Fletch's Favored Five: 1991 in film

Now, the second in a continuing series in which I count down my favorites from a particular year in film.

I'm going to use my friend Wikipedia to kickstart my brain, year by year, and I'll throw out a Favored Five here and there. If you want to refresh your memory in a similar fashion, just go to Wiki and type "[four-character year] in film." Here's the one for 1991. I won't pretend that Wiki is the end-all, be-all of filmic knowledge or that these yearly lists are 100% accurate, but they're an excellent place to start and a great resource.

1991
I was 14 years old for most of this year. As such, many of my favorites from this year are appropriately...juvenile (immature?). Still, having a look back at the movies of 1991 makes one thing abundantly clear: this was a pretty crappy year for cinema. It's no surprise that The Silence of the Lambs dominated so heavily at the Oscars (it won 5 of the 7 "major" awards) - it's competition was Bugsy, Beauty and the Beast, The Prince of Tides, and JFK, all movies that may be loved by some, but won't be making any canons any time soon (note: Beauty is amongst the notables I have not seen; see below).

Notable movies not yet seen:
Beauty and the Beast
Boyz N the Hood
La Femme Nikita
Jungle Fever

Honorable Mentions
Barton Fink
City Slickers
The Fisher King
The Addams Family
The Silence of the Lambs

5. Lionheart - Stop judging me - this is a list of favorites, not necessarily the best of the bunch, alright? And while I'm at it, read that sentence again when you get to the next choice. Lionheart may not be my favorite JCVD flick, but it's a load of fun, complete with Bizarro Troy Aikman, an Andre the Giant stand-in, many attempts at "acting" by Jean-Claude, and the immortal screams of Harrison Paige (spotlighted/interviewed on this fun podcast over at natsukashi): "That dude's gonna kill yo ass, man!!" (U.S release date was in January of '91.)

4. Hudson Hawk - Yes, Hudson Hawk. Universally panned, even by me, at the time of its release. Yet I came to love the Hawk; it's campy, it's got David Caruso playing a mute (oh, the irony, and yes that was him in the Just Because post a couple days back), James Coburn playing a nasty, Frank Stallone, Richard Grant and Sandra Bernhard playing one of the most perverse couples you've seen onscreen, show tunes, bad jokes, cat burglars, and of course, Leonardo DaVinci. A phenomenal bomb, but one that's a hell of a lot of fun if you just let yourself go. It should come as no surprise that I'm a fan of Last Action Hero as well - a failure in a similar vein with many of the same strengths. Maybe I ought to see The Love Guru after all...

3. Defending Your Life - This movie gets better with every viewing, and god bless HBO for airing it pretty frequently. It didn't earn a ton upon its release - just $16 million - but I'd venture that it would make the Top 5 or 10 of this year for many people these days. Brooks is at his neurotic best, Streep is Streep, loads of gags and great writing (the Past Lives Pavilion being the best, of course) and Rip Torn steals every scene he's in, all the more impressive because that's a lot of them.

2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - No brainer. Probably makes the top spot of just about every person's list that doesn't have Lambs on top. But as great as it is, I just don't/can't love it as much as...



1. Point Break - Yes, in case you aren't aware, I absolutely, positively, unironically love this film. It is not a guilty pleasure - it's a damn fine action film, certainly one of the best of the last 25 years (odd then that T2 came out in the same year, as it's another one of 'em). Reeves is perfectly cast, Swayze dominates in the role of his lifetime, Busey...well, what can you say about him. Throw in some great character actors (Tom Sizemore, James LeGros, John C. McGinley), an amazing chase sequence (on foot no less!), some unexpected nudity, and a Chili Pepper, and you get one of my all-time favorite films.