Seems like the Jaunties are in the movie mood. I’m just going to go with the flow and blog about the list Yahoo Movies just posted of the 100 movies you should see before you die. I don’t agree with all of them, partly because I think some of them were products of the time. Take Blazing Saddles, for example. It’s on the list, and when my husband and I tried to watch it recently, it just didn’t hold up. Yet we laughed ourselves sick when it we saw it years ago. Same goes for A Hard Day’s Night (although I didn’t know my husband when that one came out).

I saw a bit of it on cable a few weeks ago and… I hate to say it, but one thumb down. It was vaguely amusing, but that was about it. Another product of the time, when Beatlemania ruled. Maybe if I’d watched more of it, I’d have seen why Yahoo thought it was such a keeper.

How about It Happened One Night with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable? Still great. It’s clearly a 1940-ish setting – with pay phones, and lots of other long-gone sayings and situations. But it’s a true classic story of a love between two people, growing out of nothing. Definitely rent it if you haven’t seen it.

And then there’s Alien, although after you see it 45 times (like I have) it loses it’s shock value. But it’s still a great portrayal of a strong female lead. I love Ripley! Even if you don’t like sci-fi, monster, horror movies – you have to understand that the Ripley character brought in a whole new dimension to female lead characters.

Disney’s animated Snow White is on the list, and I think it’s a keeper, too. It’s got everything: music, romance, a scary witch, and a bunch of dwarfs. The animation is flawless, and probably was a technology trail-blazer (although I don’t remember if that’s really true).

The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Matrix are all on the list, but so are Nosferatu (huh?) and Raise the Red Lantern (1992, directed by Zhang Yimou). In other words, there were several I’d never heard of. How about you? Check out the list 100 Movies and let me know which ones you loved, which ones you think shouldn’t be on the list, and which ones you’ve never heard of! And if there’s one you think they missed altogether, I’d like to hear about it. I’ll pick one responder and send her a copy of my latest book, WILD.