# Five Perfect Movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** movies
**Created:** [September 1, 2024, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586 "2024-09-01T22:00:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/41 "2024-09-02T00:12:45Z")
Casablanca
Back to the Future
Inglourious Basterds
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Star Wars With Han Shooting First Dammit
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/42 "2024-09-02T00:13:22Z")
Ordinary People
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Shaun of the Dead
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/43 "2024-09-02T00:16:35Z")
Princess Bride
Almost Famous
American Beauty
Moonstruck
Galaxy Quest
I see some movies others have listed here that I’ve liked a lot, but they don’t quite make my personal list of Best Movies I’ve Ever Seen, which is as close to ‘perfect’ as I am going to get.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/44 "2024-09-02T00:29:34Z")
**Jaws** is the only film I have ever seen where there is absolutely nothing you could change that would make it better.
**Pulp Fiction** is close but if you are going to put a Revels song on the soundtrack, “Church Key” is a better choice than “Comanche”.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/45 "2024-09-02T00:30:37Z")
I’m resisting the temptation to say “You call that perfect? Here’s all the flaws in your so-called perfect film.” 🙂 That’s contrary to the spirit of the thread. So here’s my list:
Casablanca
Jurassic Park
Airplane!
King Kong
LOTR:FOTR
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### Author:  [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/46 "2024-09-02T01:04:00Z")
Here’s mine. Subjective as all hell all get out.
Saturday night fever
Grease
Lawrence of Arabia
Nights of Cabiria
Hobsons choice
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### Author:  [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/47 "2024-09-02T01:25:35Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#):
>
> Breaker Morant
That was on my short list for the shorter list. Glad to see someone gave it a nod.
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### Author:  [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/48 "2024-09-02T01:28:21Z")
It left me speechless when I saw it when it first came out, couldn’t stop crying, and it’s one of the few movies I can’t pass by if it happens to be on when I’m channel-flipping. So powerful. I know there is controversy around it, but for the story it tells, just… damn.
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### Author:  [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/49 "2024-09-02T01:50:25Z")
The Big Sleep
Mildred Pierce
Beat The Devil
To Have and Have Not
Best Years of Our Lives.
All that being said, Treasure of the Sierra Madre is my favorite. “Tampico, what a town!”
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### Author:  [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/50 "2024-09-02T01:55:24Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#):
>
> I know there is controversy around it…
And that’s why it didn’t make my list. But otherwise, yeah.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/51 "2024-09-02T01:56:53Z")
Second perfect movie: _Funny Face_.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/52 "2024-09-02T02:13:18Z")
There are flawless movies, and there are great movies. The only titles that can claim both labels that I can think of are Meet Me in St. Louis and The Searchers.
Not necessarily Great but possibly flawless are:
Devil in a Blue Dress
. . . .
I reserve the balance of my time.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/53 "2024-09-02T02:14:29Z")
1. Koyaanisqatsi
2. Stranger Than Paradise
3. Wag the Dog
4. Crumb
5. The Killing Fields
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/54 "2024-09-02T02:21:06Z")
> [@chela](#):
>
> Hobsons choice
I **love** that movie!
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### Author:  [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/55 "2024-09-02T02:23:19Z")
Repeating the two I did earlier, my five:
After Hours
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Persona
Last Year at Marienbad
The Wages of Fear
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/56 "2024-09-02T02:36:53Z")
I have two to start (hint: I see parts of myself in both of these main characters):
The Browning Version (1951, Michael Redgrave)
Ikiru (1952, directed by Kurosawa)
More to come, I suppose, as I think of them.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/57 "2024-09-02T02:58:05Z")
The Full Monty
The Ring
Chinatown
Vertigo
Shutter Island
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/58 "2024-09-02T03:07:51Z")
In no particular order:
_Casablanca_
_The African Queen_
_The Godfather_
_Network_
_American Graffiti_
Strong contenders to be included, but had to be cut to make a list of only five: _Sabrina_ (1954), and _The Quiet Man_.
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### Author:  [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/59 "2024-09-02T03:09:33Z")
My five are:
-You Can Count On Me - Written and Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
(Laura Linney & Mark Ruffalo in his 1st film, great character piece)
-Blade\*runner (narration version)- Ridley Scott
(who I’m pretty sure DIDN’T like that version but hey! this is MY list)
-Pulp Fiction -Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino
(nobody does better movie dialog & action)
-Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Michael Palin/Terry Jones
(funniest movie ever made, no contest)
-2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick
(for me, the one perfectly crafted film of all time)
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### Author:  [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2024, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/60 "2024-09-02T03:27:02Z")
Jaws
The Silence of the Lambs
Top Gun: Maverick
Pulp Fiction
Goodfellas
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