This being my birthday week, I am taking the liberty of taking stock of my own favorites. While I put “top” in the heading, these are very much a reflection of my tastes and I share them on the assumption that if you like my work, you may like the things that have resonated with me – some of which shaped me as a person and especially writer. Perhaps I can lead you to some films or books you may have overlooked.

I am not providing explanations or mini-reviews or any such thing. These are just my favorites in March 2026.

FIVE FAVORITE PRIVATE EYE MOVIES
1. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
2. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
3. Murder, My Sweet (Edward Dmytryk, 1944)
4. Shaft (Gordon Parks, 1971)
5. I, the Jury (Harry Essex, 1953)

FIVE FAVORITE CRIME MOVIES
1. Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950)
2. Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
3. Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967)
4. Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
5. The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955)

FIVE FAVORITE AGATHA CHRISTIE ADAPTATIONS
1. Evil Under the Sun (Guy Hamilton, 1982)
2. Death on the Nile (John Guillermin, 1978)
3. Poirot series with Suchet (1989 – 2013)
4. And Then There Were None (Rene Clair, 1945)
5. Witness for the Prosecution (Bill Wilder, 1957)

FIVE FAVORITE NEO-NOIR FILMS
1. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
2. Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981)
3. The Nice Guys (Shane Black, 2016)
4. The Hot Spot (Dennis Hopper, 1990)
5. The Two Jakes (Jack Nicholson, 1990)

FIVE FAVORITE HITCHCOCK MOVIES
1. Vertigo (1958)
2. Rear Window (1954)
3. North by Northwest (1959)
4. Rebecca (1940)
5. Spellbound (1946)

TOP FIVE FAVORITE COMEDY MOVIES
1. The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1967)
2. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
4. M. Hulot’s Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953)
3. Murder He Says (George Marshall, 1945)
5. Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950)

FIVE FAVORITE WESTERN MOVIES
1. Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
2. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
3. Ride the High Country (Sam Pekinpah, 1962)
4. The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960)
5. No Name on the Bullet (Jack Arnold, 1959)

FIVE FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES
1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Robert Wise, 1979)
2. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (Nicholas Meyer, 1982)
3. Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country (Nicholas Meyer 1991)
4. The Time Machine (George Pal, 1960)
5. Aliens 2 (James Cameron, 1986)

FIVE FAVORITE SECRET AGENT MOVIES
1. Dr. No (Terence Young, 1962)
2. From Russia With Love (Terence Young, 1963)
3. Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964)
4. The Ipcress File (Sidney Furie, 1965)
5. The Living Daylights (John Glen, 1987)

FIVE FAVORITE MOVIE MUSICALS
1. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (David Swift, 1967)
2. Sweeney Todd (recorded Broadway version, 1982)
3. Damn Yankees (George Abbott and Stanley Donen, 1958)
4. Into the Woods (recorded Broadway version, 1999)
5. Shock Treatment (Richard O’Brien, 1981)

FIVE FAVORITE PRIVATE EYE NOVELS
1. The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett, 1930)
2. Farewell, My Lovely (Raymond Chandler, 1940)
3. One Lonely Night (Mickey Spillane, 1951)
4. Lady in the Morgue (Jonathan Latimer, 1936)
5. The Twisted Thing (Mickey Spillane 1966, written around 1948)

FIVE FAVORITE CRIME NOVELS
1. The Postman Always Rings Twice (James M. Cain, 1934)
2. Double Indemnity (James M. Cain, 1936)
3. Pop. 1280 (1953, Jim Thompson)
4. Nightmare Alley (William Lindsay Gresham, 1946)
5. Butcher’s Moon (Richard Stark, 1974)

FIVE FAVORITE MAINSTREAM NOVELS
1. The Bad Seed (William March, 1954)
2. The Southpaw (Mark Harris, 1953)
3. Rambling Rose (Calder Willingham, 1972)
4. Prince of Foxes (Samuel Shellabarger, 1947)
5. Queen’s Gambit (Walter Tevis, 1983)

FIVE FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION TV
1. Star Trek (1966 – 1969)
2. The Prisoner (1967 – 1968)
3. Twilight Zone (1969 – 1964)
4. Firefly (2002)
5. Cowboy BeBop (1998)

FIVE FAVORITE DETECTIVE TV
1. City of Angels (1976)
2. The Rockford Files (1974 -1980)
3. Dragnet (1951 – 1959)
4. Peter Gunn (1958 – 1961)
5. Columbo (1971 – 1978)

FIVE FAVORITE WAR FILMS
1. Hell is for Heroes (Don Siegel, 1962)
2. Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
3. The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich, 1967)
4. To Hell and Back (Jesse Hibbs, 1955)
5. Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)

FIVE FAVORITE NORDIC TV SERIES
1. The Bridge (2011 -2018)
2. The Killing (2007 – 2018)
3. Wallander (2005 – 2013)
4. River (2015)
5. Borgen (2011 – 2022)

FIVE FAVORITE HORROR FILMS
1. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
3. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
4. Carrie (Brian DePalma, 1976)
5. Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi, 1987)

FIVE FAVORITE MONSTER MOVIES
1. Them (Gordon Douglas, 1954)
2. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
3. Creature from the Black Lagoon (Jack Arnold, 1954)
4. The Curse of Frankenstein (Terence Fisher, 1957)
5. Horror of Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958)

I always enjoy my conversations with Andrew Sumner, my Titan Books guru. Here is the latest one:

And a good Return of the Maltese Falcon interview on Poets of the Tabloid Murder (great name!) is here.

Thank you for the many birthday wishes you sent my way. The problem with e-bday wishes is you can’t tuck any money in them.

M.A.C.