The Top 10 Movies of My Childhood

In everyone’s childhood, there are stories both big and small, which stick with us as we stumble our way through adolescence and finally approach the summit of adulthood.

For me, many of these came from certain films, which I watched constantly through the hay-day of VHS, until these movies I had either bought or recorded off of television sputtered, buzzed and finally died of overuse. To this day, these select films take me over with nostalgia, and, as I create my own stories, their influence echoing quietly from the corners of my mind. But I’ve got no problem with that. I owe them a lot.

Without further adieu, the top ten movies of my childhood.

10. Dick Tracy

“Dick Tracy,” is one of four films in this list, which I categorize as part of the “Fox 4.” Back in the 90′s our local Fox station would have a “Saturday Afternoon Double Feature,” filling in the time between the morning cartoons and whatever sports event would fill that evening, but, as you might expect, the number of films the station had the rights for were meager at best and so, three or four times a year, I would sit after hours of animated goodness and watch Chester Gould’s yellow trench coated detective, played by Warren Beatty, as he battled a mouthy Al Pacino, who devoured every last bit of scenery as “Big Boy” Caprice.

“Dick Tracy,”  to this day, stands out as one of the best comic book (I guess technically comic strip) movies of all time. While, as a lad, it filled me with a love for all things tommy-gun related, I believe I was best left with a great example of how color can really make a scene. Before the likes of Sin City, Tracy took a cue from its source material and splattered color, both bright and rich, over everything, creating a world all its own.

9. A Night in Casablanca

Before my eyes ever caught a glimpse of “Casablanca,” there was “A Night in Casablanca,” the twelfth Marx Brother’s movie and their second to last as a team. Set in that shady Moroccan city, where there are “vultures vultures everywhere” (my thanks to the brothers Epstein), Groucho plays Ronald Kornblow, a slick entrepreneur, who takes the position of running the local hotel although the last several managers have died mysteriously. Following close behind him are Chico and Harpo who assist in the chaos.

As the plot goes, the deaths of the past managers can be attributed to Heinrich Stubel, a Nazi spy living under an alias, who wants to mange the hotel himself, in order to find a stash of stolen loot the Third Reich hid before the end of the war.  Of course, with Groucho in the way, Stubel sends Miss. Beatrice Reiner, a fellow goose stepper, to seduce him, which gets her into situation, which are more than she bargained for. To quote: (Reiner: “I’m Beatrice Reiner, I stop at the hotel.” Groucho: “I’m Ronald Kornblow, I stop at nothing.”).

Thanks to this little film (and later on, the rest of the Marx Brother’s filmography) I learned at a young age about the melding of comedy styles to make one big crazy story. With Groucho’s quips (where the innuendoes, in retrospect, are dirtier than I remembered), Chico’s timing, and Harpo’s physical shenanigans, you get something special, which is ageless and funny to boot. Also, points for making fun of Nazis. Can’t ever get enough of that.

8. Honey I Shrunk the Kids

This film, if I remember correctly, was my first big nerd obsession. At a very young age, you could find me building tiny Lego shrink rays in my room and pointing them at apples. In fact, during my first trip to Disney World, the one thing I remember buying was a “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” picture book. So what would put a tale of mistakenly shrunken offspring on my list? Two things: the genius, which is Rick Moranis and a score by James Horner so memorable that it got me interested in film music to a degree that its now the dominate genre on my ipod.

On a final note, this movie never fails in making me crave Oatmeal Cream Cookies and Cheerios…very large Oatmeal Cream Cookies and Cheerios.

7. The Disorderly Orderly

For me, this is Jerry Lewis at his pinnacle, not to mention the one that started my mild obsession with the comic. A mix of slapstick humor, car chases, and Jerry Lewis being….well, Jerry Lewis, The Disorderly Orderly also takes a weird but welcome turn into the serious, when an old high school crush of Lewis’ Orderly character Jerome Littlefield winds up in his hospital after trying to commit suicide. Torn between his old love and his current girlfriend, Jerome doesn’t know what to do. Not to mention he’s busy battling his psychosomatic tendencies towards other patients, which prevents him from finishing up his education and becoming a doctor.

Though truly hilarious (and with a theme song by Sammy Davis Jr. for good measure) the film works for me because of how well it melds the funny with the serious. So few movies can do both but Lewis proves how good he is at bouncing moods and making them both feel oddly believable.

6. The Rocketeer

God bless “The Rocketeer” for helping me discover the world of classic pulp fiction. The second of the “Fox 4,” The Rocketeer, was based on Dave Steven’s short run of comics from, oddly enough, the 80′s, and it works as a perfect homage to the golden age of science fiction. Bi-planes, jet packs, jazz night clubs, a young Jennifer Connelly (yeowza, yeowza), and Nazi spies infiltrating the Hollywood elite- what more could a growing boy ask for?

This is one film that really defines the term “adventure” and it helped garner in me a genuine love and respect for the pulp book writers of the past, who have sadly been so forgotten.

5. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

There’s two things I really love: a good detective story and a good cartoon. This flick (the third in the Fox 4) has both in spades. With effects old in concept but new in presentation, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” became the crossroads where physical effects and animation met, leading to what would soon be a renaissance with computer effects intwining themselves with actual people and places. Even as a kid I knew this was a special nod to the past and a welcoming of what was to come. So the next time you watch Gollum lead those hobbits to Mordor or observe blue skinned Na’vi traipsing around the jungle, remember, you have a cartoon rabbit to thank who’s name isn’t Bugs.

4. Toy Story

Speaking of the dawn of computers in film, good ole Pixar delivered this little story about boys and their toys at a time when animation was, for the most part, still done with ink and pen. Hard to believe when now another computerized tale seems to arrive in our theaters every week (though they might now always be welcome…I’m looking at you Dreamworks).

For me, Toy Story came at a time when I was deeply about playing with toys and its saga continued to turn up every time I grew past a childhood stage, finally culminating with Toy Story 3 as Buzz and Woody’s owner Andy taking off for college just as I received my degree. The original was the first movie I ever could quote line for line, which pleased my parents to no end, let me tell you, and, to this day, remains the watermark where other animated films stiff to reach.

Also, one of the writers for the film was a dude by the name of Joss Whedon. Ever heard of him?

3. What About Bob?

The final film in the Fox 4, “What About Bob?” holds a very special place in my heart. Besides being a relentlessly funny character study on how much man can take of his fellow man, the film helped me through a dark period in my life.

In fourth grade, due to the pressures of growing up and the changes that come with it, I found myself having constant panic attacks, literally falling to pieces. My mother and a school counselor did the best they could but leave it to film to nail the lid shut on my season of prepubescent neurosis.

In “What About Bob?” I found Bill Murray’s Bob Wiley a character far more messed up then myself, who, through simple baby steps, found his way, ever better for it. So that’s what I did- I watched Bob’s interactions with Richard Dreyfuss’s poor Leo Marvin and laughed till it hurt, which, in the end, stopped the hurt all together.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark

If you’ve been around me for more than ten minutes, most likely I’ve brought up Indiana Jones. I try not to at times but, when your room contains almost every Indiana Jones comic book and novel ever written and a plethora of toys and artifacts (no pun intended) dedicated to that fedora wearing bullwhip wielding archeologist, it’s hard for him not to come up in conversation.

As a kid, I wanted to be Indiana Jones. Sure, Han Solo was great and James Bond cool but, when Indy wasn’t killing Nazis (I know, I have a trend going here) he was wearing a stylish bow tie and teaching- both equally cool to nerdy young me. Though, I will be the first to admit, I sat in terror with my eyes closed every time they opened that darn ark till I was about ten. Little old wussy me.

1. Star Wars: A New Hope

What can be said about the first Star Wars movie that hasn’t already been said by every other nerd and geek on the planet? Nothing really… except this! Star Wars: A New Hope led the campaign for making science fiction films a genre which was to be respected. For Akbar’s sake, it almost won  the coveted “Best Picture” Oscar, though it lost to Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” which, as an adult I would grow to lure.

So there you have it. The top ten films that influenced me (or ruined me, depending how you look at things) as a child. What films nurtured you in your youth? Which ones do you still look back on with nostalgia? Let me know by leaving your comments down below!