Rusty Saber

by Joe McAdoo

Before I was so rudely interrupted, I was set to report on the Rusty Saber Reader's Poll of All-time Favorite Movies.

As most of you know, before I could do it, I turned up in the hospital gathering first-hand information about improvements in open-heart surgery since the first time I had it.

Better late than never, here is the much-delayed reader's poll. Not surprisingly, a top 10 favorite movie list can't be compiled because reader's lists were so different. While two readers selected "To Kill a Mockingbird" No. 1, and two named "On Golden Pond," there were few other similarities. I love it!

This eclectic grouping of movies is more fascinating than a list of 10 that wouldn't mean much. Read on; you'll see what I mean.

Rusty Saber reader Clara Polino Brown, of Today's Office, selected the following as her favorites: 1. "To Kill a Mockingbird"; 2. "Friendly Persuasion"; 3. "African Queen"; 4. "Grapes of Wrath"; 5. "Gone With the Wind"; 6. "Fiddler on the Roof"; 7. "Schindler's List"; 8. "Doctor Zhivago"; 9. "Terms of Endearment"; 10. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." This is a great list of movies; so is the next one, from Karen Averitt, of Construction Market Data Group only one movie appears on both lists. Karen's top 10: 1. "The Sound of Music"; 2. "Chariots of Fire"; 3. "The Natural"; 4. "Sense and Sensibility"; 5. "The Longest Day"; 6. "Doctor Zhivago"; 7. "Three Days of the Condor"; 8. "Big"; 9. "Dangerous Liaisons"; 10. "Pale Rider."

Tom and Viola Lee, of Republic, listed: 1. "On Golden Pond"; 2. "Paint Your Wagon"; 3. "Fiddler on the Roof"; 4. "Cat Balou"; 5. "Romancing the Stone"; 6. "The Hunt for Red October"; 7. "Silence of the Lambs"; 8. "Grumpy Old Men"; 9. "Ghost"; 10. " It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

Did somebody say "eclectic?" It had to happen. Someone was bound to name "Titanic" No. 1 on their list; it was just too big to be ignored. Jodi Kinney, of Ozark Protection Services, named "Titanic" her first choice. 2. "Man in the Moon"; 3. "Little Princess"; 4. "The Natural"; 5. "Tombstone"; 6. "I Know What You Did Last Summer"; 7. "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"; 8. "Tommy Boy"; 9. "Beaches"; 10. "Jerry Maguire."

Are you beginning to see what an eclectic group we have? Next, a reader who prefers to remain nameless contributes a list that keeps the stew pot of movies interesting: 1. "On Golden Pond"; 2. "The Sting"; 3. "Blazing Saddles"; 4. "Gone With the Wind"; 5. "How Green Was My Valley"; 6. "Mrs. Miniver"; 7. "Young Frankenstein"; 8. "King of the Hill"; 9. Any Pink Panther movie; 10. (tie) "Paper Moon" and "Norma Rae." Two Mel Brooks films ("Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein") and the Pink Panther mixed in with the serious dramas. Now that's eclectic.

Rusty Saber reader Anne Gonten's list reads: 1. "Dirty Dancing"; 2. "Independence Day"; 3. "Braveheart"; 4. "Last of the Mohicans"; 5. "Dances With Wolves"; 6. "Pirates of Penzance"; 7. "Beauty and the Beast"; 8. "Babe"; 9. "Shirley Valentine"; 10. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

Next, reader Trish Mahan's top 10: 1. "Gone With the Wind"; 2. "When Harry Met Sally"; 3. "The Big Chill"; 4. "Top Gun"; 5. "Pretty in Pink"; 6. "With Six You Get Eggroll"; 7. "Poltergeist"; 8. "Jerry McGuire"; 9. "Breakfast at Tiffany's"; 10. "Speed."

Two SBJ staff members submitted their choices. Bryan Smith, editorial researcher, is the youngest moviegoer to submit a list. The variety of his choices is interesting: 1. "To Kill a Mockingbird"; 2. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"; 3. "The Natural"; 4. "Misery"; 5. "Apollo XIII"; 6. "The X Files: Fight the Future"; 7. "Legends of the Fall"; 8. "Desperate Measures"; 9. "It's a Wonderful Life"; 10. "Death of a Salesman."

Clarissa French, section editor/copy editor, submitted her 10 favorites, but she didn't rank them. She's equally fond of them all: "A Face in the Crowd" (I didn't know anyone but me remembered this great movie!); "The Haunting"; "Inherit the Wind"/"Judgment at Nuremberg" (either/or); "Mildred Pierce"; "Psycho"; "Schindler's List"; "Starship Troopers"; "A Streetcar Named Desire"; "To Die For"; and "Trainspotting."

Thank you for your entries, readers. Your favorite movies made for a more interesting collection than the American Film Institute's 100 Best Movies of the Century, which started the whole thing. Thanks!

(Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury College and a Springfield public relations consultant.)

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