# 17 The Graduate

1967
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross

Director: Mike Nichols

Recent college grad Ben Braddock, played by Hoffman, doesn't know what he is going to do with his post-college life.  After a run in at his homecoming party with Mrs. Robinson, he begins an affair with her, only to then fall in love with her daughter Elaine.  After Elaine learns that Ben had slept with her mother (who tells Elaine that she had been raped by Ben), she wants nothing to do with him.  Ben follows Elaine to Berkley, hoping to win her back.  But to be honest, he turns into quite the stalker there for a bit.  Eventually, Elaine is set to marry someone else, and Ben finds the church to take her away.  The two run out of the church together and hop onto a bus.  It's all joy and elation at first, but the last shot of the movie shows the two of them on that bus with a look of "what the hell did we just do" on their faces.  I'm left with the feeling that it may not work out in the end.

Up next: Sunset Boulevard

# 18 The General

1926

Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton

Starring: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack

Silent movie taking place during the civil war.  Keaton's character is the conductor of a train he loves named "The General."  When war breaks out, he desperately wants to enlist, mainly to impress his lady Annabelle and her family, but is told he cannot because of his occupation.  When "The General" is taken by enemies with Annbelle aboard, he embarks on his own rescue mission.  Keaton's timing is perfect, and the movie is genuinely funny!  And I have to admit that I kinda got goosebumps at the end when - spoiler alert- he saves the day and earns his uniform.  This movie is a perfect example of how acting and music can make a movie great even without words. 

Up Next: The Graduate

#19 On the Waterfront

1954
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint

Brando's Terry Malloy is a could-have-been fighter who works on the docks for a corrupt union boss.  Terry witnesses a murder by two of the thugs under the boss' orders, and eventually falls for the murdered boys sister.  Terry starts to want more than working for the wrong people, and tried to take on boss Johnny Friendly.  Acting is great, a little slow at times.  Brando's charisma makes it impossible not to watch him.  Not one of my favorites on the list, but I enjoyed watching.


Up Next: The General

#20 It's A Wonderful Life

1946
Director: Frank Capra

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

Poor George Bailey, he can't catch a break.  He just wanted to get out of his small town of Bedford Falls and ends up being needed there the most.  At his lowest moment, George gets a visit from his guardian angel Clarence and sees what life would be like had he never been born.  Movies don't get much better than this.  Terrific.

Trivia: For the scene that required Donna Reed to throw a rock into the window of the Granville House, Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot it out for her on cue. To everyone's amazement, Donna Reed broke the window with true aim and heft without the assistance of the hired marksman. Reed had played baseball in high school and had a strong throwing arm.

Up Next: On The Waterfront

#21 Chinatown

1974
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston

Private eye JJ Gittes takes on Evelyn Mulwray as a client when she think her husband (who works for the water department) is having an affair.  From there, Gittes gets in way over his head as the Mulwray story gets stranger and stranger.  Everything is involved- murder, politics and incest.

I can't say I liked this movie, but it was entertaining.

Trivia: At one point, Roman Polanski and Jack Nicholson got into such a heated argument that Polanski smashed Nicholson's portable TV with a mop. Nicholson used the TV to watch L.A. Lakers basketball games and kept stalling shooting.

Up Next: It's A Wonderful Life

#22 Some Like it Hot

1959
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon, Marilyn Monroe

I remember watching this movie when I was a little girl, it's one of the first movies I remember watching with my dad and my sister.  I haven't watched it since, so it was like watching it for the first time again.  I thought it was great! I laughed a lot, especially at Lemons character.
The movie follows two musicians who witness the Valentines Day massacre and try to escape by dressing in drag and joining an all-girls band, which Monroe's character Sugar Kane is a member of.  Silliness and romance ensues...
Trivia: When Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon first put on the female make-up and costumes, they walked around the Goldwyn Studios lot to see if they could "pass" as women. Then they tried using mirrors in public ladies rooms to fix their makeup, and when none of the women using it complained, they knew they could be convincing as women. There is a scene on the train recreating this moment. 

Up Next: Chinatown

#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