October 25, 2002
| 10. | Used Cars (1980): The first movie Ron Howard ever directed stars Kurt Russell as a used car salesman embroiled in a turf war with Jack Warden. The final car race through the desert is a melody of mayhem. | ||
| 9. | Starman (1984): One of Jeff Bridges' best performances as an alien who takes the form of Karen Allen's deceased husband. The movie finishes up with a grand use of what purports to be the Meteor Crater in Arizona. Easily the most accessible John Carpenter movie. | ||
| 8 | Major League (1989): So what does a Cleveland movie have to do with Arizona? Well, they have to have spring training somewhere, and Yuma's as good as anywhere else. One of the funniest movies ever made. | ||
| 7 | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1975): Not exactly a Friday-night-after-a-long-week movie, but a great example of 1970's movie angst from Martin Scorsese. Ellen Burstyn stars as a widow who moves to Phoenix with her 11 year old son, where she finds romance and a new start. | ||
| 6 | 3:10 to Yuma (1957): A good example of the 1950's western. Van Heflin is cajoled into taking notorious bad man Glenn Ford to Yuma to await the authorities. But will Ford's gang let him do it? A good, but not great, film. | ||
| 5 | Psycho (1960): One of the best of the Hitchcock movies and one of the most frightening movies ever made -- and it starts out in Phoenix! | ||
| 4 | The Petrified Forest (1936): Leslie Howard and Bette Davis star in this romantic/gangster movie. But it's Humphrey Bogart, in his immortal role as the gangster Duke Mantee, who makes this worth a watch.. | ||
| 3 | Tombstone (1993): One of my favorite westerns, with Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and an outstanding supporting cast. And in my opinion, Val Kilmer was completely jobbed when he was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor by the Academy. | ||
| 2 | Raising Arizona (1987): One of the best and the most accessible Coen Brothers epic. Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter star as the star-crossed lovers who kidnap one of the quintuplets sired by Nathan Arizona. John Goodman and William Forsythe as the two escaped convict cronies of Cage, and the immortal Randall "Tex" Cobb as Leonard Smalls, the "Warthog from Hell", make the movie a classic. | ||
| 1 | My Darling Clementine (1946): The all-time, A-No. 1, telling of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, Victor Mature as "Doc" Holliday, and Walter Brennan as the leader of the Clanton family -- who could ask for anything more. Even in black and white, the scenery is spectacular. | ||
One needle short of a cactus:
| = | Grand Canyon Trail (1948): Great Roy Rogers oater. | |
| = | Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) | |
| = | Hour of the Gun (1967): | |
| = | Joe Dirt (2001): Absolutely no redeeming social value, but funny anyway | |
| = | National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) | |
| = | The Painted Desert (1931) | |
| = | Smoke Signals (1998) | |
| = | Winchester '73 (1950) | |
| = | Wyatt Earp (1994): For the same story, better told -- and without Kevin Costner -- see Tombstone or My Darling Clementine |