#23 The Grapes of Wrath

1940
Director:  John Ford
Starring: Henry Fonda, John Carradine, Jane Darwell

Based on the Steinbeck novel, the movie follows the Joad family through hard times.  It's hard for me to imagine what times were like then, but this movie certainly paints a descriptive picture.   I never read the book and had never seen the movie.  I can say that the acting was excellent and the story compelling, but I can't say that it's a movie I would watch again.  I didn't love it so much, but can't really figure out why!

Trivia- John Steinbeck loved the movie and said that Henry Fonda as Tom Joad made him "believe my own words". 

Up Next - Some Like it Hot

#24 E. T. the Extra-terrestrial

1982
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton, Peter Coyote

I can admit now that growing up, this was never a movie that hit home for me.  Weird, because I like alien movies.  But for some reason, I don't remember liking it as much as I just did when I re-watched it for the first time in maybe 25 years.  This movie is sums up movie making in total.  I just loved it.  Every minute.

Trivia: Spielberg shot most of the film from the eye-level of a child to further connect with Elliot and E.T. 

Up Next- The Grapes of Wrath

#25 To Kill A Mockingbird

1962 
Director: Robert Mulligan
Starring: Gregory Peck, Brock Peters, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford

Classic novel and movie that follows Atticus Finch, a lawyer who defends a black man who is wrongly accused of raping a white woman in racially divided 1930's Alabama.  Despite pressure from some of the town, he takes the case.  Atticus represents someone who does the right thing for the right reasons... simply because its the right thing to do.  It's simply in his nature to do good.  The movie also follows the lives of his children, and the mysterious Boo Radley (A very young Robert Duvall.)  
I remember reading this in school and watching the movie back then too.  The movie seemed to mean more now.  We are definitely getting into the best of the best now. 

Trivia: Mary Badham (Scout) and Gregory Peck (Atticus) became close during filming and kept in contact for the rest of his life. He always called her Scout. 

Up Next: E. T.