Movies

CONTENTS	TOP 20 LIBERTARIAN
FAQ Statement History Glossary Platform Promotion Petitions LOD LTE/Articles LP Links Liberty links Books Movies	Freedom's flicks: The 20 best libertarian movies of all time SPECIAL FEATURE PRESENTATION The Orange County register picks movies for "freedom lovers" Editor's note: It all started, said the editors of the Orange County Register, when they got bored with President Clinton's scandal-of-the-day, and decided to compile a list of the "20 Best Libertarian Movies of All Time." It was late November 1998, the elections were over, the impeachment hearings seemed to be a "fizzle," and there was nothing to do at the Orange County Register -- one of the most consistently small-"l" libertarian newspapers in the country -- except "watch a movie." And, while they were at it, to decide which staff favorites did the best job of celebrating liberty on film. Why? Well, "if the American Film Institute can come up with a list and the Vatican can come up with a list, why not libertarians?" they asked. They were looking for movies, they said, "that encourage individualism over tyranny, self-responsibility over paternalism, and, well, that offer a hearty dose of against-the-grain individualism." Their process was simple (if somewhat passionately debated): Nine staff members from the newspaper's Opinion and Commentary pages brainstormed a list of over 100 titles, and then winnowed it down to the Top 20 with two ballots. When that was completed, the staff of the Orange County Register then speculated about the worst movies of all time, from a libertarian point of view. "You won't find any of the Star Trek series on the list, for instance, because the crew's exploration efforts were in service to the 'Federation.' Mitigating circumstance: The Federation forbade any interference with alien cultures -- although the crew of the Enterprise violated the 'prime directive' every chance they got," they wrote. "You also won't find James Bond films on the list -- Bond accepted without question the government's missions and besides, private enterprise was demonized as the Dark Side of Man." But enough about the bad movies. Here is the Orange County Register's list of the greatest "movies for freedom lovers" of all time. 1. Brazil (1985). Watch the painful inner workings of a futuristic bureaucracy where individualism is crushed. Directed by Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam, the movie is a surrealistic view of a society in which everything seems to be run by a kind of global DMV. Trying to fix a bureaucratic snafu that led to the arrest of the wrong man, lowly bureaucrat Sam Lowry becomes himself the enemy of the state. Brazil is a zany classic of the libertarian belief in the importance of individual's dignity and freedom against an all-powerful government. Given the increase in government of recent years, it's even more chilling than when first released 13 years ago. Best libertarian moment: Harry Tuttle, played by Robert DeNiro, becomes the most-wanted criminal by breaking into buildings to perform heating ventilation and air conditioning repairs without -- horrors! -- a permit. 2. A Man for All Seasons (1966). St. Thomas More is beheaded for opposing the tyranny of Henry VIII. Best libertarian moment: Just before his execution, More utters a final sentence of defiance against the tyrant: "I die His Majesty's good servant, but God's first." 3. Braveheart (1995). Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, who leads the Scots in their fight against British tyranny. Best libertarian moment: As his torturer begins the fatal evisceration, Wallace shouts out one last word before he dies: "Freeeeeedommmmm!" 4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, original version). In a quiet California town, folks are being replaced with look-alike alien pod people who sap each individual's humanity in the name of the common good. A great sci-fi drama that doubles as a devastating critique of totalitarianism. Best libertarian moment: Kevin McCarthy describes how shocking it is to watch people he knows drained of their humanity and individualism. It happens all the time without the pods, he explained, but usually over a lifetime rather than instantaneously. 5.The Fountainhead (1949). Scripted by Ayn Rand from her novel, it's a bold story of an architect who endures poverty and scorn rather than give in to the prevailing egalitarian values of his architect-competitors. The movie, although a bit turgid, well reflects her uncompromising philosophy of individualism. Best libertarian moment: The whole movie is a libertarian moment. If we had to pick one, it would be where Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), defending himself in court after having blown up his own housing project because conventional thinkers meddled with its design, gives a Randian speech, saying: "The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion." 6. Fahrenheit 451 (1966). It's based on the Ray Bradbury book about how freedom lovers learn books by heart to subvert a futuristic totalitarian government that attempts to control people's thoughts by banning and burning books. Best libertarian moment: At the end, people are walking around in the rebel encampment in the woods, defying the book burners by each memorizing a book. 7. Casablanca (1942). The immortal Rick and Ilsa fight the Nazis. Rick is a capitalist who used to run guns and now operates a bar and cafe, with "secret" illegal gambling games going on in the back room. Best libertarian moment: When Nazi Major Strasser threatens to invade New York City, Rick makes a great argument against gun control: "Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade." 8. Schindler's List (1993). Probably the best dramatic depiction of the horrors of the Nazi extermination regime. Director Steven Spielberg avoids preachiness by showing a dramatic story of one "righteous gentile" who helped save Jews from Auschwitz. Best libertarian moment: Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, is horseback riding near Krakow, Poland, and comes upon Nazis mistreating Jews and he realizes the Jews' humanity. From then on, he uses all his talents, resources, and cunning to save every person he can. 9. The Quiet Man (1951). Kind of a John Ford Western set in director Ford's beloved Ireland, with epic fistfights over Maureen O'Hara and no government in sight. Besides, we couldn't have a Top 20 list like this without John Wayne on it. Best libertarian moment: The barroom brawls where disagreements were settled voluntarily -- without even the interference of the police. 10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Who are the sane ones in a psychiatric ward? Jack Nicholson, playing McMurphy, resists arbitrary authority. Best libertarian moment: After the electroshock treatment that's supposed to subdue him and make him less anti-social, McMurphy remains as feisty as ever. 11. Gone With the Wind (1939). The Yankees invade Tara, burn private property in Atlanta, and kill people. After the war, Scarlett and Rhett beat carpetbaggers at their own game and become wealthy capitalists. 12. What About Bob? (1991). The best critique of psychology and psychiatry outside a Thomas Szasz book, and more hilarious. It stars Bill Murray in his funniest role as a "multi-phobic" patient driving psych-jockey Richard Dreyfus nuts. 13. The Searchers (1956). The Duke makes our list again in John Ford's epic, playing the fiercely individualistic Ethan Edwards. 14. The Ten Commandments (1956, tie). Moses (Charlton Heston) leads the Israelites out of slavery to Pharaoh (played with bald-headed bravado by Yul Brynner). Then on Mt. Sinai, God gives Moses the Decalogue, including the favorites of libertarians: "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not covet." 14. Ninotchka (1939, tie). "Garbo speaks" ran the ads touting the former star of silent films. She does so in one of the funniest anti-communist movies ever made. Similar story remade as "Silk Stockings" (1957) with Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, and delightful dancing. 16. Sleeper (1973). Woody Allen's anti-utopian comedy is one of his funniest. It's a takeoff on Orwell's "1984" in which a Big Brother-like dictator destroys freedom while Woody and Diane Keaton organize a revolution. 17. Duck Soup (1933). The Marx Brothers turn war into anarchy. All hail, Freedonia! 18. Star Wars (1977), plus sequels. Aided by cute droids, Luke, Princess Leia, and smuggler Han rebel against the ultimate Evil Empire. 19. Network (1976). It's a send-up of the TV media that still packs a wallop 22 years after its opening. The scream of nutty anchorman Howard Beale, "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" in real life became the rallying cry of the late Howard Jarvis two years later in his fight to enact the Proposition 13 tax cuts [in California]. 20. The Godfather (1972). When you outlaw drugs and gambling, you get corrupt politicians and cops, murder, and great gangster movies. Reprinted with permission of The Orange County Register, copyrighted 1998.

CONTENTS

TOP 20 LIBERTARIAN

Movies

Freedom's flicks: The 20 best libertarian movies of all time

SPECIAL FEATURE PRESENTATION The Orange County register picks movies for "freedom lovers"

Editor's note: It all started, said the editors of the Orange County Register, when they got bored with President Clinton's scandal-of-the-day, and decided to compile a list of the "20 Best Libertarian Movies of All Time."

It was late November 1998, the elections were over, the impeachment hearings seemed to be a "fizzle," and there was nothing to do at the Orange County Register -- one of the most consistently small-"l" libertarian newspapers in the country -- except "watch a movie."

And, while they were at it, to decide which staff favorites did the best job of celebrating liberty on film.

Why? Well, "if the American Film Institute can come up with a list and the Vatican can come up with a list, why not libertarians?" they asked.

They were looking for movies, they said, "that encourage individualism over tyranny, self-responsibility over paternalism, and, well, that offer a hearty dose of against-the-grain individualism."

Their process was simple (if somewhat passionately debated): Nine staff members from the newspaper's Opinion and Commentary pages brainstormed a list of over 100 titles, and then winnowed it down to the Top 20 with two ballots.

When that was completed, the staff of the Orange County Register then speculated about the worst movies of all time, from a libertarian point of view.

"You won't find any of the Star Trek series on the list, for instance, because the crew's exploration efforts were in service to the 'Federation.' Mitigating circumstance: The Federation forbade any interference with alien cultures -- although the crew of the Enterprise violated the 'prime directive' every chance they got," they wrote.

"You also won't find James Bond films on the list -- Bond accepted without question the government's missions and besides, private enterprise was demonized as the Dark Side of Man."

But enough about the bad movies. Here is the Orange County Register's list of the greatest "movies for freedom lovers" of all time.

1. Brazil (1985). Watch the painful inner workings of a futuristic bureaucracy where individualism is crushed. Directed by Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam, the movie is a surrealistic view of a society in which everything seems to be run by a kind of global DMV. Trying to fix a bureaucratic snafu that led to the arrest of the wrong man, lowly bureaucrat Sam Lowry becomes himself the enemy of the state.

Brazil is a zany classic of the libertarian belief in the importance of individual's dignity and freedom against an all-powerful government. Given the increase in government of recent years, it's even more chilling than when first released 13 years ago.

Best libertarian moment: Harry Tuttle, played by Robert DeNiro, becomes the most-wanted criminal by breaking into buildings to perform heating ventilation and air conditioning repairs without -- horrors! -- a permit.

2. A Man for All Seasons (1966). St. Thomas More is beheaded for opposing the tyranny of Henry VIII.

Best libertarian moment: Just before his execution, More utters a final sentence of defiance against the tyrant: "I die His Majesty's good servant, but God's first."

3. Braveheart (1995). Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, who leads the Scots in their fight against British tyranny.

Best libertarian moment: As his torturer begins the fatal evisceration, Wallace shouts out one last word before he dies: "Freeeeeedommmmm!"

4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, original version). In a quiet California town, folks are being replaced with look-alike alien pod people who sap each individual's humanity in the name of the common good. A great sci-fi drama that doubles as a devastating critique of totalitarianism.

Best libertarian moment: Kevin McCarthy describes how shocking it is to watch people he knows drained of their humanity and individualism. It happens all the time without the pods, he explained, but usually over a lifetime rather than instantaneously.

5.The Fountainhead (1949). Scripted by Ayn Rand from her novel, it's a bold story of an architect who endures poverty and scorn rather than give in to the prevailing egalitarian values of his architect-competitors. The movie, although a bit turgid, well reflects her uncompromising philosophy of individualism.

Best libertarian moment: The whole movie is a libertarian moment. If we had to pick one, it would be where Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), defending himself in court after having blown up his own housing project because conventional thinkers meddled with its design, gives a Randian speech, saying: "The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion."

6. Fahrenheit 451 (1966). It's based on the Ray Bradbury book about how freedom lovers learn books by heart to subvert a futuristic totalitarian government that attempts to control people's thoughts by banning and burning books.

Best libertarian moment: At the end, people are walking around in the rebel encampment in the woods, defying the book burners by each memorizing a book.

7. Casablanca (1942). The immortal Rick and Ilsa fight the Nazis. Rick is a capitalist who used to run guns and now operates a bar and cafe, with "secret" illegal gambling games going on in the back room.

Best libertarian moment: When Nazi Major Strasser threatens to invade New York City, Rick makes a great argument against gun control: "Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade."

8. Schindler's List (1993). Probably the best dramatic depiction of the horrors of the Nazi extermination regime. Director Steven Spielberg avoids preachiness by showing a dramatic story of one "righteous gentile" who helped save Jews from Auschwitz.

Best libertarian moment: Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, is horseback riding near Krakow, Poland, and comes upon Nazis mistreating Jews and he realizes the Jews' humanity. From then on, he uses all his talents, resources, and cunning to save every person he can.

9. The Quiet Man (1951). Kind of a John Ford Western set in director Ford's beloved Ireland, with epic fistfights over Maureen O'Hara and no government in sight. Besides, we couldn't have a Top 20 list like this without John Wayne on it.

Best libertarian moment: The barroom brawls where disagreements were settled voluntarily -- without even the interference of the police.

10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Who are the sane ones in a psychiatric ward? Jack Nicholson, playing McMurphy, resists arbitrary authority.

Best libertarian moment: After the electroshock treatment that's supposed to subdue him and make him less anti-social, McMurphy remains as feisty as ever.

11. Gone With the Wind (1939). The Yankees invade Tara, burn private property in Atlanta, and kill people. After the war, Scarlett and Rhett beat carpetbaggers at their own game and become wealthy capitalists.

12. What About Bob? (1991). The best critique of psychology and psychiatry outside a Thomas Szasz book, and more hilarious. It stars Bill Murray in his funniest role as a "multi-phobic" patient driving psych-jockey Richard Dreyfus nuts.

13. The Searchers (1956). The Duke makes our list again in John Ford's epic, playing the fiercely individualistic Ethan Edwards.

14. The Ten Commandments (1956, tie). Moses (Charlton Heston) leads the Israelites out of slavery to Pharaoh (played with bald-headed bravado by Yul Brynner). Then on Mt. Sinai, God gives Moses the Decalogue, including the favorites of libertarians: "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not covet."

14. Ninotchka (1939, tie). "Garbo speaks" ran the ads touting the former star of silent films. She does so in one of the funniest anti-communist movies ever made. Similar story remade as "Silk Stockings" (1957) with Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, and delightful dancing.

16. Sleeper (1973). Woody Allen's anti-utopian comedy is one of his funniest. It's a takeoff on Orwell's "1984" in which a Big Brother-like dictator destroys freedom while Woody and Diane Keaton organize a revolution.

17. Duck Soup (1933). The Marx Brothers turn war into anarchy. All hail, Freedonia!

18. Star Wars (1977), plus sequels. Aided by cute droids, Luke, Princess Leia, and smuggler Han rebel against the ultimate Evil Empire.

19. Network (1976). It's a send-up of the TV media that still packs a wallop 22 years after its opening. The scream of nutty anchorman Howard Beale, "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" in real life became the rallying cry of the late Howard Jarvis two years later in his fight to enact the Proposition 13 tax cuts [in California].

20. The Godfather (1972). When you outlaw drugs and gambling, you get corrupt politicians and cops, murder, and great gangster movies.

Reprinted with permission of The Orange County Register, copyrighted 1998.