As I, like Jack Handey, am rich in television (and film, for that matter) there are a lot to try to cram onto a list of ten. I'll try my best.
Neat thing is that as I thought about the films I'd put on the list, I connected the films to people in my life, so it's a film/person association.
Day One:
Inspector Clouseau looking for cleues in "Revenge of the Pink Panther. This film reminds me of my Dad. Back in the dinosaur years when we'd rent a VCR and some movies. we'd almost always come home with a Pink Panther film. Dad loved the slapstick and the idiot accent (he had his own, of Dutch extraction).
I was lucky enough to serve a mission in France, so seeing these movies knowing a bit of the language certainly changed them for the better.
Day Two:
I first read "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" sitting in one of the back corners of Mrs. Barrett's third-grade class. Shortly after I finished reading the book, they announced the film. I was stoked. This was the first movie, as a kid, I wanted to see. We went to the expensive theater ($4.50 a head at the time) to see it. And it did not disappoint.
Well, maybe a little. It was my first introduction to Hollywood altering books for movies. But as I think of this film, I think of my elementary school teachers, who were always kind enough to stick me in the back of the room next to the library books.
Day Three:
Though there are many people associated with "The Three Amigos," the memory that sticks out the most is my mission companion, Elder Omerza, listening politely as I sang "Arizona Moon" from this film to some French members who wanted to hear us sing. I think he was relieved I volunteered when they asked us to sing them something. And maybe they were too stunned by my rotten singing to ask for an encore, even from Elder Omerza, after I was done.
Day Four:
This was me as a kid, but absent the self-confidence. Chunk knew he was fat, was tired of the other kids pointing it out to him, but he just rolled with it (no pun intended). So this is a me film.
It's also a sister Chris film, since Chris is the one who introduced us to The Goonies, and who still calls me Chunk -- lovingly, of course.
Day Five:
Oh my goodness. How many people in my life does this film involve? Probably all of them, to be honest. Dad chuckled at it. Everyone thought I looked like Ralphie. And now, as a father, I see a lot of myself in The Old Man. I think this film has a character and a mood for everyone at every time in their lives. I even use the video of Miss Shields correcting papers to let my students know I'm working on theirs.
Day Six:
Two people come to mind whenever I watch this film:
My wife, of course. She is Gwen deMarco, and laughs at herself whenever she finds herself repeating what the computer says. But she's also badass enough I don't want to mess with her.
Then my brother-in-law Carl. He's a very serious kinda guy, but I got to hear him giggle all the way through this film.
Day Seven:
This film. This is an Albert and Jeff production. They love humor, they love nonsequiturs, and they love knowing that if anyone in the family asks "where do these stairs go," they can respond "they go up," and everyone will immediately know what's going on.
Day Eight:
If Ghostbusters is for brothers, this film is for sisters. Maaike and Sherri, because they know the film just as well as I do and can quote the most obscure lines from it. And also Marina, who doesn't have a connection to this film per se, except I remember many nights at home, listening to her play the guitar and sing. Of anyone in the family, she helped me appreciate a good singing voice and good songs, which this film has in abundance.
Day Nine:
This one. This one represents many of the fine folk I know only grace of myths and legends, or at least the Internet. If I'm in a funk after work, I know I can come home and on a good day find someone griping about Fop, complaining about geographic oddities or lamenting about the livestock. Thanks, folks, for the low-cost therapy you provide.
Day Ten:
A funny film, both as in funny ha-ha and a film to make you think you're living your own life funy. When Brother Warnick showed us this film in either my first or second year at college, I had to wonder what it meant for me, a punk kid.
Decades later, it means a lot.
It means don't get a brain cloud and then not get a second opinion.
So this film reminds me of my college years, and the many friends I had there who were always willing to give me a second opinion.
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