# Flawless Films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424 "2004-04-16T20:56:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/61 "2004-04-18T02:52:28Z")
I’d like to speak for the 80s mainstream and add **Back to the Future** and **Ferris Bueller’s Day Off** , both of which are paced to perfection and lots of fun to boot. Moving into the 90s I might suggest **Groundhog Day**. Now I think of it, Whit Stillman’s **Metropolitan** is as close to perfect as I know. Jane Austen would be proud. Honorable Mention: Michael Verhoeven’s **The Nasty Girl** (is it necessary to be German, or have one in your family, to enjoy this? I love it. Please advise). ---
**Author:** ![CloudCar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@CloudCar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CloudCar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/62 "2004-04-18T02:56:10Z")
**The Iron Giant** was flawless. Perhaps I’m biased because as a youngster I would lay awake at night dreaming of my own giant robot friend. Brilliant casting for the voice actors too. Say what you will of him but nobody could have done the voice of the robot better than Vin Diesel. I would like also to throw out another vote for **O Brother, Where Art Thou**. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/63 "2004-04-18T03:04:07Z")
I don’t care what anybody says, I simply loved **Being John Malkovich** Don’t know quite what genre to put this into…psychocomedy? **2001 A Space Odyssey** - Probably the best Scifi that has been or will ever be made. A testament to what obsession can accomplish (read about Kubrick’s maddening struggle to finish this film), and light-years ahead of its time in concept. **The Godfather** - The gangster flick that broke the mold. Never equalled. Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone will be rememberd as one of cinema’s strongest characterizations, ever. **Taxi Driver** - Probably De Niro’s finest role, and surely the best noir, urban psychodrama in history. Then again, maybe De Niro’s best was **Raging Bull** …both damn good. **The Pianist** - For best war film. Say what you will about Roman Polanski, this film is a masterpiece. **Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain** - For best romance. Best date movie ever made, IMO! **The Silence of the Lambs** - For best thriller/horror flick. Hopkin’s Hannibal Lechter is, hands down, the finest baddie ever seen on screen. **The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly** - For best Western (albeit, the Spaghetti variety) I see this flick once every year, and never tire of it. Eastwood had it all over the other so-called cowboys. And Enio Moricone’s soundtrack is simply the outstanding classic of the genre. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/64 "2004-04-18T03:20:28Z")
\*\* Casablanca \*\* is amazing because it’s like every single line in the movie completely works. My husband and I saw years ago and were delighted to find out the source of all the Bugs Bunny cartoons. 🙂 \*\* Toy Story \*\* is not only great but the one of the few films where the sequel is just as good as the original. \*\* Singing in the Rain \*\* would be perfect if they would eliminate the dance sequence with Cyd Charise. It’s too long. But I love it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/65 "2004-04-18T03:54:18Z")
I second **2001: A Space Odyssey** and **Toy Story** (or whatever the count is at). ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/66 "2004-04-18T04:09:14Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > **Chinatown**. > > Y’all can go home now. 😉 Johnny Depp agrees with you. > [@](#): > > _From an interview in Esquire_ > I think Polanski is one of the few filmmakers who nearly did a perfect film, a couple of them. _Chinatown_ is almost perfect. It may be perfect. He’s also a big fan of Jim Jarmusch\* and Tim Burton (of course). \*Speaking of, one of the cable stations has been running _Mystery Train_ a lot lately. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/67 "2004-04-18T04:15:04Z")
**La Haine** **Spirited Away** **Belville Rendevous** **City of God** **Goodbye Lenin** Strangley I have seen all of these films in the last two weeks and they are absolutley amazing! I urge you to see these NOW. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/68 "2004-04-18T16:42:12Z")
I’m astonished by the extremely generous assessment of perfection that so many of you are giving. Ichi the Killer??? Wow. > [@Sampiro](#): > > **Schindler’s List** (although sometimes I wonder if it would have been better in color since the BW gives it a documentary look that distances us) > > \*\* This is the only one that bugs me, though, because the flaw is glaring and very nearly ruins the film: the over-the-top (and false) pure Spielbergian inability to let the story tell itself honestly ending where Schindler gets all weepy and guilty. Never happened, cheapened the film. ---
**Author:** ![Berserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Berserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berserker)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/69 "2004-04-18T17:07:53Z")
2001: A Space Odyssey A Clockwork Orange Pulp Fiction Fight Club ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/70 "2004-04-18T19:37:44Z")
The Lion King and Nightmare Before Christmas? It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen these, but I can’t remember any flaws in either. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/71 "2004-04-18T20:09:36Z")
> [@](#): > > This is the only one that bugs me, though, because the flaw is glaring and very nearly ruins the film: the over-the-top (and false) pure Spielbergian inability to let the story tell itself honestly ending where Schindler gets all weepy and guilty. Never happened, cheapened the film. I thought Spielberg could have retired after that movie it was so nearly perfect. It personified the Holocaust in a way that simply isn’t likely to be surpassed. The alternative would have been to let Mr. & Mrs. Schindler just leave as they did in real life (accompanied by two of the Schindlerjuden), which was done strictly because they were on the lam. While more realistic it would have been very anticlimactic, and while he didn’t give a speech about it at the time Schindler _was_, according to the surviving Schindlerjuden, tortured by the thoughts that he could have saved more. So, while I’m aware of the true story I thought this one worked better for film without betraying the integrity of the tale. I remember an interview with Winona Ryder around the time _Schindler’s List_ came out, incidentally, in which she was mentioning her work with Martin Scorcese and remarked “If Martin had made _Schindler’s List_ it would have taken place in the 1960s and 1970s and been the story of a man sponging off the Jews he saved in the Holocaust.” Interesting concept. Another loosely adapted B&W biopic that I’d enter into flawless films: _Ed Wood_ ---
**Author:** ![Riqay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Riqay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riqay)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/72 "2004-04-19T03:00:26Z")
Agree wholeheartedly with _To Kill a Mockingbird_, _The Philadelphia Story_, and _The Godfather_. Would add: _American Beauty_ - incredible cinematography _The Princess Bride_ - “by S. Morgenstern. Chapter one …” ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/73 "2004-04-19T03:12:27Z")
From reading this list, perfection is clearly in the eye of the beholder. 😉 When I was ten I thought The Golden Voyage of Sinbad was the perfect movie: after all, it was practically nonstop Ray Harryhausen monsters and it had none of that mushy character development stuff found in grownup movies. And what could be better than that? Somehow I don’t think what I believe is perfect at 40 is any significant degree closer to the ideal of perfection than what I thought at ten, so I’ll stick with that. ---
**Author:** ![seriousart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@seriousart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seriousart)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/74 "2004-04-19T03:34:34Z")
I agree with tons of ones alread mentioned but I’l throw in a few original ones. \*\* Groundhog Day Trainspotting Iron Giant Evil Dead II Raising Arizona The Apartment When Harry Met Sally Manhattan Star Wars IV & V\*\* and less acclaimed but a personal favorite: **Beautiful Girls** ---
**Author:** ![epepke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@epepke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epepke)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/75 "2004-04-19T03:39:27Z")
_Gods and Monsters_ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/76 "2004-04-19T03:49:10Z")
I too think that a lot of the movies mentioned are truly GREAT movies, but are not perfect. “Schindler’s List” is a truly wonderful, magnificent film, but it’s not perfect - it does have some flaws. As **lissener** points out, you can have a film with significant flaws be better than a film with no flaws. It’s like having a ballplayer with no weakness who’s good at everything, and another player who isn’t very good at stealing bases but hits 50 homers a year so he’s better overall than the guy with no weakness. In my entire life I’ve seen four perfect films that were also GREAT films, films in which I could detect not a single thing wrong but almost everything was really good: To Kill a Mockingbird Toy Story Back To The Future The Godfather That’s it. ---
**Author:** ![EsotericEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e274bd/32.png) [@EsotericEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EsotericEnigma)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/77 "2004-04-19T04:09:37Z")
I have to disagree wholeheartedly with Gangs of New York. That movie was the biggest waste of three hours I have ever spent in my life. Why go to a movie and care about these characters to find the ending trumps all conflict? It’s the most anticlimactic movie I have ever seen. I have yet to see a movie that I would say is “perfect.” The only movie I can think of that conjured thoughts of perfection immediately after seeing it was Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. Of course, I’ve seen it only once and I would have to see how it withstands multiple, less emotional, and more critical viewings. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/78 "2004-04-19T04:14:20Z")
> [@EsotericEnigma](#): > > Why go to a movie and care about these characters to find the ending trumps all conflict? It’s the most anticlimactic movie I have ever seen. My problem with GoNY was actually that I didn’t care about any of the characters. Bill the Butcher was a fascinating fellow, but he certainly deserved to die, and DiCaprio’s character didn’t have enough character development to greatly provoke any caring. As for the in-way-over-her-pretty-little-head Ms. Diaz, I started laughing so hard when I saw this Civil War era NYC immigrant street hustler lift up her blowse to reveal a botched Caesarian scars over washboard abs that I missed almost anything else she said or did. ---
**Author:** ![epepke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@epepke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epepke)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/79 "2004-04-19T04:16:19Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I too think that a lot of the movies mentioned are truly GREAT movies, but are not perfect. “Schindler’s List” is a truly wonderful, magnificent film, but it’s not perfect - it does have some flaws. As **lissener** points out, you can have a film with significant flaws be better than a film with no flaws. That’s why I pointed out _Gods and Monsters._ It may not be more than a minor film, but I can’t think of a single aspect–acting, cinematography, lighting, directing, script–that could have been modified in any way to make it better than it was, for what it was. Whether one likes what it was is irrelevant; it is consummately crafted. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424/80 "2004-04-19T04:19:32Z")
And I’ll say it, cinematic blasphemy that I know it to be: while I certainly enjoyed _To Kill a Mockingbird_, I’ve never really understood its Olympian status. It left out so many of the most wonderful portions of the book (particularly the “drunk” white man with the black “wife” and children, the children going to church with Calphurnia, Atticus’ sister, etc.) as well as the revelation that Mayella’s father forced her to submit to incest, a vital fact to understanding her character. I would love to see the movie remade as an HBO/Showtime miniseries (i.e. a cable company with a large budget and no censors). Strangely when I read the book I pictured John Lithgow as Atticus, Rue McLanahan as his sister and, of course, Whoopi Goldberg as Calpurnia, but any number of other talented actors could do the job. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flawless-films/240424.md?page=5)