My Submission to the Childhood Countdown

I happen to be taking a look at Aaron West’s Criterion Blues blog and noticed his recent posting of his Adolescence and Childhood film list that he submitted for the upcoming Countdown over at Wonders in the Dark. I have been participating in WitD’s annual Countdown series for a few years, actually since it first began and thought wow, why haven’t I done this before. So I am borrowing Aaron’s idea (it’s possible some other participant(s) has done this in the past, if so, I am unaware) and posting my own submission.

As mentioned, this year’s countdown is on favorite films about Childhood. Now these are not children or young adult films pumped out by Disney or whomever. They are films that are about childhood or have a significant role by a young person. This, as usual brought up a lot of discussion between participants (emails were flying!) on just what constitutes a film about childhood,  and where does childhood end and adulthood begin. In others words, just because there is a child in the film, it does not qualify as a film about childhood. My own thoughts, and what I used as a guideline were childhood ends with the end of one’s high school years, generally seventeen. My second guideline was there had to be a significant role by a young individual that was important to the storyline. Subsequently, you will find a film like Shane, a western whose plot is more about  the Van Heflin, Alan Ladd and Jack Palance interplay than the young boy. But the young boy’s role is an important part in the film. We see much of what happens through his eyes. You will also note that I included Mildred Pierce which I don’t believe anyone else submitted. Mildred Pierce, a film about childhood? Well, Veda, played by a thirteen year old Ann Blyth, is significant to the story, and we all know about how young vile, uncaring, self-centered  teens who believe the world revolves around them can be and Veda is a poster girl for vile.

Anyway, whether one agrees with my choices or not, below is my submission which will be tabulated with all the other entries. A final list will be compiled with a review by one participant posted each weekday until the complete list of 60 films are revealed. The Countdown will started sometime in June.

1-Au Revoir les Enfants

2-The Last Picture Show

3-Forbidden Games

4-To Kill a Mockingbird

5-Cinema Paradiso

6-Night of the Hunter

7-Shoeshine

8-The 400 Blows

9-The Fallen Idol

10-Little Fugitive

11-Murmur of the Heart

12-American Graffitii

13-Boyhood

14-Hugo

15-Jeremy

16-Lacombe, Lucien

17-E.T.

18-Mon Oncle Antoine

19-Bicycle Thieves

20-Hope and Glory

21-Rebel without a Cause

22-Wild Boys of the Road

23-City of God

24-A Christmas Story

25-Stand By Me

26-Lord of the Flies

27-Empire of the Sun

28-Paper Moon

29-The White Ribbon

30-The Spirit of the Beehive

31- The Kid

32-Dead Poet’s Society

33-The Wanderers

34-Billy Elliot

35-Oliver Twist

36-The Window

37-River’s Edge

38-Malena

39-If…

40-Deep End

41-Little Manhattan

42-Beast of the Southern Wild

43-Rumble Fish

44-East of Eden

45- The Outsiders

46 – Little Miss Sunshine

47 Walkabout

49-Badlands

50-Teacher’ Pet (Out Gang)

51-Heavenly Creatures

51-The Secret of Roah Inish

53-Cooley High

54-A.I.

55-The Curse of the Cat People

56-Shane

57-How Green Was My Valley

58-Juno

59-The Miracle Worker

60-Mildred Pierce