalized movie list to end all alphabeticalized movie lists, or something like that

BeckEye said...

House on Haunted Hill and Carnival of Souls are two of my favorites. We won't even speak of the horrendous remakes.

GETkristiLOVE said...

Oh yes, Slapshot still rules to this day. I watch it once a week.

And O'Brother slays me... good taste in movies Bubs!

Erik Donald France said...

I'll get on it soon -- love your A-Zs and I also love Z -- definitely worth seeing again, man!

Ooorah!