In an attempt to keep to the brief of the 10 Day You Challenge and my own self-imposed 30 Days of Thanksgiving, here are 3 films that I am thankful for having seen, for various reasons:
1) THE SEARCHERS: My mother loved John Wayne, and this, in my humble opinion is the best John Wayne film bar none. He may have got an Oscar for "True Grit", but that was because of his larger than life performance, and if truth be told, the recent Cohen Brothers' version is probably better. But "The Searchers" is a wonderful story with beautiful cinematography. Some have condemned it as racist because of its portrayal of the Native Americans in it, but it was a film of its time and probably reflected real attitudes in the old west... and actually is much more nuanced than many other old westerns. But I'm thankful for this film, not only because of itself, but also because of memories of my mum.
1) THE SEARCHERS: My mother loved John Wayne, and this, in my humble opinion is the best John Wayne film bar none. He may have got an Oscar for "True Grit", but that was because of his larger than life performance, and if truth be told, the recent Cohen Brothers' version is probably better. But "The Searchers" is a wonderful story with beautiful cinematography. Some have condemned it as racist because of its portrayal of the Native Americans in it, but it was a film of its time and probably reflected real attitudes in the old west... and actually is much more nuanced than many other old westerns. But I'm thankful for this film, not only because of itself, but also because of memories of my mum.
2) IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: If you don't like this Frank Capra classic Christmas fantasy please let me know so that I can take you off my list of friends... I discovered this as a teenager when it was on BBC2 one Saturday afternoon in the run-up to Christmas. I found myself sucked into it, and before I knew it, I found that my eyes were leaking... And it happens every time I see it... Anyone who doesn't cry at it must have a clockwork mechanism in place of a heart. And that is true of my final choice...
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