The situation in southern Lebanon has me ruminating quite a bit on that dish best served cold--not seviche, but vengeance. And so, the best of it on film:
25. Office Space
24. Red Dawn*
23. Robocop
22. Heathers
21. The Punisher (1989)
20. Gladiator
19. The Bourne Supremacy
18. Diabolique (1955)
17. Friday the 13th
16. The Count of Montecristo (2002)
15. Batman (1989)
14. Rocky IV
13. The Karate Kid
12. Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
11. Unforgiven
10. Kill Bill (vo1.1-2)
9. For a Few Dollars More
8. Conan the Barbarian*
7. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
6. Get Carter (1971)
5. Carrie
4. Death Wish
3. Man on Fire
2. The Crow
1. The Godfather
Honorable Mentions: The Toxic Avenger, Revenge of the Dragon, Payback, Revenge of the Nerds, Ocean's Eleven, First Blood I-III (Rambo), Clear and Present Danger*, Commando, Flight of the Intruder.*
*denotes the involvement of John Milius, American cinema's master of vengeance, as writer and/or director.
This list is nought but convtroversial. I suspect many will be confused and upset by how films such as Star Trek II and Conan the Barbarian made it into the top ten while films like Gladiator is ranked comparatively lower. I know there'll be contingents who think Revenge of the Nerds belongs on the list, or another Eastwood movie, or some Bruce Lee movies, or that the Godfather isn't really a revenge movie (it is), or that older films are under-represented in general. Perhaps most fearsome is the cadre of raving children of the 80s who will demand Rocky IV be promoted to #1 or higher (I include it at #14 only as a begrudging compromise. In my mind, anything after Rocky II is barely canonical). In any event, feel free to disagree and state your case.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I would add the original Swept Away, in which a Communist deckhand (Giancarlo Giannini, of Man on Fire fame)is stranded on an island with an imperious, upper-class Christian Democrat who had denigrated the proles during the ill-fated yacht cruise. After washing to shore, he assumes total control over her life (and makes her an eager, submissive sex slave for good measure), giving us two glorious hours of revenge sex-cum-class war. Honorable mention to the Madonna remake for making me light myself on fire.
And there's no reason for Rocky IV not to be at least top five. Reagan needed an arms race and a disastrous Soviet land war in Asia to defeat the Evil Empire. Rocky did it by running up hills and punching people.
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
Post a Comment