The response to my recently posted list of my favorite films from each of the sixty-one years of my life today was so favorable that I decided to respond to yet another popular movie meme. This one consists of thirty questions—one each day for a month—about your film-related preferences. I’m posting all thirty of my replies in one fell swoop. Here goes:
Day 01 — your favorite movie
La Règle du jeu (Renoir, 1939)
Day 02 — the last movie you watched
My Darling Clementine (Ford, 1946)
Day 03 — your favorite action/adventure movie
Tie: The Adventures of Robin Hood (Curtiz, 1938)
Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
Day 04 — your favorite horror movie
Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987)
Day 05 — your favorite drama movie
You Can Count on Me (Lonergan, 2000)
Day 06 — your favorite comedy movie
Tie: The In-Laws (Hiller, 1979)
Metropolitan (Stillman, 1990)
Day 07 — a movie that makes you happy
I Know Where I’m Going! (Powell/Pressburger, 1945)
Day 08 — a movie that makes you sad
La Ronde (Ophüls, 1950)
Day 09 — a movie of which you know practically the whole script
Rio Bravo (Hawks, 1959)
Day 10 — your favorite director
American: Howard Hawks
Foreign: Jean Renoir or Max Ophüls (it’s a toss-up)
Day 11 — your favorite movie from your childhood
The Wizard of Oz (Fleming, 1939)
Day 12 — your favorite animated movie
Feature: Lilo and Stitch (Sanders/DeBlois, 2002)
Short: Duck Amuck (Jones, 1953)
Day 13 — a movie that you used to love but now hate
The Big Chill (Kasdan, 1983)
Day 14 — your favorite quote from any movie
“Ce qui est terrible sur cette terre, c’est que tout le monde a ses raisons.”
Day 15 — the first movie you saw in a theater
Dondi (Zugsmith, 1961)
Day 16 — the last movie you saw in a theater
New: Fences (Washington, 2016)
Re-release: North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959)
Day 17 — the best movie you saw during the last year
Manchester by the Sea (Lonergan, 2016)
Day 18 — the movie that disappointed you the most
On the Town (Kelly/Donen, 1949)
Day 19 — your favorite actor
Living: Chris Cooper
Dead: James Stewart
Day 20 — your favorite actress
Living: Catherine Keener
Dead: Teresa Wright
Day 21 — the most overrated movie
Det sjunde inseglet (Bergman, 1957)
Day 22 — the most underrated movie
Panic (Bromell, 2000)
Day 23 — your favorite character from any movie
Erin Castleton, in Next Stop Wonderland (Anderson, 1998)
Day 24 — your favorite documentary
“Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress” (Wyler, 1944)
Day 25 — a movie that no one would expect you to love
Slap Shot (Hill, 1977)
Day 26 — a movie that is a guilty pleasure
I don’t believe in guilty pleasures
Day 27 — your favorite classic movie
Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
Day 28 — the movie with the best soundtrack
Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
Day 29 — a movie that changed your opinion about something
No movie has ever changed my opinion about anything
Day 30 — your least favorite movie
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
* * *
A scene from Henry Bromell’s Panic, starring William H. Macy and Neve Campbell:
