Cinematical Seven: The All-Time BEST Double Features!

By: Scott Weinberg

(With the Cine-staff off on a late-July mini-vacation, we thought it'd be fun to bring you some of our favorite pieces from years past. Enjoy!)

OK, but when I say "all-time BEST," what I really mean is "REALLY good ones, according to one nerd," so feel free to challenge, argue and contribute your own choices as well. (I like to use hyper-superlatives in the title, just to get attention.) This topic was inspired by my weekly trip to a DVD store that shall remain anonymous (it rhymes with "guest fly"). I was driving home with one of the all-time perfect double features (which I got for a super price!) and that got me to thinking "Hey nerd, what else would make for a perfect double feature?" And then I remembered that I write for a blog where topics like this are quite popular ... which brings us to the freakin' list of movies already. Thanks for your patience.

Alien (1979) & Aliens (1986) -- OK, this was the double feature that inspired the whole silly article, but I'm going to try and stay clear of double features that consist of Part 1 and Part 2. Still, there's no freakin' way I could leave this duo off the list. First off, the original Alien is my #1 all-time favoritest movie ever made (yes, seriously) and Aliens is just ... damn. It's as close to flawless as a genre movie can get. My take on these films has always been pretty simple: Alien is the finest sci-fi-horror movie ever made -- and Aliens is the finest sci-fi-action movie ever made. With some awesome horror on the side. (Plus I got the two-disc Special Editions for $10 apiece! Awesome!)

Die Hard (1988) & Lethal Weapon (1987) -- Long before each series degenerated into amusing-yet-slight self-parody, we had two fantastic action movies in a half-decade that was packed to the sweaty rafters with hardcore action movies. You know what I love about the first Die Hard? That John McClane bleeds, whines and never does anything superhuman. And you know what I love about the first Lethal Weapon? It was about a cop who didn't CARE if he lived or died -- a darkly fascinating theme that was all but jettisoned once the series became Joe Pesci Meets The Three Stooges.


American Graffiti (1973) & Dazed and Confused (1993) -- For every 6,300 "teen comedies" there's at least one that breaks out, kick-starts a lot of careers, earns lots of praise, and ends up becoming a widely-adored classic. If you grew up in the '60s, then I bet you have a lot of love for George Lucas' American Graffiti -- and if the '70s are a little bit more than a hazy memory, then you must have seen a lot of truth in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. Both films are as funny as they are oddly poignant, and packed with period-piece touchstones that feel casual and natural. Plus both flicks are just dripping with awesome tunes. (And if you grew up in the '90s, you get Clueless. Those who grew up in the '80s are lucky: They have the complete works of John Hughes.)

King Kong (1933) & The Wizard of Oz (1939) -- Or as I like to call it: The very first double feature any kid should see if his/her parents are hoping to raise a hardcore movie freak. (My parents did it completely by accident.) And don't be afraid, young parents, of the slightly scary moments in each movie. I really don't think there's anything wrong with a healthy little cinematic scare for the kiddies. I mean ... those flying freakin' monkeys really scared the snot out of me when I was a kid -- and yet I distinctly remember enjoying that sense of scariness. (Plus Mom was always nearby with a pop-tart or a banana, so it was all good.) And as far as Kong goes ... what else need be said? I'm a huge fan of Peter Jackson's revisit, but nothing (nothing!) comes close to the original. Pure magic.

A Clockwork Orange (1971) & Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982) -- Somewhere in my early teens I began to realize that ... some movies ... had, like ... messages beneath the stories! And not just messages per se, but themes and ideas and conflicting metaphors and... Well, basically all the stuff that makes the RE-watching of great movies so damn appealing. I distinctly remember trying to explain the subtext (although back then I didn't know the word "subtext") in these two films to my disinterested pals. I'd be talking about Roger Waters' slow spiral into paranoia or the ways in which the cycle of violence keeps spinning and spinning -- and my moron friends just said shut up and put on Halloween 2 because the hot nurse shows her boobs. (So we did.)

Blade Runner (1982) and Dark City (1998) -- The first one was casually dismissed before flowering into one of the most beloved sci-fi films ever made -- and the second one is a newfound cult classic that earns new supporters every day. The former boasts some staggering production design and an awesome Rutger Hauer performance; the latter has some reallllly cool ideas and the stunningly amazingly perfect Jennifer Connelly. Plus Blade Runner is about to hit the scene in an all-new definitive edition, while Dark City is one of the very few films that ROGER EBERT has recorded an audio commentary for. Slick, smart sci-fi stuff.

Animal House (1978), The Blues Brothers (1980) and Caddyshack (1980) -- Yep, I'm cheating on this last one. You get to stay up extra-late for this triple feature -- provided you watch it ON DVD and not network television! I've lost count of how many times I've seen these comedies, and I swear they just never get old. The toga party and the parade sabotage; the car chases and the musical numbers; the doody in the pool and that goofy little gopher. Eminently quotable, effortlessly raunchy, consistently funny and entirely energetic. These ones are classics just like the best of the '30s screwballers. (And if you feel like staying up even later, please do throw Stripes on the schedule.)

So now it's your turn. I had to dismiss some rrrreally great ones, and I was just gonna toss 'em down here as "honorable mentions," but then I'd be stealing some of your thunder. Go nuts!