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If you missed the ABCs of great movies, scroll down on this website and you’ll find them. These are lists of my very favorite movies in the past 78 years. The ones on this current post begin with the letters D, E or F. Let me know if you have additional movies that you think should be on these lists. But the following DEF’s are outstanding. 78 is a lot of years to be watching movies! – Ray
’93 DAVE (Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn) When Dave’s twin brother – the president of the United States – suddenly dies, Dave is ordered by the government to take his place and act like him. Then love breaks in.
’00 THE DISH (Sam Neil, Billy Mitchell, Roz Hammond) A true story: at a remote Australia tracking station where some people with unique personalities actually help with the first moon landing.
’11 DOLPHIN TALE (Nathan Gamble, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Austin Stowell) This film will warm your heart. Beautifully written and acted, Winter, a dolphin, washes up on a Florida beach tangled in ropes and a crab trap. Her tail has to be amputated and what happens to get her a new tail is the Dolphin tale. The dolphin’s relationship to a lonely 11 year old boy is the heart of the story.
’05 DREAMER (Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Kris Kristofferson, Oded Fehr) Based on a true story, this a great family film about a badly injured racehorse. a self-absorbed father, and an adorable little girl. Then…….
’07 ENCHANTED (Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden) Disney’s often-used formula of an evil queen casting a spell on a lovely young princess is at its best when Princess Giselle is cast into modern New York City. The princess celebrates living and is full of joy and singing. Amy Adams will steal your heart IF you like absolutely delightful fairy-tale musicals.
’98 EVER AFTER (Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Houston, Dougray Scott) 18th Century England finds some modern day twists to this wonderful Cinderella-like story. Great to watch.
’06 FAITH LIKE POTATOES (Frank Rautenbach, Jean Wilhelm) This is the true story of Frank Buchan, a rough hard-drinking Scottish potato-farmer who moves his family from racially torn Zambia to South Africa. It appears to be a bad move and the challenges he faces are overwhelming to him. At his lowest, Christ saves him. Despair still isn’t over but, with Christ, he grows like his potatoes do. This is my favorite Christian film. After watching this, be sure to watch the special features on this DVD. They reveal even more of the story and the power of Christ in Frank’s life.
’78 FATHER GOOSE (Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, Trevor Howard) A truly funny comedy. During World War 2 a cranky whiskey-drinking beachcomber is purposely stranded on a remote desert island to watch for enemy planes. There he meets a fastidious schoolteacher and seven young girls she’s in charge of. The adults don’t like each other and the situation gets funnier and funnier from there.
’91 FATHER OF THE BRIDE (Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams) This and its sequel are my favorite double-header family films of all time. Absolutely hilarious, but don’t be shocked if you find tears in your eyes as you remember tender moments with your children when they were growing up. George Bank’s only daughter, Annie, falls in love and announces she is marrying. George is stunned – hurt and jealous that his “little girl” would do such a thing. Then comes the cost of the wedding when a wedding planner takes over. George wants him gone, but George’s wife, Nina, is totally delighted with every new thing the planner recommends. $$$$$$$$ Oh, and there are also the grooms parents and their dogs. Well, you’ve just got to see this one. Get ready to laugh (and cry.)
’95 FATHER OF THE BRIDE, PART II (Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams) Just as great and hilarious as the above movie, George and Nina’s daughter is having a baby and her husband and her are moving away. Then Nina discovers that she’s pregnant too! This film is a laugh a minute and, like the first one, with tender moments too.
71 FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Chaim Topol, Norma Crane, Motel Kamzoil, Molly Picol) This musical takes place in Tsarist Russia in 1905, a time when Russia is getting ready to evict all Jews. Meanwhile, the tender-hearted and delightful Tevye, a Jewish father who wishes he was far more stern, is attempting to choose husbands for his three daughters. The trouble is, not one of them wants the man he’s picked for them. Each of them has chosen someone else instead, and in each case, the men they’ve chosen are a total challenge to Tevye’s deepest beliefs. Tevye loves his daughters too much to deny them their loves. But then he has to go to great lengths to convince his wife that he’s right. Hilarious at times, deeply moving at other times, this is the magnificent stage play powerfully bringing its funny and thought-provoking songs to life on film. (I so often find myself identifying with Tevye as he talks with God.)
‘O8 FIREPROOF (Kirk Cameron, Erin Bethea, Ken Bevel) The film begins with a girl, Catherine, telling her mother that she wants to marry her dad. Her mom has to remind her that her dad is already married. 25 years later, Catherine, now married, wants a divorce from her husband, Caleb, because they have totally different priorities in their lives. Caleb is a fireman and feels totally disrespected. He sees no further hope for their marriage. But Caleb’s father convinces him to enter “The Forty-Day Dare” to see if he can rescue it. For awhile it doesn’t work, but then……. This is a great movie to help couples in struggling marriages too. The gameplan for “The Forty-Day Dare” is available in many Christian bookstores or available online.
’99 THE FIRST OF MAY (Julie Harris, Dan Byrd, Mickey Rooney, Charles Nelson Reilly, Joe Dimaggio) “The First of May” is a circus term describing someone who has joined the circus and is in their first year as part of it. Eleven-year-old Cory has been moved from one foster home to another several times. He has become a close friend of an elderly nursing home patient, Carlotta. Neither Cory nor Carlotta have ever felt they were part of a family and Carlotta hates being under the strict rules of the nursing home. So Carlotta and Cory decide to run away to join a traveling circus and start a new life. A circus clown mentors Cory. Joltin’ Joe Dimaggio shows up.
’66 FOLLOW ME BOYS (Fred McMurray, Vera Miles, Charlie Ruggles, Lillian Gish, Kurt Russell) One of the best family films Disney has ever made. A saxophonist with a traveling band arrives in a small town and decides to stay. He wants roots. He also wants to be a lawyer, but takes a job as a clerk in the general store. Soon he spots his wife-to-be and becomes a Scout Master. Everyone, including the Scouts, grow to love this man. A great ending to this movie too.
’13 42 (Chadwick Boseman, T. R. Knight, Harrison Ford) This is the story of courageous baseball hero Jackie Robinson, the first black player to break into professional baseball. I was halfway through watching this film before I realized Harrison Ford because of the role he played. The story is well told and tremendously worth seeing.
’14 FURY (Brad Pitt, Shia LeBouef, Logan Lerman) A tough and battle hardened army seargeant, Wardaddy, and his five-man crew advance in a Sherman tank against impossible odds into Nazi Germany towards the end of World War II. They are outnumbered and outgunned. The story and acting in this film are outstanding. If you like war movies, this is one of the very best.
The DEF"s of great movies – Ray