Happy 79th Birthday Jack Nicholson...........Our 10 Favorite Films of His.......

Jack Nicholson turned 79 yesterday (April 22nd), a day which also marked the 80th birthday of country singer/actor Glen Campbell who s struggling with a high publicized bout with Alzhemeir's Disease.

Here are our ten favorite films of his, all but three are from the 1970s:

1) The Passenger (1975, pict. top)

2) Five Easy Pieces (1970; pict. center w/ the late Karen Black)

3) Chinatown (1974, pict. bottom w/ Faye Dunaway)

4) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

5) Carnal Knowledge (1971)

6) The Last Detail (1973)

7) The Shinning (1980 w/ Shelley Duvall)

8) The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)

9) The Departed(2006)

10) Prizzi's Honor (1985)

A Top Ten Random List of English-Language Films I've Seen Multiple Times.........(except "The Godfather")

Here in America, National Public Radio (NPR) has had an interesting series of interviews with film directors, actors and other celebrities have talked about films they can watch over and over again.

Among the surprises is that David Fincher ("Zodiac," "Fight Club") loves "Mary Poppins"!

There aren't that many films I've watched more than five times. As someone with a wide interest in films, it is simply challenging to watch every film of social or historical merit over and over again.

There are also many world and European films like Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless," which I've seen multiple times, but for the sake of 'making it simple,' we are just going to focus on English-language films here.

I have also not decided to list films I watched often as a child, like "The Absent Minded Professor" or films I watched once too often as a teenager, such as "Bachelor Party."

And, this is not in order of preference:

1. "The Graduate" (1967)

2. "Planet of the Apes" (1968)

3. "Stagecoach" (1939)

4. "Psycho" (1960)

5. "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex........." (1972)

6. "Dr. Strangelove........." (1964)

7. "Pulp Fiction" (1994)

8. "Taxi Driver" (1975)

9. "Chinatown" (pictured, 1974)

10. "Life of Brian" (1979)

http://www.npr.org


SIDEBAR: I have an article in a national Washington-DC based blog regarding the politically charged events happening in Turkey:

http://www.dcmiccheck.org/2013/06/06/gezi-park/

Happy Mother's Day from Joan Crawford

Today is Mother's Day, an occasion celebrated around the world, so we thought we'd wish you a Happy Mother's Day from the Joan Crawford (1905-1977) who was the subject of the controversial, campy biopic "Mommie Dearest" (1981) with Faye Dunaway playing Crawford. Dunaway reportedly hates the film with a passion, so it's highly unlikely that she was the Bow Tie Cinema in Reston, Va. (a suburb of Washington, DC) for this morning's screening of the film, which cult film director John Waters adores.

"Mildred Pierce" (1945), arguably Crawford's best role, airs tonight at 10 p.m. New York Time on TCM.

 One of our favorite Crawford quotes is the following:

"I was born in front of a camera and don't really know anything else."http://www.tcm.comhttp://www.joancrawfordbest.comhttp://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com

Happy Joan Crawford Day! (In Advance)

Since tomorrow is Mother's Day, we thought we'd continue our annual tribute on this day to the late Joan Crawford (1906-1977) since she has been synonomous with domineering mothers since the movie "Mommie Dearest" (1980) came out about her alleged over-the-top antics and abusive behavior towards her daughter Christine Crawford.

The Criterion Cinema in New Haven, Conn., has traditionally shown "Mommie Dearest" on Mother's Day weekend, but that appears not to be the case this year. Though they are screening "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) at 11:30 p.m., next Friday and Saturday night.

Crawford's 1964 film "Strait Jacket" is actually available through free streaming for Netflix members.

We just learned this week, that the iconic '40s-'50s movie star was also romantically involved with Warren Beatty (?!) even though he was 29 years younger than her in the 1960s. Of course, Beatty was romantically involved with lots of gals back then.

Faye Dunaway, who played Crawford in "Mommie Dearest," was Beatty's co-star in the legendary film "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967).

Here is our traditional quote from Crawford:

"Hollywood is like life, you face it with the sum total of your equipment."

Yeah, we're not sure what exactly she's talking about either!