These are the times of Top 10 lists.

Somebody watched Letterman and read Variety, and decided lists caught the eye and ear, and suddenly they were everywhere.

The magic number became 10. Unless you're tight for time on one of the Entertainment News shows, then there's about time for a list of 3.

Or maybe that's what they believe the audiences attention span can retain.

Newspapers say story strips can only last 3 months. If the story runs 3 months and 1 week, presumably, under their claims, you can't follow the story, you've lost who the characters are.

Newspapers and syndicates lied in 1942 when they shrunk the size of comic strips so they could get more comic strips on a page, and everybody would make more money. Screw that comics could be art. They claimed it was due to paper shortage because of World War 2.

They lied then, and they lie now.

Newspapers want story strips to last only 3 months because they want the option to cancel the strip every (You guessed it!) 3 months!

They know if they stop the story in its middle there will be more protest from the people actually reading the strip! Who the hell needs that on a busy work-day?

If the story ends, they assume the audience will figure the strip just went adios.

But enough of this rant (I've just completed two years worth of Zorro strips and feel entitled to a rant now and then and to tell you what's really going on) because this is not a rant but a Top 10 List.

I was reading Gene Colan's Discussion List and recently many of the contributors there were making lists of their Top 10 movie favorites.

I hadn't thought about my favorite Top 10 movies in some time.

It make me start thinking about it for the first time in years, and what I found is, it gets harder and harder to do. I've just been exposed to more movies, and limiting myself to 10 made me look at the initial titles I had listed and saw how many favorites I would have to exclude, movies I wouldn't have wanted to do without.

But if I stuck to the Top 10, I would have to do it.

Leave out movies that have stayed with me, that defined the language of storytelling in movies.

So, here, if we're all lucky is a TOP 10 MOVIE LIST that stays at 10.

And for those of you who have read my comics over the years, can I ask one thing, "Can I just have, you know, two, three, five more pages?"

Listed by numbers, because that's how Top 10s are done, but that doesn't mean in any particular order.

1) SHANE

George Stevens at his best in the Teton Mountains. Right with the opening shot admidst all the sharp Technicolor, with the antlered deer in the Foreground, drinking from the river, the deer lifts its head and turns to look around, as if on the Director's Cue, to catch the distant riding Shane between its antlers. Did Stevens just get lucky? For the opening shot? I don't think so.

There's not a haphazard shot in this movie, even when things weren't planned, Stevens and company looked for what wasn't working and came up with the way to make a scene stronger. I always thought the fight in the barroom between Alan Ladd and Ben Johnson and his barroom cronies, as little Joey watches, reacting to the escalating violence, snapping a candy cane off in his mouth at a particularly vicious punch was meticulously thought out.

The last dinner I had with Tom Carlyle, who was Cubby Broccoli's publicist for the James Bond films from the beginning of DR. NO worked with Stevens and told me great stories. Indeed, the film had been shot and edited, and there weren't any of Joey's watching Shane take on the entire room. Stevens knew it needed something. They went back and shot Brandon De Wilde's facial expressions months later, and then inserted them into the fight. It is still the classic barroom brawl.

I could go on and on about this one, but I'll just mention the ending. Even if a one hasn't seen SHANE, you've probably heard or been exposed to parodies of the ending when Brandon DeWilde cries out, "Shane! Come back, Shane!" But that isn't the line that is at the heart of SHANE. And it isn't Shane telling Joey he has to leave because "…there's no living with a killing." Shane knows he has to leave or Marion, Joey's mother, and he will one day give in to their attraction to each other and betray everyone, perhaps themselves included.

The startling line is Joey's revelation that he KNOWS about that attraction.

Because he's a kid, they don't see him as a young human being, they believe he hasn't seen or felt it.

But as Shane rides off, bleeding, that isn't the wound that's killing him.

And Joey, because he's human, will use whatever he's got, the only ammunition that he has that could persuade Shane to stay. He would do it, because at the moment he needs it more than anything!

And so he cries, "Shane, come back!"

And then, a slight pause, because Shane is still riding awayand time in running out!

And the young voice carries a hard edge, a cry of last resort.

"Mother wants you to… I know she does!"

And it cuts to the heart.

Ernest Lehmen's script for this alone would put it at the top. You can have VERTIGO. It's a fine movie. But it doesn't hold and captivate me the way NORTH BY NORTHWEST does. It all comes together exquisitely and has many of Hitchcock's signature trademarks, including the use of places that are almost icons and having fantastic events take place around them. Cary Grant at his best. Martin Landau's foot on Grant's hand as he dangles off Mount Rushmore, just his foot and the cuff of his trousers, and then you see the weight go out of the foot, the clothing drape downward.

A safe bet for a movie Top 10 list. It's on many. But it's filled with terrific dialogue. And the love story is complex and haunting in every way. One of the lasting impacts probably comes from the fact that the writers didn't know who they would have Ingrid Bergman choose before they came to the end of the movie. Her torn desires come across vividly. Take a trip to Rick's anytime.

It's a fun movie about movies, it has a number of songs that still stay in the head, it doesn't matter how long since you've seen it. Gene Kelly sings and dances in the rain, and Donald O'Connor runs up walls and makes 'em laugh, and Cyd Charisse and Kelly dancing through an impressionist Manhattan Broadway Melody are among its many treasures.

All right, I have to write it straight out. Any Top 10 movie list that doesn't have one of Buster Keaton's features on it, that means you need to go out and watch Keaton. He's one of the people who not only developed the language of film, but put incredibly memorable physical comedy up on the screen. He did all his own stunts, with the exception of one in COLLEGE.

I pick SHERLOCK, JR., but I could change on any given day and say, OUR HOSPITALITY or SEVEN CHANCES or STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. And that would mean not acknowledging the great moments in his other films.

I mentioned SINGING IN THE RAIN as a fun movie about movies.

Okay, SHERLOCK, JR. is that, also.

It is also the best movie I have ever seen made about movies.

Watch Keaton as the projectionist with the less than glamorous life emerge out of himself, walk down the movie theater aisle and climb INTO the movie and the stunningly edited and filmed sequence as Keaton tries to become a part of the movie; he goes to take a step, he's going off a cliff, take a seat, he's falling; one image linked to the next until finally he DOES became SHERLOCK, JR.

Did I mention Keaton did it in 1924?

These are all on video tape. I'm not crazy about the music score for the new edition of SHERLOCK, JR., but the print is gorgeous and it comes with OUR HOSPITALITY.

The first time I saw the bridge sequence in SHERLOCK JR. was in the 70s when I was working at Marvel Comics. I'd gone to see SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and an INTERVIEW WITH SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. What I ended up cheering though was SHERLOCK, JR. The audience actually stood up and applauded at the end of the movie. When was the last time you saw that happen in a movie theater?

I laughed so hard at the bridge stunt, was so amazed by it, that I missed the Capper, the end bit, equally as eye-popping.

If it wasn't Keaton's shortest feature, with a rather abrupt ending, but still a good one, it probably would always be my favorite of Keaton's silent features.

Buster is riding on the handlebars of a motorcycle. We see that three quarters of the way across the bridge there is a gaping hole! Buster must fall through it! He can't stop. The cycle races toward destiny. Keaton then holds a long shot. Let the audience see it all. Just as his cycle is about to reach the hole and plummet, two trucks appear below, TRAVELLING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, and pass beneath the bridge at exactly the moment Keaton hits the spot. He races over the tops of the moving trucks. As soon as he reaches the other side of the holes, the trucks are gone, travelling toward and away from us and the hole is open again.

I missed the collapse of the entire bridge, timed perfectly, just as Buster reaches the far end, dust roiling up, the bridge totally destroyed.

Did I mention Keaton swinging through the waterfall, sweeping through torrents of cascading water, and catching the woman he loves, as she hurtles over the edge, catches her in mid-waterfall, all in one incredible shot? From OUR HOSPITALITY.

Never mind the accuracy of detail on how early trains worked.

Or the subdued texture to the cinematography.

And did I take time to talk about the surrealistic/realist tornado sequence in STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. where a two ton building falls about Keaton, with only one open space, a window just wide enough for his shoulders? Elgin Lessley couldn't look. The ground shook. Dust raised. Buster never went out of character.

Okay, I could go on here and rave about Keaton. Get the videos. If you can locate THE AUTHORIZED BUSTER KEATON FILM FESTIVAL ALBUM I did, you can see still sequences from many of these amazing films.

I haven't a whole magazine to devote here.

What number are we on? 50?

No wonder it takes me so long to do another one of these RIDING SHOTGUNS!

I always tell myself, this is going to be short. Won't take more than half an hour.

Much as I love movies, maybe this'll turn out to by a TOP 5!

What? And leave out Harold Lloyd?

Lloyd was the great romanticist of the classic comedy filmmakers. No one was funnier.

Lloyd could do ten minutes on pulling the tooth out of giant, and he and his writers would still have a few more Toppers up his sleeve!

Okay, I'm hard pressed here, too. I believe THE KID BROTHER is Lloyd's best film. It is hilarious, it is moody, it is romantic, it is suspenseful, it creates a time and place, from the moment we see the carnival wagon lumbering past the sunlight dying on the distant waterway.

Still, I feel I'm being disloyal somehow to SPEEDY, which Lloyd filmed on location in New York City in the early 20s, putting on film what Yankee Stadium and Coney Island and many other locales were like. Babe Ruth takes a cab ride with Harold. Harold drives a horse drawn trolley chased through the streets of Manhattan. Near Washington Square park, he loses control of the horse and the trolley crashes into one of the elevated train girders! It happened for real. It wasn't in the script. What were they going to do? On the spot, Lloyd comes up with the gag of replacing the wheels with manhole covers, and the race is on again!

Which movie was I talking about?

Oh, THE KID BROTHER, my favorite.

Not GIRL SHY. But it a legitimately sweet romantic comedy.

Not SAFETY LAST. But, jeez, there's Harold and Harvey Parry, his stunt double for the long shots, climbing the skyscraper.

And when Harold hangs off the clock, for those of you who don't know, just remember, Harold's fingers had been blown off his left hand when what was supposed to be a prop bomb turned out to be real and blew up near his face, while he was holding it for a still photograph.

In fact, I like the sound version of this even better in FEET FIRST. So, FEET FIRST could be a contender, like Brando.

Not WHY WORRY?

The Harold and the Giant scenes alone, with the giant having a cannon strapped to his back and Harold reeking havoc on enemy armies and everything else is worth the price alone.

Hey! It just hits me. This is a Top 10 list, sure! But you know what, I don't have WHY WORRY? On video tape. I haven't been able to find it anywhere!

Does anyone have WHY WORRY? On video tape?

Okay, I'm begging now, as this comes to mind.

I need WHY WORRY?

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled #6 Top Movie, THE KID BROTHER.

Harold threatening the bad guy with a stick, unaware there's a huge snake wrapped around it.

The "good-bye" sequence, as Harold climbs a tree, higher and higher, as the woman he is enraptured by walks downhill, just so he can keep her in sight longer and longer, say "good-bye" again and again. This is lovely and lovingly done, the girl going out of frame, the camera climbing with Harold until we can see her again, another good-bye, the woman gone again, Harold frantically scrambling up more branches, the camera climbing with him until we can see her again.

The familial pain and rejection with his father and brothers.

Harold and the monkey on the sinking ship pursued by a man intent on murder!

Some of these films are on video, but they are not as available as the Buster Keaton films. But some catalogues should have some of them.

Except WHY WORRY?

Who has WHY WORRY?

Everybody knows, the Disney studios couldn't match LOONEY TUNES in short cartoons, but when it comes to features, they made some beautiful movies. I could hedge bets here and go with BAMBI (I love the naturalism and subdued swirls of color), the textured backgrounds, but for now, I'll go with PINOCCHIO.

It has color, vibrancy, heart (well, so does BAMBI), wit and Jiminy Cricket. So, for Jiminy's sake, it's PINOCCHIO.

Everybody knows I'm a Bond fan. They know I have an agreement with Sean Connery. If he's in a movie, I go see it. They're not all great. But they are all better for his being in them.

This is where trouble started for the Bond films. Maibaum's script is on target. Classic sequences. The best one-liners tossed off inimitably by Connery.

Somebody go on a James Bond site, and I'm sure you'll find some place where I can go on and on about GOLDFINGER.

If Connery had been in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, that may well have been the best of all Bonds. Connery with Diana Rigg! I think there could be some chemistry there!

Did I mention I saw GOLDFINGER 14 times when it first came out!

Only a hippocrite would not put down a film in his Top 10 List that he went to see 14 times!

In its opening release.

We're not talking afterewards!

It gets me every time I hear, "I'll be right here," and ET points to his head.

Reminds me of all the times the dreams have been threatened. I pick this as my favorite Spielberg, but as with Hitch, and Buster and Harold, and others, it's hard to pick one.

If you work in the entertainment business, this film stills packs a punch. Sydney Lumet did some wonderful movies. The first time I ever saw THE PAWNBROKER, it slammed me back into my seat. Steiger crushed in the train car, losing hold of his child. His hand going through the pawn spike! THE HILL and THE OFFENSE, both powerful films, fine movie-making.

But I've lived in this life of telling stories, and Paddy Chayefsky nailed it! The rage. The impotence. The craziness. The ruthlessness.

I first saw this at a screening when things were going mad at Marvel Comics.

It was screaming in my head as I walked out with the Bullpenners!

No Kubrick?

No Capra?

No Orson Welles? No CITIZEN KANE, no MAGNIFICENT ANDERSONS. And I'd probably pick my personal favorite as TOUCH OF EVIL. If you've ever been involved with film at all, the opening shot alone is astounding, from Tight Closeup on hands, to Wide Shots to Lift and Pan shots, picking up characters, in and out, with impeccable timing, and no computers to play tricks, and mood consistently intact. Phew!

No Erich Von Stroheim's GREED? Every once in awhile Turner Classic Movies shows the newly restored version of this movie. Would GREED have changed American cinema if Von Stroheim's film hadn't been butchered down to two hours, as some critics insist? I'm not sure of that. But Von Stroheim's was a unique voice, and his original vision for the film, for a running time that would make the three hour plus time of some of today's films almost a short subject, you could not fault him for not reaching for something that was totally his. And at its core, it's still as meaningful today in its unflinching examination of the human condition, the complexity of people, the contradictions and paradoxes within individuals. This is still trail-blazing, searing material. And like Keaton and Lloyd, if you see good prints of this, you won't know from the story telling and the cinematography that you aren't seeing a movie just made recently, except maybe for the personal caring and clarity of image, because they were setting the tone and language of film and they were not mired in the visual cliches of their time. Check it out.

When I first saw Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY people couldn't get me out of my seat.
They were tugging at me. I couldn't move.
What the hell was this? What had I just seen?

Not a HOPALONG CASSIDY film on the list?

Oh, some of you are saying, you rave about Kubrick, and the next paragraph you're on to HOPALONG CASSIDY?

Damn straight! As Ray Bradbury said, and this may be a little paraphrased, forgive me, Ray, but I know I have the essence here, I won't turn my back on the things I loved as a kid, and all my life! Archie Stout lensed those first Hoppys. His first films after the Hoppys were with John Ford.
Russell Harlan filmed 40some Hoppys. I believe his first film after the Hoppys was RED RIVER.
And William Boyd? Who would I be if I hadn't seen William Boyd? Or Robert Culp and Bill Cosby? Or Sean Connery?
I could go way off here and get onto writers such as Evan Hunter/Ed McBain, Ian Fleming, Stirling Silliphant, John D. MacDonald, Robert Culp, Richard Matheson. These people changed my life. Maybe one day I'll do a Writers Heroes and Influences Top 10.
But back to the Hoppys.
Which movie of the 66 films in the series would I pick? By the way, the Hoppy series STILL holds the record for the most films done on a single character, ever!
So, would it be:

HEART OF ARIZONA
BAR 20 JUSTICE
TRAIL DUST
HOPALONG RIDES AGAIN
SILVER ON THE SAGE

The floor is now yours.
If I could I'd go riding with Hoppy.

   March 30, 2001