synopsis: Movies Worth Watching More Than Once
by Charles Wehrenberg
(nonfiction, 128 pages , signed paperback book, $25)
for Hollywood
2003 marked one hundred years since Thomas Edison produced the first western movie in 1903. The Great Train Robbery was all of ten minutes long. Since then, films, videos and TV have become a major component of everyday living. Personally, I have seen something like 3000 films, so the selected list is about one in seven. I created this short list to see if I could recall a movie worth watching more than once for each year since The Great Train Robbery. Needless to say, things got a little out of hand. Then again, paring the possibilites down to 450 great films is a serious refinement of the 23,000 citations claimed in Halliwell's 2004 movie guide. I have cut the time required by fifty to one!
I have also found a better way to present the selection than your typical alphabetical presentation. This pocket-sized, Solo Zone paperback book that does just that, so keep your eye out for
Movies Worth Watching More Than Once.
In the meantime, ask yourself, would you be willing to commit yourself to watching a film a day for a year to gain a better understanding of out common lot?
comments about Movies Worth watching More Than Once
Kevin Starr, Professor of History, Univ. Southern California: “Movies Worth Watching More Than Once, I’m checking Wehrenberg’s list more than twice because the author truly knows his films. I’ve got the book in my Netflix file, and I’m doing my ordering accordingly.”
William Powers, The Atlantic Monthly: "When we rue the passing of mass togetherness, we often forget that the strongest connective tissue in modern culture is entertainment -- a mass medium if ever there was one."
AWARENESS THROUGH ACCUMULATED EXPERIENCE
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