Readers Asked: Gerry Maxey Choices of Films to Watch on Valentine's Day

America in 2024 is a strange, thread bare society; which believes, that because you have an opinion or skill in one field, you are omniscient in all fields.

Because this Blogger believes William Tecumseh Sherman, fresh from an insane asylum, was the best General of the American Civil War, Readers have asked him to suggest which films to watch on Valentine’s Day.

And since this Blogger is a 2024 American; he cannot limit his opinions to General Sherman.

Here Goes-

1- RANDOM HARVEST- THE BEST ROMANCE FILM EVER- a 1942 Black and white film, starring Ronald Colman and Greer Garson. The plot is totally BONKERS…..and yet, it uplifts the power of devotion in love.

2- PERSUASION- This Blogger once knew a bona fide natural born killer. He was a tunnel rat during the Vietnam War. His favorite all time novelist was Jane Austen. Why? In his words “ She is the greatest novelist who has ever lived who believes in happy endings; therefore, by default, she is the greatest novelist ever.”

There have been a number of film versions of Austen’s novel, PERSUASION; including a recent modern version, which is a joke. The best is the 1995 British version; you can feel the ache and the all consuming desire to correct mistakes.

3-A MAN AND A WOMAN- French, 1966…..the joys of being in love and the perils involved.

4-THE QUIET MAN- The joys of falling in love with a headstrong woman, and the perils.

5- THE END OF THE AFFAIR- perhaps one does not want God to answer one's prayers. Graham Greene is one of this Blogger’s favorite novelists. There is a 1955 film based on his book, THE END OF THE AFFAIR…..the film is putrid, with a miscast Van Johnson, in a role slated for Gregory Peck. Greene, an English Catholic, has come closest to figuring out the psychology of God, since the Old Testament. Forget the movie, and READ THE BOOK.

6 -HOW TO STEAL A MILLION with Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn; and how real was their love scene in the closet?

7-ANNA KARINA- the Greta Garbo version; Vivien Leigh also did a version; she was terrific, but her leading man was a dud. Tolstoy is the greatest influencer of artistic thought in the 19^th Century( John Ford holds that distinction for the 20^th Century; AI will hold that distinction for the 21^st Century). His genius in ANNA KARINA is that the Ibsen like heroine wants some passion in her life. She finds it when a rich, handsome, honorable, dashing young officer falls in love with her. And he really loves her. And she is still not satisfied. As Freud said on his deathbed” What do women want?”

Freud must have read ANNA KARINA.

8- NOTTING HILL -Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, the apex of the myth movie stars have souls.

9- THE NAKED JUNGLE- Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston find love as killer army ants attack.

10-WINGS OF DESIRE German, 1987- even an angel can fall for a gorgeous woman….and who knew Peter Falk was a fallen angel?

As for General Sherman, he only lost 65 dead in his infamous MARCH TO THE SEA.

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