Remembering Andy Griffith

Though he was best know for his tv sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960-68) which was set in fictional Mayberry, North Carolina; the town was based on the town of Mt.Airy in northwest North Carolina, which is located near Pilot Mountain and the Virginia border, Andy Griffith, who died this week at age 86, was also known for his towering performance as Lonesome Rhodes in the Elia Kazan film ("A Face in the Crowd").

Griifith is a North Carolina icon, and in this month issue of "Our State" magazine, a travel and leisure state magazine for North Carolina, Griffith was among those featured, along with NASCAR star Richard Petty and famed tv preacher Billy Graham.

"The Andy Griffith Show" is still popular in both the Greensboro, NC, and Roanoke, Va., markets where the reruns continue to run on weekday evening.

With Griffith's death, the oldest member of the adult cast (Ron Howard who played Opie is know an Oscar-winning film director) is Jim Nabors, who is 82.

Best Ten Films of 1951

Last year, I listed my favorite films from 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000, on my two blogs. So, this year, I figured I would list my ten favorite films from 1951 until 2001.

We begin with the ten films that I percieve to be the best, or my personal favorites, from 1951, a year in which Marlan Brando yelled Sttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaa in "A Streetcar Named Desire," which made the cut.

Here is the list:

1. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (dir. Robert Wise)

2. "Strangers on a Train" (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

3. "The Diary of a County Priest" (France. dir: Robert Bresson)

4. "Early Summer" (Japan. dir: Yasujiro Ozu)

5. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (dir. Elia Kazan)

6. "The Steel Helmet" (dir. Samuel Fuller)

7. "The African Queen" (dir. John Huston)

8. "A Place in the Sun" (dir. George Stevens)

9. "The Thing" (dir. Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks)

10. "An American in Paris"* (dir. Vincente Minelli)

*-Oscar winner for Best Film