Movies to walk by

I mentioned that I was taking my exercise to a new level, which is certainly not hard to do if one was sort of doggin' it, which I was. So instead of the occasional mile on the treadmill, I've committed to a semi-regular regimen of two or more miles on the endless belt each outing (don't judge me - I'm old). But you know the problem. Walking for a long time on the treadmill is like reading the Bible and getting to Leviticus. Boring, Boring,  BORING!

I started with the 5th and Final Season (sniff) of Friday Night Lights, but now I'm watching movies. Since Barb and I see, on average, one movie every two or three years, there's an enormous backlog out there just waiting for me. I found a copy of The Shawshank Redemption at the library and that turned out to be quite well done. I picked up a copy of Breaker Morant next, but it was veddy, veddy British, old chap, and there was a danger of falling asleep during the movie, which probably would have had unfortunate consequences, considering the circumstances.

So I switched to The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming, which is one of my all-time favorite movies (okay, I know it came out in 1966 and most of you have never heard of it; you will just have to trust me on how good it is). And next was Once Upon a Time in the West - the penultimate Spaghetti Western. I know you've never heard of this movie - it was a colossal flop in the US.

So how do I describe this movie? So bad it's good? Every Western Movie cliche crammed into a mere 171 minutes? Would it help to know Clint Eastwood, who found fame and fortune in spaghetti westerns, turned down a role in the movie? Or that two of the actors committed suicide - one during the filming of the movie by leaping out of his hotel window in full costume?

How could you go wrong  with a movie that stars Henry Fonda cast against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit, and Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader with a past as a prostitute? Scoff if you will, but the film is now generally acknowledged as a masterpiece and one of the best western films ever made. In 2009, it was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and will be preserved for all time!

But I digress. I have a copy of The Men who Stare at Goats from the library (I didn't say you could get good movies from the library) but it's only 90 minutes long, so I'm going to need a new movie to walk by soon, so the floor is open for nominations. What would you like to see while you are grinding out the miles? Better yet, what should I see? The longer the better, and weirdness is a plus.