When you weren’t looking, I decided to conduct a survey among my friends to ask which are their favorite movies. This was done in such a loosey-goosey manner that if Gallop had been monitoring my poling practices, he surely would make me hang my head in shame.

Nonetheless, the results of my survey confirm my belief that my friends – all wildly intelligent, by the way -- are also romantics, and that even though I’ve never heard of (let alone watched) many of the movies they chose, I should add them to my “To Be Watched.” List. And who knows? Maybe I will fall in love with some of them (the movies. Not the friends), too.

First (pretend I’m a researcher being funded by some dumb government agency) a few statistics:

- Eighteen people responded to my inquiry.

- Even though I asked for only four, each listed anywhere from one to 17, totaling well over 100 “Favorite Movies” -- a clear indication that I am not running a tight ship.

- Twenty of the films that my friends chose are on the American Film Institute’s list of Greatest Movies Ever Made. They are: Frankenstein, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, The Godfather, It’s a Wonderful Life, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. Zhivago, Schindler’s List, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, Clockwork Orange, The Searchers, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night, Rear Window, An American in Paris, Forrest Gump, Dances with the Wolves, Rocky, and Casablanca.

-Even though the AFI lists Citizen Kane as the best movie ever made, none of my contributors put it on their lists ... an opinion with which I strongly agree, as I’ve always thought the movie was pompous and over-rated

-On the AFI list – Casablanca is considered the second-best film ever made. On my friend’s lists, however, Casablanca (rightly) comes first.

Since my respondents had such diverse favorites, I found it remarkable that they managed to agree on anything at all. However:

Four picked Casablanca as their favorite.

Three selected Dr. Zhivago and To Kill a Mockingbird.

And two votes each went to: Chariots of Fire, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Music Man, Three Coins in a Fountain, Pimpernel Smith, The Princess Bride, My Favorite Year, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Depending upon their availability at the library or on YouTube, I plan to view all of my friends’ favorites. Last night, plucking a title from my friend Mary’s list, I watched Night Train to Munich, and it was terrific. In no particular order, here are the rest of the movies that my friends love:

The Quiet Man (1952); Roman Holiday (1953), Paris When it Sizzles (1964), Khartoum (1966), American President (1995), Dirty Dancing (1987), You’ve Got Mail (1998), When Harry Met Sally (1989), The Lucky One (2012), The Notebook (2004), Safe Haven (2013), The Goonies (1985), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), Cinema Paradiso (1990), American Tail (1986), Lion (2016), Lincoln (2012), Braveheart (1995), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Brigadoon (1954), Funny Girl (1968), Chicago (2002), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Foreign Correspondent (1940), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Kate & Leopold (2001), Ladies in Black (2018), Mrs. Palfrey at the Clairmont (2005), Enchanted April (1991), The Great Escape (1963), Sleuth (1972), A Thousand Clowns (1965), A Town Like Alice (1981), The Count of Monte Cristo (1975), The Winslow Boy (1948), Zardoz (1974), The Blues Brothers (1980), The Guns of Navarone (1961), D-Day (1956), Love Story (1970), The Ten Commandments (1956), Quo Vadis (1951), Something’s Gotta Give (2003), Sleepless in Seattle (1998), Queen Christina (1933), Notorious (1946), The Holiday (2006), Dangerous Beauty (1998), Bank of Dave (2023), Queen of Katwe (2016), Love Actually (2023), The Blind Side (2009), Moonstruck (1987), Crossing Delancy (1988), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Leap Year (2010), The Magnificent Seven (1960), Back to the Future (1985), Mary Poppins (1964), A Christmas Story (1983), Remember the Titans (2000), and PS I Love You (2017).

Before I express my final opinions (unscientific and subjective), I am going to foist MY favorite movies on you. Nobody asked, but it is my column and rank hath its privilege. So: Casablanca, of course (1942) Pimpernel Smith (1942), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Rear Window (1954), 49th Parallel (1942), and a bunch of Frank Capra classics, including Ball of Fire (1941), Meet John Doe (1941), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944 – great fun!)

In pondering if I can extract anything resembling wisdom from my survey, I conclude … probably not. But I did manage to compile a few interesting odds and ends, such as:

Ingrid Bergman starred to two of the movies on my list: Casablanca and Notorious.

James Stewart starred in at least four of them: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

William Goldman wrote the scripts for two: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Princess Bride.

Leslie Howard starred in two: The 49th Parallel and, Pimpernel Smith.

Gregory Peck starred in two: To Kill a Mockingbird and Guns of Navarone.

And (last one!) Alfred Hitchcock directed at least four: Foreign Correspondent, Notorious, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Rear Window.

I’ll end with a quote I can’t find written down anywhere, but that I vividly remember from years ago, when Cary Grant was receiving an award for some well-deserved achievement. In his thank you speech, he stated that since making movies was “a collaborative art,” it was not surprising that so many movies were bad. What was really surprising, was that so many were so good!

And with gratitude for all of the pleasure that we have received from this complicated and delightful cinematic art form, my response would have to be: “Amen to that, Mr. Cary Grant. Amen to that.”

Copyright © Shelly Reuben, 2024. Shelly Reuben’s books have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. For more about her writing, visit www.shellyreuben.com