Leslie Nielsen: The Mother Of Re-Invention

    Everybody in the world reveres an inventor.  We are in awe of these men and women who create what simply did not exist before.  But, having said that, we reserve an equally important place in our hearts for Re-Inventors.  We just lost a man who is likely the greatest Re-Inventor of all time.  
    Leslie Nielsen.  
    Here was a man who carved out a solid acting career playing rocket ship commanders and television good guys in the 1950's-1980's. Nielsen had a screen presence which was always calm and reassuring; the woman he chose would no doubt be protected and loved - and the bad guys he went after would always be caught and punished.
    Leslie Nielsen did it all effortlessly and never paused to crack a smile.  He took his acting seriously and he lent an air of importance to even the most misconceived television fare.  He was the dependable actor who looked right and strong; imbuing his lines with depth, even when they did not exactly deserve it.
    Producers and Directors loved Nielsen.  He didn't take himself too seriously, but he took every part he was handed very seriously; a key attribute when shooting an hour long television show in six or seven days.  
    All of which is why Leslie Nielsen kept working, in films and television shows.  It's also why The Re-Invention Of Leslie Nielsen is all the more amazing.  Leslie Nielsen is one of the few actors ever who didn't need to re-invent himself.  His phone hadn't stopped ringing.  He was doing just fine when a different kind of part was offered - that of Dr. Rumack in the movie "Airplane".
    In a long history of brilliant casting choices, nobody's come close to Jim Abrahams and The Zucker Brothers choosing Leslie Nielsen.  As if by magic, audiences began laughing as soon as he appeared on screen.  The kicker:  Leslie Nielsen never stopped playing Leslie Nielsen.  He was as serious and authoritative as Dr. Rumack as he had been as Commander J.J. Adams in "Forbidden Planet".  The only difference was the setting and the absurd things the other actors said before it was his turn.  As he always had in each movie and television show he appeared in before, Nielsen would serve it up straight and to the point.  the only difference here was that audiences would convulse with laughter - no matter what Leslie Nielsen said. 
    The great Norman Cousins once told us how humor was so important as a healing tool.  No matter what the catastrophe, humans have a biological need to keep laughter in their lives.  Leslie Nielsen didn't start out as a contributor to cinematic humor, but he easily became one of its giants and we are all the richer for that.  
    191Movies salutes Leslie Nielsen, the Mother Of Re-Invention and we thank him for being a great actor, great comedic actor who has created a great body of work we will love returning to, year after year.  

Night Moves: How To Quickly Get Over Being Dumped by Your Girlfriend or Wife.

There are currently, many, many ways available that can help you get over being dumped by somebody.  It is, however, extremely important to note and understand two hard facts before you attempt to employ any of these methods.  
1. None of them ever work. 
2. All of them are guaranteed to cause you more pain than being dumped in the first place.  
The thing is, we are motivated by instinct to do something.  Whatever that is, it likely begins with you brooding in what is now an incredibly bleak, extremely tiny living space.  What used to be cozy suddenly feels like four walls no more than an inch away from your nose at all times.   You are also certain the oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio is terribly out of whack.  Simply put, you can't get enough air into your lungs and that automatic air intake reflex we humans have so proudly evolved to has somehow been put on temporary hold.  
You then suddenly find yourself entering your neighborhood Barnes & Noble.  You're not sure how; you don't remember the walk over at all.  For all you know, Mr. Scott has beamed you there.  Worse, while you once swore up and down you'd never sink this low, you realize you're headed for the self-help section.   You instantly find it crammed full of thin, snappily written books which are each in turn crammed full of helpful suggestions to get over being dumped.    
In the back of your mind, you picture yourself a little misty-eyed and there standing next to you is a cute (equally misty-eyed) and she instantly starts a conversation which progresses to a cup of coffee (one flight up), which progresses to a sharing a chocolate chip cookie, which simultaneously dawns on you both that this is the first real intimate moment you've enjoyed in five years.
Of course, since there is no girl or chocolate chip cookie or intimate moment, you stay your hand before it can open one of these books and you get jammed on the escalator because it's loaded with couples plastered to each other.  They are all buying a book of poetry which they will take turns reading out loud to one another before retiring for a full night of bliss. 
When you get back to your cell, you check for the 50th time to make sure there are no messages.  Then you use Google.  In quotes, "Getting Over A Breakup" produces a ton of results.  Even counting for duplications - not even Google is completely perfect -  your credit card can instantly arm you with thirty thousand solutions to your problem.  Before you do, please see the two salient facts listed above.  They have not changed since you began reading this.
There is, however, one thing you can do.  It's not going to change your current situation.  But it is going to get you to the next best place.  You will emerge with a realization that you will somehow get through all of this.
Yep, it's a movie.  Night Moves.  We're not sure why, but we've heard from a lot of people who have turned to Night Moves to help get through being dumped - and it always delivered.  We'll make some quick suppositions, but we don't think analyzing the "why" is going to matter much.  
You simply need to watch Night Moves to see how well it works.
Gene Hackman, one of the greatest actors of his (or any) generation, plays Harry Moseby, a private detective.  Without revealing too much, we can say he is not a happy guy, either with his job or his marriage.  Now, we know that if you just got dumped, you're thinking - all you need now is a downer movie.   The odd reality is that this movie actually lifts you up.  Besides being completely entertaining, Night Moves has a twisty plot that keeps you engaged while it moves forward at a breakneck pace that feels like it's been shot from a howitzer.
As to the why this movie works well for the recently bereft, we'll put forth one theory.  Gene Hackman plays pain so realistically, you feel it.  He does it so well, you pretty quickly start to understand that pain.  And due to true craftsmanship of great acting, directing and writing, you even start to feel it yourself.
Obviously, don't take our word for it.  Seeing is believing.  But what is really nice about Night Moves is that while you'll watch it to feel better about your situation, you'll find yourself drawn to this movie enough to watch it a whole lot more times.  Maybe, sometime soon, you'll enjoy it with someone new.  

Double Indemnity: What Makes An Oldie A Goodie?

Double Indemnity is an example of pedigree working to the nth degree.  The original book is by the great novelist James Cain, the screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder.  Wilder directed the movie, which stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.  Everybody is operating at the very top of their game. 
  
It simply doesn't get any better than this.  Still and all, in the history of movies, there have been films with a pedigree close to this one - that have vanished for good reason. So let's call Double Indemnity a product of pedigree - with a minor miracle mixed in.  


As to why this movie from way, way back is great for modern movie audiences to watch again and again?  It's just pure fun.  There isn't a moment Stanwyck is on screen that you're not focused on some neat little thing she's doing.  (And yes, Stanwyck herself.)  Edward G. Robinson, who normally played nothing but tough guys, is still a tough guy.  Only this time he's an Actuarial Accountant in an insurance agency.  Nothing against actuarial accountants, but you have to ask yourself - how many movies could turn this particular profession into something so incredibly compelling and fun to watch again and again?


Let's not forget Fred MacMurray.  The truly lovable, trusting dad from Disney movies ("The Absent Minded Professor") and TV's "My Three Sons" plays a decent guy who somehow lets himself go  rotten as an egg you forgot to refrigerate.  MacMurray makes it so real and believable, no matter how many times you watch this film.  He turns in a performance that still works like gangbusters 70 years later.


Finally, there's Billy Wilder.  He always made comedies with a dark edge.  Think "Stalag 17", "Some Like It Hot" and "The Apartment".  Funny stuff - but full of evil and ugly behavior.  Double Indemnity gives us a kind of reverse-Wilder; a dark movie with a comedic edge.  You can't help but laugh out loud at scenes between Robinson and his boss.


All of which is why, sometimes the right pedigree produces a movie that stands out and makes it almost impossible to stop watching over and over again.

Before You Write The Screenplay, Write The Trailer.

  The great detective fiction writer Mickey Spillane came back to me several years ago when

   I thought back long ago to when guys like Mickey Spillane used to be interviewed on TV shows hosted by guys like Mike Douglas. Mike asked Mickey how he came up with his ingenious plots and Mickey said, “Mike, I go fishing.” After some appreciative laughter, Mickey said, “I put my line in the water, and the first thing I wonder - even before I know what the book is about – is ‘how does it end?’”

  Mike Douglas, a gently perceptive host, asked, “After you write your ending, do you then work backward until you have a book to go with your ending?” Mickey, that famous tough guy twinkle in his eye, said, “By the time the fish bites, I have my dinner – an ending - and a book to write!”

  I envied Mickey Spillane because he had worked out a simple scheme to create his fiction – and he sold millions of books. More so, you could tell Mickey Spillane was a guy who had fun doing what he did.

  Jump cut to a few years ago. I was asked to rewrite a screenplay with no beginning, a lame middle and an ending so patently stupid, it pretty much guaranteed the movie would never get made. Needless to say, I wasn’t having any fun. Which brought me back to Mr. Spillane, sitting at the beachfront with his line in the water. At which point, it came to me that there was a way to have more fun writing a movie. A way I could structure the movie so I knew it would appeal to audiences.

Write The Trailer First!

  I perked up, an extremely rare occurrence in those days. I thought back to my first job; a film editor cutting low-budget trailers. And I asked myself: “What would the trailer for this movie look like?”

  Unlike Mickey, I knew I needed more than simply an ending I could work backward from. I knew I had to figure out the many key elements that make a screenplay – and a movie trailer – work for an audience.

  I sat back for a second, and imagined I was in the theatre. The 64 minutes of commercials had just ended and the audience was informed the feature would begin after a few previews. I then actually heard a voice. The voice. Not from above. It was that guy you hear in almost every trailer. With that unique sonorous tone, he boomed: “In a world where men were men and women wished men were scarce…” 

  I then wrote down a few lines of narration for the trailer and described a visual I figured was key to getting people to want to actually see the movie.

  I remembered a line of dialogue in the script that sounded great (there weren’t a whole lot to choose from) and I used it for the next scene.

  I knew I had something I could work with when I laughed out loud at a sequence I had written for the trailer – the good news being that the screenplay was supposed to be a comedy.

  More importantly, by the time I was done, I had a five page document that a director could use to make a pretty nice trailer – for a pretty good movie.

  I then used that document to help me structure the entire movie – as well as provide me with specific ideas as to how to get from one point to the next. In other words, I knew the guts of the story that led to all those fun high points a trailer uses to get an audience excited.
  Of course, it’s not a perfect or be-all-end-all solution. The magic of great screenplays is in figuring out all the little moments we remember when we watch great movies – and creating characters we need to get involved with and stay with for a couple of hours.

  None of that hard work changes a bit. What The Trailer Method, as I’ve taken to calling it, does is help you figure out what this movie is going to be. It tells you why you should be excited about it and best of all, it serves as a great guide. Outlines and treatments tend to talk about the movie. Trailers are the movie. They give you the guts and the reality of the movie and they tell you if it’s working and why it’s working.

  You’d be surprised to learn that most of the rewrites I’ve ever been handed were screenplays that had no idea of what they were really trying to be.

  If you’ve read this far, you deserve to know how the screenplay turned out. The producer loved the draft and gave me some notes for another rewrite. He then got fired, which of course meant that I got fired, after which another writer was brought in and told to change the script back to the draft I was originally handed. The film never got made, but I’m still proud of the way my version turned out – and I knew I had a figured out a way to work that actually made writing a fun experience.

  The days of Mickey Spillane fishing for his dinner while concocting a million copy bestseller are long gone. But I can assure you, dinner (surf, turf or even both) the night after you first try The Trailer Method is going to be a whole lot more productive. Most of all, I believe you’re going to actually enjoy yourself!

The Secret To Every Great Movie Is Under The Hood Of A Car.

When the Earth had recently cooled from molten lava and I was a young man, I found myself in Los Angeles adapting a novel for the screen.  My script for a horror film had just finished shooting and a studio producer figured that was enough experience to qualify me to adapt this book.  I doubt the producer ever read it, because the closest the book came to the horror genre was that it was horrible. 

Hedging his bets, the producer also assigned a veteran screenwriter to guide me.  The word “grizzled” is overused, but it fit this guy beautifully. He drank Kentucky Bourbon from a leather hip flask and smoked four packs of unfilted cigarettes a day.  He had enough Raleigh coupons for a new Cadillac, but had lost his license after a string of DUI’s back in the 50’s.

This man lived high up on Sunset in a cottage he somehow never paid rent on.  The winter we worked together, he also stopped paying his utility bills, so they turned off his water the same day they turned off his electricity.

If you’re thinking “Barton Fink”, you’re right.  The difference being Fink worked with a guy based on the novelist William Faulkner.  My co-writer had never wrote anything more meaingful than a grocery list.   

I’m not being metaphorical here.  After he passed out one afternoon, I drove him home and after dumping him on his couch, I perused a cupboard in what passed for a kitchen.  Flintstone Jelly Glasses, empty bourbon pints, a half-snifter of what tasted like Tabasco and a box of cereal.  I peeked inside the box and the cornflakes were in frenzied motion.  

Our work on the screenplay was, as you may suspect, a bit on the tedious side.  I held the book in one hand, typed a key at a time with the other -  while he squandered his few lucid moments describing getting fired from a three-picture deal at Paramount Pictures.  Sometimes, Burt Lancaster was involved  and sometimes it was a five-picture deal, but when it came to getting fired, his tale remained doggedly consistent      

One day, despite everything, I learned something about screenwriting from this man that has worked gangbusters for me to this very day. 

While struggling with boiling the first 100 pages of the book into a first act, I was instructed by this man to stop typing and drive him to the store for more cigarettes.  When we returned, he insisted on lifting the hood of the Roadrunner, a souped-up “muscle car” I had borrowed.  He asked me to turn the car back on and rev it.  I did so, but feared he would get his throat cut by the whirring fan blade.

After deftly avoiding this gristly fate, he slammed the hood home and pronounced: “This is an engine.  That book and our script - has no engine.”

It was then that I learned that every script, story, novel – must have something that keeps driving it.  An engine that never stops moving a reader or movie audience from Point A to Point Z. 

The Bourne Identity, both book and movie – is an excellent example.  The engine is Bourne himself, trying to find out who he is and why he does the things he does.  It’s such a powerful engine that you happily follow Bourne through three movies.  You can watch them each 100 times and that engine always hums you along.   (Of course, it helps immeasurably to have a great star and supporting cast and vastly talented screenwriters and directors.)

The book we adapted, alas, had no engine.  It meandered from one scene to the next.  Under his occasional guidance, I tried to create an engine, but it was instantly and vociferously rejected by the book’s author, who happened to be married to the producer.

I returned the car to my friend, who had mysteriously survived his stint as a forward gunner on a riverboat crusing The Mekong.  I moved back East to take another assignment, but am frankly not sure what happened to my co-writer.  He is one of those people you’re afraid to Google, because the search engine in this case can only confirm your worst suspicions.

These days, I still tinker with screenplays and vastly enjoy watching movies created by people know how to expertly craft engines that take us to great places.  I’ll quote the Al Pacino character in “Scent Of A Woman”.  A cop has halted his 90 mile mph joy ride on an urban street and is admiring the car.  Pacino says, “Don’t she purr, though?”

1969: Meditative Relaxation. 2010: Dirty Harry Callahan.

Recently, at a party, we overheard a guy saying: "I remember watching TV and mindlessly eating potato chips. I loved how I used to just veg out."


We all stared into the middle distance, realizing nobody much used the word "veg" anymore.       The guy then said: "Now if I watch, I have my iPhone nearby. If I get email, text, a tweet or a call, I need to answer."


While this guy no longer "vegs" out, the one healthy thing about his new life: he's quit potato chips, fearful of getting his iPhone screen greasy. Vegetarianism, it seems, is gone, at least in this sense of the word.


Nobody in the group could think of a TV show they recently watched front to back without a pause - unless you count pushing the pause button on a DVR.


All of which made us think that the world we currently live in can hardly be called The Age of Relaxation and Quiet Contemplation. The good news is, before the conversation got too depressing, our attention was drawn to another side of the room. A group of guys were comparing Blu-Ray collections.


You read that right. While it sounded like a new version of "Who's the biggest?", when we listened more closely, a starting difference emerged. A guy stated happily: "I come home. I feed the cat. I order Chinese. I then stoke up my Blu-Ray of Dirty Harry." The capper? "I turn off my phone and relax." Everybody nodded, the middle distance this time happily populated by fistfights, car chases and gunfire.


Another guy added, "I like to make it a theme night. If I watch Dirty Harry, I followed up with "Magnum Force". Then "The Outlaw Josey Wales." Yes, he meant all in one night. It sounds nuts but this guy came across as the most supremely relaxed soul we've ever met.


The talk shifted from how many Blu-Ray's they owned to how many times they'd watched these movies. 145 was the lowest number, for "The Godfather II". 257 seemed high - for DeNiro & Pacino in "Heat" - but the guy actually claimed he was probably underestimating.


We felt strangely elated upon hearing this. Perhaps there are still pockets in today's world that include genuine relaxation. Quiet Contemplation might be a stretch, unless you happen to be quietly contemplating if Harry's giant.44 Magnum pulls a little to the left.


Which makes us wonder: does Clint realize he is responsible for lowering the blood pressure of so many men? Should the American Heart Association feature a clip of Clint's famous line: "You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?" - followed by a serenly relaxed man in his barcolounger easing his troubles away while Harry pulls the trigger on his empty gun - an inch away from a bank robber's ear.


We thought back to earlier times and deep relaxation techniques, Tai Chi and Zen - and we realized that the real question is: who needs a mantra when you've got Dirty Harry Callahan?

The Fugitive: One Shot Is All You Need To See!

Naturally, we think a lot about what turns a movie a 191 movie - one you can watch over and over and still have fun with it!  Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you.  Sometimes, it's all in a single shot.  There are probably lots of good examples, but the one that comes to mind the fastest is from The Fugitive.  Dr. Richard Kimble is back at Chicago Memorial Hospital, looking for the one-armed man.  He's in great danger, but another doctor (beautifully played by Julianne Moore) asks him to help out - and take a young patient to an examination room.  Harrison Ford, as he always does, plays it intensely and delivers the scene on the money.  He quickly diagnoses the kid and takes him instead to surgery.  As they wheel the kid off, director Andrew Davis plays it all on Harrison Ford's face:  he goes from a hunted killer back to what he really is:  a great doctor.  It doesn't last long, but it's all there and you thrill to how Ford pulls off that transition so perfectly. He makes it believable and real.  It takes a great actor playing at his best and a great director who trusts the actor to just deliver what's needed.  We're not sure, but we get the feeling that all 191 Movies have a scene like this.  The scene that keeps you following this character throughout the entire story.  The scene that makes you realize this movie is worth watching - again and again!

Want Great Movie Quotes? Look No Further Than Stewie, Brian and Peter!

The gang at 191 Movies tends to hang out with guys who watch, quote and even live their favorite movies.  Shef, our very good friend and peerless movie authority, recently pointed out that there is a single great source for the best movie quotes around.  
Yep.  It's Family Guy.  The good news is, as Shef says, what you see on Family Guy is way, way more than simply movie quotes.  Seth MacFarlane and his talented band of writers, directors and animators take the time to lovingly recreate their "movie quotes" with an almost obsessional attention to detail.  Every shot, edit, sound effect, sountrack music and inflection the voice actors use - is always faithful to the original movie being quoted.
The real challenge is figuring out the movies being quoted while you're watching Family Guy.   The great news is, Seth MacFarlane uses new movies and then also will go way, way back in time to resurrect Bogart and other stars of the silver screen from long ago.
191 Movies remains dedicated to listing only the great movies you love to watch over and over.  It's great news that Family Guy is out there every night (on practically every station!) to keep these movies fresh and alive.

Your Date Tonight Is With Pacino And DeNiro.

You're a single or divorced guy.  25-60.  You're miserable and lonely.  You want to meet somebody nice.  Maybe somebody attractive who wants your soul and body for some unexplainable reason. Your mother and well-intentioned female friends remind you to keep trying.  You're nice looking, smart and a good person.  While no part of this is even vaguely factual, who are you to argue?

So you go to bars.  Singles Events.  Author Readings.  You try Match.com and  eChemistry.  You try singles ski weekends and share houses at the shore.  Reality: you either meet nobody or worse, somebody too fat, too thin, too dumb, too smart or already dating somebody.  Worse, if you take a liking to somebody, they think you're too fat, too thin, too smart, too dumb.  They won't think you're already dating somebody.  They know you're not.

Try this instead.  Tonight, you are your own man.  You're not shaving.  You're not bathing.  You're putting on your oldest and moldiest tee shirt - the one you used to clean your own vomit around the toilet - and yet you still hang onto it.

Tonight, you will drink cheap beer and inhale junky snack food.  Peanut butter pretzels followed by Drakes' Yodels followed by M&M's washed down by YooHoo and Blatz Beer. Tonight, you stoke up a DVD you've seen at least 341 times.  Heat with Pacino and DeNiro.  The DVD costs maybe $10.  The food and beer another $20. So for a great time, with no pressure and no stress, you will save yourself at least fifty bucks.

By the end of the night, no, you will not have met somebody  But you did enjoy yourself.  You were able to burp, fart and better yet, not waste any time wondering if you looked okay to somebody.  (You knew you didn't anyway.)   

What you did do was watch a movie you love and felt so familiar with, it's like you personally know the characters.  That may sound psychologically bad, but there is nobody around to care, so why should you?  Better still, you have that nice guy feeling of being in control of a situation.  Of being good to yourself.  Any shrink would say that's got to be a good thing.

Eventually, you'll find somebody who will want to watch some of these great movies with you.  Stay open to it.  For now, though, you're going to enjoy your nights watching DeNiro have a tense cup of coffee with Pacino.  

To find lots of other great stay-at-home dates, 191Movies is a new website that lists movies you can be watch and enjoy a zillion times.  The site is not officially against dating,  romance or marriage.  (Not officially, anyway.) 191Movies simply thinks there are at least 191 movies that let a guy be who he is and be happy with who he is.  

If you like, think of 191Movies as match.com, only you get matched with a great movie to hang with for a night.  A great movie you will love to watch 10 days from now and even 10 years from now.  Hate to say it, but that's probably longer than most marriages last! 

How To Be Your Own Best Movie Critic.

There are a million reasons critics have when they love or hate a movie and you've likely heard them use each reason a million times. 191 Movies would like to share with you an easy way you can be your own movie critic - maybe a better critic than the people getting paid to do it!

Here's how it works.   If a movie sounds at all interesting, you watchit.  See it in a theatre or rent the DVD.  Then you ask yourself one question:  

Would I watch this movie again?   

In other words, do I like this movie enough to own the DVD? If the answer is yes, this is a great movie.  It seems obvious, maybe too obvious, but think about this for a second:

A great movie is a movie you can watch over and over again.  If you can't watch it more than a few times, it's not a great movie. You can argue about the acting, editing, script, photography, director.  You can even argue about the popcorn.  

But, in the end, all you really need to know is whether or not this is a film you want to see again. 

Look at it this way.  Do you buy a DVD with the idea you're going to watch it once and throw it away?  Of course not.  You buy a DVD because the movie is a keeper.  It's something you can count on to entertain you 10 days or10 months or even 10 years from now!

That's how you determine the value of owning a movie.  No matter what kind of day you're having, there's this great experience waiting for you to come home to.  Newman and Redford in Butch Cassidy.  Or DeNiro and Grodin in Midnight Run.  How about Uma in Kill Bill One and Two!

Nobody at 191 Movies is a film critic.  We simply watch movies and when we find ourselves watching them a lot of times, we figure that's good enough for us! 

Josey Wales. Keep It Simple. Make It Great.

Clint Eastwood has proved over and over that a great story, simply told, is still the best way to connect with an audience. With The Outlaw Josey Wales, Eastwood keeps the central story simple and draws you in with the little stuff.  This is, after all, a revenge movie, top to bottom.  Once that gets set up, Eastwood simply lets you enjoy a ton of great stuff - like amazing action sequences.  Crisp, beautifully framed cinematography.  Razor sharp editing that keeps the story headed in one direction and doesn't waste a single frame getting there.  All of which is why Josey Wales is a 191 Movie - one you want to keep handy.   

Shoot To Kill. There Is No Pause Button.

If you've been following the other entries to this blog, you've probably already noticed that the word "chase" applies to a lot of 191 Movies. We're not offering any apologies. When a moviemaker knows how to stage a chase, it's a talent he or she should use as often as humanly possible.  Shoot To Kill is a great, great chase movie.  When you add that you care about the characters and are rooting for them, there isn't much else to be said.  Other than, give in, buy the movie, watch the movie again and again and again.  You can thank the great cast, in particular Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenger - and the director Roger Spottiswode, but frankly, you'll be too busy enjoying the chase.  By the way, this chase isn't just on highways.  It's in the woods, on ferries, in lakes, cities, towns - everywhere.  And like we said, you can just forget the pause button.

To Live (Fast) And Die (Faster) In L.A.

It's not enough that Secret Service Agent Richard Chance protects the president of the United States from mad bombers and fights hand-to-hand with with rotten, murderous counterfeiters.  In his spare time, Richie base-jumps off tall bridges.  Which is probably more than enough to explain why To Live And Die In L.A. is a great 191 Movie you can watch again and again.  Agent Chance's exploits are only the beginning.  This movie is loaded with good stuff from frame one and you can't blink an eye (or go get a sandwich) without missing some very cool scene.  The Blu-Ray is more than worth it L.A. has never been photographed better.  Last time we looked, the Blu-Ray is about a buck more than the DVD.  One way or another, you'll get your money's worth watching a great cast, including Willem Dafoe in an effortless performance as the bad guy and a really good John Pankow as another secret service agent who isn't exactly sure how far is too far.  William Petersen as the vengeful Chance never shows any doubt for an instant.

No Movie Is Perfect. Dave Comes Very Close.

191 Movies doesn't throw around the term "classic" all that often.  Mostly because we're pretty much convinced that classic movies are accidents.  What are the odds that a whole bunch of things happen all at once - great story, script, director, photography, editing and most of all, cast.  And, everybody has a different opinion.  One person's "Citizen Kane" is another's Gigli.  But, having said that, we'll step out on a limb.  Dave is a classic 191 Movie you can't help but want to watch again and again.  Strangest of all, it's not at all like many other 191 movies.  No car chases, bullets flying, explosions, fistfights.  No pratfalls or dorm humor.  In fact, how Dave works so well is a bit of a mystery. The canvas is big - Washington D.C., the presidency - but the story itself is kind of small. Rather than defining something so hard to define, we'll just say:  you can't go wrong with this one.  Literally.  It isn't perfect.  But it's close enough to say that every time we watch it (80 and counting)  Dave makes us laugh out loud, feel good, patriotic - even hopeful that people are capable of great things.  OK, a little envy as well.  These are incredibly talented people:  Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Dunn, Frank Langella, Ving Rhames, Ben Kingsley and Charles Grodin.  The truly great script is by Gary Ross and it's expertly directed  by Ivan Reitman.  To get an idea of what we're talking about, take a look at this scene from Dave.  

Internal Affairs: Shockingly Great, Time After Time

A great movie is a series of shocks.  Some minor.  Some 220 volts.  All of them leave you uneasy. Internal Affairs has dozens of small shocks and at least five really big ones.  191 Movies is dedicated to no spoilers, you'll just have to watch the film again.  But after seeing it (for at least the 50th time) the other day, we realized that it's always better to shock an audience in a low-key way.  Like when an actor does something unexpected and makes it work.  You're not manipulated.  You simply get sucked in - and you keep watching. From the get-go, Dennis Peck, the Richard Gere character, shocks you.  The question you keep asking yourself is: how far will this guy go?  The answer is, way, way further than you think possible.  What makes his performance so astonishing is that it's so quiet.  Right away, you understand who Dennis Peck is as a man, a police officer, a father - and many other things.  And you know he'll never stop upping the ante.  Even after you know the whole movie - you watch it again just to see how far he'll go.  Everybody else is good, including Andy Garcia, Laurie Metcalf, Nancy Travis and Billy Baldwin - maybe even better than they've been before or since.  No small feat by the great director Mike Figgis.

STUDY SHOWS MEN PREFER MOVIES OVER PROZAC OR ALCOHOL

Phil Gondolo, in line for a promotion and raise after 22 years, was told instead he was  terminated. That afternoon, his wife Nancy found an old boyfriend on Facebook. One thing led to another and they drunkenly totaled Phil's previously cherry 1967 Camaro in the motel parking lot.

Phil cleaned out his desk, headed for home and promptly fired up his "Roadhouse" DVD. "Right about when Sam Elliot smashes this ugly bruiser in the kneecap, I began to unwind - even relax!" Phil adds, with a contented smile, "I've seen Roadhouse like 220 times and it always works!"

While men still rely on an endless array of televised sports to blot out the ugly realities of life, social scientists have noticed a new trend. Cal Tech Sociologist Meers Prufrock (not his real name) claims to have interviewed 300 men while they watched Marathon Man, The Transporter, Stakeout and Internal Affairs. Most men told Prufrock to shut the hell up and watch the movie, but he was able to get a bead on a new phenomenon. "Women have Paxil and Wellbutrin. Men turn to Clint Eastwood."

Sensing Nobel Prize potential, Prufrock lets his verbiage get somewhat fanciful. He writes "Patrick Swayze can rest comfortably in heaven, knowing that 20-30 viewings of Red Dawn so eases the sorely damaged spirits of millions of men."

Fred Van Dyne, a 37 year old systems analyst agrees. "We were getting ready for her cousin's wedding when Donnie Brasco with Pacino pops up on TNT. I've seen it 94 times, but I gotta watch it again." His wife Rose ended up going to the wedding alone. Fred didn't show at the divorce hearing as he was in the middle of In The Line Of Fire (148 times). Fred lost the house, but reports he has snagged the 60" hi-def flatscreen Sony and his entire DVD collection.

Some guys have torn themselves away from these movies long enough to create 191Movies, a website that lists films men watch billions of times. It offers scenes, trailers, quotes and hours of wasted time. The site actually encourages users to scream at the website for not listing idiotic movies they watch a zillion times. The site is not at all scientific. Instead, it ironically relies on woman to correctly identify 191 Movies, If a woman says, "Are you watching that stupid thing again?", they know it belongs on the site.

A Little Movie You Need To Watch A Lot Of Times

Mad Dog And Glory hardly ever makes any "greatest" or "top" lists, but it's still one of those films you got to watch whenever and wherever you get the chance. It's the small stuff that brings you back. David Caruso proves what a great, great actor he can be. There is a scene in a bar that shows how toughness is all attitude and has very little to do with physical action. The scene barely involves DeNiro or the other main characters, but it's key to why this movie works so well. It sets up what DeNiro's character, Mad Dog, must eventually face. Credits to director John McNaughton for his expert staging and understanding how to bring the best out of a set of actors with hugely different styles. And, as always, none of this would be possible without a truly unique story and script by Richard Price, who created the surprises throughout the film and keeps every word true to the characters, the city and the story. It's simply fun to keep watching - time after time. If you love to watch movies again and again, you might want to check out the 191Movies website at 191movies.com

These Guns Stay Loaded

191Movies.Com likes this movie for so many reasons. You've probably watched The Guns Of Navarone more times than you can remember. It's one of those movies that shows up a lot on television, lately these days on Turner Classic Movies and a few turns on Cinemax. The Guns Of Navarone is a 191 Movie because the sheer level of craftmanship keeps drawing you back time after time. Every scene, especially the one shown here, is a ticking clock. Beautifully photographed and expertly cut, frame after frame. The great cast includes the always-terrific Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn, not to mention David Niven, Stanley Baker and Irene Papas. If you may be interested in other movies you can watch time after time, please visit 191movies

A Great Movie Waiting To Be Uncovered

Switchback is one of the least known but one of the best "watch a zillion times" movies out there! 191 Movies has heard time after time that people see this movie on TV - and they're hooked instantly. Why? It's made by people who can tell a great story, in particular writer/director Jeb Stuart and producer Gale Ann Hurd. It's a great plot tightly wound with lots of solid performances by Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, Jared Leto and Lee Ermey. How come you watch it more than once? You just keep getting surprised by the tension created by this story of a serial killer being tracked by an FBI agent with a personal interest in finding him. It doesn't matter if you know the killer - you learn that right away. What matters is that the movie never stops to let you breathe for a second. Amazing photography and stuntwork helps too! If you're interested in seeing other movies you can watch again and again, take a look at 191 Movies.

Black Sunday: The Engine Is Always Cranked Up.

191 Movies has identified a word that we use for every film we list. It's "engine". What that basically means is that each of these movies gets watched time after time because they all have a great engine pushing them forward. From the first frame to the last fadeout - you can practically hear that engine. Black Sunday is an almost perfect example of a movie "engine" that just hums along. As this opening scene proves, this movie starts at full tilt and never stops. No matter how crazy the plot is - blimps and Super Bowls and terrorists and Israelis, you watch this movie time after time and you let yourself just enjoy the ride. Based on a great novel by Thomas Harris, the people behind Black Sunday (particularly director John Frankenheimer) make you suspend disbelief all the way through. It all feels pretty real, throughout the entire movie. We hope you'll check out more films that grab you as much as Black Sunday. They're listed at 191 Movies and we hope you'll pay a visit to enjoy finding more movies you'll have a great time watching many, many times.

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot

How seriously can you take a movie that opens with Clint Eastwood as a minister who needs to dodge bullets halfway through his sermon? Not very - but this film fools you. Thunderbolt & Lightfoot easily makes the 191 Movies list because of the terrific action - but it floats to the top because this movie features real characters that keep you interested all the way through. The always-great Jeff Bridges generously under-plays so the chemistry with Eastwood works. The rest of the cast is stellar; George Kennedy as a nasty killer who suffers from asthma (at the wrong moments) - Geoffrey Lewis as a truly unlikely criminal and a great little bit by Eastwood favorite Bill McKinney as a deranged driver with rabbits in the trunk of his souped up muscle car. You watch Thunderbolt & Lightfoot for the action, but you watch it again and again because it's always fun to see how these very odd friendships play out.

Welcome To 191MOVIES Blog

Here's hoping you'll join in and contribute to a list of movies that people watch a crazy amount of times.  These are the movies you can always count on to make you laugh or take you away from your life for a couple of hours.  These movies are sometimes classics, but usually they're just simply watchable.  Over and over watchable.  So think about the movies you watch a lot.  Think about you being glued to your screen and somebody saying "Are you watching THAT again?"  We hope you're comment and let us know about the movies in your life that draw you back time after time.  To see the complete list, please pay a visit to 191Movies.