I love my film collection, it's something I will pass on to my children I suppose. It's quite large at the moment but I fill it with some more films almost every week, so here are some newbies to my list.
Ball of Fire: I sort of think of this as Howard Hawks' unsung comedy. Although "Bringing Up Baby", and "His Girl Friday" seem to be talked about time and time again, not a lot of notice is given to this equal gem. To start off with it was written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, and contains one of Barbara Stanwyks' best comedic performances as well as Gary Cooper's.
Rio Bravo: Another Hawks classic. I owned this before but the two disc special edition was too hard to pass up, even though I had the Howard Hawks documentary on my "Bringing up Baby" DVD. This is my absolute favorite western. It's the pinnacle of male commeraderie movies that Hawks was so famous for, it contains Dean Martin's best performance ever, and John Wayne has never been so John Waynish.
Scarface (1932) Do you sense a pattern? Yet another Hawks classic, this is probably my favorite of the early gangster films which included "Public Enemy" and "Little Caesar", it's use of violence was influential at the time, (who could forget Boris Karloff getting it in the bowling alley). Even though I may upset those DePalma/Pacino fans, I would have to say I enjoy this version more than famous bloated remake, but for anyone who hasn't seen this film it's interesting just to compare the two.
Becket: I love Peter O'Toole, and this is probably the most enjoyable role I've ever seen him in. He takes command as the ruthless sometimes spoiled King Henry II and steals every scene he's in. Richard Burton takes the more distiguished role of Becket, and it's great seeing these two acting giants but heads together.
The Lion in the Winter: A sequal of sorts to "Becket" with O'Toole again plaing King HenryII this time battling his Queen (Katherine Hepburn wonderful as always) on which one of their sons will replace him on the throne. This is one wicked well written and strongly acted film as it depicts probably the most dysfuntional family ever put on screen.
The Man from Laramie: James Stewart and Anthony Mann made a series of strong westerns in the 50s, this is one of their best. Stewart plays a loner who strolls into town to find the man who killed his brother. He meets a family with a psychotic brother who shoots him in the hand at point blank range for starters. For western fans this is a must see.
Gilda: Rita Hayworth's most famous role, she certainly steals the show and is at her best singing "Put the Blame on Mame". There is also a meloncholy to her role, it's just too bad this is all resolved with one of the worst endings I've ever seen.
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