6,006 Movies to Experience Before Death

The reputation of this one haunted me for some time until I finally decided to sit down and watch this thing. I was floored just how spectacularly relevant the film still is today. It was surprisingly 'graphic' for it's time, and should be heralded for being one of the quintessential anti-war movies.

It's a warning to all those who have been or ARE being indoctrinated by the propaganda war-machine--the premise is very simple but SO EFFECTIVE, a group of naive school lads are coaxed into the German military with lofty promises of adventure and heroism, only to find out first hand the uncomfortably BRUTAL TRUTH of what a battlefield truly looks, sounds, and feels like.

This is one of the earliest known 'push-the-envelope' American cinema experiences I can think of and would undoubtedly set the standard to some extent by which epic American filmmaking could be produced.

This is one of those 'era-defining' masterworks where despite the limitations of special effects technology at the time you can tell the filmmakers wanted to push the envelope straight to friggin' Pluto!!! Although the experience is not quite what I was promised--some of the scenes really made me laugh at the overall ridiculousness of the film's logic. Despite that, there was definitely a nervous tension fueled by adrenaline as every scene feels fresh and urgent, and unwilling to explain itself prior to--you just kind of have to grit your teeth and endure it.

This is one of those golden age cinema classics (of which there is only a handful of) where B-movies could actually outshine the sweeping melodramas that dominated the industry. It feels like a 'special event' that you are practically salivating in anticipation. With a satisfactory story to make the experience rewarding upon multiple viewings and effects that are so detailed and astounding, you find more detail the closer you examine.

Before Billy Wilder's movie came along, drinking was treated like a self-indulgent slight-humorous pasttime that was stoically venerated. But then 'the Lost Weekend' chose to shine a spotlight on a touchy darkside to alcohol consumption in the form of 'addiction'. And the movie pulls no punches in vivid detail to the downward spiral of it's central character, expertly played by renown character actor Roy Milland, who is at once in this movie both a victim and a monster.

Wyler boldly struck while the iron was hot. Released at a time when the aftermath of WWII was still fresh, 'The Best Years of Our Lives' is a melodrama that plays out like a docudrama, about a group of returning WWII vets that come to find their services are either grossly romanticized by local townfolk, or barely acknowledged.

Wyler wisely chose to cast an actual amputee veteran in the role of Homer Parrish, who as it turns out, could actually act and ended up winning two Academy Awards for the same role. It's an intimate and captivating drama about a trio of peacetime soldiers, who find themselves unable to adapt to the now foreign components of suburban living.

I always heard a lot about this one growing up, glad to see it did not disappoint upon viewing.