Digital Joe #23

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I came across an interesting question this week in an online conversation. Quite simply, what makes a great movie.

Sounds simple enough, doesn´t it? Sure it does. We can point to examples of great films because some snotty film society has told us they´re great. We can use the Oscars as justification for what we feel are great films. But when it comes right down to it, how do we identify a great movie?

There were a lot of definitions of "great" thrown around in this conversation. Some people said the movie had to have a lot of explosions or nudity. Profanity, violence, controversy…all these things were included. (Frankly, I think the people who used these words to define a great movie were pulling my leg.)

Then there were the people who felt that the "great" moniker should only be used in the best of cases. The movies that make us think about the world around us. The ones that make us laugh, cry, think, examine and stir us to action. The ones that stick with us for far longer than it takes to walk out of the theater.

I will be the first to acknowledge that not all the movies in my media library (hell, it´s not a collection anymore) are great. But I do think some generalizations can be applied that will help us figure out what a great movie is.

Like I said a moment ago, one of the first things on my list of qualifications to enter the "great" pantheon is the movie has to make me think. Not about the situation in the film, but about how what I just saw in the film applies to my life. The Audrey Hepburn/Shirley McClain film "The Children´s Hour" made me marvel at the power of rumor and fear. Why would such a little girl decide to destroy the lives and careers of two women who were, essentially, her parental units?

The next criteria on my list is that the movie should be, but doesn´t necessarily, need to be epic, either visually or in ambition. The easiest example of this is "The Godfather part II" (which I consider to be perhaps the best movie ever made). With the multitude of storylines, characters, plots and timelines, Francis Ford Coppola constructed a movie which may not be visually ambitious; it´s intention and ambition is more than epic enough to cover the bases.

Perhaps the most important thing I look for in a great movie is if it moves me. Does it get me right in the heart? Does it speak to me? Does it upset me? Anger me? Make me sad? Happy? A movie should be an experience on every level for the audience. If it is immediately forgotten, then what was the point? Last year´s "Brokeback Mountain" (a movie I have declared my love for in this very column) fits here for me. Not because it´s the "gay cowboy" movie, but because the situations Ennis and Jack find themselves in spoke to me on some level. (For those who really want to know, I identified with Jack more than Ennis.) A truly great movie can elicit not only one emotion, but two or three of them at the same time. At the end of "Brokeback", I was simultaneously angry at Ennis, sad for Jack, hopeful that the movie would do some good in our society and filled with optimism that this could be a turning point in film.

Finally, and this is more subjective than objective, a great movie has to hold my attention through the entire production. No looking at clocks or timers; no being distracted by anything else because the action on screen is so captivating that my eyes can´t move off of it. I´ve seen the movie "Alien" a whole host of times. I was in the theater on Halloween night, 2003, to see the release of the Director´s Cut of the film. Even though I knew exactly what would be coming next, I couldn´t take my eyes off of what was going on. I sat transfixed, almost as if I´d never seen this film before. The moment when the Alien is illuminated by Captain Dallas´s flashlight is just as scary and surprising in this viewing as it was anytime prior.

I know someone is going to write and say I forgot about the acting and the story in the four items we just talked about. Yep, both of those things contribute to the greatness of a movie just as much as anything I mentioned-possibly more. However, these two things are parts of numbers one, two, three or four above. Can a movie really be moving without compelling performances and a situation that tugs at the heart? I´ve yet to find one. Can a movie hold your attention without necessarily being a great story? You bet ("The Grinch" is a prime example…it held my attention on the sheer fact that I couldn´t believe what I was seeing on the screen).

So, I´m sure you´re wondering (and I´m going to tell you even if you´re not), what are the great films in my book. I´ve already mentioned two of them: "The Godfather part II" and "Alien". I would have to throw "Star Wars" into the group also, not because it´s necessarily an original story with superb acting and witty dialogue. It gets included because it is a visceral, exciting and memorable experience on nearly every level. It entered the popular lexicon and culture without really trying and, nearly 30 years after the original came out, there isn´t a person out there who doesn´t know the exploits of Han, Luke and Leia.

Robert Wise´s "The Day the Earth Stood Still" shows us a time in which everything was to be feared and a sense of paranoia filled the air. It´s also an allegory for America´s stance toward "aliens"; not only the ones above us, but also the ones who look like us, but speak different languages. It showed our society at a very specific point in time, when political leaders were dividing us apart and when words like "segregation" weren´t considered nearly profane. It also makes you wonder: what would happen, today, if a UFO landed on our planet? Sadly, I doubt much would have changed.

I know when this movie debuted in the theater, I was its biggest proponent while being its harshest critic. I loved nearly everything about it except the horrid, cheesy, happy-go-lucky ending. I hated, and continue to hate, the "E.T."-ish ending and the sappy sentimentality someone felt the perverse need to include. That movie, my friends, is "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence". For the vast majority of this film, everything happening on screen makes perfect sense. The emotions, the logic, the flow of the story…all of it is perfect. The biggest tearjerker scene is when David is confronted with all the androids that have been discarded because they are old and "out of date". It´s an allegory of the highest caliber than, I fear, sailed over the heads of most people. It also happens to be the film´s moral: just because a person is old does not mean they aren´t useful anymore.

Alright guys, it´s your turn now. What qualifications did I miss and what movies are great in your book?

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