Top Buddy Films
A couple of notes: I'm focusing on pairs of pals, so movies that focus on groups of friends, like "Diner" and "The Big Chill", are not included.
Also, while there have been some good screen teams -- like Walter Matthau-Jack Lemmon, Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor, or even John Cho-Kal Penn/Harold-Kumar -- this is about the quality of a single film, not how good a pair may have been throughout a string of movies.
So pals, here we go:
10. "Road To Morocco" (1942): Can't really have this list without tipping the cap to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, who popularized both the "buddy" movie and the "road trip" movie in the 1940s.
9. Men in Black (1997): The unlikely pairing of the stone-faced Tommy Lee Jones and the hyperactive Will Smith worked like a charm in this top-notch action-comedy about secret government cops who hunt down aliens.
8. Clerks (1994): Dante and Randal may be the most realistic movie friends in the last 20 years, treating each other with the disdain and disrepect only good friends can muster. Kevin Smith's first film is arguably still his best.
7. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986): OK, so maybe Matthew Broderick pulls most of the weight in this friendship, but it's hard not to appreciate the care and concern he has for his best buddy Cameron (Alan Ruck).
6. Ride The High Country (1962): A very strong western, this is the story of two aging cowboys -- hired to protect a gold shipment -- whose friendship is threatened by greed. Last big roles for Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea.
5. Thelma and Louise (1991): One of the first films to treat two women as friends in the male tradition. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis play pals who come together to change their lives, shoot a rapist and end up pursued by police. Great lead performances.
4. The Man Who Would Be King (1975): What a powerful combination: John Huston directs Michael Caine and Sean Connery as slighty shady, adventurous British soldiers who set out to become kings of some small country. Great stuff.
3. Some Like It Hot (1959): Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis play musicians who get on the wrong side of some mobsters, so they dress in drag and hide out with an all-girl band, which features Marilyn Monroe in a substantial role. Billy Wilder's comic masterpiece.
2. 48 Hours (1982): Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy truly struck chemistry gold in this tale about a gruff San Francisco cop who gets a thief out of prison so they can track down a vicious killer. The blend of comedy, action and suspense is spot-on. I can watch this movie any time.
1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): One of the great westerns of all time, this film and Clint Eastwood helped revive what was a dying genre in the mid-1960s. Picked this film over "The Sting" because it makes more of the pair's friendship. Another watch-any-time film.
Source:stltoday
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