Top Five Movies of Julie Christie

Time to hop back in the TSB wayback machine and let everyone know about a magnificent actress. Julie Christie still does great work (I?d check out ?Away From Her? directed by the wonderful Sarah Polley, but stay away from the movie that has he who shall not be named and the movie with the actor that shall not be named) but we wouldn?t need the wayback machine to go 2006 or 2004. We need to get back to the movies before we went to the movies, or in a lot of cases, before you were born.

Why? Sometimes it is good to remember that the 2010s didn?t invent the smart, attractive woman. (Well, the 1980 and 1990s, since the girls ?invented? in the 2010s still have a large percentage of their population in diapers.) I?m sure I?ll do more of these and travel even further back in time, but to ease you into it, it?s best to start with five great movies from the gorgeous Julie.

5. Shampoo

Hal Ashby directed this Academy Award winning movie (Lee Grant for Best Supporting Actress) that adds Goldie Hawn and Warren Beatty to Julie. But, I want to focus on Ashby. Not only did he direct ?Shampoo,? he also directed ?Harold and Maude? as well as ?Being There? with Peter Sellers which are two additional fantastic movies.

4. Fahrenheit 451

Again, I?m going to focus on the director, in this case Francois Truffaut. I don?t know much of his work as a director, though he has done several movies on my list to watch, but I truly know his name due to his book Hitchcock/Truffaut where they discuss each of Alfred Hitchcock?s movies. But, it should also be added, this is one of the many good books from Ray Bradbury. (My personal partiality is toward ?Something Wicked This Way Comes.?)

3. McCabe and Mrs. Miller

Part of me thinks that my list of Julie?s great works is more about the directors. Robert Altman is a favorite of mine and though this movie might not make my top five of Altman movies, it?s not because it?s not good, I just like ?M*A*S*H,? ?Short Cuts,? ?The Long Goodbye,? and ?Gosford Park? better. Wait, that?s four? Ok, it does make my top five.

2. Heaven Can Wait

If it wasn?t a list of directors, it might be a list of Warren Beatty movies, as he has acted in three including this one, but then again he also directs it. Besides Julie, another key woman in this movie is writer Elaine May, one of the titans of comedy that was a member of The Compass Players that led to The Second City comedy troupe.

1. Doctor Zhivago

Which came first, the director or Julie? I?m going to say Julie but this is no question David Lean?s film. A great director of epic movies, Lean has a wonderful eye for picturesque landscapes that go on forever. But, no matter the director, no matter the words, no matter the location, no matter the story, I fall in love with Julie when I watch these movies.

Agree? Disagree? Which movies would make your Julie Christie top five?