rastahomie, I think it’s the final scene that does it. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you rent it.
As for my vote, it goes to Bad Lieutenant. Certainly not a great movie, but one that really gets under your skin.
I think I’d have to say Titanic, and…what was that one with the guy whispering Rosebud?
Another one I hate but can’t seem to QUIT watching is Full Metal Jacket
Saving Private Ryan is best seen only once … on second viewing you tend to nitpick the weaknesses of the second and third acts instead of admiring the sheer impact of the beginning.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, The Usual Suspects should also be seen only once.
(SEMI-SPOILERS AHEAD)
On second viewing you realize the (apparently) main character is a pure red herring put there to distract you from the actual plot. At which point you realize that the movie boils down to, “Hah! Fooled you!” Unlike, say, Pulp Fiction, where all the misdirection actually has a point.
I don’t think you should see Taxi Driver only once, but I think more than once every ten years may be hazardous to your mental health.
That description (which is pretty much word for word the IMDB summary) does not do the film justice, although it is hard for me to say exactly why. This film is a very realistic portrayal of a truly amoral character. The term “deflower” implies that this is a lighthearted, innocent pusuit. It is not. Also, as I recall, the guy knows he may have AIDS through the entire film and just doesn’t care. This film is extremely realistic.
Antoher one, directed by one of the writers of KIDS is GUMMO. It’s a rural version of the same kind of story.
<shiver>
No, I was definitely talking about the machine gun fire scene. I have to tell you that the framing scenes at the beginning and end didn’t really do much for me. I thought the “meat” of the movie was much more powerful. However, to each his (or her) own!
AMERICAN BEAUTY SORTA SPOILER:
Well, you have a point, although Spacey doesn’t say exactly how he’ll get it in the end. Sorry, I am just really spoiler-sensitive after the people behind us in the theater at The Blair Witch Project did their absolute best to give away every plot point of the movie (which they had read all about on the Internet, natch) before the opening trailers even played. Eesh.
Silence of the Lambs
Incredible film, but afterwards, my date and I just sat in silence while eating dinner.
Have the video, but have never played it.
Part of me is dying to see it again, but I mostly content to let it sit on the shelf forever left unseen.
…and it took me twenty years before I could watch The Exorcist again…
The Shining?
The English Patient… I liked it, I hated it, I own it, I never, ever watch it.
Never Cry Wolf
There’s a few, but they’ve been mentioned - Saving Private Ryan, SlingBlade, Leaving Las Vegas, etc.
Did anyone mention The Green Mile?
Meg
Good topic. I can’t really add much here, because, IMO, a movie cannot truly be considered great unless it holds up to multiple screenings. The difference between very good and great is that great movies get better the more you see them.
You should read the book. The movie is upbeat by comparison.
Well, it’s actually other characters in the film that torture her. Von Trier just shows it to us. There’s a difference between what a movie shows us and what it is doing.
This is pretty much what Roger Ebert said in his Movie Answer Man collumn.
Momento. I liked the film but you could never relax watching it. It made my head spin. 
For me it’s Saving Private Ryan. The scene where the Jewish guy gets stabbed in the chest disturbed me for weeks. I couldn’t get the look of surprise and fear on his face out of my head. I will never watch that movie again.
I think that is Citizen Kane.
The Piano is on my list as well. It was almost unbearable, as though a hand was squeezing my heart and then letting go at the last moment. Over and over again.
Oh good grief, I can’t remember the title, but it’s about four young boys who get sent to a juvenile detention home and then later, when they’re grown up, there’s a murder and a big trial scene. I wouldn’t call this one great, but it’s pretty good.
Number Six, I agree that being good over multiple viewings is a part of being a “great” movie, but there are some movies I think are great, but that I personally can’t watch again because my emotional response is too traumatic. Shoah, mentioned already by someone else, is a good example of this. The fact that I won’t watch it again because I know I can’t bear it doesn’t take away from its greatness.
Grave of the Fireflies. You won’t need to see the movie again because the images will permanently etch on your mind as if you watched it a minute ago. Damn.
Titanic
That would be Sleepers. I agree that a movie can be so intense that one wouldn’t want to see it again; essentially being so good at shaking up the viewer it discourages further viewings. I was just reluctant to add anything of my own because I’ve seen every movie I consider great more than once.
Contact. IMHO, great book, great movie… I’ve only seen the movie once [spoliers!]mainly because of the scene towards the end when Arroway tries to convince investigators that she didn’t just make up what she saw. For whatever reason, that was hard for me to watch. I’m sure I’ll see it again someday, but not for a while still.
Was talking to my sister about this one, and she came up with a great movie for this thread, Das Boot. She watched the entire 6 hours of the director’s cut in one sitting.
Disclaimer: The preceding post was not intended to be a bump of RufusB’s thread, nor any of his subsidiaries’ threads. Any likeness to the aforemention bump is purely coincidental.
One time for “Man Bites Dog”, “The Celebration”, “Happiness”, and “The Wedding Banquet”.
Another for Grave of the Fireflies. One of the best movies I’ve ever seen - heartwrenching but never manipulative, intimate, subtle… I don’t think I could ever see it again. I saw it with a friend and we had to make a pan of brownies and watch, like, six hours of bad country music videos before we could even talk about it.
Number Six is right. The book “A Simple Plan” is infinitely more depressing than the movie.
I just read “The House of Sand and Fog” and it reminded me a lot of A Simple Plan. If they make a movie of it, I won’t even bother seeing it. I can’t take that much of a bummer quotient in films anymore.