Your 100 best conservative movies - Cover Story

National Review, March 11, 1996 by Spencer Warren

EIGHTEEN months ago, 'The 100 Best Conservative Movies' was a big hit with NR readers, inspiring an outpouring of their own film favorites. The following new list is drawn mainly from these suggestions with a few additions. Once again, many films come from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. If you want to understand the meaning of 'Victorian virtues,' in Gertrude Himmelfarb's phrase (as distinguished from 'modern values'), these movies are the place to start. Their creators often were children of the Victorian age. They grew up with convictions like faith, family, thrift, self-restraint, and patriotism, long before the 'de-moralization' (Miss Himmelfarb again) of society and mass culture by material affluence, radical ideology, and cynical, corporate commercialism. But lately there are some hopeful signs of a return to these virtues -- in films like Apollo 13, which celebrates American know-how, or the three new Jane Austen adaptations, which subtly endorse traditional manners and morals. So much for trends in film history. Now to Your 100 Best Conservative Movies.

Most Popular Conservative Movies Omitted from the Previous List: Patton (1970). This film makes a calculated appeal to anti-war liberals as well as to conservatives. But there's no doubt about George C. Scott's riveting portrayal of our greatest World War II army commander. It's a performance that sweeps away all those liberal theories that the way to fight a war is by controlled escalation or 'sending signals.'

Ben-Hur (1959). Oscars for Best Picture and Actor (Charlton Heston). The most revived of the 1950s biblical epics, giving a panoramic and realistic view of the cruel pre-Christian world. Long -- but not long enough for many NR readers.

The Sound of Music (1965). One of the best loved of all movies. President Reagan once apologized for not having read his official papers because the previous night this film had been shown on television. Best-Picture Oscar.

Best Modern Films about Individual Conscience and Courage: Walking Tall (1973). Based on the true story of Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser, powerfully played by Joe Don Baker, who routed local corruption while wielding a baseball bat. See also Lean on Me (1989), the story of conservative New Jersey school principal Joe Clark (played by the admirable Morgan Freeman) for the baseball bat as a symbol of sturdy American righteousness.

Rob Roy (1995). Scotsman fights for his home and property, from the Walter Scott novel. It is, however, marred by needlessly explicit sex and violence. Braveheart (1995), another Scottish patriotic tale, brilliantly directed by Mel Gibson, is also open to criticism for its unrestrained violence. But both are powerful morality tales about chivalry and courage in the face of ruthless adversaries. Incidentally, Tim Roth, the wonderfully wicked English courtier in Rob Roy, may be the long-awaited successor to Basil Rathbone as an all-purpose distinguished villain (see below, passim).

Notable Films about an Individual's Triumph over Adversity: Rocky (1976). Best Picture Oscar.

Interrupted Melody (1955). The story of opera star Marjorie Lawrence, felled by polio. Tour de force performance by Eleanor Parker (the Baroness in Sound of Music), the unsung greatest actress of the 1950s (e.g., in Caged, Detective Story, and The Man with the Golden Arm.)

Best Film about a Poor Family's Struggle to Succeed: The Southerner (1945). Sharecropper Zachary Scott's uncle collapses in the field and dies in his arms with the words, 'Grow your own crops.' This beautifully directed film (French master Jean Renoir) dramatizes the faith, love, and determination that unite Scott's family against terrible adversity; their suffering and hard work lead to fulfillment.

Best Movies about Russia's War in Afghanistan: The Beast (1988). Superb drama of Red Army versus mujahedin.

Best Movie about Defeating Terrorism: The Final Option (1982). Stirring film about anti-nuclear Marxist terrorists who seize hostages in U.S. Embassy in London to block deployment of U.S. missiles in Britain. Britain's elite Special Air Services teaches them a thing or two. Also critical of bureaucrat appeasers, this is one of the noteworthy conservative films of the 1980s.

Delta Force (1986). Chuck Norris and his all-purpose motorcycle lead U.S. commandos into downtown Beirut to rescue American hostages. Lively adventure film.

More Great Movie Tributes to the Soldiers of Freedom: Twelve O'Clock High (1949). Outstanding drama about 'tough love' Air Force commander who saves a wartime USAAF base from demoralization. Plus The Purple Heart (1945); Back to Bataan (1945) and Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), both with John Wayne; Battleground (1949); and Uncommon Valor (1983) among many more.

SPECIAL MENTION: Prisoner of War (1954). Ronald Reagan as intelligence officer who arranges his own capture by North Koreans so he can document their torture of U.S. POWs. Make that man President.

But Not All Soldiers Are in Uniform: In Casablanca (1942), directed by Michael Curtiz, Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains join the Allies, Ingrid Bergman joins the Resistance, and 'As Time Goes By' joins the unforgettables.