Ticket 2 Ride

Our lives are a collection of things we learn, experiences, knowledge, lessons, insights and influences. Films can leave an impression deep enough to affect our thinking or our journey.

This is not a list of the best films or even my favorites, but a few do make the list. Many of these films I saw as a youngster or teen. Something about each of these films stayed with me; perhaps it scared me in a way that touched a vulnerability or tweaked a wonderment that I would revisit later in life. Maybe the film whispered in my ear, “Look, there are other people who get this too.”

Here are 10 and why they are on this list. [Not in any kind of order.]

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

John Ford directed this adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Award-winning novel about the Dust Bowl and the hardships of many people. Henry Fonda was brilliant in the role of Tom Joad. The film made a lot of people uncomfortable and it’s a depressing story to watch. This was a dark chapter in America and millions suffered. Perhaps what the film gave me was a sense of gratitude for things I take for granted. The film also showed me the fighting spirit of Americans against evil forces of our own creation.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Award-winning novel, starring Gregory Peck. I still lose my breath at the end of this film, it chokes me up even all these years later. The film reminds me of small towns of my past and the racial divide that existed. Bad things happen at night and autumn nights make me shiver for many reasons. The film reminds me of when people were earnest and being poor was not a sin. Peck deservedly won an Academy Award for this role.

Rear Window (1954)

Hitchcock’s film about voyeurism and dogged pursuit of a hunch supported by a string of circumstantial clues. James Stewart stars as the amateur detective investigating from his apartment window what may be murder. This is a film about observation and perception, and unraveling a mystery. This film got me interested in mysteries and storytelling.

Spencer’s Mountain (1963)

Henry Fonda again, this time in a lighthearted drama about an intergenerational family that served as the inspiration for the television series, The Waltons. Fonda is the patriarch of the large family trying to manage his dreams, his family’s dreams and the sometimes harsh and conflicting reality. Fonda must let go of how own dreams to makes dreams possible for his children. Charming and sentimental, but life-affirming with strong messages about belief and never giving up.

Twelve Angry Men (1957)

One more Henry Fonda film, this time an ensemble story about a jury debating the guilt or innocence of a young man accused of murder. Directed by Sidney Lumet, this film confronts prejudice and the power of assumptions. The case is dissected one point at a time. Minds made up are unmade and facts reexamined.

M*A*S*H (1970)

Robert Altman’s film about confronting authority and useless bureaucracy. This is a film about attitude and defiance. The film spoke to me when I saw it at age 16. Although it was about Korea, it was made to comment on Vietnam. The film uses a lot of improvisation and the script was used as a guide; it’s ironic that the script won an Academy Award.

The Time Machine (1960)

George Pal’s adaption H.G. Wells’ story. Great special effects, but it’s Wells’ solitary travel back and forth in history, with no one to talk to or reflect with. Wells’ character must endure the loneliness of his scientific journey, particularly when his friends do not believe him. I am not surprised that he picks to go back in time to stay, with people he can teach and where he will have value. This is a film I watch late at night.

Night and Fog (1956)

Alain Resnais’s documentary about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. I saw this film in civic class in high school and it left an indelible impression on me. This was in part why I got a minor in modern European history at college. It spurred an interest in the Second World War and how it forever changed civilization. Strangely, the Holocaust would not really be taught in the 1960s and it only gained wider attention in the 1970s from WWII documentaries and television dramas. An entire generation of youth grew up ignorant of this part of WWII history, maybe in part because our civilization was still coming to grips with the horrors the war.

Platoon (1986)

Oliver Stone’s story about Vietnam is certainly one of the best films about Americans fighting in Vietnam. The jungle scenes are frightening. Overall, it is a difficult time to watch. I saw this film when it came out and I was beyond draft age, but it brought back a difficult internal debate. The draft ended before I was of age and Vietnam was history when I turned age 18. We all know men who served in Vietnam, they are old, gray-haired ex-soldiers now, many who live with physical and mental injuries, who came back from their tours to indifference, untreated conditions and difficulties rejoining civilian life. Platoon and Full Metal Jacket are films that still give me nightmares.

The War of the Worlds (1954)

Directed by Byron Haskins and produced by George Pal, The War of the Worlds was part of science fiction movement of the 1950s that showed live from other planets to be hostile and out to conquer Earth. This would be the dramatic direction of science fiction through the 1950s, in large part from Cold War geopolitics and the communist scare of the decade. The arrival of spaceships with death-rays is reminiscent of the Nazi blitzkrieg of WWII, sudden and completely destructive. Earthlings are shown as naive and unprepared. This film had amazing visual effects for the era.

Bonus: The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Every kid who saw this film was mesmerized by it. What was it that was so transformative about this film? For, me it was less about the colorful journey as it was about of risk, courage, going it alone and a strong belief.