So I’m flipping through the TV channels after midnight on Saturday which has now turned into Sunday.  I’ve had my fill of college football and watched the replay of the wild World Series ending a dozen times.  I’m thinking of going to sleep but am not all that tired and as I go through the movie channels I come across “Rocky” which was just starting.   

Rocky runs up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps
Rocky runs up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps (YouTube)
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Rocky and Apollo Creed run in the surf in Rocky 3
Rocky and Apollo Creed run in the surf in Rocky 3 (YouTube)
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This was the 1976 original and by far the best of six movies written and starring Sylvester Stallone.  Of course I have probably watched the movie at least 50 times over the years but sure enough despite the late hour I am glued to the TV and watch it until the very end which was probably around 2:30 in the morning.

I admit to being one of those who will watch the same movie time and time again and for no apparent reason.  Many are classics but others are quirky features that are not considered anything special.  I don’t know what makes a movie one you will watch over and over while others,even ones you might have liked, are the kind in which once you’ve seen them you really have no interest in watching them again.

John Belushi in Animal House
John Belushi in Animal House (YouTube)
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To me what sets these apart is ones which you will watch regardless of where the film is when you stumble across it on TV.  I know this sometimes drives my wife crazy because she’ll ask me how I can watch a movie I’ve seen two dozen times even if there’s only a half hour left.  The answer is I don’t know. It’s just one of those things.

I can’t put together a list of my favorite repeat movies because I won’t be able to remember half of them at least not until I come across them again at some ridiculous early morning hour in which I can’t sleep.  But there are a few which stand out:

  • CASINO & GOODFELLAS-  Two great mob movies and both starring Robert DeNiro & Joe Pesci.
  • THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION- Tim Robbins & Morgan Freeman make this a timeless treasure.
  • ALMOST FAMOUS- A teenager discovers the real world of rock and roll. Outstanding.
  • ANIMAL HOUSE- It was dated when it first came out so all these years later Belushi’s humor still resonates.
  • THE NATURAL and FIELD OF DREAMS- Two sports fantasy movies that you wish were true stories.

Others on my unofficial list are GLADIATOR, BRAVEHEART, FORREST GUMP, SLAPSHOT & DIRTY DANCING because “nobody puts Baby in the corner.”

 

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