I would say Akira, and by extension, Bonney and Clyde. Akira was a major influence for later anime and sci-fi (including The Matrix), and is credited with making anime popular outside of Japan. It was inspired heavily by Bonney and Clyde
What would you say the most influential movies of all time are?
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Fritz Lang’s M
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Moving thread from General Questions to the most influential Cafe Society of all time.
The Birth of a Nation. From Wikipedia, “Released in 1915, The Birth of a Nation has been credited as groundbreaking among its contemporaries for its innovative application of the medium of film. According to the film historian Kevin Brownlow, the film was ‘astounding in its time’ and initiated ‘so many advances in film-making technique that it was rendered obsolete within a few years.’”
FYI, here’s a piece by Roger Ebert, written in December 1999, on the ten most influential movies of the twentieth century. The list includes:
Kid Auto Races at Venice (1913, Charlie Chaplin)
The Birth of a Nation (1915, D.W. Griffith)
The Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
The Jazz Singer (1927, Al Jolson)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, Walt Disney)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Shadows (1959, John Cassavetes)
Star Wars (1977, George Lucas)
Toy Story (1995, John Lasseter)
The Blair Witch Project (1999, Daniel Myrick)
A Trip to the Moon by Georges Melies would have to qualify, because it was made so early in film history. According to Wikipedia:
It was also ranked 84th out of the top 100 greatest films of the 20th century by Village Voice, if that’s any indication.
To Ebert’s list I would add:
Jaws (first summer blockbuster)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (spawned a lot of imitation over the years)
Bonnie and Clyde
The Godfather
Oh, and for better or worse, I guess you could add:
Halloween. Not the first slasher movie, but it ushered in slasher films as a genre, and established a lot of the tropes.
2001 - A Space Odyssey. Pretty amazing effects for 1968, and asked the audience to think.
Taxi Driver - 1976. Crossed lines that people are still uncomfortable talking about.
This so much. The first time I saw this I was struck by how many cinematic cliches it had, except at the time they weren’t cliches at all. Real genius.
There would have to be a David Lean in there somewhere wouldn’t there? There are nods to his ideas all through modern cinema.
I think The Wizard of Oz needs consideration here. The switch to colour in Oz was a jaw-dropping effect at the time: not to mention the costumes, makeup, sets and other special effects.
That would have been my vote but more for the cultural influence (which was largely negative.) The Road Warrior should get a mention just for the major influence it had on early 80’s pop culture.
Deep Throat. C’mon, you know I’m right.
Actually, yes. I completely agree. It moved porn out of the 10 - 20 minute clip market into full movie status with a plot and story line and everything. Bow-chicka-bow-bow. Of course now with the internet I think we’ve come full circle.
Ghost in the Shell was a bigger influence on The Matrix than Akira. Or to go back further, basically they’re all ripping off Blade Runner.
Speaking of The Matrix, there was a solid 5-8 year period where it seemed like every other action movie was aping its wire fu and slow motion effects, or its clothing. Not a good kind of influential.
This is Spinal Tap.
Psycho.