my favorite actors
(short list)
1. montgomery clift-my favorite actor ever. i
don't think he ever got a movie that really showed all that he
could do though. it's said about him that he sort of smolders on
the screen, and it's true, i just deeply feel his work,
especially pretty much everything after his accident.
2. marlon
brando-now brando really got a few amazing roles
that he just absolutely made. he WAS kurtz in apocalypse now and
his performance in last tango in paris WAS him, coping with the
deep sense of loss in life and the vast distance there is between
people.
3. richard
burton-burton again is someone who got some great
roles. my favorites are look back in anger, equus, and night of
the iguana.
4. kirk
douglas-i like kirk douglas so much because i love
how emotional he is. lust for life just blows me away. spartacus
too. also lonely are the brave.
5. jimmy stewart-ok, now jimmy stewart has to be
here. i mean come on both as capra's leading man and for his
great films with hitchcock. but it's capra that makes jimmy
stewart so great.
6. burt
lancaster-lancaster seems so cool, a man of such
integrity. my favorites of his are birdman of alcatraz and elmer
gantry.
7. martin donovan-let me just say that martin
donovan is my god. he is my role model, but unfortunately the
lives his characters lead seem unattainable by me.
8. james dean-he signed letters occasionaly "james clift brando dean" so he has to be here. my favorite will always be rebel without a cause.
9. clint eastwood-clint, you gotta love him. i
love dirty harry and wish there were lots of great dirty harry
movies. and you have to love the man with no name, and shit there's unforgiven too.
10. rock
hudson-two reasons he's here: douglas sirk and doris
day. beautiful melodramas and pillow talk. and then there's
seconds.
11. jack
nicholson-the shining, five easy pieces, and one flew
over the cuckoo's nest. oh, and he wrote the trip, which is actually
pretty good. but mostly because nicholson's such a fucking freak.
??. jim carrey!
-jim carrey just really does it
for me. just him, he doesn't need to be in a movie. so of course
i love in living color the best, then ace ventura and the cable guy.
i liked truman show, and man on the moon was a little too depressing for me (and i don't especially like andy kaufman).
my favorite actresses
1. jean arthur-jean arthur is a pearl of a girl.
the girl next door, the kind of girl you hope is there for you
somewhere. make sure you see the devil and miss jones (that's and,
not in).
2. vivien leigh-olivier was a fool to leave her, no matter how crazy she was. she of course is scarlett, but also blanche, and the heavens had better have wept when she died young.
3. greta garbo-like montgomery clift i don't feel
that garbo ever got a movie that showed us everything she could do.
she longs for something, and hides it away.
4. bette davis-now bette takes what she wants. she
made a lot of good films, see the letter if you've never seen it,
it's the work of a woman in love (with the director william wyler).
5. joan
fontaine-joan fontaine seems so fragile. you want to
protect her from the world. rebecca is such a damn good movie. that
and jane eyre are my favorites.
6. parker posey-i swear to god if parker posey
just released a videotape camcorder journal i would buy every
tape she made. i worship at the temple of parker posey, party on
girl!
7. helena bonham carter-star of all those prissy
merchant/ivory productions. i've had a few platonic crushes on her. it was wonderful to see her do something so different as fight club.
8. myrna loy-now myrna stirs up all these earthy
feelings in me. just take a look at the picture of her elsewhere on
this webpage. take me nora charles!
9. veronica lake-oh my god she's so cute. you'll
fall in love with her dressed as a boy in sullivan's travels. then
there's i married a witch and a couple of alan ladd movies.
my favorite directors
1. andrei tarkovsky-tarkovsky makes art films in the
strictest sense of the word. he has a different pace which you may not
get the first or second time. stalker is my favorite film of all time,
a poetry i can deeply relate to.
2. frank capra-capra's movies save lives and give us
hope. we need them like drugs or love. see you can't take it with you
with heavy doses of all his jimmy stewart movies.
3. alfred
hitchcock-he made more good movies than any director ever will again. i wish there were more vertigo's i could look forward to watching.
4. orson welles-now here's a man. jesus. orson, why
can't we have more of him. such a presence, such great black and white.
the world should have handed over whatever resources he ever fucking wanted, and we should have been more than happy with whatever the fuck he gave us.
5. stanley kubrick-a great director who made too few
films. but at least he leaves us with one more. my favorites are the
shining (virtually the only really great horror film) and spartacus.
6. preston sturges-mr. screwball comedy. such a great
writer. everyone should have to see the palm beach story. and remember
"if you can't sleep, it's not the coffee, it's the bunk!"
7. douglas
sirk-let's face it, if you live this life you need
melodrama like crack cocaine. douglas sirk is your mainline
connection. shoot up a 8-ball of a time to love and a time to
die and follow that up with written on the wind.
8. hal hartley-i hope he doesn't start to suck worse like
jim jarmusch. my favorites are surviving desire, amateur, and
trust.
9. woody allen-i don't care for his early, funny ones
so much. my favorites are his romantic comedies and bullets over
broadway, interiors, and deconstructing harry.
10. james ivory-i'm sure all guys have a secret stash
of merchant/ivory films they watch late at night while their girlfriends
are asleep dreaming about leonardo decapitated.
11. mike leigh-he ensures you will have an emotional
experience. secrets & lies will feed you your heart.
well that's it for the moment i guess. i wish i could dance my heart
around the fire like these people. flicker in the moonlight. make you
cry in a dark place. cry cry cry