Joe's 12 Films That Changed My Life, Part 1
I've noticed a certain look people give me from time to time when I talk movies. It comes from people I know, people I've just met and people who haven't seen me for years. It's a look that says, "What's wrong with you?" and continues, "Why do you waste so much of your life watching movies?"
The answer to that question is one that the I-watch-movies-to-shut-off-my-brain crowd will never really understand. I believe any good movie teaches us things about life and humanity, and each movie we see changes who we are just a little bit. A really good movie will change us at a more profound level, and other movies that may or may not be particularly good might still spark something in us. Even those "It's just a movie" films can tell us things about the people who make them, the people who watch them and the people who might conversely think they're great, important films.
One caveat before we continue: My belief that movies have an impact on us and influence who we are does not mean I think someone watching, for instance, "Friday the 13th" will become a psychotic murderer or a sadistic fiend. That kind of worldview to me is a shallow, baseless interpretation of what movies do to us and is usually the argumentative product of a weak mind. What a good movie does is allow us to walk in the shoes of another person and see the world through their eyes or allow us to see ethics and morals in motion.
I am constantly reminded of Ben Kingsley in "House of Sand and Fog" when he admonishes Americans because they don't care about anything but finding "the next sweet taste in their mouth." How true is that? And what is "A Few Good Men" about besides doing the right thing or what one thinks is the right thing?
But I digress. Here is the first half of the 12 movies that have, in one way or another and for better or worse, have influenced me.
"Back to the Future" (1985)
"Back to the Future" is, at its core, about social status. Marty McFly first and foremost teaches us about being cool. He's a happenin' '80s kind of guy who is frustrated that his coolness isn't appreciated by anyone. He doesn't understand why his dad is such a square and his mom is such a spaz or why the principal doesn't like him and soon begins to wonder if he's not a loser just like his old man. What Marty teaches his dad, and us, is that to be cool, you simply have to believe in yourself.
"The Jerk" (1979)
The first comedy I remember seeing is this overlooked classic directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin as Navin R. Johnson, the white man who was raised a poor black child. Navin is hopelessly naive to the ways of the world and stumbles into success when he creates a handle for eyeglasses. He then drives that fortune into the ground when it's discovered that everyone who uses the "OptiGrab" has their eyes hopelessly drawn inward, causing an epidemic of cross-eyedness."The Jerk" was one of my first exposures to true comedy, and its wanton silliness and its willingness to go the extra mile has always been an inspiration to me.
"Batman" (1989)
Tim Burton's original vision of the Dark Knight was a milestone in superhero movies and for me as well. I saw it with my dad on opening night, and it kicked off a feeding frenzy of cinema that I have not equaled since. From that Friday to the following Monday, we watched 15 movies, among them my first viewings of the original "Psycho" and the first "Lethal Weapon" (since the second was set to come out a few weeks later). It was also, with Nicholson's performance as the Joker, one of the first times I paid attention to a certain actor's performance.
If "Return of the Jedi" was my first event film, "Batman" spawned my rabid anticipation of new movies, since the announcement that Michael Keaton was playing the Caped Crusader was made almost a full year earlier. At the time I was ho-hum about it, but by opening night I was practically foaming at the mouth.
"The Goonies" (1985)
An action/adventure starring a group of kids? "The Goonies" taught me about cameraderie and the importance of having friends and a place of your own at a time when I didn't have a friend that I'd known more than a year — which, coincidentally, was about the length of time I'd lived at my home at the time. Also, it had a kid who invented awesome gadgets and showed me that no matter how young or small, anyone who is determined to do so can make a difference. Plus, it introduced me to Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi, which, you know, is pretty awesome in and of itself.
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)
I saw this at the drive-in with my mom and step-dad in Fayetteville, NC, where we lived at the time, and I was completely entranced. It wasn't the first horror film I'd seen (the likely answer to that trivia question is "The Shining," a film that arguably holds equal importance in my life), but it was the one that opened my mind to the, er, nightmarish possibilities locked away in our minds. There are any number of slasher films that could go in this spot — the original "Halloween" or any of the "Friday the 13ths," for example — because they have a lot to teach children old enough to grasp their message. "Elm Street" is a film about making the imaginary real and about the power we have over ourselves if we learn to use it.
"12 Angry Men" (1957)
I've often called "12 Angry Men" the quintessential American film, and boy do I mean it. More than what it says about the American judicial system (which is a lot), "Men" is about how quickly people are wont to jump to conclusions without stopping to consider a situation from all sides — to the detriment of not just ourselves, but those whose lives for which we're responsible. It's masterfully executed, the most gripping film set almost entirely in one room ever made, and reminds us of the importance not just of our civic duty, but of our responsibility to each other and ourselves. A timeless film that, more than ever, should be shown to anyone reading a newspaper, online news source, or clicking on the networks' evening news, MSNBC, or Fox News.