Just so you know, here are several movies that just squeaked onto the eligibility list, but which would make at least somebody on this board unhappy if they were to fall through the cracks in the coming round. IF YOU LOVE THESE FILMS, DON'T LET THEM DIE!!!

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VANYA ON 42nd STREET
Enough that one of the great stage masterpieces of all time is here rendered by such major artists in such a noble experiment. Enough that it is graced by two of the most astonishing performances of modern times - Brooke Smith and Julianne Moore. But then you get to that final scene, and suddenly everything comes into focus, you finally understand why this is one of the great stage masterpieces of all time, and it's all about taking Sonya - and her hope, and her faith - seriously, instead of condescending. When life sucks, watch the last ten minutes of this and find the courage to go on.

THE RAPTURE
A mess, admittedly: this narrative shaggy dog wanders all over the road, it's a wonder it doesn't get hit by a truck. But how many movies have tackled the mutually taboo subjects of religious and sexual ecstasy so uncompromisingly? I promise you, if this had been released in 2003 and it was fresh in everybody's mind, it would be on the list, NQA.

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
I haven't seen it, but I know it has its fans here. And with some folks advocating for some older films...

LES MISERABLES
The Bille August version is just one of many that have been filmed, but this is the one that got nominated, and while it may not do as well with the Paris sequences as it does with all that goes before, it's worth considering whether this isn't one of the central stories "of spiritual significance" in our culture, and a darn fine version of it at that. (Though not as intriguing as the Claude LeLouche film, which I would argue should be considered completely separately, a new story in its own right which riffs on the original story but isn't simply an adaptation.)

HARDCORE
Not affirming of faith, but certainly cares enough to engage with it directly. A significant film about a certain kind of spiritual person - even if it he is weighed in the balance and found wanting, there's still something about his passionate pursuit of his daughter.

THE BELIEVER
All that Abraham and Isaac stuff? The truly great performance by Ryan Gosling? Rough-edged and primitive, but that suits the subject, wouldn't you say, perhaps more than the MTV gloss of AMERICAN HISTORY X?

FEARLESS
It doesn't affect me quite the way it affects many, but hey, it's Peter Weir. And I thought you ought to know, it got a little neglected in the first round balloting.

BARCELONA
We already lost the essential METROPOLITAN: let's not let DISCO be the sole representative of the wonderful Whit Stillman oeuvre, as fine as it is. Don't forget the Bible reading jitterbug scene: "What is this, some strange Glenn Miller-based religious ceremony?" "No. Presbyterian." Don't forget Ted's humble prayers for Fred - notwithstanding the wonderful "Oh, give me a break!" answer. The concern for tradition, for inward beauty of the soul, the value in fidelity. Characters waking up, rendered with the subtleness of a fin de siecle Jane Austen.

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
So true about family love, about the way our love has to be lived out through and around our flaws and dysfunctions. Such an astonishing Laura Linney performance, not to mention a remarkable (if overshadowed) Mark Ruffalo performance. A screenplay that keeps making you think it's heading for the obligatory next development, and then finds something truer. And a film that actually recognizes that faith, church, ministers routinely play a role in so many people's lives when they're confronted with crises like these - without making a big deal of it. Wow. Wish I'd written this one.

TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL
"Come home, come home, ye who are weary come home...." Another Horton Foote masterpiece. And Geraldine Page! Oh my.

THE THIRD MIRACLE
Ed Harris. Great structure. And the doubting priest as devil's advocate: what a perfect viewpoint for looking at the possibility of the miraculous in a skeptical time. Superb.

SMOKE
Auggie Wren's sacramental photo album. The closely observed way William Hurt's character can't live up to his good and charitable intentions. The underplaying and directorial restraint in Big Scenes where everything could have gone melodramatic. The strange, oblique grace of Auggie Wren's Christmas.

SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR
If it weren't for you guys, this one would have gone right past me. Don't know how many times I've listened to those Solomonic poetry fragments in the hospital room, or watched those crucifixes get tossed onto the trash pile.

BAD LIEUTENANT
The ultimate example (of films that I've seen) of how brightly the smallest sliver of light shines if the room is dark enough. I'm certain that we can be, at times, this lost, this depraved, and what is art for if not to take us to those places now and then? And what is our faith worth if it can't break in, even to those kinds of strongholds of spiritual darkness? If there is grace or redemption in this film, it's confused and confusing, but isn't that exactly the way it would come to a man so addled, so fouled? I think of this film and I think of Bruce Cockburn's line, "Even though I know who loves me I'm not that much less lost..."

: BARCELONA
: We already lost the essential METROPOLITAN: let's not let DISCO
: be the sole representative of the wonderful Whit Stillman oeuvre, as fine
: as it is. Don't forget the Bible reading jitterbug scene: "What is this,
: some strange Glenn Miller-based religious ceremony?" "No.
: Presbyterian." Don't forget Ted's humble prayers for Fred -
: notwithstanding the wonderful "Oh, give me a break!" answer. The
: concern for tradition, for inward beauty of the soul, the value in fidelity.

Right, which is the reason this is the only one of Stillman's films -- all of which I love -- that I voted for. I just didn't see much in either Metropolitan or Disco that qualifies as "spiritual" even in the most vague sense, beyond the end of the former film where we find that (VAGUE SPOILER) innocence and goodness is not always corruptible.

Also, to tie this with my other favorite film on your list, Uncle Vanya Visits New York, one of my two in-progress full-length screenplays is being written with Brooke Smith and Carolyn Farina in mind as the two leads (assuming I could ever get the money to produce it).

Crap. I just realized that there were no Neil LaBute films that were nominated. Crap.

Dale

Hey, I'm voting for Fearless. I'M VOTING FOR FEARLESS. 8O

I sincerely hope Fearless, Vanya, and Songs from the Second Floor survive. I really do. They're like great literature, all of them.

[quote]NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
I haven't seen it, but I know it has its fans here. And with some folks advocating for some older films...[/quote]
I'd vote for this one, TBS...

[quote]LES MISERABLES
The Bille August version is just one of many that have been filmed, but this is the one that got nominated, and while it may not do as well with the Paris sequences as it does with all that goes before, it's worth considering whether this isn't one of the central stories "of spiritual significance" in our culture, and a darn fine version of it at that. (Though not as intriguing as the Claude LeLouche film, which I would argue should be considered completely separately, a new story in its own right which riffs on the original story but isn't simply an adaptation.)[/quote]
There has never been an adequate English-language adaptation of LM; they all have major weaknesses.

[quote]TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL
"Come home, come home, ye who are weary come home...." Another Horton Foote masterpiece. And Geraldine Page! Oh my.[/quote]
This film should definitely, definitely be on the list.

[quote]I just didn't see much in either Metropolitan or Disco that qualifies as "spiritual" even in the most vague sense, beyond the end of the former film where we find that (VAGUE SPOILER) innocence and goodness is not always corruptible.[/quote]
Oh, I think it's there in both, very much so. If I get time later I may take a run at the question. Do you know Mark C. Henrie's anthology "Doomed Bourgeois In Love: Essays on the Films of Whit Stillman"? Various pieces in there touch on the spiritual elements of each of the three films, as well as lots of other interesting stuff.

[quote]Also, to tie this with my other favorite film on your list, Uncle Vanya Visits New York, one of my two in-progress full-length screenplays is being written with Brooke Smith and Carolyn Farina in mind as the two leads...[/quote]
Hey, if you get Brooke, I'll be in your movie. For scale. Heck, for free! (Listen, let her know that, maybe she'll sign cheap, just for the opportunity to work with Yours Truly....)

[quote][quote]NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
I haven't seen it, but I know it has its fans here. And with some folks advocating for some older films...[/quote]
I'd vote for this one, TBS...[/quote]

It will get a vote from me, too. It's a wonderful showdown between a wolf in sheep's clothing who manipulates scripture in the worst of ways and a geniune shepherdess trying to protect her flock. Moody. Suspenseful. Gorgeous and haunting cinematography. Good, good stuff.

I place a vote for The Believer. Although I do not totally agree with the assessment in comparison to American History X, since they were two different dynamics regarding the same subject, The Believer had a stronger ending that wasn't affected by the typical Hollywood gloss. The Believer also wrestled with the idea of faith and presented an interesting struggle from the Judaism perspective and not a reform perspective.

Blah, blah, blah - voting for The Believer.

Vanya solidified my crush on Julianne Moore.

When I saw her at Sundance with her beau I fell down in the snow and raised my hands to the heavens and cried out 'Whyyyyyy meeeeeee?'

Then I kept seeing her. Again, at Claim Jumper. Again, the intervew waiting room at Sundance Channel. Again, in the street, with her Beau.

Again.


Again.


Ag---



Now I like Rachel Weisz.

[quote][quote][quote]NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
I haven't seen it, but I know it has its fans here. And with some folks advocating for some older films...[/quote]
I'd vote for this one, TBS...[/quote]

It will get a vote from me, too. It's a wonderful showdown between a wolf in sheep's clothing who manipulates scripture in the worst of ways and a geniune shepherdess trying to protect her flock. Moody. Suspenseful. Gorgeous and haunting cinematography. Good, good stuff.[/quote]
It's also referenced by Spike Lee in Do the Right Thing (remember the guy with the words on his knuckles?)

[quote]It's also referenced by Spike Lee in Do the Right Thing (remember the guy with the words on his knuckles?)[/quote]

Ah, and now I'm thinking of the scene in Punch-Drunk Love where Barry punches the map on the wall and collapses on the harmonium. Are those just bruises on his hand, or does he have "love" written on there? Some seem to think so. Hmmm. Another tribute, perhaps? Perfect for Barry, who's teetering on the edge between love and hate...but, of course, love gets the upper hand!

Night of the Hunter is one of the most strikingly filmed movies of all time, widely hailed as an American masterpiece of cinema, wonderfully scripted by Episcopalian critic James Agee, representative of the ageless struggle between pseudo-Christianity and genuine faith and social responsibility, a favorite of Russell Lucas', and one of my Top Ten favorite movies. It's also widely available on DVD and its non-inclusion in the Promontory 101 would be a shattering travesty.

*sniff*

Doug, that's just beautiful.

Everyone who hasn't seen it: Hie thee hence to the video store!

Heh. Seriously, I've screened this movie for several discussion groups and it was always very well received. The only film Charles Laughton ever directed, and a very unique, beautiful movie.

[quote]Night of the Hunter is one of the most strikingly filmed movies of all time, widely hailed as an American masterpiece of cinema, wonderfully scripted by Episcopalian critic James Agee, representative of the ageless struggle between pseudo-Christianity and genuine faith and social responsibility, a favorite of Russell Lucas', and one of my Top Ten favorite movies. It's also widely available on DVD and its non-inclusion in the Promontory 101 would be a shattering travesty.[/quote]
Yes, but what do you really think.

For me, the gems on this list are Smoke, The Third Miracle, Hardcore.
In Smoke, Auggie is one of my favorite characters in all of film. There is a purity and a sort of "true to one's code" aspect about him that is unique to films not westerns. It is also as if his store is a place of grace for the regulars. A welcome that is more than just that of a service provider doing the necessary for the one who buys. And the guy always hawking something is finally welcomed when he is there, not to sell cologne, or whatever, but dressed up and presenting himself as a member of society, rather than a niusance. But then there's the father son thread with Forrest Whittaker. Words fail me.

The Third Miracle is one of the better films I've seen that deals with the tension between faith and doubt. They go together, most of us here know that, but sometimes doubt and the constant drive to be a skeptic can wear down a man's faith. That opening scene in the soup kitchen where Harris gives the chattering guy with the collection of pieces of pie, yet another piece is beautiful in itself and sets up the character as still struggling to hang on to his faith despite outward appearances. There aren't many films like this. It deserves enshrinement.

Hardcore is probably my favorite Schrader film. Alan has talked in the past about how the Church seems always about protecting the 99 despite Christ's example of going after the one. Scott's character is forced to go and redeem the one even though he was never close to his daughter. He practically throws his thriving business over the side. He tries so hard to fit in to a sub culture that is anathema to him in order to find his daughter. Not only does he frequent places he would have worked to run out of town at home just to get leads, he even poses as an investor to track down his daughter. He throws everything he is and has into the rescue, just what God did for me. And there is no guarantee that she will stay rescued. It may be a remake of The Searchers, but it is unique, stands on its own, and injects the spiritual in a way that is alien to the original. This is worth the vote folks.

Ah, another reason I love this board -- I've seen this video available at the library numerous times, and the description on the back of the carton made it sound like an anti-Christian tale, merely about a Swaggart-style phony before the age of television. Now, this film is on my must-see list.

Thanks!

Need I say more?

Yeah Andrew, one of the film's more laudable aspects is that it presents the genuine strength and faith of Lilian Gish's character in counterpoint to Mitchum's Gantry-type. Not to be missed, although it often is by non-cinephiles.

[quote]Need I say more? [/quote]

Wow. Three thousand words of testimony right there. Now I gotta see it.

As to the Bille August Les Miserables, even though I included it on my original ballot, it's still debatable to me. I wouldn't object to it being there. If I only pick on Les Miz, I'd probably go with the LaLouche adaption. Room for both of them? We'll see.

As to Hardcore: My God! It is a great retelling of the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin. The searching, not the waiting of the parable of the prodigal son. (And non-Calvinist that I am, I love the TULIP explanation and the response to it.)

[quote][quote](And non-Calvinist that I am, I love the TULIP explanation and the response to it.)[/quote]
I know. One of my favorite scenes, but I didn't want to offend anybody. That scene is an acquired taste.[/quote]
As is the whole film, I'd maintain. Pretty hard to watch stuff.

And while I appreciate the lost coin / lost sheep comparisons, George C. doesn't come off as a very winsome sort of Christ figure, do you think? He may be a shepherd, but not a very good one.

Rich:
Further, I may have teed off on a particular film, but I have just your objection to a film in this very thread on which I will remain silent. And my similar frustration is longstanding with a top of the list film, Ordet.

Ron:
Which one? SMOKE? YOU CAN COUNT ON ME? C'mon, Rich, you're among friends...

You shouldn't do this. The only thing that I can commend The Night Of The Hunter is the lighting. I never liked it at all.

Late to this thread (and to the discussion, and the voting and nomination and--gah!), but, yeah, I second everything Doug said so well about Hunter. It's a film like no other I've ever seen. It's a warped fairy tale with one foot firmly in the world of Hansel and Gretel and the other in Depression-era America, and yet at the same time timeless. A comparatively complex exploration of the way that sin and sexuality and the fear and revulsion thereof twist us into predators and prey. And about a half-dozen shots that will amaze you to the point that you have to grab the DVD player remote and rewind just to be sure you saw what you think you just saw.

BTW, I was browsing the latest issue of MovieMaker magazine and noticed an article selecting the Twenty Greatest First Films of all time includes

The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Director: Charles Laughton
MGM Home Entertainment, $14.95
Laughton, the brilliant, portly star of such films as Mutiny on the Bounty and Ruggles of Red Gap, only directed one film. After seeing The Night of the Hunter, you'll understand what a shame that is. Featuring the best performance of Robert Mitchum's career, this story of a criminal minister, a hidden fortune and children on the run achieves the timelessness of myth. Mitchum's knuckles, tattooed with “Love” and “Hate,” are the best-remembered image from this film. But Mitchum and Lillian Gish's ghostly duet on the old hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” is one of the most astounding, searing moments of spiritual intensity in American film.

So, any voters going to rent this?

Savior is peculiar, I'm not so sure about the treasure.