# 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:** 9
### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/161 "2025-07-21T20:10:14Z")
The Muppet Movie.
Spectacular technical movie magic. Original songs that are all winners. Compelling and heartfelt story and characters. Great comedy delivered impeccably. A huge list of cameos, all of whom were given roles that suit them.
It’s a movie about friendship. About life. About movies. About self-acceptance. And manages to be about these things without being overbearing, sappy, or cliche, but also without hiding from the emotion via intellectualizing or making jokes about it. 10/10, no notes.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/162 "2025-07-21T20:28:17Z")
Here are my top 5, and they happen to be in different genres:
Comedy: Dr. Strangelove
Thriller/Adventure: Jaws
Horror: The Exorcist
Drama: Who’s Afraid of Viginia Woolf?
Sci-fi: 2001: A Space Odyssey
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/163 "2025-07-21T22:04:34Z")
Swingers
Pulp Fiction
Rogue One
The Sound of Music
It’s a Wonderful Life
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2025, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/164 "2025-07-22T16:17:27Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> Well yes, you have a good point there I didn’t think about. What’s also lost in translation is the fact that “Himmel” means both sky and Heaven, so the heavenly aspect (it’s about angels after all) gets lost.
>
> So maybe “Heaven over Berlin” would be best?
I always thought it only meant Heaven, so, yeah, I agree that’s better!
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/165 "2025-07-22T21:22:21Z")
Another five of mine:
_2001: A Space Odyssey_ - Brilliant, epic sf on the history of, and next step for, humanity itself
_Toy Story_ - Funny, clever tale of what really happens among toys when you leave the room
_The Grand Budapest Hotel_ - A demanding Ruritanian concierge trains his eager protege; Wes Anderson’s best film
_Gladiator_ - Sweeping historical drama about a betrayed Roman general and the revenge he seeks
_The Sixth Sense_ - A finely-crafted ghost story that I found both scary and, ultimately, heartbreaking
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### Author:  [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/166 "2025-08-18T15:34:07Z")
There are many movies which I loved on first watch but have zero desire to see again. My five favorite movies after multiple viewings:
Kelly’s Heroes
Donnie Darko
Aliens
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Kung Fu Hustle
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/167 "2025-08-18T23:35:00Z")
Inglourious Basterds
Alien
Whiplash
Sinners
Heat
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/168 "2025-08-19T00:54:00Z")
- Rear Window
- The Godfather
- The Godfather II
- The Green Mile
- Mulholland Drive
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/169 "2025-08-19T01:20:37Z")
_Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone_
The first movie introduced viewers to the unique characters and hidden world of Wizards.
_Rocky_ The romance of Rocky and Adrian. The gritty world of a down and out club boxer that gets a once in a lifetime opportunity.
_Magnificent Seven_ Incredible characters and story. The betrayal by the farmers and the hired guns reaction is so memorable.
_Marty_ Ernest Borgnine’s greatest role as a ugly man that finds love and redemption.
_Shane_ Alan Ladds greatest role as a gunfighter who falls in love with his friends wife. His honorable decision to risk his life for that family and then ride away is a great story.
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### Author:  [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/170 "2025-08-19T01:22:57Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> _Magnificent Seven_ Incredible characters and story.
It should be - it was adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s _The Seven Samurai_. Fun to compare them and both wonderful films. I have a hard time thinking of a better conversion of a story from one setting to another.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/171 "2025-08-19T01:44:41Z")
_Marty_ was telecast live May 24, 1953, on The Philco Television Playhouse with Rod Steiger.
The movie with Borgnine was made a couple years later. He had played mostly heavys. This role made him sympathetic to viewers.
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### Author:  [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/172 "2025-08-19T02:03:44Z")
A top ten would have been easier, but I resisted.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Suspiria (1977)
Jaws (1975)
Wizard of Oz (1939)
Taxi Driver (1976)
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### Author:  [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2025, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/173 "2025-09-25T13:05:15Z")
Harry and Tonto
La Strada
Nashville
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
The Battle of Algiers
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/174 "2025-09-25T16:00:35Z")
The General (Keaton)
King Kong (1933- the only Kong)
Blue Velvet
Robocop
The Player
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/175 "2025-09-25T16:59:43Z")
This is Spinal Tap
The Usual Suspects
Double Indemnity
Young Fronkensteen
Children of Men
In all cases, these movies seem to achieve what they intend to accomplish about as perfectly as possible.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/176 "2025-10-02T21:25:14Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> Children of Men
One of the most underrated, I think. Stunning.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/177 "2025-10-07T04:01:55Z")
Inspired by what I’ve read in this thread, here are my next five:
_Dave_ - Terrific political comedy
_Lincoln_ - Gives you a sense of Lincoln’s greatness
_Arrival_ - Alien first contact and a bittersweet love story
_Sense and Sensibility_ - Wonderful, heartfelt Austen adaptation
_Glory_ - My all-time favorite Civil War movie
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### Author:  [@majicats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/majicats)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/178 "2026-05-06T13:46:37Z")
Perfect for Me…
Love, Actually
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Reeves, Ryder, Hopkins)
Big Fish
I’ll think a bit more on the last two.
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### Author:  [@majicats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/majicats)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2026, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/179 "2026-05-06T13:47:25Z")
Better put Memoirs of a Geisha on there. One left…
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### Author:  [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2026, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-perfect-movies/1006586/180 "2026-05-06T14:22:20Z")
Boyhood
All Is Lost
The Long Goodbye
Harold and Maude
No Country for Old Men
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