One day last week on Facebook my buddy Henry Covert posted a list of his 100 favorite movies and challenged some of us to compile our own lists. This is what I came up with, bearing in mind that such lists can be fluid things and that if I were to compile the same list a week or month or year from now many of those listed here might be in a somewhat different order, or not included at all.

I have long maintained that there is a tie for my all-time favorite motion picture: "Star Wars" (the original, which could easily have stood alone without the other films in that series) and "The Man From Snowy River." My reasons for sharing the top spot between these two are too lengthy to go into here; perhaps one day I’ll devote one of my newspaper columns to

this subject. We’ll see...


Allowing for this tie, then, the remaining 98 titles on my personal list of list of 100 favorite movies reads as follows:


3. Raiders Of The Lost Ark

4. Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein

5. A Night At The Opera

6. How The West Was Won

7. The Time Machine (George Pal version)

8. The Mark Of Zorro (Tyrone Power version)

9. The Adventures Of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn version)

10. King Kong (1933 version)

11. West Side Story

12. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Disney version)

13. Journey To The Center Of The Earth (James Mason version)

14. Planet Of The Apes (the original)

15. Back To The Future

16. Silverado

17. John Carter

18. Braveheart

19. A Day At The Races

20. Buck Privates

21. Tarzan The Ape Man (Johnny Weissmuller version)

22. The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.)

23. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

24. The Alamo (John Wayne version)

25. Frankenstein (Boris Karloff version)

26. Superman (Christopher Reeve version)

27. Batman (Michael Keaton version)

28. Help!

29. Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

30. The Untouchables

31. The Time Of Their Lives

32. Super 8

33. 1776

34. War Of The Worlds (George Pal version)

35. Spartacus

36. Yankee Doodle Dandy

37. Duck Soup

38. American Grafitti

39. The Empire Strikes Back

40. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

41. The Bride Of Frankenstein

42. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 

43. Singin’ In The Rain

44. Fantasia

45. Stagecoach (original version)

46. Mister Roberts

47. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (Disney version)

48. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

49. Hidalgo

50. Casablanca

51. Help!

52. That Thing You Do!

53. It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

54. Road To Perdition

55. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

56. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

57. Island At The Top Of The World

58. Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze

59. A Hard Day's Night

60. Goldfinger
61. The Rocketeer

62. Return Of The Jedi

63. Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

64. Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith 

65. Tarzan And His Mate

66. The Apple Dumpling Gang

67. Tarzan The Magnificent

68. Back To The Future Part III

69. Dracula (Bela Lugosi version)

70. Man Of La Mancha

71. The Thin Man

72. Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers 

73. Return To Snowy River

74. Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom

75. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

76. Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man

77. Ben-Hur

78. Xanadu

79. Captain America: The First Avenger

80. Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones

81. Beneath The Planet Of The Apes

82. Batman (1966 version)

83. Red Tails

84. Star Trek: First Contact

85. Abbott & Costello Meet The Invisible Man

86. The Phantom

87. Air Force One

88. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

89. Superman II

90. The Ten Commandments

91. Horse Feathers

92. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

93. Animal Crackers

94. Head

95. Live And Let Die

96. Star Trek: Generations

97. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

98. Crocodile Dundee

99. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

100. The Mummy (Boris Karloff version)

Now, taking Henry's idea for a list one step further, I compiled the following catalog of my favorite movie series (of three or more films):

A. The “Star Wars” Series

Episode I: The Phanton Menace

Episode II: Attack Of The Clones

Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Episode IV: A New Hope*

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi

(* - This was the first film actually produced, originally released in 1977 simply as “Star Wars.”)


B. The Adventures of Indiana Jones

1. Raiders Of The Lost Ark

2. Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom

3. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

4. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull


C. The “Star Trek” Films

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

3. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

7. Star Trek: Generations

8. Star Trek: First Contact

9. Star Trek: Insurrection

10. Star Trek: Nemesis


D. The Universal Pictures “Monster Cycle”

(Listed in more or less chronological order)

1. Dracula (1931)

2. Frankenstein (1931)

3. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

4. Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

5. Son of Frankenstein (1939)

6. The Wolf Man (1941)

7. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

8. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1942)

9. Son of Dracula (1943)

10. House of Frankenstein (1944)

11. House of Dracula (1945)

12. Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)


E. The “Planet Of The Apes” Quintet

1. Planet Of The Apes (the original 1968 version)

2. Beneath The Planet Of The Apes

3. Escape From The Planet Of The Apes

4. Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes

5. Battle For The Planet Of The Apes


F. The Johnny Weissmuller “Tarzan” Series*

1. Tarzan The Ape Man

2. Tarzan And His Mate

3. Tarzan Escapes

4. Tarzan Finds A Son

4 Tarzan’s Secret Treasure

5. Tarzan’s New York Adventure

6. Tarzan’s Triumph

7. Tarzan’s Desert Mystery

8. Tarzan And The Amazons

9. Tarzan And The Leopard Woman

10. Tarzan And The Huntress

11. Tarzan And The Mermaids
(* - Bearing in mind that there are much better Tarzan movies, but that this series does represent my first exposure to the character as a small child)


G. The “Lord Of The Rings” Trilogy

1. The Fellowship Of The Ring

2. 4The Two Towers

3. The Return Of The King


H. The “Back To The Future” Trilogy

1. Back To The Future

2. Back To The Future, Part II

3. Back To The Future, Part III


I. The Sean Connery James Bond Films:

1. Dr. No

2. From Russia With Love

3. Goldfinger

4. Thunderball

5. You Only Live Twice

6. Diamonds Are Forever

7. Never Say Never Again


J. The “Thin Man” Series

1. The Thin Man

2. After The Thin Man

3. Another Thin Man

4. Shadow Of The Thin Man

5. The Thin Man Goes Home

6. Song Of The Thin Man