So I am in a Shakespeare in Film course, which has inspired me to become more of a film buff. I need to watch more Kurosawa, I have NEVER seen the Manchurian Canidate (I know, I know…) and I HAVE to see El Mariachi. What movies must I see in order to converse intelligently about film? I have seen most of the basics, Gone With the Wind, Citizen Cane, etc.
Rashomon
The Seventh Seal
Breathless (the original, NOT the remake)
North by Northwest
The Bicycle Thief
La Strada
City Lights, The Gold Rush
Metropolis
M
Last Tango in Paris
Apocalypse Now
Duck Soup
Annie Hall
Dr. Strangelove
The Quiet Man
anything silent with Buster Keaton
Lawrence of Arabia
Okay, that should keep you busy for the next six months. Report back to me when you’re done, and we’ll go on to the next level.
It’s my duty; my duty as a complete and utter bastard.–Arnold J. Rimmer.
And, of course, the collected works of Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride…
Launcher may train without warning.
Great list, Guy.
I’d add:
Citizen Kane
Pulp Fiction
Bringing Up Baby
Casablanca
The Maltese Falcon (Bogart version)
Them!
MAS*H
12 Monkeys
Three Kings
Stagecoach
E.T. The Extraterrestrial
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Tenant (obscure, but one of the best horror films ever, though it helps if you saw Rosemary’s Baby first).
Actually, the films on the AFI top 100 from last year are a very good place to start.
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
I, yi, yi—I don’t even know if I wanna get into this. No one can be an expert on “film,” just on certain kinds of films. I can talk about MOST pre-1950 films till the cows come home, but I’m still pretty much a blank slate on many foreign genres, westerns, serials, shorts.
OK, just for a start, I’ll tell you what you should see to be fairly conversant on silent films:
• Some very early Edison shorts
• Early comedy shorts (Chaplin, Normand, Keystone, et al)
• Some D.W. Griffith: Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Broken Blossoms.
• Don’t neglect the other directors: Stroheim (maybe Greed or Foolish Wives), De Mille (Ten Commandments, The Cheat).
• Some of the better films of the bigger stars: Valentino, Gish, Bow, Fairbanks, Chaney, Swanson, Novarro.
• And be sure to see a few run-of-the-mill movies that weren’t either great or awful—because that’s what silent film viewers actually went to see week after week!
• Finally, look at Kevin Brownlow’s 12-part TV documentary Hollywood (1979), probably the best overview of the silent era.
When I get my breath back, I’ll hit the early talkie era . . .
Splendour in the Grass - keeping in mind that Natalie Wood was terrified of water, and they filmed the bathtub scene with no rehearsal.
On the Waterfront
Casablanca
Pulp Fiction
Deliverance
Smokey and the Bandit
The Kevin Smith movies
The Poseiden Adventure
The Indiana Jones movies
Highlander
Easy Rider - -remember they were really high.
I will think of more…
Cool question. Let’s start with…
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
Something by Georges Melies, maybe A TRIP TO THE MOON
THE BIRTH OF A NATION
A FOOL THERE WAS
INTOLERANCE
Some of the comic shorts made by Chaplin and Keaton, before they got into features…EASY STREET, ONE AM, COPS, THE BOAT, etc.
GERTIE THE DINOSAUR
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
WAY DOWN EAST
DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE
WAXWORKS
BLOOD AND SAND
SHERLOCK JUNIOR
THE THIEF OF BAGDAD
THE NAVIGATOR
SAFETY LAST
THE GOLD RUSH
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
THE BIG PARADE
THE LODGER
METROPOLIS
THE CROWD
BEN HUR
THE GENERAL
SPARROWS
BERLINE, SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY
UNDERWORLD
FLESH AND THE DEVIL
THE ANDALUSIAN DOG
SUNRISE
CITY LIGHTS
And that takes us up to the talkies! Eve, what did I miss?
Uke
I’ll add:
Godfather I and II
Seven Samurai
Yojimbo
West Side Story
Fiddler on the Roof
a heavy dose of Kubrick (yes, including Eyes Wide Shut)
In general, most films on the AFI list deserve a chance.
By the way don’t spell Citizen Kane as Citizen Cane unless you want your mates to lynch you.
Eve and Ike have pretty much covered the bases on the early era, and the last 50 years seem reasonably well represented in the other submissions (along with a lot of stuff that I think you could safely ignore).
One genre that hasn’t been covered, with the exception of Bringing Up Baby, is Depression-era screwball comedies, of which I’m particularly fond. In many ways they set the expectations of the romantic comedy genre that still obtain today: the “cute meet”, an seemingly ill-matched pair of protagonists engaged in a battle of wits and wills, etc.
At a minimum from this genre, you should probably be familiar with:
[ul]It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert
His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
My Man Godfrey, directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard
The Lady Eve, directed by Preston Sturges and starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck
The Thin Man, directed by W.S. van Dyke and starring William Powell and Myrna Loy[/ul]
That pretty much covers the bases on the major directors and stars of the genre, with a couple of exceptions (e.g., Irene Dunne).
While not a “screwball comedy” per se, I’d also include Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels as a must-see from the end of this era.
Other American films not already mentioned that I think you should know, being touchstones that come up frequently in discussions of film, include:
[ul]Double Indemnity,, maybe the best film noir ever (gets one vote, anyway)
Bonnie and Clyde, something of a watershed moment in depiction of violence onscreen and visual style
Sunset Boulevard, just one of those things that you’re going to be expected to know
Taxi Driver
A Streetcar Named Desire
Top Hat, for an acquaintance with Astaire and Rogers
An American in Paris. to cover Vincente Minelli, '50s-era MGM musicals, and Gene Kelly, while listening to Gershwin
Cabaret
The Conversation
Network
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Strangers on a Train
To Have and Have Not
The Searchers
Paths of Glory
Dr. Strangelove
Blade Runner
Some Like It Hot
Touch of Evil[/ul]
It’s getting hard to decide what to include and what to leave out. I will point out that Filmsite.org has not only its own list of the the 200 greatest movies of all time, but reproduces 20 or so similar lists from other sources, each with their own slant and criteria for selection, so you could do worse than to start there.
“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” –Satchel Paige
Adam’s Rib (1949, U.S., dir. George Cukor)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938, U.S., dir. Michael Curtiz)
The African Queen (1951, U.S., dir. John Huston)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, West Germany, dir. Werner Herzog)
Airplane! (1980, U.S., dir. Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrams, David Zucker)
Alien (1979, U.S., dir. Ridley Scott)
Aliens (1986, U.S., dir. James Cameron)
All About Eve (1950, U.S., dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, U.S., dir. Lewis Milestone)
All the President’s Men (1976, U.S., dir. Alan J. Pakula)
Amadeus (1984, U.S., dir. Milos Forman)
Amarcord (1974, Italy, Federico Fellini)
American Graffiti (1973, U.S., dir. George Lucas)
An American in Paris (1951, U.S., dir. Vincente Minnelli)
Animal House (a.k.a. National Lampoon’s Animal House) (1978, U.S., dir. John Landis)
Annie Hall (1977, U.S., dir. Woody Allen)
The Apartment (1960, U.S., dir. Billy Wilder)
Apocalypse Now (1979, U.S., dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
The Awful Truth (1937, U.S., dir. Leo McCarey)
Beauty and the Beast (1991, U.S., dir. Gary Trousdale)
Ben-Hur (1959, U.S., dir. William Wyler)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, U.S., dir. William Wyler)
The Bicycle Thief (a.k.a. Bicycle Thieves) (1947, Italy, dir. Vittorio De Sica)
The Big Sleep (1946, U.S., dir. Howard Hawks)
The Birds (1963, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
The Birth of a Nation (1915, U.S., dir. D. W. Griffith)
Blade Runner (the director’s cut) (1982/95, U.S., dir. Ridley Scott)
Blue Velvet (1986, U.S., dir. David Lynch)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967, U.S., dir. Arthur Penn)
Brazil (the 142-minute cut) (1985, U.K., dir. Terry Gilliam)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935, U.S., James Whale)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, U.K., dir. David Lean)
Bringing Up Baby (1938, U.S., dir. Howard Hawks)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, U.S., dir. George Roy Hill)
Cabaret (1972, U.S., dir. Bob Fosse)
Casablanca (1942, U.S., dir. Michael Curtiz)
Children of Paradise (1945, France, Michel Carne)
Chinatown (1974, U.S., dir. Roman Polanski)
Cinema Paradiso (1988, Italy/France, dir. Giuseppe Tornatore)
Citizen Kane (1941, U.S., dir. Orson Welles)
City Lights (1931, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin)
A Clockwork Orange (1971, U.S., dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Special Edition (1977/80, U.S., dir. Steven Spielberg)
The Conformist (1969, Italy, dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
The Conversation (1974, U.S., dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
Dances with Wolves (1990, U.S., dir. Kevin Costner)
Das Boot (a.k.a. The Boat) (1981, West Germany, dir. Wolfgang Petersen)
The Deer Hunter (1978, U.S., dir. Michael Cimino)
Dirty Harry (1972, U.S., dir. Don Siegel)
Do the Right Thing (1989, U.S., dir. Spike Lee)
Doctor Zhivago (1965, U.S., dir. David Lean)
Double Indemnity (1944, U.S., dir. Billy Wilder)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, U.K., dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Dracula (1931, U.S., dir. Tod Browning)
Duck Soup (1933, U.S., dir. Leo McCarey)
E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, U.S., dir. Steven Spielberg)
East of Eden (1955, U.S., dir. Elia Kazan)
Easy Rider (1969, U.S., dir. Dennis Hopper)
8 ½ (1963, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini)
The Empire Strikes Back (a.k.a. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) (1980, U.S., dir. Irvin Kershner)
The Exorcist (1973, U.S., dir. William Friedkin)
Fantasia (1940, U.S., dir. Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Luske, Jim Hanley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Norm Ferguson, Wilfred Ferguson)
Field of Dreams (1989, U.S., dir. Phil Alden Robinson)
Five Easy Pieces (1970, U.S., dir. Bob Rafelson)
Forbidden Planet (1956, U.S., dir. Fred McLeod Wilcox)
Forrest Gump (1994, U.S., dir. Robert Zemeckis)
42nd Street (1933, U.S., dir. Lloyd Bacon)
The Four Hundred Blows (1959, France, dir. Francois Truffaut)
Frankenstein (1931, U.S., dir. James Whale)
Freaks (a.k.a. Nature’s Mistakes) (1932, U.S., dir. Tod Browning)
From Here to Eternity (1953, U.S., dir. Fred Zinnemann)
Full Metal Jacket (1987, U.S., dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Gandhi (1982, U.K./India, dir. Richard Attenborough)
The General (1927, U.S., dir. Buster Keaton)
The Godfather (1972, U.S., dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
The Godfather Part II (1974, U.S., dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
The Gold Rush (1925, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin)
Gone with the Wind (1939, U.S., dir. Victor Fleming)
GoodFellas (1990, U.S., dir. Martin Scorsese)
The Graduate (1967, U.S., dir. Mike Nichols)
Grand Illusion (1937, France, dir. Jean Renoir)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, U.S., dir. John Ford)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, U.S., dir. Woody Allen)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964, U.K., dir. Richard Lester)
Henry V (1944, U.K., dir. Laurence Olivier)
High Noon (1952, U.S., dir. Fred Zinnemann)
His Girl Friday (1940, U.S., dir. Howard Hawks)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932, U.S., dir. Mervyn LeRoy)
Intolerance (1916, U.S., dir. D. W. Griffith)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, U.S., dir. Don Siegel)
It Happened One Night (1934, U.S., dir. Frank Capra)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, U.S., dir. Frank Capra)
Jaws (1975, U.S., dir. Steven Spielberg)
The Killing (1956, U.S., dir. Stanley Kubrick)
King Kong (1933, U.S., dir. Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack)
La Dolce Vita (1960, Italy, dir. Federico Fellini)
The Lady Eve (1941, U.S., dir. Preston Sturges)
The Last Picture Show (1971, U.S., dir. Peter Bogdanovich)
Laura (1944, U.S., dir. Otto Preminger)
L’avventura (1960, France/Italy, dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, U.K., dir. David Lean)
M (1931, Germany, dir. Fritz Lang)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, U.S., dir. Orson Welles)
The Maltese Falcon (1941, U.S., dir. John Huston)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962, U.S., dir. John Ford)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962, U.S., dir. John Frankenheimer)
Manhattan (1979, U.S., dir. Woody Allen)
MAS*H (1970, U.S., dir. Robert Altman)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, U.S., dir. Robert Altman)
Mean Streets (1973, U.S., dir. Martin Scorsese)
Metropolis (1926, Germany, dir. Fritz Lang)
Midnight Cowboy (1969, U.S., dir. John Schlesinger)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947, U.S., dir. George Seaton)
Modern Times (1936, U.S., dir. Charles Chaplin)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, U.K., dir. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939, U.S., dir. Frank Capra)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935, U.S., dir. Frank Lloyd)
My Darling Clementine (1946, U.S., dir. John Ford)
My Fair Lady (1964, U.S., dir. George Cukor)
Nashville (1975, U.S., dir. Robert Altman)
The Night of the Hunter (1955, U.S., dir. Charles Laughton)
Ninotchka (1939, U.S., dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
North by Northwest (1959, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Notorious (1946, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
On the Waterfront (1954, U.S., dir. Elia Kazan)
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, U.S., dir. Milos Forman)
Out of the Past (1947, U.S., dir. Jacques Tourneur)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, France, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Paths of Glory (1957, U.S., dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Patton (1970, U.S., dir. Franklin Schaffner)
The Philadelphia Story (1940, U.S., dir. George Cukor)
The Piano (1993, Australia/France, dir. Jane Campion)
Platoon (1986, U.S., dir. Oliver Stone)
Psycho (1960, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Pulp Fiction (1994, U.S., dir. Quentin Tarantino)
The Quiet Man (1952, U.S., dir. John Ford)
Raging Bull (1980, U.S., dir. Martin Scorsese)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, U.S., dir. Steven Spielberg)
Ran (1985, Japan/France, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
Rashomon (1950, Japan, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
Rear Window (1954, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Rebecca (1940, U.S., dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Rebel without a Cause (1955, U.S., dir. Nicholas Ray)
Red River (1948, U.S., dir. H
So just how many sequels were there to “The Egg and I”?
“I’ll tell him but I don’t think he’ll be very keen. He’s already got one, you see!”
I’m not going to give a list of movies, everyone else has done that, but I will mention this:
Most lists ignore (or make a token gesture to) movies made outsite the USA, and almost always ignore India, one of the great film-making countries.
For every two or three American movies you see, view at least one foreign film. Read one of the movie lists mentioned above for recommendations.
After viewing foreign movies, you will be able to not only discuss movies intelligently, but also many other subjects.
I’d like to add one movie, and second one that has allready been stated
Add: The Blues Brothers (not 2000)
Second: Patton
“Bones, help that man!” – “Damnit Jim, I’m a doctor not a doc…I’ll get right on it.”
Wendell’s list was pretty comprehensive, but I have one addition to it. Many people will disagree with me too. But I think it is a movie everyone should see:
“Last of the Mohicans” (US, 1992, dir. Michael Mann)
Rather, I was in the position of a spore which, having finally accepted its destiny as a fungus, still wonders if it might produce penicillin.
–Ayi Kwei Armah
I (feel the) need to add a few to the lists that look pretty good for the most part.
Life is Beautiful
Reservoir Dogs
Raising Arizona
All the Star Wars movies, not just the first one.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Nosferatu
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Young Frankenstein
The Shining
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Hamlet (1990, Franco Zeffirelli {Mel Gibson})
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
American History X
Fahrenheit 451
The Treasure of Sierra Madre
History of the World Part I
The Life of Brian
Rosemary’s Baby (think this one was covered, sorry)
Salem’s Lot
Cujo
Carrie
Christine
Little Shop of Horrors (1986, Frank Oz)
Trainspotting
First Blood
Rambo: First Blood Part II
I am sure there are more, if I can think of them, I will add them later…
Geez, I hope some of these people were cutting and pasting. I’d hate to have to type out those lists.
A few additions in the foreign film category:
Blue
(The Mystery of) Rampo
The Killer
God is my co-pilot. Blame Him.
OK, now that MPSIMS is finally back up for the moment, here’s a list of musicals you should see to be pretty conversant with that genre—
• Broadway Melody (1929), the first all-talking musical (and pretty good too—I’m pals with Anita Page, one of the stars)
• Applause (1929), an amazing musical with Helen Morgan
• One of the early oo-la-la Chevalier films, probably Love Me Tonight (1932)
• A MacDonald-Eddy operetta (not my cup of tea, but lots of people love 'em)
• Any of the earlier (pre-1938) Astaire-Rogers films
• One of the better early Busby Berkeleys—Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, or 42nd Street. Gems, all!
• A splashy WWII musical with Betty Grable and/or Alice Faye (preferably with Carmen Miranda thrown in)
• The classics—Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain, American In Paris, Funny Face, Mary Poppins or My Fair Lady
I’m probably missing a few, but that’s a good overview. Next, the 1930s . . .
Taking Wendell’s list as a reference point, how many of those movies have you guys seen? I count 196 total in the list, and out of those, I have seen 67. By “seen”, I mean I sat all the way through them and at least could give a minimal plot description.
(Age should probably also be a factor, as those who were alive when most of these were theaters have a distinct advantage. For the record, I’m 25.)
Anybody care to create a ranking system? How bout:
If 50 or younger:
Total films + (50 - age)/2
If older than 50:
Total films - (age - 50)/2
below 0 I was raised by wolves.
0-24 Mommy doesn’t take me to movies.
25-49 Skip a few classes; you’re missing great films!
50-99 Film Buff in training
100-149 Certified Film Buff
150-175 Will die from movie theater popcorn overdose.
175-196 Butt needs to be surgically removed from theater seat.
Okay, I’ve seen 82, and I am 26 years old.
:: doing math ::
My total score is 94.
Dang. Six movies away from getting my certification.
Damn. I’ve seen 51, I’m 20, so that makes me a mere 40.5. I have movies to watch.