A-Z Film Challenge: Day 27 (Numbers)

~ beetleypete

No letters left, and nothing from me to add today. You may have noticed that I avoided films with numbers in the titles? (For example, ‘127 Hours’ (2010) )

That was because I now have a challenge for you!

I would like you to let me know what your favourite ‘numbers’ film is. Please reply in the comments below, and no cheating! 🙂

Thanks once again to everyone who played along, and contributed so much to this enjoyable series. It was made possible by your engagement, and the comments you made. I will be posting a conclusion tomorrow, to let everybody know my thoughts about taking on such a long and arduous challenge, and what it meant to me as a blogger.

My sincere best wishes to you all. Pete.

67 thoughts on “A-Z Film Challenge: Day 27 (Numbers)”

  6. This came as a nice surprise in my post..it’s a great idea following up on the other A-Z challenge. Aside from the astonishing movie 127 hours, I shall pick..

    12 Angry Men, (1957), 12 monkey’s (1995), 13 Ghosts 1960), 30 Days of Night (2007), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and 39 Steps (1935).

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    1. Nice to see ’30 Days of Night’ get a mention, MV. Great vampires!
      I was less impressed with ‘127 Hours’, I confess. Although it was a true story, I lost interest after 127 seconds!
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. This us Memorial Day weekend in the U.S., so I should have remembered “1776”which was not a great movie, but still, in a light and entertaining way, painlessly conveyed a bit of actual history, while having a bit of fun, kind of a difficult balancing act.
        Thanks for a really fantastic movie series, Pete, this has been great. I’ve now got an interesting list to draw from, next rainy evening. And your participants were great, too. Cheers! RPT

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        1. I haven’t seen the musical ‘1776’, but that did remind me of ‘Sweet Liberty’ (1986), a well-scripted Alan Alda film.
          Thanks for all your comments and participation. Look forward to seeing you here again one of these days. have a good holiday weekend over there.
          Best wishes, Pete.

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  11. Pete, are you going to contribute your own picks after we all comment in a reversal of the usual procedure, or just leave us to read between the lines to find your picks?

    8 Femmes was an interesting film I’d forgotten until lividemerald2013, the francophile, mentioned it. Such a wonderful collection of French actresses, and each with their own song!

    1900 was mentioned under N, but it properly belongs here now that the rules have been tinkered with.

    3 Women is my recommendation – a dreamy, oestrogen-charged film from Robert Altman, that I’d forgotten until I recently stumbled across reviews from Charlene’s (Mostly) Classic Movie Reviews and Scopophilia.
    Thanks for your generous fun, Pete

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    1. I was just waiting for someone to ask me!
      My top pick would have been ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. That film blew me away, as a teenager.
      I would also have featured ‘1408’ (2007), a film that doesn’t get enough appreciation. ‘8 Women’, which you mentioned, and is in my DVD collection. ’10 Rillington Place’ (1971) with Attenborough as the chilling serial killer, Christie. ’13 Tzameti’ (2005), an amazing French/Georgian film that would almost take my top pick; and the bizarre but wonderful ’13: Game of Death’ (2006), a simply brilliant treat from Thailand.
      Your choice of Altman’s ‘3 Women’ was a good one. I have an on/off relationship with Altman’s films, but adore ‘Short Cuts’, ‘The Player’, and ‘Gosford Park’ too. Thanks so much for playing along.
      I hope you will pop back occasionally, for my other film posts.
      Very Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Sorry, ‘Se7en’ (that’s how they spell it on the film posters) has a number in the title, but it’s an ‘S’ film as far as this goes. However, I was very pleased to see you mention ‘1408’, as I hoped that someone would. I love that little horror film, and it has a great cast too. Thanks for that, Kim.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. Back in 1979, I attended the première of “10” in Kansas City. Starrring Bo Derek and Dudley Moore, this film (and Ravel’s “Bolero”) became quite a sensation!

    I haven’t seen Federico Fellini’s “8 1/2” (1963), “3:10 to Yuma” (1957/2007), or “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (2005), so I can’t weigh in on those films. But I imagine someone will mention them. I have seen “9 1/2 Weeks” (1986), starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, but it’s been too long, so I can’t weigh in on that film, either. The same goes for “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954), which I haven’t seen since I was a young kid who took baths. I’ve read Jules Verne’s book twice (1978 and 1985) in the original French since then, but I doubt Disney’s version did it much justice. Still, I’m aware that the film maintains a solid rating among critics…

    One film that I borrowed from the library a couple years ago (and watched twice before returning it) was Alfred Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” (1935), starring Robert Donat. Although the dialogue is incredibly corny and stilted by today’s standards (but probably normal and natural back then), the movie itself is quite good.

    I have a few “number duds” in my collection, but one of them is not “8 femmes” (2002), in which eight women (quoting Wikipedia) “gather to celebrate Christmas in an isolated, snowbound cottage only to find Marcel, the family patriarch, dead with a knife in his back. Trapped in the house, every woman becomes a suspect, each having her own motive and secret.” It’s a decent film with an outstanding female cast.

    I don’t know whether Darren Aronofsky’s “π” (1998) can be included in the numbers category. Technically, π is a Greek letter, but it does represent a number (3.14159…). It’s certainly a very good film.

    As for my number one film, I’m going to pick (but not name) a classic science fiction film by Stanley Kubrick. I have the soundtrack on CD, and I’ve also read Arthur C. Clarke’s novelization in both the original English and in French translation. I remember my father driving me past the luxurious Midland Theater in downtown Kansas City back in 1968, and the excitement I felt when seeing the title of this film on the marquee. Unfortunately, my parents didn’t care for science fiction, so I had to wait until the film was shown on TV—not quite the same as seeing it on the big screen! But many years later, the film returned to move theaters for a special anniversary showing, and I finally got the opportunity to see this masterpiece that way it should be seen. Now, I just watch it on DVD…

    “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”

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    1. A classic top choice indeed, David.
      I have seen both versions of ‘3:10 to Yuma’, and both are good. I have the DVD of ‘8 Women’, (Deneuve of course) and wondered if anyone would mention it. Thanks as always for the interesting background to your selections, and for your enthusiastic participation in this challenge.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I will happily accept ‘2001’, and ‘20,000 Leagues’, Cindy. (The other two would be an ‘S’ and a ‘T’ for the purposes of this post)
      Thanks for playing along, and have a great break away from blogging in June.
      Best wishes as always, Pete.

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  16. 2001, for me, Pete….I saw it soon after it came out, and was mesmerised..
    then, of course there’s Kieslowski, who liked numbers for film series…Three Colours, and then Dekalog….

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  17. It has to be 12 Angry Men and the original Sidney Lumet one from 1957 at that. You can know the plot inside out after watching it many times but it never fails to be utterly gripping. And such marvellous performances – the creme de la creme of character actors like Martin Balsam, Lee J Cobb and E G Marshall. Even Fonda, who’s not my favourite Hollywood ‘great’ gives one of his best performances. And let’s not forget Reginald Rose’s original book and screenplay which make for riveting arguments.

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  18. I had to check as I wasn’t sure if some were written with numbers… 10 Things I Hate about You (I really enjoy this Shakespearean adaptation. Great leads), Fellini’s 8 1/2, 12 Monkeys, 12 Angry Men (I didn’t realise this was written in numbers, but it seems to be…), 21 (we love cons after all), 21 grams. I quite liked the 25th Hour. I almost forgot 2001 A Space Odyssey. I can’t remember every watching 47 Ronin the Japanese movie, but wondered if you knew it.
    Great series, Pete!

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    1. Thanks for playing along with all those great suggestions, Olga. I was expecting lots of comments suggesting ‘2001’, which would have been my own choice today.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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