In most cases, after watching a film many times, I begin to grow weary of it and often wind up hating it if I see it too often. This would seem to be a common phenomena and seems to apply to several other things - like food and music.
There are not many films that I feel I can watch over and over and never grow tired of watching them. But for me, the top of that list is, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” with Walter Huston and Humphrey Bogart. Unlike most of the big studios at the time, I would list Huston above Bogart because IMO, Walter Huston is one of the greatest actors ever. I enjoy most of Bogart’s work. But IMO, Huston is a better actor. If you get to see this movie, try to find the following two scenes.
A Mexican bandit calls out, “We don’t need no badges. We don’t got to show you no stinkin’ badges!”
When Huston discovers gold, he does an amazing dance for a 70 year old man.
Most of my pics are B&W Film Noir. “The Dark Corner” is not well known and if you ever see it, you may be surprised to learn that Lucille Ball is one of the featured actors. But her performance in this film is nothing like her well known ditzy characters. I strongly recommend this movie to any of you who enjoy Film Noire.
“Blow” is the story of how Cocaine exploded on the North American markets in the 1970s. It stars Johnny Depp but I suspect many people may have never seen it.
“Charley Varrick” stars Walter Matthau and is a crime movie that for some reason I just can’t stop watching once it starts.
Young Frankenstein
Airplane!
All of Me
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
Rat Race
Tangled
Most of the MCU movies
Most James Bond movies
The first Star Wars trilogy
My most recent additions:
“The Martian”
“The Avengers” (Thor, Iron Man, not the Uma Thurman one
Older movies:
“The Maltese Falcon” (Bogart)
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
“The Sting”
“Jeremiah Johnson”
“Chinatown”
Lots of Clint Eastwood:
“The Outlaw Josey Wales”
“Joe Kidd”
“The Unforgiven”
“Million Dollar Baby”
“The Enforcer”
Classic epics:
“Lawrence of Arabia” (first 2/3 at least)
“The Bridge on the River Kwai”
“The Guns of Navarrone”
'Ice Station Zebra"
“The Godfather”, “The Godfather pt II”
There are more that when they come on, I’ll find myself watching. But these are what come to mind.
I al ost never watch a movie more than once. Exceptions are Groundhog Day, Air Force One, and Apollo 13. Not sure why, since although they’re good movies, they’re certainly not the greatest.
In my personal ratings system, this quality is what defines a “10” movie. My current 10s are:
The Godfather
Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
American Beauty
No Country for Old Men
Grosse Pointe Blank
'Round Midnight <- my favorite film of all time The Incredibles
Casablanca
The Conversation <- my 2nd favorite
*Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas
Silver Streak
The Silence of the Lambs
Bull Durham
Superman
Oh, God!
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Hopscotch
Being There
*
FWIIW “The Unforgiven” is a 1960 movie with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn, “Unforgiven” is the Clint Eastwood movie and one of my all time favorites.
As pointed out upthread, this is what great films are made of, and, as the rest of the thread shows, some lesser films are continually entertaining, too. Either way, it’s going to be subjective (not everyone likes Bergman, etc.) Among the latter films, one that I like is Cop Land. The dialogue is believable, the story comes together well, and the acting and camera work are really good. There are a couple of disappointing things about the middle part, so I get the not-quite-four-stars rating, but the rest is excellent, IMO. Another one is Point Break (1991). Always fun, despite the silliness
That’s so similar to some of the films I can repeatedly watch that maybe I should actually watch All of Me (I’ve never got into animated movies despite liking some of them and appreciating them as a medium). Rat Race is hilarious.
As well as the ones you listed, I’ll add:
Groundhog Day
The Truman Show
Terminator 1
Terminator 2
Eagle Eye
Deep Impact
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Empire of the Sun
Probably some more too. I kinda like rewatching movies, in the background of something else I’m doing at the same time.
I would agree with cormac262; I even make the same mistaken about (The) Unforgiven. I would add Robert Taylor’s Ivanhoe , Bogart’s The Big Sleep and The Forbidden Planet.
The Life Of Brian
This Is Spinal Tap
2001
Some Like It Hot
The Apartment
One, Two, Three
(and almost everything else by Billy Wilder)
Almost everything by Hitchcock
Schtonk
I Hired A Contract Killer
Night On Earth
‘The Dark Corner’ is positively shocking! Quite grim, surprisingly for Lucille Ball… I do love a much more lighthearted one, ‘The Long Long Trailer’ with her and Desi Arnez, just delightful!
‘White Heat’ with James Cagney, what a psycho - and his mother!!! It features early versions of a car phone and a car tracker, very suspenseful.
‘The King and I’ - Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr - just ‘something wonderful’. I only wish the Shall We Dance number went on for longer.
‘Bridge On the River Kwai’ and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ - I watch both whenever they happen to be on.
and finally, most of ‘Seven Faces of Dr. Lao’ with Tony Randall - both chilling and hilarious moments.
