Movie Recommendations for Ben

Movies for Ben

1 July 2025

These are some classic movies worth your time.

1960's

• Planet of the Apes (1969) Former head of the NRA lands on a planet and finds chimps on horses

• True Grit (1969 version) John fucking Wayne kicking ass - makes the annoying girl bearable. Two great bad guys - 'Lucky Ned Pepper' and 'Tom Chaney'. Dennis Hopper unable to play the guitar after this movie.

• The Great Escape - next on my watch list. So this is the exception - I've seen everything else. Half the guys in this movie are WWII veterans including Donald Pleasance who was an actual POW in WWII.

• In the Heat of the Night. Possibly the best movie in this list. Sydney Poitier schools a bunch of racists living in a southern town called Sparta.

1970's

• Kelly's Heroes - A "war comedy drama". Dirty Harry and friends decide to rob a bank in the middle of WWII. Hijinks ensue.
• JAWS - just awesome - Roy Scheider vs a John Williams sound track disguised as a shark.
• The Exorcist - also awesome - The Power of Christ compels you to watch this. Also never engage with the Demon

• Sorcerer - Guy who made the Exorcist starring the guy who beat Jaws

• French Connection - Gene Hackman as a cop. His partner is the guy who beat Jaws

• The Package - not as good as the rest but has Gene Hackman and the Snake lady from Blade Runner

• Poseidon Adventure - Gene Hackman as a priest on an inverted cruise ship

• Towering Inferno - Disaster movie I watched 10 times at the theatre.

• GodFather - good but long

• Mr Majestyk - Former B-29 Tail gunner just wants to be a Melon Farmer

• The Mechanic - Former B-29 Tail gunner as a hitman

• Smokey and the Bandit - Just fun

• Midway (1970's) the NRA guy from Planet of the Apes takes on the IJN.

• A Bridge Too Far - Monty gets full of himself. But Gene Hackman is in it, so are James Bond, Hannibal Lector and the hitman from Day of the Jackal - the old version, not the newer one where Stephen Hawking/Newt Scamander is the assassin.

• 3 Musketeers - The NRA guy with the chimp problem is the evil cardinal.

• Dirty Harry - The spaghetti western guy from Kelly's Heroes hunts down a Hollywood version of the Zodiac killer. Did he fire six shots or only five? Do I feel lucky?

1980/90's

• Conan the Barbarian - greatest movie soundtrack of all time
• Waynes World - Watched it 5 times in the theatre at Cold Lake
• Broken Arrow - John Travolta, as a B-2 pilot, steals a nuke. His copilot tries to stop him.

• Pump Up the Volume - copilot from Broken Arrow, as a teenager, runs a pirate radio station - great soundtrack

• Blue Thunder - The jaws guy decides that the surveillance state is not a good thing. The wacko from a Clockwork Orange disagrees with extreme prejudice. The racist cop from Sparta is great as the irate boss who no one listens to.

My favorite Bond movies

• You Only Live Twice - Donald Pleasance as Blofeld. Great John Barry opening music and theme song. - My favorite opening score -starts at 21 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H-vx87Arq8&t=20s
• Thunderball - Donald Pleasance as Blofeld
• From Russia with Love - - Donald Pleasance as Blofeld. Plus the bad Russian guy dies in this movie but somehow helps Roy Scheider with a Shark problem 10 years later

So old they're in Black and White, but good
Key Largo - Bogie and Bacall
Casablanca - Bogie and Bergman
Maltese Falcon - Bogie and Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.

TV

The best 3 original Star Trek Episodes
City on the Edge of Forever - some consider it the best ever piece of episodic TV regardless of genre.
Balance of Terror - sub vs destroyer but in space.
Doomsday Machine - The best acting work that Dr. Seth from 'Murder She Wrote' can claim.

Doctor Who: Episode called 'Blink' - works as a standalone show. Main characters of this episode aren't the doctor and his assistant. Runner up to City on the Edge of Forever as the best standalone TV episode.

Aside on Blofeld (Donald Pleasance):

In December 1939, Pleasence initially refused conscription into the British Armed Forces, registering as a conscientious objector, but changed his stance in autumn 1940, after the attacks upon London by the Luftwaffe, and volunteered with the Royal Air Force.[27] He served as aircraft wireless-operator with No. 166 Squadron in Bomber Command, with which he flew almost sixty raids against the Axis Powers over occupied Europe.

On 31 August 1944, his Lancaster NE112 was shot down during an attack on Agenville, France,[28][29] and he was captured and imprisoned in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I. Pleasence produced and acted in many plays for the entertainment of his fellow captives. Years later, he used his experiences in POW camps in his role in The Great Escape.

He was also the killer in a Columbo episode. One of the few killers in Columbo that I hoped would get away with it.