My 150 Favorite Movies - #57

Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960)

Speaking of great music documentaries, Jazz on a Summer's Day is absolutely at the top of my list. The only film directed by acclaimed photographer Bert Stern (the character of Don Draper on Mad Men is said to have been based at least partially on Stern), the film features performances from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival intercut with images of Newport, Narragansett Bay, and the 1958 America's Cup Trials, set in Newport. Featuring outstanding performances from such artists as Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan, Chuck Berry, George Shearing, and my personal favorite, Anita O'Day, the film is as much a pleasure to look at as to listen to. In 1999, Jazz on a Summer's Day was included for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

My 150 Favorite Movies - #58

Stop Making Sense (1984)

If what makes for a good rock documentary is intoxicating energy, then Stop Making Sense is a great documentary. Acclaimed director Jonathan Demme filmed the rock band Talking Heads over three days at the Pantages theater in Los Angeles, at the end of 1983, during their tour for the album Speaking in Tongues. We get to see the indescribable charisma, as well as the genius of David Byrne, and the amazing performing chops of fellow "Heads" Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison as they perform in front of a live audience, along with such illustrious guest performers as Alex Weir and Lynn Mabry. Inarguably, one of the best concert movies ever made.

My 150 Favorite Movies - #59

The More the Merrier (1943)

The cutest "meet cute" that there ever was in the movies, in which Jean Arthur sublets half her apartment to housing specialist Charles Coburn during the wartime housing shortage in Washington D.C. He, in turn, sublets his half to young and handsome Joel McCrea, who needs a place to stay before being shipped overseas. That's essentially the entire plot of The More the Merrier, a sweet little movie with no shortage of charm. This was the last film directed by George Stevens before he entered the armed forces. Charles Coburn won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Best line: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

My 150 Favorite Movies - #60

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Gloria Swanson dons the part of her career in her role as Norma Desmond, an aging screen goddess, from silent film days, which closely mimics her real life career. Erich von Stroheim costars as her former director, turned Butler, and keeper. And William Holden plays a failed screenwriter who gets in way over his head when he begins to tangle with the formidable Miss Desmond. An unforgettable film noir, directed by Billy Wilder, and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and won three, including for Best Screenplay. Frequently cited as one of the best films of the twentieth-century, Sunset Boulevard was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

My 150 Favorite Movies - #61

The Parallax View (1974)

There is a long list of political conspiracy thrillers out of Hollywood, among them The Manchurian Candidate, All the President's Men, The Contender, and  Arlington Road. The Parallax View stands with the best of them, in terms of suspense, crackerjack plotting, and climactic moments that chill to the bone. The estimable Warren Beatty stars, and the inestimable Alan J. Pakula directs.

My 150 Favorite Movies - #62

Airplane! is arguably, if not the funniest movie ever, then certainly one of the two or three most quotable funny movies, ever. (I myself often find myself spouting the line, "I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!") This tale of an ex-pilot, afraid to fly, being the only person on board capable of landing an aircraft, borrows its plot heavily from Zero Hour!,  but also references at least a half dozen other movies from the golden age of cinema. It also revived the careers of a number of heretofore straight-arrow middle-aged actors, including Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Peter Graves. This was the first, and best of a long series of spoofs from the writer-directors Jim Abrahams, and Jerry and David Zucker. Compulsively watchable.