The best film on aging?

It's not a category in the Academy Awards. For those of us who spend most of our waking hours dealing with issues surrounding the aging process, it might not even seem like the most attractive way to spend our leisure time. But I'm curious: what is the "best" movie about the aging process--or, if such a thing even exists, about elder law itself?

To be a really good movie on the subject, the fact of maturity should be a central theme. Well, "maturity" may not be the best word here--it suddenly occurs to me that a few folks are likely to suggest Harold and Maude (1971). I, of course, have a few suggestions for the category myself:

Something's Gotta Give (2003), As Good As It Gets (1997) and About Schmidt (2002) seem to me to be the Jack Nicholson triptych on aging. What talent the guy has--he is equally convincing as the aging lothario, the aging compulsive and the aging retiree.

Speaking of aging actors playing, well, aging characters, a little-watched gem from 2000 starring Sean Connery gets high marks in my book. Finding Forrester is a sweet-but-not-sappy multi-generational bit, complete with redemption and hope for the future.

Clients of mine recently told me they wanted their will to include "the inheritance speech" given by John Wayne in McLintock! (1963). I had to confess I didn't know what they were talking about. I went out and bought the movie (it was cheaper and easier than renting it) and am working on getting the speech transcribed. It's a bit of a slapstick movie--with John Wayne, no less--but when he tells his daughter that he's not leaving his entire estate to her because it will be good for her and her husband-to-be to have to do (and earn) something on their own, it definitely becomes an elder-law-related movie. Not great art or theater, but an odd, politically-incorrect and therefore interesting entry in the polling.

Has anyone ever shown aging with more style than Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter (1968)? I really need to update my top-10-ever movies to include this one.

Anyway, what I'm looking for here is some other suggestions. What movie(s) about aging did you think were particularly engaging, moving, uplifting, frightening? Which actor(s) most epitomize aging with grace and dignity, or refusing to go gently, or the reverse of either--in their roles or, for that matter, their personal lives? Let me hear your suggestions--I need to expand my 64-movie-long Netflix queue. For that matter, I need to push past my stagnant 1601 movies rated. Give me a hand here, please.

Robert B. Fleming
Fleming & Curti, PLC
Tucson, Arizona
www.elder-law.com
www.specialneedsalliance.com

Comments

[Mary WanderPolo]

Maybe you need a separate list for the films on end of life choices. "Harold and Maude", one of my all time favorite films portrays a vibrant 79 year old woman who makes choices regarding her own end of life and follows through on them in her own way. "Soylent Green" is not one of my favorite movies, but it does give another perspective on end of life choices and how society could end up dealing with too many aging and not dying.

Of course, if you are talking about testamentary intent, one of the best movies is Buster Keaton's "Seven Chances" where a relative leaves him $100,000 (a lot of money back then) but he must be married by a specific time which is only hours away from the reading of the will. An amazing film with Buster doing some pretty spectacular physical stunts.

Of course, there could be a separate list for the best graveside scenes. My personal favorite is the spreading of the ashes scene from "The Big Lebowski", of course, it may be the only spreading of the ashes scene in the movies.

I think I have digressed from films on aging. Sorry.

[Andrew H. Hook]

My favorite movie relating to Elder Law is the Rain Maker based on a book written by John Grisham. The major character was a law student studying elder law. My favorite movie about the law is My Cousin Vinny. It is an excellent study of trial practice.

[Leslie Wizelman]

And then there is On Golden Pond with Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn; and the current movie, Away from Her with Julie Christie. Robert Redford is an aging actor I admire- he apparently refuses to have plastic surgery. And what about Clint Eastwood in Cinderella Man?

[Neal Bobruff]

I don't see how you are going to come up with a better movie about aging than "Away From Her". The acting is terrific and Julie Christie deserves an Academy award nomination. As one critic said, "it is less a drama about Alzheimer's disease than a cinematic poem of love and loss."

It might hit a little too close to home if you have a family member with Alzheimer's, but everyone else should see it.

[Barbara Isenhour]

"Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" with Joan Plowright (2005) is a poignant story of an elderly woman who has just moved into a retirement hotel and is ignored by her family. She befriends a young writer and they form a beautiful friendship. The movie shows aging with grace and dignity and good humor in a world that coldly ignores or patronizes the elderly.

[Shirley B. Whitenack]

I would add Cocoon, Sunshine Boys, Driving Miss Daisy, Grumpy Old Men
and Fried Green Tomatoes to your list.

Shirley B.Whitenack, Esq.
Schenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP
10 Washington Street
P.O. Box 905
Morristown, NJ 07963

[Christine A. Alsop]

How about Arsenic and Old Lace?

Christine A. Alsop
Oelbaum & Brown
220 West Lockwood
Suite 203
Webster Groves, Missouri 63119

[Pam Wright]

One of my favorites is "The Shootist" with John Wayne and Lauren Bacall.

[David Goldfarb]

I really liked Tim Burton's "The Big Fish" with Albert Finney. It is a a story about an estranged son's final visit to his father who is dying of cancer. Through a series of flashbacks the son pieces together the reality and the myths of his father's life.