Favourite #40

Favourite #40

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums used to be a serious top ten movie for me, however over the years it lost a bit of its lustre. Don't get me wrong though, Tenenbaums is still a heavy-hitter in my books. I don't think I've ever seen a movie since this one, that has that unique mix of dark comedy, stellar direction, a great soundtrack and one of the most impressive casts giving unbelievable performances minute to minute. The movie is great. Come to think of it, I really think it deserves to be higher so you can chalk this 40 rating purely up to the fact that I haven't seen it in a few years.

Talking about the cast, (Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Gwenyth Paltrow to name but a few) it is really Gene Hackman that stands out as the titular character. As a result of Hackaman's unbelievably mind-bending chops, (with some help from Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson's writing) the character of Royal Tenenbaum is easily one of my all-time favourites. Right up there with Han Solo, The Dude and Clark W. Griswold.

Memorable quote: Eli Cash (Owen Wilson): "Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is... maybe he didn't?"

In case you didn't know, the list of other notable actors in this one includes: Luke Wilson, Danny Glover, Angelica Huston, Ben stiller, and Alec Baldwin as the narrator.