Movies With Epiphanies
In the spring of 2017, I attended a weekend retreat at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat Center in Pennsylvania. The retreat offered a choice of Saturday afternoon breakout “workshops.” I chose the session presented by long-time drama critic, Ed Blank. I’m sure the other sessions were valuable, but Mr. Blank’s was truly remarkable.
Ed Blank is a Pittsburgh native who served as an officer in the Signal Corps in Vietnam following graduation from Duquesne University and then began a career spanning four decades as an entertainment critic, focusing on movies and television, with the Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
The theme of his talk was ‘‘movies with epiphanies,’’ which begs the question: what is an epiphany?
The word comes from the Greek word epiphainein, which means "reveal." In Mr. Blank’s presentation, an epiphany is when a character experiences a dramatic, clear, obvious “moment of sudden revelation or insight” leading to a positive, even inspirational, change of heart or behavior.
He provided a list of 39 “Outstanding Movies Containing Epiphanies.”
All Fall Down (1962) Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, Angela Lansberry
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
Apartment, The (1960) Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred McMurray
Becket (1964) Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, John Gielgud
Best Years of our Lives (1946) Fredric March, Dana Andrews
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Alec Guinness, William Holden
Carpetbaggers, The (1964) George Peppard, Alan Ladd, Carroll Baker
Cinema Paradiso (1988) Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret, Sal Cascio
Counterfeit Traitor, The (1962) William Holden, Lilli Palmer
Doctor Zhivago (1965) Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin
Field of Dreams (1989) Kevin Castner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones
From Here to Eternity (1953) Monty Clift, Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr
Giant (1956) Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Sal Mineo
Godfather (1972) Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton, James Caan
Greatest Show on Earth (1952) James Stewart, Charlton Heston
Hud (1963) Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Brandon deWilde, M. Douglas
I Never Sang for my father (1970) Gene Hackman, Melvyn Douglas
Imitation of Life (1959) Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Susan Kohner
In the Heat of the Night (1967) Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Lee Grant
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) James Stewart, Donna Reed, L. Barrymore
Les Miserables (1935) Fredric March, Charles Laughton
Midnight Cowboy (1969) Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Barnard Hughes
Night and the City (1950) Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney
Notorious (1946) Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
On the Waterfront (1954) Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb
Pawnbroker, The (1965) Rod Steiger, James Sanchez, Bock Peters
Quiz Show (1994) Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro
Raging Bull (1980) Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
Ride the High Country (1962) Joel McRea, Randolph Scott, H. Hartley
Saving Private Ryan (1998) Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore
Searchers, The (1956) John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles
Shane (1953) Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Brandon deWilde, Van Heflin
Shootist, The (1976) John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard
Sunset Boulevard (1950) William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Nancy Olson
Thousand Clowns (1965) Jason Robards, Barry Gordon, Barbara Harris
Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A (1945) Peggy Ann Garner, Dorothy McGuire
West Side Story (1961) Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris
Wild Bunch (1969) WIlliam Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan
It's a weighty list but with the many streaming services available, most can be found, and with “April showers” on the horizon maybe a rainy-day option?
By the way, Ed once wrote a negative review of a made-for-TV movie starring Burt Reynolds. Reynolds was so incensed he wrote a four-page letter to Mr. Blank threatening to “break his head.” This led to an exchange of letters and fortunately, Reynolds had his own epiphany and became much more cordial.
Happy viewing! And may you be inspired.
