# Movies I would have to see to become a "MOVIE BUFF" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2002, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819 "2002-06-07T12:10:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diff\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Diff\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diff_T)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/21 "2002-06-09T02:20:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*Yeah, I’d say you could just watch _The Truman Show_ and consider yourself a film buff. Screw all these pointy-headed intellectuals, with their D.W. Griffiths and their Sergei Eisensteins and their Rainer Werner Fassbinders and their Stan Brakhages. > > _The Truman Show_. Yeah. \*\* GUY! No one said that you could JUST watch that movie and be a “buff”… no one said you could watch the movie and be on your way of being a “buff”, it WAS said that some may not know why it wasn’t a classic. If you don’t like it fine… but to act as if I’m a lesser person for bringing it up, you’re wrong. People have different tastes in movies. I mean Groundhog day was on one of the linked lists. If you’re someone involved in the fashion industry, and don’t like what someone else is wearing, it doesn’t mean that persons “wrong” for having different tastes. If you are educated in movies somehow, it doesn’t mean that your opinion’s all that matters. Now we are talking about Movie’s you would have to see to be a movie buff, and all I said was I don’t know why THAT movie wasn’t a classic. It seems some people dismissed it just because of the lead actor. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/22 "2002-06-09T03:44:48Z")
I think he was just kidding around… Not that he DOES think “Truman” should be a “classic”!! Don’t sweat it, just kid back with him. No one should think any less of you for you opinion, I don’t think Urkel meant it in an insulting way Diff t. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/23 "2002-06-09T04:03:33Z")
Has no one gone to Filmsite.org? Not a bad list, and I like the plot recaps… very detailed! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/24 "2002-06-09T07:41:46Z")
Culled from the _Entertainment Weekly_ cover story, “The 100 Must-See DVDs”, Jan. 11, 2002. Not their list of the greatest movies ever made, but a list of “films available on DVD that are crucial to an understanding of the art form.” The list actually totals over 100 when you include their “Crash Courses” in particular artists. Silents: 1. Melies the Magician (1898-1997). 2. Intolerance (1916). 3. Nosferatu (1922). 4. Sherlock Jr. (1923). 5. Battleship Potemkin (a.k.a. Potemkin) (1925).6. The Phantom of the Opera (1925). 6. Man With the Movie Camera (1929). 7. City Lights (1931). 1930s: 9. Silly Symphonies (1929-1937). 10. The Blue Angel (1930). 11. M (1931). 12. Bride of Frankenstein (1935).13. Mickey Mouse in Living Color (1935-1938).14. Grand Illusion (1937). 15. Snow White and the Seven Drawfs (1937). 16. Gone With the Wind (1939). 17. Stagecoach (1939). 18. The Wizard of Oz (1939). 1940s: 19. Rebecca (1940). 20. His Girl Friday (1940). 21. Pinocchio (1940). 22. Dumbo (1941). 23. The Superman Cartoons of Max & Dave Fleischer (1941-1943). 24. Citizen Kane (1941). 25. Sullivan’s Travels (1941). 26. Casablanca (1942). 27. Shadow of a Doubt (1943). 28. Henry V (1944). 29. I Know Where I’m Going (1945). 30. The Big Sleep (1946). 31. La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast) (1946). 32. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). 33. Black Narcissus (1947). 34. The Bicycle Thief (1948). 35. The Red Shoes (1948).36. The Third Man (1949). 1950s: 1. All About Eve (1950). 2. Strangers on a Train (1951). 3. Singin’ in the Rain (1952). 4. High Noon (1952). 5. On the Waterfront (1954). 6. Rear Window (1954). 7. Seven Samurai (1954). 8. Rebel Without a Cause (1955). 9. Killer’s Kiss (1955). 10. The Killing (1956).47. The Ten Commandments (1956). 11. Written on the Wind (1956). 12. The Searchers (1956). 13. The Seventh Seal (1957). 14. Paths of Glory (1957). 15. Vertigo (1958). 16. North by Northwest (1959). 17. Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959).55. Some Like It Hot (1959). 18. North by Northwest (1959). 1960s: 1. Breathless (1960). 2. Psycho (1960). 3. Spartacus (1960). 4. Peeping Tom (1960). 5. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). 6. Lawrence of Arabia (1962).60. Lolita (1962). 7. 8 1/2 (1963). 8. Dr. Strangelove (1964).63. Goldfinger (1964). 9. Bonnie and Clyde (1967). 10. In the Heat of the Night (1967). 11. The Graduate (1967). 12. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 13. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968). 14. Planet of the Apes (1968). 15. The Wild Bunch (1969). 16. Midnight Cowboy (1969). 17. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). 1970s: 1. A Clockwork Orange (1971). 2. The French Connection (1971). 3. Shaft (1971). 4. Cabaret (1972). 5. The Godfather DVD Collection (1972-1990). 6. Mean Streets (1973). 7. The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen (1973/2000). 8. Enter the Dragon (1973). 9. Blazing Saddles (1974). 10. Chinatown (1974). 11. Nashville (1975). 12. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).85. Jaws (1975). 13. Barry Lyndon (1975). 14. All the President’s Men (1976). 15. Taxi Driver (1976). 16. Rocky (1976). 17. Annie Hall (1977). 18. Halloween (1978). 19. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978). 20. Apocalpyse Now Redux (1979/2001). 1980s: 1. Ordinary People (1980). 2. Raging Bull (1980). 3. Airplane! (1980). 4. The Road Warrior (1982). 5. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). 6. 48 Hrs. (1982). 7. Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut (1982/1992). 8. The Terminator (1984).102. This Is Spinal Tap (1984).103. The Breakfast Club (1985). 9. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). 10. Platoon (1986).106. Top Gun (1986). 11. A Room With a View (1986). 12. Blue Velvet (1986). 13. A Better Tomorrow (1986). 14. A Better Tomorrow II (1987). 15. The Decalogue (1988). 16. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). 17. Die Hard (1988). 18. Akira (1988). 19. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). 20. Do the Right Thing (1989). 21. When Harry Met Sally (1989). 22. The Killer (1989). 23. Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989). 1990s: 1. GoodFellas (1990). 2. Pretty Woman (1990). 3. Bullet in the Head (1990). 4. The Silence of the Lambs (1991). 5. Thelma & Louise (1991). 6. Hard Boiled (1992).126. Pulp Fiction (1994).127. Natural Born Killers (1994). 7. Toy Story: The Ultimate Toy Box (1995-1999). 8. Boogie Nights (1997). 9. Titanic (1997). 10. L.A. Confidential (1997). 11. Saving Private Ryan (1999). 12. The Matrix (1999). 13. The Limey (1999).135. The Sixth Sense (1999). 14. Being John Malkovich (1999). 2000s: 1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). 2. Requiem for a Dream (2000). 3. Gladiator (2000). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/25 "2002-06-09T10:39:22Z")
grendel72 writes: \> Also, I honestly couldn’t consider anyone a “film buff” who \> hasn’t seen After Hours. I too am baffled as to why _After Hours_ isn’t considered a classic film. As is, whenever I mention it to someone I have to explain that it’s not included in most lists of great films, but I and many other people think that it should be. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/26 "2002-06-09T10:49:58Z")
When was “After Hours” made ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/27 "2002-06-09T10:58:24Z")
1. It’s the one directed by Martin Scorsese. (I realize there have been several films of that name.) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/28 "2002-06-09T12:23:09Z")
On Sunday afternoons at 6:00, Turner Classic Movies highlights films they consider important: “The Essentials.” Rob Reiner hosts; while he can be a tad irritating at times (he _will_ insist on singing or doing bad impressions), his introductions usually contain an explanation of why the particular movie they’re showing is a “must see” for film buffs. A list and description are on the TCM website at [http://alt.tcm.turner.com/essentials/2002/periodic.html](http://alt.tcm.turner.com/essentials/2002/periodic.html) (Flash required). I find the behind-the-scenes look at the development and direction of some of these films fascinating. Unfortunately, the archive only goes back to the previous month. ---
**Author:** ![Krab\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Krab\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krab_King)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/29 "2002-06-15T07:57:46Z")
Throw in Greed and Birth of a Nation. ---
**Author:** ![ukbanshee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ukbanshee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ukbanshee)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819/30 "2002-06-15T14:44:24Z")
Wings of Desire is supposed to be amazing, but im yet to see it. and my fav’s The Shawshank Redemption, and Pulp Fiction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-i-would-have-to-see-to-become-a-movie-buff/112819.md?page=1)