Favorite Films by Decade: the 1990s

      My assignment: Choose a movie from each decade of my life that has had the most personal impact, starting with the 1940s and ending in the 2020s.

       We’ve already covered the 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, and continue now with the 1990s. These aren’t necessarily the “best” movies of the decade or the most innovative; they represent the films that resonated most with me, either from my initial viewing when they were released or when I first engaged with them in subsequent years.

      Some rules to keep these lists doable: 1) Only one film each decade by a particular director; 2) only English-language movies, due mainly to gaps in my knowledge about foreign-language films except for Italian neo-realism, French New Wave and the works of Akira Kurosawa, and 3) no TV miniseries.

      I’m sure I’ve missed some great movies that should be on these lists. Yet this still leaves hundreds, if not thousands, of movies to choose from.

      Let the arguments continue.

The 1990s:

      “Lone Star” (1996):

      The best of independent writer/director John Sayles’ many socially conscious films, this empathetic look at life on the U.S.-Mexico border remains as timely as it was upon its release nearly 30 years ago. In fact, watching a scene where members of the community argue at a school board meeting about illegal immigration, crime and the teaching of history feels like one is overhearing a debate that could be taking place today.

      Chris Cooper stars as Sam Deeds, the Anglo sheriff of a Texas town on the Rio Grande who pursues a decades-old murder case that may have involved his father, who happened to have also once been the town’s long-time sheriff. Elizabeth Pena gives a memorable performance as a Mexican-American high school teacher whose past overlaps with Deeds’.

      And check out outstanding supporting performances by Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey, Sayles regulars Joe Morton and Clifton James, and three-time Oscar-winner Frances McDormand in a small but important part.

      Sayles’ story skillfully explores the perspectives of the Anglos, Mexican Americans, Mexicans (on the south side of the Rio Grande), Blacks and Indians who try to co-exist but have difficulty escaping a past filled with prejudice, greed and fear. Sayles’ ingenious use of flashbacks as he seamlessly moves from present to past and back again shows the talent of an insightful storyteller and filmmaker, as does his ability to fuse elements of a whodunit, a love story and the sagas of several families into a serious socio-political drama.

      Close behind:

      “Land and Freedom” (1995): This searing film about the Spanish Civil War, as presented by British independent lefty director Ken Loach, shares the critical perspective of George Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia” towards the fractious International brigades that joined the fight against Franco’s fascists.

      “Malcolm X” (1992): Facing a lot of pressure from the African-American community to get this story right, director Spike Lee and star Denzel Washington brilliantly captured the life, times and changing perspective of the martyred fighter against racism.

      “Jurassic Park” (1993): With only one Spielberg film allowed per decade, it wasn’t easy choosing this over “Schindler’s List” or “Amistad” or “Saving Private Ryan,” but I’ve loved dinosaurs since childhood, and they were never more realistically or ferociously portrayed than in this adaptation of Michael Crichton’s best-seller.

      “Topsy-Turvy” (1999): In this departure from his excellent domestic dramas, such as “Secrets & Lies,” “Vera Drake” and “Another Year,” British director Mike Leigh tells the musically rich story of Victorian Era composers William Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) and Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) as their partnership grows apart but ultimately comes together again to produce “The Mikado.”

      “The Big Lebowski” (1998): It’s hard to pick this noirish farce from the brothers Ethan and Joel Coen over their earlier “Fargo,” but the fact that I know the actual person on whom Jeff Bridges based his slacker character, The Dude, made this film more resonant to me. (The original Dude was Jeff Dowd, onetime member of Cornell SDS and a defendant in the Seattle Seven case, later a Hollywood producer and promoter who helped the Coens find distribution for their first film, “Blood Simple.”)

      But, perhaps you’re wondering, how could he leave out “Devil in a Blue Dress,” “Goodfellas,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Philadelphia” and “Wag the Dog”?

      Coming next week: The 2000s

Bruce Dancis spent 18 years as the Arts & Entertainment Editor of the Sacramento Bee, after previously serving as an editor for the Daily Californian, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, M.I. (Musicians’ Industry) Magazine, Mother Jones and the Oakland Tribune. He also wrote about Film and TV History in a weekly column about DVDs that was syndicated by the McClatchy and Scripps Howard news services. Since 2003 he has co-chaired a summer film program at the Three Arrows Cooperative Society in Putnam Valley, NY. He is the author of “Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War” (2014, Cornell University Press) and appears in the documentary film “The Boys Who Said No! Draft Resistance and the Vietnam War” (2020). He lives in Cardiff, CA, and Putnam Valley, NY.