Movies
If ever I get to the point that I can't put on entertainment for myself, here is a list of five movies, my favorites, in no particular order, that I would like to see.
Fantasia, Wings of Desire (1987), Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Wizard of Oz, The River (1952), City Lights, Ikiru, 8 ½, Nine (2009), Dodes’Ka-den, Big Night, The Importance of Being Earnest (1951), Paths of Glory, Freaks, Vertigo, Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers (all John Ford’s western and Irish movies), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Synecdoche New York, Gigi, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life or Death (Stairway to Heaven), The Shootist, Fiddler on the Roof, Lost Horizon (1937), Baghdad Cafe, Born Yesterday, Sweeney Todd (1982 is the best, all other ones too), Empire of the Sun (all Steven Spielberg), Cyrano (1950), Cyrano (with Dinklage) (2021), Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers, Coconuts, Night at the Opera, Day at the Races, Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (all Tati), The Thief of Baghdad, Jungle Book (1942), Days of Heaven, Brigadoon, The Conversation, New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization (Bill Murray), The Music Man, The Third Man, The Life of Chuck, The Odyssey (2026), High Anxiety, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein (2025), The Bride! (2026), Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Melancholia, Magnolia, Annie Hall, Pennies from Heaven (1981), Pennies from Heaven (1978), Harold and Maude, La belle et le bete, Roshomon, Night of the Hunter, Satyricon, The Big Sleep, There Will Be Blood, Joker, Damn Yankees, L’il Abner, Porgy and Bess, Gigi, Irreversible(2002), Meet Me in St. Louis, Kiss Me Deadly, Hateful Eight, Inglorious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, The Outlaw Josey Wales, La Strada, Bicycle Thieves, Biutiful, Babel, The Killing (Kubrick), The Killers (1946), One from the Heart, Wild at Heart, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Ziegfeld Follies, Poor Things, Young Girls of Rochefort, Brazil, Under the Skin, All That Jazz, Our Town (any version, but 1940 is my favorite), You Can’t Take It with You (any version, 1939 is favorite), His Girl Friday, Lost in Translation, Pink Flamingos, Punch Drunk Love, The Petrified Forest, Amarcord, Duck Season, Tom Jones, Barry Lyndon, Hamnet, Repulsion / The Tenant, The Prestige, Alice in Wonderland (1933), Tree of Life, Adventures of Robin Hood, Foreign Correspondent, Lady on the Train, Strangers on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt, The Gay Divorcé, DOA (1949), The List of Adrian Messenger, Maltese Falcon (all John Huston), Everything Everywhere All At Once, Ferris Bueller, Napoleon Dynamite, Babettes Feast, Ghost World, The 3 Caballeros, The Three Godfathers and Three Godfathers and 3 Godfathers and Hell’s Heroes and Tokyo Godfathers, Gold Diggers of 1933 (the whole series), Bamboozled (Spike Lee), Ghost World, Paper Moon, A Thousand Clowns, The Groove Tube, White Heat, The Magic Christian, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Music Box (all Laurel and Hardy), A Place in the Sun, Hobson's Choice, The Phoenician Scheme (all Wes Anderson), Sunset Boulevard (all Billy Wilder), Gummo, Carnival of Souls, The Bishop's Wife, A Face in the Crowd, Blue Moon, any Hedy Lamar movie, The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Return to Me (2000), Solo Mio, Harry and Tonto, Suddenly Last Summer, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Naked Civil Servant, Oklahoma! (also the one with Hugh Jackman), A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol (Alistair Sims 1951), Red (2910), Shall we Dance (both Japanese and Hollywood versions, 1996, 2004), Nights of Cabiria with Sweet Charity, The Matchmaker (1958) with Hello Dolly, Zero Hour! (1957) with Airplane, Fantasia 2.
Koyaanisqatsi, Moana (2026), all Mike Leigh movies, Starship Troopers,
And maybe one or two more.
Scenes from Movies
THE scene from Picnic, The end of The Third Man, The end of 8 ½,
Badges from Sierra Madre, Opening the package in The Maltese Falcon,
Halloween scene from Meet Me in St. Louis, Lida Rose from The Music Man,
First scene of inglorious Basterds, first scene of Desperado (1995),
The Commence to Dancing dance in Way Out West,
Thank You scene from Day at the Races, The chase from Bullet,
“Pay The Two Dollars “ from The Ziegfeld Follies,
Demented penguin from Encounters at the End of the World, Werner Herzog,
Chariot races from both Bens Hur (1925, 1959),
Toby Dammit from Spirits of the Dead,
If You Could See Her from Cabaret, and the play Cabaret, if you can find it.
Last scene of Auntie Mame, WALL-E until he gets on the ship,
Manhattan Trade School for Girls (YouTube),
Jimmy Durante bits from The Man Who Came To Dinner,
Blind man scenes in Bride of Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein,
Montages from Up, and from Cinema Paradiso,
When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2,
Weeping Willow from The Blue Bird
Night and Day, and The Continental from The Gay Divorcé
But wait! There’s more!
Books
Moby Dick, Everything by Saki (especially The Open Window, The Schwartz Metterklune Method, and The Pond), anything by Mark Twain, The Bible, (especially the translation by Everett Fox), The Koran, More Than Human (Theodore Sturgeon, any and all books or short stories), All the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, The Warmth of Other Suns, Caste (Wilkerson), both Alice books (annotated please), Lord of the Rings plus the Hobbit
Cartoons
What's Opera Doc?, all 6 Screwy Squirrel toons, All Tex Avery toons, 8 Ball Bunny, entire Adventure Time series (favorites Puhoy (S5 E16), Food Chain (S6 E7), Thank You (S3 E17)), Duck Amuck (and Bug’s version), Donald Duck in Donald’s Dilemma, Ren and Stimpy, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, 3 Duck Season/rabbit season, 2 Last of the Dodo, Early Betty Boop - before 1935, Pre war Popeye, 3 or more Bugs Bunny tortoise and hare, (Borden Milk (?) Sunshine), Common Side Effects ( a 10 part series), Mel Brooks’ The Critic (Mel Brooks, on YouTube), Adventure Time, Max showed me this Bluey (Sleepytime (S2 E8 to you!)
Music
genius of love, Mozart (Requiem, Eine kleine Nachtmusik), Scott Joplin (especially Solace, Rifkin if possible, or Sarah), any Agustin Lara, any R Crumb, Amaneci en sus brasos (any version), any Chavela Vargas, La Llorona (any version), Madison Time, all Fats Waller (and his organ music), any Billie Holiday, any Hoagy Carmichael, all Ella Fitzgerald, all Barbra Streisand, all Nino Rota, all Pink Martini, The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), The Planets (Holst), Carnival of the Animals, any Randy Newman, all Leon Redbone, all Tom Waits, all Sons of the Pioneers, all Bob Wills, Libby Titus, If I Had a Boat - Lyle Lovett, all Lyle Lovett, Thelonious Monk, Bolero, P-Funk, Stevie Wonder (2 albums Innervisions, Songs in the Key of Life), Los Panchos, Studies by Eric Satie, Dark Side of the Moon, Scheherazade, Anthology- The Beatles, Creep (every cover), ¿Quien Serrá?/Sway (every cover),
every cover of Cool Water
TV
CBS Sunday Morning (the best show on television, any episode, new or old), Deadwood (never saw the last movie/episode), Adventure Time, Six Feet Under, That's Cat (old PBS show, YouTube), The Great American Dream Machine (old PBS show, YouTube), egg (old PBS show, 2000), Monty Python, Both Larry Sanders shows, Then Came Bronson (if you can find it), The Carol Burnett Show, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, The Prisoner, Broad City, Desus and Mero (On YouTube?), Abbot & Costello (TV shows, Senor Winces, Henry Youngman, Rip Taylor, Dennis Wolfberg, Mitch Hedberg, Rodney Dangerfield.
First episode of Alias, first of Modern Family
TV Scenes
Stairwell violin from Louis C K (“Louis’s daughter plays violin with Amia” on YouTube, and the last episode in China),
Laughing funeral Mary Tyler Moore, Mel Blanc as Mexican in Jack Benny.
Any version of Niagara Falls (on YouTube)
When I cannot laugh or cry or find joy in these anymore,
then it will be time to join the choir invisible.