Top 5 Films: Montana

I've finally hit a state for which I can't find five films to recommend. Not only could I not find five, I couldn't find one that I could really get behind. A random suggestion brought about this inevitability prematurely, but I'm kind of glad it happened. No sense in always taking the easy way out in life. This no one has seen fit to use Montana as a setting for their great opus, I'll still list five movies for you, but they will represent five separate, arbitrary categories of my choosing. Note that it's apparently impossible to set a contemporary movie in Montana.

Best of the Bunch: Little Big Man
There's nothing wrong with Little Big Man, in general. I just found my mind drifting in and out through the film. Perhaps it's because the scope of the film entails following a man's exploits (Jack Crabb, played by Dustin Hoffman) essentially through his 121-year life. It's told in flashback, which I don't particularly care for as a narrative device and it gives the film a very episodic feel. I also think that I like Arthur Penn, the director, better in my mind than in actuality. That all said, the film is great to look at, well-acted, and features Faye Dunaway at the peak of her beauty. It's also interesting for the fact that Hoffman plays the character as a 17-year old all the way to the 121-year old (even Martin Short in Clifford couldn't compete with that).


Best Movie that Mentions Montana: The Hunt for Red October
Not so much an endorsement for the film, though it's pretty good, but more for Sam Neill. A Russion submarine crew goes AWOL with their newest sub and Sean "I can only speak with a Scottish accent" Connery leading the way. Sam Neill plays Captain Borodin and has but one desire: to see Montana. Notably absent from the trailer... Sam Neill.


Movie to Avoid Ever Seeing: A River Runs Through It
One of the coaches of my undergrad baseball team put this on while we were traveling back from a game. I've never heard so much outcry to have a movie turned off and be banned from ever being played again. It's, to put it simply, boring. The only thing more boring that fishing is watching other people fish. I can't even make it through the trailer. May you have better luck. And yes, that is a very young Joseph Gordon-Levitt


Best Movie that My Older Sister Loved: Legends of the Fall
Much like A River Runs Through It, it stars Brad Pitt and takes place in Montana. I've never seen it, but my older sister loved it (clever category title, eh?).


Best Movie Shot in Montana that Destroyed a Studio and a Career: Heaven's Gate
Ego, cost over-runs, and horrible press pretty much crushed United Artists and Michael Cimino's (The Deer Hunter) career. It's pretty famous, actually, and most of you probably already knew this. Interestingly, you can't really see the theatrical release anymore to understand what the hubbub was about. You have to sit through the 219 minute version as opposed to the 141 minutes of the original. Even more interesting is that this longer version is somewhat praised. Maybe one day I'll work myself up to sitting through it. Maybe.