My Ten Favorite Live-Action Disney Movies

This list was WAY harder to narrow down than yesterday's list of animated favorites!  I grew up watching so many classic Disney movies over and over and over.  I almost cried when I realized I had to leave both Davy Crockett movies off this list.  They were so formative for me!  But I haven't watched them in years now, so I'm leaving them off... but mentioning them here so they aren't entirely neglected ;-)

Once again, titles are linked to my reviews when applicable.

1. The Lone Ranger (2013)  John Reid (Armie Hammer) returns to his Texas hometown after years away at law school. Bad guys ambush him, his brother, and a company of Rangers -- everyone else dies, but a renegade named Tonto (Johnny Depp) saves John Reid's life, and together they try to bring down the greedy men responsible for the deaths of their family members. It's a twisty, fable-like origin story that I never tire of.

2. The Parent Trap (1961)  Twin sisters (Hayley Mills as both) with divorced parents (Maureen O'Hara and Brian Kieth) scheme to bring their parents back together. It's been one of my favorite movies since I was a teen.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)  Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) resorts to commandeering, raiding, pillaging, plundering, and otherwise pilfering his weasely black guts out, all to regain his beloved ship. More fun than a barrel of undead monkeys!

4. The Three Musketeers (1993)  Young d'Artagnan (Chris O'Donnell) just wants to be a Musketeer, but he ends up embroiled in unmasking a plot against the king. His three Musketeer friends (Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Oliver Platt) are hilarious and awesome too. I actually like this better than Alexandre Dumas' book :-o

5. The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)  When three little swindlers kids show up in a slowly-declining California gold rush town, a gambler (Bill Bixby) just passing through winds up taking care of them.  One gold strike, one marriage of convenience involving the local stagecoach driver (Susan Clark), one bank robbery by the bumblingest outlaws in the west (Don Knotts and Tim Conway), and one capture of a notorious outlaw (Slim Pickens) later, and they can finally live happily ever after!

6. The Swiss Family Robinson (1960)  A shipwrecked family (John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Tommy Kirk, and Keven Corcoran) builds a new home on a deserted island.  And fights pirates.  An absolute highlight of visiting Disney World last year, for me, was getting to explore the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse there!

7. Cinderella (2015)  Ella (Lily James) treats her stepmother (Cate Blanchett), a prince (Richard Madden), and her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) with courage and kindness. It's a straightforward, cottagecore retelling of the classic fairy tale, and it delights me.

8. Kidnapped (1960)  A young Scotsman (James MacArthur) gets kidnapped by slave traders hired by the uncle who has cheated out of his inheritance.  He and a fierce highland gentleman (Peter Finch) join forces to escape and make their way back to his home to claim what belongs to him.

9. That Darn Cat! (1965)  An adventurous teen (Hayley Mills) enlists her sister (Dorothy Provine), her best friend (Tom Lowell), and an FBI agent (Dean Jones) in her plot to rescue a kidnapped bank teller from two icky robbers (Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin) by following her cat around town.  Um, yes.  It's very funny and zany and sweet.

10. The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)  During the Great Depression, a young teen (Meredith Salenger) hitches rides across the whole country to find her dad (Ray Wise), sometimes helped by a wolf, and sometimes helped by a sarcastic young hobo (John Cusack).  I saw this when it was first released to VHS in the mid-'80s and have been a John Cusack fan ever since.

Spot any favorites of your own?  Any here you've been meaning to see, but haven't gotten around to yet?  Let's discuss in the comments!

This is my second contribution to the 100 Years of Disney blogathon hosted by Silver Scenes.  Be sure to check out their blog for all the delightful posts people have written to celebrate this event!

My Ten Favorite Animated Disney Movies

This list has only animated movies made by Walt Disney Studios.  No Pixar.  Why?  Because this post is part of the 100 Years of Disney Blogathon hosted this weekend by Silver Scenes, so I wanted to focus solely on Disney's animation studio.  

Titles linked to my reviews, where applicable (but I haven't reviewed that many animated movies, it turns out...).  Are any of these favorites for you too?

1. Robin Hood (1973)  Ye olde story of Robin Hood robbing the rich to feed the poor and battling Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham... except, they're all animated, talking animals. Hilarious and heartwarming and swashbuckling and wonderful. I have loved this movie so long I can't remember the first time I saw it.

2. 101 Dalmatians (1961)  Two dogs and their owners stop the evil Cruella de Ville from turning 101 sweet puppies into a coat. Much less grisly than it sounds but, at the same time, so dark it terrified me when I was very young.  But now, I love it!

3. Tangled (2010)  Rapunzel paints, sings, wields a mean frying pan, and dances her way into the heart of an errant knave and the audience.  I love the way this movie exudes -- and celebrates -- joy and enthusiasm.

4. Aladdin (1992)  A humble thief finds a genie, gets turned into a prince, and tries to steal a princess's heart. I was very nutty about this movie when I was in my early teens.  

5. The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (1977)  Actually, three adventures of a lovable, bumbling teddy bear whose brain may be stuffed with fluff, but whose heart is made of very sturdy stuff indeed.  When my brother was very young, this was his favorite movie.  When my son was very young, this was one of only two movies he ever wanted to watch.  So I have seen it many, many times, but I'm not tired of it!

6. Cinderella (1950)  Classic fairy tale princess story about a sweet, kind, hardworking young girl whose fairy godmother gives her a chance to go to the royal ball.  The rest is princess history.  When I was a kid, I really didn't care much for this movie, but watching it repeatedly with my daughters when they were younger gave me a real appreciation for it.

7. Frozen (2013)  Do I even need to tell you what this is about? Princess Elsa accidentally unleashes an eternal winter and nearly kills her sister, but it turns out all you need is love, just like the Beatles said. Visually stunning AND heart-warming (pun totally intended).

8. Lady and the Tramp (1955)  A prim and proper Cocker Spaniel tames a hound dog with her innocence and loyalty to her humans. Sweet and sentimental, yes, but sassy and funny too.

9. The Jungle Book (1967)  Mowgli just wants to live in the jungle forever, but his bear and panther guardians know he is in terrible danger there.  They are sure it would be much better for him to live in the man village... but I am never quite convinced they're right.  I do much prefer Kipling's Mowgli stories, especially for how they end, but the movie is a lot of fun too.

10. The Aristocats (1970)  A pampered cat and her mischievous kittens are cat-napped and must find their way back home to London with the help of an alley cat, some geese, and their own good sense.  I first saw this in college, and it quickly became a favorite.

Like I said, this is a contribution to the 100 Years of Disney Blogathon.  Come back later this weekend for my top ten list of favorite live-action Disney films!

My Ten Favorite Dramas -- 2023 Update

It's been ten years since I shared my list of my ten favorite dramas, and it is high time for an update!  Things have shifted around a bit from that last list, with several movies dropping off and getting replaced.

1. Ben-Hur (1959) When Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is unjustly imprisoned by his former best friend (Stephen Boyd), he vows revenge, but eventually learns revenge is less sweet than he'd expected. If you ever get the chance to see this in the theater, run, don't walk!  Spectacular stuff.

2. Jane Eyre (1983) A young governess (Zelah Clarke) teaches her employer (Timothy Dalton) about love, respect, and honor. My favorite adaptation of my favorite novel.

3. Chocolat (2000) A mysterious woman (Juliette Binoche) opens a chocolate shop in a sedate French village and teaches its inhabitants to reexamine their attitudes and customs, and even welcome strangers like Johnny Depp.  Sweet and a little tangy here and there.

4. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Three veterans (Dana Andrews, Frederic March, Harold Russell) find returning to civilian life much harder than they'd expected. Bonus: this movie contains THREE love stories! You get love between a husband and wife getting reacquainted, between childhood sweethearts, and between new acquaintances.

5. Apollo 13 (1995) The true story of three astronauts (Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon) who must survive a space ship malfunction on the way to the moon. Never fails to inspire and awe me.

6. Giant (1956) A spoiled East Coast beauty (Elizabeth Taylor) marries a stubborn Texas rancher (Rock Hudson), and they spend twenty-five years trying to figure each other out. One of the first movies I can remember watching!

7. Risen (2016) A Roman tribune (Joseph Fiennes) is tasked with unraveling the mystery about some Jewish guy named Jesus whose body had mysteriously disappeared from his tomb. It's the story of the Resurrection told like a detective story -- who un-killed Jesus?

8. North and South (2004) A woman (Daniela Denby-Ashe) from the pastoral north of England moves to the industrial south and spends months ignoring the fact that a wealthy manufacturer (Richard Armitage) is in love with her.

9. Witness (1985) Detective John Book (Harrison Ford) goes undercover to protect a little Amish boy who is the only witness to a murder. Taut and tender at the same time.

10. And Now Tomorrow (1944) A wealthy young woman (Loretta Young) loses her hearing due to an illness. Though her family and fiance (Barry Sullivan) try to convince her she needs to accept her condition, a young doctor (Alan Ladd) with an experimental treatment holds out hope that she could regain her hearing.

Any movies here you particularly love too?

My Ten Favorite Funny Westerns

Something about the western genre often lends itself to blending with comedy, which I find delightful.  Here are my ten favorite funny westerns -- some are spoofs or meant to be comedies, and others are more just westerns that have a lot of funny stuff in them.

1. Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) A mild-mannered man (James Garner) who is basically just on his way to Australia takes on the job of sheriff in a goldrush boomtown.  His unorthodox methods and unflappable demeanor keep everyone bewildered and off balance, from baddies (including Walter Brennan and Bruce Dern), to the mayor (Henry Morgan), to his former-town-drunk deputy (Jack Elam).  One of the absolute funniest movies I have ever seen.  My family quotes it constantly.

2. The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)  A card sharp (Bill Bixby) takes care of three orphans, marries a stage coach driver (Susan Clark), and captures a famous outlaw (Slim Pickens) while eluding the machinations of two inept would-be robbers (Don Knotts and Tim Conway).  One of my favorites when I was a kid, and still funny and awesome now.

3. North to Alaska (1960) A wealthy Alaska mine owner (John Wayne) brings a dance hall girl (Capucine) back to his claim to replace the woman who jilted his mining partner (Stewart Granger), only to fall in love with her himself.  A western romcom, basically, and one with an amazingly fun brawl in the mud at the end.  Thanks to this movie, I have basically been on my way to Alaska for the last thirty years.

4. Texas Across the River (1966).  A Southern belle (Rosemary Forsyth) pursues her European fiance (Alain Delon) to Texas, where she gets mixed up with an opportunistic gunrunner (Dean Martin).  A few of the jokes have not aged well, but most of them are still laugh-out-loud funny.

5. Along Came Jones (1945) A slow-talking, easy-going cowpoke (Gary Cooper) gets mistaken for a vicious outlaw (Dan Duryea) and falls for the outlaw's girl (Loretta Young). This is a charming western comedy that amuses me greatly.

6. The Sheepman (1958) A sheep rancher (Glenn Ford) insists on raising his sheep in an area dominated by cattle ranchers, no matter how much they pressure or cajole him to be rid of the wooly beasts. The main character's sense of humor and a stubborn and sassy woman (Shirley MacLaine) elevates this above turning into yet another range war picture.

7. McLintock! (1963) A rich rancher (John Wayne) battles his estranged wife (Maureen O'Hara), daughter, land-grabbing bad guys, and various other adversaries. It's actually a western version of The Taming of the Shrew.

8. Cat Ballou (1965) Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) comes home to her family's ranch just in time to witness her father's murder by the notorious (and noseless) Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin). She straps on a gunbelt and sets out to avenge him, eventually gathering up an outlaw gang of comically inept ne'erdowells, including washed-up gunfighter Kid Shelleen (also Lee Marvin). This is a wacky, wild movie, but I like it.

9. Three Amigos! (1986) Three silent movie stars (Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short) are mistaken for actual gunfighters by the people in a small Mexican village being terrorized by a bandit (Alfonso Arau).  It's basically a really silly version of The Magnificent Seven.

10. Rango (2011) A chameleon (Johnny Depp) accidentally winds up in a middle-of-nowhere town that's in desperate need of some law and order.  It's an animated spoof/homage to all the classic westerns, with tropes and archetypes at every turn, and such a loving homage that I can't help but find it both funny and charming.

Yup, this is another contribution to this year's Legends of Western Cinema Week.  Hope you've been enjoying the festivities!

What Makes Me Want to Watch It?

I recently posted a list of ten things that make me want to try out a book over on my book blog.  I had so much fun figuring those out that I thought I should do the same about movies.  What makes me think, "Yup, that is something I would like to watch?" about particular films?  I've come up with ten magnets that will always draw my attention.

1.  It's a western.  I will try basically any movie or TV show based solely on the fact that it is a western.  I don't have to know what it's about.  I don't have to know or care about anyone who's in it, the director, the composer, anything.  It's a western?  I'm there.  (With the obvious caveat that, if I learn it's skanky, I will either proceed with caution or skip it.)

2.  It stars someone I hold dear.  For a fairly large number of actors and actresses, not even remotely limited to my top favorites (actors, actresses), I will try nearly any movie or show.  Nearly -- I do have some standards, so even top favorites occasionally have made something I will pass on.  But the presence of someone I hold dear ties with "it's a western" for the top thing guaranteed to get me to watch something.

3.  It's set during WWII.  I mean, my top favorite TV show of all time (Combat! [1962-67]) is based in WWII.  That should tell you a lot.  A WWII-era setting, whether it's a war zone or the home front, will always grab my interest.

4.  It's based on a good book.  Bonus points if it's a classic book, but yeah, I love movies that are adaptations of books!  I often watch them first to find out if I like the characters and story, then go read the book if I do.  That makes the book feel like an expanded version of the story, rather than making the movie feel like a condensed version of a book I've read.

5.  It has heroes in it.  Yes, that includes superheroes, but it includes a lot more than that, too.  You throw words like "hero," "rescue," "sacrifice," and "courage" at me, and I am instantly paying attention.  I do enjoy superhero movies, but it's heroism in general that draws me to so many action movies, fantasy and sci-fi movies, and so on.  Westerns and war movies appeal to me because they so often involve heroes.

6.  It's film noir.  Got some gritty stories and mean streets and fatally attractive women and weary almost-heroes and murky shadows you could drown in?  I'm here for it.  Yes, heroes are thin on the ground in this genre, but they're there.  And antiheroes abound.

7.  It revolves around a platonic friendship.  If there are two characters who have or form a close bond of friendship, and that's the main relationship that the story centers around, I am interested right away.  So many of my favorite movies and TV shows revolve around either a pair of friends or a group of them!  "Found families" play into this -- group friendship bonds interest me just as much as a friendship between just two people.

8.  It's set in the 1960s.  My husband likes to tease me that I grew up in the sixties.  I didn't -- I wasn't born until the eighties -- but when I was growing up, most of the movies and TV shows we watched at home were made in the sixties because that's when my parents grew up, so that's what formed their taste.  And so, it's what formed my taste.  Whether a movie or show was made in the sixties or later on, if that's when it's set, I want to try it out!

9.  Someone I trust tells me I would like it.  I definitely will try movies just because specific people tell me I should.  My parents, my brother, DKoren, and two or three other people can get me to watch a movie on their recommendation alone.

10. It has a detective in it.  Yes, I love mysteries.  I particularly love to read them, but I enjoy watching them too.  Many of my favorite TV shows revolve around detectives solving crimes, and I like movies about them too.

So, basically, if it has a certain setting or specific types of characters, or simply stars particular people, I'm interested!  

My Ten Favorite Alan Ladd Roles

Happy Alaniversary to me!  Seven years ago today, I fell hard for Alan Ladd, and I haven't recovered.  Nor do I want to ;-)  Today, I'm celebrating by sharing my ten favorite roles Ladd played.  I have seen about thirty of his movies (many of them over and over and over) by now, and reviewed nearly two dozen of them, but I've never really stopped to figure out who my favorite characters of his were, other than the top three, which I have long loved best.

It amuses me how differently things are ranked here from my Ten Favorite Alan Ladd Movies list and my Ten Favorite Alan Ladd Westerns list.  In fact, there are three characters on here whose stories don't appear on either of those lists!  So interesting how I can love a character more than the movie they're in, or a movie more than the characters in it.

1. Shane in Shane (1953)

Shane has so much dignity, grace, courage, integrity... it's no wonder that this performance is the one Ladd is remembered best for.  His past and future are mysteries, but we can tell he's haunted by his past, which clearly involved being a gunman.

2. Luke "Whispering" Smith in Whispering Smith (1948)

Luke Smith is a railroad detective, basically.  He's another upright, brave, uncompromising guy who puts others above himself and stands up for what's right even if it means great personal sacrifice.  It was watching Whispering Smith and Shane back-to-back that made me fall for Ladd in the first place :-)

3. Dan Holliday in Box 13 (1948-49)(radio show)

Holliday is a former newspaper reporter who decides to try writing fiction.  To get ideas for his stories, he puts an ad in the paper that says he's seeking adventure and will go anywhere and tackle any problem.  This leads to a whole lot of mysteries to solve, crimes to investigate, people to rescue, and other sundry adventures.  I've actually been a fan of this radio show longer than I've been a Ladd devotee!

4. Choya in Branded (1950)  

Choya is a drifting loner with a streak of decency.  Even when he's mixed up in something illegal, he ends up doing the right thing to help and protect others.  And standing up for others helps him realign his own moral compass in the process.

5. John Chandler in The Proud Rebel (1958)

Chandler is a kind, loving father who would do anything to help his young son be able to speak again.  He's a former Confederate soldier who lost everything but his son during the war, and his attempts to build a new life for them both are heart-melting.

6. Captain Webster "Web" Carey in Captain Carey, USA (1949)

Web Carey is a brave and honorable guy who believes he was betrayed by the woman he loved back when he was a spy during WWII.  When he discovers that everything he believed about that betrayal may have been a lie, he'll do whatever it takes to learn the truth.  Even if that might break his own heart all over again.

7. Thomas O'Rourke in Saskatchewan (1954)

O'Rourke was raised by Canadian Indians, but is now a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  He tries everything to keep peace between native tribes and white settlers, putting his own safety and reputation on the line repeatedly.

8. Dr. Merek Vance in And Now Tomorrow (1944)

Merek Vance is one of the characters Ladd played the most earlier in his career -- a cold, calculating man who is not interested in kindness or friendship or love... until he meets a girl who brings out the good parts of himself he's kept hidden inside.  In this case, he's actually a good guy, a philanthropic doctor who spends most of his time treating poor people who can't afford his treatments.  He just is more interested in science than his patients... until now...

9. Major Larry Briggs in Saigon (1947)

Briggs and his two pals, all ex-GIs, are only really interested in making money.  He definitely doesn't like or trust women, as you can see from the picture above.  He and his buddies are loyal to each other, but don't care much about anyone else until... 

10. Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1949)

Poor Jay Gatsby.  Hopeful, yearning, always reaching for what he can't have, never ready to give up on his great dream.  Betrayed, hurt, wistful... Gatsby is pretty much tailor-made for Alan Ladd to play.

This has been a really fun list to come up with, and I may have to do similar gatherings of favorite roles for other actors and actresses I love!  It's rather different from just "favorite films," and I like that.

My Ten Favorite Swashbucklers

Swashbucklers are their own brand of swaggering cool, aren't they?  Devil-may-care heroes, feisty heroines, and plenty of sword fights and chases and fisticuffs to keep things galloping along.  A good swashbuckler is pretty well guaranteed to raise my spirits even on the gloomiest day.  Here are my favorites!

1. The Princess Bride (1987)  After Buttercup's (Robin Wright) true love Westley (Cary Elwes) is murdered by pirates, she agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), but gets kidnapped before the wedding. I'll never forget the first time I saw this movie -- it changed my ideas about humor and fantasy forever.

2. The Mask of Zorro (1998)  An aging Zorro (Anthony Hopkins) is unmasked and imprisoned by the greedy and cruel Don Montero (Stuart Wilson), who also steals his baby daughter Elena.  When Montero and a grown Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones) return to California, Zorro trains a bumbling thief (Antonio Banderas) to be his successor and fight oppression in his place.  I saw this in the theater the summer before I went to college, and it kind of dominated my life for a while.  I had the poster on my dorm room wall, I listened to the soundtrack until my roommates were sick of it, and I watched the movie so often I basically memorized it.  Twenty-five years later, I'm still not tired of it!

3. The Black Swan (1942)  Former pirate captain Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power) kidnaps, then woos, then rescues a governor's feisty daughter (Maureen O'Hara) while also helping Governor Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar) clear the pirates out of the Caribbean.  This is one of the most fun movies I have ever seen, and I judge all other pirate movies by it.

4. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)  Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) has a jolly time robbing the rich Normans to feed the poor Saxons, wooing Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland), and foiling Prince John (Claude Rains) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) when they plot to steal the throne from King Richard (Ian Hunter).  It has everything I could possibly want in a Robin Hood movie :-D

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)  Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) resorts to commandeering, raiding, pillaging, plundering, and otherwise pilfering his weasely black guts out, all to regain his beloved ship. More fun than a barrel of undead monkeys!

6. The Three Musketeers (1993)  Young d'Artagnan (Chris O'Donnell) just wants to be a Musketeer, but he ends up embroiled in unmasking a plot against the king. His three Musketeer friends (Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Oliver Platt) are hilarious and awesome too.

7. The Count of Monte Cristo (1975)  Simple, honest sailor Edmund Dantes (Richard Chamberlain) is betrayed by his supposed friends and sent to prison on false charges. He escapes, gains staggering wealth, and seeks vengeance against his enemies. Based on the book by Alexandre Dumas, king of the swashbucklers.

8. The Mark of Zorro (1940)  Diego de la Vega (Tyrone Power) returns home to California from studying in Spain and discovers oppression and injustice everywhere.  He disguises himself as a cunning rogue called Zorro and sets about righting wrongs and championing the poor and dueling with Basil Rathbone and generally having a grand time.

9. Against All Flags (1952)  A roguish naval officer (Errol Flynn) pretends to be a pirate in order to infiltrate a pirate stronghold, only to find himself falling for a strong-willed, lemon-tongued Pirate Captain (Maureen O'Hara). Jolly good fun.

10. The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)  A British hunter (Stewart Granger) masquerades as the king (Stewart Granger) of a small European nation so that the king's enemies (including James Mason) can't usurp the throne while the king lies ill. Things get complicated when the fake king falls in love with the woman (Deborah Kerr) who is intended to marry the real king. 

Well, those are my ten favorite swashbuckler movies!  If you'd like to see my list of favorite swashbuckler books, I recently posted that on my book blog :-)

My Ten Favorite New-to-Me Movies of 2022

Happy New Year!

No time like the present to look back over my movie-watching for the past year and share what my ten favorite new-to-me movies were, right?  Here we go!

1. The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) A British hunter (Stewart Granger) masquerades as the king (Stewart Granger) of a small European nation so that the king's enemies (including James Mason) can't usurp the throne while the king lies ill.  Things get complicated when the fake king falls in love with the woman (Deborah Kerr) who is intended to marry the real king.  Much swashbuckling ensues.

2. 36 Hours (1964) A high-ranking Allied officer (James Garner) is kidnapped by Nazis just before the Normandy invasion so they can try to trick him into telling them where the Allies intend to invade.  This movie kept both my husband and I on the edges of our seats, in the best way possible.  Absolutely terrific.

3. Hamlet at Elsinore (1964) Marvelous production of Hamlet actually filmed in the Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark.  Hamlet (Christopher Plummer) must figure out if his uncle-stepfather Claudius (Robert Shaw) actually killed his father or not.  He's assisted by his friend Horatio (Michael Caine), but eventually loses his throne to Fortinbras (Donald Sutherland) after all.

4. Paris When it Sizzles (1964) A screenwriter (William Holden) tries to cure his writer's block and write his next smash hit with the help of a typist (Audrey Hepburn) with quirky and funny results. I feel like Alex and Emma (2003) is basically a remake of this movie, though I suppose they might both just be inspired by the true story of Fyodor Dostoyevsky writing a book under a tight deadline with the help of a stenographer that he fell in love with and subsequently married.

5. Lilies of the Field (1963) A wandering handyman (Sidney Poitier) gets conned into helping a group of German nuns build a new chapel.  This is an oddball movie, and no mistake, but filled with sweet charm.

6. Gold of the Seven Saints (1961) Two fur trappers (Clint Walker and Roger Moore) find gold and then try to keep two different bands of outlaws from finding and stealing it.  It's a story that's been told onscreen quite a few times, but I love that the treasure didn't actually make these two friends have a falling-out AND there is one line that Clint Walker says at the end that is so unequivocally perfect and unexpected and wonderful that I must love this movie.  Also, Roger Moore as a fur trapper must be seen to be believed.

7. The Beautician and the Beast (1997) A New York City beauty school teacher (Fran Drescher) gets hired to teach the children of an East-European Dictator (Timothy Dalton) because one of his aides thinks she's a science teacher.  I love how they fall in love because she's the first person who has told him the straight truth and treated him like a person in a very long time, and how her kind heart keeps her truth-telling constructive instead of destructive.  

8. Wild Harvest (1947) Two friends (Alan Ladd and Robert Preston) own and lead a group of combine harvesters who travel around harvesting crops for farmers.  They have a falling out over a woman (Dorothy Lamour) who marries one of them but desires the other.  Yes, it's a movie about guys harvesting crops.  Yes, the whole thing is held together by the buddies-to-enemies dynamic between Ladd and Preston.

9. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) An unruly pilot (Tom Cruise) teaches a bunch of hotshot pilots how to not get killed on an important mission.  Actually has more of a plot than the first Top Gun (1986), and I love how they were able to include Val Kilmer despite his health problems.

10. The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) A British hunter (Ronald Colman) masquerades as the king (Ronald Colman) of a small European nation so that the king's enemies (including Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) can't usurp the throne while the king lies ill.  Things get complicated when the fake king falls in love with the woman (Madeleine Carroll) who is intended to marry the real king.  Much swashbuckling ensues.

Um, yes.  Two different versions of The Prisoner of Zenda are on this list.  And what makes those wilder is that they used the exact same shooting script for both of them.  I like the 1952 better, mostly because I like all three leads much more, but the 1937 is really excellent too.

Some years, it's tricky to come up with a top ten because I watched so many good new movies, I have trouble deciding on ten.  Some years, it's easier because I didn't watch that many new-to-me movies that I loved.  This was one of those years -- I think I came up with 12 possibles for this list, so narrowing it down to ten wasn't hard at all!

Sweeping Away My Autumn To-Do List 2022

Today is the end of November, and tomorrow will officially feel like winter in my mind, even if it won't be very wintery outside where we live for another 6 to 8 weeks.  That means I'm ready to see how I did with the items on my Autumn To-Do List for the year.  Here we go!

(All photos are my own, mostly from my Instagram account)

~ Publish My Rock and My Refuge -- Check!  My retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" is out in the world, and you can buy it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, Book Depository... or directly from me!

~ Finish my third Classics Club List -- Check!  You can see it right here.  I read fifty classic books for it in just over two years :-o

~ Start a new Classics Club List and read 2 books for it -- Check! My new list is right here, and I've read six books for it already!  They were:

• The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
• Prince of Thieves by Alexandre Dumas
• Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Among the Shadows by L. M. Montgomery
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
• The Christmas Hirelings by M. E. Braddon (review to come)

~ Read 12 books off my TBR shelves -- Check!  I read thirteen:

• Flight by Jan Burke
• The Convivial Homeschool by Mystie Winckler
• Crown and Cinder by Kendra E. Ardnek
• Song of the Valley by Britt Howard
• Prince of Thieves by Alexandre Dumas
• Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Among the Shadows by L. M. Montgomery
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
• The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish by Karina Yan Glaser
• Kidnapped by Jan Burke
• Gilead by Marilynn Robinson
• All is Calm; All is Bright by Colleen Coble (review to come)
• The Christmas Hirelings by M. E. Braddon (review to come)

~ Watch 3 movies off my TBW shelves -- Check!  I watched six:

• Marlowe (1969)
• Nightmare Alley (1947)
• Gold of the Seven Saints (1961)
• Kidnapped (1971)
• Dead Man's Folly (1986)
• The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

~ See Marlowe in the theater -- Fail, but only because its release has been pushed away to February.  Not my fault at all.  I WILL see it, if it's playing anywhere within an hour's drive.

~ See See How They Run in the theater -- Fail.  I blame publishing a book for eating up all my free time for most of this autumn.  I hope to get it from the library.

~ Watch Andor on Disney+ -- Semi-fail.  We only have 4 episodes left to watch, and I'm hoping to burn through them with Cowboy over the next couple weekends.  I am really, really digging the show, but he's kind of meh about it, so that's part of why we haven't finished it yet.

~ Host an Oktoberfest gathering -- Check!  We had some lovely friends over to enjoy good German food and lots of conversation and fun.

~ Go to Colonial Williamsburg for the brick firing -- Check!  We rented a beautiful 1700s house with my brother's family and stayed there with them and my mom for four nights, visiting Colonial Williamsburg and the Yorktown Battlefield, riding the ferry across the James River over and over, and generally having a jolly, yet restful time.

~ Make pumpkin cream cheese muffins -- Check!  I made them twice, in fact.

~ Host my TENTH annual Tolkien Blog Party! -- Check!  We had a wonderful time celebrating J. R. R. Tolkien and his wonderful writing.  Can't wait to do it again next year!

Onward and upward! Wintertime, here I come :-)

My Ten Favorite Fantasy Movies -- 2022 Update

I made my first list of ten favorite fantasy movies almost ten years ago -- in 2013!  It's high time for an updated version.

I'm defining fantasy here as involving magic or something supernatural somehow. So these aren't necessarily all swords-and-sorcerers stuff, but they do all involve non-real, magical things happening.

You'll notice that I'm counting the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy as just one film each.  Otherwise they'd take over way too much of the list, and that would be silly.

1. The Lord of the Rings (2001-03) Nine companions from the four races of Middle Earth journey to Mount Doom destroy the One Ring and thus defeat evil Lord Sauron and his plans to take over the world.

2. The Princess Bride (1987) After Buttercup's (Robin Wright) true love Westley (Cary Elwes) is murdered by pirates, she agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), but gets kidnapped before the wedding. I'll never forget the first time I saw this movie -- it changed my ideas about humor and fantasy forever.

3. The Hobbit (2012-14) Fourteen companions from three races of Middle Earth journey to the Lonely Mountain to destroy the dragon Smaug and regain the dwarvish treasure there.

4. Willow (1988) Two reluctant companions (Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer) journey to protect a baby princess and thus defeat the evil queen and her plans to take over the world.

5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), noted professor of archealogy, spends more time out chasing down antiquities that have mystical powers (or are worth lots of money) than he does teaching classes. Who can blame him?

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) resorts to commandeering, raiding, pillaging, plundering, and otherwise pilfering his weasely black guts out, all to regain his beloved ship. More fun than a barrel of undead monkeys!

7. Cinderella (2015)  Ella (Lily James) treats her stepmother (Cate Blanchett), a prince (Richard Madden), and her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) with courage and kindness. It's a fabulously faithful retelling of the classic fairy tale, and it delights me.

8. The 13th Warrior (1999) An Arab exile (Antonio Banderas) joins a band of Norse warriors in their bold attempt to defeat the freaky bear-men-things that are attacking a bunch of small villages. Swords and danger and glory galore!

9. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) grows up lean and mean on the Londinium streets, not learning he's the son of the late king (Eric Bana) until he's an adult. He reluctantly agrees to take on his uncle, Vortigen (Jude Law), who killed Arthur's father and usurped the throne. This one is a fun ride.

10. The Mummy (1999) A librarian (Rachel Weisz) and her brother (John Hannah) convince an adventurer (Brendan Fraser) to lead them on an archaeological expedition that quickly gets way more exciting than they ever expected. I like the sequel almost as well.

I've only reviewed a couple of these, sorry.  For those ones, I've linked my reviews to their titles here.

Autumn 2022 To-Do List

I've got a really busy autumn ahead of me, so let's do this!  Here are a whole lot of things I want to accomplish, goals I want to reach, and fun stuff I want to try between now and the end of November.

~ Publish My Rock and My Refuge -- I am planning on a November release, I just don't have a date picked out quite yet.  I'm starting to gather up stuff for a book launch goody package, though, which will include the above bookmark...

~ Finish my third Classics Club List

~ Start a new Classics Club List and read 2 books for it

~ Read 12 books off my TBR shelves

~ Watch 3 movies off my TBW shelves

~ See Marlowe in the theater

~ See See How They Run in the theater

~ Watch Andor on Disney+

~ Host an Oktoberfest gathering

~ Go to Colonial Williamsburg for the brick firing

~ Make pumpkin cream cheese muffins

~ Host my TENTH annual Tolkien Blog Party!  

I definitely have a busy autumn ahead!  How about you?  Any reading or watching or creating plans for the next few months?

Farewell to my Summer 2022 To-Do List

Labor Day has come and gone.  While summer weather tends to linger through September here, leaves are starting to turn different colors and pumpkin spice everything is filling the stores, so... time to see what I checked off of my Summer To-Do List and start gearing up for an autumnal one.

(Any idea why I snapped this picture at the Zane Grey museum?)

~ Keep pushing My Rock and My Refuge closer to publication Check!  I expect to have a release date set by the end of this month -- probably in November, but before Thanksgiving.

~ Start reposting my old Femnista articles here Check!  I've posted a couple already, and will continue to do so.  It's fun getting to discuss them in the comments here.

~ Read 3 books from my current Classics Club List Check!  I read five, which means that now, I only need to read ONE more book and I'll have finished my third batch of fifty books!  Anyway, the five I read this summer were:

• Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
• What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
• The Black Swan by Rafael Sabatini
• What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge
• These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review to come)

(Couldn't swim for six weeks because I broke my arm while rollerskating,
so I read by the pool while my kids swam.)

~ Read 12 books off my TBR shelves  Check!  I read nineteen :-o  Quite a few of those were from being laid up with my broken arm, and going on a couple of short road trips helped a lot too.

• Jane Eyre (Manga Classics) by Charlotte Bronte, Crystal S. Chan, and SunNeko Lee
• Liar by Jan Burke
• The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found by Karina Yan Glaser
• Emma (Manga Classics) by Jane Austen, Crystal S. Chan, and Po Tse
• What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
• The Count of Monte Cristo (Manga Classics) by Alexandre Dumas, Crystal S. Chan, and Nokman Poon
• Seventh City by Emily Hayse
• Pride and Prejudice (Manga Classics) by Jane Austen, Crystal S. Chan, and Po Tse
• Murder by the Book by Rex Stout
• Sense and Sensibility (Manga Classics) by Jane Austen, Stacy King, and Po Tse
• Bones by Jan Burke
• The Black Swan by Rafael Sabatini
• Hamlet (Manga Classics) by William Shakespeare, Crystal S. Chan, and Julien Choy
• What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge
• Rose Petals and Snowflakes by Kendra E. Ardnek
• From These Dark Depths by Vanessa Rasanen
• Great Expectations (Manga Classics) by Charles Dickens, Crystal S. Chan, and Nokman Poon (review to come)
• The Cherokee Trail by Louis L'Amour (review to come)
• Bowdrie by Louis L'Amour

(from my Instagram account)

~ Watch 6 movies off my TBW shelves Check!  I watched ten, again partly because I was laid up with a broken arm and couldn't do much but sit in the recliner and read or watch movies for ten days.  The DVDs I got off my TBW shelves were:

Blood Alley (1955)

Vengeance Valley (1951)

Paris When it Sizzles (1964)

Moonfleet (1955)

The Saint Takes Over (1940)

Death on the Nile (1978)

Redhead from Wyoming (1953)

Leverage season 5 (2007-08)

The Saint in Palm Springs (1941)

Wild Harvest (1947)

(my downfall)

~ Go see Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris in the theater  Fail.  It was only here a couple weeks, and I was either gone or busy the whole time.  Booo :-(

~ Go see Vengeance in the theater  Fail.  Just never got there.

~ Co-host Legends of Western Cinema Week once again Check!  Visit this post for a complete roster of links to all the contributed posts.

~ Go to Tweetsie Railroad with my whole family Check!  We had a wonderful day there :-)

~ Go to Colonial Williamsburg Fail.  Never got around to it.  Partly because of the broken arm, and partly because of going other places and having lots of busy stuff going on.

(never had a cast, just surgery to put in a plate, and then an arm brace)

~ Find a good copycat recipe for Dole Whip Check!  DKoren shared one that we all liked so much, we made it multiple times.

~ Make red, white, and blue popsicles for our Independence Day party Check!  They turned out really cute, though we ended up not eating them at the party.  But we shared them with friends a different time instead.

That's a wrap on the summer of 2022 for me!

My Ten Favorite Female-centric Westerns

When you think of western movies, I'm betting you think of stories that revolve around men.  Lone gunmen, groups of men, a man and a sidekick, and so on.  But there are actually quite a few westerns that are centered on women.  

Because people were grappling with life-and-death issues like food, shelter, and enemies trying to kill you in the Old West, they weren't always so caught up on little things like whether women should own and run businesses, boss men around, make decisions, choose their own husbands, defend themselves, own and work the land, and so on!  Hollywood has often used that reality to help tell stories about women that might not be suited to other time periods, including the ones they were making the movies in.

It may surprise you to find that 7/10 of the movies on this list were made before the year 1970.  Strong Female Characters might not be as recent a phenomenon as you've been led to believe.

Anyway!  Here they are :-)  Titles are linked to my reviews where applicable.

1. The Rare Breed (1966)

A British widow (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter (Juliet Mills) accompany the prize bull they've sold on its way to its new owner (Brian Keith) with the help of a determined cowhand (James Stewart). I've seen this so often, the characters all feel like dear old friends.

2. The Quick and the Dead (1995)

A woman gunfighter (Sharon Stone) enters a quick-draw contest because she believes it's her best chance to avenge her father being murdered by a former outlaw (Gene Hackman).  This movie has one of my absolute favorite Russell Crowe characters in it, but the movie really belongs to The Lady.

3. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

A woman (Jane Powell) marries a man (Howard Keel) she just met that same day, and she's excited about the prospect of keeping house for just the two of them, back up in the mountains where he lives.  He fails tell her he has six brothers back home that he expects her to cook for too, and she is less than amused when she finds out. Trust me, this retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is funnier than it sounds. Also, it has gobs and gobs of awesome dancing.

4. Angel and the Badman (1947)

Penelope Worth (Gail Russell) might not be quite an angel, but then again, Quirt Evans (John Wayne) isn't quite a bad man either. Her Quaker family takes him in when he's wounded, and he does everything in his power to make sure they don't regret that decision even though he's pitted himself against some pretty desperate characters.  Of all the movies on this list, this is the only one where you could argue that the woman isn't the central character, but Penny is so pivotal that I really think it counts.

5. Australia (2008)

A determined Englishwoman (Nicole Kidman) and a drifting Drover (Hugh Jackman) struggle to save each other and an orphaned Aboriginal child (Brandon Walters) in Australia's Outback during World War Two. This is the only movie that has ever given me cowboys and WWII soldiers in the same story.

6. True Grit (2010)

A fourteen-year-old girl (Hailee Steinfeld) hires a crotchety US Marshal (Jeff Bridges) to track down the man who murdered her father, and insists on accompanying him on the quest.  I love the unusual flavor of this movie's dialog, which comes straight from the book by Charles Portis.  You can read my review of the book here.

7. Calamity Jane (1953)

A completely fictional story revolving around Calamity Jane (Doris Day), Wild Bill Hickock (Howard Keel), and a big mix-up involving a famous singer who is supposed to come to Deadwood, but doesn't.  My favorite thing about it is that Calamity Jane's character arc doesn't involve her gaining a husband by giving up her "outrageous" behavior of wearing buckskins and trousers, shooting at outlaws, and guarding stagecoaches.  Instead, she finds love with a man who appreciates who she already is, not who she could become.

8. Cat Ballou (1965)

Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) comes home to her family's ranch just in time to witness her father's murder by the notorious (and noseless) Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin).  She straps on a gunbelt and sets out to avenge him, eventually gathering up an outlaw gang of comically inept ne'erdowells, including washed-up gunfighter Kid Shelleen (also Lee Marvin).  This is a wacky, wild movie, but I like it.

9. The Redhead from Wyoming (1953)

A beautiful woman (Maureen O'Hara) arrives in town and starts running a saloon and buying cattle, all at the behest of a former lover (Alexander Scourby) who is trying to start a range war between the big cattle barons and the smaller farmers and ranchers.  A new sheriff (Alex Nicol) stands up against him, and the woman has to choose which side she'll support because the townsfolk like her so much, they'll follow her, not either of the men.

10. Westward the Women (1951)

One hundred and forty women travel west in a wagon train to find new husbands.  On the way, they learn to hitch horses to wagons, shoot and hunt, ford rivers, and generally protect themselves while surviving.  It's one of the most realistic portrayals of a wagon train that I have seen.

You'll notice that four of these are currently part of my Legends of Western Cinema Week giveaway, just in case you want to get a chance to own and watch them for yourself!  And, yes, this top ten list has been one of my contributions to this year's LOWCW shindig.

If you enjoyed this list, you might also enjoy some of my other Top Ten Favorite lists: 

Western Movies

Western TV Shows

Alan Ladd Westerns

John Wayne Westerns

Western Movie Couples

Western Movie Soundtracks

Episodes of The Magnificent Seven