Favorite Guilty Pleasure Films

We all have films that are guilty pleasures for us; I'm certainly no exception. A while back, I wrote an article on TheCelebrityCafe.com detailing five movies which are guilty pleasures of mine. Those five are:

1. Basic Instinct (1992):

This Paul Verhoeven film may top the list for me because, for one thing, it stars Michael Douglas (can’t get more A-list than that) as a detective who becomes involved with the prime suspect in a murder (Sharon Stone, who deservedly became a star with this film). Douglas is tough with his colleagues but, even when he should throw the book at his suspect, she manages to get him into bed repeatedly. The fact that the object of his desires likes romancing both genders made this film unique (among thrillers anyway) and controversial because gay rights groups protested the film, calling it homophobic. Still, as I've noted before, the stars and the atmospheric Jerry Goldsmith score make it as entertaining as Verhoeven’s best films: Robocop (1987) and Total Recall (1990).

2. Wild Things (1998):

Like Stone, Denise Richards became a star playing a manipulative woman who prefers the company of both genders. In this film, she plays a rich girl who accuses a teacher (Matt Dillon) of assaulting her. Another student (Neve Campbell) later comes forward with the same accusation. This draws the increasing interest of the cop on the case (Kevin Bacon). Just when it looks like Dillon is finished, however, we find out that there is a lot more to the story than meets the eye. The later character revelations prove as entertaining as they are contrived. All four stars are great, but the scene stealer is Bill Murray as Dillon’s lawyer.

3. Cocktail (1988):

Tom Cruise spent most of the 1980s playing roles which required him to use his famous smile extensively. The most transparent (story-wise) yet most entertaining film of his from that period is this one. He plays a down-on-his-luck bartender who is taken under the wing of a pro (Bryan Brown). His confidence regained, Cruise relocates to Jamaica, where he falls in love with an artist (Elizabeth Shue). Like all characters in films like this, we have to wonder how they make ends meet since all they seem to do is mope at home or enjoy the nightlife. What makes this watchable, though, are Cruise and Shue, who are as appealing as ever. Interestingly, Cruise’s other 1988 film was the Oscar-winning drama Rain Man. Many of his subsequent films, happily, have matched that one in terms of quality.

4. Moonraker (1979):

Let’s face it, once Bondmania kicked into high gear with Goldfinger (1964) and the budgets on all subsequent Bond films just got bigger and bigger, sending 007 into outer space was inevitable. Here, Bond (Roger Moore, in his fourth outing in the role) must stop an evil industrialist (Michael Lonsdale) from killing all human life from his space station, from which he then intends to rule Earth with his master race of people. In fairness, this film is great fun (and no more outlandish than most other 007 films) if you just remove the stupid girlfriend the writers decided to give the villainous Jaws (Richard Kiel), in the same way that It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown(1977) is as much fun as the other Peanuts specials if you remove the scenes where Peppermint Patty & Lucy blame Charlie Brown for something Lucy did. The SFX and music are first rate, and the best part is the film is never boring, unlike its polar opposite, Licence to Kill (1989).

5. Obsessed (2009):

Imagine the overrated thriller, Fatal Attraction (1987), only with the male lead (here played by Idris Elba) as a decent individual, and his wife (Beyonce Knowles) taking matters into her own hands by fighting with the woman (Ali Larter) who wants to destroy their marriage. That is what makes this one watchable. I wonder, though, how things would have played out for this couple if they didn’t have that nice big house for two beautiful women to fight in.

The Tenant (1976)

"Beautiful. Adorable. Goddess. Divine. Divine! I think I'm pregnant."
-Mr. Trelkovsky, looking in a mirror.



All great filmmakers achieve that label by putting themselves and their experiences into their works. Roman Polanski is anything but the exception. His childhood was spent surviving the Holocaust and his films such as Knife in the Water (1962) and, more famously, The Pianist (2002) reflect survival amist horrible events. Polanski's film version of Macbeth (1971) was his first movie since the Manson killing spree which claimed his wife Sharon Tate and their unborn child in 1969 and is viewed by some as his response to that tragedy.
Just prior to that, Polanski shot to the A-list with the classic Rosemary's Baby (1968). Following Tate's death, Polanski seemed to refrain from making films in Hollywood, with the exception of the great film noir Chinatown (1974). His followup to that triumph, was The Tenant, based on a novel by Roland Topor.
Polanski plays Mr. Trelkovsky, an unassuming man who rents an apartment in Paris. He quickly learns that its previous occupant, one Simone Choule, was hospitalized after throwing herself from the apartment window.
Trelkovsky becomes smitten with Simone's friend Stella (Isabelle Adjani) and they later visit Simone at the hospital. Her body covered in bandages, Simone cries out upon seeing Trelkovsky and then dies.
Later on, Trelkovsky becomes more irritated with his neighbors, as well as his landord M. Zy (Melvyn Douglas) and the Concierge (Shelley Winters) when they all claim he makes too much noise. Trelkovsky's mental state deteriorates further when his apartment is broken into, which everyone reacts to with indifference. Eventually, he alienates all he comes into contact with, including Stella.
He later comes to the conclusion that they wish him to become like Simone. Almost as if to mock their efforts, Trelkovsky buys women's clothing for himself. After he is hit by a car one evening, he is hospitalized but not seriously injured. After he returns home, Trelkovsky dresses up again and throws himself from the window, just like Simone, a number of times before he finds himself in the hospital, covered head to toe in bandages (like Simone).
In the film's Twilight Zone-esque ending, Trelkovsky sees Stella and himself through his bandages before crying out.
More than any other film on this list, I'm surprised this didn't make a great impression when it hit theaters. It's as intense as Rosemary's Baby and has the same psychological tones as Polanski's earlier movie Repulsion (1965). Perhaps people wanted another elaborate Hollywood production after Chinatown (The Tenant was shot entirely in Paris).
Polanski's friend Stanley Kubrick cited this film as inspiration for how he would film The Shining (1980) and, almost as if he were returning the favor, Polanski cited Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon (1975) as inspiration for his later film Tess (1979).
I must also note that The Tenant was the last film Polanski made before his 1977 rape of teenage model Samantha Geimer in California, which would lead to him going to France to avoid American authorities. Despite being briefly placed under arrest in Switzerland in 2009, the director remains persona non grata in the U.S.
It would be foolish to say that Polanski isn't a great filmmaker but it speaks of a double standard (or Hollywood's sexism?) that he can rape a girl and go on to win an Oscar and retain the list of celebrity fans who want to work with him, while, say, Meg Ryan basically ends her reign as 'America's Sweetheart' (and, thus, her bankability) by having consensual sex with Russell Crowe.

Paths of Glory (1957)

"YOU CAN GO TO HELL BEFORE I APOLOGIZE TO YOU NOW OR EVER AGAIN!!!"

-Col. Dax

This film, directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on a novel by Humphrey Cobb, takes place during WWI and concerns Col. Dax (Kirk Douglas), who attempts to defend the French troops under his command when they are accused of cowardice after they refuse to continue a suicidal attack.

The trench warfare scenes, a battle environment which WWI itself is known for (heck, Charles Schulz had Snoopy's brother, Spike, in the trenches while Snoopy was in the air searching for the Red Baron), are jolting, all the more so when you consider that this film was made years before America's military involvement in Vietnam began. The influence of these scenes can be seen in later war films such as Platoon (1986), Glory (1989), Saving Private Ryan (1998), as well as Kubrick's more famous war film Full Metal Jacket (1987).

Just as memorable though as the courtroom scenes in which Dax attempts to convince Gen. Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) that courtmartialing 100 troops simply because a planned attack by Broulard and his subordinate Gen. Mireau (George Macready) failed is wrong.

Although the film barely got any attention upon its release, it is revered today, so much so that a 1991 episode of Tales From the Crypt, entitled "Yellow," which guest-starred Douglas, was a takeoff of it.

More importantly, though, it earned Kubrick significant clout. This clout would come in handy when Douglas was working on his next film, Spartacus (1960). Anthony Mann was originally hired as the director until he left the production due to differences with Douglas, who was also the executive producer of the film. This led to Douglas hiring Kubrick as director. Spartacus became a huge hit and, although he disliked the mandates Douglas and the studio put on him during its production, Kubrick used that success to move to England, where he would be based for the rest of his career. This allowed him to make any subsequent films far from the interference of Hollywood. Hence, all of Kubrick's subsequent films, from Lolita (1962) to Eyes Wide Shut (1999), would carry his unique imprint on them.