Four Movies

So this morning, I read an article on the A.V. Club that asked what four films define you.

Now, this isn't supposed to be your favorite movies, but those that helped make you who you are.

So let's see...

Star Wars (1977)

Superman (1978)

The Princess Bride (1987)

... and, hmmm.  Let me think.

So, let's start with Star Wars.  It shaped so many of my generation, but it became the center of so much growing up.  The toys were a collection to be completed, but I was forced to stop collecting midway through The Empire Strikes Back sets.  The music was everything to me.  It was what I listened to always.  John Williams became the standard against which all other composers were measured.  And then there was the beginning of the concept of what a Jedi is and what they can do.  Star Wars also began the slow trickle of science fiction into my life.  Surte, it's actually space fantasy, but it still piqued my interest.

Superman was a given that I would watch with my love of comics, but again there was more to it.  It was truly giving in to the hype that "You will believe a man can fly."  It was the amazing score again by John Williams with the main theme that I would use to test any new sound system.  Or for celebration.  And seeing my favorite comic book hero looking so real just kept me waiting to be a better person.

And speaking of being a better person, we come to The Princess Bride.  Released the autumn of my freshman year of college, it had everything Peter Falk's character promised: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...  Fencing became very interesting to me, and I even took a weekend class on it.  The more I learned about it, the more amazed I was at the choreography in the movie.

My fourth is difficult because there are two that helped bring me into my groups of friends in Maryland for high school and California in high school and college.  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension has to become a close fifth movie, but the true fourth is Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).

Monty Python had been something that I watched with my parents and their introduction to me of the movies was vital to those who became my friends.  In my high schools in Maryland and California, I bonded with other members of the marching bands.  It was where I first learned about the entertaining call and response aspect of reciting lines.  In college, that was only reinforced.  And then there's just the whole structuring of my sense of humor.