"968"

Fifty years ago saw the beginning of a transformative year for our country and the world. Even at the tender age of nine, I could sense the tumult all around me. It was both bewildering and exciting.

I love Steve McQueen, and I know I'm not alone. For me, it’s impossible to separate the "King of Cool" from his passion for anything with wheels, excepting wheelchairs and tricycles. 1968's "Bullitt" showed us what he could do in a souped-up Mustang. And five years prior, he displayed his motorcycle-riding prowess in the classic get-out-of-prison war film, "The Great Escape.”

I was captivated by last year’s smash hit “Frozen,” not only for its stunning animation and catchy songs, but for its story, which featured female characters in primary, heroic roles. It is a story about women, in fact… the men are almost incidental.

Consummate actor Jack Lemmon had a habit of saying to himself before every take: “It’s magic time.” This may strike some people as mildly eccentric, but I would remind them that magic is precisely what he went on to create.

I have an ongoing love affair with New York, the city that formed me. I was born here, and though I’ve left occasionally, it was never for very long. The pace, color, and excitement of this amazing town always drew me back like a magnet, and holds me still. No surprise then that I love experiencing the potent nostalgia of great films that recall the New York City of my early years.

What would summer be without at least one trip to the beach? Truthfully, for me one trip is about enough. I have way too many childhood memories of sandy sandwiches and horrific sunburns. And from a swimming perspective, ever since I first saw “Jaws,” I’m strictly a pool man.

In the majority of cases where a single film evolves into a highly successful franchise, no one has any clue this might happen at the outset. Surprisingly often, success in Hollywood is the result of happy, fortuitous accidents.

Who can say why one year yields so many more memorable films than another?  Somehow, a number of dynamic factors and elements coalesce to create something extraordinary, as happens with a superb Bordeaux vintage, or for that matter, an outstanding film. There are tangible reasons, of course, but a mysterious alchemy is also working its magic.