2007 and Query: The Greatest Movie Never Seen

A bright, happy, healthy, brand, spankin' new year to you. It's 2007. In Chinese New Year's terms, it's the year of the boar, and K and I celebrated by watching the last of our NetFlix choices ("Finding Neverland") for the month, and resuming our plowing through the seventh (and last) season of "The West Wing." We made it through 1 1/2 discs and find that, divorced from the weekly installment aspect of it and the anticipation that's built up, the non-Sorkin episodes aren't truly that bad. In fact, that last season was really good. Having trouble watching John Spencer, however. He was essential to that show.

As is our custom, we fell asleep on the couch, while the DVD player went from "Main Menu" to "Screen-Saver" to "Off," transitioning to the TV's Blue Screen of Death. Didn't hear any fireworks, because we were asleep at 12, only the roaring of the wind and the rumble of the surf when the 3am "wakies" occurred. The animals stuck close. I've been suffering a bad back since Thursday from staying at my Seester's--I should probably re-inflate that air-mattress--it was compounded by long hours of sitting while commuting. So, my left hip is tweaked out. Doing a lot of stretching, hot showers, Aleve. And not blogging for long stretches. One stretch today popped it, so I'm at the keyboard, but it does hurt. Have to work through the pain rather than avoid it. Shower/Walk the dog/Eat a meal/Prepare for the short-week-that's the agenda for the day. It's raining right now. Delay of game for 15 minutes. There's no "live" TV here, thinking it an unnecessary expense, so no PapaJohn.com Bowl (which is just as well!), Doing some reading. "This I Believe" is a fast read.
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So, you wanna play a game? Here's one. I'll call it "Queries." I'll throw out a topic. You give me a response. After ten responses, new query.

Jean Sherrard came up with this one out of the blue: What is the greatest movie you've never seen? You know about it, you've heard about it, yeah, you want to see it, but you just haven't, even though you intend to put it on your NetFlix list...any day now. Honest Abe made a confession--he'd finally seen "Casablanca." He'd gone fifty years without seeing "Casablanca?" I was stumped. There are lots of movies I've never seen, but what's the greatest one?

And what's "great?" The most critically-acclaimed, or the most popular? The one with the most awards, or the one that's always on those "100 Best" specials? What do you think of when you think "Greatest?"

I'll start: "La Strada." Never seen it. I'd like to. But it's one of those movies you have to make a special effort to track down. And Fellini is one of those directors where I haven't seen EVERY SINGLE FILM the man's ever directed. But this one's a big one for him--the one where he became "FELLINI" with all the elements of Italian life and his circus themes, and the downtrodden and show-business. Plus it stars Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart and Giulietta Massina (Mrs. Fellini). She stars in my favorite Fellini film ("The Nights of Cabiria") and she's supposedly just as great in this. Never seen it. It's been called his greatest film and is on all sorts of great films lists and is sited in a masterful book by William Bayer called "The Great Movies."

Never seen it. But I'll track it down this year. Really.

Your turn....