10 Films that changed my life
In some shape or form, these 10 films shaped who I am today.
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- DirectorFranc RoddamStarsPhil DanielsLeslie AshPhil DavisJimmy Cooper loathes his dead-end job and his working-class parents. He seeks solace with his mod clique, scooter riding, and drugs, only to be disappointed.Jimmy, c'est moi. Teen angst and rockin' tunes, and Sting with frosted hair to boot!
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsPaul NewmanGeorge KennedyStrother MartinA laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.quite possibly my favourite film of all time. I had a hockey coach who called me "Cool Hand," I was hooked from there.
- DirectorJames B. ClarkStarsTed EcclesTheodore BikelTudi WigginsAs young Sam Gribley runs away he learns about nature.I saw this film when I was 10, and it stuck in my brain, even though it took 30 years for me to figure out what film it actually was. I still want to run away and live in the woods on my own
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsMatt DillonMichael Eric KramerPamela LudwigA group of bored teenagers rebel against authority in the community of New Granada after the death of one of their own.We told you, like 30 years ago, how soul numbing the suburbs and education system you were forcing on us was, but did you listen?
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsLeVar BurtonMadge SinclairPaul BenjaminTrue story of Ron LeFlore, a troubled Detroit youth who rose from Michigan prisons to star in Major League Baseball.I think I probably saw this after reading the book - somehow I was allowed to order this from the Scholastic Book order at like 9 years old! But it was the first exposure I had that let me know not every kid grew up in a nice safe suburban neighborhood.
- DirectorRalph NelsonStarsCicely TysonPaul WinfieldLarry B. ScottA troubled boy (Larry B. Scott) becomes addicted to heroin, and his mother (Cicely Tyson) and foster father (Paul Winfield) help him fight it.This and The Ron LeFlore story had similar effects on me - helped me see a world outside of my safe upbringing.
- DirectorSlava TsukermanStarsAnne CarlislePaula E. SheppardSusan DoukasA small, heroin seeking UFO lands on a Manhattan roof, observes a bizarre, drug addicted fashion model and sucks endorphin from her sexual encounters' brains.The local video store in the suburb of Montreal I grew up in had a small "cult" section. Where I inexplicably picked out this film (and later "Repo Man") and the rest is history, weird history.
- DirectorAlan J. PakulaStarsDustin HoffmanRobert RedfordJack Warden"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.One of my earliest memories, at the seashore on Cape Cod in 1973, was asking my dad what "Watergate" meant after hearing the word on US radio. And my Dad, lord love him, patiently tried to explain it to me. The film just cemented what became a lifelong mistrust of politicians.
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsMatthew BroderickAlly SheedyJohn WoodA young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.I remember this quite vividly because I was one of the only kids I knew who really appreciated the technology in the film; at that point we had had modems in our basement for nearly 5 years. After the film, I remember typing "thermonuclear war" at every login prompt I could find.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonMark LeeBill KerrTwo Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.We were 12 and hosting the kids from Hanover, New Hampshire on a hockey exchange. It was the only year my younger brother and I played on the same team, so we had two billets. We wanted to go to the movies. I suggested going to see this, not really knowing what it was. The others were bored. I was shaken. No war.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsCharles Martin SmithClint HowardLeslie KingA group of high school friends form a rock band.