Review by C.J. Bunce
Of all the books reviewed here at borg in the TCM film library, 50 Movie Nights: Contemporary Stars on Their Favorite Classic Films might be the most surprising, and the most likely to generate further conversation. A collection of essays from a wide swathe of film insiders, primarily actors, compiled by film writer Dave Karger, it’s sprinkled with interesting tidbits about Hollywood and some of your favorite actors.
It’s easy to imagine how a book like this begins: Someone contacts you and asks you to name your favorite film and explain why. What movie would you select? One that is your frequent go-to entertainment re-watch? Or do you use this essay as an opportunity to share a story about the movie that inspired you to go into movie making? Maybe you as a celebrity had an encounter with one of your favorite actors and you want to document the experience in a book for all time? From Paul Rudd, Anderson Cooper, and Laura Linney, to Carol Burnett, Viggo Mortensen, and Wes Anderson, you’ll find that essays by some of the best known current movie celebrities confirm what you and they do–or don’t–have in common. 50 Movie Nights is now available for pre-order here at Amazon.
The strangest encounter with this book is how the essays reflect that many of the fifty celebrities chosen represent offspring of old Hollywood and New York movie dynasties. With some exceptions the bulk of these stories are from movie buffs who grew up inside the Hollywood and New York movie or acting scene. So Matthew Broderick selected Dog Day Afternoon, which allowed him to remark about being onset with his father, actor James Broderick (who played everyone’s dad on the TV series Family), and this book was an opportunity to talk about his direct experience with the filming of the movie. Jason Bateman writes a similar personal experience with his father watching The King of Comedy–has father was a film producer who took his kid to the movies. Dog Day Afternoon and The King of Comedy aren’t recommendations for your average moviegoer, so consider these entries more for what you learn about the contributors.
On the other hand Topher Grace gives a full throttle critical review of All the President’s Men. You can tell he’s a fan, and it comes through as he identifies those great re-watchable scenes from the movie, and he also has a great grasp on the movie’s themes. If you like Grace as an actor and a celebrity, maybe you’ll like the movie, too. Two other actors are similarly passionate about their choices–Justin Theroux goes flat-out fanboy for Steve Martin’s The Jerk and Neil Patrick Harris is all-in for Clue.
Two married couples are represented in the book: Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. It makes you wonder how they approached this project, and what they thought of each other’s choices. Parker picked The Way We Were, which she dug into for a film role. Bacon (whose comments indicate he was too cool for Star Wars) picked the obscure 1973 horror movie Don’t Look Now, and Sedgwick Tootsie.
Once I read the introduction my first search of the table of contents was to see who secured the recommendation of High Noon, which would seem to be one of those movies to fight for. But Bryan Cranston offers his own take on the movie tied to his work on another film. Other expected essays include The Wizard of Oz by Molly Shannon, but it’s a surprising and personal story of how she watched it after her mother, sister, and cousin died in a car accident. Another memorable personal take is from Lucie Arnaz discussing The Long, Long Trailer, starring her parents Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, a film she watched as her parents’ marriage had come apart–a happy ending on film that didn’t translate to real life.
Why did Sterling K. Brown like Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez so much he cried, and did so on a date with his eventual wife? Oddly enough Out of Sight’s co-stars Don Cheadle (The Battle of Algiers) and Steve Zahn (The Deer Hunter) offer essays in this book, too.
You might just read this surprising and insightful book end-to-end in a single night as I did. TCM’s 50 Movie Nights is now available for pre-order here at Amazon. Find it in bookshops beginning September 15, 2026, published by Running Press.
Don’t miss the other volumes from TCM’s film library reviewed here at borg, covering a wide range of topics across film history and genres: 52 Must-See Movies That Matter, 52 More Must-See Movies That Matter, Must-See Sci-Fi, Dynamic Dames, Forbidden Hollywood, Viva Hollywood, Fright Favorites, Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classics, TCM’s Hollywood Victory, TCM’s Danger on the Silver Screen, TCM’s Rock on Film, TCM’s Essential Directors, TCM’s Christmas at the Movies, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, TCM’s 50 Oscar Nights, But Have You Read the Book?, But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition, Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar, Lena Horne: Goddess Reclaimed, Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir, Forbidden Cocktails, Hollywood Pride, Falling in Love at the Movies, Dark City Dames, TCM Imports, TCM Rewinding the ’80s, TCM Pre-Code Essentials: Must-See Cinema from Hollywood’s Untamed Era 1930-1934, TCM Family Movie Night Menus–Recipes & Films for Unforgettable Times Together, 50 Movie Nights: Contmporary Stars on Their Favorite Classic Films, and TCM’s 20th Century Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Creation of the Modern Film Studio.
