Good movies, part 2

Here are a few movies we've enjoyed lately:

The Pride of the Yankees (1942) - I don't watch a lot of sports movies, but I enjoyed this one. It's the story of Lou Gehrig, his family life, his famous career, and his illness that forced him to leave baseball. It's refreshing to see a story that praises decency and hard work.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - I don't watch a lot of war movies, either, but again, I enjoyed this one. Maybe because it was more about personalities and psychology than about shooting and fighting. Alec Guinness plays a British officer who is taken prisoner with his men in Burma. As they build a bridge for their captors, pride and loyalties get confused.

Captains Courageous (1937) - Based on the Rudyard Kipling book, the movie stars Spencer Tracy, one of my favorite actors (even if his accent in this one is fairly unbelievable). He plays the fisherman who rescues Harvey, a spoiled, snotty rich boy who falls off a passing ship. For the next three months Harvey learns to work aboard the fishing boat. (We may make our kids watch it the next time they complain about doing dishes.)

Mission: Impossible (1966-1973 TV series) - We've been getting the DVDs of the old TV series from the library, and now our kids are hooked on them. We especially like the seasons where Leonard Nimoy was a regular (right after the original Star Trek series ended). The plots are tricky and detailed, there's a lot of action and suspense, but without the language and inappropriate scenes that you'd see on a similar series today.