Oscar 2006

“Waiter, I'll have what they're having.”

If I could only watch movies from a single year, I would choose 1989. My only criterion for choosing was that I enjoyed the movies. In one way or another, they are all memorable.

I was in a period of transition in 1989. I started the year in Charlottesville as a graduate student in history at UVa. By the end of the year, I was living with my friend John in Columbia, MD, and had started my first teaching job. I had left all my friends from The College of Wooster, but I was still a year away from meeting Rebecca at Towson U. I was restless and traveled frequently to Philadelphia, Boston, and Ohio. I had a few romantic relationships, but I still felt lonely. I turned 23 that year and still did not know how to be a grown-up. So, I went to the movies.

These were the Top 10 money makers for that year.

Batman
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Lethal Weapon 2
Look Who's Talking
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Back to the Future Part II
Ghostbusters II
The Little Mermaid
Driving Miss Daisy
Parenthood

And, these were the Academy Awards for movies released in 1989.

Best Picture Nominees: Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot

Best Picture Winner: Driving Miss Daisy

But, these movies are my personal favorites for 1989 – listed in order. The movies I have marked with an asterisk ( * ) would be on my essential list for Top Movies of all time – ones that I would watch again and again.

When Harry Met Sally... (1989) *
Field of Dreams (1989) *
Dead Poets Society *
Glory (1989) *
Batman (1989) *
Henry V (1989) *
Roger & Me (1989) *
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) *
Major League (1989) *
Christmas Vacation (1989) *
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Weekend at Bernie's (1989)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Say Anything... (1989)
Casualties of War (1989)
Road House (1989)
Always (1989)
Abyss, The (1989)
Her Alibi (1989)
Heathers (1989)
Lean on Me (1989)
Fabulous Baker Boys, The (1989)
Chances Are (1989)
We're No Angels (1989)

Ten of my 26 essential movies were released in 1989. I enjoy sappy love stories and When Harry Met Sally is my favorite movie ever. Two of my favorite war movies are Glory and Henry V. I like inspiring movies about teachers, such as Dead Poet’s Society. Field of Dreams and Major League are two of my favorite sports movies. Batman is probably my favorite comic book movie. Christmas Vacation is from John Hughes, one of my favorite directors. And I enjoy some independent-style films like Sex, Lies, and Videotape and also documentaries like Roger and Me.

But even if I couldn’t have my all-time favorite movies, 1989 still offered plenty of fun movies from writer/directors Spike Lee and James Cameron, and actors Tom Cruise, Michael J. Fox, Tom Selleck, Paulina Porizkova, John Cusack, Morgan Freeman, Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Jessica Tandy, Bill Murray, John Travolta, Olympia Dukakis, Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Buddy Hackett (voice), and even Audrey Hepburn in her last movie.

But, take away all of those great performances, and 1989 would still have been memorable because of the scene in the Fabulous Baker Boys with Michelle Pfeiffer in a tight red dress singing on top of the piano. That scene rivaled Meg Ryan faking it in the diner. Everyone remembers, “Waiter, I'll have what they're having.”

In addition to those performances, there were still more worthwhile movies from many other notable actors and directors, even though their best work wasn’t in 1989 and their movies didn’t make it on my all-time favorites list.

Leviathan had stars Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, and Daniel Stern.

Woody Allen directed New York Stories and Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, and John Goodman starred in Sea of Love.

Nick Park directed his first animated films with A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts.

Gus Van Sant directed Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, and Heather Graham in Drugstore Cowboy.

Danny deVito directed Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in The War of the Roses, which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Tom Hanks, one of the best actors ever, was in The `burbs and Turner & Hooch. Sure … he could have taken that year off and would still be the best.

It was the year I saw Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

For comparison to other years, here are the other movies that would be on my all-time favorite list – Listed by date. (* Essential)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) *
Stalag 17 (1953)
White Christmas (1954) *
Rear Window (1954)
North by Northwest (1959)
The Great Escape (1963)
My Fair Lady (1964) *
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Shenandoah (1965)
The Dirty Dozen (1967) *
The Graduate (1967) *
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)*
Dirty Harry (1971)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Sting (1973)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) *
All the President's Men (1976)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Star Wars (1977)
Animal House (1978) *
Grease (1978)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
Gandhi (1982)
The Killing Fields (1984)
St. Elmo's Fire (1985) *
The Breakfast Club (1985) *
Back to the Future (1985) *
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Top Gun (1986)
Stand by Me (1986)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Bull Durham (1988)
Home Alone (1990) *
Schindler's List (1993)
Groundhog Day (1993)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Lion King (1994) *
Toy Story (1995)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) *
Billy Madison (1995) *
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Titanic (1997) *
Tarzan (1999)
Cast Away (2000)
The Rookie (2002) *
Brother Bear (2003)
Walk the Line (2005)

I have several favorites on this list from 1985 (3), 1986 (3) and 1995 (4), but the rest of the movies from those years are just not as strong as the whole group from 1989.

Of course there are a lot of great movies that are not on my list: The Godfather, Casablanca, Citzen Kane, Psycho, Taxi Driver, Singin in the Rain, Saving Private Ryan, Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, Forrest Gump, Shrek, or any from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Any omissions are because I haven’t seen it (Citizen Kane); I don’t like it (The Godfather); I don’t need to see it again (Wizard of Oz); I already have enough from that genre (Saving Private Ryan); or, I have it at home and I just haven’t gotten to it yet (Lord of the Rings).

The main reason a movie is not on my list of all-time favorites is because it just wasn’t as memorable or personally enjoyable as the ones I picked. Much of my enjoyment from a movie is connected to where I am in life when I see the movie. For example, The Rookie was released in 2002 on my 36th birthday and we went to see it that weekend. It was about a high school baseball coach in his 30s, with a wife and kids, who achieves his dream of playing major league baseball. By 2002, I had left St. Margaret School but had not yet started teaching at Towson U. Anna, our second daughter, was six months old and I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. That movie was inspiring and made me feel hopeful.

Memories like that are why 1989 was such a memorable year in movies for me. I was confused about relationships (Say Anything; Sex, Lies and Videotape); I was interested in history (Glory; Henry V); I enjoyed baseball (Major League) and politics (Roger and Me); I wanted to do something important with my life (Dead Poets’ Society; Lean on Me); and I wanted to feel connected to my family (Field of Dreams). But, most of all in 1989, I wanted to find someone to love (When Harry Met Sally). That process started to happen the following year when I met Rebecca in July 1990.

Notice that there were no movies from 1991 or 1992 on my list of favorites. Those were the years we fell in love and got married. I guess I was busy making my own memories.