Top five six John Cusack movies.

The results are in on the poll for the top five John Cusack movies, and because there was a tie for fourth through sixth, the list has six instead.



It is very satisfying to see High Fidelity at the top of the list, because I wouldn't even made this poll except for Cusack's character obsessively making Top Five lists throughout the movie.

The second movie on the list is The Grifters. Besides Cusack, the thing this movie has in common with High Fidelity is director Stephen Frears. They work well together.

Grosse Pointe Blank sits in third place by itself. Like High Fidelity, a lot of the charm of this movie comes from a great soundtrack of 1980s music used as nostalgia in the late 1990s.

Then we come to the tie for fourth through sixth. Being John Malkovich is another bold choice for Cusack and the greatest success of eccentric screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and the most successful film of Spike Jonze, who still makes a lot of short films and videos.

Of the three movies tied for the final spot, Eight Men Out is my personal favorite. John Sayles directs this story of the 1918 Black Sox scandal that got eight players thrown out of professional baseball forever. This kind of punishment isn't handed out much these days, though Pete Rose and Barry Bonds have been ostracized well after the barn door has closed for them.

And last is Say Anything..., a movie that isn't my absolute favorite of Cusack's, but I would say it's the best work of director Cameron Crowe and Cusack's romantic interest Ione Skye.



Thanks to everyone who voted.