Michael T. Mondak speaks: 40 til 40 day 26

This is day 26 of the 40 til 40 series of blog entries about anything and everything relevant to the number 40.  The last entry talked about the 40 most significant episodes of Jeopardy! dating back to 1964.  This entry reveals my 40 favorite movies of all time.

40. Draft Day

39. Angels in the Outfield:  I’m talking about the 1951 version set in Pittsburgh.

38. Grease 2:  Look for a very young Janet Jones in an uncredited role as a girl who missed her last two periods.

37. The Goddess of Love:  Look for Vanna White as the title character.

36. Anger Management

35. Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius

34. Rudy

33. Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves

32. D3: The Mighty Ducks

31. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York:  Look for a cameo from Donald Trump long before he became president.

30. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

29. Who’s Your Caddy?

28. Honey, I Blew Up the Kid:  Despite its success, Disney was sued by Paul Alter, the director of The Price is Right and Family Feud for stealing his original story idea about a kid who grew to an enormous size due to a genetic accident, leading to Disney being ordered to pay Alter $300,000 in damages from the $58.7 million it grossed in North America.

27. The Mothman Prophecies 

26. Charlotte’s Web:  I’m talking about the 1973 film with Paul Lynde voicing Templeton the rat as well as Danny Bonaduce voicing Avery Arable.

25. Stand and Deliver

24. Grease:  Look for Edd Byrnes as Vince Fontaine and Fannie Flagg as Nurse Wilkins

23. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

22. Space Jam

21. D2: The Mighty Ducks

20. Toy Story

19. Baby Mama

18. White Men Can’t Jump:  Look for the scene that takes place on the set of Jeopardy!, where Rosie Perez’ character of Gloria Clemente appeared as a contestant.

17. Tin Cup

16. The Mighty Ducks

15. Thomas & The Magic Railroad

14. The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh:  Look for a cameo by then-Pittsburgh mayor Richard Caligiuri in the film.

13. National Lampoon’s Golf Punks

12. Balloon Farm

11. Ramona & Beezus

10. The Legend of Bagger Vance

9. Baby Geniuses

8. Footloose

7. Up

6. Home Alone 

5. The Little Mermaid: For the purposes of this movie, I am talking about the original animated version from Disney in 1989.

4. Striking Distance

3. Happy Gilmore:  Look for a cameo by Bob Barker where his fight with Adam Sandler won an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight.

2. Something for Joey:  If you don’t cry during John Cappelletti’s Heisman Trophy acceptance speech where he talks about his baby brother Joey, there’s something wrong with you.

1. Sudden Death:  Look for Mike Lange using some of his trademark catchphrases after Penguins goals.

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