I re-watch The Untouchables all the time. It is a very good movie. Which brings another memory to mind, from the movie Outbreak when Dustin Hoffman and Kevin Spacey are flying back from Africa and Kevin is typing up Dustin's report. Dustin dictates "alarmingly high fatality" and Kevin skips alarmingly. Dustin says, "You didn't put alarmingly" and Kevin responds "It's an adverb, Sam, it's the lazy tool of a weak mind. Period. Done." Every time I use an adverb, though rarely is it the word alarmingly, I think of that scene and in fact, it makes me stop and decide if I am being lazy and weak-minded.
In this case, I kept 'very' in the sentence even though 'good movie' would really have been sufficient, mostly because it did bring that scene to my mind and I wanted to talk about that a little bit.
There are a lot of movies, and alarmingly few TV shows, that I watch so often that I know the scenes, the dialogue, and the music better than I know my own real life. The dialogue works its way into my vocabulary in such a way I am not always aware that I am quoting them. Most people (it seems especially men) can quote their favorite movies chapter and verse, at least the really memorable lines, but I am talking about more than that.
My wife and I speak fluent Bluey to each other all the time. Most notably Muffinesque lines like "COW BOY HAT!" and "THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!" At the office my co-workers and I constantly throw lines from Airplane and The IT Crowd around like they're going out of style. The IT Crowd is one of those shows that I watch too many times. If you have never heard of it, then you do not work in Information Technology. ("Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?")
But there are other movies, other stories that I watch monthly; sometimes weekly. They have become old friends, always welcome at the door. These screen stories are the ones I keep going back to over and over again.
Sometimes because they are excellent stories, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Court Jester, and Waking Ned Devine, fit this category. ("The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true." They don't write them like that anymore.)
Others may not be obvious classics, but they are loved for different reasons, and I am drawn back to them. WarGames, The Transporter, and (as I discussed in my last essay) You've Got Mail are just a few of these.
I don't want this to turn into a top twenty movies of all time list. That is not what this is. I want to talk about the stories that speak to you, the ones that live in your soul. The ones that become part of you and can change how you think, how you speak, and even who you are.
When WarGames was released in 1982, it really spoke to who I was at the time. I was already a computer nerd, I was already (I think the statute of limitations has run out on this.) an active hacker. This movie spoke directly to me. This movie brings me back instantly to the early '80s with dial up modems, archaic computers with less power than my smart watch, libraries (and card catalogs!), arcades, even high school.
I could have been David Lightman. Now I am probably more like Jim Sting, but still, that may be the magic of the stories that speak to you so deeply; they age with you.
WarGames made me feel like it was ok to be who I was. It still makes me feel like it's ok to be who I am. It doesn't matter how it did at the box office, it doesn't matter what the score is on Rotten Tomatoes, it doesn't matter if anyone but me likes it. Though, certainly, many people do. This is the one movie that speaks to me deeply every time I watch it. This is why I am drawn back to this movie over and over (it is one of my enthusiasms).
It's complicated with movies like WarGames. It has a strong pull of nostalgia (my goodness, do you remember when 7-Elevens looked like that?), it has the energy of a thriller unfolding (even though I know exactly what is going to happen and when), but it also has the warm embrace of a close friend returning for a visit.
I believe that's the difference, really. The heart of it, why some movies can be favorites; enjoyed and rewatched, but others like WarGames live in your soul. I don't rewatch it for the entertainment. I rewatch it for the feeling of home.
When a story connects with you like that, it becomes much more than a favorite. It becomes part of you.
Some stories distract us. Others define us.Some stories carry us away. Others bring us back.Some stories are escapes. Others are home.
Do you have one of those stories? That movie that was the runt of the litter? The one you just love so much no one can understand it? What is that story and how do you connect with it?
Till next time,
John
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