Movies Made for a Sunday Afternoon

Growing up, I still remember my father flicking through the channels on a Sunday, drinking his beers, happening on some old western or James Bond film. At commercials, depending on the season, he'd go back to a football game or eventually find a soccer match and stay there.

I still snippets of those movies in my mind. Often times I never saw the ending because the game took precedence or something else came up, someone in the neighborhood rang the door and I was off playing hockey in the street or baseball in the park

Now it seems I have time on my hand to write blogs and remember. And though there should be other things I could be doing, I feel a little nostalgic for those fragmented films I saw, pieces that I got to know half-way through and would have to pick up the remainders after renting them in my early twenties or thirties. 

And some new favorites, of course. 

I'm well aware of the plethora of movies lists made by film buffs. There's list for every category: best films, best comedies and westerns and villains and heroines and stars and laughs, everything topping out at a hundred and after that, well, it's something more personal. This isn't an attempt at list making, more of a reminiscing, a reconsideration of what I think are the best films made for a Sunday afternoon. 

What kind of Sunday? Well, I guess that depends on the film?

Peter o'Toole and Omar Sharif in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a perennial favorite of stations with nothing else to show. I believe this is one of the most frequently aired movies of all time. In my childhood, it was on every season, usually a Sunday. Again, I saw it the first few times in pieces. The scene at the river where Sundance tells Butch he can't swim. Butch, of course, can't help laughing. They've been running for their lives, staying ahead of the law. "What are you crazy," he finally says after a good chuckle, "the fall will probably kill you."

Along with the above, I have to say Lawrence of Arabia and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. So here we are, starting off with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Jack Nicholson - all these great actors that brightened our lives on a lazy Sunday. And these movies are all quite long too. So if you don't have any distractions on a Sunday you don't have to worry about missing something. Lawrence of Arabia, especially, I found always starts about noon and ends closer to four. It's a great movie to watch in late fall or winter. There's a desert on your screen but it's chilly outside. And yes, there is no gold in Akaba.

Then there are the other classics as well like the Godfather Part II which must be savored on a Sunday. I love that scene where the young Corleone unscrews the light bulb before taking out the don. One of cinema's greatest and yet most enduring movie moments. 

Shane

One mustn't forget the westerns which are a fallback on the weekends. I remember seeing the ending of Shane before I ever saw the beginning, the little boy running off, crying 'Shane! Come back!' to the mysterious stranger as he rides off. A beautiful moment. Then there's Unforgiven which to me is an October movie. It's best to pop it in or find it on the tube on an overcast day in order to appreciate the mood it casts. And if it rains towards the end of the movie, even better. I'm certain it is Eastwood's best though I'll admit, I saw many a-spaghetti western on a Sunday as my father went back and forth between a Buffalo Bills game or a Manchester United match.  The Good, The Bad and The Ugly will also do and yes... Fistful of Dollars. 

Then there are the romantic comedies. It Happened One Night is a great spring film along with the endearing You've Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally (the latter two Meg Ryan's best before she botoxed her lips).  

The former film, though is lesser know and is a Capra classic, long overshadowed by the infamous Christmas flick, It's A Wonderful Life (also a good Sunday afternoon film done by the same director). But It Happened One Night is not only a Pride-and-Prejudice-they-love-each-other-but-hate-each-other-first type of film, it's a good road and buddy movie. In fact there's a bit of that old class divide going on as well. If you've see basic, modern road rom coms like Leap Year, Chasing Liberty (poor Matthew Goode), The Proposal and so on one must see the one that inspired it (though you should also read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice considering it has pretty much set the standard for all romantic comedies whether you like to admit it or not).

But I digress. 

Cool Hand Luke is another essential before I move away from the classics along with the Wizard of Oz, The African Queen (with The Pride and Prejudice thing going on, I should have included it above) and From Here to Eternity with its now parodied kiss on the beach scene. All are amazing movies in the middle of a Sunday. 

Spartacus

Then there are the old sword and sandal romps, just as jovial as the westerns. Think of movies like Spartacus (not to be confused with the series),The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. We have nothing in modern cinema to compare these films too. Gladiator is just Braveheart (another Sunday gem) redone in togas while 300 is a celluloid comic strip on steroids, all cheese with no calcium. In fact I think it is one of the most vapid and over the top movies ever made. It's so bad it doesn't know it's bad (unlike Troy).

Then there are the great fantasy adventure movies like The Princess Bride, The Fellowship of the Ring (the rest of the trilogy is terrible... I'm sorry...just endless fighting and scenes with Frodo battling with himself...boring...and Gollum who always sounded like someone addicted to nasal sprays), Star Wars (more sci-fi of course), The Goonies (not a fantasy but a kid's fantasy so it counts) and The Neverending Story which is a masterpiece in itself. 

Then there are the sleeper Sunday movies like American Graffiti and more recently (500) Days of Summer which are both good fun but also provide a good story. And the great comedies like the Marx Bros.' Duck Soup and  A Night at the Opera and the Monty Python masterpieces, Life of Brian and Holy Grail.

I must mention Fargo and Full Metal Jacket, both meant for a darker, more devious moods along with Psycho, Vertigo and Rear Window, all Sunday afternoon masterpieces by Hitchcock.  

Groundhog Day is good for February malaise.

The Return (Возврашение)

Enough of American films. 

There are numerous foreign titles that are equal to the above if not more complex and satisfying. A new favorite of mine is The Return, one of the greatest Russian films ever made. In it a father comes home to visit his family. His two sons are twelve and six respectively. The eldest admires his dad, forgives him for his absence while the younger is miffed and angered, still feeling abandoned. It is less about what is being said and more about how it is being said. The father takes the two boys on a trip to the north and it becomes more incredible from there. It is a film of silences and gorgeous cinematography with Russian's northern forests and wilderness taking pride of place in the movie. Unplug the phone, switch off your cell, tell your girlfriend to go to the mall if she's not into this kind of thing. This is movie making that absorbs and haunts. 

There's Das Boot (Director's Cut and if you have the time, the five-hour uncut version first shown on German television) and the lesser known Dutch film Black Book (another film about the second World War). The former is pure adrenaline and claustrophobia while the latter is dark magic, intrigue, romance, sex and thrills.

Famous fountain scene in La Dolce Vita

European classics also include Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Truffaut's 400 Blows, Bergman's Wild Strawberries and Kirosawa's Rashomon. These are perhaps four of the most important films made outside of the Hollywood paradigm and deserve to be viewed on a easy Sunday afternoon with no distractions and an open mind.

Lighter fair I recommend everyone's favourite foreign comedies or dramedies, Amelie and Life is Beautiful.

For my wild cars, I throw in Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her and Volver along with Ridley's Scott's Prometheus and Blade Runner.

Though if I had to pick a favourite for best Sunday movie experience, it would be The Bourne Identity and/or The Bourne Supremacy. Ultimatum was good but these two are superior.